Grindstone Falls

Today we came across yam, turnip, parsnip, rutibaga and some other similarly named things, but not one of them was a vegetable. You will have to read your way through this blog to try to work out the answer to this puzzle.

When I woke up this morning to stretch my legs on the balcony of our stateroom I saw the sun warming the tops of the peaks of some lower mountains just outside Juneau. It looked like it was going to be a lovely day. Yesterday, had rained on and off for most of the day but it was not so heavy as to cause us to stop seeing the sights. Today, looked like it was going to be ideal for seeing what Juneau has to offer.

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska but it is actually very small. It has a total population of about 30 thousand people and during the winter this goes down as some of the people working here for tourism head south or into the mountains for skiing. It got its name from one of the two early prospectors who came looking for gold. He and his friend, Harris, befriended the local natives who showed them around. They discovered gold in big nuggets and made their fortune. People flocked to the new town, Harrisburg, named after Harris. Some time later, after Harris had left the town, the community began to think about another name for the growing town. On voting night, held in the Red Dog Saloon, the vote was about to take place, when Joe Juneau bought everyone a round of drinks. The decision was obvious. The town came to be known as Juneau. There are still hints of this rough and ready approach to things in the town that is trying to be more sophisticated.

It is a pleasant little town but where Melbourne would have a coffee shop every second or third shop, this place had jewellery stores one after the other, all spruiking for the tourists with offers of special deals and gifts for the pretty lady. I managed to resist all such offers. Even prices offered at 80 % discount did not attract me. It was all too intense. The other shops were souvenir shops, or shops selling animal fur products. Ross wasn't feeling well after we finished the short bus ride around the city so I thought we should stop for coffee to let him settle and have a comforting drink. We saw a shop and went to it. It was just a booth and had no seating and Ross did not want to drink his coffee on a park bench, so we walked. And walked and walked. I was tired and achy and over the hard sell as we walked passed all the shops. My tired feet and sore back just wanted to take it easy today. Eventually we ended up at the one place I had remarked was not a place I wished to visit. It seemed to be the only place to sit down for a drink. It was the Red Dog Saloon, the same one where the vote for town name was made.

It was set up to look like a saloon from the gold rush period. You entered through swing doors and took a seat by scraping your chair legs through the sawdust on the floor. Soon afterwards, a waitress, wearing a red and black bustier and frilly skirt would come to take your order and suggest you have the house special "a duck fart". This is a very powerful drink and not at all attractive. Given that it was only about 10.30 in the morning it was also a silly time to start drinking "hard liquor". We asked for hot chocolates. These came and were pleasant enough but clearly not part of their usual fare.

The decor was upsetting. The walls were covered with the stuffed heads of the local animals, moose, beaver, deer, caribou, wolf and bear. It celebrated hunting. This is culturally relevant because hunting and fishing are really big in this part of the world. I was just sad to see the faces of these creatures watching me drink my hot chocolate. Over the bar was a framed gun, claiming to be that belonging to Wyatt Earp, who had checked it at the bar, but failed to reclaim it on his way to Nome. I wanted to get out of there. Not my kind of place.

This meant quite a long walk back to the point where our next excursion would depart and the weather had begun to change. A strong wind, we later heard called a Tunka wind, sprang up and brought some rain with it. We walked along the boardwalk running alongside the inlet, stopping every now and then.

Knowing we would either have an early lunch or a very late one, we just looked about for a cafe/restaurant that might do us a bucket of chips or something similar. We couldn't find one anywhere. Everyone wanted to sell us crab or salmon. That was just too rich for us and we have been eating quite a bit of this kind of food recently. We thought we had found a place that would sell us a side order of chips, so sat down. When we ordered, they said the side order was for potato crisps, not hot chips. So, we ordered Cajun flavored halibut fish tacos which is a mixed up dish if ever there was one. It was served with coleslaw that had pineapple in it. A strange meal indeed.

We eventually made it back to our excursion point but my back and legs were very sore. Despite this, I was not going to forego our excursion. I am very glad we stuck it out.

We got into a small minibus that took us off-road for a couple of kilometres. We pulled up just beside some black tailed deer who were a bit indignant at being disturbed and gave us some dirty looks. I got a picture of one through the van window.

Several people were disturbed by the roughness of the road, but I felt it was just an ordinary dirt track. They aint seen rough until they have seen Australian rough. We slowed down as we passed the old gold mine that brought a lot of prosperity to this part of the world back in the 1800s, and then on to our destination.

We were visiting the summer conditioning camp for the dogs that pull sleds through the snow. Part of their conditioning during the summer months is to pull a wheel based sled for a couple of kilometers each day. We were to be the passengers in their dog sled.

Every dog has its own kennel and just enough chain to keep them from their neighbour. These dogs are highly trained and very friendly, but they are also very excitable and prone to fighting among themselves in their exuberance. We were taken to the special sled and the dogs were brought in and lined up. When they saw us get into the sled, the relative calm disappeared. The closer we came to leaving, the more excited they became. Soon the noise just exploded. There was barking, yelping and howling and that was not just from our sled dogs. Every dog in the place, and that was over a hundred, joined in. Some were frustrated at not having been harnessed yet. Some were cranky with their running partner for being in the wrong spot and every dog, not harnessed to our sled, was barking and howling at being excluded. It was wild.

When it was time to start, they were off. They just pulled and pulled. They wanted it so badly. At one point the lead dog began to take a right turn but a call from the "musher", (the driver), " Go straight" and the whole pack returned to the straight path. It was exciting to watch. A call and a wayward dog would be brought back into focus. Nothing stopped them running! For future reference, "Yee" means go left and "Haw" means go right.

The people sitting just in front of us, squealed out at one stage and couldn't stop laughing. When they settled down they told us that a dog just in front of them had gone to the toilet. No stopping of course. The dog picked up his hind legs, did his poo, then dropped his back legs down again and continued running without missing a beat. He had run for some distance on his front legs. These crazy loud Americans kept calling on this dog to "Do it again!"

After a return journey of about a couple of kilometres we ended up back at the camp. We were invited to pat the dogs. I did not need to be asked twice. I approached them appropriately and then patted them. They enjoyed the pats, but they were panting madly and their eyes did not show the pleasure we see in domestic dogs when you pat them. They would come for the pat but the eyes said they were somewhere else. I was very pleased to be able to pat the lead dog and I congratulated him on his fine work. He was covered in a lather and his tongue hung down lower than any other dog I have seen.

They don't enjoy the heat so much. I was wearing a puffy jacket and was pleased I was wearing it as the wind blew over the nearby glacier and snowfields. The dogs though, prefer temperatures at about 40 degrees below freezing. At these temperatures, and on snow, they can run 100 miles a day, then get excited at the prospect of doing it again the next day and they will do this for nine days in a row before a break. They are certainly resilient creatures.

These dogs were then freed from their harness and they raced back to their own kennels without treading on anyone else's territory. There is a risk in crossing the boundaries and food is associated with their kennel so it is a good place to be.

We were then taken to some displays of the history of dog sledding. In one cabin, I was met by a squirrel, who looked at me, tried to decide whether he should stay or go, then turned tail and ran away. I would not have complained had he stayed.

After this we were taken to meet the puppies. These ones were only about 6 weeks old and very cute. They were all named after root vegetables which seemed undignified to me. We were encouraged to cuddle them and pass them around so as to socialise them, but after a while they got tired and began calling for their mum. I had enjoyed the cuddles but was pleased to see them reunited with their mother.

None of the dogs could be really said to be "pretty" dogs. It was explained that they had been bred out of any and all strong pulling dogs and were deliberately bred as mutts. Our driver explained that the beautiful huskies are like the fashion models, but inbreeding and close breeding led to health issues. These Alaskan sled dogs were robust, healthy and stronger pulling dogs. They were more like the athletes. Their hair is rough and although fed an excellent, high protein, high fat diet to help them with their work, they were not pampered dogs and they were all very lean. The Alaskans insist they are the best dogs for this work. I am inclined to agree on principle, although I have no other evidence.

On retirement, which could be as old as thirteen, the dogs became pets, but still kept outside as befitted their upbringing.

We returned to our ship exhausted, but delighted by our trip. We both had naps to get the chill and the crinks out of the bones before we had dinner.

At dinner, one set of guests at our table said they had got up at 3 am to search for the Aurora Borealis which they had been told might appear. I was horrified. What if it had been there and I had not seen it.? Fortunately the Aurora did not show last night. When night fell I went out onto the balcony to check. No sign! I will certainly be checking for it during the night. I won't miss this if I can.Read more