Trip to Alaska - Day 3 - Haines

Haines

We have arrived back in Juneau, tonight, Friday, August 17.

I'll try and post in order our trip, one a day.

Sunday, August 12

As is typical on extended cruises,

sometimes they opt to cruise at night 

so that we don't miss anything scenic during the day.

The ship sailed away from Juneau, leaving

at 3 pm, but when we woke up on Sunday morning,

we were in Haines!

Since they offered, I decided to have breakfast delivered

to my room to enjoy that balcony.

My Mom and George ate in the dining room.

It was a bit cloudy, but not chilly, 59°.

I wanted something light,

so ordered a bagel, fruit, and coffee.

Just perfect!

From that vantage point I was able to see the dock,

and some local birds.

At 9 am we started off on our first excursion.

A bus picked us up for a tour of Haines,

and the Valley of the Eagles.

We walked to the end of the dock,

and they gave Mom a ride on a golf cart :-)

It was definitely low tide!

There is a 'Welcome to Haines' sign in shells,

hard to read..

The tour guide told us all about Haines,

how they love to hate the tourist cruise season.

But as we got out of town to the Chilkat river,

boy oh boy!

We saw this guy working on a fish..

..and this one tending her nest..

We saw so many eagles!

Along the river is a weir used in the salmon run.

The Alaska fish & wildlife count salmon to aid

in the under or over population.

Guess who else likes weirs?

This teen aged bear thinks it's easy pickins!

The river is just beautiful as well..

It was a bit overcast again, no rain, high 50's..

The bears didn't seem to be too concerned about all the onlookers,

but we were all cautious anyway.

Pretty soon another one came out of the trees..

It was time to move on to another area.

A local woman who has a house on the river

has made a special place for onlookers.

We had a great vantage point to see another bear!

and..another eagle..

Soon it was time to go back to the ship.
We had a great view of it on the way back.

Haines seems to be the stereotypical Alaskan fishing village.

We had one more stop before re-boarding the ship.
Our first view of a totem pole!

They took us to the American Bald Eagle Foundation.
It has a great museum of native animals,
and rescued bald eagles.

They've raised these two female eagles for years.
One of them only has one leg,
the other one is missing a wing.

It was a very interesting museum.

Finally we got back to the ship,
boarded, and got ready for lunch!

Just a taste of our next day..
sailing to Skagway!