Retirement Trip

[vharrison]

Our trip begins in Washington State. First adventure is to Mount Rainer! Mount Rainer is beyond description unless you are someone like Jerry with the gift of words. Majestical is what came to me. The wild flowers were amazing as were the trees.

 

[vharrison]

If you can imagine, I had never seen a chipmunk and was so surprised how small they are. I said to my daughter, look, there is squirrel and she told me, no mom that’s a chipmunk. Cute little critter. I just loved him, so cute. Headed to a drag race today, polar opposite from yesterday. LOL

 

[Mrs.B]

Yes, Rainer is awesome, but just wait till you see the mountains in Alaska!

 

[stikine]

Have a great trip V!

 

[flushcut]

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Burnham]

Have fun!

 

[SeanKroll]

Enjoy!!!

 

[davidwyby]

Now you are in my back yard. You must get over onto the islands in the Puget sound - ferries and such, Deception Pass Bridge - check out The Wood Merchant in La Conner and eat at the Calico Cupboard.

 

[SeanKroll]

Which way are you headed? Are you going to Olympic National Park and the Hoh rainforest?

 

[vharrison]

Yesterday, we rented a jeep and saw this amazing waterfall. Also, stopped at a random creek and found gold!

 

[vharrison]

The gold ! Magnified 1 million times😂

 

[vharrison]

Jeff found this in the creek perfectly round, any ideas? Google know nothing !

 

[Cobleskill]

I think it is a Japanese fish net float. How it got there?

 

[cory]

Great pics! How was the swim?

 

[SeanKroll]

Is it

I think it is a Japanese fish net float. How it got there?

i wondered if it was a float.

 

[Kaveman]

Looks like a net float to me. Currents run all round the ocean, no telling where it came from or how old it is without close examination and an autistic level of interest in the subject matter.

 

[vharrison]

Cory, Jeff loved the swim! He inspired 3 youngsters to do it as well!!
Yesterday was Sitka, saw a lot of Bald Eagles, a hump back whale , sea lions, salmon harbor dolphins, just a great day!

 

[vharrison]

Jeff got these shots

 

[vharrison]

Today, we are in Ketchikan, hoping to see bears eating salmon. Like Stikine said, the salmon are here!

 

[vharrison]

Ketchikan was our last stop and did not disappoint, we saw a mama bear with 2 cubs. We saw them twice on our walk through a rainforest. So darn cute

 

[vharrison]

I have to say, my favorite day was seeing whale, the otters and harbor dolphins. We were on a zodiac with a great captain. The captain was a young girl, I’d say in her 30’s and very comfortable on the water and the boat. It just felt right to be out on a boat, being an island girl!
We were blessed with fantastic weather the whole trip, not once did we get rain which I hear is unusual for Alaska.

 

[SeanKroll]

Sounds amazing!

 

[stikine]

Here's a bear catching fish video for you V from yesterday's trip.

 

[vharrison]

That’s exactly what we were hoping for! Thank you so much for posting that, John loved it.
We were in a rainforest, with no rapid running water, clearly not the conditions to experience it.
I forgot which thread I asked you in but where are you located?
We were grateful to just see the bears though, especially the cubs.
Please tell us the about the tour you give, hiking walking? How do you get to that area? How long is your tour? I can’t wait to hear about it !

 

[stikine]

I'm based out of Wrangell. Our Anan tour is typically 5 1/2 hours dock to dock for the cruise ships...a bit longer for independent clients. Anan is a bit over an hour south of town by boat ride, so a bit of the tour is on the boat. The trail to the observatory deck is 1/2 mile walk from the beach drop off and it's all gravel surface.

Here's a picture of the Bentz boat we normally use for transport.