Hooray, the truck is repaired again! We stayed in Valdez 3 days longer than we intended so we are now behind schedule. Today has been a sad day, we have started for home. While it will be weeks before we get there, the simple act of turning south means our vacation is coming to an end. From Valdez we drove to Tok (the sourdough pancake tossing campground) where we spent the night. After Tok we crossed back into the Yukon, then into British Columbia and finally back into Alaska. During the drive we passed the 9,000 mile mark. The road we took is the Haines Highway, which was designated a National Scenic Highway in 2009. The title was well earned. This was the prettiest drive we’ve taken on our trip!

After weeks of rain and fog on the Kenai Peninsula the sun has come out and Haines is just spectacular. Surrounded by glacier covered mountains, the town of 2,400 people wraps itself around Portage Cove. The cove opens onto the Lynn Canal, the longest, deepest fjord in North America. Eventually the Lynn Canal empties into the Gulf of Alaska. Big cruise ships sailing the inside passage go by on their way to Skagway and Juneau. Our campsite is right on the cove with 180 degree view of the canal and harbor.

We are at Oceanside RV Campground. Last night the owners had a Dungeness Crab feed and everyone brought a dish for a potluck! The crab were huge and delicious. The next day the crab season was over so we were lucky to get here when we did. Jim went down to the harbor with the owners and several campers and cleaned crab for the potluck.

The town of Haines is a tidy little sea town with a beautiful port. At the head of the Lynn Canal is the Chilkat River. Because it is slow moving and has gravel beds over 600 feet deep, the river remains warm and ice-free throughout the year creating a unique environment in Alaska for winter spawning salmon. Eagles are drawn here by the thousands for the winter spawning.

Haines is also home to the first fort in Alaska. Built in 1902 because of a border dispute with Canada, Fort William H. Seward was built with ornate Victorian fireplaces, elaborate cabinetry, doors, windows and foundations that were cut by Italian stone masons. The fort has since been converted into condominiums, hotels, restaurants and art galleries.

Haines is not just about fish and eagles, if you come here you’ll need to watch for bears! We heard there were three sows and eight cubs fishing the Chilkoot Inlet so we drove up there in the hopes of getting one or two good bear photos. A sow and her twin cubs walked right past us (10 feet) crossed the road, crashed through a tangle of berry bushes and waded right into the water and started fishing. Her cubs played with each other, swam around, pestered the sow, caught their own fish and just had a good time while mom tried to bulk up for winter. It was a funny site watching the fly fisherman scattering ahead of the bears. One poor guy got trapped on a rock out in the middle of the river. The sow walked right up to him, I thought he was going to have to abandon ship waders and all. The bear also stopped to check out a beer and cooler on her trip down stream.

Today we visited the Hammer Museum, a really interesting small private museum dedicated to all things

hammer. I know it sounds stupid, but it was pretty cool! Tomorrow we take the ferry to Juneau for the day.