Advertisement
Published: August 4th 2008
It's Easy to Smile Up Here
From Mt. Roberts, you can see all of Juneau and beyond. What's hot: The flowers on Mt. Roberts
What's not: The temperatures.
Travel lesson of the day: Go where the crowds are not.
from Kathy:
“We get only three sunny days a year,” the young Alaskan native operating the Juneau tram tells me. It is 52 degrees and rainy; clouds hang in the sky two-thirds up the tall mountainsides. I am looking out from the top of an 1800’ plateau on Mt. Roberts, high above the only capital city in the Americas that has no roads in or out. You can only get to Juneau by air or sea.
“How do the people get enough vitamin D without sunshine?” I ask, ever the concerned nutritionist.
He blinks. This college-age man hasn’t thought about nutrition recently. (If my kids were with me, they’d be dying with embarrassment!) I’m not sure why I asked anyway, but of course I am waiting for him to tell me: “It’s the salmon, stupid.” I know from my reading that this is only one of many roles salmon plays in these regions.
Salmon is to Alaska what cod once was to Massachusetts and Newfoundland. This fact is
Juneau from the Tram
Juneau is the only state capital that with no roads in or out. Only air and sea! broadcast loud and clear in every Alaska history article and in every talk by the boat’s resident naturalist. The abundance of salmon creates the abundance of all Alaskan wildlife; the absence of salmon is the collapse of other species. This was true for 10,000 or more years of Native American history, and played a similar role in local ventures of 19th and early 20th century Americans, Russians, Japanese, and Canadians.
My conversation with the young man is taking place high above the city of Juneau. On the streets below, four cruise ships have deployed an army of eagle-eyed shoppers.
But Paul and I had opted out of that activity and instead had strolled past the tiniest Russian Orthodox church—reminding me that Alaska has a lot of Russia in its history—and the unassuming Alaska state house—perhaps the tiniest state capitol building I’ll ever see. There’s a dirt parking lot for the senators. There is a banner declaring the celebration of 50 years of statehood.
Having walked the side streets, I took the native-operated tram that runs at a 60 degree pitch to an 1800’ elevation on Mt. Roberts.
Once there, you can have close encounters with tiny,
Tiny Russian Orthodox Church
Russia owned Alaska for many years and the Russian culture is still present. palm-sized squirrels and a rare animal called a hoary marmot. I am warned by the nature center signs to make lots of noise on the trail to give bears time to move away. As I go up the mountain trails, I find familiar Connecticut garden plants in gigantic sizes: astilbe, cranesbill, forget-me-nots, cow parsnips. Wait a minute! It takes me a bit of work to make these grow at home. But up here in a so-called “hostile” environment they are triple the size I’m used to!
And there are surprise flowers that I’ve only seen in catalogs. Chocolate lilies, for instance, grace the hillside. The actual color of these Thumbelina-size flowers is a very unusual and stunning combination of purple, black, and brown.
From Mt. Roberts, the harbor and airport and entire valley that contains Juneau is visible. The mountains dwarf these activities of human beings like an elephant dwarfs a flea.
A few hours later, on my way back to the ship, I pass the local homeless agency. Two youngish men sit outside the door, unfocused and immobile, wearing the regulation stocking caps and stained flannel shirts of the disenfranchised everywhere. I realize we’ve seen these
No-frills Alaska Capitol Building
Unlike most state capitols (think Texas, just for instance) this one sits on a side street. No fanfare. same two guys in every city or town we’ve visited since Connecticut. Are they following us?
People push past them, hands filled with shiny, bulging plastic shopping bags.
Later, on the boat, I learn that a long-time Alaska senator is indicted for accepting favors.
You can travel, but can it ever be far enough to outdistance the dark side?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0425s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
