New Years in Juneau

What has party crashing, dinner with friends, babies, Contra dancing, booze, bands, and a smoking hot broad? My New Years Eve. My First New Years Eve in Juneau, 2016.

For my fifth blog I was going to recap the journey of how Andrea and I made it to Juneau. If for no other reason than that I wanted to have this information for posterity, as memories fade over time and I don’t want to forget how we got here.

But, then New Years’ Eve happened and it was one of the best ones I have ever had… and it seemed uniquely Juneauian.

I am typically not a fan of New Years’ Eve. New Years’ Eve typically serves to remind me about the resolutions I didn’t keep, the inevitable passage of time, and the struggle to write the correct date on important documents for a couple of weeks. Sure New Years’ Eve can also be a time of reflection, and a chance to start over, but, more often than not, it ends up being a bummer that leaves me a little blue.

New Years in Portland, which is by comparison a huge city, is great. Plenty of things to do, plenty of friends to visit and parties to go to. I have no complaints about the experiences there. Juneau, with its diminutive population, kind of forces you to be creative and truly seek out an experience, or, be fortunate enough to have the experience drop in your lap. We had a little bit of both, and it ended up being one of the most memorable New Years’ Eves that I can recall.

It started innocently enough. I asked my wife if she wanted to go on a date for some Thai food. She said yes and asked if we could invite along another couple. “Of course” was my enthusiastic response.

There were no takers for going out, but our friends and their brand new baby invited us over for coconut curry soup and, baby holding time (the latter being the most appealing to my wife). We stopped in and the food was absolutely delicious. The company was great too. Starting to make friends here in Juneau and it feels great. I told my wife it no longer feels like a vacation; it feels like home. I mean that in a good way. Later, my wife held Baby Sophia. She was the first non-family member to ever hold the tiny little person. I’m pretty sure I saw tears in her eyes. Later, husband and I went down stairs and I checked out his boxing gym. Later, I held the baby while he showed off his boxing skills (not on the baby. I feel like clarification I needed here0. I have four younger siblings but still, holding something that tiny and alive is a new experience. But, I held her to my chest like a pro, even climbing a flight of stairs in the process.

“Time to go, Contra Dancing starts soon,” I said.

All I knew about Contra Dancing was that it was like square dancing.

“Empty your minds and you’ll be fine.” Our friends said.

So on to Down Town Juneau.

You wouldn’t think that in a town of 30,000 people spread over 2,000 square miles that you would ever have any parking issues. But, aside from the fact that there is no Taco Bell, parking in Down Town Juneau might be my only complaint—especially on weekend or holiday. But, in a quaint little twist, the paid parking is seventy-five cents an hour, coins only. I dunno. I kinda love that.

But, I digress. After trying to find parking for several minutes, including a slippery adventure up a super steep hill (Juneau is filled with enough steep hills to make San Francisco blush) which proved to be too much for my front wheel drive car and we were forced to retreat, we finally found some parking about two blocks from our destination. Although it was bitterly cold, it was clear and crisp. The perfect night for a walk.

My wife wanted to go dancing for New Years’ Eve so, when she heard about Contra Dancing, that seemed like our best bet. There is an unsurprising lack of dance clubs in Juneau. Contra Dancing is square dancing, but a little different. I’m not sure how it’s different but I’m told it is. It was a motley crew of individuals in the best possible way. Young and old, short and tall, skinny and fat, hip and uncool. I, somehow, land in the middle of all those descriptions. It took me awhile to get the steps down but I never felt embarrassed. My wife and I had a blast and, as demonstrated by our shortness of breath, had a great workout. We lasted until about 9:30 when we headed out.

“Want a drink?” I asked.

She blushed and batted her eye lashes, hooked her arm around mine and said “Of course,” and, with that, we were off to our favorite bar in Juneau. Alaska Hotel & Bar.

Perhaps I will go more into this historic hotel at a later time. But, that is not pertinent to this already lengthy blog post.

We walked four icy  blocks through Down Town Juneau and through the large double doors into the packed bar. A costumed band was preparing to play. The bartender saw us and waved. I guess we are regulars now, like Norm and Cliff. I ordered my usual, a Kodiak Brown, and Andrea ordered a cider. We sat down at a table, right next a nude photo of one the whores that used to work in the bar back when it was a brothel. There were Pop-Its and, as the band played throwback style rock n roll, dressed in costumes that reflected events of the current year and the year to come (Donald Trump on the drums, Father Time on vocals/guitar, for example), we sipped our beers and chucked our pop its. The festivities were in full swing, yet somewhat subdued, perhaps in reflection of the strange melancholy that was 2016. We stayed about an hour and, wanting to get home before midnight, we stepped out and started the icy walk up hill back to our car.

As we walked, arm in arm, we heard some smooth jazz music. Live, for sure. It was at the Rockwell, a Down Town eatery we have been dying to try, just waiting on a first born to sell to be able to afford it. We walked in and we saw a three-piece jazz group with a female vocalist. Upstairs, we heard loud dance music. We watched the jazz singer for a few minutes and then, instead of heading outside, we peeked upstairs and decided this may be our chance to dance.

Happy Retirement Myra and Norm. The sign at the stop of the stairs said. Who were Myra and Norm? And why do they have such amazing music playing? We had to climb up and check this out.  We even talked ourselves into the party. “We promise not to drink the free drinks. We just want one dance.” My wife pleaded with her doe eyes. The grandmotherly figure manning the coat deck obliged.

“When you find a song you like, just go in and dance.”

It didn’t take long before Uptown Funk made its funky appearance and we, too, made ours. The dance floor was lit from below and occupied by dancers, young and old. Our first party crashing. And it only took us moving to Juneau and walking around for a few hours to do it.

The New Year was already a success, and it was still an hour before midnight. We stayed for another dance before figuring our icy walk home and ring in the new year, with our fur babies by our side.