A Hoonah Matata

I have circled this day on my calendar ever since it popped up on my schedule.

Hoonah is not far from Juneau, roughly 4-hours by ferry away. There are discounts on the ferry for neighbors day. The world’s (second) largest zipline. Plenty of reasons to bite the bullet to take the trip. And yet, in the more than 10 years of living in Juneau I never have. And guess what, that is a mistake I have to live with. Because Hoonah is awesome!

Now, there is the matter of the distance between the cruise ports and town, the overpriced gondola that only takes you to Icy Straight Point, and the entire artificial Ice Straight Point area in general. And I am unapologetic in saying this, it is places like these that prevent people from experiencing actual Alaska.

If you are one of these tourists that got caught in this trap, that is unfortunate. Because Hoonah, despite being a very tiny village, contains all that is small town Alaska. Walking streets. Kind people. Beautiful views. A bear or two if you are lucky. And it is only a mile and a half away!

If you are capable, do the walk. It is well worth it.

And if these views aren’t enough, they also have a fantastic brewery.