Jane and Roger returned from their Prince William Sound tour yesterday when it was cloudy and rainy. They said they could hardly see a thing. We were supposed to go today but cancelled since the weather was the same as yesterday. Didn't do much. We went to the museum and to Safeway to stock up. Tomorrow we'll start our journey to Haines.
July 26 - The first leg of our journey to Haines takes us to Tok.
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| We stopped outside Valdez for a picture of Horsetail Falls. |
Got to Tok around 4:00 pm and stayed at the same campground we'd stayed at before, Tok RV. They have entertainment in the evening - music and stories. Very enjoyable again.
July 27 - The next leg of our journey took us to the Congdon Creek Campground just outside Burwash Landing. As it was before, about 110 miles of this leg is a very challenging section of road with lots of frost heaves and construction. Last time we stayed at a commercial campground near here but this is a really nice provincial campground (Yukon). It is on Kluane Lake which is huge and beautiful.
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| Fireweed that is everywhere. They say when the blossoms reach the top of the spike winter is here. |
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| From our camper door |
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| Trumpeter Swans |
July 28 - We arrived in Haines and are at the Hitchup RV Park. This is a really nice park with wide grassy spaces. Jane and Roger chose to stay at the Chilkat State Campground that is about 9 miles out of town. There isn't much to the town but the ferries for Skagway and Juneau leave from here.
They have two grocery stores - an IGA grocery with really high prices (Royal cherries were $10.99 a pound; 2% milk, and gas, is $5.39 a gallon) and an independent store where prices seemed a little better. Of course, everything has to be shipped in. One thing I've found up here is that the fruit like peaches, plums etc. that are hard as a rock when we buy them at home are soft and juicy here - thanks to the long journey getting here I guess.
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| Hitchup RV - Our camper on the right. |
Haines was the setting for the 1991 Disney movie "White Fang" and last winter's "Gold Rush Alaska" on the Discovery Channel was filmed here. Each November up to 3,500 bald eagles gather in the Chilkat Valley, the largest congregation in the world.
July 29 - Today we drove out to see where Jane and Roger are camped. It's a beautiful road along the river which then splits - one channel going to Skagway, the other ending in a lake. While we were out there we saw a sow and two of her cubs feeding near a fish weir. Today is the first day of the Southeast Alaska State Fair. We'll be going tomorrow.
After they played here awhile they walked down the bank and I got these closeups.
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| Mama |
July 30 - About noon today we walked to the Fair. It's only about 2 blocks from our campground. They had entertainment, typical "Alaska" events, food, etc. The Fiddle Contest had some really good players. In the axe throwing event they threw the axe at a bullseye target and if they hit it exactly in the middle they won $50. Other events included log cutting and carving. There were men's events and women's events. It was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70s. The movie set, Dalton City, for "White Fang" is on the fair grounds and now has some small shops, a bar - even a masseuse.
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| This guy was the only winner of the $50. |
July 31 - We're getting very good at "do nothing" days. Today was one of those. We drove around to look at the town and that's about it. We've also been watching the ridiculous carrying-on of Congress. It appears they think the American people are absolute idiots.
This evening Gary wanted to go fishing. I decided to just bear watch. I'm just fascinated watching them. We were both successful.
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| Gary caught several red salmon but didn't keep any. Next time we'll keep some. |
Meanwhile, a small distance away --
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One Mama bear and her 3 cubs showed up.  |
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What's over there? |
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| Let's go fishing! |
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| Where did they go? (After the triplets and Mom went into the woods.) |
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