North of expected--or didn't Juneau?

Aside from the terrible title of this post, this should describe one of the most fantastic days I have had in my Alaskan experience so far. Juneau has become my favorite Alaskan city, and I still have another day to go. Because I took so many pictures, I'm going to run this like I did with the Brooks Range-Arctic blog and not insert any photos because they would take up too much space. Instead, you can page through my entire album at http://picasaweb.google.com/madaus.le/JuneauDay1 . The following narrative should generally follow those photos, so here we go.

I was told to expect rain and clouds during my time in Juneau, so waking up to a pouring, cold rain outside my window was no big surprise. I got up around 9 and after showering went downstairs to make arrangements to take the hotel's advertised "Free Downtown Shuttle" into downtown Juneau for the day. The city of Juneau has many sections--the main downtown area where most of the businesses, tourist areas and government buildings is built into the side of a mountain and a little flat area along the ocean channel running through. The bulk of the residential area, the airport, and my hotel are located about six or seven miles northwest of there in a little valley called the Mendenhall Valley. As such, to travel in a timely fashion between the two, you need some kind of vehicle. The two areas are connected by one highway, the Egan Expressway (Alaska State Highway 7) which, outside of running some 50 miles in and around Juneau, just randomly ends at both ends and does not connect to the continental road system. Thus, the city of Juneau can only be reached by boat or plane.

Anyhow, now that the location was set, I learned that the shuttle to downtown actually only ran three times per day, and the next run wasn't until noon. This negated my plan to go to the cathedral of the Diocese of Juneau for church that morning, as that was in downtown. So, I said I would take the noon shuttle and was informed that the pickup time to come back would be at 5:30 that evening. I returned to my room and, as luck would have it, there are only two Catholic churches in Juneau, and the other one was only three blocks from my hotel. They had a 10:30 AM mass, which I figured would give me plenty of time to walk there, go to mass and then get back in time to make my noon shuttle. I proceeded to walk to Saint Paul's Church...through the rain. It was pouring. I was soaked by the time I got there.

Saint Paul's was a...unqiue...church. For those familiar with the Catholic mass, some highlights included the periodic inerruptions, particularly in the Prayers of the Faithful and UNUSUALLY in the middle of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, to ask the congregation if they had "anything they would like to add." Apparently that wasn't unexpected, because on both occasions people jumped in with random prayers and requests. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, they added their own personal sentiments about the greatness of the sacrament and the joy they felt in its adoration. I had never seen that before. But, the Catholic church in Alaska is still the Catholic Church (just with "...and Edward our Bishop...") and so it was a familiar experience overall.

All of those congregational interjections lengthened the service considerably--it was ten minutes to noon by the time I got out. And still raining. I half power-walked, half ran back to my hotel, fully expecting to have missed my shuttle. But, upon arriving, I learned that they actually wouldn't be leaving unil 12:20. It ended up that I had time to head up to my room, blow-dry my hair and my jacket, and try to look presentable again for my departure.

It took about ten minutes by van to get into Juneau. I was immediately enthralled by the scenery--steep mountain slopes to the east, the channel of the ocean creating a unique waterfront, and then the mountainous Douglas and Admiralty Islands to the west. So scenic. The first place I headed was the Alaska State Capital building. Since the legislature is not in session at the moment, extensive renovations and remodeling were underway. I took several photos of the building, and found it to look remarkably like a county courthouse. A sign outside advertised free tours of the building inside, but upon entry I learned that the tours wouldn't begin until that afternoon. I planned to return then, and set out towards the Governor's Mansion, which is only a block or two away.

Since the city is built into the mountainside, the roads are very narrow and winding and there are a lot of trees. There are houses in the hillside right next to the road that are painted many very bright colors. They have small lawns or other gardened areas around them as well. The entire combined effect is to produce exactly what I love to see in a city. For some reason, this kind of hillside construction with small yards and buildings at all odd angles and trees and narrow, curving roads just enthralls me. The area around the stately Governor's Mansion is like this, and as such I enjoyed it immensely. Sarah Palin is still out of state at this time and, because it is a private residence, I couldn't go inside the building. I learned that each year, around Christmas time, it is traditional for the Governor to host an open house at the mansion, where all citizens of the state of Alaska (and anyone else in Juneau in the middle of winter) is invited to the mansion for tea and cookies and the opportunity to shake the hand of the governor. Apparently, or so I was told, that would probably be my best shot to meet Sarah Palin. Not planning to be around then, though. There was also a small lawn behind the Governor's mansion with a very cheap-looking trampoline in it. I guess that's what the Palin children do for fun...

I headed back down to the main shopping district. The entire area is a National Historic Landmark so it retains a very quaint, local feel. Lots of small gift shops, bars, and other specialty shops line the streets. It's like going to Galena or Mackinac Island. It's also obvious that they are catering to the cruise ship crowd. Around 70% of tourists who come to Juneau arrive via cruise ship, then another 20% via air and 10% via the ferry. While I was in town, there were three cruise ships docked and, as such, the streets were teeming with people. For many, this was their first Alaskan experience, which I found odd considering where I have been all this time in Alaska looks remarkably different. I was also amused at the many people who could not figure out how to open up the bear-proof garbage cans that fill the city--even though the instructions are printed right on top.

I knew that I wanted to find something called the Mount Roberts Tramway, which is a cable-suspended car that takes you up to an outpost on top of the mountains on which Juneau is built and gives spectacular aerial views of the city. However, I couldn't quite figure out where it was. In the meantime, I browsed through several stores and stopped to buy some fudge and some postcards. Back in Anchorage, when I discussed this trip with my mentor there, he told me his most vivid memory of Juneau was this one T-shirt store that was very bright orange and played very loud, modern music--in stark contrast with the quaint, trying to be historic-looking stores and shops that line the rest of the streets. As I was strolling down the streets, the sun came out (it was not ever raining in downtown Juneau...amazing...) and I suddenly heard this modern rap music coming from down the street. As I approached it, I saw an obnoxiously orange-colored building blaring rap music and calling itself the "Alaska Shirt Company". This was clearly the place my mentor had talked about. They had a very large sign out front saying that it was, "Definitely Locally Owned." I guess many people ask about that? Anyhow, I went in and ended up buying two shirts. Upon leaving with my obnoxiously bright, orange-colored bag, I saw, across the street, the ticketing booth for the Mount Roberts Tram. Amazing how one thing leads to another...

I paid the $27 for my adult ticket to ride the tram up and down (or, actually, it's valid for "as many rides as you want for 24 hours...) and, after filling with 20 some people, we began the ascent. I took several photos of Juneau from various altitudes as we wen up. It's odd to be floating above the trees without any rail or anything that we're riding on. I was also surprised how smooth the ride was--I was expecting the car to sway a lot in the wind. We had a "guide" who conducted our car on the ascent. She was about my age and born here in Juneau. It's a 4 and a half minute ride up and, during that time, the other passengers started a conversation. All of them were from the cruise ships and this was their first time in Alaska. They started asking questions about Juneau and whatnot, but then some of them wanted to know if our guide knew anything about the Anchorage or Fairbanks areas. She said that she had only been to Anchorage a few times and never to Fairbanks. So then I chimed in, since they had specific questions about things in those two cities that I actually knew answers to. Because of this, I was elevated to the level of "native Alaskan" as far as these people were concerned and she and I did a lot of question answering. I found it so funny--here I was, living here for a little over a month, and already to most people I am as good of an Alaskan as someone who has lived here all their life.

At the top of the tram there are several nature areas and many paths through the Tongass National Forest which surrounds this area. The mountains around the Juneau area receive on average some 150 inches of rainfall per year and, because of that, they are technically a temperate rainforest. You can tell when you're up there, too. It may be cool, but it is packed with very full and thick Sitka Spruce trees with many smaller plants and it's also very humid. I would have loved to have more time to explore up there, but I only really had 5 hours or so in downtown Juneau and I had lots more to see. I ate lunch up at a restuarant they have on the top of that tram and had a burger with an Alaskan Amber beer (which is by far my new favorite beer). The ride back down was pleasant and I had no cruise ship people asking me questions.

By then, it was late enough that I could go to the state capital for the tour. I meandered back that way by a long route, cutting through the docks by where the cruise ships were. The entire area smelled like fish, but I guess that's to be expected. I passed a McDonald's on the way that is literally a town landmark. Every map marks it, every guidebook I've read mentions it--maybe all these cruise ship people just want something so very familiar by the time they get back on land. Anyhow, eventually I made it to the capital building and caught on a tour led by a high school student from Juneau who was doing this as her summer job. Since the House and Senate floors were closed for remodeling, we saw some smaller rooms, like the Finance Committee chambers (which were still impressive). Apparently their penalty for having a cell phone ring in that room is to have the person whose phone it is buy twelve poppy seed muffins for every ring of the cell phone. Or so a sign said in that room. We also saw the door's to the Governor's Office (Sarah Palin's Office), over which was a digital countdown clock that was put there by Governor Palin. It counts down the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until the end of her term as governot as the time left for her to "make a difference". I learned that there are no term limits for governors of Alaska, so long as they run no more than two of their terms consecutively. Who knows when Governor Palin's time will actually end. I met some people from Fort Worth on that tour and, when they learned what I was doing this summer, they, too, decided that I was the closest thing to an Alaska citizen they would find and asked me all these questions about what to see and do in Anchorage. I just find it hilarious...

Back down by the docks, it still smelled of fish. I mailed a few postcards that I had written throughout the day at the main post office and found a few NOAA buildings as well down by the waterfront. I then had about half an hour until my shuttle pick up, so I decided to go on a quick run through the Alaska State Museum. I thought that the Museum of the North in Fairbanks had a far better collection, bu it was still interesting none the less. Actually, of all the things there, I enjoyed finding a Fresnel lens from a lighthouse the most. For some reason that kind of device has always intrigued me, this massive conglomeration of brass and glass that focuses the light beam from the lighthouse. I had never seen one until then. They also had a Science on a Sphere thing in their lobby that was drawing quite a crowd. It was exactly the same system as we have in the Weather Center in Norman. I found it amusing how enthralled people were with it, and also reflected on how accustomed we at the Weather Center have become to our big spherical earth projection. The one in this museum, though, featured a user-customizable display, where you could push different buttons to see different data sets projected onto the sphere, like recent earthquakes or ocean currents. I wish we could do that with ours.

Then I went to pick up my shuttle. By the time 5:50 rolled around with no shuttle I figured something was up. So I called my hotel and sure enough, "Oh...we have no record of anyone asking for a pickup this evening..." even though I was there and saw her write it down. They promised to send someone, though, and sure enough in 15 minutes the van arrived. It was the same fellow who had picked me up from the airport yesterday, and he was most apologetic about not being there on time. As we drove to the hotel, he mentioned that he was going to the ferry terminal to see if there was anyone there who needed to get to the hotel and asked if I wanted to tag along out there before we got back to the hotel. I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to explore a new area, so I went along with him. This led me north of Juneau on the highway, up to the ferry terminal by Auke Bay. This is where a lot of the local harbours are, not only for the ferry terminal, but also for several fishing boats and local yacht owners. It's a very scenic area, though most people who live up there are rather wealthy. Still, I enjoyed the brief tour.

I returned to my hotel and ate at the Mexican Restaurant at its base. The Mexican food in Alaska has nothing on the Texas and Oklahoma Mexican places I've been to. I guess I've been spoiled somewhat by that. But anyhow, I'm enjoying a nice quiet evening now with a good rest before more exploring tomorrow. I hope I stay as dry as I ended up staying today...