Juneu Alaska

September 3rd – Wednesday - 2008

Juneau was raining when we docked; the entire city is just about 15 minutes walking distance from the pier. My daughter Vanessa decided to take the river rafting tour with other younger passengers, Sandy, Mom and I took the City Tour. We boarded our tour bus in front of the Juneau Visitor Center. Our driver this time was Sam, and he was originally from Samoa. He pointed the landmark buildings of the city, the museums, the first church built in 1800, the Mayor’s house, then we crossed over the bridge to Homestead island, the residential side of Juneau. The island was originally called the Blueberry Island because of the wild blueberries that abundantly grew in the island, later on was dedicated as Homestead island in 1982.

One tidbit of interesting fact about Juneau, if your reside in the city, after 1 year of residency, you will start to receive a pension fund from the oil companies which is the islands biggest source of income. When a newborn baby comes, they automatically receive the pension check 1 month after they are born. Our tour guide took us to the only man made park in the entire city, Homestead Park.

After we left the park, we decide to get dropped off in front of the Visitor Center where we could do some more shopping. I noticed that most of the jewelry stores are in every port, their favorite gem stone to sell is my birthstone, Tanzanite. All the shops also sell the same souvenirs, knick knacks, T-shirts, crafts, etc. I found the same souvenirs I picked up in Skagway were cheaper in Juneau, so I bought more stuff, after all who can pass up a bargain!

Before boarding the ship, we decided to have a late lunch, we ate at a local restaurant that served a lot of salmon in their menu, I wasn’t that hungry so I had a bowl of clam chowder soup. After that we took a tour of a salmon packing cannery, and picked up more pre-packed salmon.

When we got back on board, Vanessa said her river rafting experience was really fun and I wished I could have gone with her but I could not leave Sandy and Mom by themselves not knowing the city. We got dressed for the second formal dinner, again we got dressed up once more and we had lobster for dinner, I had 3 servings. After dinner, we went to see another comedy show before retiring the evening.