July 22, 2021
We checked out the shore in the morning and then the crew decided they didn’t want to spend another day of solitude in the wilderness and pushed to go to Juneau. The forecast said rain for the weekend, so we decided to get there a day early to explore with less rain.
Mayli caught sight of seals! 
The trip over was a bit bumpy with 2- to 3-foot waves and 20-knot winds for the first hour and then it calmed down for a nice arrival. Auke Bay is a unique marina. It’s large and pretty much a free for all. You just pull in and try to find a space. Luckily, we were able to nab a spot at the end of the breakwater as the marina was packed with many fishing vessels there waiting to go out on Sunday.
Since the crew was new to Juneau, we did the tourist loop and hit up the shops.
Mayli, Boris, and Matt ended up at Tracy’s King Crab Shack. As you know King Crab is amazing. After we demolished 10 lbs between the three of us and had some nice chats with the locals, we headed over to the Red Dog Saloon for the required duck fart shots.
Meanwhile, Tonia took the kids to pho since none of them were too keen on eating crab. The kids were troopers as she drug them up VERY steep hills to check out a pioneer judge’s house (closed due to COVID) and nearby Unspeakable Acts Research Center. Still not sure of what that may entail… 😉 Not to worry, the walking and uphill climb was paid off with a treat in the end!
Patsy Ann
We then stopped for the obligatory family pic in front of the whale statue and called it a day.
July 23
Shrine of Saint Therese
Boris was great and got a rental car for the duration of the Juneau stay. This allowed us to trek outside of town to visit the Shrine of Saint Therese, a church set on a wooded island and connected via a manmade walkway. The grounds were pretty and the labyrinth was neat to see.
Afterwards, we popped back to town to walk around a bit and had Russian dumplings for lunch at Pel’meni.
We did some reprovisioning on the way home and made taco pizza for dinner. Seemed to be a hit! Side note: highly recommend Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust.
July 24
Last Chance Mining Museum
We took today to head to the mining museum. First we did brunch at Sandpiper Café following a local’s recommendation. It did not disappoint and we all left very full. We then headed to the mining museum and decided to hike part of the mountain trails around it since it wasn’t open for another hour. It was a beautiful and uphill hike – at least the first half was very uphill but return was much easier. Passed an old mine shaft and saw more awesome waterfalls.
There was a great volunteer at the museum who gave a history rundown and then we walked through the building with remnants of the mining days long gone.
After the museum, we headed back to downtown for a couple last souvenirs and then back to the boat for dinner and movies.
July 25
Goodbye to Hodaks & return to Swanson Harbor
Sunday morning had us saying our goodbyes to the Hodak family. It was fun to experience Glacier Bay with them and we were sad to see them go.
After their departure, we left Juneau to head once again to Swanson Harbor for the night to meet back up with Coda. It was a calm cruise back and thankfully there was space on the floating dock for us. Steve and Barbara spoiled us with dinner and dessert, so it was a nice relaxing evening.
Sudden Inspiration 