We heard that the salmon are running up an unnamed creek in Dyea so when we got back from Haines, we went over there. It is like National Geographic television. They have these ugly beak mouths and humps on their backs and they swim in water so shallow that half their body is above water. Groups of (mostly young men) fishermen work to catch them. More than half of them are too far gone to be good eating, so they put those back. One of the fishermen told us that the day before a grizzly came fishing with them, but we didn't see that yesterday. When we were leaving we ran into Don and Karin coming out, so we took them over to the creek. It is a small creek and the fish are easy to see in it.
Haines was fun. We got to go into a museum of native artifacts. They had a display showing tribal distribution and language. The interior tribes' languages are in a group called Athabascan. Navajo and Apache are also in that group. The shocking thing is that all the languages are dying. Some have only a few speakers still living.
We also discovered artists' shops. Lots of great stuff, but we didn't need most of it. Oh, and a quilt store. Who'd have guessed it? And wild raspberries, ripe and ready to eat.
The boat ride is the best part anyway. I feel sorry for the people on cruise ships who have cabins without windows. But I've watched the ships leave port. About 10% of the people with balconies are out watching.
The newspaper came out. They had to kill a bear in town on the 11th. Then one of her cubs was found inside a house (he had already left his mother) where he had ransacked the kitchen. (See, Casey, our bear analogies were right on) He was moved to a river near Juneau. Hope he will be okay. He was the blonde cub I had seen near the Dyea road one day.
Haines was fun. We got to go into a museum of native artifacts. They had a display showing tribal distribution and language. The interior tribes' languages are in a group called Athabascan. Navajo and Apache are also in that group. The shocking thing is that all the languages are dying. Some have only a few speakers still living.
We also discovered artists' shops. Lots of great stuff, but we didn't need most of it. Oh, and a quilt store. Who'd have guessed it? And wild raspberries, ripe and ready to eat.
The boat ride is the best part anyway. I feel sorry for the people on cruise ships who have cabins without windows. But I've watched the ships leave port. About 10% of the people with balconies are out watching.
The newspaper came out. They had to kill a bear in town on the 11th. Then one of her cubs was found inside a house (he had already left his mother) where he had ransacked the kitchen. (See, Casey, our bear analogies were right on) He was moved to a river near Juneau. Hope he will be okay. He was the blonde cub I had seen near the Dyea road one day.
3 comments:
geez dad just stick your hand in and grab one! Salmon for dinner!
After reading your description we looked up salmon on our computer and decided those are pink salmon, or "humpies". They have humped backs during spawning season and beaky mouths. Ugly things!
You and your computer agree with local sources. The humpies are not good to eat because they are too near death. The females, though, are still good. There seems to be a lot of catch-and-release going on.
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