Juneau on the 4th of July

Friday July 4
We arrived in Juneau earlier today. We thought we would be here and enjoy July 4th fireworks, but seems they have already had the display... it happened last night at midnight. :-(

Jerry hanging the laundry out to dry on a warm sunny day!

We have settled into a new weather pattern... one day of mostly sun and then next day mostly rain. But that's okay, as long as we plan accordingly. Tomorrow in Juneau it is suppose to be only a slight chance of rain, so we are taking the bikes and riding to Mendenhall Glacier.

Maggie enjoys this special spot on Jerry's lap while we are sailing, she has her life jacket on.

After almost a full day of sailing, we anchored in Oliver Inlet on the north end of Admiralty Island. It was a little difficult to get into, on high tide slack we only had 4.5' under our keel through the entrance. So we knew we would have to leave on a high tide (this morning) and it was 2' less, so as we slowly motored out, in two places we had as little as 2.5' under our keel. White knuckles and sphincter tightening! :-)

This is the railway tram used for portaging a canoe or kayak across a muskeg bog from the end of Oliver Inlet on Admiralty Island about half a mile to the end of another inlet on Admiralty. This was way too much fun!! Worth the visit for sure!

Alaska brown bear in Tracy Arm Cove feeding on grass.

We anchored in Tracy Arm Cove with the brown bears and ice bergs. Last trip to Alaska we ventured up Tracy Arm to see the glaciers but couldn't get close because of too much ice. This trip we were going to go up Endicott Arm but decided to visit Glacier Bay instead. Talking to other boaters, we have learned there is a lot of ice in both arms and we would not be able to get close anyway. 

Ice berg in Tracy Arm. 

We learned that ice bergs are blue because the colours in the light from the sun are all absorbed by the ice except for blue. When the bergs are first formed is when they are the bluest, but as they age, they then to become white. The intense blue colour is hard to capture with a camera, there is something about seeing it with your own eyes that makes it so special.