Prince of Wales

On our trip down to Prince of Wales Island our ferry stopped in Kake for about an hour. We were able to hop off the boat and take a walk into town.

Pulling up to the dock in Kake

the Taku

Kake's ferry terminal.

Another stop along our way was Petersburg. A beautiful fishing town of Norwegian decent. I love their boat harbors. Not sure what it is, but looks like housing of some sort.

After 2 nights and 1 day on the ferry we arrived in Ketchikan. From there we took a float plane out to the island. This was Jason's first time flying on floats which was pretty exciting.

Our plane was completely loaded down with mail, we were the only passengers. As the pilot was giving us our run down he was kind enough to point out that the safety equipment was in the rear of the plane so in case of emergency the mail would have to be unloaded first!

We were able to do a bit of touring and hiking and stopped by Eagle's Nest Campground

...hiked the boardwalk around Balls lake....

and stopped by our old fishing hole on the Klawock River.....

Klawock

In the distance you can see the fish cannery, which was the first one to be built in AK.

Alecia Roberts Medical Center where Jason spent his days.

A view of the school from Totem Park Hill

...and more totems...

We enjoyed dinner with some good friends who have a gorgeous home and lawn!

the evening sun...at about 10:30pm

We spent one evening on Big Salt Inlet picking beach asparagus.

There was an adorable black bear rummage on the opposite bank which made us a little leery,

but a beautiful view,

and awesome beach asparagus made the risk of attack totally worth it!

a small portion of our harvest....mmm....

This sweet bald eagle posed very nicely for Jason

We borrowed keys to the school and wandered through my old classrooms. I was not surprised to find that Beth and Rob's names still adorn quite a few plaques on the walls.

We did, however, discover that playing is not a easy as it used to be!

On our last night Jason had the great idea to eat at B and T Cafe. This was known as Dave's diner years ago, but other than the name, nothing has changed. They still cook out of the old bus attached to the building, the floor slants a little more, and the lights are a little dimmer, but the burgers are as good as ever! The waitress even offered us a few kittens that are currently living "back on the bus." Health Department anyone?!?!

Ah hah! I have found working internet! Unfortunately I'm using Jason's laptop which doesn't have any pictures from our trip...I will try to get those soon. Visiting Prince of Wales Island was great; it was fun to see old friends and show Jason around. We're looking forward to the 4th and hopefully some better weather!

Haines

Our internet service is very unpredictable so I'm trying to get this typed up as quickly as possible. We are leaving tomorrow evening for our trip to Prince of Wales Island. We will arrive in Ketchikan on Sunday morning, as our ferry is making ALL the stops along the way...Sitka, Kake, Petersburg, Wrangell. From Ketchikan we will take a float plane out to the island.

On the ferry ride to Haines, I saw two Humpback whales breaching (jumping completely out of the water) but failed to grab my camera in time. So if you look closely in the next two photos you can see the whale coming partially out of the water.

There was a nice little bench down by the harbor where I spent a fair amount of time reading. I enjoyed listening to the local fisherman gripe about salmon prices, road construction, the economy...you name it

Jason's favorite spot for lunch; The Top Frog

We had a balcony off our hotel room with an awesome view of Lynn Canal

Home Sweet Home

We are home from our weeklong trip to Haines. Jason saw a lot of interesting cases in the clinic and I just relaxed, relaxed and relaxed some more! I do have a few pictures that I will share soon.

We moved our trailor down a few lots in the RV park and are very impressed with our new spot.

This is it for now, but I do have one parting question....

Which fish is bigger???

Fish 1:

or fish 2:

This was the best of our fishing luck. Not exactly sure what kind of fish they are but I can tell you they are ugly!! For the most part I did the catching and John did the releasing...come on, they have spikes!...like I'm going to touch that! :)

The Great Outdoors

John and I had taken our bikes out for a ride around Juneau, and one of the ladies in our RV Park recommended a bike trail leading to Herbert Glacier. We decided to check it out and it was definitely worth the effort. We were a little worried about bears, as we were the only people for miles, but thanks to John's lovely singing didn't even see any tracks.

Our first view of Herbert Glacier. We left our bikes shortly after this and hiked the rest of the way.

The water was over the trail, which called for some minor fording.

The water was cold!!

Herbert Glacier

We made it!

We're preparing John for life in the real world. So far he has mastered brats, hamburgers, and chicken...it's kinda nice to have a cook!

Friday night there was a band playing in the park downtown and stores stayed open late for the locals, so we headed down to check it out.

We stopped in at the Red Dog Saloon for clam chowder and halibut....amazing...

On Saturday we bought fishing licenses and decided to try our luck out on some King Salmon. Considering the rod hours for Kings is currently around 70 we weren't expecting much.

After about 10 casts and 20 minutes of untangling line I decided that the red chair was the perfect suntanning location...John is much better at untangling than me.

Jason casting away....

....and John did eventually get to cast as well. He informed me that neither Jason nor him had and hang ups when they went out that evening without me......

Jason left for Haines today, and I will join him on Tuesday night and stay until Saturday. John and I still have a day left on our fishing licenses so we are heading to Douglas Island in the morning...I can already taste the salmon...

Juneau

The sun is shining down on another beautiful day here in paradise. Today is our 5th straight day of temperatures in the upper 70s. We couldn't beg for better weather. John and I have been spending the majority of our days exploring, however today called for an intense all day cribbage tournament.

Jason has been working hard at SEARHC and enjoying it very much. He does have a few trips planned to Haines, Klawock, and Hoonah where he will help run week-long rural eye clinics. The clinic pays his travel and lodging which makes it a lot easier for me to go along.

We enjoyed having Kari over for dinner before convention.

although it doesn't look like much at this point, I promise this fire was quite the rager...

Brian and John got into town Monday before convention, so I took them around to see a few of the sites. I love all the icebergs at the Mendenhall glacier.

We were very surprised to find that a large majority of Juneau's beaches have sand. This particular beach was called "Sandy Beach." It was a drizzly day, so we had the whole thing to ourselves.

After convention we had some kids over for a bonfire and stopped off at Montana Creek for another view of Mendenhall.

Before dropping Brian off at the airport we headed out to Eagle Beach for some frisbee. Gorgeous.