What a Beautiful Day!!

Today is Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. When living in a tourist town that does not mean we have a three-day weekend. What we did have was a Sunday with only 500 people coming in on a cruise ship so many of the shops were closed. Most importantly, Bill and I had the day off together. He went out to breakfast while I kept going back to sleep. After a little studio cleaning, a nice lunch and a little gardening the sun came out and all clouds in the sky disappeared. Time to take the top off the Jeep and head to Dyea.


The tide was out and we watched herons and eagles near the water and then drove across the Taiya River. Dyea and Taiya are just different spellings of the same word meaning "pack it up". We crossed the bridge on the Taiya at the base of the Chilkoot Trail which the Tlingets had been using long before the gold rush. (The Tlingets were "packing up" fish to trade for caribou with the Tagish. Chilkoot means "basket full of fish.") Today we headed out West Creek towards the California Glacier. With the roof off we could hear the birds chirping and singing. For a while Bill was concerned the springs on the Jeep were squeaking. Nope, just the birds.





We passed our friend, Heidi with her horse trailer and two horses and saw signs she'd been enjoying a nice afternoon riding. She said she'd take me out riding one day--cool! For such a gorgeous day with little happening in town we were surprised to see so few people out there. Maybe there was a little recovering necessary after the beer festival in Haines yesterday.


Here's a sighting of civilization:



We finished our day with a drop by at Jeff and PJ's (from Payson) and admired their gardens, had fresh greens and fruit for dinner, and finished the day with our routine walk to the harbor!

It's a good life.

We Struck Gold...in a way

We've been going for walks each night after dinner and tonight we decided to go up to our organic store, You Say Tomato, to find out if they carry shiratake noodles or could order them for us. They'll let us know about ordering them. While we were there we saw the Produce Club orders bagged and waiting for people to come in and pick up their fresh produce. Our young friend, Andrea came in while we were there and didn't really need her bag of produce so we bought hers and signed up for a bag on June 7. Ooh...very cool. This is what we received. (blurry here but not in person!)


Fuji apples, Avocado, Mandarian, Murcott, Mango, Garlic, Corn, Cucumber, Mushroom, Green Pepper, Swiss Chard, Yellow squash, Red Leaf lettuce.

On Sunday Bill and I went for a drive (yes, I did some quilting on Saturday). I hadn't seen any bears yet and the ice is beginning to melt and the trees are beginning to leaf out and things change so quickly I didn't want to miss seeing ice and bare trees. We saw a weasel, three bears, numerous goats and sheep, an eagle, some ptarmigan, three porcupines and a lot of Canadians returning home after celebrating Victoria Day(s) in Skagway. Here are some great pictures--the colors in the ice were spectacular. This is a picture of Bove Island. I've taken lots and lots of pictures of this island. It's always interesting.








The grass is coming up quickly. It's a good thing because he's eating it quickly.


Above picture is taken from the bridge in Carcross. Yes, that's ice floating in the river. We walked down the boat launch to look at it closer. Brr...that's cold water. Doesn't Bill look comfortable since he's wearing three shirts? He wasn't--it was cold.

The Spell of the Yukon

The Spell of the Yukon
by Robert W. Service
(abridged version)

I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy-I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it-
Came out with a fortune last fall-
Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn't all.

Nol There's the land. (Have you seen it?)
It's the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it,
Some say it's a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there's some as would trade it
For no land on earth-and I'm one.

There's a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still,
There's a land-oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back-and I will.

There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;
It's luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder,
It's the forests where silence has lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace.

I've been asked from time-to-time by passengers if I know any Robert Service. So I learned these verses from this poem. The whole thing is too long for me. But these verses resonate with me, so I learned them. Now I am trying to re-learn them for this year.

Peggie suggested that I share some of the fascinating gold rush info from time to time. So I will.

Three plus one equals $forty.

New math?
Quantum math?
Erroneous math?

Nope. Things here are returning to normal. Three bears and a moose with two passengers in the vehicle begets a $40 dollar tip. That is just one more of the reasons I love Skagway.

And now I can quit obsessing about bears. I am up to seven, a good number so I will stop reporting every sighting.

Today is "Be a tourist for a day." day. Locals and seasonals get great deals on various services, so we are again taking a half price helicopter ride. Then we will get our season membership at Jewell Gardens and enjoy free entry all summer.

Of course, a day off isn't all peaches and cream. Peggie is cleaning the apartment, I cleaned and now have to wash the jeep, and we will finish planting our garden. (lettuce) That, and some serious relaxation and it is amazing how fast the time goes.

Number Two!

This is NOT a post about my bathroom habits. Why would you even think that?

I had to go to Whitehorse again for bus repairs. Ironically, Dave was returning to Skagway with a repaired bus, when a large truck tossed a rock through the driver door window. So, back again the next day for the window, and it is my turn. I saw bear number two for the year. But it was a porcupine kind of day. Five of the sticky boogers.
Today, I got to go to Carcross and got the best ever bear sighting! Unfortunately, my duties controlling the bus prevented me from getting any video. Two barely not-cubs were wrestling like puppies by the road. We got to watch until one of the big busses released his air brakes. The psssst scared the bears into the woods likety split. But it was still cool to watch and, of course, the passengers loved it.

Wile E. is that you?

No run today. So unscheduled half day off.
What to do? Go to Dyea, of course.
Watching the seals and scoping for whatever (bears?) and what do I see? A lone coyote on the hunt. I see coyotes at home all the time. But here? He did not want to see me. As I approached, in the jeep, not on foot, he loped away. It was an unusual sighting, and I would have liked it better if he was a wolf, but you get what you get.
The seals are fun. They get up in the fresh water part of the river and slap their tales before they dive. I guess that groups the fish better or something.

Finally! First of this year!

You know what I'm talkin' about.
So I have to get philosophical.
Last year I counted 103 bear sightings. The year before I didn't count, but it must have been about the same. So why is another bear sighting so important and exciting after more than 200?
One way to look at it is: I lived twenty years with no bear sightings. Then saw one. I lived another forty years with no bear sightings. Then saw a hundred or more. Then saw another hundred. So, really, that is barely more than three per year. Not too many.
Or, in terms my family will understand: How many times have you had rocky road pie? Is that too many? Or, is it just as good the next time, and don't you wish it was more often?
Today's bear is the one others have been seeing. I know this because of location and description. One of the things about having hundreds of sightings is the ability to identify individuals. I didn't name this one. Okay, I just did. As I was writing this, the end of the last sentence was going to be "because he didn't have any distinguishing marks." But he did have a distinguishing behavior. He was scrating himself on trees and bushes. So how about Itchy? By the way, a bear scratching on trees and bushes is a really good bear sighting for the passengers. Seeing any behavior other than standing or walking is better.
So as more dandelions sprout and more snow melts and more bears become active, I get to have more fun. Oh, and seeing this bear reminded me of a rule of the road. "If you see something that might be a bear, it isn't; because when you see something that is a bear, there is no doubt."