The Valley

I'm feeling particularly ambitious this evening, so I'm going to undertake what I've been thinking about for days. I feel like I keep trying to explain to those I've talked to the layout of Juneau and what makes it particularly unique... at least from what I've learned so far. So I've made a map I'll be posting and reposting at the beginning of my Juneau posts for a while so people can understand what I'm talking about :). It's really crude because I did it in paint... but I don't care a lot right now.

Juneau is kind of like three separate areas maybe even four all considered "Juneau." I live in Mendenhall Valley... the northernmost area on the map at the foot of the Mendenhall Glacier. This area is where the airport is, the ferry dock, the majority of the mainstream (not tourist) stores, and pretty much all your everyday stuff is. Next on the map is the star where Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, our church, the hospital and all things medical are located. Then there is Downtown or West Juneau. On a big map this is where the star would be because this is where the capitol building is. It is also where all the cruise ships dock and the majority of the tourism industry lies. There are houses, but its pretty urban and not a lot of regular stores. This area is about a 20 minute drive from my house. Finally there is Douglas Island. You can see the bridge by downtown Juneau on the map and we haven't explored it a whole lot however there are lots of houses on the island and some of the local attractions that we will be trying out in the next while. Douglas Island has roads only partially around it and is home to Juneau's only sandy beach. Okay, hopefully now you kind of understand the area.

Last Saturday we spent the whole day driving around but our biggest event was visiting the Mendenhall Glacier. Its only about a five minute drive from our house and can be seen from everywhere in the Valley given the clouds are high enough and you are not completely surrounded by trees. I was surprised how much Sydney enjoyed the glacier. We looked around the visitor area and then hiked about a mile in to a huge waterfall at the foot of the glacier and head of the glacier's Mendenhall lake. An employee told us that this year has been particularly cold so the lake doesn't have near as many icebergs as it would by this time of year otherwise. In the winter it freezes solid so you can go cross country skiing, snow shoeing or just walking out on the lake to the glacier. The bird life was immense and Sydney really enjoyed see all the birds and throwing rocks in the lake. I couldn't believe even the ducks didn't care how cold that water was :).

Where I'm standing is very wet and windy....

I know this isn't a great pic but just look at how incredibly cold that looks....