Our next port of call was Juneau, the state capital. With a population of about 32,000 it vies with Fairbanks for the title of Alaska’s second largest city. Like most of the cities and towns we stopped at, Juneau is set against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains, beautiful settings.

One thing I’m not really fond of, in most of the ports we pull into we are greeted by the sight of a row of shops, the same in very port from Alaska to the Caribbean.

Usually we go to the visitors center or take a local bus and ask which of the shops owned by natives.

We did not take any tours in Juneau, instead we just walked around the city. While walking we found the Daniel Buck gallery. He is a photographer and his work is phenomenal.

We went back to the ship for lunch then Laurawent out to shop fo the grandkids and I took the tram halfway up Mount Roberts.

The tram let us off about 1800 feet up the mountain. From there we had a panoramic view of the city and the cruise ships in the harbor. There were a number of trails leading from the tram stop and I took the one that would bring me to the top of the mountain another 2600 feet up.

It was a fairy rough trail as it would back and forth up the mountain (if you go to Alaska bring hiking boots). With lots of overlooks down to the harbor. After a while the trail became less and less populated and by the time I was close to the top ther e were only a couple of other hikers on the trail.

At the top it was measurably cooler than at the tramstop, not un reasonable since it was partially snow covered. I sat for a while and the headed back down to the tram. The hike to the top and back took about 4 hours and I just made the final tram.