Happy Anniversary in Alaska

Happy Anniversary

Days 41 to 43, July 6 - 8, 2015

We’ve decided to gift each other on our 53^rd Anniversary with a trip to Alaska. Easy … on July 6 we are in Canada … on July 7 we are in Alaska. The only way to

Haines from Anchorage is east to Canada and then back south to Alaska. Alaska has the most convoluted border lines and shape. Haines is our State Ferry port to Juneau. And Juneau is down in the long stretch of the state at the southeast in the Inside Passage.



But more than just a way to get from here to there we found the highway from Haines Junction to Haines (with a US customs gate halfway) is an Alaskan Scenic Byway, has Alaska Eagle Preserve stretch of highway AND an UNESCO World Heritage Site … the largest internationally protected landmass on earth (includes parts of Canada and Alaska and four national and provincial parks)

Glaciers on every mountain top, bears, lakes, wildflowers, eagles, historical buildings are found all along the Haines Highway. We stayed at two different lake campgrounds (Kathleen Lake provincial CG in Canada, Chilkoot Lake state CG in Alaska.)

Our favorite in Haines is the Alaska Bald Eagle Foundation Natural History Museum and Life Raptor Center. This center has many large rooms with the walls covered in well drawn murals … a natural background mural for the eagle room, a Tlingit history mural and awesome murals on all walls for the natural history museum filled with dozens of taxidermy animals native to the North Country. A must to see!

 The eagle is alive (mural in the background.) The Coyote is stuffed.

 

These falls and rapids are a short hike off the Haines Highway.

 Camped at two different lakes … Kathleen Lake in Canada and Chilkoot Lake in Haines, AK. This picture is Kathleen Lake. (Hi Katie).  

This is our steak and lake camp at Chilkoot Lake … see the lake through the trees.

And …. Finally, it seems the early priests were quite creative, using quanset huts to build their pioneer churches. The red one is in Beaver Creek, Yukon; and the white one is in Haines Junction.