My delightful trip to Juneau started just that way: my sister and I were trying to plan a last minute trip to Hawaii, and we weren't finding any halfway reasonable air fares. My sister, who was moving from California back to the east coast and wanted one last western experience suggested, "How about Alaska?" It was late March or early April and not what one usually thinks of as Alaska weather, so at the last minute we were able to get a cheap flight from northern California no problem. (Well, slight problem: we had to fly out of Sacramento and get there early in the morning from San Francisco). But it was no biggie.
Some things in Juneau, Alaska's southernmost city, were as expected, and some were a surprise. As expected, this was not tourist season. We missed it by only a month or so, but had we arrived in Juneau a little later, the city (town?) would have offered us an abundance of organized hikes, helicopter and kayak tours, not to mention a general explosion of springtime beauty in one of the most pristine places in the U.S. The surprising part? Though not tourist season, the temperature when we visited was about comparable to San Francisco. It was damp and gray mixed with bright and sunny depending on the day, just like northern California in late spring. This may not be everyone's idea of a fun getaway, but if you're the kind of places that gets more excited by the thought of exploring a new place than lying on a beach, Juneau provides a cozy climate to walk the streets, explore the coffee shops and enjoy the nature, which is stunning all year long. And down at sea level, the weather is usually agreeable enough that you can drive out to see the glaciers, even if you can't get a helicopter tour (and prefer not to engage in the winter sport of heliskiing).
The people of Juneau were another surprise, surprise that is partly explained by the city's unique geography, nestled on the coast of such a mountainous area that the only way to get there is by air or sea. You can't drive into Juneau, and once there, you can't drive all that far. We put a couple hundred miles on our rental car after driving to all the most outlying areas where the roads just ended. Even so, the people at the rental car place said it was almost unprecedented to rack up that much mileage. Point is, this is a small town kind of place. The people were so friendly with us that by the time we left we were being greeted like locals. Has a very college town feel, with a couple of people who are hiding out for one reason or another mixed in.
This trip happened five years ago and although it was indeed quite memorable, I don't remember the specifics enough to recommend this restaurant or that coffee shop. But that's another nice thing about Juneau: it is so small that you can pretty much just show up and find everything you need. The restaurants tend to serve large, multi-course hearty fare, I guess what you'd call comfort food, always with comfort alcohol to go with it. Do not go to Juneau if you are in a 12-step program! The bars I saw in there were something of a revelation, stocked with every kind of liquor imaginable and featuring not your standard bar stools but these soft comfy arm chairs right up there at the bar, so you could dig in and get comfortable for a long cold night!
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