I've had two "Oh Juneau, Never Change!" moments this week.
The first was yesterday, when I saw this pair of hikers and their dog. Immediately recognizing the sartorial miracle I was witnessing, I turned off the sound on my iPhone and clandestinely snapped their pic from behind. I figured they wouldn't mind. Anyone who rocks this look is clearly okay being the center of attention, right? And with any luck, they're even reading this and now know how much I sweat their style. (Will the real Slim Shady Raccoon-Tail (?) Cap Man please stand up?)
This picture tells a lot of what you need to know about Juneau, so I'ma just drop it here without further comment:
The second Oh Juneau, Never Change! moment though was a bit more subtle.
I was sitting in the airport waiting to pick up my parents, when I heard a disembodied voice pipe up next to me. "75 just landed." There was no way this person was talking to me. Why would she be? But of course, OF COURSE, she was.
I looked up and to my left, to find an elderly woman with glasses on a chain around her neck scrolling through her iPhone. "You waiting for 75?" I nodded. "Me too," she offered. "It just landed."
"Um . . . thanks?" I said, a bit confused.
The main reason I was confused is that there was only one flight landing at that time. The second reason I was confused is that I too was diddling around on my iPhone, which presumably featured the very same application that just told this woman the plane from Seattle was at the gate. Not to mention that there was a prominent board in the terminal also featuring this information.
It was sort of like watching Jurassic Park in a movie theater and a stranger leans over and says, "the velociraptor got out," or perhaps more aptly, if you were standing at a crosswalk and the stranger next to you for no reason other than to be gratuitously helpful offered, "it says you can walk now."
It was sort of amazing in a sweet, uniquely Juneau way. That was five minutes before I accosted Senator Murkowski to shake her hand and tell her I loved that one time she said only women showed up to the Senate in a blizzard.
Seriously Juneau. Never change!