Airship Goes to Alaska
Today was sunny!! Finally! We got a ton of work done this morning and then decided to take advantage of the sunny day in Juneau and get out a bit more. We braved the hoards of cruiseshippers and got ourselves a ticket to ride the Mt. Roberts Tramway from the cruise ship docks up the side of Mt. Roberts. (Tickets are 33 bucks per person…which seems a bit high, but there's a lot to do up there and it's pretty cool.)
More of the view on the way up:
The marina where we're staying is the one just past the bridge.
If I zoom in, we can even see Airship!
We grabbed some lunch and a beer at the Timberline Bar & Grill, watched a movie in the Chilkat Theater about Tlingit culture and history, and checked out the Raven Eagle gift shop. I bought an Alaskan yo yo, also called Eskimo yo yo, kind of like the one my grandma had when I was growing up. It's not quite as cool (or intricately beaded) as the one she had, but it's still nice to finally have found one. It was kind of a bummer though, to be in a native art gift shop and the gal working there had no idea who made these. She knew it was the same people who made a certain kind of mask that was also in the store/gallery, but there was no information about the artisans.
I can still do it, too! (Here's a video of the basic move.) The ones my grandma had were I think made of seal and the small multi-colored trading beads. I'm not sure what these are made of (and neither was the chick in the shop). Oh well. I still like 'em!
After that, we went out for some hiking. The views from our hike up to Gastineau Ridge were gorgeous.
Tiny cruise ships:
Raven tree carving along the trail:
Looking north up Gastineau Channel:
This view out over what I think is called Bear Valley was so beautiful:
And hey, that little black dot that's moving…it's a black bear!
We hiked and then trammed back down the mountain, and stopped at the grocery store once again. Whoa! I think the produce shipment must come in on Mondays because when we were here on Sunday, the pickings were slim. This time, they had everything I wanted: spinach, arugula, fresh rosemary, cilantro…score!
Dinner tonight is a barbacoa flank steak…maybe as a salad, or maybe in tacos…we haven't decided yet. Happy Tuesday!
