Juneau
Juneau is so beautiful, I can easily see how my mom, Richard, and Kathy just fell in love with it. The flight from Anchorage to Juneau is pretty quick, and the price difference between coach and first class wasn’t that much, so we splurged. FUN! The picture above is one of many from that flight. The mountains just go on forever.
As you can see, we finally got some sunny weather. Don’t get me wrong, I like misty, drizzly weather, but thus far it had really gotten in the way of some of the things I wanted to see, like the stars at night without light pollution, the Aurora Borealis, the bore tide in Anchorage, the Beluga whales, and Mt. Denali. I was ready for at least a bit of sunshine. After we landed, we went to lunch at a casual restaurant right on the channel. Tourism is the main industry in Juneau. There are 3 cruise ships in this picture, and there can be as many as 7 there at a time. The streets of downtown Juneau get really crowded. Since we live near San Francisco, I compare it to Pier 39 on a crowded day. Anyway, lunch was good, and we enjoyed watching the little planes take off and land on the water. They are part of a 40 minute aerial tour of local glaciers that we did not take. We did some grocery shopping, and checked into our Airbnb. I didn’t take any pictures of the Airbnb, but I loved it. It was an apartment, built in 1906, and really reminded me of my first flat in San Francisco, which was built around the same time. A long hallway with rooms off to the side, small kitchen with solid wood shelving, built in shelves in the living and dining rooms. It was nice because it was a couple of blocks away from Richard and Kathy’s house, and also a few blocks away from the crowds. That evening we had dinner at our Airbnb, which was what we call ‘European Dinner‘, and is a snacky meal of sausage, cheese, bread, and fruit. Always a winner in our book.
Because we finally had some clear skies, once it was dark, Kathy drove Ted and I out to the Mendenhall Glacier to see some stars. I had ideas in my head of seeing the milky way, but that darned full moon got in the way of that, by making the sky too darned bright. It wasn’t nearly as bright as the photo Ted took, above, makes it look, but we weren’t going to see the milky way. It was SO quiet, just the sound of a waterfall at the other end of the lake, and the waves created by the waterfall lapping at our feet. The stars were beautiful indeed. Another person or two showed up to take pictures, and a man told us that if we waited a couple of hours, we might see the Aurora Borealis. Tempting, but the sun was still setting pretty late, and Kathy told us that the Aurora is less dramatic and spectacular in Juneau, more, “Oh, is that a wispy cloud? Is it green? I’m not sure.” So we decided not to wait until the wee hours of the morning, we were tired. We enjoyed the spot for its quiet stillness, and the beautiful stars, and then went home.
The following morning, Kathy and I took a nice walk back into the woods, past my mom’s old house, and out past an old gold mine from the mid 1800s. It was a lovely walk, but by the time we got home, my feet were starting to hurt. Stupid arthritis, it usually only gives me grief if I stand too long, not when I walk.
After that, we went home and got cleaned up, then all of us except Richard braved the crowds of tourists downtown, past the ubiquitous jewelry and t-shirt shops. (These are mainly owned by the cruise lines. The employees that work there often work in Juneau in the summer, and then another port in warmer climates during the winter. If you are careful, though, you can find shops that are locally owned.) We got our tickets for the tram up to the top of Mount Roberts. It was a long wait in line to get on the tram, so we went to lunch first (back at the place where we had gone the day before, it was good and not so overrun with crowds). I had wanted to have lunch at the little restaurant at the top of the mountain, because that’s what we did back in 1999, and my mom was with me on that trip, blah blah blah. I was far too invested emotionally in recreating that experience. So I got grumpy with Ted about having lunch first, but he was easy going about it and talked some sense into me. Thank goodness, I’m glad we had lunch first, because then we weren’t hungry and grumpy when we went up, plus the line wasn’t as long for the tram by the time we finished eating. Once we got to the top, we took a hike around and enjoyed the spectacular views. The picture above is of the Channel, and you can see 2 of the cruise ships there. Southeast Alaska is mostly high mountains, the sea, and these little bits of land where they meet, which is where the towns and villages have been built. The island on the other side of the Channel is Douglas Island, which is part of the City and Borough of Juneau. Juneau is geographically huge, it is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island, though the vast majority of it is unpopulated, being mountains and glaciers and forest. After our hike, we stopped for a cool drink in the restaurant, so I ended up getting that experience after all. It used to be a sit down restaurant, and now was much more casual, order at the counter type place. But the views were lovely.
That evening, Ted and I went out for a lovely dinner at an Alaskan Cuisine restaurant, Salt. We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender, who looked to be close to Maya’s age. She was born in Juneau and went to college in Seattle, but missed home too much, and is very happy to be in that beautiful city. I wasn’t very hungry, so I had an appetizer sized portion of lamb chops, which were absolutely delicious, and were served with a malbec cherry chutney and mint, and a few greens. We shared the fried Brussels sprouts, which were a little overcooked (not as crispy as we would have liked), but still good. Ted had the lamb tenderloin, which he liked so much he wanted to shake the chef’s hand. Alas, he had gone home for the evening. It was a lovely dinner, and a lovely day.
20 Comments
nance
I remember Juneau well. We eschewed the jewelry and tee shops, too, and tried to see other areas. I was constantly in awe of the incredible scenery everywhere in Alaska. I remember feeling almost protective of it, hoping that it would be allowed to stay gorgeous and wild and unmolested any further by oil drilling and other things.
(I got both of your comments, by the way. I have settings on my blog to moderate after two weeks, and since I’ve been on a considerably lengthy hiatus, they were waiting to be approved.)
J
Nance, Alaska is so stunning, I think it captures the imagination quite well. I hope it can remain wild as long as possible.
Nicole MacPherson
This is so beautiful, J! Those photos are gorgeous!
J
Thank you Nicole!
Ally Bean
Your Airbnb sounds lovely, just the kind of vibe I feel comfortable in. I also like your European Dinner idea that you’ve mentioned before. You make living the high life seem attainable. Great photos as usual, too.
J
Thanks Ally! European dinner is always one of my favorites. We had it again this week.
Margaret
I would love to get to Juneau some day! My friend and I had a cruise scheduled for July 2020 but as you can probably guess, it was canceled. What gorgeous views!
J
Margaret, Juneau is so spectacular. I hope you make it some time.
Zazzy
This whole series has been lovely. From your memories and old photos to your descriptions and story telling as well as new photos, it’s been a delight. There is so much to see there. Perhaps in another lifetime.
J
Thanks Zazzy! There are a few more installments coming.
Melissa
Wow, stunning! Thanks for sharing about your trip. I would love to go there sometime. I’m glad you got to have a drink in the restaurant and relive a bit of your previous experience.
J
Thanks Melissa! I didn’t know how important that was to me until suddenly, it was. Alaska is beautiful, I hope everyone can see it sometime. But it gets so crowded, so I guess, maybe not all at once?
Stephany
If I ever make it to Alaska, it will probably be on a cruise so this was fun to read! Juneau sounds like a typical “cruise port” kind of area: very touristy but if you search hard enough, you can find the local places. How fun!
J
Stephany, I think that is how the vast majority of people see Alaska, on a cruise. The advantages are, of course, that you see several ports, and that you don’t have to unpack to get from point a to point b. I did see that the stores we went to had signs in the window saying, ‘locally owned’, and they were not perhaps a block or two further away from where the ships dock.
Lisa’s Yarns
How beautiful! I would love to go to Alaska some day. It looks so gorgeous and I know there is lots of hiking available. Your dinner out sounds delicious. I love that Ted wanted to shake the hand of the chef! So sweet!!
J
Alaska is SO beautiful. If you are interested in hiking, perhaps flying in and seeing one or two villages would be better than a cruise. Most people that come to Alaska do so on a cruise, but there are defitnitely other options, like what we did.
San
Wow, what a beautiful area. It’s unfortunate that it’s beauty also comes with the “price” of lots of tourists. Whenever I travel somewhere more remote, I am of course excited to see beautiful landscape but I am also put off by the crowds (fully aware that I am part of the problem).
J
San, Homer was much calmer, far fewer tourists. Also, one could go to Juneau the way we did (by airplane) and stay in a hotel or airbnb, and be able to get away from the crowds that way. I adore Juneau, but yeah, it’s really overrun by tourists much of the time. it is a big part of their economy, they rely on it, but it does make things crowded.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I can only repeat myself: the country is gorgous. I’d love to be there, sit there, whatch the stars.
How interesting that the shops are owned by the cruise ship company. Not surprisingly when you think about it but how sad for local businesses. Definitely something I am now aware of and will try to avaid if I am ever on a cruise or Alaska.
J
Tobia, it was something I was not aware of before our trip. It never occurred to me until my husband mentioned how many jewlery stores there were, and my SIL told us about it, and how most of the locally owned stores had signs in their windows identifying them as local, which was really helpfu.