Waking up early on my birthday was made easy by the scenery outside. The Solstice spent the morning from 5:30 to 10:00 navigating the narrow waters of Endicott Arm, slowly working its way toward the face of Dawes Glacier. And we were up! As one of the main marine outlets of the Stikine Icefield, Dawes has undergone a rapid retreat, pulling back nearly 4 kilometers since 1985 at an average pace of over 100 meters a year, while thinning fast enough to fragment its terminal face. Witnessing such a grand show of changing nature on the anniversary of my birth felt like a genuine privilege. Standing at the rail as the ship turned in front of the ice face beat any standard birthday routine.
We cleared the fjord by late morning and made the run down to Juneau, docking right on schedule at 1:30 in the afternoon. Rain settled in for most of our stay, keeping the town thoroughly damp throughout the afternoon. Since Juneau is a familiar stop for us, there was no urge to force organized excursions. We discovered that the gondola up Mount Roberts, which we first took to overlook the city twenty-five years ago, was closed due to an accident earlier this spring. Instead, we spent a few unhurried hours exploring the streets on foot under our umbrellas, taking in the usual mix of state capital bustle and waterfront traffic.
We headed back aboard well before our 8:30 evening departure and had dinner in the formal restaurant, where the waiters, as expected, came over to sing Happy Birthday. However, we were in for a major surprise when we returned to the room that evening. They had decorated the place with wild abandon and set a complimentary bottle of white wine right in the middle of all the decorations. Spending a birthday surrounded by cold water, glacial ice, and birthday extravagance made for a memorable entry in the log.
