Alaska is one of those places that looms large in the collective imagination of visitors. There are several reasons for this, including its history—especially the way in which it became the union’s 49th state. After all, it is entirely possible that it could have remained outside the United States had one or two moments in history gone differently. Then there is the mystique that comes with the state’s vast geography and its detachment from the contiguous 48 states. Earlier this summer I went north and crisscrossed the Inside Passage, an archipelago in the panhandle of southeast Alaska. My trip started in Juneau. One of only two state capitals not accessible by car, Alaska’s capital is vastly underrated. Outside of the big cruise ships, which returned in late July for the first time since 2019, most tourists seem to use this as a base for going elsewhere. Yet, as I found, …