The flight from Juneau to Excursion Inlet was amazing. The
little engine just droned on and on while we flew over snow capped mountains and
so much water! I took pictures and video. It was pretty cool! And I’m surprised
that I wasn’t afraid at all just amazed!
We landed at the cannery and Mark Warner was there to pick us up. I know
now why he didn’t want us to pack too much! We had to pull the luggage over the
rocks and dirt to the dock and then pass them down from land to the boat. THEN
we had to do it again in reverse when we landed back here at the lodge! Wish I
woulda known!
The youngest child is Kathryn, (she’s 8). She adopted me
right away, took me on the tour of the place. A tour that only a little one
could give. I know where all the secret doors are now. I helped her feed her
little chickens and crossed the raging river with the instructions, “Don’t look
down! Look straight ahead ONLY!” and
after she told me I didn’t need to hold my arms out like that, I should just
walk normally.
Saturday after we arrived and ate dinner Willie went bear
hunting with Mark and the others. Maxine and I were asked to help unpack the
groceries. We thought sure, why not! Well come to find out the very first
customers were showing up tomorrow and we had the entire summer’s inventory to
unpack! It was kinda fun actually but it was very hard work. The big thing was
that the packaging all got wet and we really had to unload everything and
determine if any thing was ruined. It was a long long time. Willie has a story to tell about bear hunting
that mostly involves riding on the back of a 4 wheel ATV and lack of padding on
the seat.
Sunday, was almost a disaster. I was exhausted from the trip
and unpacking all the groceries for the lodge. Woke up to cold rain and the
assignment that Willie and I were going to be working in the kitchen. We worked
so hard all day! I thought we were going to get a break each day to fish or
explore or whatever but yesterday we worked from first thing until last at
night. But last thing they told us was that we were going to get to go fishing
today! From 11-6!
Took a shower in the Bath House. Wasn’t too bad really but
went to bed with wet hair – hate to do that! Willie got up at 6 to help with
breakfast. I slept in til 7:15! Got breakfast all cleaned up and got ready to
go fish!
It’s still raining here and it’s cold. I didn’t pack warm
enough clothes! I needed thicker socks, better gloves, and two pairs of long
johns. While fishing we saw a pod of whales but they were very far away. I
tried to talk “Whale” to them but I didn’t do a good job, they went the other
way. Bill our boat captain caught a
sea lion! He has his line in the water with a half a fish stuck to it when the
seal snuck up and grabbed it! Bill fought with it for a few minutes but it got
loose and when it did he came back around and hollered at us for making him so
mad! Our friend Maxine caught a double
ugly fish. I’ll post a picture for you.
I shot lots of pictures and will post them when I figure it
out and I’m not exhausted. The shark was being devoured by eagles when we got
back from fishing. Pictures to follow. Something is wrong with my camera and my
pictures are all coming out so fuzzy. (Figured out that it is so humid here that the lens is fogging over!) Ok so Here are the fishing pictures from day one.
The owner’s wife, Kristina took the kids to ‘town’ – Juneau
for grocery shopping. She left Monday morning around 11 and was due back by
supper. Excursion Inlet is an island
without any access via paved roads. The only way in or out is by boat or plane!
Kristina took by boat. She was shopping and needed the space for groceries
provided by the boat. The weather got
rough so she and the kids stayed in Juneau and headed back this morning. The weather was still rough and the tide was
low so they were only able to move at about 6-8 mph. Slow going for the long
round the island. They finally made it back to the lodge a little afternoon
today. You really gotta plan your
shopping when you live in a remote place like this!
Tuesday - Had morning coffee on the second floor overlooking
the ocean thru 100 foot pine trees. The trees were filled with bald eagles like
our trees at home are filled with sparrows each morning only the eagles are a
lot easier to see – they are huge! Pretty cool way to start the day. It was
raining when it was time to go fishing so I opted out. I got so miserably cold
yesterday and we didn’t even catch any fish. I stayed and finished my work of
making lunch for the customers for tomorrow then just hung out and did laundry. Russell, the 11 year old, came running in to
tell me that there were about 20 eagles sitting around the shark eating so we
ran out with my camera and got some really great pictures. He decided that the
crow was an unwelcome guest so he got his .22 and shot it!
It’s still pretty cold here. I thought I would be able to
wear short sleeve shirts while we were here but I don’t see that as being
possible – ever!
Missing my family but I hear that dad got the lift on for
his powerchair today!
No comments:
Post a Comment