More fun on the way home

Last time we posted we were in Tok, AK, planning our travels home. Since then we have come a long way south and are finally saying goodbye to Alaska for 2007.

From Tok we traveled to Haines Alaska where we traveled through a bald eagle sanctuary. Unfortunately, there were only a few eagles around in September. There are thousands in late October and November. Seems there is one last salmon run near Haines and all the eagles get together for a fishy Thanksgiving dinner.



Juvenile Eagle near Haines, AK

Next we returned to Whitehorse and caught a couple of sights we missed the first time through. See Tom steer the riverboat SS Klondike (not really - it's permanently dry docked and serving as a museum). We also visited Muktuk Kennels where we got to pet 2 week old husky puppies and pet the other dogs, both young and old. Sally's favorite was Panda - he took a liking to me too.

Tom "steering" the SS Klondike


Sally in her Panda shirt petting Panda the sled dog

Next stop was Skagway - the 17th busiest port in the world. All the Alaska cruise ships stop here and the place was much more crowded than anywhere else we've been (except the Walmart in Fairbanks). We toured the historic district that was built during gold rush days in the early 1900's. The National Park Service offered a fantastic free tour of the historic area.

Tom just had to add to his garter collection, so we toured the "cribs" above the Red Onion Saloon.


Then south down the Cassiar Highway to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. Hyder officially has a population of 80 people and many more bears, we suspect. The Forest Service has built a boardwalk with very high rails so that people can safely watch brown bears and grizzlies catch salmon on Fish Creek right out of town. We saw two male black bears and a momma with a first year cub. We also saw one very large grizzly. They just ignore the people snapping pictures and go straight for the fish!


Black bear searching for a good fishing hole

Grizzly eying dinner

And enjoying the catch

Hyder is quite far south - we have driven south of fall for the time being. It's also the last place in Alaska that we'll be able to visit this time. We sorry to say goodbye and plan to come back as soon as we can.

Next, on to southern BC and Vancouver before returning to the US.

Keep checking on our progress! See you soon.