Day 47 -- Exploring Juneau, AK

Sunday 8/6/2006

We slept late since we were all tired. It was still drizzling outside. Not exactly the greatest of weathers. After breakfast, we sat inside a bit and did some trip planning. We then headed down into town to explore it a bit. Our first stop was Alaska's State Museum. It was an inexpensive visit, since all the kids were free. We spent time looking at all sorts of native art and historical artifacts. One of the curious facts that one might not realize is that the state is home to both Indians and Eskimos. There was a very nice art exhibition on the top floor that Isabella liked very well.

Alaskan wildlife, stuffed style

On what table did the Americans and the Russians sign the deal to buy/sell Alaska? The historians are still slugging it out

The Russian influence makes itself visible

The boys are looking at art

When we were done with the State Museum, we walked around a bit in town. After a while we hit a nice used book store, where we stopped to look for books.

Shopping for used books in Juneau

After we had loaded up on books everyone was feeling a bit hungry. We were torn between going into a pub or something more simple. I knew there was a McDonalds in town, albeit very well concealed. We had not been in a junk food restaurant since the start of this journey so it seemed appropriate to try. When I mentioned this to the kids they all knew what they wanted before we even stepped in.

First visit to a junk-food restaurant during this trip

The kids were feeling a bit bored at this point. Isabella had mentioned the Fish Hatchery before and we decided to stop there on our way back home. And what a stop this turned out to be. We arrived there sometime in the afternoon and I was not able to get the kids out of there until 9PM. This place was incredible. They hatch tons of Salmon at this place. When the salmons are ready to spawn, they come back to the hatchery, where they have a simulated ladder for them to climb up. When we arrived, it was in the middle of spawning for some of the species of salmon. There was so much fish in the bay that the water looked like it was boiling. Since we carry our fish gear with us back in the truck, the kids got that out of it in no time. And they they started to fish.

A view of the fishing dock (where people are standing) from the Juneau Fish Hatchery

They bay outside the hatchery is so full of salmon that the water 'boils'

This is what we saw all around the dock. Incredible. So much salmon that it filled the water from bottom to the surface.

Snagging is the name of the game - just throw a hook out and pull
Karl catches a Chum salmon aka Dog fish which he throws back

The pros do very selective snagging and pinpoint sought after King Salmons in the very crowded waters
To Erik's right is a local Juneau kid by the name of Roy

Another technique is to use fresh salmon eggs with a hook and bobber which is what Erik is doing here

This kept going and going to the point where I had to go to the store and do some grocery shopping. I left the kids around 5PM. By the time I was ready at the store, I gave Isabella a call and asked if I should come down and get them or drive up to the campground, drop the food and then come down. Her answer: leave us here as long as possible. I was back down there around 7PM. They were still at it. Isabella told me about how a bald eagle had come down to the dock but she forgot she had the camera so she did not take any pictures. Later on, we spotted a harbor seal feasting on salmon. By about 9PM the kids were tired and it had started to get dark enough that it was harder to spot the king salmon amongst all the chum. The kids thanked those they had gotten help from. In Erik's case it was mainly from the boy to the left of him in the picture above, a local from Juneau. When we left, Erik reeked fish, especially his jeans. In fact, everyone but me reeked fish. The whole truck reeked fish.

When we returned back to the trailer we started to make dinner and prepare our cooler with food for the boat ride. I got outside and wanted to hook up the trailer and get the dumping taken care of, since we were supposedly leaving very early in the morning. The campground lady came by and indicated that the latest was that we needed to be at the staging area by 3:30AM tomorrow morning. When I walked beside the trailer, by the dump valve, I could feel it reak from our sewer. I could also see it drop at a steady pace from the belly pan. Not good at all. I pulled the trailer forward and took care of the dumping. I then moved the truck around a bit so that I would not block the road for the group of 20 RV that were pulling out at the same time as us for Prince Rupert. At this point I had to make the decision that we can no longer use the black water tank (toilet) until we get it fixed at the factory. Tired, I went to bed just after midnight. The plan called for us needing to be ready in three hours. Isabella decided to stay up.

Eggs for egg salad and for eating cold on the boat

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.