Thanks to my grandmother and mom for funding the flight to California and trip to Alaska, I finally met my lifelong dream of seeing Juneau, Alaska where my mother was born.

First thing to do arriving in Juneau was to climb up to the city to find the home where my mother came home from the hospital. Much had changed, but it still was her home 71 years ago.

Shortly after, we went looking for the hospital where she was born. This was not as easy as it sounds. There was no listing for the building. Fortunately, we ran into a very nice man who explained that the building had been converted to Assisted Living and then turned into an office building. The man walked us to the building and took this picture of my mom, sister and I. Turned out he was an assembly member. My sister told him that if she ever moved to Alaska she would be sure to vote for him. His name is Kiehl which we had a good laugh over since we are Diehl.

Just my luck….travel around the whole world and the governor’s mansion is under renovation. Covered in plastic, the beautiful building was quite a letdown.

I wanted to be sure to get a shot of the US and Alaska flags flying side by side. Unfortunately, instead of a beautiful façade…we have plastic.

Of course, no visit to Juneau would be complete without a visit to the world famous Red Dog Saloon.

It is as crazy as I had heard…wood shavings covered the floor and every inch of wall and ceiling was covered in “personality” including a poor soul being chased up a post by a bear.

Turns out that cruising in the middle of the Pacific is not a good location to post a blog. This is something to keep in mind. Fortunately, kayaking in Australia, I will go to shore each night so I can write my blog more regularly, keeping you up to date about my adventures. Now that I am back in California, I can fill you in on my adventures in Alaska.