Juneau

Peter and I have a goal of visiting all 50 state capitals. I really never thought that we would make it to Juneau but I am happy to say that Juneau is the 25th state capital that we have visited. It was cool and rainy when we disembarked. Knowing we had only four hours in Juneau, it was important for us to see the state capital of the 49th state of the United States, find wifi so we could check mail, and have a little time to shop so we decided to hire a cab to take us up to the capital building. We tired to hire two different cabs and they told us that the state capital was closed for renovations and that we could not get to it due to road closures. Being stubborn as we are, we ignored them and hiked up a hill a little less than a mile in the spitting rain to the capital building. The front entrance was completely covered in scaffolding but we followed the signs that led us to a side entrance. Many of the capital buildings that we have visited have security screening and have armed policeman throughout. In Juneau, we walked right in, found the visitors desk and went on a wonderfully engaging tour of the building with just one other couple. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and answered all of our questions with no problem. She was a college graduate who's father was the states chief bridge engineer. The construction that we saw on the front of the capital building was very extensive and it was for earthquake reinforcement. Juneau is a relatively small place with only 32,000 residents. The price that The United States paid for Alaska was a little over $7,000,000 which equates to about 2 cents an acre. What a bargain and to think that Alaska only became a state in 1959 when Peter and I were rambunctious youngsters. When the tour guide found out that we were from Texas, she waisted no time telling us that if you split Alaska into two sections, they would both be larger than Texas.