To those on the east coast, the thought of flying to Alaska “for the weekend” sounds very strange and I got more than a few chuckles when telling our plans to our friends. However, from Seattle, it is not a big deal at all. We decided to go to Juneau instead of Anchorage because we only had the weekend, and so didn’t have time to do Anchorage and the surrounding area justice. We immediately found out there is a different vibe in Alaska than the lower 48. The first indication was the stuffed cinnamon and polar bears in the baggage claim area! 

We spent the first day just walking around Juneau, which has been the state capital since 1906. It’s not a big city and we could walk from the tourist area to the downtown area with the government offices easily. The character of the two areas were very different though. The tourist area was surrounded by a mountain on one side and the Gastineau Channel on the other. In between ran a narrow strip of land a few blocks wide that was filled with stores selling furs, jewelry, and souvenirs. North of this area, the land widened out and within a few blocks the stores gave way to office buildings and the state capital building. There were a few cafes and shops but not many. At first we thought we would blend in with the locals easily; after all, we were all Americans! Very quickly though we noticed that it was pretty obvious we weren’t from Juneau. The day was gray with a drizzling rain and the damp chill of a 50-degree rainy day had us wrapped up in layers topped by raincoats. Seemed pretty practical to us! The locals though were walking around in short sleeves with no coats at all. I guess we were just not hardy enough for a balmy late September day in Alaska!

We had planned to have Alaskan King Crab for lunch, following our theme of eating the local favorite food. However, the price per pound was $50 which was just a little more than we wanted to pay. So we found some local halibut at The Hangar on the Wharf restaurant, which was excellent, even if it wasn’t King Crab.