Summer in Juneau (and beyond!)

Our view from the ferry early Saturday morning

Living in a tourist town in summer has it's advantages - restaurants shuttered during the winter open with new and interesting menus, trinket shopping is at its finest and there is a plethora of activities both on the water and through the air.  Juneau residents can get  discounts on tours and travel and my volunteer work with the Convention and Visitors Bureau offers even more opportunities to "try" the activities offered to

Beer Fest grounds

Cyd, Jessie and me!

visitors.  {Side note:  if you haven't already seen it, please view the Summer 2015 JCVB video - spectacular scenery, great music and even "surprise" movie stars! https://www.youtube.com/user/TravelJuneau}  We have been very lucky to experience a lot of what Juneau and other parts of Alaska has to offer.  This summer, however, we decided to make sure that we allowed time to experience things we might not otherwise do! In May, we ferried to Haines, AK, for the annual "Beer Fest", where local brewers (and there are lots of them in Alaska) get together for a beer "tasting" at an outdoor venue that is normally used for the Southeast Alaska State Fair.  Always held on Memorial Day weekend, it was a good opportunity to take the ferry (about 4 hours) on Saturday, stay overnight and return on Sunday.  Two other couples, friends from my work, made the trek with us and we were lucky that the day dawned bright and sunny - perfect weather to take the slow way to Haines. Our tickets allowed for entry to the beer gardens at 1 p.m. sharp so we arrived at about 12:40 p.m. and were one of the first people in line, primed for four full hours of beer-tasting.  All participants receive a 2 oz commemorative glass with which to sample the brews offered.  I'm not a beer drinker too much so I was happy to see a good selection of hard ciders and "fruity" beers and ales.  Drinking 2 oz beers is like drinking shots - it quickly overcomes you!  A stop at the "whack a mole" and some hula hooping while listening to music allowed us to get our second wind and, after the event ended, we were circling the small city of Haines looking for the giant slip-n-slide that we had heard was in the area.

Slippin' & slidin'

  We were not disappointed - great views (really, Mr. Speedo?) of the crowd from our car - although one in our group may have been talked into "slipping" if we would have let him!  An early night was in order because we wanted to drive out of town to the Canadian border Sunday with a couple of side trips on the way before returning to Juneau later in the day.  There is a great place just our side of the border called 33 Mile Roadhouse which, by coincidence, is 33 miles outside of Haines. A nice stop forbreakfast, it also brought out the photographer in all of us and one in our party was even surprised by a goat in one of the barns. In that same area is the Big Nugget Mine made popular by the Discovery Channel television show "Gold Rush Alaska" and we wanted to stop for some fireworks that we heard were offered by the road side before heading back to Haines.  All stops were made and we were on our way back for our afternoon ferry ride back to Juneau (remember, this was on Memorial Day weekend - we still

On the grounds of 33 Mile Roadhouse

wanted the Monday holiday off for down time!) when we got word that the ferry was "delayed" due to mechanical difficulties - delay meaning not coming.  Since we had already checked out of our hotel, were planning on turning in our rental heap and didn't have any plans for the rest of the afternoon/evening, we spent a few minutes in panic about what to do.  Finally, cooler heads prevailed and we decided to be spontaneous - Bill called the hotel to see if we could get rooms (a

Somewhere in here is a goat!

good rate? possibly), made sure we could keep the rental for another day and made our arrangements to leave on the (very) early morning ferry that was not mechanically-challenged.  Now, what to do for the rest of the day?  Haines is beautiful so we spent some time relaxing at the waterfront in

Big Nugget Mine bunkhouse

the sunny weather - and then stopped in for a drink (or two) at a bar on the wharf.  Other travel orphans were there and we all realized that the true Alaska experience is that travel plans are always subject to weather/mechanics/animals and we should not have been surprised.  We enjoyed the rest of the evening after purchasing some supplies at the local IGA  - hot dogs that we grilled behind the hotel on the grill that was offered by the hotel manager, along with a new supply of beer  - and

Our grill masters!

leftover snacks that we had for the ferry ride and the night prior.  Soon it was bedtime as our ferry was really early (we had to be at terminal about 5 a.m.) but we realized that this spontaneous part of our weekend was the highlight of our trip.  Spending time just talking and laughing, making memories and having a story to tell was priceless!  My take on this story - don't forget to plan a little spontaneity into your travels, you never know but it might be the best part of your trip!  More on summer in Juneau to follow!

The slip n' slide on the hill in downtown Haines

Our view of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse on our way back to Juneau