On Saturday morning the guys wanted to fish and I wanted to explore.
After eating a decent breakfast they dropped me off in the center of town on their way to a quiet fishing area a few blocks away, and down by the boat harbor.
This day, as it was the day before, was very warm and sunny.
I knew with complete certainty that it was going to be a very good day.
I wandered on foot down one road and took a few pictures of small buildings that were obviously involved in the tourist trade - signs for helicoptor rides, moose antlers hanging across the building fronts, dog sleds full of potted flowers, bear statues, all the usual suspects that tourists would be looking for and drawn to in their quest to soak up the atmosphere of Alaska......
This beautifully carved eagle was located outside one of these small tourist shacks..........
While walking through the Visitors Center I overheard a conversation between two people that I had to learn more about.
It turns out that the weekend that we were in Haines was also the same weekend that they were celebrating their 100th birthday as a city.
Today was Saturday, and on Sunday there was a big community celebration planned downtown.
A street dance, a bar-b-que, a potluck, pictures taken of all the residents.
It all sounded like huge fun, and for the first time since I had arrived in Haines decided that I wanted to definately plan one specific activity.
I wanted to help celebrate the towns' 100th birthday.....
One of the very few roads in this very small and beautiful town. Mountains - tall, jagged, many still snow-capped were visible everywhere....
Some tourists wandering (as I was) through town (some of them speaking foreign languages), but actually not a lot. At least not compared to the cruiseship tourists that I have become used to in Juneau who swarm into our town by the many thousands May through September.....
I was disappointed to see that this hammer museum was closed all weekend, because it looked like a very quaint and interesting place to visit.
The outside of the building was wonderful by itself though - a giant hammer, a way-cool bicycle fashioned entirely out of hammers, a trestle climbing the outside wall of the house also made out of a variety of old fashioned tools.
Somebody in this town is extremely creative.......
A downtown bakery......
The Lighthouse Restaurant is a nice enough place to eat, located down by the water and close to the boat harbor.
The first night we ate there the food was decent and so was the service.
The second night that we ate there we waited for 75 minutes for our dinner. And most of it was cold. And we decided that we will not go back if we ever make it back to Haines again.
The scenery from the window tables of the Lighthouse are amazingly beautiful though......
As it was in Juneau, as it was in Ketchikan, and sure enough as it was in Haines, I am inevitably drawn to the boats and the water.
The harbor in Haines is beautiful. But with water this deep, with sky this blue, with mountains this high, and with little unpretentious fishing boats resting in a secure and quiet cove, how could it not be beautiful??
Still wandering, and still enjoying myself immensely.
I spent a few minutes watching a young man and woman painting the bottom of their boat........
Eventually I wandered along the water far enough to come to the rest area where I knew that I would find my dog, my son and my Mountain Boy.
An old piece of machinery resting at the entrance to the rest area....
LC's messed up back and messed up knee stopped him from climbing down the rocks to the water with Chris to fish.
I found him and Jamie sitting in the shade........
I grabbed a couple of cokes and walked down to the water to talk to the kid.
He had been fishing in the same spot since he arrived, and after drinking a cold drink and throwing out the line a few more times we came up with a plan to drive the scenic Haines Highway up to the Canadian border.
And of course, the boy fished along the way.........
The scenery, as promised, was very beautiful.
And peaceful.
I live in Juneau and have found it difficult recently to feel at peace. This trip brought that back into my life this past weekend.....
The silty river we followed for our entire 45 mile or so trip to the border........
About half way back to town we stopped at an overlook to take some pictures......
Beautiful beautiful place........
A lovely cute carved bear......
While LC and I were taking pictures my son, as he is frequently apt to do, started talking up the young woman that was sitting at the picnic shelter.
After a few minutes he walked back to the truck and because I was getting hungry I told the boy we would be sticking around at the overlook for a short while so I could eat a sandwich.
And just like that and before we knew it we - me, my son, my guy, my dog, the young woman (who it turned out was not as young as Chris thought), and her teenage son - were all sitting and laughing and talking and sharing food with each other.
We contributed fixings for sandwiches and drinks. And this interesting, spacy, looney-tunes displaced Californian-lady and her overly serious curly haired son contributed some kind of tree-hugging, wind-chiming, dream-catching, granola-eating all-natural pie of some description.
I still don't know what it was but it tasted.....not horrible.
And it was all very relaxed and good natured and nice.
Eating a meal with complete strangers at an overlook half way between Haines and the Canadian border was just a very wonderful way to spend some time.........
A beautiful relaxed overlook........
Our final stop before arriving back in Haines was this place - yet one more fishing cove and one more section of beautiful river..........
By the time we arrived back in Haines it was late afternoon.
LC and Chris had done a bunch of fishing, I had done a bunch of exploring downtown, we had enjoyed a beautiful drive up to the border, and then spent a very wonderful time sharing lunch with two strange but fun and interesting people.
We dropped my Mountain Boy back at the campground, and Chris and I went for a drive out past the ferry terminal intending to explore some more and (of course) test out even more potential fishing spots.
We found much more than that.
The remainder of our first full day in Haines included fishing, picture taking, grizzly bears, beer, campfires and still more wonderful conversation with one more interesting stranger.
Another blog for another day............
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