7/29 Leaving Haines

Time to get going again, didn’t have anymore plans in Haines so thought we would get a start for Whitehorse. We did another loan of laundry and while it was drying we went and did some geo caching. Found 2 out of 3. The second one we went looking for was where the people are fishing while the bears come strolling through. We looked for a little bit but since it was in the woods Dave’s GPS wasn’t working too well on his phone. I forgot the umbrella so I didn’t want to run into any bears.

The 3rd spot had another travelling bug in it so we took it and will put it in somewhere in Canada. We didn’t get on the road until around 2:30pm then lost an hour once we crossed over into Canada, so now it was an hour later.

We pulled off on the side of the road at Mendenhall River Culvert. No services what so ever so will have to post this when we have internet access again.

We are going to try a board game called Sequence tonight. When Dave took it out it was still wrapped in paper and the card said “To Beth, from Don and Mary”. Let’s see my mom (Beth) died in 2002, and I don’t know when she received it from her friends. As you can see we have had this game for quite awhile. I won the 1st 2 games Dave won the next 2.

7/28 Southeast Fair Day in Haines

When we got up again this morning it was raining, bummer. Had a feeling it would stop and it did before the town’s parade or fair began. We forgot about the parade and was going to drive into town to go to another gift shop, still looking for 1 magnet, then to the bank to get some money. That’s when we saw the roads closed for the parade so we just parked and watched it. Boy, I thought ours in Cottonwood, AZ was small this was really small. They even opened it up for dogs and people walking with their babies in strollers. It was cute for a small town.

After the parade we made our stop at the bank, and then to the fair. I went to the gift shop and got what I wanted while the parade was going on and I didn’t miss a thing. We were told when you go to the fair “think hippie” and if we couldn’t walk through the whole thing in an hour there was something wrong with us. There were a few “tye dye” places and we could have walked the whole thing in an hour but we were walking slow.

The girl the day before where we got ice cream had told us to try the cheer leaders Fried Bread, which we did, no big deal. She also said they have fresh, good sushi and monster burrito stands. We saw all of them but after the fried bread, we shared, that was enough for a little while. As we walked around Dave asked if I wanted to go to the Logging Show and I sure. When we got there it was pretty full but there was another couple there that are staying at the RV Park and invited us to sit with them. The show was fun, it started with women throwing axes at a target, then it was the men’s turn. Then they had small log cutting, women’s and men’s. There was a relay race and saw bucking competitions. It was fun, what the heck, what else did we have to do.

After the show we went to get something to eat. Dave got the burrito and I got nacho’s, they were both good and very filling. After that I got my face painted, so the grand kids could see it on Facebook and laugh at Nana/Grandma. We then sat and listened to a couple bands, one band “The Swing Set” was really good, so many strange look people, “Hippie’s” got up and danced, most of them women and kids. I did watch a little earlier a dance group called “TAFY Stars Dance Team” which was young girls dancing and it reminded me of when Kim, our daughter” was young and in dance. Parents were out there filming away, Kim never did go to a State Fair through. Over all it was a fun day.

Tomorrow finish up the last of the laundry and pack up to get back on the road again.

7/27 Rainy Day Session in Haines

Got up this a.m. and it was raining away. Yesterday it was hot and sunny with no clouds so to wake up to rain was mine blowing. We just kicked back there was nothing we really wanted to do in the rain.

It stopped raining around 12:30pm so Dave went out and wiped down the RV, I did laundry and watched TV. He even vacuumed the jeep this afternoon. We didn’t go anywhere just hung around again.

Hopefully tomorrow it won’t be raining and we can go to the Fair, which opens up at 11:30am.

Looking forward to watching the opening ceremony at the Olympics tonight.

7/26 Relaxing Day in Haines

This was another do nothing day, really. We went to the visitors center and asked what we need to see, while we are here. Every place they mentioned we had already been to, so then they mentioned the Fair. There was the American Bald Eagle Foundation we hadn’t been to yet and they were having the bald eagle feeding at 10:30am. We got there 10 minutes early so had time to look around, very nice collection of the wild animals. Then we went to the eagle feeding, it’s an eagle they have there that has an injured wing and can’t fly anymore. It was given to them from Fairbanks and they do a feeding twice a day and give you information on bald eagles. We were surprised to find out the reason they are called Bald Eagles, since they have feathers. They were named by the Early Americans and it was originally the “Balde Eagle” which “Balde” meant “White”. The “e” got dropped at some point. Bald Eagle means “White Headed Eagle”.

After that we drove around to the only 2 hair cutting places, 1 was booked until next week, the other wanted $30 for a hair cut, so I guess we will wait. Back to the RV to kick back, play on the computer then take naps. The owner of the RV park came by and said they were going to have another crab feed tonight so we said “yes” we would join.

We walked into town to look at the gift shops and do a little grocery shopping. Dave got his Alaska hat, and I guess I waited too long because now I can’t find my Alaska magnet that has the Alaska shape with the names of a bunch of cities. You snooze you lose, should have gotten it when I saw it last. At first didn’t want one that had all the names but since I haven’t gotten a magnet from every town we have stopped at now I wanted one. Oh well.

While walking back to the RV we stopped at a place to get an ice cream waffle cone. Honest to goodness I have eaten more ice cream since being in Alaska then I have eaten in the last 5 years. Believe me I think I have had ice cream maybe, at the most 4 times but that is a lot more then what I eat at home. The girl that worked at the store and sold us the ice cream was going to start college in Fairbanks in the next month and was going to become a nurse, we had a nice chat with her while eating our ice cream.

The crab feed was really good again, not as many people that we had the last time because a lot of them came in late, while we were eating but still had enough food. Crab dinner for $6.00 a piece, can’t beat that.

Bald Eagle finally came back but no bears today. Tomorrow a geo cacheing day and more touring, Saturday is Fair day. Weather great all day, 1st time we haven’t seen 1 cloud in the sky.

7/25 Haines touring

As soon as we were leaving this morning it started raining. We drove out the the Bald Eagle Preserve but once there we read that they have over 3,500 eagles there in Fall and Winter. Guess what, we didn’t see any Bald Eagles, waste of a drive. We see more where we are camping.

We drove back into town then drove out to the cannery. Some guys had told Dave about the place. You can do a self guided tour of the cannery, which we did but the fishing boats were out so the only thing going on was some kids taking the shells off of  shrimp for Big Al’s food trailer in town. The rain had stopped and it turned hot and sunny, was sorry we were wearing long pants and long sleeves shirts now.

We then started driving out to the State Park, going towards some Geo Caches. One we found was at a art store/house and it was in an outdoor Benjou, which is Japanese for bathroom. The cache was hanging from the back of the mirror. We then drove to the State Park and went hiking looking for another cache. Once you got through the woods you came upon Rock Beach, would have never known it was there. We didn’t find the cache but what a beautiful site too see. We kept yelling as we were going through the woods to make sure we didn’t run into any bears.

We then drove back into town to True Value, Dave needed something for the RV then on to Big Al’s for lunch. The kids that were taking the shells off the shrimp said to try it out, it was pretty good. It was “OK” and affordable couldn’t really tell the difference between the salmon or the halibut. It is a cute little trailer and cruise ship passengers were there. Forgot to mention during the night a cruise ship parked out in the harbor.

We drove out again to where the guys were fishing but didn’t see any bears this time but we did find the Bald Eagles nest but didn’t see the babies. When we got back to the RV we saw everyone outside looking up the beach and they told us a Grizzly Bear and cub had just run back up the beach. Darn, we missed it.

Dave then cleaned the lower half of the RV, and I relaxed after putting the laundry away. Later in the afternoon the grizzly showed up again, alone and was on the beach. This isn’t good for us, a grizzle showing up 2x’s in one afternoon. Nice to see but as long as it stays at the beach part we are OK but if it should come up the hill, where we are, that is not good. A small RV near us has young kids and a dog so when they got back I did warn them, so they don’t let the kids run around on their own.

After dinner, of Halibut that we caught, we walked outside and I looked over the edge of the cliff, where we are staying and the grizzly bear was back. I yelled to everyone and they all came out with their camera’s. Was really something to see, the bear ran up the beach, stood up and was smelling the air, poor thing is hungry. Back 3 times in one afternoon is not good. When it left this time the owner of the RV Park said it had broken into the restaurants trash and asked us to please put all of our BBQ’s and trash away tonight. The bear will keep coming back if it finds things to eat.

No fire tonight, just sat and talked to a couple until around 10pm then it was time to go in. The mosquitoes were coming out because it got so warm today, but it was still so light outside. Oh well, close the shades and call it a night in an hour or two.

7/24 Touring around Haines

After breakfast and showers we decided we were going to stay a week here in Haines. At this RV Park if you pay for 6 nights you get the 7th free, sounded good to us. We have been moving so much that we both feel we need some down time. Come this Thursday, 7/26, their Southeast State Fair starts and we wanted to go see that.

We drove out to Chilkoot Lake where the fishermen stand in the water and fish Salmon. We drove around the camp sites, way too small for us. On the way out we stopped to see the fishermen and when we did one guy came out and said the grizzly bear was coming this way. Dave got some great shots of the bear walking along the lake. When the bear came back onto the road I took off running, which what your not suppose to do, and hid behind a truck. Pretty neat to see, just like seeing the grizzly yesterday. But this one was closer.

After driving around town we came back to the RV and relaxed. Read books and just took it easy. Need the down time, I can’t even begin to tell you why, just been moving too fast.

This evening the RV Park had a crab fest for everyone and you had to bring a dish to pass, plus $6.00 per person, cheapest meal we have had. What a great dinner, crab was great and what everyone brought was great, along with dessert. After dinner a lot of us went to the fire pit and made a nice fire and sat and talked, was a really nice night.

4 cruise ships went by and now it is almost 11pm and it is starting to get dark. If it starts getting dark at night time that means it is time to leave Alaska, winter is coming. After talking to some people tonight I think we have decided not to go to Skagway, next Monday, and just drive out of here. If we take the ferry to Skagway then we have to pay for another night of camping, and we have already been to Skagway in 2003 so why go again.

Will be here till Monday, so still have time to decide. Will update later on what we decide to do.

7/23 Haines Bound

The road the rest of the way through Canada was great, even the construction sites were flat. Never saw much while driving. We came upon a camper pulled over on the road and stopped to check to see if they were “OK”. Which they were, but they were sitting there watching a Grizzly bear laying down in the field. As we were driving past them I saw it so we pulled over too. I got out of the RV and wanted to get pictures but Dave had a fit and made me get back into the RV and he took pictures from there. The bear was laying down so didn’t get any good pictures.

When we got back into Alaska the road got a little rougher but over all not a bad ride. We are staying at Oceanside RV Park which is right on the water front, perfect view.

I watched the boats come and go then later that night the owner of the park came and knocked on our door to invite us over for a pit fire. Just about everyone from the camp site came out and we all sat around the fire pit and visited with each other. It was a nice evening.

Tomorrow night the owners are putting on a crab feed, which we are suppose to bring a dish to pass, should be fun.