Juneau - Day 8

..outside our stateroom window.  The cruise ship harbor is right against the pier here.  It was cloudy as it had been the past two days aboard ship.

At each port of call, a pilot boat is sent out with a pilot trained to guide the big ship into its berth. Here are pictures that Tim & Cathy Beyer took of the pilot boat taking the pilot off after bringing us into Juneau ( I wasn't up that early!):

Did I mention this is a BIG ship?  I couldn't find a vantage point in Juneau to get a photo of the whole thing; here's about 90% of it:

Our helicopter tour of the Mendenhall Glacier was scheduled for 1:15p so we bundled up and headed onto the pier to board our bus to the airfield.  We were really looking forward to this; you fly to the glacier and step out onto it -- when will you get this opportunity again?  On the pier we saw a sad-looking young lady holding the placard: "Mendenhall Helicopter Tour" so we went over; it should have been a clue that she was standing where a bus might be -- but no bus.

Turns out that all the helicopter tours were cancelled for the entire day!  Ceiling too low to land safely.  For me, when the pilot doesn't want to go, I don't want to go.

But, Gael?  She actually stamped her foot; I'll bet she hasn't done that since she was ten years old (32 years ago)!  She really did it; she was so pissed off.  Well, let me show you:

I thought she'd brighten visibly during our walk to the Juneau shopping district (read: tourist trap):

.. but, no, it took most of the day to coax a smile from her.  In fact, it took a significant purchase to do that.  Sigh...

So, to do the helicopter thing I'm thinkin' we have to come back to Juneau in the wintertime. Yeah; that's the ticket..

We spent the day shopping (want an Alaskan Ulu Knife?  I can tell you where to get several hundred thousand of them) and made our way back to the Summit at about 4pm.  We joined friends (Tim and Cathy Beyer) at Michael's Club for drinks at 5pm where they learned of Gael's disappointment -- hell, I think EVERYONE will learn of Gael's disappointment!

Dinner tonight with the Beyers:

..and catching a comedian in the showroom; the comic's name is Cary Long which might mean something to one of you out there.  Tonight we sail to Skagway which is (oddly) north of Juneau..