Vancouver to Alaska on the Disney Wonder, 8/26 - 9/2 2013 : Part 5

 Guest Writer Wednesday

By: Gaylin

August 30, 2013
Day 5, cruise to Alaska, Juneau

Woke up and we were in Juneau, another uninspiring breakfast buffet. Filling but meh. The cruise ship dock is just outside of Juneau and we decided to not get the shuttle bus and we walked into town. Juneau is quite big but very spread out. The boardwalk makes the walk into town quite obvious!

The centre of town is very easy to find as is the tram that goes up Mt. Roberts. This was our other excursion we had booked. When you book the tram, you can take it up the mountain anytime during the day. And your ticket is also a day pass, in case you wanted to ride the tram again.

The view from the tram is stunning. The man driving (guiding?) the tram gave a brief history of the area while we were on the way up.

See the ship on the left, that is the Wonder! I zoomed in a bit for this photo, it actually was a lot smaller from the top of the tram ride.

At the station the tram stops at, there is a visitor station with a historical movie (free), 18 minutes long. We both enjoyed it. There is a store, as well as a learning centre. On the way to the learning centre is an enclosure for this guy. You can't see in this photo but this bald eagle was shot by hunters, he is missing one eye and has a damaged beak. He cannot be returned to the wild because he can no longer hunt. He has a nice home and looks well fed and cared for.

We decided to use up some energy and instead of taking the tram down the mountain, we took the hiking trail! It is about 2.5 miles of switchback trail, fairly well marked. We were the only people going down the mountain but ran into a few people who were hiking UP the mountain. It is lovely, quiet and beautiful. We both enjoyed being off the ship and away from people, very refreshing.

The trail ends on a road that leads back into Juneau, we hiked down the mountain, back into Juneau and out the other side and walked to the ship. A very energetic afternoon.

We got back for a quick trip through the buffet, just before it closed. It had been misty raining while we were hiking so after our quick lunch we went and got changed into dry clothes and off to the Outlook Cafe for a hot drink.
Dinner was at Triton's and this was my meal, the steak was really good but the baked potato, very boring and barely cooked vegetables, eh.

Then it was off to the Walt Disney Theatre for the Toy Story Musical stage show. AWESOME! If you go to the stage shows, remember to get there a bit early, there was quite the line-up for the show.
After the show we went to the Atrium/Lobby to see the Pixar Pals show they put on. It is pretty fun, very loud and very well attended.
Then we called it a night and headed back to the room where we were met by this character, a towel dog? Whatever this is, we both had a good laugh.

For parts 1-4, please click here, here, here and here!