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We got a late start today as we Skyped with Karen and the boys this morning.. They had just received the Eagle tee-shirts I sent and wanted to show them off to me. It was a sunny day! How unusual. We stopped by a gun shop to get the scoop for mailing the gun to Tok. Finally got to the Glacier Garden Rainforest. Spring is finally getting here and I was so soothed to see blooming flowers and plants. This garden was beautiful and we were eventually taken up 380 feet into the rainforest where we had a great view across the Gastineau Channel. The most interesting thing here were the upside down trees. It is a long story but basically the owner, while recaliming the site following a mudslide, on the last day of a rental of an excavator damaged the equipment and in a foul mood he picked up a huge tree trunk and tossed it down the hill. It landed upside down and buried itself in the ground. He noticed it had some growth coming out of the root side of the tree. He has become well known for that. He takes out tree stumps with roots, covers them with chicken wire, covers that with moss and plants up to 75 flowering plants in the moss. They look like flower umbrellas with the beautiful flowers cascading down. They were so pretty. They probably look like heck in the winter but right now they are gorgeous.
After finishing that tour we went into town and had lunch at the Twisted Fish. Garry had more fish ( fried cod and chips) and I had a good old BEEF Hamburger!
I then wanted to ride the Mt. Roberts Tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts and see the view. Garry of course won't do heights so I was going to have to go by myself. The cost was $ 27.00/pp but I had a 2 for 1 coupon. That made me determined to not pay full price for the ticket so I stationed myself inside the terminal and approached different people as they came in to buy tickets. I did discover that the tram is owned by the natives and all the natives that came in could ride for free; several people worked for the company; several people had yearly passes. I was about to give up and pay the full price when a young man (late 20's???) walked purposely in the door and went straight to the ricket counter and asked to buy a single ticket!!!! So I I walked up to him and told him I had a proposition for him. ( I sort of felt like Mrs. Robinson in the movie The Graduate) Of course that shook him up for a moment but when I explained that I had a 2 for 1 coupon and wanted to find someone to share it with me he quickly handed over $ 13.00. So I called Garry (who was sitting out in the camper reading) and told him I had a date with Ryan to ride the tram - and away I went. It was a very smooth ride to the top which took you up 3500 feet in 7 minutes. Great views.
They had a small raptor center up there but nothing like the one in Sitka. There was also a very nice restaurant up there. Anyway I got my ride and some pictures and was well satisfied with me outing. When I got back down Garry and I then walked/ hiked up ( this town is very hilly) several blocks and visited the Juneau Douglas Museum. This museum not only discussed the native history but had a wonderful exhibit on the mining aspects and the founding of the town based on gold. We learned a lot. We left there at 5 as the museum was closing.
We were getting tired so decided to head back to the campground but on the way we decided to go back to the brewery and get another couple of glasses of Alaskan Beer since they give the samples out free. It really amaxes us that you can walk in there any time of day and get up to 6 glasses of free beer!
By that time it was after 8 and we hadn't even had dinner. We are still tired as we have yet to get use to the daylight. It really gets you messed up as it is light so late and is bright so early. Tomorrow we have a tour to Tracy Arm scheduled and we have to get a boat at 7:30 AM so it will be an early start for us. No problem because the light gets us up at 4 initially anyway. Usually we can get back to sleep for a little while. No bears seen yet.
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