Cruise, Juneau, Alaska * Day Seven 08-25-08

At noon we went to the Great Alaska Cookout at poolside. This is a big cobbler and smells great.

Does anyone have an opener?

I hope he won't eat me.

I can't decide what I want to eat.

Another beautiful watermelon carving.

I don't know if I want to eat the reindeer sausage. It is sad to think this is the way Rudolph ends.

Mama Bev met Santa Clause on the ship. I didn't know Santa belonged to a union.

We docked in Juneau, the capital, where we could shop and take shore excursions from 2 p.m. till 10 p.m. This city can only be reached by plane or water.

The Last Frontier State is 1st in land area and 47th in population. Anchorage is the largest city. We are now in Alaska Time Zone. All of Alaska is in the same time zone.

Alaska was admitted to the Union in 1959. They are making plans for their 50th birthday for next year.

The historic shopping district has most of its original gold rush architectural heritage.

While they shopped I visited with his old prospector.

We toured the Mendenhall Gardens Rain Forest and Mendenhall Glacier. I am standing at the base of the glacier in the scale model.

Mendenhall Glacier is in the background.

After returning to the ship we ate in the formal dinning room at 8 p.m. For an appetizer I ordered Roasted Duck with avocado wrap which is grilled Shitake mushrooms, strips of roast duck, avocado and sticky rice wrapped in a sheet of Norri seaweed presented with pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi. How can anything so pretty taste so nasty?

I then ordered a Thai vegetable spring roll and it was tasty.

Delicious cured Alaskan Salmon glazed with maple syrup. How do you cure a Salmon. Was it sick?

I ordered a special cake for Papa Ken's & Mama Bev's 40th Anniversary.

The waiters sang Happy Anniversary to them.

We ended the evening by attending the 11 p.m. Indonesian Crew Show where traditional and contemporary music, songs and dances from Indonesia were preformed by the ship's crew. Here are two of my favorite costumes.

We had front row center seats so we were able to get some great pictures.