Haines, Alaska for the 4th of July!

Recorded July 10th 2009

Upon our arriving in Haines Bill & I called it a day as it was after 5pm and we had been on the road since 8am. We were beat. True to the sightseer in them, however, Linda & Bill were out exploring after dinner. They were planning a ferry trip to Sitka & Juneau and wanted to get the details settled. The next day, Saturday, was the 4th of July so time was a wasting. After a visit to the ferry terminal their plan began to crystallize.

Bill & I were thrilled to have the rest of the week basically off. The coach was way overdue for a good interior scrubbing as was the dog and we both needed haircuts. On Monday The Moorhead’s were off to Sitka (4.5 hours by ferry) and then Juneau (12 more hours by ferry) to see pretty much everything else before we leave the 49th state in the 50th anniversary year of its statehood. But in the mean time we had one very important day to party it up!

On the 4th of July and this small town has all the small town stuff. First there was the Parade down Main Street then the bake sale & pie eating contest followed by MUD volleyball single elimination. There was a burger & hot dog picnic in the gorgeous park at Fort Seward that sits above the water inlet with of course mountains all around. There was the bazaar at the Senior Center and a fire hose competition plus the always popular nail hammering contest. Events were underway all day till the cannon sounded at 9pm but it is not dark at 9pm so fireworks were later at 11pm (It does get dark in southern Alaska.). We 4 gave in early and returned to our camp where Linda & Bill treated us to a Bar-B-Q Steak dinner. It was a 4th we won’t soon forget.

We took Bill & Linda to the ferry landing Sunday morning an immediately got to work. Bill & I spent the next 2 days in recoil mode. Between cleaning cars, dog, 2 hair cuts and a lot of reading we really never left the park. I caught up on my correspondents & the grocery shopping. By Tuesday the 7th we were ready to come out and meet the world again. So we did. We drove the town of Haines back & forth, up & down. We examined the neighborhoods & the country roads. We did not shop or sightsee as we new our buds would be ready for that when they returned and there really just was not that much to see really. We did gawk at the folks who had obviously come from the 2 cruise ships that came & went while we were there. It was in the mid 80’s and they were uncomfortable climbing around town. We continued on to Fort Seward, adjacent to and a part of Haines. It’s a really interesting former military installation from 1903. It is now all privately owned but is a historical landmark. Part of the 15 or so buildings is a hotel where we had a lovely dinner.

After the Moorhead’s returned from their sea going adventure we learned that they spent 2 nights on the ferry & 1 in a hot hotel room so we were not disappointed to have missed the trip. On Thursday the 9th of July the 4 of us did sightseeing & shopping around Haines. We finished off the evening with a Mexican dinner making plans for our Friday ferry ride to Skagway. Bill did not like the idea that Lindsey has to stay in the motorhome all by herself!

Friday the 10th was a very odd day. The ferry schedule was such that we needed to be at the dock at 7:30 in the evening. We were able to stay in the campground until 1pm so we had our 2 coaches 2 cars 4 people and 1 dog with no place to land for an entire afternoon. Haines is a tourist town really. We opted to drive out to the ferry dock, 5 miles north of town through the construction zone once we fueled up and just hang out there. We played Uno and watched a BC Harley Davidson Motorcycle Cub on a Yukon run as they arrived to join us on the ferry. It was an uneventful 16 mile ride but it saved us over 200 miles of driving. We arrived at our camp at nearly 11pm.

We have never pulled into a campground at 11pm before as we did the Friday night from the ferry, so our time in Skagway began on the morning of Saturday the 11th. With more then a 2 day drive ahead of us to Hyder, we decided to spend the morning seeing the town of Skagway and get some driving in later in the day. All 4 of us had been to Skagway before so we did not feel the need to do a tour or take the train at over $100! We had a nice lunch after marveling at all the jewelry & fur stores. Tanzanite is a biggie. They really do like those folks getting on & off the cruise ships. Skagway, we recalled is the main switching point from land to sea and visa versa for the cruise lines. They always have an overnight to spend money! I did really enjoy the art galleries as they were better then any we had been to on our entire trip. We finally bought Ulu’s, the Alaskan cutting tool and those bear paw salad tossers, that I like so much, all made in Anchorage of course. We were on our way out of town by 3pm-ish on Saturday.