Juneau…. it's raining again?

I have finally found the easiest job on earth, weather forecasting in South East Alaska!

As the natives of Juneau, Alaska's 31,000-person capital, have been quick to point out there are two types of weather here, raining and about to rain. Fortunately coming from a country where precipitation is not exactly uncommon, we have hardly noticed the difference; in fact we have elicited a certain grudging respect amongst the locals for our stoic indifference to the elements.

The only impact the weather is having on us is with the photography, those of you with a high tolerance level for drab, grey and washed out photos will enjoy the next couple of albums we are due to load on the website.

Incredibly the sun decided to come out for the day we chose to go on a boat trip to the Tracy Arm fiord to view the South Sawyer Glacier. If you ever decide to visit Juneau this excursion is an absolute must. Humpback whales, seals and numerous seabirds provided the wildlife interest on the 45 mile trip south and watching (and hearing) chunks of the glacier "calve" in to the iceberg clogged waters of the fiord was Nature at her very very best.

Another glacier, Mendenhall, is a short drive from downtown Juneau and must rank as one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, providing you have a car! Predictably we were on the bus, the same bus system that, if you recall the last blog, doesn't go to the ferry port! Well, it doesn't go to the glacier either, it drops you a convenient 1.5 miles short of the visitor centre, a lovely walk on a sunny day, which of course it never is! No matter, the glacier was fascinating and had the added attraction of Steep Creek, where 5 types of salmon come to spawn during the summer and autumn.

The only mammals that like salmon more than me are bears, and the boardwalk around Steep Creek is a great place to view the black and brown ones doing a spot of fishing. Alaska has polar bears as well by the way, fortunately they have the decency to stay put in the far north of the state as they are partial to human flesh if they can get it!

At this juncture I need to point out that unlike the Lower 48 US states, Canada and David Attenborough, Alaskans mean grizzly bears when they use the term "brown bear." Black bears, the smaller cousin of the brown (grizzly) bear, can be brown as often as they are black, and brown (grizzly) bears can be black, so please remember this when one is chewing on your leg as the Fish & Wildlife Service would like to keep their records accurate.

Now that is clarified you will be pleased to read that we were lucky enough to watch a young black bear fishing in the creek. Not having the patience to fly fishing like the rest of us, this bear was using the "jump in the stream and make a huge splash" technique, and being young he was singularly unsuccessful! He will need to learn quick as summer is short in these latitudes and if he hasn't packed on enough fat before hibernation he may not survive the winter!

The only negative with Steep Creek and the Mendenhall Glacier is that it is the number one tourist destination in Juneau for cruise ship passengers. Juneau can take 7 ships at a time, which equates to 21,000 people, most of whom appear to be with you at Mendenhall! We were not complaining, where else in the world can you see glaciers, bears, spawning salmon (and a porcupine!) for the price of a bus ticket!

Talking of buses, being gluttons for punishment we braved the public transport system one more time, on an hour-long ride in to town from our inconveniently situated Super 8 motel. Like any country in the world, riding the public transport system allows you to get face to face (and I mean face to face, it was a full bus) with the locals.

Those of you that have watched the film "Deliverance" will understand why, within two hours of stepping off the bus, we were the proud and temporary owners of the last available rental car in Juneau. OK, so the car was from Rent a Wreck, but it did have an engine, at least one body panel intact and four wheels pointing roughly in the same direction.

Sitting at the wheel, using both hands to change gear (yes it was manual) and worrying about the metallic grinding noises emanating from under the hood/bonnet, it felt like being back in our Landrover! Anything was better than the bus though!

Despite the rain, erratic bus services and thousands of cruise ship passengers milling around, Juneau is a place that grows on you. It still has a frontier town feeling, an atmosphere, helped by permanent low clouds and mist that is difficult to explain in words or photos.

The only way I can attempt to convey the atmosphere is to mention the free rock concert that took place under the bandstand at the quayside one Friday night. It was pouring with rain and the cruise ship passengers had retreated to their floating Las Vegas style hotels for the 8th meal of the day.

Angela and I had assumed no one would stand in the rain to watch the concert but the area soon filled with Wellington boot clad locals and their children, some dancing, all applauding loudly and engrossed in the music despite the overwhelming noise of 4 floatplanes taxiing in to the dock to complete their last glacier views/salmon bake flights of the day.

The crowd were clearly not tourists like us, it was an odd mix of people, plenty of pony tails, long hair and beards (and that was just the women), professional types alongside huge men with gnarled hands and a whiff of fish about them. Some of the women were bigger than lumberjacks, others petite and dressed country and western style, which was clearly the last thing on earth the heavy rock band was going to play!

One half naked guy, clearly not on the same planet as most of the rest of us, was dancing to his own rhythm in front of the band, breaking off from his trance to hand out sprigs of heather. Behind me a plain-clothes police officer was talking in to his poorly disguised radio, reporting with a concerned voice that the concert was attracting a number of juveniles. It was an Alaskan community event!

We hired our Rent A Wreck for 5 days, more than enough time to drive Juneau's 129 miles of road. It must be the only state capital in the US that cannot be reached by road (actually I've checked on the internet and Honolulu has the same problem!)

From Juneau we got back on the Alaskan Marine Highway System for a 4 hour scenic ferry trip north up the Lynn Canal (not a canal at all but the longest fiord in North America) to Haines, surely one of the most scenically situated towns in the world. Haines is surrounded by majestic 4000 ft jagged snow tipped mountains with glaciers and ice fields and numerous cascading waterfalls. We only know that thanks to the postcards in the local gift shop, Haines has the same weather as Juneau!

Meeting us at the ferry were Tim and Ann, Haines residents for the last 25 years, who we last saw in the somewhat drier conditions of Maun, Botswana. Keeping a low profile on the dock they were no doubt hoping we wouldn't turn up at all. We soon spotted them though and chained ourselves to their car, just in case they were having second thoughts about their offer to host us for the next 6 weeks!