Lessons learned from a first trip to Alaska

(And I would sail 500 miles, and I would sail 500 more . . .) We left Denali by train, taking a scenic railroad car with a glass top to Fairbanks, our last Alaskan stop.  It was just a place to sleep for us:  We were on an early morning flight back to Seattle and [...]

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Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Photo Gallery

      Sylvia checks conditions   Mountains!

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“They look like golf balls”: Rafting in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve

  When we arrived at the bank of the Tsirku River, I was loaned standard-issue rubber boots and a wool hat (since my Tilley hat blew off on the catamaran ride over), and our busload of travelers was divided into four or five rafts.  Mom and I chose to join Sylvia, a thin but strong young woman who [...]

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Haines Library Totem

Now that I’ve found it, I’m loving the Chilkat Valley News.  C.P. didn’t mention the Library as we drove quickly through town, but check out this article about the recent unveiling of the Haines Library Totem, carved from an 800-year-old cedar tree, and featuring traditional figures such as a raven and an eagle, plus one of a woman [...]

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C.P.’s Alaska 2: Waste Not, Want Not

I just did a quick Google search on “Haines Alaska CP” and found an article in the Chilkat Valley News  about a brown bear that was shot, declawed, and abandoned in the Chilkat River. It’s a good illustration of local attitudes about subsistence living. Incidentally, I love the fact that the other people in the story are identified by first and last [...]

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C.P.’s Alaska: “Salmon are everything”

  When we got off the catamaran at Haines we were met by our guide, C.P.—a hunky, boisterous, bearded guy with great comic timing.  We had just traveled down the deepest fiord in North America, and were on our way to see the largest collection of bald eagles in North America, but what C.P. talked [...]

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Skagway to Haines – finally!

When we docked at Skagway, I thought the scenery was beginning to live up to my expectations of Alaska.  The excursion to the Alaska Chilkat Eagle Preserve began with a very short bus ride to another dock.  There we boarded a catamaran (I think that’s what it was) that took us from Skagway to Haines via the [...]

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Can you get there from here?

Our excursion from Skagway to Haines and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve was definitely the single best day of our trip.  But we almost didn’t get there, and the story about my numerous foiled attempts to make arrangements tells you something about the difficulties of traveling in Alaska – especially if you’re on a [...]

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