We sailed out of Ketchikan at about three in the afternoon and headed north to the capital city of Juneau Alaska. We had a nice long 13 hours in this port so anything we wanted to do was an option.
And there are a lot of options. Juneau was probably the most commercialized port of call on this trip. The attractions handbook provided by the cruise company listed 44 attractions for Juneau. Literally almost anything you wanted to do was an option and you had the time to do it.
One thing my wife wanted to do was a zip line. In the unlikely event you are unfamiliar with the term, a zip line is where one ride in a harness suspended from a pulley along a stretched cable between two or more points. Now why a mostly sane 50 year old woman would want to something like is beyond my ability to understand. As a matter of fact she wanted to do it so badly that it was the only excursion we purchased in advance after reviewing the two or three options available to her.
She begged me to go with her and slide the glide. I told her no but encouraged her to do it without me. Somewhere around the 7th or 8th time I said they did not have enough booze in all the lounges on this ship to get my butt in that sling she accepted no for an answer and bought her ticket.
I did a little research of things to keep me entertained for the six hours her trip would take. Going along was not an option because you hike up the mountain and zip line back down. This tired old butt was not about to walk both ways and I already made myself clear about the zipping part.
Low and behold the world famous Red Dog Saloon is here and not a long walk from the pier so we departed the ship together. I got her on the proper bus and waddled on down to the Red Dog. It was about 10 or 10:30 in the morning and I wasn't sure they would be open. The sign said open so I entered for a quick look around.
Imagine my surprise when I walked in on the sawdust covered floor to live music and a standing room only crowd. Not even in Las Vegas have I ever seen such a boisterous drinking crowd at 10:30 AM. Not drunks or college kids just normal people having a party before lunch and singing along with the guitar picking folksy musician.
The saw dust covered floor picture isn't worth sharing but here is an interior shot of the bar. Yes, those are real dollar bills, autographed by famous and not so famous people.
Some kind folks from Indiana or Alabama pointed to an empty bar stool hidden behind them and said join the party. So I did; Alaskan Summer Ale before lunch. This was an absolute first for the drink and the time of day. I am pretty sure it was 5 o’clock somewhere. It was such a darn fun place I spent a couple of hours and a couple of more of those Summer Ales sitting right there.
Then I walked around the port area window shopping and taking photos until the bus brought my rather exhausted wife back. She said the zip line was a blast but the hiking just plain wore her out. The Summer Ale had done about the same for me so we returned to the ship in the middle of the afternoon.
Aren't we an exciting couple?