Goings On

Last week was such a fun, busy week!  Of course there was the first day of school, but that same day my aunt and uncle (my mom's sister and her husband this time) were in town from Gig Harbor.  They had cruised up to Whittier from Vancouver, BC, had the day here in Whittier and then hopped back on the ship for the return trip south.  In between dropping kids off and picking them up we toured Whittier.  We drove to both ends of the road, enjoyed the amazing sunshine that came out, caught some salmon with my bare hands for them, played games with the kiddos and cruised the harbor.  Not bad considering that I have to be at school at 9, 12:15, 1, 2, and 3:30 this year for various drop offs and pickups!


Stacy showed Aunt Judy all around the iPad!  Here they are, cruising off into the beautiful Prince William Sound...


Tuesday I had to run to town for a meeting.  On the way home I stopped at a popular pull out in Portage Valley to take a picture and met the kindest fellow who had a ginormous telescope and was spotting bears on the mountainside.  He is a hobbyist who just loves showing people cool stuff.  Apparently he and his wife are often at Bird Point or Beluga Point along the Seward Highway, showing people the sheep.  Anyway, he then offered to lend me his camera adapter for the telescope so I could take a picture of the bears.  So cool!  One of the things I love about this state is the friendly people!


Obviously the picture isn't anything that National Geographic is going to knock on my door about, but I think the back story is pretty cool!  And since you couldn't even begin to make out the bears with a naked eye or even my telephoto lens it was pretty cool to capture an image of them.

Wednesday found me out on a boat.  Another gorgeous day and I got to visit our local oyster farm.  What a cool experience! 


The caretaker came out to meet us in this picturesque cove.  The owner usually lives here, but was hawking oysters at the state fair that day. 


Here's the barge where the guy and his wife live part-time.  Under that dome is a hot tub!  Apparently this barge was one of 12 or so built during WWII by women someplace here in Alaska.  It is flat-bottomed, designed for easy landing on the Aleutian islands.  This particular on is named Bumble Bee.


Here's the boat I was on.  We picked up a load of oysters to be sold at the fair as well as some driftwood that they were also hoping to sell.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water!


We got back just in time to join the school kids on a hike up to the top of Portage Pass.  I am proud to report that they all made it to the top, even the preschoolers who tagged along!  Our school is focusing on geography this year, so they're starting out by visiting places around Whittier and learning about what drives our local economy. 

Finally that evening we enjoyed a bonfire at the head of the bay with friends.  Perfect ending to a phenomenal day!


We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores...until we couldn't handle fighting off the bugs any longer!

Things slowed down a bit on Thursday and Friday...lots of little jobs, but no more epic adventures for the week.  The rain rolled in and we went back inside.  And we've been here since!

Comments