On Sunday we set our clocks back another hour which means I woke up even earlier. In fact I remember waking up that day not knowing what time it was. But it was early, there was daylight, and we were in Alaska for the first time ever. I went out on the balcony at what was probably 5:30 in the morning, the temperature was probably somewhere in the low 40s, and I was definitely in just my underwear. But once I stepped out on the balcony it was hard to go back in. There were snow capped mountains 360 degrees around us. I was amazed at the view and it’s impossible to describe how small they make you feel. The sky was mostly cloudy but all of the mountains seemed to have a layer of clouds parked right at their peaks, so you couldn’t tell exactly how tall a lot of them were.

Juneau was an awesome little town that sits at the base of a towering mountain slope. The way it’s placed at the bottom of the cliff surrounded by hills on all sides, with even bigger mountains in the distance makes it very surreal. I remember trying to take pictures that would show how big and majestic the area is, but it’s really impossible to do. I could look through the viewfinder of my camera but when I took my eye away to look at the same thing in person I was seeing two totally different things. The main reason for this I think is the steep angle of the mountain slopes. Since the camera is looking at something in 1 dimension, the slope of the mountainside is really not captured. But when you see it in person everything in this area has massively steep and powerful feel to it.

Here's the part that I thought was a little ridiculous: There were a lot of shops set up in Juneau, and most of them were right along the boardwalk next to where the cruise ships dock. I found out from our local tour guide that the boardwalk area that everyone goes to is not even part of the city itself. It’s run by the cruise companies and closes down at the end of cruise season, when all the merchandise and employees are sent down to the Caribbean to run the same shops there. Which means that most people who go to Juneau don’t even make it to the real city – they unknowingly wander into the retail shops to buy a few things, then get back on the ship. The ship employees even handed us a "map of Juneau" that only included the location of Jewelry shops and the retail area. Knowing this was a setup, Erin and I made sure we walked the extra few hundred yards to get to the heart of the city and see the real thing.

We also did the Mt. Roberts Tramway which is a giant cable car that takes you to the top of a mountain (Mt. Roberts I presume) for an amazing view. There were snow covered trails at the top that we could get out and walk around; we even had some people ski right by us even though it wasn’t really a ski area. But the landscape was a lot more amazing than pictures can show.