It Is What It Is

I took a walk while I was downtown today.

The nasty-ass weather continued to get worse as the day progressed, moving from cloudy and cool early this morning to hard rain, high winds and decreasing temperatures later.

At 8am it was 52 degrees and by 10:30am the temperature gauge at City Hall read a balmy 48.

I smiled in resignation when I saw that.

I know that Juneau weather bothers a lot of people, but in the almost nine months that I have been here it has never bothered me.

My Mountain Boy makes fun of me because one of my favorite expressions, regardless of the situation, is "It is what it is".

The weather in Juneau just is what it is.

I walked for quite a while late this morning, having a lot of steam to burn and nowhere to put it.

And so I walked.  And then walked some more.

Today is the official end of tourist season in this Alaskan capital city.  The last cruiseship came into town on a cold and wet fall day, and then it left.

And will not be back until next May.

And today I finally saw first hand that Juneau is, as predicted and promised, indeed shutting itself down for the winter.

The float planes are gone. 

The flower baskets that have been hanging from street lamps, and the colorful flags that have been hanging from posts all over the city all summer, have been taken down.

The boardwalk is empty.  Almost empty anyway.

And with the exception of a few last holdouts, the street vendors have headed back home to wherever home is.

The very beautiful mountains that hug this city close..........

Fall - typical fall with multiple trees with multiple colors - does not exist in Juneau.

The yellow trees lose their yellow leaves very quickly with the high winds that seem to dominate the weather when the weather turns on a dime from deep blue sky to deep grey sky..........

HEY!!  I found a red tree!!

This picture was taken at Marine Park.

I have spent a lot of time down at this park throughout the summer. 

I have greatly enjoyed watching the ships and the tourists and the float planes and the vendors.

I have also enjoyed watching people at this small green space beside the channel. 

People what sit and sleep and read books and eat their lunch and play music, in what, during the summer was an incredibly relaxed and layed back place to enjoy..........

The last cruise ship of 2010.........

As I walked along the boardwalk there were thousands of seagulls swimming in, and flying around the Gastineau Channel.

How is it that all of these birds, whose cries filled the now-quiet channel, just magically reappeared on this particular very cold and rainy day? 

And where did all the fat and sassy ravens, who have been gorging themselves all summer on tourist junk food snacks go to?

Two mysteries of nature and timing that I do not know the answer to..........

Many of the planted flowers are still in place and in bloom in downtown Juneau.

But even as I was walking along the boardwalk I saw city employees tearing them out of the ground.

The season is over.

And I think that before long we will begin having freezing temperatures overnight...........

These flowers, these beautiful and colorful summer flowers contained in a large planter at the park, seemed somehow out of place among the dried yellow leaves that were on the ground and among the grey skies and grey clouds that lay low in the mountains in Juneau and over on Douglas Island.

Fall is here, but seems to be going very quickly.

It is hard to believe that only a few shorts days ago the weather was so incredibly warm and beautiful.

No matter.

It is what it is.

One last look at beautiful and colorful summer flowers before they also disappear for the season.........