Juneau is a mountain town and a coastal community surrounded by extremely rugged terrain making it one of the most scenic capital cities in the United States. It’s so rugged, it’s virtually an island with all goods and visitors coming and going by plane or boat even though it is part of mainland Alaska.
The view of Juneau was stunning with the balcony door shut. Open the door and say hello to winter weather. It was cold and damp. Dark clouds and a good breeze were sure to be followed with rain.
The weather was worse than we hoped. All excursions and outdoor activities were cancelled due to the weather. We may have missed the typhoon but this felt like payback.
There was the usual activity at the gangway but this time passengers were turning around and retreating until the weather improved … it’s a short window today, the ship was departing at 3:00 pm.
It was a short walk to the main streets of Juneau and like everyone else, we ducked into the first retail option we could find. It was a very warm and welcoming woolen goods store.
No matter where we walked, we were overshadowed and overwhelmed by the mountains. They were hard to see with the sinking clouds and fog that was setting in as it started to rain harder.
Back on the ship and hungry, we opted for the first thing we saw … pizza. Not far from the gangway is a little pizza shop. This tiny pizza factory serves 1500 pizzas per day. Watching, it was a constant flow of pizza prep with oven doors opening and closing every few minutes and a constant flow of hungry people.
No time for napping this afternoon. Going to line dancing with Sally, the dancing queen. Being a few weeks away from 87, she has boundless energy and knows most of the dances. Me … I’m not much of a dancer and could never keep up with this crowd which moved like they were at an advanced aerobics class.
Back at sea, the weather had calmed down and looks nice. Step through that balcony door and it’s a different story.
Jane in Spain 