Thanksgiving in Juneau

Since our good pals Pat & Jackie moved to Alaska about 2.5 years ago, we've had it on our list of places to visit. The perfect opportunity came up as we achieved a level of frequent flier miles that enabled us to both purchase round trip tickets for a grand total of $10 each, and realized all 4 of us would have days off during Thanksgiving week. By using just a few vacation days, we were able to spend a whole week up in Juneau.

 

We nearly missed our flight. Since our miles were through American but the flight was on Alaskan, we had troubles checking in online and at a kiosk. The line to the counter was a mile long at the airport, held up as an English-challenged family headed to Bangkok coordinated their travel and per-person payment for a cart-full of chair-sized luggage. Since we had no checked luggage, I decided to take my chance on a much shorter line for people who already paid for baggage and just needed to drop it off. The clerk nearly skipped over me, but after some speaking up she listened to my plea and got us taken care of in about 2 minutes. Our flight was way into boarding, but we made it! And the rest of the journey to our destination (first view shown above!) was smooth.

Jackie welcomed us to the area immediately by taking us to the Alaskan Brewery taproom where they serve up to 6 free tastings per person. We followed that up with lounging, appetizers, and a waterside view in the Hangar by the Wharf until Pat met up with us. The remainder of the weekend was spent very comfortably at Pat & Jackie's cozy cabin, where we took a dip in the wood-fired hot tub, watched the Packers game, and were treated to 5-star cooking.

Pat & Jackie had to work the first part of the week, but let us borrow a car to go explore. Our first activity (and we were accompanied by Barley, their black lab) was supposed to be a hike up Perseverance Trail, but we accidentally took a wrong fork and ended up going through a charming bit of rainforest and a slippery bank to some mining ruins where we're pretty sure a hobo was taking refuge. We found the proper trailhead after backtracking, and while we didn't have time to complete the whole path before dusk hit, we got far enough to seem some beautiful scenery.

The wind was so severe at one point (it made it hard to breath), that we nearly turned around. But true to the name of the trail, we persevered a bit further knowing there would be a view of some falls up ahead.

Patrick was planning to buy a pair of skis from Pat, so our lovely hosts took a half day off on Tuesday so he could test them out. The slope where Pat does ski patrol (Eagle Crest) wasn't open yet, so we had to hike up the 1400 ft hill since the lifts weren't in operation. I snowshoed up alongside them- we all got a good workout!

 

And the view at the top was an acceptable reward for our efforts!

 

We made it just in time to see sunset over Admiralty Island.

 

We loved the gradation of colors on the opposite side of the sky, after we turned around to come back to ski (or jog, in my case- it was fun!) down the slope. Patrick needs some practice (we are ski novices), but he clearly enjoyed himself since he's asked me a few times since, "When are we going again???" :)

Wednesday morning we took it a little easier, by visiting the Mendenhall Glacier. Magnificent, and the ice is so blue! 

Perks of winter: it was so nice to avoid the crowds of tourists that must be there in the summer (we had the place almost completely to ourselves) and we also had the chance to walk past the end of the path on part of the frozen marsh/lake for a closer look.  

The video quality will probably be greatly diminished on this blog, but if you click on it, you might be able to get a slight idea of my perspective of the falls adjacent to the glacier.

That afternoon, Pat & Jackie left work early again, as they had reserved Windfall Cabin for us to stay overnight in. We had a 3-mile fairly flat trek through a gorgeous snow-scape to get there. 

The perspective from one of the bridges we crossed. It was nice being in a true winter scene since I don't experience that much anymore.

 

As we neared the cabin, we noticed we were following the frozen footprints of a bear. They look just like the cartoon drawings of a bear print. :)

 

Our lodging for the night! We stayed warm with a wood-fueled stove and entertained ourselves reading and writing in the guest log book between tricks of playing cards.

After a breakfast incident involving Hollandaise sauce going everywhere (hehe) we had to hit the trail again pretty promptly because it was Thanksgiving!

Pat & Jackie's friends, Bri & Glen, hosted us, where we had dinner and a sleepover in style. Turkey cooked on the smoker, cute cranberry tarts, and stuffing made from scratch were a few of the menu items, and we all had a lot of fun playing active games on the Kinect.

The rest of our time followed suite with a relaxing agenda. The Public Market (a giant 3-day craft fair where people from the region come to sell their wares) was going on so we visited that twice, the Pats brewed a jalapeno ale, we hit the bowling lanes, and dined out on a delicious wood-fired pizza.

Juneau threw us a fitting goodbye by delaying our take off a couple hours since the incoming plane couldn't land in the wind and had to temporarily go to the next nearest airport. But it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, and certainly not enough to spoil our memories of a fabulous visit with great friends!