Juneau, Alaska Tuesday 10 June

Juneau, Alaska 

Juneau, Alaska Day 4  of our Cruise:

Capital City of Alaska, but not reachable by Road, only by sea or air, the same as Ketchican.

There is what they call a Trolley, which leaves from the Wharf to give great views of the City

At the top there was Mt Roberts with a Visitors Centre, gift shop', theatre etc. and tracks into the Forest:

In the Mt Roberts  Visitors Centre with gift shop etc. Sat in on a concert by the Alaska String Band. A folk type group, their songs were very moving:

http://www.alaskastringband.com/

Their songs were full of the tragedy and beauty of Alaska. The feeling here is s that Alaska is living in the wild and with the rawness of nature. I went outside and walked a few meters up the track. There was a sign there put up by a son, a few weeks before his Mother had gone missing on that track. If you got lost in the vast wildness with wild bears and other risks I assume even in 2014 people would just disappear and there is not a lot you can do to find them.

Then a short walk from the Ship to down-town Juneau:

Including the infamous Red Dog Saloon where Wyatt Earp checked in his gun, but forgot to collect it when he left::

We went on a tour of Juneau, which is the Capital of Alaska and then out to the Mendenhall National Park a few kilometres north of the City, past the obligatory strip-mall shops, Walmart et.all.

 Here is the Governors mansion, Sarah Pailin is gone but not forgotten.

In the afternoon, off to see the Mendenhall Glacier at close quarters:

As close as this:

And an Iceberg on Mendenhall Lake
:

And a waterfall pumping out enough water to fill an Olympic Swimming Pool every second:

Then back to town and across to Douglas which is on the opposite side of the Fjord to Juneau, but still a suburb of the City. Here a view of the only sandy beach in the area, artificially created from the Mine tailings:

I think this photo sort of sums up Alaska, intense beauty, although man tries to tame the landscape, he really can't make a significant impression