Alaska
Day 3 - Saturday, 8 September 2001
Juneau can be reached only by boat or airplane. There are no roads to the outside world. Consequently we saw very few out of state license plates. But we did see a RV with Florida plates and a couple of cars from Oregon.
The day dawned cloudy which apparently is normal for Juneau. While it didn't rain and blow like yesterday it did drizzle at times. We wandered around town sort of following a walking tour suggested by a book we had with us.
The photo to the right was taken near the corner of Sixth and Kennedy in the upper right corner of the map below. It shows a small sculpture at Chicken Yard Park. A chicken yard for a convent has been replaced by a children's playground. (Where did the picture go?.)
A little farther up the hill from the nun with the chickens we found the cat resting on a mailbox.
A Mail Kitty
The Russian Orthodox Church is an octagonal building that is said to symbolize the seven days of the week and an "eighth day" of rest. Father Thomas was talking to a group of people in the church so we didn't try to take pictures inside.
Russian Orthodox Church
The wooden sculpture of children linking arms in a circle is at Fifth and Kennedy. When items like this are on the walking tour you know the "pickens" are slim. This little sculpture is at the top of Fifth street stairs. Geri is pictured near the bottom of these stairs. The stairs are considered to be part of the street and maintained by the city.
During our travels we have noticed that in places where the weather is dreary the houses tend to be painted in colors other than earthtones. At one of the colorful houses we passed the mailbox was sitting on the steps. Perhaps they take it in at night.
The state capitol was built in 1931. Since it began life as the Federal and Territorial Building it does not have a dome. The marble used in the building was mined in Alaska.
Across the street from the capitol is the Dimond Courthouse and in the courtyard of the courthouse is a statue of a brown bear known as the "Windfall Fisherman." It was drizzling when I took a picture of the bear and Geri took a picture of me taking a picture of the bear.
Alaskan bear in the rain
The Davis Log Cabin at Third and Seward Streets is the main visitor information center. It was built in 1980.
A mural on city hall
depicts the Tlingit creation myth
"The Tlingit Indians were a tribe of natives that ranged from the Canadian border to Yakutat in Southeast Alaska. When Baranof landed at the site of St. Michael (present day Sitka) the Tlingit Indians that lived there met him. The tribe was far more advanced than the Aleuts and other Alaska Natives. They lived in well built wooden houses, built wooden boats and canoes to fish and hunt out of, they made slaves out of their wartime captives, carved totem poles in honor of their ancestors, and worshipped numerous bird and animal gods."
There is a Marine Park where the large ships dock. To one side is a four-story parking garage. On the side of the garage facing the harbor there is a mural showing a large number of people on a steamship disregarding a nearby sign.
Mural where the big ships dock
The park contains a large bronze sculpture call "Hard Rock Miner."
Not far from the library is a bronze sculpture of Patsy
Ann, an English bull terrier that greeted all arriving ships in the late
1930s. Patsy Ann was born in Portland, Oregon on October 12, 1929 and came to
Juneau as a pup. She died in Juneau on March 30, 1942. Patsy Ann was stone deaf
(from birth), but she somehow "heard" the whistles of approaching ships -- long
before they came into sight -- and headed at a fast trot for the wharf. She was
never wrong. In fact, on one memorable occasion, a crowd was given erroneous
information and gathered at the wrong dock. Patsy Ann gazed at the crowd for a
long moment, then turned and trotted to the correct dock. Fifty years after her
death, a statue was commissioned by the "Friends of Patsy Ann" and installed on
the wharf she knew so well. Sculpted by New Mexican artist Anna Burke Harris,
clippings of dog hair from all over the world were included in the bronze at
the time of casting, symbolically uniting the spirit of dogs everywhere. On
July 3, 1992 at 7:30 p.m., Patsy Ann, in her new incarnation, was presented to
the world under blue skies with a balmy breeze in the air.
Visit Patsy Ann's website
A granite walrus brightens a parking lot in Juneau
On top of the parking structure is a beautiful city library with a great view of the harbor. We spent some time here watching the harbor traffic.
The big cruise ships
arrive in the morning and depart in the late afternoon.
Our Cruise Begins
About 4 PM we went back to the hotel for a pre-boarding meeting. About 5 PM we walked across the street to board the Spirit of Endeavor and pulled away from the dock a couple of minutes after 6 PM. Our first cruise had begun.
At 7 PM we sat down to dinner.
We would awake tomorrow morning far into Glacier Bay National Park.
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