earendel's "North to Alaska" trip - Day 4
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:05 am
This was the day that we were to make landfall, in Juneau. According to the agent in Vancouver, our luggage was to have caught up to us today. However when we inquired at the "front desk" of the cruise ship they hadn't heard anything about it, but said they would make calls. We went into the city; the cruise included a "city tour" of the various sights including the governor's mansion and the capitol. We also heard some stories about what I shall call the "resoursefulness" of the local populace.
Illustration #1 - the Post Office: When the first post office was opened in Juneau it was opened on the second floor of one of the buildings, because that's where the space was available. However after doing so they found out that there was some sort of postal regulation that prohibited a post office from being on any floor other than the first. So rather than spend money to find another location and move, the building owner renamed the floors so that the entry-level floor was the "ground" floor, thus putting the post office on the "first" floor.
Illustration #2 - the ferry system: Juneau has several ferries that ply the waters southward. When they originally applied for funding from the Federal government they were informed that the only money available was for highways. Those who know about Juneau know that there's not much point in building roads because of the terrain - indeed Juneau is the only state capital that is accessible only by air or water. In any event the citizens were determined to get Federal money for their ferries so they resubmitted their application, but this time they requested funds for the "Marine Highway System". Evidently Congress was fooled by this, because Alaska received its funding, and even now the ferry system is labeled the "Alaska Marine Highway System". Oh, and FWIW Alaska does not have any Interstate highways, not even sham ones like the ones in Hawaii.
Returning to the travelogue, in the evening elwing and I were to go on a whale-watching excursion. Since the temperatures were cool and likely to get moreso as evening wore on, and not knowing whether the boat we would be on would be open or not, elwing thoughtfully purchased a sweatshirt for me to wear.
The whale-watching experience was well worth it. We went out in a boat (that had a main deck enclosed in glass) and cruised the waters just outside Juneau (I'm sure they had a name but I can't recall it at the moment). The company that runs the excursions said that they guaranteed we would see whales or we'd get our money back, adding that in 10 years they had only had to refund money once. Sure enough, within five minutes we spotted mist in the air that signified a whale spouting. To echoes of "Thar she blows!" the boat moved slowly toward it. We saw the upper portion of a whale and its flukes, but not its head or much more than that. Unlike whales off the coast of SoCal, these whales don't breach here. Over the next several hours we spotted at least a dozen whales, including calves. These were all humpback whales, which brought the fourth Star Trek movie to mind. Humpbacks feed in these waters, but migrate to Hawaii to breed. And although billed as a "whale-watching" experience, we also saw furred seals and bald eagles. All in all a worthwhile excursion.
When we got back to the ship there was a message on the stateroom telephone. Our luggage had indeed arrived and would be delivered at our convenience. Believe me, it was very convenient, and within 10 minutes we had our suitcases. The irony of it all was that we had to have it outside our stateroom door by 6AM the next morning so it could be loaded up and sent to our next destination, Skagway, where it would be delivered to our hotel room. elwing and I joked about being reunited with our luggage for such a brief time, and I entertained the nagging fear that something would happen and it would get lost again. We carefully tagged the luggage as instructed and after retrieving items from the bags (including several days' worth of clothes - just in case), we went to bed.
Illustration #1 - the Post Office: When the first post office was opened in Juneau it was opened on the second floor of one of the buildings, because that's where the space was available. However after doing so they found out that there was some sort of postal regulation that prohibited a post office from being on any floor other than the first. So rather than spend money to find another location and move, the building owner renamed the floors so that the entry-level floor was the "ground" floor, thus putting the post office on the "first" floor.
Illustration #2 - the ferry system: Juneau has several ferries that ply the waters southward. When they originally applied for funding from the Federal government they were informed that the only money available was for highways. Those who know about Juneau know that there's not much point in building roads because of the terrain - indeed Juneau is the only state capital that is accessible only by air or water. In any event the citizens were determined to get Federal money for their ferries so they resubmitted their application, but this time they requested funds for the "Marine Highway System". Evidently Congress was fooled by this, because Alaska received its funding, and even now the ferry system is labeled the "Alaska Marine Highway System". Oh, and FWIW Alaska does not have any Interstate highways, not even sham ones like the ones in Hawaii.
Returning to the travelogue, in the evening elwing and I were to go on a whale-watching excursion. Since the temperatures were cool and likely to get moreso as evening wore on, and not knowing whether the boat we would be on would be open or not, elwing thoughtfully purchased a sweatshirt for me to wear.
The whale-watching experience was well worth it. We went out in a boat (that had a main deck enclosed in glass) and cruised the waters just outside Juneau (I'm sure they had a name but I can't recall it at the moment). The company that runs the excursions said that they guaranteed we would see whales or we'd get our money back, adding that in 10 years they had only had to refund money once. Sure enough, within five minutes we spotted mist in the air that signified a whale spouting. To echoes of "Thar she blows!" the boat moved slowly toward it. We saw the upper portion of a whale and its flukes, but not its head or much more than that. Unlike whales off the coast of SoCal, these whales don't breach here. Over the next several hours we spotted at least a dozen whales, including calves. These were all humpback whales, which brought the fourth Star Trek movie to mind. Humpbacks feed in these waters, but migrate to Hawaii to breed. And although billed as a "whale-watching" experience, we also saw furred seals and bald eagles. All in all a worthwhile excursion.
When we got back to the ship there was a message on the stateroom telephone. Our luggage had indeed arrived and would be delivered at our convenience. Believe me, it was very convenient, and within 10 minutes we had our suitcases. The irony of it all was that we had to have it outside our stateroom door by 6AM the next morning so it could be loaded up and sent to our next destination, Skagway, where it would be delivered to our hotel room. elwing and I joked about being reunited with our luggage for such a brief time, and I entertained the nagging fear that something would happen and it would get lost again. We carefully tagged the luggage as instructed and after retrieving items from the bags (including several days' worth of clothes - just in case), we went to bed.
