Meeting up in Anchorage

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

I forgot to write about salmon spawning near Seward. As salmon near the stream of their origin, they grow beaks and turn a bit red. They are no longer good to eat. The stream was so shallow and the fish were so thick, a bird could have walked across on their backs.

They were flopping around, trying to dig in the gravel bottom to deposit their roe. This is the final act and there were dead ones all around. You could smell them!

Anna and Pam arrived Saturday. Sunday, we took them for a coffee, a hike, and a hard cider. We went back and picked them up for Sydney and David’s famous homemade pizza later in the evening and then David got back in his car and picked up Georgia coming in on the train from Seward.

Monday morning David dropped the four or us off at Snow City Café, a popular breakfast spot, we walked on to the Anchorage Museum, and David and Sydney met us there for lunch.

Then David drove us to Whittier, but we stopped on the way to look at more spawning salmon.

Whittier is a city built to support the US military and it is a bit odd. The towers built to house the residents also housed the school and the grocery. We took a quick tour and went to the ferry dock. David drove home. We are very grateful for his and Sydney’s good care.

We have a nice and small room on the Kennicott, an Alaska Marine Highways boat. We seem to be getting along very well. 

We were too cheap to get a room with a window and we are all out and about the boat all day. We have made some cool acquaintances and the food is better than we expected and this boat is very clean and it has hardly rained at all and Mt. St. Elias rose up to the north 18,000 feet for a beautiful picture. That white peak is not a cloud but the mountain.

There is no internet/cell service on the boat. I am hoping to get this sent while we briefly dock in Yakutak in about an hour. Next stop is Juneau tomorrow afternoon.

Note: Sent Thursday from Ketchikan where we finally have wireless!