Tracy Arm Cove to Juneau - 6 ½ hours, 46 miles

Ann saw Dall porpoises in the bow wake, Heather & I were sleeping. They did get to see a couple more whales blowing and swimming by in the distance. Ann & Heather spent their last hours cruising by sitting on the bow in the cold watching the water, jumping salmon, waves, cruise ships, and the many fishing boats that speckle the coast. There are spots of blue sky here and there, so hopefully the weather is mild when we get into town later this afternoon. We arrived back to Juneau around 2pm. We just freshened up and went into town. After docking, we headed straight for the cruise ship doc to check out city/glacier tour info. But think we are just going to take the shuttle back and forth to Mendenhall in the morning ($7/each way). We just went shopping for today. When in this one large superstore of a souvenir shop (was kind of like the Hilo Hattie’s of Juneau, for those familiar with Hilo Hattie’s), they had several TVs on in the store playing various things. But one as on a news station playing Palin footage with the headlines “The Countdown” and “The Goodbye Girl”. I was fully aware that she was officially leaving office as of yesterday, but being out at sea for the last 6 days, it slipped my mind. So I thought it interesting that we were in Juneau at the time she left office (even if she was technically in Fairbanks). From talking to some people up here from cabbies to store employees to seeing some funny mockery of her on a store display (I have pics), I get the jist that she wasn’t well supported up here. Our cab driver this morning even said that every house surrounding the Governor’s Mansion had Obama signed displayed. There aren’t many restaurants in the shopping district. We picked out a hole in the wall Mexican place called ‘El Sombrero’ for dinner, since the touristy saloon we wanted to eat at was a mad house. It was decent. Outside of a store was a newspaper stand, with the Juneau Empire (I think it’s called) with a pic of Palin and the headline “It’s Official”. Heather picked up a copy to save. We then walked back to the boat, after a quick detour to the local grocery store for some ice cream to bring back for dessert.