A Damp and Dreary Day in Juneau

A light drizzle was falling when we got up this morning and it got heavier at times, but never stopped all day.

So, we drove and walked around downtown, went through the Juneau City Museum, and did some shopping at Costco and Walmart.

We saw the governor’s residence, which is currently under repair with scaffolding, etc. out front. The City Museum was small but had a good film on the history and founding of Juneau and some interesting exhibits. One exhibit documented the 20+ attempts to move the capitol from Juneau to somewhere else. While there has been approval for the move, it has been defeated each time it came to allocate funds. It isn’t likely to ever happen and if it did, that would be the death of Juneau. Other than some fishing and tourism, government is the only ‘industry’ in town.

Tracy’s King Crab Shack had been highly recommended so we went there for lunch. It is right beside the cruise ship docks and gets lots of business off them. We found the prices very high, but did enjoy our meal of crab bisque and crab rolls. The King crab legs at $99/bucket were too expensive.

We walked a few blocks up and down the historic part of downtown. It is mainly souvenir shops and jewelry stores and old bars. We took a peak in the Red Dog Saloon but it was so crowded we didn’t bother waiting for a table.

We also looked into the Alaskan Hotel which opened in 1913 and is Alaska’s oldest operating hotel. Very dark and Victorian.

Costco had lots of interesting stuff, but as usual, the sizes/quantities were too large for us to handle in the motorhome so I just bought some frozen scallops and Alaskan canned salmon.

After spending some time back at camp with the pups, we went to a nearby Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese restaurant for supper. It was called “Asian Gardens” and we found the servers very pleasant and the food delicious. Fran had a Chinese combo and I had their special Pho. Yummy!

Juneau’s Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts’ Tramway

It was clear and calm all day today which made for a great day of sight-seeing. We only had 1.5 miles to drive to get to the Mendenhall Glacier parking area and Visitor Centre. It is a pretty impressive glacier, and very accessible. You can drive right up to the Mendenhall Lake at the base of the glacier and a walk along the side of the lake brings you to a large waterfall with the glacier just beyond.

There were lots of icebergs in the lake. We saw a few people kayaking out there, too, although it would be pretty chilly. We walked to the lake to feel the water.

The Visitor Center had an excellent film and exhibits. There was a 250 year old piece of glacial ice in there to touch. It was really clear in between the cracks.

You could tell there were 4 cruise ships, with some 7,000 passengers by the crowds up at Mendenhall!

It was also fairly busy up on Mount Roberts – our next destination. The tram takes visitors 1,800 feet up Mount Roberts. The view of the city from up there was really nice. You can see from this picture how little room for 'city' there is between the mountain and the ocean.

We spent a few hours on the mountain. We visited the resident female bald eagle who was injured badly enough that she can never be released into the wild, even though her injuries have healed.

Then we went for a short hike. The views were wonderful and there are a few trees with carvings.

We watched a film in the theatre about the Tlingit natives (who own and operate the tramway) and browsed the gift shop before taking the tram back down.

I had put a roast in the slow cooker this morning with potatoes, carrots and onions so we had the makings of a good meal ready for us when we got back to camp.

Gino and Reba both went for bike runs after supper. Reba is really getting into it and runs really hard, even pulls the bike along!

The dogs got another treat when they got to go for a ride in the car up the coast. About 23 miles north on the coast highway, is a shrine to Saint Terese that the RV park manager said was really nice to visit. It was a pretty spot with a small stone church built in 1938 out on an island (with a causeway to it).

The view out over the canal to the Chugach mountains in the distance was gorgeous, too.

Haines to Juneau, Alaska

We had a great trip on the Alaska Marine Highway system this morning. We chose a new ‘fast’ ferry and it moved at 37 knots/hour which is about twice as fast as a regular ferry. The only drawback was when we saw porpoises and a whale, we lost sight of them fast, too.

There were very few people leaving Haines today. In fact there were only three other vehicles besides our motorhome on the car deck!

The ferry was packed coming to Haines due to all the people coming to take in the Southeast Alaska State Fair. There were a whole lot of young people with backpacks, tents and bicycles all heading in to see the fair. It’s likely the highlight of the summer for these young folks.

This lighthouse island along our route looked nice. It looks like it has a keeper living on it.

This is a picture of the lounge area. Isn’t it nice.

We had front row seats in the forward area and the two hour ride went really quickly. The captain did an excellent job backing us into the dock to disembark.

Then it was a short drive up to the Spruce Meadow RV Park where we have a site booked for the next four nights. It’s a really nice site with lots of trees, a picnic table and a fire pit.

How’s this for a different RV! There are four similar ones in our park, with jeeps for tow vehicles. They are heading north and plan to drive both the Dalton & Dempster highways.

Since it is about 14 miles into Juneau and there are lots of hills around here, we decided to rent a car for the next three days. The manager of the park was very helpful in finding a rental and even drove us to the airport to pick it up!

With wheels, we drove into and through Juneau and right on down the coast to a restaurant the park owner had recommended. Downtown Juneau is really unique. It is squished into a strip of land and part way up the mountain. There are lots of cruise ships docking here daily so there are many, many attractive looking stores and restaurants. The ships tie up literally right down town.

This is the Mount Robson tramway which leaves right from the downtown cruise dock area. We'll probably take a ride on it while we're here.

We weren’t too sure about the restaurant when we saw it (pretty rustic), but the staff were welcoming and the food was delicious. The salmon and halibut had been picked up at the dock earlier in the afternoon and the salad bar was excellent. So, it was a very good recommendation.

The road out was scenic, along the coast of course, and there were several waterfalls coming down.

After supper we drove around town a bit, including past the Alaska State Capitol building.

It seemed odd that there was no 'grounds' around the capitol building, but I guess that's because of the shortage of space. The front door is attractive.

Next we crossed the bridge over to Douglas Island. Most of the Juneau residents live either on Douglas Island or in the Mendenhall Island (where our RV park is). Douglas Island, is also very hilly. Look at these stairs, going up to the street above.

We were able to get some nice pictures of downtown Juneau from Douglas Island.

It’s going to be really nice to have the car to run around with for the next few days.

Hammer Museum & Bears

We pedaled around town today, stopping at the visitor centre and grocery store before having lunch at the Chilkat Restaurant and Bakery. The service was poor/disorganized, but the food was good. They have the most beautiful flower baskets all along the porch:

These really old houses on Main Street have beautiful flowers in their yards. That’s something I’ve certainly noticed about Alaskans. They LOVE their flowers!

After lunch we rode past the Southeast Alaska State Fair which started today. I kind of wanted to go to it but Fran wasn’t keen and figured it would be too much walking for me (my feet are still giving me quite a bit of trouble).

So, we stopped at the small, walkable and very unique Hammer Museum (www.hammermuseum.org) on the way home. We have been to many museums this trip but this is certainly the most unique. It has an amazing collection of every kind of hammer you could imagine and some you probably haven’t imagined!

There are some unique creations made of hammers out front. E.g. this ‘bicycle’.

These are 'drink hammers'. Apparently in the 1920's you would clink your glass in order to signal to the waiter that you need a refill.

The fiberglass and papier mache figures throughout the museum were donated by the Smithsonian Institute. These are in the ‘blacksmith’ section:

Aren’t these glass hammers pretty!

Who knew there were hammers for breaking up sugar lumps?

This mallet is from the Barnum and Bailey Circus. It would have been used to drive in the stakes that hold up the big top!

If you use this two-handed hammer properly it is impossible to hit your thumb!

It took two passes through the museum to see everything. Then we went back to camp to do laundry, bike-walk the dogs, and wash the motorhome. I made a pie, too. The weather turned out quite nice today with a very warm sun peaking through the clouds from time to time.

We had one more restaurant we wanted to try out before we leave Haines tomorrow – Mosey’s Mexican cantina. It is located in a neat old house in Fort Seward.

Again, there were beautiful flowers outside.

The décor inside was very bright and Mexican. I had the fish tacos and Fran had chicken tacos. We also sampled their flan and crème brulee desserts. A very good meal and good service, too. This is a picture of my fish tacos (made with rockfish).

We rode down to the main dock before heading for home. The passenger ferry to Skagway was getting ready to leave so we waited to see it go.

It was a beautiful evening and I took some more pictures of Haines.

and of Fran...

This one shows our RV park, which is right behind the masts of the boats in the Small Boat Harbour.

At 8:15 Don and Sharon Del Rosario picked us up to go bear-watching. We drove past the ferry landing and on up to where the Chilkoot River flows into the inlet. Our timing was perfect as Mamma Bear and two youngsters were fishing in the river. Just after we got there, they came up on the road and moved to the weir. This picture shows one of the youngsters coming out of the river.

Mamma and one youngster stayed in the river in front of the weir to catch fish while one little one stayed up top and ate the fish that were passed up to him.

Then they moved back onto the road. Junior dropped his fish and really didn’t want to leave it but eventually he joined Mom and his sister and disappeared into the bush.

What a treat that was! I have to give credit to Fran for taking these good pictures of the bears. And Big Thanks! to Don and Sharon for taking us out there.