Thursday July 24, 2014 Haines, Alaska

Bella

We had time to sleep in today.  The forecast was for rain, but it didn't rain until evening.  After we got up we had plenty of time for our coffee.  At 10:30 we all met at the American Bald Eagle  ­­­­­­­­­­Foundation. https://www.facebook.com/AmericanBaldEagleFoundation  There were taxidermy displays of almost every kind of animal that I have ever seen.  We saw a demonstration by a Bald Eagle named Bella. Bella had been rescued after colliding with a power line.  A college student gave us a great deal of information on bald eagles.  The eagle was a little skittish of her because they hadn’t worked together very long.  Bella wouldn’t perch on the curators arm but would get close enough to pick up treats laid out for her.  We also were given a presentation on Red Tail Hawks and there were a couple of owls available to observe.

We drove to the Haines Packing Company To watch fish being processes.  The line crew was cleaning up in preparation to go to lunch.  We looked around the gift shop and the office where fish and other seafood products were sold.  We bought two large Salmon filets.  They were frozen so we took them back to the coach and put them in our freezer.  http://www.hainespacking.com/

Above Chilkoot Lake

After that we drove out of town past the Ferry terminal for the Alaskan Marine Highway.   I found one geocache near the ferry terminal. We drove on along the Chilkoot River to Chilkoot Lake.     At several points along the river people were fishing, both bait casting and fly fishing out in the river.  There were segments of the road with bear warnings and signs were posted no stopping or standing.  We stopped at one point and ask if they were catching anything.  The answer was no, not today.

Fishers on the Chilkoot River

Gerri at Big Al's

We ate a late lunch.  We stopped at Big Al’s Salmon Shack and bought fish and chips.  We took the meal back to the coach because Big Al’s only had outside seating at two picnic tables.  Big Al’s was only a trailer parked by the highway which serves seafood items to go.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Als-Salmon-Shack/117911284961222

At five the group gathered for a snack social.  It was threatening rain at this point but it held off during the social and the briefing for Friday’s travel.  Tomorrow we catch the ferry to Skagway which is 18 miles north of Haines by sea.  It is over 360 miles by road.  The briefing of the ferry boarding rules and requirements was very complicated.

Since it was cold and threatening rain I opted not to put anything away outside.  We didn’t have to be at the ferry until 11 AM and besides that we both wanted to shower before traveling in the AM because we expected to only have electricity at the RV Park in Skagway.

We caught up on computer stuff and went to bed by 11.