Ladies and Gentlemen, let us introduce you to what we hope will be the sort of posts you see going forward. We are trying to transition into event/activity based rather than general monthly summaries. At least for the short term we WILL publish some general update posts similar to what we have been doing but not monthly necessarily. Mainly that is because it is actually pretty hard to summarize a month but much easier to focus on specific time frames. So the positive side of that is there could be posts more often. The negative side is that maybe there won’t be. Along those lines, as Half Calf is getting more active, our adventures are changing so there actually might be things to write about. And don’t forget (it has been a while since this was mentioned); you can subscribe to future posts on the right side of the page. No, you were not missing it, in the last redesign we apparently forgot to add that options… oops.
Oh yeah, back to the point. Half Calf (and the Project Managers) spent the weekend in Juneau. No reason other than we had never been there before so decided to go be tourists for a few days. And since the point of travel is to learn new things, here is your history lesson on Juneau. We really did not do a lot of preparation for this trip other than getting flights and accommodations so this is about as underplanned and spontaneous as Daddy can handle.
Welcome to Juneau.
Juneau is the only US capital (other than Honolulu) that you cannot reach via car; the only way to reach the city is by taking an airplane or boat. It is also the second largest city by area in the country (though actually, the top four are all in Alaska). In fact, Juneau is larger in area than both Rhode Island and Delaware. The longest road is 40 miles. It has been the capital of Alaska (in whatever official form it had) since 1900 after Congress moved it from the old Russian capital of Sitka (which is #1 on that largest city in the country list, FYI). Until 1950 it was also the largest city in Alaska by population. Another random piece of trivia is that of all the state capitals, Juneau is named after the most recently alive person; Joe Juneau died in 1899, a year after Otto von Bismarck (North Dakota).
There was a nearby Tlingit village in Auke Bay and a chief who showed gold seekers Joe Juneau and Richard Harris where to search for the metal. As a result mining camp was founded by Juneau and Harris in 1880. In fact, it was the first settlement established after Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. During the next 60 years of gold mining in the area, Juneau was home to three of the world’s largest gold mines: The Alaska Juneau, and the Alaska Gastineau mine, on the Juneau side of the Channel and the Treadwell mine on the Douglas island side. The three produced $158 million worth of gold at a time when gold was priced between $20.00 and $35.00 an ounce.
Today some of the highlights are Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls, the Mount Roberts Tram, cruise ships (they get over a million visitors in the few months of summer every year), the Alaska State Museum, the Shrine of St. Therese. There are also some offshore items such as whale watching, Admiralty Island and Tracey Arm Fjord.
As for Half Calf and crew, we started with a novelty for us in Alaska; a flight that occurred in the daylight. Usually when we are traveling it is out of the state so the flights leave late at night. Plus they are working on the runway so the planes are taking off in a different direction. All that means we enjoyed looking out the window as we flew over the mountains and glaciers for most of the flight down. If nothing else, this is a pretty state. We took an evening flight so didn’t do anything other than a quick walk through downtown to get something to eat and called it a night.
The next morning we got to exploring. Well, eventually. We actually walked down through town again in the morning. Part of that was because we actually tried something new, Turo, which is a car sharing service (similar to AirBnB for sleeping). So we had to go meet our “host” (not sure what they call them actually) and get the car from her. Since the glacier is about 12 miles from town and where we wanted to go, the West Glacier Trail, was NOT where the tourist shuttle buses drop you off, we decided to rent a car for the day and drive ourselves.
Mendenhall Glacier Cairn Trail
Mendenhall Glacier is approximately 13.5 miles long but has retreated 1.75 miles since 1929 (when the lake at the terminus first formed). If you click the picture above, you will see pink triangles with dates, which show the extent of the glacier over the years. Sadly, scroll down and left and you will see 1910 right next to the parking lot which is over 2 miles away from where the glacier is today. Also, a slight three dimensional conversation about the link, between 1975 and 1992 is a steep ~200 foot uphill which is why the numbers are all so close together before they start to spread out again on the other side. Anyway, it was a pretty hike through the rainforest (yes, we have rainforests in Alaska) and up to the aforementioned high point. Since we have been to glaciers before, we didn’t walk all the way down to the ice this time. However, you can often visit ice caves that have formed (proper safety gear advised, including helmets) which is why this is such a popular trail to hike. After we finished the hike we went over to the Visitor’s Center to explore a little bit as well.
For the rest of the day we tried to do the “driving things” since we had a car and it was raining off an on (remember the rainforest comment above?). So we drove around Douglas Island including a stop to explore Sandy Beach aka Savikko Park for a little while. According to what we read, this sand is actually leftovers from the long defunct nearby Treadwell Mine so is actually a large artificial beach. There is a nearby historical walking trail as well though we didn’t realize it until later so never explored it. We also once again wandered around the city. The first time we went, it was too late at night so a lot of things were closed. The second time it was too early so a lot of things were not open yet. This time we finally got it right. We stopped in a couple shops and generally just walked around. All of us…
The boats that come into town are very big.
The next day’s plan was more of the same. We walked down into the city in the morning and looked at the cruise ships (there were 5 in port) then proceeded to walk through town and take the hiking trail up the back side of Mount Roberts. It is about 2.5 miles and climbs about 1400 feet in elevation, until you reach the Mount Roberts Mountain House, where the tramway takes people up and down the front side of the mountain. At the top there is a nature center with some additional trails, a theater plus you can continue another 2 miles to the actual summit of the mountain. For whatever reason, neither of us really took any pictures on this hike. I know, we both need to get better at blogging Half Calf’s adventures!!! I can tell you that almost as soon as we reached the top, it started raining so again. Momma’s legs were beat from carrying Half Calf up the mountain so we didn’t continue on through the nature center trails as intended. Just FYI, if you opt for the “hike up/ride down” option and spend $10 per person at the top, you can ride the tram back down for “free”. Don’t tell anyone but we really only spent $18 so the bartender just gave us someone else’s receipt to allow us to reach the total since it is cumulative money spent and doesn’t have to be in a single transaction.
That marked the end of our day of exploring. Well, other than Half Calf doing laps in the brewpub on the way home…
Oh and after some discussion with the Turo car owner, we actually kept the car since it would ultimately be easier for her if we could bring the vehicle back to her. So she extended us for two more days for very little since it would be a help for her so that was a bonus that we sorted out the night before. We didn’t use the car at all today but since we have it, we intend to visit a couple places before leaving tomorrow.
For our last day in Juneau we had a couple things we still wanted to try and do. In the morning we walked through the Alaska State Museum. Considering its size, it was actually a really good museum. We also drove out the the National Shrine of St. Therese, the patron saint of Alaska. St. Therese died in a September 30, 1897 her convent at Lisieux, France and was canonized on May 17, 1925, and was also declared Queen and Patroness of Alaska. Interestingly the only reason she is really known at all is that she wrote an autobiography, The Story of a Soul. Over the last nearly 100 years since it was established, they have built a lodge, a causeway to an island, a chapel on that island, a columbarium, various gardens as well as a couple retreat cabins. After visiting the shrine grounds we went to the Alaskan Brewing Company before heading to the airport.
Overall, this was a nice weekend in Juneau. The weather cooperated at the times we were outside; we were able to do some hiking, which we enjoy, and we were able to keep Half Calf entertained, stimulated and active. At this point we don’t expect to be back here but would recommend it as a long weekend trip for anyone close enough to make that possible.
