There’s a comedian onstage tonight, so the band is celebrating a day off in Juneau. The guys are drinking at The Viking, watching “the game,” and I’m breakfasting at the Silverbow Bakery. It’s impossible to get away from the ship in a small port like this: I counted five ship people and six “real people” when I walked in.  (Okay, I’m not eavesdropping, but it’s really cute to hear ship-newbies Skyping home and explaining bits of ship life that we take for granted.)

The architecture in downtown Juneau is an interesting combination of restored-touristy-frontier, art deco, and depressingly-beaureaucratic. And as you can see, there are enormous mountains in every direction, with snow on top and waterfalls threading down the sides. I find it jarring to see ordinary things like school buses and businesspeople in front of such a spectacular backdrop. I haven’t finished any cartoons since the last post, so I guess I’ll just put up some photos from the last coupla weeks.

Here are pictures from the Seaplane (!!!) tour that my parents took me on last week. (Yep, we were IN one of those! and yep, I was a little bit terrified for the first hour.)

I took about 200 pictures that don’t do the experience justice.

And here’s the antique train ride out of Skagway:

They let you stand on the platforms between cars for picture-taking. It’s chilly, but SO worth it!

One more, from last Juneau. Here is the spectacular view from Mt. Roberts. You can hike up, or catch a tram right outside the ship.

When I walked up here with my parents last week, most of the trail was under snow. However, this didn’t stop a dozen Indian crew members from experiencing [their first?] snow by shedding their jackets, running uphill a bit, sliding down penguin-style, and then hopping around with snow in their pants. I promptly followed their example.

I feel a bit lazy showing all this in photos. I promise I’ll have something drawn for next time!