ArcticKitty Tackles Alaska - Carnival Splendor 02-10 May 2022- Trip Planning, Trip Report, & Mehhhhbe Some LIVE

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

The masons are everywhere.

 

 

At least in Alaska.

 

 

 

This is our state’s capitol.

 

 

 

I was trying to figure out if there’s a body buried here.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Basin road is an easy walk that leads to many trails and is a worthy destination in and of itself.

 

 

We saw lots of dog walkers and lunch break fast walkers and it was clearly being used plentifully by locals.

 

 

I wanted to go down here.  I love foot bridges.

 

 

 

 

Trail signs are also plentiful and the You are Here dots helped.  The turnoffs for the Flume Trail and the Mount Roberts trail are close to each other on opposite sides of the street.

 

 

Here is the map scale.

 

 

We’d originally planned to do Mount Roberts but I couldn’t find the downward tram ride price online and started to get the hunch that the Perseverance trail was going to be a great destination.

 

 

Mount Roberts tram schedule.  A downward only ticket is $15

 

 

Views everywhere beckoned to us.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau

 

 

 

 

 

We were not expecting all of the mechanically-minded history.

 

Since Special Someone is a mechanically minded person, he was able to bring all of this alive for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Someone pointed out the Ingersoll Rand brand and how they’re still around today.

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

An old mine shaft.

 

 

Lovely spring growth.  
 

 

This plant is called Putchki or Cow Parsnip and it’s one of my favorites because everyone will tell you it’s a major skin irritant, (it can be) but it’s delicious.  You can harvest and peel the spring stems and use it just like celery.  You can eat it raw or cook it or freeze it.  Aleuts I know joked that only white people are allergic to it; if so the rash usually requires some sun exposure to activate it.  When I harvested it out on the island, I wore gloves and picked on cloud days as a precaution.  My favorite ways to eat it were stuffed with cream cheese or peanut butter as ants on a log, pickled, or sliced and frozen and then I would use it in soups and everything.

 

 

The leaves are also very flavorful and can be used to wrap fish to steam.

 

You can see the fine prickles under the leaves and all along the stems.

 

 

I think the map is showing that we are making some progress.

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Perseverance Trail

 

 

I don’t think I have ever seen so many warning signs on a trail.

 

 

 

 

Progress was slow because I took so many pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Quartz vein.

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

A lovely spot for the next installment of breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mixed berry pastry from The Rookery.

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Continuing our morning meander on the Perseverance Trail in Juneau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Perseverance Trail in Juneau…endless delights.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Perseverance trail in Juneau…past the turnoff for Mt. Juneau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

This was the end of the line for us on the Perseverance Trail in Juneau.

 

 

 

Old road bed evidence.

 

 

 

We were so curious about the damage to these trees.

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau

 

 

Back at the trailhead parking lot, we saw someone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maryann2]

I think the bears might have done the damage to the trees.  They like to scratch their backs on them.

Were you carrying bells to alert them?

[arctickitty]

43 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

I think the bears might have done the damage to the trees.  They like to scratch their backs on them.

Were you carrying bells to alert them?

We were thinking porcupines and beavers…could be bears.  
 

I fall into the anti-bear bell school of thought which posits the theory that bears get habituated to their uniform sound.  I do have a whistle at the ready at all times.  If I’m by myself I might hook my keychain onto myself to jangle or I’d sing.  A well placed “Hey bear, hey bear” is fitting when crossing their habitat.  And if I'm not cruising, I’d have bear spray (where I live, it’s more for protection from moose than bears but it works on both).  (I should have tried to bring some on board so that I could complain on John Heald’s FB page when it got confiscated).  That said, with two people, we tend to talk a lot.  And this was a very well traveled trail with lots of humans and dogs.  The bear was actually in the parking lot and not even on the trail.  Special Someone thought I was hilarious because I grabbed a giant branch and carried it for a good while (to wave and make myself look bigger if the bear looked interested).   This was my first time in 15 years of living in Alaska to see a bear while I was on foot, so I have done a pretty job avoiding them while hiking.

 

Reminds me!  When we encountered Andy and the Fun Squad hiking in Skagway, they’d all been singing at the top of their lungs.  This is often an effective bear deterrent.

 

After Juneau, we did catch up with Andy later and give him our hiking tips and made him jealous with our bear pictures. Hopefully he gets to enjoy some of Juneau’s trails soon, too!

Edited May 16, 2022 by arctickitty

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

On our way back to town from Perseverance, we visited the Flume trail.

 

 

This was a nice area to visit.  With lots of warning signs.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

It was time for another snack so we walked to get Pelmeni right on the waterfront.  Lots of thumbs up on these.  
 

 

While we waited for them to be ready, we took turns wandering around the little shopping complex.  If I had unlimited funds, I would buy lots of books from small bookstores everywhere.  This is a nice one.

 

 

There is a deck/viewing area and I took some pictures of the Splendor.

 

 

After this stop, we went to Harbor Tea & Spice to remedy my lack of access to herbal, non-caffeinated tea.  
 

I had not researched the topic of tea available on board and just assumed there’d be at least one herbal option on the buffet (eg mint and/or chamomile) but they only have Lipton, Lipton decaf, and Bigelow green.  They have higher end teas available for purchase at Java Blue but I had a hard time justifying paying $2.50 for a single tea bag more than once.

 

I neglected to take pictures but Harbor Tea & Spice is a genuine loose leaf shop so it also wasn’t the place to get a box of tea, but I did get a bag of a local plant blend to bring home and I decided to get a bag of whole chamomile flowers and a box of paper tea bags.  I’d never used them before but you stuff the tea in yourself for loose tea with the convenience of a tea bag.  After my first attempt spilled open, Special Someone pointed out that I had a mini stapler in my craft bag, and after that I stapled them.  Starting worth Juneau evening I thus had pot after pot of chamomile tea every evening and half the day some days.  I must have guessed correctly on the amount of flowers I purchased because I drank them all. I now have the remainder of the tea bags to use at home (maybe they will work at my new work assignment?). In the end, I did not save any money by the numbers, but I supported a small local business and I got a better product (and I have the leftover bags).  Short story, if you want some non-caffeine tea, bring your own or be prepared to pay for it.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Then we went up to this little food truck cluster for salmon tots.

 

 

 

The S’mores place we wanted to go to for smoked salmon (and bacon) s’mores was not open this time or the earlier time we’d stopped by.

 

We’d planned to go to the Alaska State Museum as it had never been open on any of my previous trips to Juneau (it was under construction for years) but we felt like we had time for a museum or…beer.

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Beer won.

 

 

Similarly to Seattle, we felt that Juneau warranted a winter trip to visit the museum in the future.

 

 

There are a lot of breweries in Juneau. We wanted one that isn’t sold in our local stores and every time I’d looked at Yelp they’d suggested Devil’s Club Brewing.  Devil’s Club is a plant that will definitely give you a rash but it has powerful medicinal purposes.  

 

While I can’t say that I exactly recommend the artist whose work was on display, we enjoyed sampling the beers.

 

The variety of flavors was a welcome surprise.

 

 

The biggest surprise/winner was the North Douglas Chocolate Cake.

 

I have fond memories of sampling different local sparkling waters in France and Italy (they taste so different from place to place) so I asked for the Alaska Pure Sparkling Water.  They didn’t open the can, so I saved it and brought it home with me.  We saw it in stores in Juneau as well.

 

Special Someone went to the bathroom and came back and said they solved the signage problem in a way that he could get behind.

 

Of course I had to go look.

 

 

But then I had to choose.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

The benefit of eating our way around Juneau was we could better handle our drink.  I think it was Skagway evening where we got lost onboard looking for the Golden Pearl and had many a whispered argument about how to get there until we arrived at one of our mottos for the trip, “You have to go down to go up.”

 

 

We’d seen local gin in a liquor store in Juneau and looked it up and found Amalga Distillery right around the corner from Devil’s Club Brewing.

 

 

Their signature product is Juneauper Gin with local plants including Devil’s Club.

 

 

The free samples were outstanding so we ordered their gin & tonic made with housemade tonic and the Sea Monkey made with housemade ginger.

 

 

They were excellent.  I could go on and on about the complexity of the flavor.

 

 

We added a strawberry donkey since everything was so good.

 

 

No tough choices here.

 

 

They are working on making bourbon but it’s not ready yet.

 

 

From Amalga we walked back towards the dock.  The s’mores place was open and in retrospect, we had time, but we were concerned about it and we also wanted to get more chicken sticks from Bernadette’s for our steward since this was not his week to get off the ship.

 

YMMV but for what it’s worth, security borrowed the large bottle we purchased at Amalga and we went round the corner and did the paperwork (and got it back the last night) but they didn’t touch anything else we’d bought there.  Probably because we didn’t buy any ulus for John Heald.

[scrotser]

How were the salmon tots?  I saw lots of things on that menu that sounded good!

[arctickitty]

13 hours ago, scrotser said:

How were the salmon tots?  I saw lots of things on that menu that sounded good!

Salmon tots were awesome!  The outside was dry and crisp, so they’d been fried correctly.  The inside was a lot like a crab cake.  I’m very picky about eating seafood out and this was worth it.  I was tempted to get more food there and I’d eat there again.  The food truck cluster is nice and you & your party can mix & match and hopefully please everyone.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 7 / Cruise Day 5

 

Second Port Day / Juneau
 

 

Dinner time after Juneau.

 

 

Alligator beignets.  The gator walked thru these hushpuppies.

 

 

BBQ flatbread.

 

 

French onion soup.

 

 

The 50th anniversary chicken thing.  It was ok.  I’m pretty sure that were missing a picture of the BBQ spare ribs because they were the best dish this night.

 

 

Cinnamon pumpkin pie.  Yes I ordered this despite my previous adventures with Carnival misplacing Thanksgiving.  Like their other crusts, the crust was underdone.  The filling was a little weird even to this weird eater.  But I was pretty happy to sit there and eat pie crust.  When I was little and my mom baked pie, the scraps she baked up with cinnamon sugar were my favorite dessert.  
 

 

Lasagna bolognese.  Despite them doing a great job at other res sauces, this one had a funny flavor that we blamed on the sausage, properly, or sugar, as it tasted sweet.

 

 

Praline dessert

 

 

Buffet menu for lido fans.

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 8 / Cruise Day 6

 

Second Port Day / Hoonah / Icy Strait Point 
 

 

Good morning en route to Hoonah!

 

 

I see that not only did my breakfast arrive in backwards order, but now it’s also upside down.

 

This was the most comical breakfast experience I had.  Nothing made any sense.

 

I left Special Someone asleep and went to Port Day breakfast when they opened at 7:30.  I ordered this sandwich for him, thinking I’d get it last since it was an entree.  Nope.

 

I ate the hasbrown because the little round ones are a guilty pleasure of mine and I hadn’t had any yet this cruise.  Same as Princess!

 

 

Next came my oatmeal.  It’s not thick or steel cut but at least it wasn’t runny.

 

 

Second to last came my granola and another burnt grapefruit.

 

Very last came my melon, which I had to ask for at least four times.  
 

My server apologized that his partner was asleep.  I said, It’s ok, my partner is asleep, too.

 

 

 

 

[arctickitty]

The above should read: 

 

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 8 / Cruise Day 6

 

Third Port Day / Hoonah / Icy Strait Point 

 

 

[arctickitty]

Carnival Splendor Alaska Cruise

 

Trip Day 8 / Cruise Day 6

 

Third Port Day / Hoonah / Icy Strait Point 
 

 

Icy Strait Point sure has built a lot more stuff since my last visit.  It was a tender port and even lower key.

 

 

In case you can’t tell that you can walk on the beach…

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last view of the Carnival Splendor before we turned onto the forest trail.