Haines, Alaska

Good morning. On one of my final days (for this trip!) here I am working on what has become a routine on my visit here. I am sitting looking out Phyl and Doc's view over the valley, with my morning coffee and my blog.....The valley is full of fog with the sun shinning brightly on the tops of the mountain on the other side....beautiful....I also am making plans to start off for home...making reservations in Dease Lake and Stewart BC. I am headed off Monday morn for Whitehorse..have decided to take the long way around as the Campbell highway (or shall I say road) is a little to long and remote for this city girl.....and besides what's the rush???
If I stay an extra day in Stewart as planned, I will probably arrive home Sat. evg.....
But not wanting to leave behind any memories,, I shall tell you about Haines/Skagway....
This journal has been very helpful to record memories, its surprising when you are so busy what you can forget...
Haines, we found looked quite waterlogged like most parts of the world these days...The Chillkoot river never did come over the road, but at times I was very surprised.
The entrance to Haines is an eagle sanctuary, with the largest influx in Nov. feeding off the smelts and salmon in the river. The water is quite warm in the cold Alaska winters and that is what attracts the eagles.

I have to admit this is Phyl's photo (why didn't I think of that??) but as usual we are sharing ;-) It rained all of the first day we were there...Our motel room did not have a window view of the harbour, but did have a veranda surrounding the building but alas we were unable to make use of it due to the rain. So we compromised and drove from one end of the trail to the other and I found some beautiful rain forest campgrounds with no people in them!!!!!! I could not believe they were empty....we would so love that near Calgary, you have to drive a few miles to find that in our area.
Again I found myself fantasizing about having a small motor home and the ability to drop anchor and take advantage of the opportunities.....It was beautiful...The
green grass growing on the approaches
showed me no one else had been there for quite a while...peaceful There was one family with the kids racing about their lot it reminded me of yrs. ago camping with the kids on Vancouver island by Tofino. (remember the whale on the beach guys?)










At the western end of the trail there is a river strewn with large boulders, a popular fishing spot, hip waders up to their chins standing in waist deep swiftly running water and very successfully catching what I think was very large salmon...

Chilkoot Lake at the source of this river was
beautiful with the low clouds and windless
reflections. We found ourselves finding excuses to take a drive back out here to just enjoy.









This does not look real does it? Its going to be one of those photos that I will be able to use for my rocks or cards or framing. No skill in taking this photo I just had to stand there and drink it all in.













For the life of me, give me a boulder and a horizon and I cannot get the horizon straight...I must life life a little crooked ;-))))
I have tried to compensate, it never works!!!

The residents of this lovely spot in the world show they so appreciate their area by the art work, whimsical gardening etc. in front of their homes. One we came across was especially inventive.
What better use for old boats??












I have so many photos and so many stories...I may have to wrap up when I get home and organize, but I have one more morning here to tell you of the ferry ride from Haines-Juneau-Skagway. See you in the morning. ;-)