Happy Thursday! I am excited to share the next day of our Alaskan cruise with you today. When I was in middle school, our family went to Alaska. My uncle was in the Coast Guard and stationed in Juneau. On our return trip to Juneau this time, my mom had an idea of what she wanted us all to do together. When we went in the 90s, we hiked, fished, and took a helicopter ride onto Mendenhall glacier. Getting back on a glacier was our number one goal in Juneau and my mom planned it BIG!! Are you ready to get to our Juneau day? There are A LOT of pictures coming your way. Here we go!

We had a scheduling snafu and my sister’s crew was scheduled to go on the helicopter at a different time than my crew and my parents. This was how we learned to always check your excursion times as soon as you get on the ship. Lesson learned! When we realized it at 7:15 am, there wasn’t anything we could do to get the timeslots swapped. We were off to a rocky start, but we made the absolute best of it and all enjoyed our time on the glacier. Annie and fam landed back at the helipad when we were there to head out to the glacier. We were able to get a picture all together on the helipad. You may be wondering why Annie and I have matching coats. Well, we thought we might be able to remake this picture from our first time on a glacier together. We didn’t but we were still wearing our pink coats.

Annie said it was so fun and an incredible experience so we were so excited to get in the helicopters. The helicopter company decides who rides in which helicopter based on weight so Luke, Jeff, and I were in one and Jack, my mom, and my dad were in another. Luke and I were in the front seat and had a windows at our feet and all around us. We flew over mountains and other glaciers on our way to Norris glacier. It was so, so beautiful! Our flight was about 20 minutes of Alaskan nature.

Then we landed at camp, DOG SLED CAMP!! Yes, we were going dog sledding on the glacier. In the summer, many dog sled kennels do dog sledding with wheels on grass or gravel paths. My mom was really hoping to do dog sledding on ice and we got to. Oh my goodness, it was incredible!! I am not a dog person, but I loved this. The dogs are gorgeous and it was so very obvious that they need to run and pull. These Alaskan Huskies just want to go, go go! There were four groups of dogs on the glacier. Each group had about 35-40 dogs in each group. They run on a team with dogs from their group. (I don’t think group is the technical term for the group, but it makes sense in my mind.) The mushers are very strategic when placing the dogs in their teams and positions. They do not put males and females side by side if there is a chance they could be interested in each other. The dogs strength, age, experience, and how they work together are taken into account when they are put in position. These sleds had room for four people and the musher. My mom, dad, Jack, and Luke all rode together. Jeff and I were on a sled with a couple from the Atlanta area. They were lovely and we all had a chance to be in all four positions.

Our musher was in his first summer on the glacier and was wonderful. He shared a ton of information about mushing, the dogs, training, and dog sledding in general with us. We had some naughty dogs that wanted to go on an old route and he had to go direct them while we stayed on the sled. He instructed us to all keep a lot of force on the brakes and hooks that act as brakes when he got off. Apparently our pups like to take a run when they realized the musher is off the sled. Luckily they stayed put! We rode around the route and stopped a few times to give the dogs a break in the “heat” and that allowed us to change positions. Our total ride was about 25-30 minutes long. It was AMAZING!!! The dog sled organization is on Instagram @akdogtour if you want to check it out. Also, there is an opportunity to purchase pictures they take on the glacier. We did and included in the pictures were pictures of the dogs. We got 199 photos on the flash drive and it was half photos of dogs and half photos of our groups.

It started raining as we got back on the helicopter and we rode back in the rain. We were moving fast enough that the rain whisked right off the helicopter and we could still see the mountains. We actually flew over another dog sled kennel that did the grass/gravel training runs in the summer.

When we got back to the heliport, we hopped on the bus back to Juneau. Our bus driver dropped us off downtown so we didn’t have to walk from the cruise ship terminal back downtown. Annie, Zach, and Maggie were eating lunch when we got back and my mom and dad joined them. Jeff and Jack found a bookstore in the Historic Merchant’s Wharf so we stopped in. Then, Luke and I wanted to get to a camera shop recommended by the ship’s naturalist because we forgot the camera battery charger so we hit the road. Jeff and Jack explored around Juneau and we were going to meet at The Red Dog Saloon. Well, I found another bookstore on the way to the camera store so we were a little late. This was a great bookstore and I bought two books and a few bookmarks. The owner was working and I asked her to recommend a book that would keep the spirit of Juneau and Alaska in my mind as I was reading. I am looking forward to reading her recommendations this fall.

When we found Jeff and Jack, they had already been to The Red Dog and saw Wyatt Earp’s gun that he left there. We stopped in and the boys got a donut at Jellyfish Donuts. We were not brave enough to try the salmon donut. The boys were thrilled with their flavor choices.

It was really starting to rain at this point, so we headed back to the ship. The walk back to the ship was Totem Pole Trail. I took pictures of a few. They are such a neat way of storytelling and sharing the culture of a group of people.

We caught up with my parents on the walk back and I loved this picture of Luke and Mom together!

I didn’t take a single picture at dinner this night. I’m sure it was delicious! I think Jeff and I got in the hot tub this night. I did a catch a few pictures of the sun behind the clouds. It was so beautiful! This was at 9:30 pm and we still had at least an hour until it was really dark.

For your reference, we were on the Discovery Princess and our itinerary for the trip was:
Saturday 6/27 – board the ship in Whittier, AK
Sunday 6/28 – day at sea, Hubbard Glacier
Monday 6/29 – day at sea, Glacier Bay National Park
Tuesday 6/30 – Icy Strait Point/Hoonah
Wednesday 7/1 – Juneau
Thursday 7/2 – Ketchikan
Friday 7/3 – day at sea
Saturday 7/4 – disembark in Vancouver
Sunday 7/5 – Vancouver and red eye home

This was an incredible day! I never in my life thought I would get to dog sled on a glacier, but I did on July 1, 2026. I am so glad my mom persevered and kept looking for opportunities to do this. It was so cool! Thanks Mom!! I set a goal of sharing the rest of our trip before I go back to school, so I am on the clock! Have a great day full of sunshine and books!