T-people

We played tourist during our stay in Juneau, Alaska, visiting many favorite places from childhood. Even our son has favorite places from his childhood—flying to Alaska alone to spend a couple of weeks with Grandma and Grandpa over summer vacation. We wanted to share these places with our beautiful daughter-in-law, and experience them anew with our extended family. Being summer, this meant mingling with lots of tourists, or T-people, as we call them. Sometimes it is beneficial to revisit the familiar, with the fresh eyes of a tourist.

Mendenhall Glacier, about 12 miles "out the road" from downtown Juneau



The Mendenhall Glacier is a favorite place to visit. The glacier has been receding over the last 200 years, and our family has had the opportunity to watch the process for the last 60. We have seen the area develop from bare gravel to forest through succession, paradoxically both a slow and fast process. The Visitor Center now seems impossibly far from the glacier, but the trails and overlooks provide new places to view the glacier. The lakes, plants, and wild life in the area provide additional interest.

Multi-generation motley crew

We visited the dock out at Auke Bay, and strolled through the marina. I remember when it was a much smaller wooden dock. We launched our boat from here many times in our youth, and explored the many beaches, sloughs, and coves along the rugged coast. More recently, we have taken whale watching cruises in this area, and viewed these magnificent creatures up close.

Modern steel dock at the Auke Bay marina

 

Downtown Juneau is also a favorite place, especially between cruise ships (which is rare in the summer). With several cruise ships in town at once, the population can swell by 10,000 people. Visitors are always welcome, but do pose a logistical challenge for the tiny state capitol!

View from the Alaska State Library while waiting out the rain



Shops and tram in downtown Juneau

 

Rain adds to the challenge, but Juneau boasts many eateries, candy factories, and coffee shops that can provide shelter during a downpour, as well as the museum, library, gift shops, and art galleries.

Quiet coffee break from shopping

 

 

Little House in Southeast Alaska

There is no place like home, and my childhood home in Southeast Alaska is no exception. My folks live in the same place they purchased as young pioneers, moving from California to Alaska in the 1950s. The house was tiny, with an oil stove and chemical toilet. The front yard was comprised of stumps and brush, and the backyard was a rain forest that ran up the mountain to the ice field. The view was spectacular – of the channel, Douglas Island, and the beautiful snow-capped Chilkat Mountains, visible when the clouds lift.

Home Sweet Home - my childhood home is full of wonderful memories

They added on rooms over the years, as three kids were added to the family. Together they built a bathroom, a utility room, a living room, bedrooms, another bathroom, and a mud porch. Now it is a cozy, snug place that is just the right size for two, or a family visit. Additional changes include a highway built in the channel (forming a lake in front of the house), a subdivision in the back of the house, and a beautiful Alaskan garden in the front yard. The spectacular view down channel remains.

Fabulous view down channel

Gardening in Southeast Alaska is a brief, intense activity that takes advantage of long days, lots of rain, and occasional stints of hot, sunny days. Drainage is a major consideration, blue clay soil provides its challenges, and mold strikes soggy plants some years. We had the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of their labor on one of those beautiful, summer days.

Mom's stump	Bluebells
Asteraceae	Petunia
Columbine	Unidentified
Forget-me-nots	Daisies
Starflowers	Iris

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Wildflowers on the Alaska Highway

We saw some beautiful wildflowers on our trip from Anchorage to Skagway. The summer season is brief in Alaska and Western Canada, so flowers put on a short, colorful blitz to accomplish propagation. Many of the plants are miniature, with more energy going to reproduction than height

Here are some of my favorites. The Artemisia was not in bloom, but was fun to see the dwarf version of a familiar plant that grows in California. The tender conifer bough and cones looked so fresh and appealing. The masses of yellow dandelion, pink fireweed, and blue lupine were spectacular.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)	Chiming Bells (Mertensia paniculata)
Wild Blue Flax (Linum lewisii)	Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)
Artemisa (Artemisa alaskana)	Arctic Lupine (Lupinus arcticus)
Unidentified – conifer cone	Unidentified – yellow

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Some of these are documented on the Alaska Wildflowers website: http://www.alaskawildflowers.us/