TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

Hello from Anchorage, Alaska! We are currently in our last month of our Alaska travel nurse assignment. I can’t wait to give you the scoop about our experience at this hospital and state. I’ll just say, it’s been an incredible experience so far. Along with working, we’ve continued to explore all things Anchorage, and another part of Alaska; Juneau! Before I get into Juneau, I wanted to catch you up on our daily life here in Anchorage. My husband and I have a great gym routine at Orangetheory. We are just above halfway through Push 30 at Orangetheory. Push 30 is committing to three goals for 30 days. They give you a bunch of choices on goals, but I’ve decided to follow 2L of water daily, 7000 steps daily, and low carb (100 grams-150 grams). You are given 10 “cheats” within thirty days. The steps and the water are definitely the easier goals. I have realized that you can have 1700 calories in a day and it all be carbs… I am definitely more 0aware of what I’m putting in my body, and what keeps me full longer. I’ll try to add some of our low carb meals to the site! I am a person that is hyper fixated on the scale. Along with these three goals, I am trying to be better about not hyper fixating on it.

My husband and I just had the pleasure of visiting Juneau for a weekend. It was absolutely incredible. My husband’s birthday was just a few weeks ago, so we were deciding between Kodiak Island and Juneau to celebrate for the weekend. Someone at work convinced us that Juneau would be a better option and I have to say, it was incredible!! They recommended Juneau because it was simply beautiful, and had a lot to do around town. I also have a cousin who actually lives in Juneau with her family (Hi Monique, Kellen, and fam!), which was definitely a positive to this trip. Definitely would make Juneau a part of your Alaska itinerary. Let’s get into all things Juneau.

A little information about Juneau & How to get to Juneau

Juneau has approximately 31,365 people. Juneau breaks up into two different areas, downtown and the valley. Most locals (70%) live in the valley, which is located 8 miles northwest of downtown. The tourist attractions that most people visit are located downtown. The only tourist attraction in the valley is Mendenhall Glacier.

When we first accepted our assignment in Anchorage, we researched Juneau, with the hopes to see my cousin and her family. Once you start doing a little research, you learn that Juneau is inaccessible from the mainland. Yes you heard me correct, there’s no road that you can drive on to reach Juneau. Juneau is actually the only state capitol in the country like that.  It was funny, when we first accepted an assignment in Alaska, everyone asked us if we were going to visit my cousin for the day or weekend. We wanted to say, “please look at a map and see how far it is.” The only way to get to Juneau is by boat or plane. 

Juneau has a very large cruise port. Most of the time when people travel to Juneau by boat is by cruise boat. During the summertime, you’ll most likely see multiple cruise boats at the port. Check out the cruise boats when we were there a few weeks ago!

Most people fly to Juneau. We flew from Anchorage International Airport to Juneau airport. If you want to see a small airport, visit Juneau Alaska. Getting through security and getting to your gait, takes no time at all… I guess there’s pros and cons. 

Transportation

The airport alone is about 9 miles from downtown Juneau. You would either have to take a cab, lyft/uber, or rent a car. We decided to rent a car, and I really suggest doing this. This allowed us to explore more of Juneau with no time or money restrictions. I am not saying rental cars are cheap, but for convenience, I would recommend renting a car!

When to Visit Juneau

If you have ever visited Juneau or seen pictures of Juneau, you’ll see how lucious the trees are. Juneau is in the rainforest part of Alaska. Juneau actually gets 90 inches of precipitation yearly! The best time to visit Juneau is in the summertime. Temperatures range between 50-60 degrees and are the dry months. Don’t worry, when I say dry, it still rains! Pack your rain jacket. We got lucky the weekend we went to Juneau. It only rained on the way to the airport home and it was in the high 50’s – 60’s.

Where to Stay in Juneau

I can’t really speak to any hotels around the area. We stayed in an Airbnb when we went to Juneau. It was much more affordable than the hotels in the area. The Airbnb we stayed in was on the outskirts of town. It was about 15 minutes to downtown. It was cute and very cozy. Would definitely recommend it.

Things to Do in Juneau

Ride the Mount Roberts Tramway

Located in downtown Juneau, is Mount Roberts Tramway. On the tram, you can get great views of the city, downtown, and mountains. The tram is on the expensive side of the activities, we decided to skip out on this, but it’ll be on the list for next time.

Visit Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center

This is one of Juneau’s most popular attractions. It’s located in the valley and requires transportation to get there, if you are staying downtown. I thought the glacier was pretty. You can get panoramic views of the glacier at the visitor center. You can’t get super close to the glacier, but there is some pretty hiking in the area. Unfortunately, there were too many things for us to do, so we didn’t get to hike on this weekend. Hopefully we make it back to Juneau for some hiking! Honestly, I wasn’t overly impressed with the glacier. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m spoiled and have seen so many glaciers at this point!

Visit downtown

We were told Seward’s downtown was cute, but honestly Juneau’s downtown is where it is at. It’s beautiful and has so many cute shops. I absolutely recommend visiting the art gallery. We got so many good pictures from the gallery at a reasonable price. It was also great to support local businesses. Take some time in your itinerary and explore downtown!

Visit the dump

Stop judging me… I know you are as you read this. Visit the dump, you won’t be disappointed. This was suggested to us by multiple people… this is why!

Take A Wildlife tour

If you don’t have a wildlife or glacier tour booked, definitely stop and book one. We did an awesome whale watch, where we saw 12-15 whales. We also saw some birds and seals. It was truly a great experience. The tour guides were awesome. 

Whale Sculpture

Honestly, this whale sculpture was pretty cool. It was on a pretty boardwalk overlooking the water. 

DIPAC Macaulay Salmon Hatchery

The hatchery was pretty impressive to see the life cycle of salmon. The DIPAC goal is to sustain and enhance valuable salmon resources. Definitely take a look outside of all the salmon jumping! It’s only $7.00 a person to explore the hatchery.

Nom…Nom…Nom…

There are a lot of cute restaurants and coffee shops in downtown Juneau. These were some of our favorites and not so favorites!

Devil’s Club Brewing Company

This is located downtown. It has a patio with lots of food trucks. Definitely check out the Deckhand Dave’s Fish Tacos truck. It was one of the best meals we had in Juneau.

Address:100 N Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801

Yelp Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.8/5.0

TravelingbeebryantRN’s review:⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 / 5.0

Flicks_withNick’s Review: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.9 / 5.0

Tracy’s Crab Shack

Of course you know what i’m going to say about the most famous restaurant in Juneau… Typically it’s what I always say. It was overhyped. The food was good, but not worth the money. If I were visiting again, I’d skip this restaurant and head to the food truck! Sorry not sorry!

Address:432 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801

Yelp Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.7/5.0

TravelingbeebryantRN’s review:⭐⭐⭐ 3.0 / 5.0

Flicks_withNick’s Review: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.8 / 5.0

The Hangar On the Wharf

This restaurant is definitely a cool find. It’s a converted airplane hangar with very big windows. The restaurant is on the water, offering great views of the water, mountains and cruise ships. 

Address:2 Marine Way #106, Juneau, AK 99801

Yelp Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.4/5.0

TravelingbeebryantRN’s review:⭐⭐⭐⭐4.0 / 5.0

Flicks_withNick’s Review: ⭐⭐2.5 / 5.0

Heritage Coffee Company

This coffee company is located in downtown Juneau. We tried both of their locations in downtown Juneau. The place is really cute, offering specialty coffee and lattes. We tried their daily specialty lattes and really enjoyed them.

Address:130 Front St, Juneau, AK 99801

Yelp Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.1/5.0

TravelingbeebryantRN’s review:⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 / 5.0

Flicks_withNick’s Review: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.7 / 5.0

Whether you are planning a weekend away in Juneau or stopping on a cruise in Juneau, I think you really are going to enjoy it. Stay up to date with all things travel, nursing, and of course Flicks_withNick’s movie reviews. Give us a follow on Instagram or subscribe to this blog.