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Juneau Alaska with rental car and scooter


mamasylvia
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I don't think this was the smartest idea I ever had.

 

The Pearl docks at the AJ dock, which is no more than a couple hundred feet from the tiny Juneau Car Rental office, but there are no signs and what looked super easy on Google Maps left me crying in frustration while DH kept asking where it was (like I knew?!) However, I would estimate the dock was at least a mile and a half from downtown and involved some pretty steep hills. There were shuttles (and one shuttle driver made a point of telling me she had a lift to get me and the scooter aboard) and a lot of young, fit-looking people just hiked the distance. We got our car, DH loaded my scooter in the back, and we took off.

 

Downtown is full of attractive ways to separate tourists from their money. What it is noticeably lacking is PARKING. Nearly all the open parking spaces were reserved for vendors or monthly parking. There is some on-street parking in the north half of the touristt area but I never found an open space. There is a parking garage with a few public spaces, but (again) we couldn't find anything open the first 3 times we went into the garage. (It didn't help that I had forgotten my handicap tag!) Once we finally parked, getting around was very easy. There were curb cuts everywhere, the sidewalks had a lot of cracks but nothing bad enough that I couldn't ride over. No cobbles but there were some brick pavers and of course the dock was wooden boards - not smooth as glass but not really uncomfortable.

 

Then we went to Mendenhall and I almost cried again. The path from the parking area to the visitor center is STEEP. My scooter has a lot of power (top speed is 9mph) but I knew there was no way. Finally one of us saw a small sign claiming there was an elevator. I zipped down that path (also worrying about whether I'd be able to make it back), went through a glass door into a freezing cold hallway, got to the end - and found the elevator. So I was able to get into the visitor center after all.

 

Looking at the map now, I apparently didn't even get to the start of Photo Point trail. The area at the base of the visitor center steps (which is also where the elevator hallway starts) was dirt and tilted enough that I was too worried about falling over to take it to the photo trail. I also was concerned about battery power, my first battery was getting low and I wouldn't have time to charge it before doing the tram. I looked at part of the Trail of Time and it was too steep for my scooter as well, so I wouldn't consider it accessible. (If it's too steep for my scooter, I sure wouldn't want anyone to have to push me up the trail in a wheelchair!)

 

I don't want it to sound like it was a terrible visit. I saw the glacier just fine (that sucker is BIG!) and got what I hope are some great shots. Plus, those of you who want to see bears would have been thrilled that they closed the path for about 20-30 minutes because a mama bear was on it with 3 cubs! The ranger was herding people out of their way (and of course half of the idiots ran out from the group to get clear pictures) and finally they went off into the woods. But we were running out of time and still wanted to do the tram.

 

It was late enough in the day by now that I was able to park in the garage on the first try. I have perfected a scoot-and-pull technique for ramps that are JUST too steep for my scooter but have a strong railing (common at airports and also apparently at this tram) so I was able to get up to the tram platform. The view going up was amazing and I don't think I put my camera down the whole trip. lol Although I wished I had brought something heavier to wear - the trams are not airtight! Because it was so cold, we didn't even try to go outside, just had a quick dinner, dropped off the car, and back to the ship.

 

Looking back, I'm not sure what we could have done differently. We would have lost as much time taking the shuttle as we did hunting for parking, and then would have lost that time again going back to the rental place to get the car to go to Mendenhall. 8 hours seems like such a long time until you watch it racing away. I really didn't want to give up on either glacier or tram so we crammed too much into the port day. But I am glad now that we did.

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