Summer in Alaska? Not That Cold | Volume 2, Issue 13
All the details for your future trip & loads of photos ahead.
I hereby declare that no family vacations should ever be longer than 8 days for the sake of everybody’s sanity. If patience wanes and tempers are lost after the 8-day mark (which includes travel time), then remember, “Juliet warned me…”
Here are the details of my family trip to Alaska earlier this month (June) in case you ever want to go there yourself. If you have been to Alaska and have tips or memories to share, then…
Music
My friend Josh is part of Omoghéné’s band and this is their audition for NPR Tiny Desk. Please check it out!
Sharing the first female artist I ever fell in love with: Taiwanese indigenous singer A-Mei 張惠妹. She’s like my Mariah Carey of Taiwanese singers.
Juneau, Alaska
We went to Juneau is because it’s easier to get to Glacier Bay National Park from there, but more on the park later.
Juneau is part of a temperate rainforest in the southern part of Alaska that stretches all the way to Canada, which means it was a bit humid, not that cold, and ranged from cloudy days to rainy drizzles to bright sunny days. We didn’t see any snow until we went way up in the mountains.
Juneau is not a huge city. Downtown Juneau is like 3 blocks by 5 blocks. There’s one bridge that you take across to Douglas, which is smaller than Juneau.
Recently in Juneau
I saw a bunch of posters calling people to Protect Juneau’s Future. Alaska gets a lot of money from tourism (mostly cruises). There was a group who wanted to put initiatives on their fall ballot to restrict many cruises the ability to dock and anchor in Juneau, even after this past year of huge decline in their local economy because of COVID-19. An update I found online: people came together and managed to stop that campaign.
What to Do in Juneau, Alaska
Free-ish & Chill
Walking around downtown Juneau & checking out the colorful houses. We were guessing that the houses were colorful so that during the winter when everything is snowed under, you can tell where you live. True? I dunno.
Hiking! There are so many hikes around Juneau, including Nugget Falls at Mendenhall Glacier, Perseverance Trail right above downtown Juneau, and Airport Trail near the airport.
I want to go back to Perseverance Trail because it’s like 5 trails in one. We saw one man mountain bike down that trail, and I almost yelled after him to come back so I could take a video.
Drive down Route 7 and look for bald eagles. They know they are the sh*t in this country, and I bet they’re so proud of look down at us plebs from the lampposts.
Cheap & Worth It
Check out Mendenhall Glacier. Talk to the rangers and learn the effects of when glaciers are receding so quickly (both the good and the bad). This is a great place for running and animal spotting.
Take the tram up Mount Roberts. There are hiking trails on top of Mount Roberts, as well as these observation decks where you can feel like a lord looking over your domain.
We were hanging around one of the observation decks, and this tall white man walks past us, pauses in front of the mountain of snow, whips out his camera and started speaking in Mandarin. We were all like “uh whut? did not expect this”.
My mom strikes up a conversation with him (“oh I learned Mandarin in Taiwan” “oh I’m from Taiwan!”). Turns out he’s on the social media team of this grocery store 99 Ranch market, which is one of the oldest grocery stores around where I grew up. Then he says “I like in Temple City” and my mom said in Mandarin “shut up we live in Arcadia! (neighboring city)” and got all excited. She ended with, “Will you take a picture with my kids?” Send help.
MOOOOOOM!!! I - Eat at Deckhand Dave’s Fish Tacos and Alaskan Crepe Escape, located in a hip outdoor food park. F-r-e-s-hhhhhh fish. Generous serving sizes. They had 3 types of fish to choose from: rockfish, salmon, and halibut. And the halibut cakes?! A must try - I like it so much better than crab cakes.
Go to a brewery or distillery. There are a couple around downtown Juneau and near the one Costco. We tried gin cocktails in cans from Amalga Distillery which were good - my favorite was Sea Donkey, their version of a Moscow Mule.
Try salmon jerky and kelp salsa at Taku. I’m not the biggest fan of jerky, but the rest of my family loves salmon jerky. Taku had a lot of interesting products like all the kelp things. I bought a jar of Kelp is Everything seasoning from a company called Barnacle Foods - similar to Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel blend but with kelp!
If you do not know: kelp is a superfood that is very very very good for earth. I highly suggest listening these two episodes of the podcast “How to Save a Planet” - it’s what made me curious and actually buy that kelp seasoning:
Next time, I wanna…
We talked to these 2 gentlemen from Hawaii at the food park who went all the way to Alaska for fish camp. They have been going to Shelter Lodge at Anchor Point for 16 years, so yeah. I wanna go now.
Kayak into an ice cave. These tours usually take 7+ hours, and ice caves are rarely promised because the guides need to know where to find them (cause glaciers are receding). But they look so cool!
Other Tips
There is a popular tour in Juneau that goes to the Tracy Arm Fjord. However, if you go to Glacier Bay National Park where you see the big honchos, you can skip Tracy Arm Fjord. Have an extra day to chill.
There’s a Costco in Juneau, and there is delicious microwaveable meals you can make. We perfected the art of healthy, cheap, and delicious microwave life.
Glacier Bay National Park
This was the focal point of our trip. It’s one of the harder national parks to get to: we took a 5.5 hour ferry ride there, and then flew back to Juneau afterwards.
The land portion of Glacier Bay is not that big. I walked the entire park every day the 4 days we were there, and I still had plenty of time to chill and read. What I really appreciated about the Glacier Bay National Park is that they worked with the Tlingit people, the first peoples of that land, to share the history.
A short version of that story:
Tlingit lived on the island of Gustavus where Glacier Bay National Park was eventually created. At the end of the Ice Age, the glaciers formed so quickly and took over Gustavus that they had to canoe their way to neighboring islands. Now a lot of them live on the island called Hoonah.
The National Park agency formed Glacier Bay National Park, and wanted to collaborate with the Tlingit community to tell the story of the land. There was tension during the process. Now they work hand in hand.
Probably the coolest thing to do was taking a cruise with a park ranger and see the glaciers up close. The ranger talked about how glaciers are formed and what happens to the landscape when they break off (this is called calving). It was so magical. The ranger also talked about the different wildlife you see around the park. We saw a lot of whales, lots of puffins (my new favorite bird), bears, moose, and mountain goats.
Another way to experience Glacier Bay National Park is sea kayaking on your own. You just have to be able to take care of yourself in case the wild animals come at ya.
Other things I’ve been enjoying:
Videos:
Suni Lee excels in emotional performance at US Nationals - she is the first Hmong American to make the Olympics gymnastics team, placing behind Simone Biles who won a historic 7th national title!
Yvonne Orji (from the TV show Insecure) has a comedy stand-up show on HBO, and it’s great. Yvonne is on a book tour for her book called Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me into the Life of My Dreams. Bask in her energy by watching her interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show titled “Yvonne Orji moved to Liberia to avoid becoming a doctor”.
I hope you enjoyed Alaska through my words and pictures as much I did being there.
Juliet
Such an awesome, comprehensive list of things to do in Juneau and Glacier Bay NP. The pics were beautiful and the thought of so much wildlife makes me want to go! And your mom making you take pics with the dude from Temple City is HILARIOUS.