Hangin’ in Haines

It was cloudy and kind of chilly here today in Haines, AK, but at least it didn’t rain too much. I snapped a few pictures from right in front of our motorhome first thing this morning (including the panoramic one, above). The sites are very close together, but the view of the ocean, etc. makes up for the lack of space.

A little later in the morning, we got on our bikes and pedaled four miles along the coast road to the ferry. It was a pretty good workout as there were a few steep hills and we had a head-wind coming back. I had reserved our ferry back in June, and all we had to do today was get the physical tickets issued. Should have been simple but it took the fellow half an hour to get a glitch sorted out. So, it’s a good thing we did it today when we had lots of time, rather than waiting until we arrived to board Friday morning.

We saw several bald eagles along the way, but weren’t able to get any good pictures. I took some other nice ones, though. The red seaweed makes an interesting colour-contrast.

This is the last hill leading down to town. The white buildings in the picture belong to Fort Seward, the first American permanent army post in Alaska. It was built in 1902, at least partially in response to the ongoing border dispute between the U.S. and Canada. Canada claimed this little strip of coastline between the ocean and B.C. (the inside passage) but an international tribunal found in favour of the U.S. and southeast Alaska remains part of the U.S. The Fort was decommissioned in 1947 and today it is home to a number of hotels, restaurants and art galleries.

We had a real treat today when Sharon and Don Del Rosario dropped by for a visit. I have been following Sharon’s blog (http://shadonrv.blogspot.com/) since before we left home as they headed to Alaska in May, a month before we did. Sharon has been a wealth of information and we have been exchanging information as we go. We’ve been close and probably passed each other on the highway once or twice, and today we got to meet in person! We had a really nice visit in our motorhome and they are picking us up tomorrow evening to go check out the bears at Chilkoot Lake. Apparently there are several feeding there.

Mid-afternoon, when I was biking with the dogs, I noticed the clouds had lifted and I was able to see the mountains and glaciers which surround Haines.

The other thing that caught my eye when I was out taking pictures of the mountains was the crows. Noisy things woke us up this morning! Here are several gathered on a piece of driftwood on the beach in front of the motorhome.

Late in the afternoon, we pedaled over to Fort Seward to have a look at the historic properties and shops. You can really get a feel for what a grand location it was. Most of the buildings, today, are either private residences or small businesses. These houses are in Soapsuds Alley, where the NCO’s lived. Their wives would do laundry for the officers, throwing the water out on the street to drain down to the harbour, thus the name.

Behind Fran in this picture, is the parade grounds and the homes of the officers.

The larger building in this picture was the hospital for the Fort. It is used to house Alaskan artists today.

We had an early supper at an excellent restaurant called ‘Fireweed’. It is obviously a local favourite with lots of people standing around waiting for tables by 6:00 p.m. I had trouble making a choice as so many dishes looked appealing but decided on a flatiron steak salad. It was very good. Fran really enjoyed his pizza, too.

A couple we had met last night at the crab feast joined us, due to the shortage of tables. They used to be the camp hosts at the park we are staying at but now live in a house just up the hill. We had a good visit with them and after supper, Ruth took us for a drive. We went up Mount Riley which is across the cove and from there had a great view of the town, the cruise ship, etc. She gave us a nice tour of the area.