Steve and Julie with Eldon at Haines campground

Oldest light house in Alaska; taken on ferry to Juneau.

We are now in Juneau. Seems such a big city after being in small towns and roads with no traffic. Old Juneau is built on the mountainside and pretty. The downtown is crowded with cruise ship business. The weird thing about Juneau (the capital) is that you have to arrive by air or water. You cannot drive to Juneau. The main road is 40 miles long. It looks like a typical city of 30,000 people with Walmart, etc.; just don't plan on a road trip if you live here. The campground we wanted to go to first was closed due to flooding. It is very close to the glacier; the road to the campground was closed too. We found out why when we went to the glacier today. A glacial ice dam melted and released a glacial lake of water. It has happened in small amounts before, but never like this. It is now receding, but sounds like it was a big deal. It is an awesome glacier - trust me we've seen a lot of them to judge by. Lots of deep blue color (it has something to do with light reflection but if you want to know more, Google it because I can't tell you) and ice bergs.

Comments from Eldon: So far Haines wins as my favorite Alaskan town - so darn friendly and the town reminds me of St. Ignace. I got one layer of dirt off the truck, it's not clean but you can tell what color it is. The ferry ride to Juneau was scenic - also so relaxing I fell asleep. I woke up to a ranger telling me a baby whale was beside us - never been woken up that way before. Didn't get a good picture though - whales don't pose. Juneau has the nicest glacier we've seen. Some glaciers look like old snow banks, this one (called Mendenhall) bluer and has lots of icebergs floating around.

Comments from Larry: The boat ride to Juneau was purgatory - even worse than the ride from Skagway to Haines because it was longer. It is loud, dark and scary. But I like the camp ground in Juneau. Few cars, few dogs and lots of woods and bushes to hide in.