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.