OctoBRRRRR…oh, my. Steady light rain, gale force wind, temperatures in the upper 40’s…what’s not to like about Alaska in October, right? But we knew this was what we were getting ourselves into, and we didn’t let it spoil the day.
Deaprting Juneau last night was neat, it’s the first nighttime Juneau dearture we’ve done. The visibiity improved greatly a couple of hours before departure, allowing for some nice photos of the lights on the mountain side homes.
Our alarm clock was apparently attached to a bed shaker — or we were awakened by the rumble and shake of the bow thrusters as we maneuvered into the dock at Icy Straight Point. (I’m leaning toward the second explanation.)
Our tickets said the meeting point for our excursion to Alaska’s Wildest Kitchen was Departure Den. But where is that? Turns out it’s a building onshore. I heard several people ask where it was, and we’d gotten the location info from Guest Services, so I decided to post a quick guide in a couple of places to help future vacationers.
This is the base of the green tramway to the main ISP attractions. It’s the first thing you see when you come ashore into the clearing. In fact, you can see the ship through the trees in the photo. I was standing just outside Departure Den.
This is the base of the red tramway to the top of the mountain for the zip rider and some other attractions. Departure Den is right by this lift.
Alaska’s Wildest Kitchen is an educational and food tasting excursion. Our guide today was entertaining and informative, and a bit of a unique personality. I fact, I don’t remember her real name,only that she’s known around Hoonah as “Rainbow.” I wonder why?
A closeup of the board behind her displaying the five types of salmon found in Alaskan waters.
The “kitchen” is part of a recently-consructed theater building that’s in an alcove at the “far” end of the main attraction area (the former cannery).
We were able to enjoy a wine spritzer, taste smoked salmon dip, and eat salmon burgers and halibut breakfast sausage. You honestly can’t tell the meat in the sausage is fish. The experience ended with us cooking our own salmon filets. We each seasoned our own.
The beach view was, like the rest of the day — misty, foggy, and chilly 🙂
A quick ride back on the green tram and we were walking back to the ship…
Dinner: Ocean Blue
I setup today as a seafood theme, so dinner at Ocean Blue was a great way to end it.
Roxan chose a filet mignon
I chose a seafood linguine
I also had Black Tiger shrimp as an appetizer
Dessert: I had Key Lime pie, Roxan had Vanilla Cheesecake in a Jar.
Our service team was stellar tonight. Thank you to Kadek and all of the team!
While the service was stellar, I’d have to say the food was…okay. Nothing wrong with it in any way, but there was nothing flavor or texture wise that stood out in any way…except the Key Lime pie. Wow, that was sharp in flavor! Just as one would expect…I’d rate that dish a 10 🙂
As I write this we’re entering Glacier Bay and just finished the first ranger talk. I expect I’ll have a lot of photos from today — actually got out the camera instead of relying on my phone.
and then