Haines, Alaska, July 3-July 5, 2011

This trip we were on the M/V Malaspina.  I saw a whale breeching!!! Too bad it wasn’t close enough for my camera. It was fantastic! We saw other whales but they were just swimming along taking breaths and blowing. They were all around us. I kept looking down into the water to see if one was there looking up at me.
We did go through some rain and ended up seeing a full double rainbow. Everyone was scrambling to get a pic….the whole thing would not fit into the viewfinder of the camera. Had to settle on bits. A man out on the deck took my pic and I took his with the rainbow in the background. It was so cool seeing the rainbow ends literally submerge themselves into the water. I will probably never see anything so amazing again.
We arrived in Haines about 9 PM and drove directly to the campground. Haines is beautiful driving into the town from the ferry. Small town at the foot of mountains. Magnificent! We ate red beans and rice at about 10 at night and did not go to sleep until midnight or after. It was still light!
Happy 4th of July! We woke up on the 4th and had a full day planned. We drove first to Chilkoot Lake. We spoke to State Trooper who was getting in a boat to check bear bait sites around the lake. Bear hunting is allowed by permit and hunter put out bait. They should have all been cleaned up by now and that’s why they were checking. We also met two ladies from Mississippi. They were traveling together through The Yukon and parts of Alaska. One lady had done it every summer for years and wanted to bring her friend. There is also a fish “dam” set up across the Chilkoot Lake and it is worked by a man who counts salmon going upstream. We stopped and talked to him for a while. He explained what he did and how the salmon run over the years. It’s fun to meet people like that. There were a couple of people actually wading into the water to fish. The area is famous for bear but we did not see any.
We headed back into town for the 4th celebration. We made it in time to watch the parade and then went to the park for the party. People were everywhere! They had games, food, book sale for the library and other things like a nail driving contest (they were using railroad spikes). We didn’t see the pie eating contest. We did buy lunch for $3.00 each…hot dog, chips and drink. It was all delicious. We sat at a picnic table with a couple originally from Colorado. They came to Haines on a tour about 8 years ago and ended up buying a house and moving there. They do have children in Anchorage but I’d understand why even if they didn’t have that reason. Haines is so small and quaint. Very laidback feel to it. After our conversation we went and bought some pie, sat down in the grass and enjoyed!
We left there and toured around the area and went back to the rig for a little rest. We ate some dinner and then headed to Ft. Seward for the music. We sat down on the grass and listened to the music and watched the people for a couple of hours. It was in the most beautiful setting….mountains all around. We finally got cold and tired and decided to go back home. It was a most perfect 4th of July in the most perfect setting. We leave tomorrow and head inland towards Fairbanks. We will stop in Destruction Bay for the night and go on again the next day. We have reservations at Cottonwood RV Park on Kluane Lake. Praying for good weather.