Life as a Leach

Our second port day was to Juneau.  Whereas Skagway was a very small town, Juneau is a much bigger city and more industrial.  We got off of our ship and were in the middle of a big shipping port.  We had to get on a shuttle to go to the shopping areas.  There were many more shops and restaurants than in Skagway, but it was also much more urban.  Today's excursion was whale watching.  We used a private tour group again, but it didn't have the same personal feel as in Skagway.  It was a bigger company that had multiple buses, so we kept having different drivers every time we would get on.  The whale watching was interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable. Everyone got snacks and water, which was nice.  The indoor seating area was really great with a nice kind of bar set up so that you could have your camera or binoculars in front of you.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of outdoor seating, so you pretty much had to stand i...

Our first port day was in Skagway, and the nice thing about this port is that the shopping district is right at the port.  Everything is within walking distance and is clustered together into a few streets.  Skagway is pretty small, and there were only a few restaurants there.  I guess I expected more from a port town, but we just got a snack at port and ate lunch on the ship anyway.  We let the kids take pictures of the adults and it was hysterical listening to them say, "Smile nicely!"  "Look at the camera!"  "Stand still!" just like we do when we take pictures of them. In Skagway, our excursion was visiting an Ididarod musher and riding a summer sled pulled by Alaskan Huskies.  We booked with a private company instead of going through Disney.  It was significantly cheaper and we read that this excursion allowed a lot more time with the sled dog puppies than the Disney excursion.  Puppy cuddling was of utmost importance to many o...