Juneau

We were in Juneau from Wednesday, August 20, until Saturday morning, August 23.  I think all four of us have decided we could have given Juneau a pass and we did cut our visit short by one day.  The airlines could take lessons in customer service from Alaska Marine Highways.  Oh, you want to change your reservation, “no problem,”  oh, you want to cancel a portion of it, “no problem, we will charge you a percentage based cancel fee ($21!) and refund you the remainder!” 

Juneau is in a beautiful setting but there are way, way too many tourists for our comfort levels!  The Mendenhall Glacier run by the USFS was a nightmare—tourists everywhere, rude, obnoxious tourists everywhere!  I almost came to blows with some nitwit who was allowing his brats to kick gravel at Emmi scaring her to death.  The one mile path out to Nugget Falls—a stupendous waterfall which comes from the head of the glacier (I think), was as if we were on a racetrack—people dashing past us as if they had to reach the falls before any one of the other 500 people ahead of us did!  On coming people walking three to four abreast would not yield to allow you to pass—it was a nightmare!!  There was absolutely no parking, a less than helpful park ranger told me to park on the side of the road.  YUCK to the whole experience!

Mendenhall Glacier from the campground, we should have been happy with that view.

Mendenhall Campground run by the USFS on the other hand was a delight—very few people in the park this time of year, quiet, dark—perfect!

After our glacier disaster we were in need of a little peace and decided to visit the Shrine of St. Therese, built in the late 1930’s.  There is a chapel along with Stations of the Cross, a labyrinth and

other structures in a beautiful setting right by the ocean.  Very quiet and restful!

Friday we braved public transportation—bus riding doesn’t happen in Montana or Custer, SD—we parked at the Nugget Mall and hopped aboard a bus heading to downtown Juneau having read that parking was non-existent unless you were driving a small car.  There were four cruise ships in port when we arrived but all the other tourists must have been off sightseeing on the float planes or off to Mendenhall Glacier—downtown was not the zoo we expected. 

We toured the Alaska State Capitol—we were the only people on the tour and a delightful young man named Matt escorted us.

Alaska is a big state!!And we had a delightful lunch at the Flight Deck watching all the float planes take off with the cruise ship folks.  Those cruise ships are incredibly huge—floating cities I do believe!

We tried to visit the Greek Orthodox church, a tiny structure established in 1894 but it was closed. 

We once again braved the bus and headed back out to our campground.  Geri and Michael had called the Alaska Marine Highway System while I was in Office Depot having some documents printed and scanned.  Larry and Geri while out walking Friday morning had talked to a “local” who told them not to ride the ferry from Haines to Skagway—drive instead, she told them it was one of the most beautiful drives in the world.  So—we left Juneau a day early and rode the ferry to Haines, Alaska today, Saturday, August 23.  Our last ferry ride was spectacular!