Happy 4th of July from Haines Alaska. Yep....we’re still in Haines and it is fast approaching midnight yet again. We were originally scheduled to leave here today by ferry to Skagway at 4:15 but as I mentioned yesterday in my post...it was a gift in disguise that our ferry departure would be delayed for a couple of hours as that meant we were able to say “yes” to the opportunity to go with Lynda’s friend Scott on his guided tour this morning.
What a morning it was! We were up and down the road to the scheduled meeting place by 8 a.m. and the sun was already shining brightly down on us. It was easy to see it was going to be a glorious day. Scott and his team of guides arrived at about the same time so now we could really begin to get excited! :-). Scott’s smiling face greeted us with directions to which bus we’d be boarding and we were off to get settled into our bus.
The other 46 people on the bus with us this morning were all off the Holland America cruise ship that had docked in the middle of the night. It was cool to be the only ones among us that had driven in to this pretty little town. Rustin was our driver and Scott narrated the drive to our launching site over the bus’s microphone. What a character he is! So knowledgeable and personable with a great sense of humour. Within minutes of our departure he had the whole bus laughing and ready for adventure. We drove back out the same road we’d come in on the day before for about 30 minutes before arriving at our launching site. By the time our bus arrived the rest of the guides had our boats all ready and waiting for us. There were six rafts (zodiac type) that we were assigned to and of course Lynda and I were assigned to Scott’s boat. All the guides were great but Scott was the best and so we were happy to be able to spend this extra time with him!
We floated down the Chilkat River for about an hour with bald eagles soaring overhead and perched high in the trees on the lookout for the salmon that are just beginning their run in this river. The river is higher than usual due to the extreme heat of the past few days and so our “float” was a little wavier than it sometimes is. Wahoo! :-). Part way along the trip all of the rafts pulled over onto a sandbar (gravel bar actually) to stretch our legs and look for neat rocks. The rocks here are so varied and beautiful we both just HAD to pick up one or two to bring home. We also learned that some of the rocks here have come all the way from Australia over the past millennia or so. We found limestone (compressed coral and sea creatures) and we found marble (compressed limestone) and we found granite and well....pretty much every kind of rock there is can be found in this natural Mecca. Scott’s PHD is in environment studies so he was able to give us so much information in lay terms that were so understandable and interesting. What a great trip!
From our boats we climbed back ashore in a native Tlingit village along the river where we enjoyed an amazing cultural introduction and performance. We learned about (and visited) their active smokehouse and learned about how they carved their massive cedar canoe using the traditional methods. We also visited the very impressive longhouse where we enjoyed a drumming, singing and dancing performance by community members. Afterward we went into the museum where we learned even more about the history and the life of these very interesting and tenacious people who have lived off this land for centuries.
To wrap up our adventure we went back to our bus with a sandwich in hand and a very happy heart from all that we had seen and done this beautiful and informative morning. By the time we drove back to our starting place in town it was 2 pm and we were both ready to head back to the RV. I could hardly wait to lay my head down for a little bit as I hadn’t had a great night but Lynda was up for a walk around the town so off she went while I took advantage of the bed I had neglected to make up this morning.
After a little rest I was up and ready for the shower I’d been waiting for all day. This RV park boasts “a glorious 6 minute shower” and they are telling the truth. This was my favourite shower from the entire 3 weeks! By the time I was finished in the shower Lynda was back from town and she was next in the shower line up so she got to experience this glorious 6 minutes too.
Clean and refreshed we were both ready to chow down on the crab dinner we’d made arrangements for the day prior. It was a pot luck for the people staying in the RV park and the host picked up crabs for each of us from a local fisherman. As pot lucks usually are....it was a feast fit for a king and we got plenty messy digging into our respective crab legs. Yummy!
In the end tonight the ferry didn’t arrive in Haines until 11:00 pm and they’ve told us it will be at least 12 midnight before we’re able to board. That means that we will make it. To Skagway BUT we won’t make it to the Canadian border before they close at midnight sooooo we will have to find a place to park for the night on the Skagway side and get into the border lineup first thing in the morning.
Looking forward to connecting with friends in Tagish tomorrow so until then....good night.....
L & L
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