Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is Alaska's capital. As can easily be seen on the pictures, most of the town is located on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the VERY high mountains. Juneau can only be reached by air or sea, a look at the toppography makes it clear that building roads would be prohibitively expensive (not to mention - roads to where?) The real question is why was this town built in the first place and then why was it made the capital of the state?

  Juneau as seen from the ship

The answer to the first question is typical for Alaska - GOLD. In 1880 a guide from the Taku band of Tsimshian Indians took the prospectors Juneau and Harris to a creek where sizeable gold nuggets could be picked up and the rush was on.

Why did it become the capital? No idea, but it was probably the typical compromise solution that explains why state capitals usually are in little towns, not the major city of a state. At any rate, today government and tourism are Juneau's main industries

Chief Anotklosh (Taku tribe) 1913                          State capitol

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Cruiseship tourists have a number of sightseeing opportunities in Juneau. My attention was attracted by the possibility of taking a helicopter trip to the Mendenhall glacier , followed by a guided glacier walk. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate - we were only in Juneau until the early afternoon and the city was fogged in for most of the morning. So - we could not fly and spent a pretty dull day waiting for the fog to lift - it did, but by then it was too late for the tour. So, we only saw the glaciers from a distance and the Mendenhall glacier only on pictures. We were very disappointed, but a sweet little surprise awaited us in Skagway that would make up for it.

View of snowclad mountains from the boat

Mendenhall Glacier