That was a LONG walk we had to take to see the Mendenhall Glacier. (Two days ago in Juneau) Amanda and I were going to ride the city bus ($1.50 a ticket) to the local brewery, but while we were waiting for the bus, we met a young student who had been driving tours and said that the bus stopped near the glacier and told us some interesting tips about it. Since there was another couple on the bus already going to the glacier, we decided to go all the way out there and skip the brewery. We first heard it was about a 3/4 of a mile hike from the bus stop to the glacier…. then later it was a mile… then a mile and a half. Well, we made it anyway… got several good pics of the glacier, wandered around a bit, and made our way back to the bus stop. I complained for a fair bit of the way, but Amanda kept me moving. All in all, we made it out to the glacier for $6 rather than the $20 it would’ve cost for a tour shuttle.

We shopped around for a bit and hopped back on the boat, just missing our 6:00 dinnertime, so we tried out the pizzeria. OK pizza, but extremely greasy… Oh well, it was still tasty.

Yesterday in Skagway, there wasn’t too much to see. We did get off the boat in the morning and run up and down the main street, peeking into a couple of shops. But by 11 or so, we were back aboard. We took in an afternoon movie, Wedding Date, … reminding us how thankful that, even though they might be a little crazy, our families are still pretty normal. Well… at least normal compared to insane movie families! We’re glad we didn’t have any major catastophes during the wedding. Both evening movies on the TV looked good, so we camped out in our room last night.

Today, we slept in sort of late (that happens with no window in your room!). We ate breakfast around 10:30 and jumped up on deck to see some of Glacier Bay. I did get a little glimpse of some bears through the binoculars.

Well, Amanda just beat me in a short game of Trivial Pursuit, so now we’re off to find some more food before it gets too late. Tonight’s the second formal dinner, so we want to attend and still be hungry for it.

It’s been a really fun cruise, but I’m starting to get a little homesick for our home that we haven’t gotten a chance to start yet. It’ll be really nice to get back to our apartment and figure out what “normal life” is all about.

-Benjamin & Amanda