Dancin' Through Sitka

Thursday, June 9th

Morning at the Alaska Raptor Center where we were able to feel how light bird bones really are in comparison to mammal bones. Interesting fact: full size eagles are around 11 lbs.--surprisingly light for how massive they are!We found more than just raptors on a walking loop near the raptor center:Anyone might be awed by the extravagance in nature, but to find the same wonder in the small things, even and especially amid the grand--that is a rare talent. --Nancy Lord, Green Alaska: Dreams from the Far Coast

Sitka is a mother lode of Native arts and crafts.We appreciate and love to support Native arts and culture, so we went and watched the Tlingit dancers.
{yes, I had paddle envy. bad. paddles half that size cost $400.}Jessa and Emeline got out there and danced the raven dance with them during their performance (with my prodding); Kate was suddenly very shy.

I spent the evening blogging while the girls slept...this blog thing takes too much time!!...but I am doing it for my dear husband and a few extra special friends. I hope ya'll appreciate it.

Grandma's Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom (aka grandma!). Today grandma got to call all the shots about what we did in Sitka, and Dad and Brett even got to come with us!

Harry's 1950's style soda shop was an extra special treat!the girls got chocolate milkshakes and I had my first banana split in years.

Later, on the way home, we got to stop and check out "Whale Park" {there were three whales each of the girls claimed as 'theirs'. Jessa demonstrates how effortless it is for a cowgirl to ride whales}
{kate running hard, stops for a breather}{the many stairs of Whale Park lead us to a cool spot to time-out and tidepool}
{i heart tidepooling}
{Emeline 'poses' on the back of 'her' whale}

Then we came home and baked grandma a birthday cake with the mmmmm so good frosting.

Silver Bay Sights

We arrived in Sika and dropped anchor in Silver Bay late last night. It is the latter part of my vacation, and work time for the guys.

Tuesday, June 7th: We tied up here at Silver Bay Seafoods and spent the morning working to unload all the cargo we had transported from Ballard. They loaded a fish sorting table onto the back deck. With mom, the girls and I spent the afternoon driving around Sitka, getting our bearings and deciding what we should spend our time doing while we are here.

In the evening, Brett and I went out on the skiff to a nearby hatchery to see if any king salmon were biting. There were some interesting sights..tons of eagles, including two brutally battling in a nearby tree
just playing around, Brett reeled in a few of these little guys that got thrown back,

...and what to my wondering eyes should appear....
...a wakeboarder!
In a different sort of way, I found this to be one of the most interesting things I have seen this trip. It just leaves me with so many questions reeling through my mind.

Baranof Hot Springs

I fell asleep before we dropped anchor last night, and in the morning (June 6th) I awoke to a gorgeous bay with the most beautiful raging waterfall. Of course we loaded up the backpack and went to check it out.

Right on the harbor there were 3 free public tub houses.{kate tests the temperature of the water in one of the tub houses}
Grandma stayed to try it out while we decided to hike "above the waterfall". We made it all the way up to Baranof Lake! I was so proud of both of my girls! Kate is a hiking machine and loves long distance, but in the past Jessa has tuckered her legs out before completing the hike. I was so proud of Jessa making it all the way by herself this time! {there was some pretty steep terrain and the girls climbed it all and helped each other out}
{Jessa splashes around at Baranof Lake}{and teaching E how it is done}

After making it all the way to the lake, we started hiking back and took the side trail that goes to the hot spring swimming pool right on the edge of the waterfall!!{hiking to the swimming hole, Kate will lead the whole way if I let her}AHH..where ARE our swimsuits??? It is summertime afterall! :)
{it just doesn't get better than this!!!}

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. --John Muir, Steep Trails

As we hiked back, I realized that since it was just us girls, there were no pictures of myself and Emeline hiking along. Kate took this picture...her first one with my camera!

Right at the end of the hike, we met grandpa hiking up. Grandma had sent him because she was worried we were going to get eaten by a bear or something!... silly grandma, she worries a lot!

Kake Anyone?

...why yes! Don't mind if I do!
Welcome to Kake (pronounced cake), Alaska!The Debbie Sue anchored near Kake. Kake produced my favorite seascapes of the entire trip. It was breathtakingly gorgeous.
Uncle Brett being silly makes the girls crack up as they pose near the tallest totem pole. Really, I think this is the tallest totem pole in the world. It was TALLLLL!
The girls had a great time playing with new friends, cousins Tevin and Lily whom they met when we went to church. Tevin and Lily called me "auntie" and their family said it sure didn't take me long to become part of the family! Kake is a community made up mostly of native Tlingit Indians. Tevin and Lily are Tlingit with some Navajo (their grandma is Navajo).

Shrimpin' Explorin' n Fishin'

We set the shrimp pots for the first time this trip today (June 3). Unfortunately, this was the last time we ever saw this particular shrimp pot:bummer!

We took the skiff out and did some neat exploring though (before we realized the shrimp pots were lost). We discovered a crabber's stash of crab pots, lots of really cool rocks, what may or may not be real gold, and saw our fair share of seals and some sort of weasel. {everyone loves a good seashell beach!}As evening came, we decided to try putting some of that herring to work as bait. For as long as I tried, I would get hard hits but all my bait would be stolen. Eventually, after we had given up and left the lines to 'soak' on their own for quite some time, Brett was pulling them in to go to bed, and to our pleasant surprise, we had a fish! It was a pacific cod, which we were happy about because they are good eating, and we had never caught one before!{the girls are checking to see if any school of herring are nearby}{the baby thinks she is hot stuff getting to fish all by herself, while Jessa cringes in fear that she is going to lose her fishing pole in the process}
I fileted the cod out and we had fish-n-chips with shrimp for lunch the next day. Yummy!...we even fried the fries!
{the girls with the catch: a pacific cod}
{my favorite shot of the day}

Shrimp anyone?In an answer to prayer, we were able to recover ONE of the shrimp pots, and in it 23 spot shrimp (which are technically prawns).
{this is my best shrimp face...I think my eyes need to pop out a bit more}

Frederick Sound

Lots of ocean mammal sightings today! (Friday, June 3)
Started with dall porpoises first thing
and continued with whales and more porpoise throughout the entire day!

Wildness is a kind of silence, and silence is wild.

Departing Petersburg

Some of the gorgeous views as we departed Petersburg and started through Frederick SoundOne of the glaciers we passed
Yet another Alaskan sunset

Our day in Petersburg

Welcome to beautiful Petersburg, Alaska:
We had the most amazing time in Petersburg last year going out to LaConte Glacier, getting billions of pictures of baby seals, learning about the different kinds of fishing, eating breakfast with the famous George Brett, touring fish canneries, etc. etc., so this year we decided to spend a more low-key local day in Petersburg. Oh, and also last year I promised my kids that "next time" we would go to the library because it is only open in the afternoons..
{Jessa calls to Raven}
Raven is Jessa's bird. She calls raven all the time, and is very aware of raven being nearby, not just here in Alaska, but at home as well. In my opinion, Jessa is much like raven, who in Tlingit stories is extremely intelligent and the notorious trickster.
Jessa put the sneak on Raven (look closely to see him on that branch) today after Emeline climbed amazing things at the Petersburg school playground. Jessa got really close before raven would hop to keep some distance. We hiked up the hill to the post office. Kate was very tired and rode in the stroller with Emeline, but Jessa sang songs and picked a beautiful array of flowers. We had our picnic lunch between two totem poles before making it to the promised library. Once again, the girls honed right in on the horses.Tried out all the puzzles, and Kate put on a rather impressive puppet show.
Our boat has been too big to stay tied up at any of the harbors, so we always have to take the skiff to shore:{Emeline's camera smile. She thinks she is hot stuff on grandma's lap}
Later in the evening the only thing we wanted to do was catch some herring to use as bait and finally catch some fish, fish fish. Well, after an hour or so, the only thing we had caught was this shot of an eagle, but then we got in the skiff and found a boat that WAS catching herring. The secret is to be where the fish are!....... at this point there is a lack of photos due to all the excitement of landing about 80 herring in the boat. Both Kate and Jessa had their own reels and were pulling in fish 3-6 at a time because there are 6 hooks on each of the poles. They had so much fun and Jessa said she was not going to be able to sleep that night because it was so exciting. It was the most fun so far! Catching fish is just so, so EXCITING! As exciting as it was, you can imagine we all slept just fine after such a full day!
{here is the next picture on my camera after the eagle....Kate and Jessa working hard to put up their catch}.