Happy July 4th!

WOW - it wasn't a coincidence - Juneau really puts on a party for the fourth of July. In fact, a lot of people start right after work on the 3rd. We started to see people gathering with their trucks, campers, motorhomes, tents, awnings and bbqs at about 5 on the 3rd and the fireworks started about 8:30p and went pretty much all night! The official fireworks show started at 11:59 and went for a good 30 minutes. Since it does get dark here at that time of night you get a good show. And although it wasn't hot last night it wasn't -30 below or colder like New Year's in Fairbanks.


J and Krista from Fairbanks were in town and they came over to the house to see the show and brought along J's sister Pat and Clayton. We enjoyed wine and snacks before starting on the key lime pie and champagne. One thing that is really noticeable at our place is the echo you hear within the channel from setting off the fireworks. I can see why they don't do anything for New Years as it could cause a lot of avalanches. At times the sound was deafening. I'm sure that those who were on the barge setting off the fireworks were wearing ear protection.

It was a fun show - I encourage anyone who hasn't been to Juneau to plan a trip here next 4th of July. I can't image we'll be in this same house but that doesn't mean we can't start our own beach fires and watch from the beach.


Again there were two parades - one in the morning in Juneau and one in the afternoon in Douglas. Pretty much the same entries...except for some reason the one in Douglas seems more laid back. I guess all the participants are tired so they don't rush through. There's more space between the entries, a lot more kids and equal amount of candy. I can't believe how much candy was thrown. Amazing! The local dentist assoc. should think about having an entry and throwing floss or tooth paste. They probably wouldn't be very popular though.


We're sorry that Ginny and Wrangler couldn't make it down for a visit - we found this patriot pal for Wrangler for next year.

There were a couple of entries that were very interesting. This is one group that was really energetic with drums, and dancing...not sure exactly which Filipino group they were representing but they were fun to watch and listen to. Their featured costumes were incredible.




We rode our bikes over to watch the parade and after about an hour and 1/2 I wasn't the only one who was tired.

Five Ships at Once

Today was a busy day downtown. At one point when I looked out there were five huge cruise ships either tied up or anchored out in the channel.


This information was taken from the Juneau Empire from Wednesday:

DATE	SHIP	ARRIVE	DEPART	CAPACITY
• Wed, May 28	Norwegian Sun	07:00	13:15	2,970
	Sapphire Princess	06:30	16:00	3,840
	Star Princess	13:30	22:00	3,700
	Westerdam	07:00	20:00	2,716
	Zaandam	07:00	22:30	2,039
DAILY CAPACITY				15265
• Thu, May 29	Coral Princess	08:00	21:00	2,880
	Mercury	08:00	18:00	2,795
	Serenade of the Seas	07:00	15:00	3,360
	Spirit of Ô99	08:45	18:00	122
	Volendam	08:00	18:00	2,020
DAILY CAPACITY				11177

It looks like the Norweign Sun and The Star Princess switch spots on the dock but the Princess was a little early coming in and the Sun was a little late getting out so it caused a traffic jam downtown!

But its been gorgeous out so the tourists must be loving it!

Folk Music of Folks

The Alaska Folk Festival is going on this week, the 34th annual. Every night there are 15-minute acts that go for 3-4 hours. The event is free so you can come and go as you please. We went last night and stayed for a couple of hours. The auditorium was packed and the gathering areas and hallways outside the auditorium were also packed. People were warming up and impromptu jam sessions were setting up through the hall. There are workshops, special guest artists, dances, and lots of music. I don't think I've seen so many fiddles and mandolins in one spot before! We listened to cowboy campfire songs by a 75 year old guy from Tagish; a duo playing Bob Dylan on guitar and mandolin; a really nice younger group that we heard up at the Island Pub a couple weeks ago, called One Aisle Over, mix of blues, international, rock with some very nice vocals; a young girl (high school) on fiddle and her fiddle teacher on guitar playing her pieces for a NW fiddling contest she's going to next week (a hoe-down, waltz, and player's choice sequence played one right after the other) – this really got your toes tappin'. Then there was a group of ladies who sang three different songs - a really nice duet by two girls we've seen in Perserverance shows, a yiddish song, and a hawaiian song including some hula dancers and the final act was a band that will be playing at another local club featuring folks songs with heavy bass. The thing was the bass' amp wasn't working so we only got to see him strutting around on stage...it would have been funnier if he'd have been overweight (…heavy bass…).

I took my spoons with me last night, hoping to get picked up but the opportunity didn't arise. I'll keep them in my back pocket when we go later this weekend.