As you probably all know, one of our goals is to visit every state capital. Visiting Juneau, Alaska, has to qualify as the hardest and most expensive capital visit yet! Since you can’t drive to Juneau, your options are flying or taking the ferry (in our case, from Haines, following the route we were on moving towards Fairbanks). Since we wanted our truck with us in Juneau, we opted for the ferry. The ferry cost $290 round trip, and since the schedule is such that the soonest we could come back was two days after arriving, we had to spend two nights in Juneau. After doing the research, Dan found the best deal possible at The Alaskan Hotel in the heart of downtown Juneau - and that was $90 a night. We didn't think that was much of a deal to begin with, but we were even more convinced after getting there. Downtown consists of only about three blocks, but it is just like any typical downtown anywhere - just smaller! The Alaskan Hotel is the oldest operating hotel in Juneau, established in 1913, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. I honestly don't think they've done much to improve the place since then, either.
The problem with The Alaskan Hotel was, well, just about everything!! We didn't get the room we reserved, and had to lug our bags from one floor to another getting that straightened out. No place to park, so we ended up six blocks away with hills like San Francisco to deal with. The room was really hot, with no apparent way to cool it down, other than opening the windows. The TV didn't work, we didn't have enough towels, and everything reeked of cigarette smoke. I could go on, but you probably get the picture. The clientele was…different. We were on the third floor, and our windows opened out into the street. We didn't think that would be so bad once the businesses closed down. Well, we were wrong... things just got started at about 10:00 p.m. and went on until at least 4:00 a.m. - we lost track after a while. Right underneath us was a big street party going on, and on, and on…(police, ambulance, and fire truck came at one point and hauled one woman to the hospital and another to jail after they had it out). Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night. We checked out the next morning and checked in to the Super 8, nine miles from downtown. A lot less history, but a lot more comfort.
But back to the beginning. We arrived in Juneau on Friday afternoon and drove straight to the Mendenhall Glacier and spent a couple of hours walking around. It was a beautiful day and I was very excited to be seeing a real glacier. In the park, in addition to the glacier, we saw a trumpet swan, mountain goats way up the side of a mountain, and a porcupine. I hope to see more glaciers before leaving Alaska, but this was the first, and will always have special meaning. We figured we would tour the capital on Saturday, but we were foiled again! The capital building is only open Monday through Friday, so we missed our opportunity to see the inside, but got some shots of the exterior. We spent the day walking and driving in and around Juneau and the surrounding areas. We saw several cruise ships arrive and depart while we were there, and Juneau seems to cater to the tourists, and is in fact a big part of their economy.
I’ve included pictures from the glacier and some of downtown Juneau.
The problem with The Alaskan Hotel was, well, just about everything!! We didn't get the room we reserved, and had to lug our bags from one floor to another getting that straightened out. No place to park, so we ended up six blocks away with hills like San Francisco to deal with. The room was really hot, with no apparent way to cool it down, other than opening the windows. The TV didn't work, we didn't have enough towels, and everything reeked of cigarette smoke. I could go on, but you probably get the picture. The clientele was…different. We were on the third floor, and our windows opened out into the street. We didn't think that would be so bad once the businesses closed down. Well, we were wrong... things just got started at about 10:00 p.m. and went on until at least 4:00 a.m. - we lost track after a while. Right underneath us was a big street party going on, and on, and on…(police, ambulance, and fire truck came at one point and hauled one woman to the hospital and another to jail after they had it out). Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night. We checked out the next morning and checked in to the Super 8, nine miles from downtown. A lot less history, but a lot more comfort.
But back to the beginning. We arrived in Juneau on Friday afternoon and drove straight to the Mendenhall Glacier and spent a couple of hours walking around. It was a beautiful day and I was very excited to be seeing a real glacier. In the park, in addition to the glacier, we saw a trumpet swan, mountain goats way up the side of a mountain, and a porcupine. I hope to see more glaciers before leaving Alaska, but this was the first, and will always have special meaning. We figured we would tour the capital on Saturday, but we were foiled again! The capital building is only open Monday through Friday, so we missed our opportunity to see the inside, but got some shots of the exterior. We spent the day walking and driving in and around Juneau and the surrounding areas. We saw several cruise ships arrive and depart while we were there, and Juneau seems to cater to the tourists, and is in fact a big part of their economy.
I’ve included pictures from the glacier and some of downtown Juneau.
2 comments:
Hey you guys! Sure do miss you and are really envyous of your trip. It's so good you are young enough to have made such a trip. Pictures are super. feel like I've been there with you.
Have a great summer and we send God's blessing for a continued safe trip. Jim and Martie
Thanks you two, we miss you both very much!!
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