Travel Blog

Sue:

So I tried to take a video clip of hummingbirds yesterday, and I must say it didn't work out too well. My footage was shakier than The Blair Witch Project. Plus it didn't help that one hummingbird wouldn't let any of the others drink from my feeders. I read that hummingbirds could get territorial, and the thing I was reading suggested having a feeder in the front AND back yard, so I have two. But this little bugger wants them both, I guess. Two females were trying to work together: one gal would distract the male while the other tried to get a drink, and then they'd switch, but that red-throated male was too fast for them. What a little jerk. But I guess that's just how it is with Skagway hummingbirds.

Sue:

It's my first time trying to put movie clips up, so I hope this works for everyone. The two clips are not mine, however. They were taken by our friends, Jerry and Jeanie Harlin. We do have a video camera now, thanks to my mommy's birthday money, so if this works out, we'll have more to share in the future.

Momma Bear and three baby bears:

Dandelion Bear:

Sue:

As a pug owner, I found this deliciously funny:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/dog_breeders_issue_massive_recall

Luckily we have the 2004 and 2005 models.

Sue:

Just some interesting (well, interesting to me) things seen around Skagway...

Not the best shoes to wear in Skagway:

Normal family vacation:

Sue:

We're alive! Sorry if I scared you. We had a nice hike up AB Mountain. The hike takes you from 0 to 5,000 feet. We made it to around 3,600 feet and we had had enough. But we did ok.

Phil at the start:



Woodsy surroundings:



Group shot (Jerry, Nick and me):



Skagway from above:





Not much new to report right now, but stay tuned...

Sue:

Before we get to all bears all the time, I just wanted to let ya'll know that it's been unbearably warm here in Skagway for the past few days. We've been getting temperatures well up into the 80s. I've seen more tourists in tank tops than I ever needed to see. I'm putting in a request for a tube-top uniform.

But enough about me, let's see some bears. Our friends Jerry and Jeanie saw the mom and trio baby bears the other day, and were generous enough to let me take those pictures to show you since Phil and I haven't been able to get any good pictures of them yet. (They also have a really funny movie clip of them that I wanted to try out here, but the video file is not working on my computer, so you'll just have to wait for that one.) I made a couple of their pictures into the big ones at the top of the page, but kept this one for the blog:



But wait, there's more! Phil and I were crashed on our respective butt receptacles after work last evening when we got a text message from Sherry saying she just saw a grizzie in Dyea. So Phil and I jumped up and raced off to Dyea to see if we could see him too. We met up with Sherry on the way out, and she told us where she last saw him. We went to where we thought she said, but we didn't see any bears, so we decided to drive out on the Dyea flats to see what was going on there. We still didn't have any bear luck, so we decided to try out our 4-wheel-drive and bumped and squeezed our way off the beaten path...and there he was.

We stayed and watched him for a long while, and wished we had ordered the camcorder we have on our Amazon.com Wishlist (we have since ordered said camera), but then the lighting got really bad so we packed it in and left him in peace. And on our way home, we got this great shot of the moon:



We're hiking a killer trail tomorrow with some pals of ours. It's called AB Mountain, and it takes all day. So you probably won't hear from me tomorrow, but that will give you plenty of time to enjoy the bear pics.

Sue:

Oh boy, oh boy, it's been a little while, hasn't it? We've been working hard, working out, and being social. Our pals Jerry and Jeanie arrived a few days ago, and it's been great having them back. We've not seen any more bears, but Jerry got some pictures he's going to share with me. I'll post them as soon as I get them. I also may be able to get hold of a picture of a crow attacking our General Manager. Jerry took that one too. I can't wait to see it. So I would write more interesting things, but there's not much going on. The weather is freaky, and I may melt later this week, so I'm not sure how much I'll be writing. My fingers may stick to the keyboard. It's supposed to get up to around mid-80s by Thursday. Yuck.