Juneau

Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906. The city is located at the base of Mount Juneau and sits across the channel of Douglas Island. The area of Juneau encompasses an area larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The area is a great place to visit as it offers a variety of everything the great state of Alaska has to offer in this one area. It is an area of nearly pure wilderness, amazing wildlife and spectacular awe inspiring scenery.

The city of Juneau is nestled at sea level at the base of steep mountains that range from 3,500 to 4,000 feet in height. Located on top of this mountain range is the Juneau Icefield. This is a large ice mass is home to more than 140 glaciers and covers nearly 1,500 square miles. Two of these gigantic glaciers can be seen from the road in Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier and Lemon Creek Glacier. Mendenhall Glacier is the most accessible glacier in all of Alaska.

Of course this is Alaska and the winter is breath stealing cold here. If you don’t want to have to don layers upon layers to stay warm visit Juneau in the spring and summer. The spring months tend to be the driest and September and October are to be avoided as they are the wettest with rain and snow. July tends to be the warmest time of year here with the average highs around 65 °F. Tourism is booming during the summer months and the tourists as well as the locals come out to enjoy the fishing, hiking and hunting that is prevalent in the area.

The city of Juneau offers a variety of places to dine. However none of them are considered fancy at a cosmopolitan level even though the food is delicious. Dressing up in this neck of the woods means just putting on your clean pair of jeans. The dining options run the gamut from surf and turf which is a must at some point with the abundance of fresh seafood and meat available in the area, and runs all the way to the ethnic cuisine of Mexican and Asian. This is Alaska with some of the longest nights in the world so it should come as no surprise that there are quite a few night spots to hit up in the city. The most popular with the locals and tourists are the Hangar, the Triangle and the Red Dog Saloon.