Juneau

Otto in Juneau

Note: Our previous Alaska posts are below and in the archive below:  introduction (July 26)

                Tatshenshini people (July 27)

                Tashenshini raft trip (August 3)

                ferry (September 7)

Magical to drive off the ferry and find ourselves presto-change-o in Juneau!  There Otto was full of storage boxes; ice chest; Coleman stove; books and maps; laptop; cameras, binoculars, spotting scope, and tripod; clothes and boots; tent and rain shelter; sleeping bags; and Nunataq, for paddling later in the trip in Sitka, packed in two fairly huge bags. 

Early Morning, Lake Mendenhall and the Glacier from Our Campsite

Heading Down Fourth St.'s Continuation East of Harris St.

On the nights just before and after the wonderful Tatshenshini raft trip, we stayed in a motel; we camped our other Juneau nights at the Forest Service’s very beautiful Mendenhall Campground.  During our days, we hiked near the glacier, walked around town, shopped in the world’s smallest Costco--really--, and tried out restaurants.  

Ready for Mosquitos on Seventh Street?

What Were They Thinking?  What Happens When It Rains?

Using the Juneau-Douglas City Museum’s brochure that maps out two relatively short walking tours in downtown Juneau, one through the business district and one through the very, very uphill residential neighborhoods, we sauntered around, meeting a census worker trying unsuccessfully to find addresses on the 4^th and 5^th Street stairs. 



We also met, by coincidence, the resident of a house we had just puzzled over as we were puzzling over another.  He got off his bike and solved two mysteries: what looked like mosquito netting around an outdoor desk at his house turned out to be old curtains that his wife had draped around a dining table, and the oddly shingled and rounded eaves on his neighbor’s house were an effort at creating an English look.  As did many people we met in southeast AK, he had MT connections, including having ridden a bike up the Rattlesnake on a trip to Missoula. 

Evening, Juneau and the Gastineau Channel from Douglas Island

Three of These Downtown Buildings Are Cruise Ships

We ate well.  Imagine rolling out of the tent and taking a short drive down the Mendenhall Valley for perfect coffee, pastries, and frittatas at the Paradise Café with its décor of skis, musical instruments, cowboy boots, a bowling ball and set of pins, and signs that say, "Paris is always a good idea" and "Beer, wine: it isn't good to keep things bottled up."  We also had great bagels and a warm place to dry out one morning at Silverbow and had excellent crêpes one evening down by the public library.  The evening of the NBA finals we discovered a great beer at McGivney’s Sports Bar.  Since we didn't know the local beers, the server asked us what we like.  What were the chances she'd know Big Sky Moose Drool and guess what we'd like based on that? She did it: Iron Horse Irish Death.  Another evening brought another Missoula-related recommendation.  Moseying downtown, we ran into Rattlesnake neighbors also using the ferry to connect parts of an Alaska trip who had just eaten at Saffron.  Wonderful surprises to see them and find great Indian food in Juneau!   

We made other interesting, surprising discoveries in Juneau, one of them at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in an unusual way: a woman announced to all in the restroom that she was using paper towels instead of heeding the request on the wall to use the high-efficiency electric driers because, she said, utilities generate electricity with coal.  That’s true in many places, but in Juneau, where coal would have to come in by barge, that didn’t sound right.  When I asked, a ranger told me that Alaska Electric Light and Power in Juneau gets 100% of its electricity from hydropower generators at dams south of Taku Inlet, with the electricity crossing the inlet through a submarine transmission line.

Mendenhall Glacier from the Visitor Centor

   

Juneau felt nicer when we visited before and after Nunataq’s saltwater christening in Glacier Bay 19 years ago.  Since then cruise lines have deeply changed the part of downtown closest to the docks.  Nonetheless, cruisers apparently don’t walk far ashore, and Juneau is still mostly, greatly, uniquely itself.