I was initially quite annoyed about our Juneau stop, given that our tour
had been cancelled at the last minute due to "insufficient signups", and
the fact that the appropriate cruise staff had treated us so badly about
it. Still, it all turned out okay - instead of going out and taking a few
hundred more pictures, we just wandered the city. It turned out to be a
tourist trap of the worst kind, at least in the sections that we could
see; one after another you'd see stores for individual luxury goods, such
as furs, perfume, jewelry, etc. This lasted until we found a bookstore,
and saw a poster advertising a book signing for
Michael
Chabon, one of my favorite authors (author of The Amazing Adventures
of Kavalier and Clay), later that evening! That made this
particular stop one of my favorites.
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Our Ship I was kindof grumpy as we were getting off, thanks to the lack of tour.
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Sun Princess I got to get a close-up shot of the ship as we were getting off, at least.
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Tour Booths Yeah, I probably could have gotten one of these, but that wasn't what I wanted, dammit!
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Trolley Ride I wasn't going on that thing, that's for sure. (Accursed fear of heights!)
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Foggy Mountains I tried to reassure myself with the idea that I wouldn't have been able to see much on the photo tour anyway.
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Tolerant Beth She was annoyed on my behalf, but still trying to humor me. *smile*
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Smiley Tim Seeing Beth can make me smile even when I'm grumpy.
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Trolley Station That's where you took those air cars up to, if you're the kind of person that can do that.
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Mural I'm not sure what this was supposed to mean, but I liked it.
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Park Rules "No Shooting". I liked that.
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Chabon Books The display of books was rather impressive.
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Doors Open While I was waiting for the doors to open, I noted that there would be a wet t-shirt contest at the bar across the way. Sadly, I couldn't attend that, only the signing.
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Chabon Crowd This was essentially the academic crowd from the city. I felt right at home.
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Michael Chabon There he is, the man himself.
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Chabon Reading He had a good reading style, and he didn't mind me taking pictures.
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Chabon Speaking His discussion after the reading was also quite interesting. Not that I have anything particular to say about it.
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Chabon Signing I got him to sign three books - two copies of The Yiddish Policemen's Union (one for Ray and Mel, who turned out to already have one), and one copy of The Final Solution (which I haven't yet read).
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Eagle on Shed There may be a lot of eagles in Alaska, but they're still a novelty to tourists like me.
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More Mountains It's good to get some landscape shots.
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More Mountains, II It helps underline how the place really looks, which I think is important.
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