Juneau

The once gold-rich mountains

that turned Juneau into a mining town

The famous Gold Rush saloon

that has Wyatt Earp's gun behind the bar

Mendenhall Glacier, near Juneau

200 ft. high, 3 miles wide, 12 miles long

Fall colors and ice on Mendenhall Lake

Ah, Edward... the book that almost was

Good times at Red Dog

Yet another strikingly beautiful Alaska town--town to us, city/capital to them--cradled by those tall, tree-covered mountains that were fast becoming my favorite Alaskan shoreline feature. We headed out to see Mendenhall Glacier first thing, came back to walk around town, and then hurried back for one of the excursions we were most excited about--a float-plane over Juneau's Ice Field, including five of its glaciers. It sounded amazing, but we worried as the morning wore on and the clouds didn't lift. Would we be able to see anything? Or would it just be one really expensive flight through a bunch of clouds? Sure enough, by the time we made it back to the dock for our meeting time, they told us it was canceled. Still available, however: dog sledding camp.

Funny sidenote: some of our friends went to visit the lipstick-wearing governor's mansion in Juneau and told us that both neighboring houses have Obama signs in their yards. Our friends took a picture of it. We just laughed.