Some Juneau Questions.... (rental, hotel, work)

[Xa'at]

I'll help you, but I won't write your report for you. Spend a little while thinking up good, open ended questions and PM them to me. Feel free to use any of my pictures you'd like in your report:
Flickr: Photos from Xa'at

[AKadmirer]

Thank you very much ^.^

[Xa'at]

You're very welcome.

[AKadmirer]

btw i sent uyou a direct message

[Xa'at]

As did I!

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Have no fear, Xa'at's here!
There've been quite a few posts about people wanting to move Juneau lately... and if all the u-hauls on the ferry were any indication apparently they're making it here.
Yes we have a paper: the Juneau Empire. It's a small town type newspaper, but it's really great. When I was living down south I was very disappointed in the quality of the "home town" papers. The Empire is really great, but I wouldn't look for a house there.
If you haven't been to Juneau, you may not understand the various "region names", so I'll break it down for you.
Douglas
Across the Gastineau channel (we just call it the Channel) from downtown on Douglas Island. Consists of downtown Douglas, which gets a reputation of being rather hickish, but it's a cute little village area with a skating rink and a nice sandy beach, Blueberry Hill, where all the mansions are, and North Douglas, the highway which runs north along the edge of the island. The ski resort, Eaglecrest, is on Douglas Island.
Downtown
What is generally known as Juneau. The waterfront is pretty, but dominated by tourism in the summer. Up the hill is where the real downtown is- a lovely place full of quaint businesses, along with the capitol building and lots of the state and federal buildings. Houses here tend to be very expensive- and make sure you get a view of the outside; further up the hill, you cannot always drive right up to them. Some have long staircases because of the steepness of the mountain. Downtown Juneau is politically very liberal, the only district in Alaska to cast a majority vote for the democratic candidate in the last pres. election.
(Mendenhall) Valley
The "suburb" of Juneau. Houses here are less expensive, and there are more of them. Some have excellent views of the glacier or river. The valley has most of the larger chain stores: freddies, home depot, all manner of restaurants, the Nugget Mall, etc, along with every church ever conceived of and the int'l airport. The road connecting downtown and the valley is called Egan (Expressway) and along that road are the Lemon Creek (named after the glacier) and Salmon Creek areas.

Auke Bay/Out the Road
Auke Bay is a little fishing hamlet past the Valley, on Glacier Highway. This is where the regional university (University of Alaska Southeast) is located, along with the ferry terminal and more housing. Past Auke Bay and you get into the area called "Out The Road", which is basically just more houses that get increasingly remote until the road finally dead ends.

Hopefully that helps you get an idea of the area when you're looking at ads. A few other things that you may or may not know, but really should, before deciding to move here:

-We are off the road system. This means that you cannot, unless your car has a submarine feature, drive to Juneau from anywhere. There are two ways to get out: the Alaska Marine Highway and Alaska Airlines.
-We are in a temperate rainforest- think a slightly colder Seattle. Most of the year it rains, August is our driest month, not sure what the wettest is. It does snow some, but usually the snow does not last long. Right now we have about half an inch, with forecasts for more. The most important thing to remember is that it does not get hot (read: above 70F), and summers are probably different than you are used to. If you do not like rain, change your plans now.

[EDIT: Ugh! Just noticed that this is an old post! All my wisdom, WASTED. Someone better learn something from this...]

No it wasn't! The wife and I are planning our move to Juneau and your post was very helpful !

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by Crossfire600

No it wasn't! The wife and I are planning our move to Juneau and your post was very helpful !

Yay for my wisdom not being wasted! Feel free to drop me a pm if you have questions. Also...
Flickr: Photos & Video from Xa'at

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Yay for my wisdom not being wasted! Feel free to drop me a pm if you have questions. Also...
Flickr: Photos & Video from Xa'at

We certainly will! We are at the point of looking at the Job Market, Housing etc.. etc.. As soon as we come up with some questions that we can't find the answers for we will certainly start a new thread..

[Alice2]

Well this thread goes back a ways and I was browsing the posts and thinking about the part about living in Juneau without a car. For me, well, I think I am going to end up that way, but I feel like having a car keeps me from going insane here. Downtown during tourist season there is no reason to try to walk among the herds in the street, and nothing for me to patronize except Heritage Coffee and the handy little postal service station. The noise is incredible and it is a 'necessity' to me to be able to travel as far as the road will take me for a little peace and quiet.

Of course it's not that noisy outside of tourist season. As to living without a car, try it but don't figure you'll be able to do it for very long unless you absolutely can not afford to get one.

Being a rentor I have looked at apartments from time to time and agree you must set foot inside before you decide if you can live there or not. There are some surprising serious problems in some apartments including conditions that are hazardous to one's health.

Being a pet owner I have to consider only apartments that allow pets. I have lived in trailers and would do it again, under the right circumstances, but for a rentor trailers usually cost way more than they are worth. The last one I lived in didn't include electricity or propane or garbage removal, and I had oil heat (if I remember correctly my landlord did keep the oil barrel full for me). It was a small, old trailer which included a bath tub and washer/dryer and lots of privacy.

For a rentor to get a good apartment, and for landlord to get a good rentor, things work out okay but this could take some serious footwork! I waited four months to get into the apartment I am now living in, and waiting was better than going on searching, in my situation.

And finally, inspired by having browsed Xa'at's photo album, I am going to post a link to mine too, although I guess it will blow my cover as to who I am for some people. <img>

I haven't been doing nearly as much picture taking as I used to so there won't be anything new here and I only have a 1.3 megapixel camera which I haven't felt necessary to upgrade yet.

alicefell's photos and albums on webshots

Will my smiley show after I post it ?? <img>

[Rance]

What a weird site. I can't get in.