Travel Blog

Sorry, no time for blogging anymore. Wii rewarded a hard’s season’s work by buying a Nintendo Wii. I’ve never been much for video games, but I must say I’ve been having a heck of a time with this thing. Wii may never go outside again. So if the RV’s rockin’, don’t bother knockin’; wii’re wii-ing.

And I’m just kidding about the no blogging thing. Phil’s moms will be here soon, so wii’ll have plenty to write about. I just hope you all with stay with us through another year in Skagway. That’s right. Wii’re repeating once again. But third time’s the limit. Wii promise. And there’s still the sugar beet blogs to look forward to.

First, a bit of business. I was talking to my mom the other day, and she verified that our family knew two helicopter pilots back when I was little (both died in helicopter crashes), so my memory of a promised helicopter ride that I mentioned a couple blogs ago could actually be real. She tried to leave a comment for all to see, but for some reason it didn’t work for her. So ya’ll will just have to take my word for it.
I teased you with some bear pictures last time, and the teasing continues. I didn’t get a chance to re-size all the bear pictures yet, but I do have some fish and seal pictures to share.
Phil and I had been hearing about the gigantic King Salmon that made it to Skagway this year. I guess this happens only once every few years, so last year we missed out. So last Sunday, Phil and I went downtown to see what all the fuss was about. But first we decided to go to Dyea to check out all the salmon there, with the hopes of seeing the grizzes fishing for them.
We didn’t see any bears, but we did see a bunch of salmon, and this:


Salmon caviar, anyone? I don’t know what the story is with that pile of fish eggs. A fisherman friend of ours thinks maybe someone was gutting one there and left the pile on the rock. I buy that.
Downtown in the creek, we saw a bunch of monster salmon, and we were just in time to watch someone who had just caught a King carrying it in both arms. I was too shy to ask him to take his picture, but I sure wish I would have. It was huge! And the pictures I took of them in the creek don’t do them justice. I won’t be so shy next time.







After the creek, we headed down to the docks because we had heard it’s pretty fun to watch the seals fishing for the salmon down there. There’s an outtake pipe that leads from the creek to the ocean, and all the salmon have to jump up that to get to the creeks where they want to be. The only problem for them is that the seals know all about it, and work in tandem. One seal swims into the pipe and scares all the salmon out where the other seal is waiting. Poor fish just can’t catch a freaking break, can they?






We think the seals had already eaten as many fish as they could that day because while we were watching, they were just scaring them and playing. It was fun to watch. We’ll have to go back and see them in real hunt mode.

So tomorrow at lunch, I’ll re-size the rest of the pictures that were taken the next day on our way home from work. I’ll tease you again with this one…


Sorry about that; I’m mean.

Another bit of news is that my brother, Pete, and his girlfriend, Emmie, were in Skagway this past Saturday. That was fun. We knew they were coming, but didn’t have the specific date, so it was a nice surprise to hear a familiar drawl at work that day. Since Phil and I were working, we let Pete and Emmie take our truck to Dyea and around. Then they met up with us after work and we caught up over Spruce Tip beer. I really enjoyed their visit, and I hope they had fun too. I’m looking forward to a visit at their place in North Carolina sometime soon.

I don’t have time for a real blog right now, but here’s a taste of what’s to come…