Top 5 Baby Boomer Things to do in Juneau, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska – There is a very high probability that a baby boomer trying to figure out what to do in Juneau, Alaska will be visiting aboard a cruise ship. This generally means that you will have limited time for your visit and that you will be looking for the top attractions in the area.
As two baby boomers who found ourselves in exactly that predicament, we thought it might be helpful to put together our suggestions for the top five things for baby boomers to do in Juneau, Alaska.
Top 5 Baby Boomer Things to do in Juneau, Alaska
- Whale Watching. Juneau, Alaska is the summer stomping grounds of the humpback whale. You haven’t lived until you’ve been eye to eye with a humpback. In our opinion, this is a must do!
- Glacier Exploration. The Juneau Icefield is the North America’s fifth largest icefield. It blankets over 1,500 square miles of land, and stretches nearly 85 miles north to south and 45 miles east to west. It feeds 38 large glaciers, including the Mendenhall Glacier which is just minutes outside of downtown Juneau. There are a multitude of ways to explore the glacier from simply visiting the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, to hiking, kayaking, and even helicopter tours. Don’t miss this magnificent site!
- Mount Roberts Tramway. Ride an enclosed tramway gondola from the cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau through the rain forest to the 1,800-foot level of Mount Roberts for one of the most expansive views in Southeast Alaska. At the top you will find a restaurant, a wonderful hiking trail, bear viewing platforms, and simply a wonderful place to feel the breeze on your face and admire the breathtaking scenery. I shot the above photograph atop Mount Roberts.
- Explore Juneau. We didn’t have much time for this, but we did get a short tour driving through Juneau from our Juneau tourism contact. Juneau is rich in history with its first peoples cultures, its Russian roots, the gold-rush era, and certainly its fishing, mining, and lumbering. With a stroll through the streets of Juneau, you will be able to sample all of this and perhaps even quaff back an ice-cold Alaskan micro-brew.
- Explore the Tracy Arm. This is another thing we didn’t have time to do. But given another day in Juneau, this would have been at the top of my list. The Tracy Arm is a dramatic glacial fjord that is right in Juneau’s backyard. It sits in the Tongass National Forest and is filled with glaciers, icebergs, whales, bald eagles, and even an occasional black bear can be seen along the shore. Exploring the Tracy Arm is a full-day adventure, but after seeing Glacier Bay, I was left wanting more.
Creating a top five list is a fairly difficult thing to do because ultimately we had to leave out other adventures that we would have loved to experience.
Salmon fishing, for example, comes to mind. Although, Carol turned up her nose on that and said, “how about a salmon bake, instead”. 🙂
We absolutely loved Juneau, and we hope that these two boomers might again find ourselves roaming the streets of Juneau.
Have fun. We certainly did!
Disclosure: our whale watching, glacier exploration, and ride aboard the Mount Roberts Tramway were provided and arranged through Juneau Tourism. Thanks! We had a blast!
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Climing the Medenhall, Mt Roberts, Mt Juneau, hunt gote in Tracy Arm, Run the Taku in to Tulsequah for coffee, Run the tides under the JD brige in a kayak, The same guy that did the Golden Gate. Salmon Cr.dam The same engneer that did the Hover Dam. Walk the Treadwell Mine beach. Do the mine in the Silver Bolw bacin. Be web footed & don’t give a quick. Do the AJ mine & Thane power plant. See if you like Limon cr. Stop in the Taku Harbor on the way to Snettisham power plant. Go to Berners Bay to see the end of the road. On the way up the Taku stop in theTwin Glacer Lake to water sky. Juts to know why no one can put a road in to Juneau. Then run to Glacier Bay then to Pelican to party.
Come on you make it sound like there is not much to do in Juneau. Hell you can party in Hoona on the way back then to Excursion inlet to be bate, Leave fast the bugs will eat ya. Then to party in Skagway to hop the train to keep parting, to Dason City sec. only to Paris in ladys fashions at one time. Not mane Citys can say that. While there try to lose your poke at Dimoan tooth Gurty. Come home with a big smile broke, to rest up for some more fun. Wake – up & smell the coffee.
This Babe Boomer did this. So get with it.
Oh ya walked the Valley of Ten Thouseand Smokes in Katmai 15 days.
Wow! Quite the list. Thanks for sharing! Next time we’re in Juneau, we’ll definitely get with it. 🙂