18 May: Chapter 3 - Juneau & Anchorage

18 May.  We got into Juneau early, disembarked without incident, and said goodbye to our little NatGeo/Lindblad cruise ship.  Our luggage was forwarded to a holding spot on shore and we just walked thru town to our hotel.

Adios Sea Bird

It’s been about 11 years since I was here last and it's Beanie’s first visit.  It’s hard to appreciate how close and high the mountains are to the bay.  The town looks about the same, lots of new names, but same vibe.

Shot from our room.

Shot from walking along the waterfront

On the walk to the hotel went by the local tram.  I’ve never rode it, but Craig Hochgraef & I hiked up to the mountain where it terminates and the views of the harbor were spectacular.  There are a couple of lakes and multiple trails of which the best known is the hike to Father Brown Cross.  The tram itself rises to around 1800' in elevation.  The website provides much better pics than I could, check it out, Goldbelt Tramway

Mount Roberts Tramway - AKA Goldbelt Tramway

The harbor is still amazing, especially when it’s not too packed.  Lots of wildlife and great views.  The audio on the clip is a little on the low side so pump up the volume as required.

A duck Armada

There were a couple of cruise ships in port, but it was early and the stupid-large crowds had yet to form.

We’re staying at the Four Points Sheraton, which used to be a Marriot when I was last here.  We got to the hotel around 0830 and surprise, early check in was available.  We got into the room and I headed out to pick up our luggage and once again, surprise, the pickup location was only about 300 yards from the hotel so it was a short walk there and back.

We settled in and went about planning our day, what to do, and came up with a colossal idea – laundry!!  Yea!!!! We bagged up a couple of trash bags and began our trek to the nearest laundromat, about a mile away.  It was a good walk, weather was nice, felt good to stretch our legs a bit, and we got to see a bit of the town.

Juneau is located on the Gastineau Channel.  It is basically the tale of two cities – the sleepy version from Labor Day till late May, and the bustling tourist, cruise line, tour company laden version from late May until Labor Day.  Last time I was there was over Labor Day weekend and it was astounding to be hanging out in packed bars and restaurants on Labor Day and going back to those same places the next day and having the whole place to yourself.

Back to the exciting life of laundry.  We found a laundromat and headed that way.  Gas prices were nothing to be happy about.

Made me glad we were walking!!

Made our way to the laundromat without any issues, spent a couple hours enjoying the ambience of the facility, and a short two hours later our hotel room was awash with clean clothes.  We did have some issues with those items we normally don’t dry, but once we made our way back to the room, a solution was to be found.

Needless to say we declined housekeeping for the day!

I thought this was quite ingenious!

After we finished up the laundry, the Bean was feeling a little beat and wanted get a little rest, so I took off for a walk about.  I recognized many of the places.  The “steps” is a functional stairway to the upper-level houses and businesses, but it also called the stairway to heaven by some of the locals – if I recall correctly, it’s 276 steps.  It doesn’t compare to the Stairway to Heaven on Oahu which many of us that worked on Rescue 21 have hiked.  It is 3922 steps, a 2660 ft elevation change, and probably has the best views on the island, https://www.oahuhike.com/stairway-to-heaven, but it is a beast.  I think it has finally closed to the public, but that's only increased its folklore value.

Stairway to Heaven - Juneau style.

Beanie was still a little down, so dinner was a take away Club Sandwich from the place across the street – pretty yummy

19 May

Today’s agenda includes a visit to the Dog Musher’s Camp in Juneau.  There’s no snow on the ground so they work the dogs by having them pull buggies that approximate the weight and pull of a sled.  These are actual Iditarod dogs and this provides good off-season training as well as funding. 

The camp was about 12 miles away, across the bay, and nestled into the woods. There were four of us on our sled plus the musher.  She knew her way around the sled, each dog by name, and all the commands in the "musher" language.  The dogs were more than ready to go when we arrived, lots of barking and jumping around – impatient to get down to business.  Here’s the buggy and the dogs

Alaskan Hotwheels

We were briefed on the safety rules which were basically don’t be an idiot and do anything stupid and we were off.  There is a series of trails that allow the musher to use all commands and exercise all the basic maneuvers, left, right, go, stop, speed up, and slow down.  The musher, I guess that's what you call the person giving the commands, rides on a stand right behind us so we are now pretty much fluent. 

• Hike!: Get moving. To start a team or increase speed of a moving team.  
• Gee!: Turn to the right.
• Haw!: Turn to the left.
• Easy!: Slow down.
• Straight Ahead!: At an intersection of trails.
• Whoa!: Stop.

Here's how it sounds and looks in real time.

We went for about 10 minutes and then stopped for a short cool down period.  It’s much different mushing in May versus the winter so the dogs heat up pretty quick and need to be monitored.  If they had their way, they'd run until the dropped.

After a short rest, the dogs got restless again, began to bark, and we were off again.  We got back to the camp and the dogs were ready to cool down and have a cold one.  Most of them took a seat and drank some water.  It was also time for some pets and pampering, mostly by the Bean.

Will somebody PLEASE rub my belly!

Quality Beanie time

Equal opportunity

After considerable amounts of petting and pampering, we walked around the grounds a bit, got a short briefing about the history of the Iditarod.

Grounds were beautiful - lots of running streams and views

After this grueling experience, it was play time, but this time with puppies!  They had a litter of 2-week old pups and a single 2-month old.  Needless to say they were pretty much beyond cute.  They caught Beanie trying to smuggle one out.  Here’s too many pics and videos of the two week old pups.

I know - we're cat people, but damn, what could we do!!

Soaking up the rays.

Like he just stumbled on to a new den.

And here’s some equal time for the 2-month old, far more rambunctious than the new ones!

Really good dog - lots of spirit.  Will be a good sled dog one day.

Hard to make him sit still long enough to get a pic of his face.

After a great time we headed back to the hotel.  I went walk about again to get some steps and further explore.  I came across the federal building where I last worked with Craig and a couple others to bring the Coast Guard District 17 operators responsible for monitoring the radios used for support, service, and rescue operations for the operating area.  Good facility, federal building, and convenient to the Marriott.

Some good memories of a truly fabulous job!

The harbor was a bit more active with more cruise ship in and the usual sea plane traffic.

I came across quasi-food truck, bar truck, beer truck park. It was a good set up offering various fish tacos, crepes, craft beer, and spirits at the different stops.  It was all covered, and had fire pit tables and stools.

Kind of an aerial view but you can get the gist

Across the street was a local craft beer bar, (I mean what are the odds?) that looked pretty cool, The Devil’s Club Brewing Co.  I stopped inside, had a nice local IPA and checked out the menu.  It looked promising. 

Had to get a tee shirt!

I headed back to the room to check on the Bean, she was up and about so we decided to head out on the town.  The Royal Caribbean International was in port and had this cool little “feature” I had not seen before.  Looks like it would be fun and provide some spectacular views.  Also, the Norwegian Bliss had a nice Wyland paint job on the hull.  We passed a couple nice local homes, nice gardens, landscaping, and views.  

You can see the Wyland credit on the top of the bow

Nice combination of manicured and just letting it go wild.

Next door to Stairway to Heaven - captures just how close the mountains are to the water

Same house and lot from below.

After a nice walking tour and some fresh air, we decided on the Devil Club Brewing Co and made our way there.  We had a couple of the local favorites and some killer popcorn.  I’m not sure what the spices were, but it was the major portion of my dinner.  Beanie ordered a sandwich with coleslaw which was also quite good.  After a long day, we made it back to the room.

Good beer, good food, and of course, the best Bean!

Saying farewell to Juneau, very much enjoyed the return trip.  

20 May.  Today we are off to Anchorage.  For Juneau, you really don’t need to get to the airport as early, small airport and a 10-minute drive from downtown Juneau, so we arranged for an 11:45 pick up for a 1:30 flight. To kill the time I did a farewell walk about and got back to the room around 11:00.  At 11:30 we got a text that our flight was delayed until 2:30 so we  rescheduled our taxi service.  Then around 1:30 and we find out our flight  now departs at 2:00.  Then they tell us we’re late and our luggage may not make it as the time moved up again and we did not receive any notification. Lots of Charlie Foxtrots going on, but it all worked out and we actually ended up landing in Anchorage very close to our originally scheduled time.

Good flight to Anchorage with incredible vista (yep, fancy word for views).  The mountains were majestic and a glacier, no idea what the name might be.

Maybe the best glacier view of the trip!

It almost looks fake.

No muss – no fuss with luggage and off to the rental agency.  I must say, Avis went all out to make us feel special.  I mean, what other company would personalize their rental cars by putting the customer’s name on the car.  I really did feel special!

We made it to the Downtown Marriott with little fanfare, but they had us in an incorrect room so we went into standby mode.  They told us it could be an hour or two, so we made our way out to get acquainted with the town.  We stumbled onto a city trail named the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.  It’s 11+ miles long and runs along the coastline of Anchorage.  It was fabulous.  There is extensive lowland area, some call them flats, as the tidal swing is big.  Lots of ducks, geese and something new to us, sandhill cranes.  These guys are pretty big, 3-4 feet and nice-looking birds.  At first glance Beanie thought it was a deer!!!!  Also got a good look at an Alaskan Magpie.

Magpie

We got into our room after an hour or so and it worked out pretty well.  Eighteenth floor with terrific views of the city and the ocean.  And a special feature we found out the next morning was a good shot of F-22s and C-117s doing touch and go landings out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.  Sounds Like FREEDOM!!!

We decided to eat light and did some munching in the Concierge Lounge.  Nothing real special, but great views, sun was still pretty high in the sky at 9:00.  Another pretty long day and time to hit the sheets.

21 May.  Woke up to cloudy skies with a small chance of rain.  Our first stop on the docket was Moose Run Golf Course.  Moose Run is the military golf course located on the Army side of Joint Base Elmendorf (AF) Richardson (Army).  I cannot tell you how much it hurts me and a dedicate airman to say the Army did a great job with this course.  Before the bases were merged the AF had Eagle Glen, a Robert Trent Jones Sr designed course.  The decision was made to close the AF course as Moose Run has two 18-hole courses, both of which are quite good, but all that being said, a Robert Trent Jones Sr course is a jewel and while on a fiscal level, I understand and agree with the call – it still sucks.

We drove out, had our first Starbucks of the vacation, stopped by the Base Exchange to see what was in stock and pick up a few supplies.  We arrived at the course and were pleased to see that the shorter course, The Hill Course was already open.  Normally it doesn’t open until mid-June.  They had temporary tee boxes and greens (overseeding) and it was pretty bushy looking.  I decided not to play, but did want to give Beanie the tour so the pro shop graciously let me rent a golf cart for the price of a rider’s fee ($18) we headed out. The course was not crowded, it was around 50 degrees, and the locals were in short-sleeved shirts and some wearing shorts.

We went to the Hill Course first as there had been reports of a momma bear and two cubs playing around by the number 12 green, and moose and even a wolf on other parts of the course.  We just kind of chugged around taking about 45 minutes to cover the 6,500 yard course.  Unfortunately we whiffed on any major wildlife.

One of the many fabulous views.  Almost makes you forget a bad shot . . . almost!

I told Beanie NO JEANS on the golf course!!

Eight Inch cup and I'd probably still miss it!!

We then moved on to the Creek Course.  The last time I played this course was with Craig and we saw a momma black bear with her cub – pretty special.  The Creek Course is a big dog – 7,400 yards from the rocks.  It looked to be great condition, but was still awaiting opening day.  The views on this course are spectacular.  Almost every hole would be praised by any TV commentator.  Here’s a couple of views.

Number 5 on the Creek Course

Well once again no bueno on the wildlife viewing, but a very enjoyable couple of hours cruising around.  We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit.  At this point the Bean is feeling a little worse, so it’s rest time for her.  I decided to further explore the neighborhood and maybe more of the Knowles Trail.

It’s an interesting neighborhood.  Many small, older homes, many built in the 50s or 60s and some really nice, more modern, larger homes.  Virtually everyone is either on the water or close by.  One of the roads ran very close to the RR tracks and the Knowles trail and wouldn’t you know , more damn sand cranes!  Talk about reckless behavior, playing on the railroad tracks!  Not sure what the food source is but it appears to be linked to rail traffic.

After an hour or so I checked in on the Bean and after a hot shower and a little time away from me she was much better – I’m sure it was the shower.  We decided to walk to Humpy’s, a popular haunt with the locals.  It was a bit crowded, but we lucked into a booth.  One of the hallmarks of Humpy’s is their extensive collection of beer tap handles above the bar.  Not sure how many there are, but it’s kinda cool.   Here’s a sample.

Dinner was excellent.  Beanie had the Horseradish Crusted Halibut and it was exceptional.  I had the Humpy’s renown Calamari, nice spice, just chewy enough so Beanie doesn’t eat it sided with a very good Caesar salad.  A win-win!  All this sided with a top-notch King St IPA.  After a very nice meal, we walked back to the hotel, temps perhaps the best of the day, and the sunset was still hours away. 

It was a good day!

Steps 11,110

22 May.  Today’s agenda features a road trip Day to the famed Matanuska glacier, well I never heard of it, but Beanie is the travel guru.  The glacier is about 100 miles NE and part of the Chugach National Forest.  We went thru many small towns including Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s home town. Virtually any mountain of any size was still snowcapped and the snow melt was filling lakes, rivers, and streams.  Traffic was light and I must say, Alaskan drivers are quite courteous.  No slow pokes, no crazy people, and they actually use turn signals.  Like so much of Alaska, almost every corner had a pull-out photo op.

We pulled out to a  place called Lades of Gold in Hatcher’s Pass. It’s an old gold rush era panning area, just beautiful.  And it was evidently a good place to harvest some type of tuber as a local was digging up roots, shaking off the soil, and bagging them up to take with him.  I don’t know just how high the river gets, but there was a massive low land area with some vegetation, but it appeared to primarily firmly packed crushed granite.  We could see people, courtesy of our binoculars, out walking with their dogs indicating it was firm enough to walk about without the fear of sinking into the mud.

An impromptu stop

If you look really, really hard you can see a guy with two dogs near the river

Shortly after this stop we visited the Musk Ox Farm.  I am pretty sure this is the first time either of us have actually seen a Musk Ox in the wild.  It was kind of cool as there were a few babies in the group and this pictorial reference of the size differences of wolf, musk ox, and moose.  I grew up in Maine and have seen moose, but I do not recall them being this freaking big!

1070438

Well I'm tall but the moose is standing on the 4" trim!

It was about 50 degrees and these guys just looked too warm!

Always got to have the baby shot!

Like almost everywhere, spring brings with it flower with the worst rep across the country – the dreaded dandelion.  Somehow, with the exception of the metropolitan areas of Anchorage, the rest of Alaska has made peace with the dandelion and a live and let live truce is in place.  Knowing you don’t have to waste all that time killing and it will be gone in a matter of weeks anyway made me see them in a much more favorable light.

Even the rocks are good for growing

All along the drive you could see indications of huge landslides, often part of a glacier movement. 

You can see the landslide from the glacier movement

Most every roadway is built between mountains so it will often have rivers and waterways running parallel to the roads.  This one was with us for miles.

We made it to the glacier and at first, I was a bit underwhelmed, but once I realized how far away we were, I got a better perspective and appreciation.

The trees help to give it some scale.

We made our way back to the hotel; put  Beanie into rest status and did another I walk about.  By the time I got back, Beanie was a bit refreshed, so I showered and we were off to the Blarney Stone, a nearby Irish Pub.  We had a really good waitress there and something came up and I bet her $10 she was wrong.  Beanie ordered the Shepard’s Pie and I had the soup of the day, corn beef stew, and of course a nice cold beer.  We paid the bill, with a nice tip, plus the $10 I lost on my apparently foolish bet that I don't remember.  We had a good time and walked back to the room.  Tomorrow we motor south to Seward.

Steps 11,089