Haines, the day trip.

See the Haines, Alaska 6-6-09 Photo Album for more photos.

On Saturday, the 6th of June, we made a day trip to Haines. It is 15 miles over water on the Lynn Canal. The Lynn Canal is really a fjord that extends 100 miles south from Skagway. To drive to Haines you have to go 359 miles around on the Alaska Highway. When you see the pictures of the mountains, you can see why nobody ever put a road in. Even the power line (electricity generated in Skagway goes to Haines)is laid under the water rather than an overland line. They have a Fast Ferry which doesn't carry vehicles and makes the trip in 45 minutes. We went with Janie and Roger and rented a car over there because it is much more spread out than Skagway.
Haines is not a cruise ship port, so most tourists arrive in RV's or on the regular ferry. Fishing is still a big industry there. Artists of all types have settled there to work undisturbed. As I mentioned, it is not pedestrian friendly. The town is on a penninsula. South of town are residences and a state park that leaves a lot of wilderness undisturbed. North of town is a state park on a lake. Salmon return to the lake in mid-summer, creating a fishing frenzy on the short river to the ocean. Bald eagles and grizzlies also come for the great fishing. Fort William H. Seward (sec of state who purchased Alaska)was built in 1902 as a show of force as we settled the border with Canada. They wanted to align the border to give them access to ocean at Skagway and Haines. And all these years I thought the U.S.-Canada border was a friendly one. Almost all the old buildings have been converted to modern uses. One of the enlisted barracks burned down. The other is awaiting someone with a lot of money to restore it. The fort was decommissioned in 1947. During the war, the soldiers were moved to Anchorage and Haines was left with just a small caretaker detachment. Skagway had a lot of soldiers to work on the Alcan highway, so the area was not abandoned completely. We really liked the area around Haines. Several glaciers feed the inlets on both sides. The waterfalls and water on the way over are pretty, too. We will have to go back to see the museums and art galleries in town.

Peggie's additions: You can tell from the photo album that I really liked the flowers. What a great variety. It's hard to believe that there is so much green growth especially since it all looked so different here just six weeks ago. Roger and Janie had been to Haines in 2004 during the salmon fishing frenzy and they said it was very crowded. We all enjoyed the quiet beauty--okay, the beauty shouted but there weren't a lot of people to get in the way. We ordered fish and chips at a restaurant by the harbor. The combination platter is usually halibut and snapper but they were out of snapper so they substituted salmon. Can you believe it? They apologized!! We weren't disappointed in the least! It was unfortunate that on Saturday the only ferry times were 1:30 to Haines and 7:00 to Skagway. We would have enjoyed more time there. On the way back to Skagway we were standing on the deck feeling the ocean breeze (okay-WIND) and Roger said, "This is the Alaska I wanted to see!" It was a GREAT day.