A bit of town

I've had a bit of free time, now that I'm not preoccupied with housing drama, or creeper drama. I've been walking about the downtown area, trying to fill my time with something other than consuming coffee, and doting on my cats.

Juneau was originally a mining town. The majority of the land that has buildings on it was originally the bulk of the mine tailings that were dumped in the Gastineau Channel. The rest of downtown was built on extremely steep grades, some looked to be attached to the side of the mountain by little more than silly putty and a toothpick.

The hills are too steep in some of these area for roads to be built to access them, so instead, there is smattering of staircases all over. If you need groceries, you tackle the stairs. Moving in? Have fun carrying that sofa up 160 steps!


I like them all quite a bit. I could be happy on the side of a mountain, rain gear on the coat rack, cats by the fire, and a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Granted I could be happy a lot of other places that would be considerably easier to conduct my daily business, but still, Juneau is adorable.
This is yet another view of my street. That giant slope is Mt. Roberts. It comes right out of the water and reaches up 3819 feet. There is a trail that starts just east of where I live.
In fitting manner, the trail head is a staircase.

We also had another driver training in which we became the passengers, and were driven around to all of our tour destinations to have the ins and outs of each stop brought to our attention. 6 hours of this business.

And this last picture is from today, from the seat of my bus. The Norwegian Star was in port today, and this scene are all of the shore excursion representatives, holding up signs trying to direct the thousands of people coming off the ship. It is always such a mess, but that is the nature of the beast.