Today's Lunch View

I left the Capitol after the faux Senate Floor meeting (it's really called a technical meeting, where they go down the list of the daily floor calendar but can't make any motions) with one goal in mind - to get to the sun and stay in it as long as possible before I had to go back to work. Living in a rainforest does not allow many days of actual sun, but Juneau's been blessed for a few days now with a cloudless sky. I walked down the hill towards the water and settled on a bench facing the water and this is what I looked at while I ate my lunch:

There were also several dog walkers, a young family with two kids, and the beginning of other sunseekers spending their lunchbreak outdoors.

After I finished eating, I followed the trend of others walking the boardwalk along the water. I've never done this before. The boardwalk leads you to a section of Juneau that only opens for the summer tourists. It was like walking into a movie set or a stage set for those who don't actually live here. Below are the "cute," cruiseship-owned jewelry stores selling diamonds and tanzanite. The shops are empty now, the windows covered with paper. But soon they will be open and filled, the windows displaying its wares that are definietly not from Alaska, and tourists will abound.

Here's the tram that will take tourists to and from the top of Mt. Roberts. Apparently, the tram gets used by locals as well for easy access to backcountry skiing or hiking.

This section of Juneau is littered with interpretive signs.

Despite its tourist angle, one cannot deny the inherit beauty and Alaska-ness found in this section of town. Fishing boats reflected in calm water against a backdrop of mountains - you can't get much more Alaska than that.

I tried to take pictures when no one else was around, but this boardwalk was filled with people on their lunchbreak in love with the sun.