Sunday, July 20, 2008

Alaska #5 -- July 20, 2008


On Thursday we woke up in Juneau. We were at the AJ pier, so we had to take a shuttle into town. It was $1.50 for unlimited rides. If it had not been raining, we could have walked. The shuttle let us off next to the station of the Mount Roberts Tramway. The family visited a couple of stores, then we rode the tramway to the top. It was very foggy, so we couldn't see much. The ride was exciting, about 3000 feet, almost straight up.
We visited the Nature Center and they bought some books that will be useful for reading to students. We saw Lady Baltimore, a bald eagle who had been shot and can't be returned to the wild. We were impressed by her size.
We walked up the trail a bit, and our daughter got to walk on snow, but it was slippery, so we turned back.
We took the tram back down and took a walk into Juneau. The Red Dog Saloon was too much of a tourist trap. We worked our way up to the state capitol building, had lunch, and stopped at the Alaska Hotel Bar for a beer. It was a nice dark, old-fashioned place.
My wife felt that Juneau seemed more relaxed than Sacramento. I visited the atm again and I think had two legislators behind me.
We took another ride up the tram and could see as far as the ship. I'll probably write more about it on my cable car site (even though it is not a cable car).
We took the shuttle back to the ship. One poor couple was trying to get to the Coral Princess, which was at another dock. The driver said he would take them back to town.
The tides in the area are massive, but we were able to reboard on deck 5.
I went out on deck and got some nice photos of float planes taking off and landing.
The Giants traded Ray Durham to the Brewers. He was a good player. The Brewers swept the Giants.

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