Mountain View Inn Haines

... mit Lauch Julienne. 25$, aber der Wahnsinn! Wie wir so ranzig überhaupt in des Restaurant reinkamen, ist uns immer noch ein Rätsel. Von da aus gings eben dann direkt wieder über Beaver Creek (Nachttemperatur im Auto: -3° C) nach Haines, also hierher. Die Natur is immer noch abartig, vor allem in Alaska sind eben die meisten Berge komplett weiß von Gletschern bedeckt. Vlt hilft ja die neue Regierung dabei, dieses eintönige Bild zu verändern. Pöbel, Pöbel. ;)
Also ...

... enjoy the view as we left Skagway. I saw two whales...sort of. It was basically two blows of water and air out of the sea. People said they saw whales over there so I assumed it was the same two whales. A nice couple from L.A. joined me in the area I was sitting so we had a nice chat.

The captain made an announcement that we will be experiencing gale force winds tonight and they are coming out of the Gulf of Alaska. They ...

... t"
Finally after maybe only a half hour delay, the quaint, antique conductor in his wool coveralls officially disconnects the incompatible poor Little Engine That Couldn't, and we uneventfully chug the miles and miles back to Skagway. The scenery is so unbelievable that we can barely smell the asbestos-like odor which is the one engines brakes cranked to the max to keep us from flying off into a crevasse! It was an amazing trip!

... the walls, and the handmade dining table and chairs signed by the artisan. The place is gorgeous and pristine and we cannot believe we happened upon it. The wrap-around front porch with hot tub...beautiful! Bald eagles squawked and zipped from tree to tree in the front yard. There is a computer available to us and this was where I sat to send out my first blog.
Barbara and Jim ...

... friends who want to live in Alaska.

We steamed on, ringed by forest, glaciers and snow-capped peaks. The water was crystal clear, unless it came down from the glaciers. Glacial melt contained silt dumped from the rivers that stream from the melting ice and looked muddy, unlike the characteristic blue tinge of the glaciers themselves. Arriving in Juneau from the ferry, we went straight to the Mendenhall Glacier, very close to Juneau and alive with foreign and domestic ...

... Then, we would fly back to Juneau and spend the night there. Thursday, we planned to fly to Sitka for a day trip, returning to our same motel in Juneau on Thursday evening. Last, we want to see the state capitol and other sites in Juneau on Friday, before flying back to Skagway Friday evening. All of the flights between Skagway, Juneau, and Gustavus are on Wings of Alaska. Juneau to Sitka is Alaska Airlines (on a ...

... ship "World" was docked here. It’s a condo ship that costs from 1.5 to 7 million depending on the size of the room. Wow!

Drove up the Haines Highway to Chilkat Valley Farm to pick strawberries; it closed at 2:00 so we didn’t get to pick. Surprised that the strawberries were so tiny. Looked for eagles in the Eagle Preserve; didn’t see any. No fish in the 2 fishwheels that ...

... a way past.

We arrived in Petersburg around 11am and found the visitor information office. Unfortunately the only campsite we could find online in Vancouver and had booked turned out to be a tiny patch of grass under a power line in a dodgy RV park so we spent as least time there as possible.

We took a drive on the Mitkoff Highway to Blind Narrows, a boardwalk across the muskeg (wet bog filled with low-lying plants) out to part of the river where rapids form. We saw lots of ...

Today we're stepping outside our comfort zone a little. I'm right at home in a canoe, but I've always been hesitant about kayaks; something about that rolling maneuver gives me the willies.It's like the difference between skateboarding and snowboarding; when you're connected to the equipment, it's a different game.
Dan from Alaska Backcountry Outfitters was going to have us novices paddle around on the local lake ...

... familiar with our place, but with a little digging, manages to download a map for us. In the process, she's surprised to discover that it's just around the bend from her place! We thank her, pick up a few brochures and a guide to the local hiking trails, and are returning to the car when I spot an unusual sight just up the street. It's like something out of my childhood, something that elsewhere would certainly have gone the way of the drive-in ...