Friday, July 13, 2007

Downtown Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier

After hiking Mt. Roberts, we descended to the downtown area, much of which is extremely touristy. I mean, who needs Diamonds International, et al, in every port! But I spied a lady with a bag from a quilting/needlework store and asked her where she found that shop. Gary had to get something back at the ship, so I walked down the street to this nice shop on the second floor of a historic building.


As you can see most of the walk was uphill. Along the way, I found the art gallery of Rie Munoz, whose style totally charmed me. She has a very simple, childlike quality in her work and I loved the colors - much of her work is done with a predominance of blues, yellows, and orange, on a crisp white background. I finally drug myself away from the gallery to find Changing Tides. The quiltshop was on the small side, but staff was friendly, and I found Jeannette Douglas' Northern Lights Sampler with specialty fibers pack that I bought as a souvenir. :)

Gary and I met up again to continue our walking tour. Inside a turn-of-last-century pharmacy we found this original gold leaf ceiling. Wow, it gleamed! After some geocaching, we met up with our only tour group this trip which took us out to Mendenhall Glacier. It was amazing! And there is a subdivision of homes just a mile from the visitor center. Could you imagine living a short bike ride or walk away from such a wonder?



Gold Creek Salmon Bake was our next stop for a dinner of salmon cooked over a flame fed by alder wood. MMmmmmm. The sun came out in the middle of the afternoon making our glacier visit and salmon dinner absolutely perfect events.

As we left the sound, I was struck by all the shades of blue, which this photo in no way comes close to recording.

Next up: Yakitat Bay and Hubbard Glacier

10 comments:

Dawn T. said...

The Glacier pics are amazing!

mainely stitching said...

Oh my gosh, Von. It's stunning. No wonder people want to live there, despite the harsh seasons and distance from everything. It's absolutely gorgeous.

June said...

Envy, envy, envy. How I wish I could see this first hand myself.

Michelle said...

What amazing photos! It looks lovely.

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Ohhhh...looks like a wonderful place to visit! My DH went hiking for weeks at Glacier National Park in Montana...his glacier pictures were wonderful too:)
So beautiful!!!

Anonymous said...

Northern Exposure up close! Well sort of. : ) Looks like a great place to visit. You'll have to watch Men in Trees, another show out of Alaska.
Thanks for sharing.

Jinger said...

Isn't Alaska amazing?!!! I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Not to mention the salmon. YUM!!!
I, too, really liked the art work of Rie Munoz. Very simple, very charming, but beautiful.
Glad you had a great trip!!

Karoline said...

It all looks stunning Von, great photos

Anonymous said...

Arent those glaciers amazing...Alaska ia very beautiful place :)

Barb said...

You have some beautiful pictures. Alaska sure is a beautiful place.