Three Days in Juneau

I just got back from a quick little business trip to Juneau.  Occasionally as part of my job, I have to conduct examinations on investment advisor firms.  We always go to them, so that means some occasional in-state travel.  When it was time to head to Juneau I jumped at the chance to see the nation's most inaccessible state capital on the state's dime.

I left early Monday morning and since I spent a portion of the day packing, the animals got weird.  They rounded out the night by doing the cutest thing ever to make me not want to leave the house:

Yes. Fro is wrapped around Ripley's paw.

The flight from Anchorage to Juneau is only about 90 minutes long, but Juneau is a completely different place.  It's MUCH rainier than just about anywhere else in Alaska and it's very green.  As soon as we landed I felt like I was right back in the Pacific Northwest.

During the day we worked, and then after 4:30 my coworker Roger and I, who has been to Juneau about 1,000 times in his 20+ years with the state, hit the town.

Isn't it adorable?  It's a lot of hills, a lot of trees, and a lot of buildings from the mid 1800s.  It reminded me of Astoria, Oregon, but a little more tourist-oriented and a little less blue collar (this is probably what Astoria will be like in the next 10 years if the cruise ships keep coming).

We had a great time peeking in the shops and acting like tourists (since I was one).

Have you heard of the Red Dog Saloon?  It's world famous.  You know because it says so on the sign.

Speaking of cruise ships...

In three days, I think we saw nine different ships.  They come in in the morning and they leave at night, bringing throngs of silver-haired tourists with money to burn right into the heart of the town.  

Another Juneau highlight is the tram:

The tram goes right from the cruise ship dock up to the top of the mountain.  I think there were about five total minutes in the three days I was there that the top of the tram wasn't in a cloud.  We considered taking a ride, but I decided to spend my money on shopping instead.  If I'm ever in Juneau on a sunny day, I will definitely ride the tram, because I'm sure the view is incredible.

The clouds actually parted for long enough to show off the mountains.  They surround the town (The parts that aren't on the water anyway), which is precisely why there are no roads out of Juneau.  You read that right, there are NO ROADS out of Juneau.  The only way to get out of Juneau is by plane or ferry.  As my coworker David says, who lived here for seven years, "It's a great place for hermits."

The tourists in Juneau were incredible.  We found this guy with a camera feeding ravens literally on top of a police car.  He was just tossing bread right at the SUV.  We never saw the cop.

Isn't it pretty?  Even with all the rain I just loved it.  I think Andy and I need to make a trip back sometime when I don't have to spend 7.5 hours of the day working.

I even made it to the capitol building, which is about a block up the hill from the Juneau branch of my office (where I spent the three days).  It's not so impressive, and is also apparently falling apart:

Those strips on the columns are literally holding up the building right now.  A lot of people have used this as another reason as to why the capital should be moved.  The topic of having the capital in Juneau is touchy depending on who you talk to.  People in Juneau believe (accurately) that if they move the capital to somewhere that is actually accessible by road, the town will basically collapse except for during the summertime when the tourists come.  On the other hand, the state would probably save about a billion dollars a year if it didn't have to fly everyone who works for the government, including small-time bureaucrats like me, to Juneau all the time.  I don't take a position.  I'm happy to let the state keep sending me there because I absolutely loved it, and so did my skin, which hadn't been exposed to real rain in almost a year.  Can't wait to go back!