Sitka to Petersburg

On the way from Sitka to Petersburg, the high-speed ferry passed us going the opposite direction. This is the ferry we took from Juneau to Sitka. It is a catamaran and travels twice as fast as the other ferries. We actually traveled on four different ferries--one of them twice. The sailing times varied from 4 1/2 to 11 1/2 hours. Often we went out on the deck to take pictures. Some of the areas on each ferry had lounge seats, and we even napped a couple times. All of the ferrys had cafeterias that served good food.



This was one of our long days. We saw a number of humpback whales and dolphins. The whales were in the distance and never breached--all we saw were backs and tails. However, the dolphins swam alongside and seemed as though they were racing us. They appeared to be having a great time.

Sitka

Sitka National Historic Park has a number of totem poles situated on its main trail that borders the water.

Every carving on a totem is part of a story. It can be the symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual. Native Eskimo tradition provides that each individual is connected with nine different animals that will accompany each person through life, acting as guides along their journey.

The Marine Highway has few lighthouses along its length. There is no longer much need for lighthouses. The ones that are active are automated. Sitka is where Alaska changed hands from Russia to the US in 1867. It is also the home for the Alaska Raptor Center where injured raptors, from all over the state, are brought for treatment. We found this center most interesting.

Sitka

From Juneau, we sailed to Sitka. John scheduled all our sailings to be during daylight hours because we wanted to see the scenery along the way. This was our first view of Sitka. All of the towns along the marine highway have quaint harbors.

Sitka is a fisherman's village.

We had heard of snow caves but never seen one. This is a small one that occurred after the snow had piled up during the winter, and the small waterfall had flowed through the snow bank and left this cave.

Juneau

Today was a walking day. Our first stop was at Alaska's State Capitol. From the picture you can see that it doesn't look like capitol buildings we are used to--there is no rounded top. Another surprise was the fact that there were no metal detectors to pass through. A young girl gave us a tour, and we even went to the floor where the governor's office was located. Of course, he (this was after Sarah had resigned) wasn't in Juneau at the time; but we understand that had he been there it would have made no difference.


This count-down clock is above the entrance to the governor's office. Sarah had it installed when she began her four years. It shows how much time is left for the term of office. We had heard about this clock before we arrived in Juneau and wondered what it was like.


This is the governor's mansion. There is no fence around it, nor any visible security. We could have walked right up to the front door.

Juneau

We spent the night at a RV site on the harbor. In the morning a lady came by and told us to go down to the waterfront because two adult seals were on a log along with two babies. However, a boat went by about that time. So when we reached the bank, only one adult was on the log; and the young seals were in the water.

Before we left Avon Park we discovered that our friends, Bob and Kathi Foll and Hannah Eppel, were going to be on an Alaskan cruise and would be in Juneau one of the days we would be there. So we made plans to meet them and take them out to Mendenhall Glacier.

Juneau

It was raining when we woke up today, so we decided to do some grocery shopping. When we came out of the Fred Meyer store, the sun was shining. Since it was pretty, we decided to ride the tramway to the top of Mt. Roberts. This is downtown Juneau. We walked one of the trails at the top of the mountain before going down..

Juneau, Alaska

Today was our 52nd wedding anniversary; and we were in Juneau, the capitol of Alaska. This area of Alaska is considered a rain forest. It averages 220 days of rain per year, with 90 inches of annual rainfall and melted snow downtown. It was not a very pretty day, with light rain all day long. There is a road that extends 40 miles north from downtown Juneau, so we decided to drive to the end. Not many people live along the road, but it is a scenic drive. We had read about the Shrine of St. Therese, and we passed it's sign going out. On the way back Carol asked John to stop, even though it was raining. He decided to stay in the motorhome, so she wandered out on her own. There were some buildings on the mainland. A causeway led out to a very small island. She was so surprised to find this chapel nestled among the trees. It reminded her of a Thomas Kincade painting. When she got back to the mainland, she followed a trail to the Columbarium Gardens, a beautiful garden where there were vaults for burying those who had died. None of this was visible where John had to park, and he did get a little concerned when she was gone so long.

Alaska Marine Highway, Haines to Juneau

After we posted yesterday's blog, we drove out to Chilkoot Lake State Park. It wasn't long before we saw the first bear fishing for his dinner. We saw a total of four at various spots along the river that flows out of the lake and another crossing the road in the camping area. This morning we got up early, hoping to see more bears before we had to board the Alaska marine ferry that would take us to Juneau. We were rewarded with two sightings. One bear was acting crazy, according to the park "host." It appeared to be swimming down middle of the river. Of course, we do not know how deep the water was. The bear in the picture caught the largest fish we have seen a bear catch and took it up on the bank to enjoy his breakfast.

This is a picture of the Malaspina, a 499-passenger/88-vehicle ferry. It even had cabins, but we didn't need to rent one because the trip only lasted 4 1/2 hours. A National Park Service worker gave a couple lectures in one of the passenger lounges. Movies were shown in another location. The water was calm, but it continued to rain throughout the trip. The rains we have been having have been gentle rains--no wind or lightning.

Haines, AK

This is another rainy day. Will it ever stop? At least it is a soft rain. You don't get as wet as fast. We are doing the laundry today and then going out to the state park where we saw the bear yesterday. We will spend the night there, as it is near to the ferry terminal; and there is road construction between town and the terminal. There could be long delays in the morning, and we need to be at the terminal by 8:00 AM.

Haines, AK

The Chilkat Valley is famous for its eagles. Each November as many as 3,500 bald eagles gather in the valley, the largest congregation in the world. They come here for the salmon run. During the three days we have been here, we have only seen two.


This is a fish wheel, and it has three "baskets." It is powered by the flow of water. This one is being used by state wildlife officers to catch and tag fish that are swimming upstream to spawn, so they can track them.

A fish has been tagged and is being thrown back into the river.



This video shows how the wheel works. We saw it catch three fish before we got the cameras ready. Of course, once we were ready no fish were caught. The fish are picked up and then slide down one side or the other and are funneled into a box under water where they stay until the men come to tag and release them. This was taken through the windshield. The diagonal bubble you will see is from the rain.

This bear was fishing in the Chilkoot River. It passed within 25 feet of the front of our motorhome.

Driving out to Chilkoot River we passed this massive group of ducks swimming in the cove, and this is only part of them. Our first sighting of them was a long, wide, dark line. Carol said she thought it was birds, but John had a hard time believing the mass was birds--thought it was trash. When we got them in our camera sight, we could see it was a species of duck. Perhaps they had gathered here for a flight south.


Along the highway north of town someone had decorated this tree. This is the second tree we have seen . This one had artificial flowers on it. The other one contained Christmas ornaments, but we weren't able to stop for a picture. /...Looks as if the farmer and his wife are scaring the birds away 24 hours a day.

Haines, AK

Rain, rain go away nothing going on today.

Haines Highway

Today we drove from north of Haines Junction, Yukon Territory to Haines, Alaska.


Ahead of us on the highway we saw a wolf cross the road and start up the bank. When it saw us, it recrossed the highway and disappeared into some trees.

Along the way there were many ponds and four of them had Trumpeter Swans. We were thrilled to find this pair with four signets. We wondered if the others had lost their babies to predators. These young birds will soon be as large as their parents and ready to fly south.


It wasn't often we found a spectacular mountain with such a nice, green valley to complete the picture.

This display of antlers was in the yard of an outfitter's cabin in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory.

Alaska Highway, Yukon

This monument indicates the division between Alaska, USA and the Yukon, Canada. If you look closely at the tip of the monument, you can see a small cleared area. This is actually a 10-to 15-foot wide area that goes on for miles, marking the division between the two countries.

This is one of the pictures Carol took through the windshield. She thought the cloud formations were so beautiful.

We thought this shot was unusual--one head, two bodies.

Bet the gold seekers of the past would have gotten richer faster had they had this pan!

Drove to Tok, Alaska

The fireweed plant has lost it's beautiful blossoms. Earlier in our blog, August 4, we showed a field of fireweed. This plant predicts the coming of winter. The blossoms start at the bottom of the stalk and the ones below drop off as the flowers continue to open. When all the blossoms are gone, there are red spires left. The last stage is when the spires burst open and a fluff appears, similar to what happens to dandelions after they bloom. The seeds are contained in the fluff. When all this has transpired, winter is not far away; and we have begun our journey south. Hope to be home the middle of October.
Along the way we passed glaciers and many beautiful mountains. It was cloudy and overcast all day, so many of our pictures are not as pretty as we would like. We have posted pictures of mountains with snow on them, but there are pretty mountains that do not have snow on them.

Mat-Su Valley

A few folks have asked us if we have seen Sarah yet. We tried, but this is the closest we could get. She lives behind all those trees. That is her plane.

John liked this view, and it is even more special because of the old boat that was left high and dry there a number of years ago. We were told it has been the subject of many pictures. In fact, the Mat-Su Valley's visitor's guide contains a similar picture.

Carol can't seem to get her fill of sled dogs. This one had beautiful blue eyes. They would have given the puppy to her, but Florida is not a good place for huskies.

We visited a couple John meet on a web site for Navion/View motorhomes, and they took us to a "poor man's" sled-dog kennel.


Palmer and Wasilla are part of the Mat-Su Valley. The glacial soil and long hours of sunlight consistently produce world-class vegetables. The Alaska State Fair is held near Palmer, and two years ago we attended and were able to see huge cabbages and other unusually large veggies.

Wasilla

Carol's laptop computer malfunctioned, so we spent the day shopping for a new one. Ended up going back to Anchorage, 35 miles away, to shop. John was able to purchase an external USB hard drive enclosure kit that enabled him to take the hard drive out of the laptop, install it in the enclosure and recover her pictures. We ended up buying an Acer Aspire One netbook. It is about 1/2 the size of a normal laptop. The size is more convenient in the motorhome. The only things we can see that are negative about it are the smaller screen and keyboard.

Wasilla Church

This is the Wasilla Seventh-day Adventist Church. We attended Sabbath school and church, plus we enjoyed their fellowship dinner. Our motivation for picking this church was to get some pictures for Carol's sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Jim Leeper. In 1995 Judy coordinated a mission trip for the Roseville, CA church, where they were members. Wasilla was in the process of building this new church. The Roseville pastor's brother was treasurer of the Alaska Conference so this was suggested as a mission project. Judy remembers they helped "wrap" the church, install windows and work on the roof.

Big Bear RV Park, Wasilla

It was raining, and we needed to do the laundry; so we decided to take the day off and stay put. The Big Bear RV Park has one of the nicest laundry facilities we have found. We have done our laundry there twice this summer.

From Anchorage to Wasilla

At the Eagle River Nature Center, north of Anchorage, we strolled a path that led to a stream where sockeye salmon (also called red salmon) were spawning.

These beautiful red berries are in abundance right now. We can't find them in our wildflower book that also contains berry plants, so we don't know if they are edible.
John calls these the three mushrooms--p0ppa, momma and baby.

Prince William Sound

This sea lion seems to be the "king of the mountain." We think he must be telling the "lazy bones" that it is time to wake up. These are just a few that we saw on our cruise in Prince William Sound out of Whittier.

John says this little seal is "sun bathing" on an iceburg.

This was a train tunnel that has been converted into a train/auto tunnel. Carol wanted John to stop so she could get a picture. He said he didn't think a picture would turn out but did stop, even though he didn't think he should. Later he saw a sign stating no stopping was allowed. When he stopped strobe lights started flashing, and when he proceeded they stopped. Nothing was said when we reached the end.

Alyeska Resort at Girdwood, south of Anchorage, has a tram to the top of a mountain.

Some of the flowers at the Alyeska Resort.

Barrow Continued

This is the humble home of our Eskimo guide. We did not go inside, but he told us he has a TV and a microwave oven. The truck with big tires belongs to the tour company.
This is an example of what we saw all over town. They have no way of disposing of their large junk. It seemed that every residence had at least one snow machine and a four-wheeler. We even saw a Lexus automobile and a Cadillac Escalade.
Many of the natives live on what they call subsistance, meaning they live off the land. This family had recently been caribou hunting. The meat is outside drying. They only kill what they need and also share with their family and neighbors. They especially take care of the "elders," who can no longer hunt.
This picture shows seal meat drying.
When a family member dies, the whole family helps dig the grave. They were using a portable air compressor and jackhammer.

A lady from Florida saw a TV program that showed students playing football on a gravel field. She decided they needed something better and raised funds for artificial turf. She came to Barrow for the dedication of this beautiful field.
The children have very nice equipment at their playgrounds, but the surface isn't too great because grass does not grow. It is a fine gravel. We saw a number of children wearing shorts, and it was like winter to us .
We were shocked to find Lake Placid, Florida listed on their milepost, along with many large cities around the world. Maybe someone moved here from Lake Placid!
Our return flight was on a 19-passenger Beachcraft 1900D.