The town didn't slow down for the fourth. There were seven cruise ships in fully loaded with passengers and it was packed. Plus the whole town seemed to come out of hiding. I didn't know Juneau could hold so many people all at once. It was busting at the seams. All of the tours were cancelled for a couple of hours for the annual parade and festivities. It was so fun to be part of such a small town with so much American pride. Plus hundreds of people from other countries for that matter.
Our boss took all of the dock reps out for brunch that morning at a local bar, where they basically forgot about us and then said the breakfast menu was closed. That was unfortunate when it took me a solid 20 minutes to decide on what I wanted and then my biscuits and gravy dreams were swept right out from under me. Lunch at 10 a.m. is fine too I guess ;). After, we participated in the parade where I loaded my pockets with candy and am now convinced that's the reason Arcteryx makes jackets with such large pockets. We spent the rest of our day going about our normal dock duties.
The night before there was a huge firework show on the pier. All of the cruise ships were decorated with little white twinkling lights out in the harbor and everybody was sitting on the docks whistling and singing while waiting for the show. There was this sense of camaraderie and love for literally everyone that night. It's the stuff dreams are made of. And it's a night I'll never forget in a million years.
Love, Lundie
