ALASKA - JUNEAU - JULY 1

We docked in Juneau on July 1 and were booked for a morning excursion to the rainforest , Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching which is really all we had time to do.  Juneau's population is approximately 32,000 - much larger than Skagway.  The pictures from the excursion are self-explanatory.

This lichen grows abundantly on rocks and on the ground in the rainforest.

This is the Cottonwood tree.  The little tufts of cotton get blown around and reseed in the forest.

The Hemlock plant.

The Lupen plant.  The leaves are water repellent so the water droplets collect in the centre of the leaves.  When the sun shines on them, they look like diamonds.

Our guide went into the very cold water to retrieve a chunk of ice from one of the ice floes.

Here, he's bringing it out.

Posing with it.

And this is what it looks like close up.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It is very jagged, yet when you touch it, it's quite smooth.

Mendenhall Glacier in the background.

A close up of Mendenhall Glacier.

Nugget Falls across from the Glacier.

The whale watching portion of this excursion was somewhat disappointing as we only saw three humpback whales.  Of those three, only one breached and she (I'm taking liberties with the gender) did so when we weren't expecting it so no one caught it on camera.

Bald Eagle hanging out at the pier where we were waiting to board our boat.

Taking a big gulp of air as she cruised along.

Humping her back as she prepares to dive.

And "thar she goes"!

Sunset later in the evening as we sailed to Ketchikan.