Wonders of Alaska

The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-Alaska Territory was moved from Sitka. The municipality unified in 1970 when the City of Juneau merged with the City of Douglas and the surrounding borough to form the current home rule municipality.

The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island or Delaware and almost as large as the two states combined. Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2000 census, the City and Borough had a population of 30,711.

Juneau was named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg. The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni "river where the flounders gather", and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called Aak'w "little lake" in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains.





Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, with tides averaging 16 feet (4.9 m), below steep mountains about 3,500 to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) high. Atop these mountains is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow; two of these, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon Creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system; the Mendenhall glacier has been generally retreating; its front face is declining both in width and height.



I had the privilege of traveling to Juneau Alaska this week for business and I can tell you that nature is truly majestic here!

To get there I had to take 3 planes and travel to 6 cities for a total of 18 hours of travel time: Montreal -> Chicago (2.5 hrs), Chicago -> Seattle (4.5 hrs), Seattle -> Ketchikan ->Sitka -> Juneau (5 hrs).


Every morning the sun rises at 8:30am and sets in the early afternoon at 3 pm. The morning sight form my window is breathtaking.

At this time of year it's dark 17 hours out of 24. In the summer it's quite the opposite and people tend to stay up late in this city that attracts thousands of tourists each summer. The weather is usually very cloudy all year long, rain in the summer and snow in the winter. Temperatures are not as cold as I expected, minus 10 degrees Celsius was the average this week however the humidity is very strong.

People are very nice and hospitable and love the outdoors. One of my clients came to the office one fine morning straight from the mountain. He had spent part of the late night climbing up the hill to the top, slept in a cabin for a few hours and skied his way down to the office in the morning.

Food is mostly meat oriented. Almost no vegetable grow here. Most veggies are imported and are not very fresh. I did find a really good health food store in town though.

My favorite restaurants/cafe: Heritage Coffee is a great coffee shop that has blended quality, freshness and sustainability for the farmer and the environment into a wide selection of coffees from around the world. This shop also sells organic pastries and gellato ice creme.

There are many animals in Juneau some of which are wales, bears, eagles and the famous raven which is basically a large and more intelligent crow that I saw walking down the street every day.

Today i went to Eagle Crest, ski area which is about a 30 min ride from downtown. It was so magical to be on top of the highest mountains in Alaska and see the entire valley with all the mountains hovering above and the sun peaking behind the hills, shining its rays on the snow. Skiing was a lot of fun and made me realize once again how lucky I am to be on this planet and how precious mother nature is.



One thing that I noticed everywhere I went was the Native Alaskan totem whether I was in the hotel or in a coffee shop, the native signs were present.
The name of totem poles comes from "totem," the symbol of a northwest North American native clan. When westerners first saw totem poles, they thought they were religious symbols and objects of worship. Mistakenly, early missionaries told their converts to burn their totem poles. Today, we understand the totem poles are more like billboards, signposts or tombstones; telling stories and honoring heritage.The original carvers of totem poles are now known as Alaska's Inside Passage, members of the Tlingit, Haida and other clans.

It's a whole different world out here in the midst of wilderness. I am looking forward to my next visit which will hopefully be in the summer season.

sources: about.com | Wikipedia |