Winding Down in Juneau

End of an AMAZING Month in Alaska

We left Skagway in the late afternoon Wednesday, on the Alaska Marine Highway. That means we took the ~7-hour ferry ride to Juneau (with a stop in Haines), down Lynn Canal, a long, narrow fjord. It is the deepest fjord in North America, extending 86 miles north from Juneau to Haines and Skagway. It rained much of the way, but we had excellent wifi and managed to see the two lighthouses between Skagway and Juneau, Point Retreat Lighthouse and Sentinel Island Lighthouse. 

We stayed at the lovely Alaska’s Capital Inn Bed and Breakfast, across the street from the Alaska capitol building and just uphill from Historic Juneau (and the waterfront where all the cruise ships dock!) When it was built in 1906, by gold rush pioneer John Olds, it was one of the grandest homes in all of Juneau, high on the hillside, over looking the town and its bustling waterfront. We had the top floor suite to ourselves, with views in 3 directions.

Wandering around Juneau on foot

On Thursday, after sleeping in (winding down) we wandered around Historic Juneau, the Capitol District, and the waterfront…easy to stop back at our B&B. In our wandering, we:

• took a mid-morning Mount Roberts Tramway trip up Mount Roberts (at ~1,800′). It’s one of the most vertical tramways in the world. We hung out drinking coffee and enjoying the view, watched the movie in the theater, and hiked on the close-by loop trails before returning to the Juneau waterfront base station. In the evening, after dinner, we rode up the Tramway again for the ride and another view, returning only 30 minutes later.
• caught the 1:30 tour of the Alaska State Capitol (#40). It’s not the most exciting building, and being “just” in a city block, on a hill, it’s hard to get a good picture…and NO LAWN! The tour was informative and entertaining, from a proud Alaskan. Interesting tidbit, Juneau is the largest US capital city by land area, at 3,255 square miles, but is only the 2^nd largest city overall, after Sitka, at 4,815 square miles. It has to do with how Alaska defines city limits.
• visited the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, across the street from the capitol and just down the hill from our B&B. Small, but fun.
• had dinner at the Red Dog Saloon¹, definitely a tourist trap, but a must see once tourist trap.

Bussing around Juneau

Our last full day in Alaska, we:

• visited the World’s smallest Costco (our 6th of 6 Alaskan Costcos & #73 altogether). We took Juneau’s Public Transit and walked ~2 miles round trip in the rain (only time really impacted by rain in 29 days!) We decided that it was smaller than others mostly by having smaller/fewer aisles, refrigerators, & freezers, and smaller walk-in coolers, rather than by eliminating lots of items all together…just few of each item stocked.
• visited the Mendenhall Glacier on a 3-hour Bus Tour, with 2 hours to explore the Visitor Center, view the Glacier, hike to Nugget Falls, and watch more salmon swimming upstream. The Mendenhall Glacier is a 13-mile-long river of ice, which terminates on the far side of Mendenhall Lake, and is one of many major glaciers that connect to the vast Juneau Ice Field, a 1,500 square mile remnant of the last ice age, cradled high in the coast mountains.
• had one last dinner, at The Hanger, on the waterfront in an old airplane hanger, watching float planes take off & land

Now Home for Two Weeks!!!

Flew back Saturday afternoon (after one last walk, to check out Heritage Coffee). Heading east (via I90/I94) with Lizzy and The Brute on August 20th.

For more pictures (later), see Adventure Album: Alaska!

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1. originating during the heyday of Juneau’s glorious mining era, this world famous saloon has provided hospitality and fellowship to weary travelers and local patrons alike. Early day proprietors, Earl and Thelma (Pederson) Forsythe provided dancing and long time entertainer “Ragtime Hattie” played the piano in her white gloves and silver dollar halter top. During territorial days, during his tenure of over twenty years as owner, Gordie Kanouse would meet tour boats with his mule that wore a sign saying “follow my ass to the Red Dog Saloon”. In the early seventies the Harris family bought the saloon and continued to grow and protect the priceless collection of furs, guns and antiques. ↩︎