Weeds

There are no photos needed for weeds.  Last year I did not weed at all as I was not able to put any weight on my healing wrist nor use it for much of anything.  This year I have no excuse and the work facing us when we returned from Alaska was just too much for one person so I am out there for a couple days to help BJ get this place under control.  I just want it done.  As I am pulling this and that I am muttering..."condo, condo".   Seriously, there are better things to do with one's summer than bending over and over to pick up some unwanted growth.   Can you tell this is something I don't enjoy much???  Huh, can you ?????

Home!

After 64 days, 2,648 nautical miles or roughly 3,000 regular miles, we are home.  And it does feel wonderful.  Especially returning to my big kitchen, big bed, unlimited use of water, oven, big refrigerator...well you get the idea.  I am so incredibly grateful for safe travels, mostly calm seas and a boat that just kept humming along, even after we managed to hit several logs...an awful sound on the hull.   I said, "thank you Jesus" a LOT along the way and with the upmost sincerity and humility...there is nothing quite like the ocean to create humility and a grateful heart.   I did my first walk up and down the mountain yesterday with Hank and although I was a little slow coming home and my hips a bit sore today, I seem to have not regressed too much from 2 months of inactivity.  And speaking of Hank...what can you say when a dog cries with delight upon your return and quickly jumps into the car lest we change our mind.  Such a joy to see him again and he is in fine shape thanks to his wonderful caregiver.   The deer managed to tear down part of our fence in our absence and munch away but otherwise all was in good shape upon our return except for all the weeds that now need pulling.  I am including one of my favorite photos from our trip.  We saw a lot of ice bergs along the way and the bigs ones like this one were easy to motor around.  It was the smaller "bergies" as they are called that were the most unnerving as the boat would slowly bump into them.  I did not enjoy that but these big bergs were spectacular.   Travelling to Alaska is not for sissies and I'm afraid I am still a sissie but one who still managed to accomplish something I would never have chosen to do on my own. 

Two eagles enjoying their perch.

We Could "Bearly" Stand It

One of our last excursions in Alaska was to tour "Misty Fjords", unbelievable beauty and remoteness.  At the head of one of the fjords we came upon this grizzly on the beach.  He was busy at low tide trying to dig up goodies of whatever bear eat.  The crows were right by him, bugging him and occasionally he would get disgusted and shake his head at them.  We watched him running and also splashing in a tide pool on the beach trying to catch a fish unsuccessfully.  It was great entertainment.   We never, never got tired watching them.

Misty Fjords was just that, misty, but the majestic scenery was not hampered by the moisture.

Goodbye Alaska

It's hard to believe that yesterday we officially left Alaska.  We have been so surrounded by wildlife, wild weather at times and unbelievable beauty.  I hope eventually the photos will do some justice to all we have seen.  We had virtually no success crabbing in Alaska until two anchorages ago we thought, let's try one more time.  BJ went out after 3 hours as it looked like he did not have enough line out and so he pulled up the trap and lo and behold we had a harvest!!  One fell out as he was trying to get the crab trap in the boat and so we counted 11 crab, all male, which is almost unheard of.  So we left Alaska with a good crabbing memory.  It's nice to be somewhere for a day where we can get good internet connection and I can upload a few photos.

Get the water boiling!!!



The Best And The Worst

Well, I'm sitting at McDonalds and using their free wifi but still am only able to get one photo uploaded.  The picture is a few days ago as we traveled down the west coast of Prince of Wales Island.  The anchorage is called Hole In The Wall, appropriately named as it was best to venture in and out at half or full tide.  One of those hold your breath entries.  You may be asking, why would we venture into such a place and the answer is that the next anchorage is a ways away and we figured, it's mentioned in the guide books so others have done it.  Once having made it through the entrance we entered a nice sized bay.  Anyway, all was fine except I laid awake during a windy night worrying about a tree blowing down over the entrance and us not having our chain saw.   I'm trying to learn that each day creates enough stuff to think about without inventing other problems. 

Through day 39 of this journey we have had good weather which for me does not mean sunshine or warmth, it means no winds.  Then day 40 started to change things and our trip around the southern tip of Prince of Wales a few days ago tested our boat and our nerves.  I have heard of people having trouble with tide rips but I have never seen them so big.  As things crashed around inside the boat, BJ hung on to the wheel and I just hung on.   We eventually made it to a safe anchorage but the next day presented similar challenges and we decided enough is enough and we headed to Ketchikan to wait out the gale.   Yesterday, the 4th of July, tested every boat's mooring lines with incredible winds and it was a huge comfort to not be out there somewhere anchored.  I think there are supposed to be fireworks tonight as they were canceled for last night.  The forecast is improving and we hope to be leaving Ketchikan tomorrow, take a slight detour to see some fjords and if we have sufficiently light winds we will try to head south this weekend.  I wish I could be able to blog more often as we have had some amazing times here and have been blessed thus far with a good performing boat.