Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

When we went out to Dyea on Saturday night to watch the salmon running we'd heard that a grizzly had been there the night before. The guys we talked with said they were fishing and the bear was fishing and there was plenty for everyone so....we went back out there last night. We'd had a bit of rain during the day and it was pretty humid. This is the view looking across the water to the creek area and the tidal flats. Farther down the road we crossed a bridge and turn off to head to the tidal flats. That's where we saw the salmon running before.

There were quite a few people by the creek and one or two guys fishing. Most were waiting for the bear(s) to appear. We didn't have to wait long before we heard the dogs getting agitated and moments later our bear appeared. It's incredible that we were close enough to hear him splashing through the water. Before long he caught a salmon and took it to the grassy area to eat. He did that four or five times. We think he was kind of young because he seemed a bit inexperienced in fishing.

This is the first video I took and one of the best. Our DSL service isn't very fast up here in the northland and it took about an hour to upload this short movie. I'll try to add some more in the days ahead.

Karin and I (the day laborers) were so tired today that we won't be going back out there tonight. Now THIS is when it would be best to go back into retirement!! But with 9800 people arriving on cruise ships tomorrow we have to be ready to serve.

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a great show!

After a nice birthday dinner at Northern Lights restaurant to celebrate Don's birthday, we all decided to drive out to Dyea and hunt bear. Well, look at this guy we found. The salmon are running and we've been hearing that brown bears have been showing up to feast on the salmon. The Dyea valley was really pretty because we've had rain today and there was a layer of fog on the river. There were quite a few people waiting for the bears to arrive and I'll show you more pictures and movies tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it was the greatest show on earth in our neck of the woods. Look at the fireweed behind the bear. Beautiful. We watched for a looooooooong time. Another bear showed up (I didn't see him) but I'd used up the memory on my camera and was just contented to watch through my binoculars. And, I forgot my feet hurt!

PRICELESS!

Here's Another One Of My Favorites!

Here's Your Sign!

I've seen a lot of signs while we've been up here but this is undoubtedly one of my favorites!!

Tune in later for another one of my favorites.

The salmon are running

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.

The day after

Turns out Dave (the boss) was wrong. It is in July that things begin to boil, eh?
Yesterday morning I was outside the office talking with a potential customer (the small office can get crowded with more than 4 people) when a woman who had been inside came out just huffing about I-knew-not-what obviously more than a little bit miffed. I went inside a few seconds later and Dave had a bewildered look on his face, so I asked what had set her off. Then she opened the door and berated Dave for not having any seats in the office and left again. She did not like having to get out of bed an hour before departure to handle the paperwork associated with her tour. Her tour that I would be driving in an hour! Oh, boy! About a half hour later she was back. Something about Herb might not get here in time, blah, blah, blah. I went out with her to settle her down a bit. Turns out she is a kindergarten teacher and yada, yada pretty soon we are old friends and she is just not having a good day. She enjoyed the tour, confessed to me that she'd had ice cream the night before, and her lactose intolerant digestive system was making her cranky. When I dropped her and the on-time Herb back at the ship, she said she would be over with some cash for me at the office, she didn't have any on her. I, of course, held my breath. Then I remembered that Dave was going to Whitehorse, wouldn't be in the office, and decided that my new friend probably wouldn't work all that hard to get me a tip. I ran into Dave at the gas station and he asked me if that lady had given me a tip. I explained about the cash situation and that I guessed I was out of luck since no one was in the office. He says, no, the guy came by with $20 and Dave was curious if it was an apology tip from the man or if it came from the woman. Today when I went in to the office there was the $20 with a note from Dave, "Tip for Bill from the man with Ms Grumpy." At $20 a head, bring on the grumpies.
Besides, we got to see a big bald eagle that flew alongside the bus for about 15 seconds, the first bear in about a week, and that same family of goats from which I got my hair-brained idea.
Moratorium, schmoritorium, tomorrow is our 39th anniversary and we are going to Haines on our day off.

Moratorium Day, please.

Don is not the only one ahead of his time. My boss, Dave, reminded us again last week that in August you have to start locking things up, and beware of our moods, that people get fed up, but we can't snap at customers, etc.
It is mid-July and it is easy to forget that what I am seeing for the umpteenth time is the first time for the tourists. When people order our tour on-line, it gives the time and duration of the tour on the confirmation we send out, the directions say to bring passports, and to check in an hour early. People still book the train, or some other tour with beginning/ending times that are the same. Yesterday I had a couple on my bus, tour from 10:30-4:30, who had train tickets at 4:30. You want to slap them. Another group came in just 30 minutes early without passports.
The other day a woman was asking about polar bears and penquins. It seems like one in five people think the Yukon Territory is in Alaska. But the biggie, the frustration of frustrations, is that people walk in the streets completely unaware of the vehicles. Some are aware, they just act like the right of way is theirs. Others don't look at all. Yesterday a man with earphones on was walking right down the middle of the street (sidewalks along both sides). I got some small satisfaction that he nearly jumped all the way to the sidewalk when he finally became aware of the bus. If the cell phone is the biggest danger to drivers (and it is) then the camera is the greatest danger to walkers. Once the eye goes to the screen or viewfinder, all else is nonexistant, time stands still until the perfect photo has been created. It is not August yet, and I already want a Moratorium Day. A day when running over stupid people is not only allowed, but celebrated. A day when I can say, "No polar bear has ever survived an encounter with a penguin in the wild." A day when you can point to the 48 hour cancellation policy and say, "I sure hope you can run to the ship for your passports and make it back in time for the tour, we can't wait for you or pick you up at the ship because all these other people shouldn't have to wait for you." Oh, and I want to catch people stacking rocks, knock them over and say, "What makes you think it is okay to disturb this pristine wilderness with your meaningless stack of rocks? Get back onto the road and go home."

Boy, that felt good. I can make it to August now. But I still have to make it through September.

Just a note for the prosecutor: this is all tongue-in-cheek. I did not run that idiot down on purpose, he/she walked in front of my bus talking on the phone and composing a photo.