Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Trip to Skagway, Alaska

I felt the chicken coop project was far enough along and I needed a break, so I flew up to Skagway to visit Rod for the day.  I really don't like to fly (and I even work for the airline, go figure!) - but a couple of dramimine and I do okay.  Although I was a big groggy when I first arrive...  It was great to see him - he's been up there for three weeks now!  We had lunch, drove around downtown, went to the grocery store and the hardware store.  He showed me where he is staying and working.  We got to go on a drive out to Dyea which is where the Chilkoot Trail is.  It is a very pretty area and we will need to go back as we didn't have alot of time.  Here are some pictures from the trip...

Beautiful Hoonah Alaska

Last weekend we took a day trip over to Hoonah on a catamaran to see Icy Strait Point.  Even before we left the harbor, we saw a whale right there near the dock.  It came up and out of the water too!  It took about two hours to reach Icy Strait.  We got signed up for our tours.  Rod, Greg and Jordon siged up to ride the new ZipRider.  It is the longest in the world - 5800 ft long, speeds up to 60 mph, and I can't remember what the elevation drop is, but here is a picture looking up from the bottom.

I'm not quite into that stuff, so I took an alternate tour - a wilderness excursion.  We took a bus through the logging roads outside of Hoonah where Rod goes hunting sometimes, so that was neat to see what it looked like.  It is really pretty there, lots of the same trees and plants as we have here, but they also have cedar trees.  We had a guide that talked through the whole trip - she was just full of all sorts of stories and information.  I learned that you can make a salve out of devil's club roots that is good for chapped hands/lips and sore muscles.  You can buy some that is made by a local Hoonah woman.  I also learned that the brown bears we have around here are coastal brown bears, which are different than grizzly bears, which are different than Kodiak brown bears.  She said that the coastal brown bears are closely related to the polar bears...interesting.  We drove to a trail where we all got out and walked down to Spaskii River to see if we could see any bears.  It was a beautiful setting, but no luck seeing any bears.

Here's some more pics from the trip:

Rod, Jordon and me:

We got a new Camper!

Rod and I had a busy weekend.  We have been looking at a cab-over camper for Rod's truck for the past couple weeks and went Friday and bought it.  It was from a couple who had taken really good care of it.  It is a 1971 Bell - 11 1/2 feet.  I am so excited to use it for the first time! 

We spent Saturday doing Fall cleaning - in the pouring rain.  What a sight we must have been in our raingear doing our yard work - only in Juneau!  We moved some rocks and placed two raised boxes in the garden.  We filled with dirt and finished moving the rest of the dirt pile.  We put away the smoker and bbq.  Sunday we moved Rod's camp trailer and emptied everything we had stored there.  We had to get his truck ready to bring the camper home - took off the canopy and took out the bedliner.  We picked up the camper late that night.

It has the original cushions (with the great 70's patterned turned to the inside) in the dinette and the original appliances, etc. so it is definitely "retro" - or "groovy" as my dad said when he saw it.  Funny thing is that is the style that is coming back now - I went to Fred Meyer and bought some retro-style melamine plates and glasses that match perfectly!  We will probably just spend the night in it this weekend - Rod's truck needs the proper tie-downs before we take it on a trip. 

Here are some interior pictures.  This one is looking forward to the kitchen and queen size bed above.  I see Clover has found herself a spot!

The stove and teeny, tiny oven are just opposite of the sink shown above.  Can you see the gold fleck in the countertop?

This is the dinette looking toward the door in the rear of the camper.  The table folds down to a bed and the cupboard above folds down into another bed - that one is definitely for little people!

Our first trip will probably be just out the road to do some fishing and relaxing - just play cards and kick back for the weekend.  Rod wants to take it hunting over in Hoonah - just have to take the ferry.  As you may know, Juneau is "land-locked" - we are located on the mainland, but there are no roads out of here.  We have to take either a boat or a plane - makes our town unique!  It would be fun to go up to Skagway or Haines and get on the Alcan highway and see some of Canada.  Or drive down to Idaho and visit Rod's family.  Or just take a month off work and go wherever we want!

Great Holiday Weekend

Our quick vacation was packed with activity.  The concert was great - it was fun to see Terri and Jennifer who I haven't seen for years!  The concert was at White River Amphitheater outside of Seattle - we had seats up in the lawn behind all the seats, but had a pretty good view.  The place was PACKED!  Very exciting with so many people singing and cheering and just having fun.

Friday we flew to Portland where my brother picked us up and drove to Corvallis.  He and his wife Iris live there with their two Americauna chickens.  It was great to see the coop and run John had built.  Saturday we were on a mission for fruits and veggies.  We came home with somewhere around 200 lbs of produce.  Yea!  Corn, apples, pears and blackberries.  We picked blackberries for about an hour and got enough for a batch of jam.  
The corn took up the whole back of my brother's car!

We got back to Juneau on Sunday afternoon - that night Rod and I shucked all the corn, blanched and vacuum sealed for the freezer.  Yesterday I worked with the pears - made some pearsauce (like applesauce) and canned some.  The rest need to ripen more before I can them.  The apples I will use for applesauce and apple pie filling - as soon as my ClearJel arrives (www.waltonfeed.com).  Still plenty to do!

A Quick Vacation