8-15-2011

Last night we saw two sets of bears, one mama with 2 cubs, and one with 3 cubs.  Neat to see the little ones play with each other...so friendly when young.  They were on different sides of the river, and at one point, the sow must have smelled the other bears, as she sat right up and looked over.   Thank goodness they both stuck to their own sides!

Checking out the other bears across the river.

8-14-2011 Second Set of Babies

This second set of babies were the cutest.  It is so cool to see them run and play with each other.  Poor mama didn't know where to go with her babies.  Even on the road, you could tell she was getting perplexed.

8-14-2011 Haines Evening Entertainment

Al still trying to recoup from his cold...slow!  Leisurely day, and met some neighbors in the campground from Yukon.  Great people!  Al had a chance to go out and get shrimp with them, but with the cold thought he'd better not.  He would have loved doing that!!!:(    One of the ladies deep fried halibut and gave us a taste.  It was delicious...got her recipe for the batter.  After dinner went to see the bears again....good thing we don't live here...we'd never get anything done in the evenings!!!

One of the cubs had a fish hook stuck in it's nose.

After the bears leave the fish wier, they travel downstream and go under this bridge.  There's enough time to go from the wier area to the bridge and get close up and personal.

You can see the fish hook hanging here :(

Mama keeping tabs on little ones!

The hook doesn't deter this guy from fishing/eating!!

8-13-2011 My Second Favorites

Got settled and after dinner went to our favorite spot to watch bears.  Was not disappointed again!

Mama Bear and her babies!

This fisherman wasn't about to give up!!!  There were signs posted and most fishermen got out of the water when the bears came.

Mama was tagged.  The ranger said this was her second tag, and once that was gone they wouldn't do it again.  They tag to keep track of where they go.

They start out at this fishing weir and work their way down the river.

The little ones are adorable!!!

8-13-2011 I left my.....at Destruction Bay

Headed from Border City to Haines, AK.   Another banner day today.  Scenery was beautiful.  Rough road tho; not quite as bad as the road to Chicken,AK.  This was more like a washboard, lots and lots of frost heaves.  Driving along, we heard this crash and glass breaking.  My printer apparently came flying out of the cupboard in the bedroom and crashed to the floor.  Total wipeout!!!

Saw a black bear on the road.  He was afraid of us, and went up the side of the road about 15 feet.  Then he continued to walk parallel to the road, eating on his way.

8-12-2011 Valdez to Border City, AK

Travelled in and out of Canada today.  Bit of a problem with fuel today...due to fuel pump gauge.  If you remember, after the replacement of the fuel pump, the gauge was way way off.  So far, Al has done a great job keeping up with the mileage, etc. so we don't run out.  All of a sudden I hear Al say, we're gonna run out of fuel:(  We had thought we had enough to make it to Glennallen, but suddenly the gauge went really low.  Unhooked the car, I babysat the rig, Al drove looking for gas.  22 miles later, he found a station, but they didn't have a gas can.  A native in the store went home for her can and brought it back to Al  (people have been really helpful here in Alaska!!!! So great!).  The fuel in the can got us back to the station and we were able to fill up the main tank.  Proceeded on and stopped at Border City Campground about 3 miles from the Canadian border.

Bridal Viel Falls

More poles...if you enlarge the pix, you can see the difference between the vehicle and top of the poles.  Even with the poles to show me the way, don't think I'd want to be a snow plow driver here!!!

Glaciers galore on this trip, really beautiful.  Some of the black around the glaciers in the pictures are actual dirt covered glacier.  Sometimes hard to tell whether it's rock or glacier.

In the mid-bottom of this pix is a cabin tucked in the trees.  Again, enlarging the pix you really see it; however, it was the only home in the woods that we saw the whole day.

After an eventful day, this was really pretty.

8-11-2011 Canada here we come!

Heading into Canada tomorrow night, so won't be posting all the while in Canada.  Will save them for when we hit the states.  But, on our last evening here, the otters put on a display for us.

Dinnertime

More fish!!!

Maybe dessert!!

Don't know whether the white is a fish or teeth LOL

8-10-2011 Black Bears in Valdez

On our way to the Hatchery and town, cars were parked along the side of the road, and that's a really good sign!!!  At the side of the road was a short river to the bay.  The fish get up there, but can't get up the waterfall, so it's prime dinner area for the bears.  Of course, dinner was for several hoursLOL