Fly Denali!

We had already taken one flight into a national park on this trip. You'd think that would be enough. But no .... Several folks had suggested that we had to take a flight over Denali National Park. If we did nothing else, fly over Denali. OK. We had 2 for 1 discount coupons for two different flight services out of Talkeetna AK. Talkeetna is off the Parks Highway south of the park and is actually closer to the peaks and provides a better view than at Denali Village at the park entrance. It is also the jumping off point for most flights for climbers to the summit. We had waited before booking a flight because we wanted to pick a clear day with good weather. When you make your reservation, they take your charge card number and you are committed. As

we left Denali NP, it appeared tomorrow would be a good day, so Dorcas made a call. We first called K2 Aviation because they had been recommended by a friend who has used them in the past. They were booked through July 10. Dang. We then called Talkeetna Aero Services . They could book us at 10:00 tomorrow. Cool! That flight cost a little more, but it was a 2 hr flight vs a 1 1/4 hr flight with K2. We later learned that Talkeetna Aero's plane had twin engines and was equipped with oxygen and could take us near the summit at 20,000 ft vs ~12,000 ft with K2. We lucked into a better choice.

After spending the night on a turnoff near the Talkeetna Spur, we pulled the motor home up to the Talkeetna Aero building at the Talkeetna airport. We got signed up and spent some time talking to folks there. It turns out the son of the owner had raced in the Iditarod. They had used the plane we were flying to transport his dogs back from Nome. They had taken out all the seats and placed the dogs in bags with their heads sticking out so they would be still during the flight. Actually they were probably so trashed they didn't care.



Pilot Dave gave us our flight briefing and off we went. It was a great show. Dave flew us around all the major peaks, glaciers and landmarks. We could see the climbers camp at 7200' on a glacier. The Denali summit had some wispy clouds and was not totally clear, but all the other views were fantastic. Dave gave a great narration and was very knowledgeable of the whole area and its history. He made a point to fly around all the landmarks in both directions so folks on both sides of the plane could get a look. He would then lower the wing to get it out of the way and use it as a pointer.
















After our flight Dorcas and I explored beautiful downtown Talkeetna. It was a glorious day. While Dorcas was shopping I found myself at the Denali Brewing Company sampling some wares. I ended up in the courtyard sitting with a fellow from Washington state who was also traveling in an RV. I mentioned we had just taken a flight to the summit, and I asked if he had ever been. It turns out he had climbed McKinley back in the 70's. He was very interested in our flight because he wanted to take his wife up and show her his route up the mountain. A little later his wife came around, but it seemed she had little interest in taking the flight.

Finally it was time again to continue our journey southward and towards Anchorage.

Denali National Park AK

June 18, 2011 - We broke camp to leave Fairbanks before 10:00 a.m. and entertained a couple attending the Harley Davidson rally at the fairgrounds while we hooked up the car to the motor home. (They thought it looked interesting.) On our way out of town we stopped by the recycling center on campus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We disposed of all our recycles except for our steel cans. Oh well, at least they took paper and glass.


Our drive south on the George Parks Highway was beautiful. The drive from Fairbanks to Denali was only 150 miles so we could take our time and enjoy the sights. Our first stop was in Nenana where we learned about the Nenana Ice Classic. The ice classic is a guessing game to predict the exact day hour and minute the ice will break on the Tanana River. The folks were adamant it was NOT a lottery. In February they drill holes and insert a four-legged tripod in the ice on the frozen river. A cable is stretched from the top of the tripod to a tower on shore, where it is connected to a clock. When the ice breaks, the cable pulls a pin and stops the clock. That determines the time of the break. Last year's payout was over $300,000. It's a pretty big deal in Alaska We bought tickets and entered our guesses for the ice break.



We arrived at Denali National Park, where we had reservations for 4 nights at Teklanika Campground. Teklanika is 29 miles down the road into the park and 15 miles beyond the point where motorists can normally drive. When you camp at Teklanika you get a pass to drive your vehicle to the campground on the day you check in and out from the campground on the day you check out. You can't drive your vehicle on the road except these times. The check-in process was fairly painless and efficient. We also made a reservation at Riley Creek campground for the night we check out of Teklanika. This would allow us to spend a little time visiting the visitor's centers and the area at the entrance to the park. We also purchased a shuttle bus pass called the Tek Pass that would reserve a seat for us on a bus going to Wonder Lake for the next day. The Tek pass also entitled us to unlimited shuttle bus passage from Teklanika CG into the park, and then we could use the pass anytime after that on a space available basis while we were camped in the park. We unloaded the things we thought we might need from the Element and parked it near the main visitor's center near the park entrance. Our stay at Teklanika River Campground entitled us to drive our camping unit (RV only) into the park Since we were in no hurry we took our time and enjoyed the scenery and looked hard for wildlife. After the first 15 miles the park road became dirt and narrowed. Shuttle and tour buses; other campers either arriving or departing and park maintenance folks were the only traffic on the road and since the speed limit was 20 and 25 we savored the drive.



June 19, 2011 - Happy Father's Day! Our first morning in Denali was a busy one. First, we had tried to go to bed early (10:30-11:00 ish) so we could get up early to meet our shuttle bus through the park to Wonder Lake. Since we were about 29 miles into the park we could catch the 6:15 a.m. bus at the campground at 7:25 a.m. That still meant we had to set an alarm (heaven forbid!!) so we could get up in plenty of time to pack our lunch and snacks, have breakfast, walk and play with Matilda (since she would be in the motor home for at least 8 hours) and walk to the bus stop. The day started partly cloudy/sunny...maybe we will get to see "the mountain". On Myron's previous trip to Denali NP Mt McKinley (Denali) stayed shrouded in clouds during his entire visit. Since our trip began good weather seems to be following us where ever we land, so we had "high" hopes. All went as planned, and we boarded Sheryl's bus about 7:30 a.m. The buses have a schedule but the times can vary depending upon the weather and wildlife sightings. These are not "coaches" they are like retired school buses. Narrow slippery bench seats meant for three children but barely long enough for two average sized adults. Also, remember how noisy your school bus was? You were barely able to hear yourself think not to mention a bus driver describing the sights. Fortunately, Sheryl had a headset microphone which was audible unless we were on a bumpy section of road. Remember, we are in Alaska where the roads are never completed...they just continually require maintenance...



The scenery was beautiful and with about 40 people looking for wildlife we did see wildlife. Caribou were the most plentiful. A couple of times we saw a male and female pair just hanging out enjoying the day. We saw a small herd on a large patch of snow relaxing and avoiding the mosquitoes. We saw a grizzly sow with a cub; a couple of moose, one bull and one cow; a couple of ptarmigan; a distant view of a small herd of Dall sheep; a couple of golden eagles and several water fowl.



We took regular breaks stopping at overlooks and visitor centers which made the 10 hour trip not seem so long. Our driver, Sheryl, entertained us with stories about the park and her experiences during the 11 summers she has driven for the park. One of her encounters was of two bear cubs she videoed at play in front of her bus and is posted on YouTube.




June 20, 2011 - Today we had planned to take the shuttle bus to Eielson Visitor Center and join the ranger-led hike at noon. We would be able to jump on any bus going that way if space was available. We again set the alarm (ugh) to repeat our activities from yesterday. Before we got out of bed we heard the pitter patter of rain. Of course, rain an hour before we boarded the bus was no indication of the weather we would have the rest of the day. We found the weather here can change from hour to hour and from place to place along the road into the park. We had a two minute debate over the pros and cons of getting up and heading for the bus...the cons won and I turned off the alarm and snuggled down for an extra hour of sleep. We enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast and a nice walk around the campground with Matilda. This turned out to be our "layover" day. By the afternoon the clouds rolled away bringing a very pleasant afternoon. We took Matilda out for a walk and run down by the river. Matilda really enjoyed running in circles and up a cliff which made me nervous.

June 21, 2011 - Tuesday morning turned out to be partly cloudy so we decided to catch the shuttle bus to Eielson Visitor Center and join the ranger-led hike at noon. We didn't have to wait long before we were able to board a bus. This bus was a bit more comfortable with bucket like seats (unlike the previous bench seats). We assumed our back of the bus seats and set off in search of wildlife. Our bus driver Nancy was very informative. She told us she was driving a tour bus in a couple of days so I think she was practicing on us. At Eielson we signed up for the noon hike filling slots 9 and 10 of the 11 max for the group. We had about an hour to kill before meeting for the hike so we ate our lunch and had a nice conversation with a couple from Anchorage. She was retired from National Park Service and was a former Superintendent at Katmai NP. The hike was about 1 mile one way with a 900 ft elevation gain. Being a bit out of shape we did a lot of huffing and puffing but the views were fantastic and we learned how fire and ice work together to create the beautiful landscape in Denali NP.




Catching a shuttle back to the campground took a while. We were part of a large group of folks who were going the same way. After three buses our name came up on the list and we boarded a bus (the back row again). I was ready to relax and enjoy the ride and not worry about seeing wildlife. Our bus mates were a group of Europeans that seemed to not understand the concept of whispering (or saying nothing at all) when an animal was spotted. And wouldn't you know it...we saw a brown bear sow with two cubs very near the road. After much squealing and hanging out the windows order was restored by a ranger that happened to be riding our bus. I think everyone got great photos...then the trio moved into the road effectively stopping traffic both ways. At one point there were three buses in the bear jam. The blessing was there were no private automobiles to add to the pile-up. We finally continued our journey back to camp and saw more snowshoe hares, caribou, and ground squirrels. When we reached our camp, Matilda was happy to be our favorite "wildlife" sighting of the day!

June 22, 2011 - This was our last morning in Teklanika so we took our time packing up. The drive out was uneventful. We drove slowly and scanned both sides of the road for wildlife. When we arrived at Riley Campground we found a nice site and set up. We saw the folks from Minnesota we had met in Fairbanks. We hiked back to the visitor center and boarded the bus to the dog sledding demonstration. The ranger told the group we would be able to get our "dog fix" for anyone missing their own dogs, so we were allowed to pet and visit all the dogs. These Alaskan Huskies are used to patrol the park during the winter. Since these dogs were not racers they were built to pull loads and were stockier and a bit heavier than the racing Alaskan Huskies we had seen in Fairbanks.




After the program we opted to hike the 2 miles back to the visitor center instead of riding the bus. It was a nice walk through forest where we saw lots of wild flowers and animal scat. One scat looked like wolf so I took a picture and showed it to a ranger walking the opposite direction. We saw the ranger again back at the visitor center, and she confirmed the scat was canine, probably wolf. Cool.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying fine warm and clear weather.

Each evening we attended the Ranger led programs in the campground amphitheater. One Ranger in particular gave an entertaining talk on raptors. Check out "The Raptor Rap" to see a report of his presentation and also view the video which includes the dog sled demonstration.

Tomorrow we leave Denali after five nights and continue southward.

Fairbanks AK

As we approach the northernmost point in our journey, we are also approaching the summer solstice. The days are becoming incredibly long and nighttime seems nonexistent.

After leaving Tok we continued north and west and came to Delta Junction. Delta Junction is technically the northern terminus of the Alaska Highway. We visited the Sullivan Roadhouse, an historical roadhouse that operated before highways. These roadhouses were usually located about fifteen miles apart, generally a day's travel, along the historical trails, and served trappers, traders and gold stampeders and provided meals and lodging. Later we visited Rika's Roadhouse, which is now an Alaskan state historical park. Rika's is a more modern roadhouse and operated after travelers began passing in automobiles. John Hajdukovich established a trading post at this site on the Tanana River in 1913. In 1917 Hajdukovich hired a Swedish immigrant named Rika Wallen to operate the roadhouse which prospered under her management. In 1923 she bought it from Hajdukovich for "$10.00 and other considerations". Today it is preserved to illustrate life during the roadhouse era.

We continued and arrived at Fairbanks late in the evening. After buying fuel and groceries at Sam's Club, we parked (with permission) in the back lot there. Later we learned that Walmart was really the happening place, with over 50 RVs parked there every night. The next morning we moved to Tanana Valley Campground for three nights. I think this campground is part of the state fair facilities. While in Fairbanks we learned of the Alaska TourSaver coupon book. We bought the book for $100 and it contains coupons for 2 for 1 deals all over Alaska. We broke even on the book before leaving Fairbanks and will save hundreds on tours and cruises as we travel south to Denali, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. If you go to Alaska check it out!



We did all the touristy things in Fairbanks. First we visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North (2 for 1 coupon!) This museum was a highlight of my visit to Alaska 18 years ago. Since then they have built a modern building to house the exhibits. The museum contains exhibits on the cultural and natural history of Alaska as well as a collection of fine arts. We also visited Pioneer Park, a Fairbanks city park located on the Chena River. Pioneer Park has an aviation museum, a narrow gauge train, playgrounds and many historical buildings and cabins relocated from other parts of downtown Fairbanks. Many of these buildings were saved from demolition and now house shops and restaurants.




Dorcas wanted to visit the El Dorado Gold Mine. I wasn't thrilled about it, but we had a coupon, and Dorcas twisted my arm. I was very pleasantly surprised. The attraction featured a train ride through a recreated mining camp, a mine tunnel and a permafrost tunnel. The ride was hosted by our singing conductor and miner/actors demonstrating different mining techniques along the way. The train ended at a real mining operation where we watched some folks really mine for gold. They dumped a load of "pay dirt" that had been extracted nearby into a hopper with water flowing beneath it. The water and dirt raced down a long sluice, perhaps 100 feet long, that had angle irons on the bottom perpendicular to the flow. These irons increased turbulence in the water and caused the gold particles to fall out. Then they scooped up some dirt from the upper end of the sluice and began panning. And they had GOLD!!! It was cool. Finally they gave everyone in our group a small poke with some pay dirt, so we could pan for gold ourselves. Everyone was guaranteed to find gold. And we found GOLD!!! When we were finished, they weighed our gold and told us its worth at the current market value. It turns out that Dorcas and I together had 7.9 grains of 21 karat gold, with a market value of $39. Not bad for $35 admission and all the free homemade cookies and hot chocolate we could eat. We would have come out ahead if Dorcas hadn't paid $20 for a locket to put her (our) booty into. Much of this attraction was a little hokey, but the gold panning was great. I can understand why folks get the fever. Where can I stake my claim?



We also rode the Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River. Again, I didn't expect much, but we had a 2 for 1 coupon and Dorcas wanted to go. Again I was pleasantly surprised. The Discovery is piloted by the fourth generation of a family of riverboat pilots on the Chena and Tanana Rivers. In 1950 when the highway and the railroad made the riverboat obsolete for hauling goods into the interior, Captain Jim began taking tourists on the Chena River on the Discovery I. Today the cruise is like a floating theme park. As the boat sails from its dock to the Chena's confluence with the Tanawa, the boat stops at different stations along the river for demonstrations of Alaskan life. First, a float plane lands and takes off next to the boat as the importance of the bush pilot to interior Alaska is explained. Then it stops at the kennels of the late Susan Butcher, a champion dog-sled racer and there is a demonstration on dog sledding. The boat then stops at an Athabascan fish camp, where the traditional ways are illustrated by a native. Finally the boat stops at the Chena Indian Village, where everyone is able to get off and see more of the traditional Athabascan ways. There are also sled dogs kenneled there that you can pet and talk to the handlers. As we sailed back to port they fed us smoked salmon dip. Again, it was all pretty cool and much better than expected.

Tok AK

No one seems to know for sure how Tok (rhymes with "Coke") got its name. Tok was created as a work camp for the construction of the Alaska Highway. One story is that it was once called Tokyo Camp and was later shortened to Tok. However, the USGS notes that the name Tok River was in use for a nearby river as early as 1901, which may have come from the Athabascan name "Tokai" for the same river. You would think that a town that wasn't created until 1942 would know from whence it was named.



If you drive to Alaska you have to drive through Tok. Whether you drive the Alaska Highway, drive the Top of the World Highway or come up the inside passage from Haines (as we did) or Skagway, you gotta drive through Tok. No way around it.



And so we did. On Monday we continued across the southwest corner of the Yukon Territory. We finally arrived at the US border crossing on the Alaska Highway. The crossing itself was uneventful, but there was a long line and a wait of perhaps an hour before we cleared customs. From there we continued to Tok. We had been boon docking for over a week and decided to stay in a full-service campground where we could take on water, dump our waste tanks, re-charge our batteries and do some laundry. We checked into the Sourdough Campground about 2 miles south of town on the Tok Cut-Off/Glenn Highway. The Sourdough is the home of the world-famous Sourdough Pancake Toss. Everyone gets two chances to toss a real sourdough pancake into a bucket about 15 feet away. There are several techniques. Dorcas used the underhand flapjack technique, kinda like tossing a horseshoe. Missed by a mile. I used the wadded up play dough ball technique. Missed by a mile. Others used the Frisbee method, but that usually didn't work too well either. If you got a pancake in the bucket you got a free breakfast of, you guessed it, sourdough pancakes at the campground cafe. I hope they cooked fresh pancakes for breakfast. The event was hosted by a Johnny Cash tribute singer who performed before and after the contest. Oh yeah. You could take an optional third toss, but if you missed you had to sing a Karaoke tune. There were no takers.

Observe Dorcas' classic one-leg-leaning-underhand method

Tok is the closest thing to a big town we had seen in a while. We visited a few gift shops, and I went to the local RV repair and service center, which amounts to a run down service station type building. This guy gets all the RV break downs for those traveling the Alaska Highway and the Top of the World Highway. He told me some horror stories about what folks have done to their rigs coming into Alaska. It was pretty scary. I wanted to replace a broken screen door latch, and he had the part, but it was almost $30. I knew I could get the part for about $12 in the lower 48, so I passed.

Across the Yukon Territory

We poked around most of the morning in Haines before continuing northward and leaving the coast. After about forty short miles we crossed into British Columbia. The crossing into Canada was smooth and uneventful. We climbed back into the mountains and skirted the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park. Shortly we crossed into the Yukon Territory. We then entered the Kluane National Park. We camped at a pull-out at the bridge over the Kluane River about 15 miles south of Haines Junction YT.



The next morning we continued our quest across the SW corner of the Yukon. We stopped at the Kluane NP visitor center in Haines Junction and enjoyed a cinnamon roll at the Village Bakery. At Haines Junction we joined the Alaska Highway for the first time. Most folks driving to Alaska will get on the Alaska Highway at its beginning in Dawson Creek about 1000 miles east of Haines Junction. We by-passed the bulk of the Alaska Highway by taking the Inside Passage.



Here we began to experience the infamous frost heaves so common in the north. About this time my engine monitoring display began to throw error codes relating to fuel delivery pressure. From experience I knew, or rather hoped, this meant one or both of my fuel filters were clogged. Dang. I had not changed the fuel filters during my extensive maintenance before leaving on this trip. No good excuse; I just thought it could wait until I changed the crankcase oil in the fall after we returned. Anyway, I had two sets of spare filters on-board. We stopped at another Kluane NP visitor center at sheep mountain, where we could see Dall sheep. There I changed the filters in the parking lot. I was able to drain the fuel from the old filters into a soda bottle and one of the rangers said she could dispose of it.



We hiked to Soldier's Summit where the dedication of the completion on the Alaska Highway was celebrated on November 20, 1942. Finally, we parked for the night at a pullout about 30 miles NW of Burwash Landing near the Donjek River, where we were treated to a display of sun dogs in the southern sky. I was amazed to find we could still clearly pick up an HD satellite signal, at latitude 61.5 degrees.

Haines and Skagway AK

Monday was our final day in Juneau. We poked around the city for a while and then headed for the ferry terminal for our 4:30 pm sailing. While I parked the coach on the ramp and checked us in, Dorcas headed to Walmart to pick up some last minute groceries. While there we met a father and daughter who owned a construction business. Actually, the daughter's border collie is what brought us to them. They were moving some construction equipment to Haines for a job, and the collie stayed with the girl on the seat of the equipment as they shuttled four pieces of equipment onto the ship. One piece proved difficult. It was a heavy truck and trailer with a large backhoe. They had to back the equipment onto the boat, and the arm of the backhoe had difficulty clearing the door to the ship and overhead obstructions on the vehicle deck. The daughter climbed up onto the top of the arm and would push up on pipes and wires and other things. It was comical in a sense. She would yell to stop because the arm was not going to clear something, but her dad didn't hear, but somehow they cleared it anyway and didn't drag down a pipe or break the boat.



This cruise would be during normal daylight hours so we were able to do some wildlife watching. It paid off. We saw humpback whales and dall porpoises. Our boat for this cruise was the Malaspina and it had a theatre. They showed a chick flick with Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon and a travelogue on, of all things, traveling the inside passage in an RV.



We arrived in Haines about 9:30 pm. We had planned to drive a few miles to a state recreation area, but about a mile from the ferry terminal we saw a very inviting pull-out overlooking the Lutak Inlet. It was late, and we couldn't resist just pulling over. The pullout was next to a waterfall and we were serenaded to falling water throughout the night. The next morning we moved another 4 miles to Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Area, where we spent the next 4 nights. There were no hookups there, but we found a site that was fairly open to the sky and would provide some solar gain, providing the sun continued to shine. The campground is on the shore of scenic Chilkoot Lake and the beginning of the Chilkoot River. The Chilkoot River only flows a mile before emptying into the Lutak Inlet. One evening at the inlet we saw a sow grizzly and her three cubs. They appeared to be regulars in that area as we saw them again at the same time the next evening.



During our time in Haines, we basically just knocked around, enjoyed the sites and took it easy. When we made our ferry itinerary we had a choice of ending our voyage at Haines or at Skagway. We chose to get off in Haines because it was relatively quiet and less touristy than Skagway. Skagway gets four cruise ships every day. Haines gets one per week. It's a very different atmosphere. One highlight in Haines was our visit to the Haines Brewing Company. The brewery visit was good, but it couldn't compare with the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. Instead of free beer Haines Brewing had $1.25 samples and $4.50 pints. It was still very good.





We did however make a day trip excursion to Skagway. On Wednesday we took a 45 minute fast ferry to Skagway. Skagway is famous as the primary gateway to the Klondike gold rush of 1898. Stampeders would


arrive in Skagway, and climb the Chilkoot Pass or White Pass. From there they would trek about 40 miles to Bennett Lake, build a boat and float to the Yukon River at Dawson City about 600 miles away. In order to prevent the miners from starving in





Canada the North West Mounted Police required each miner to carry one years provision, which would weigh about 2000 pounds. This necessitated each miner make about 20 trips over the pass and to Bennett Lake, about 40 miles away. By the time most





gold-seekers arrived at Dawson City all the productive claims had already been staked. Most left broke. Much of Skagway is owned by the National Park Service as Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. In the morning we took a guided walking tour of the historical buildings in the town. In the afternoon we took an excursion on the White Pass and Yukon Route, a





narrow gauge railroad. Construction of the railroad began in 1898 and was open for business in 1900. Our excursion took us through the White Pass over 27 miles to Fraser BC and return. Along the way we saw many remnants of the gold rush trail and at least 3 bears.

Juneau AK

We again parked at the ferry dock to await boarding our red-eye to Juneau. They don't always allow you to do this, but sometimes will if you have a late boarding, and there are no other boardings in the meantime. Generally they want to avoid having RVs parked on the ramp in order to discourage RVs from using their lots for overnight camping or long-term parking.

We sailed at 1:00 am and, after about 4 hours, made a scheduled stop in Kake AK. Kake is about as small as it gets. There is no ferry terminal, just a gravel parking lot and an open-sided covered shelter. Actually there was a lot of walk-on traffic at Kake. We walked Matilda, and then they asked me to move the coach from one side of the ferry to the other. Apparently a large truck or piece of equipment had gotten off there, and they had a balance issue. Again we (I) slept poorly on our passage. As usual, Dorcas slept like a baby.



We arrived in Juneau about 1:00 pm and headed to Mendenhall Lake campground where we had reservations for three nights. I was pleased to find that our DirecTV was still functioning. We had been told that we would lose service about 100-200 miles north of the Canadian border. When I deployed the dish, it whirred and circled for about half an hour before locking in on the satellites. We had lucked out with a clear view between the trees and between two tall peaks. We then went to the Mendenhall Glacier, which is fairly close to downtown Juneau and one of the more accessible glaciers one can visit. We walked a mile or so out to Nugget Falls, which got us a little closer to the foot of the glacier. Mendenhall is fed by the Juneau Icefield, which feeds over 40 major glaciers and over 100 smaller ones.



In downtown the usual hoard of cruise ship folks were in. We visited the Alaska State Capitol building where their two state houses meet and the Governor and Lt. Governor have offices. Being a former state worker, it impressed me how small state government is here. There appeared to be only two office buildings for all the state workers. Juneau is perhaps the most remote state capitol in the country. It has been the capitol since 1906, when Alaska was a district, and the capitol was moved from Sitka. We were told it was moved from Sitka because Congress wanted a new capitol that did not have so much Russian heritage. At the time Juneau was one of the larger and more accessible cities in Alaska; the roads to the interior did not yet exist. We visited the Alaska State Museum which has many fine exhibits on the natural and cultural history of Alaska.



Let's talk a minute about Alaskan footwear. Everyone in Southeast Alaska wears rubber boots known affectionately as Sitka Slippers or Juneau Sneakers. And they wear them EVERYWHERE! I mean to to the grocery store, to the mall, to the office and to the opera. I bet they even where them to bed. I understand they are functional and keep your feet dry. If you are a fisherman or a construction worker, I see it. But soccer moms? I just don't get it.




One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Alaskan Brewing Company. The Alaskan Brewing Co. is a craft brewery that currently only distributes in Alaska and a handful of northwestern states. The best part of the tour is they give you all the free beer you can drink. Well, technically, there is a limit of six 4-ounce glasses, but no one is really counting. As long as you don't get obnoxious or unruly, they don't care. My favorite was the smoked porter, with an unusual dark, sweet, smoky taste. Unfortunately, the porter is not sold out-of-state, and we couldn't buy any due to the Canadians' ridiculous rules about hauling beer across the border. We visited the brewery several times.



Another highlight was our paddle on Mendenhall Lake to the foot of the glacier. We didn't get as close to the glacier as I had planned. Dorcas was afraid of a big wave if it calved, and it was fairly cold, windy and raining a bit. But we did get fairly close before we turned around.

We could have stayed in Juneau for much longer, but we had a boat to catch. We stocked up on groceries at the Walmart and headed to the ferry terminal for our 4:30 pm departure to Haines.