Back Again–Orcas Island & Petersburg-19

From Smiley Creek we headed back to familiar territory. We had camped in Orcas Island on our way down, and for the first time it was nice to know what to expect when we landed.

On our first stop in Orca’s Island we had seen the berries starting to form on the black berry bushes, now we enjoyed snacking on ripe berries as we walked in to town for lunch.

We stopped back at the park and playground near the center of town, and this time grabbed lunch from the Farm to Ferry food truck.

So Delicious!

That evening while we were sitting by the airplane we spotted a very unique airplane landing that we recognized as our friend Alec’s plane.

Alec, who lives in Kenya, but frequently visits Alaska, had built his airplane specifically for scenic flying in Alaska. We had initially met Alec years ago in Alaska through Ultima Thule lodge, but we had randomly ran into him at Oshkosh last year as well.

We enjoyed visiting with Alec, and almost convinced him to fly back to Alaska with us, but ended up saying goodbye with plans to meet up next year when he came to Alaska.

We stayed only one night in Orcas Island, then took off for the long haul back to Alaska. We planned to fly over Canada without stopping since the kids and I didn’t have current passports. We were treated with stunning weather in Southeast Alaska, and even enjoyed a tail wind pushing us on our way. I had been in touch with Debbie and Eldon, who we had stayed with on our way down, and they were more then happy to host us on our way back.

We enjoyed the views of Southeast, but we were all happy to be back in Alaska and to be welcomed by Debbie and Eldon.

That evening the girls and I went with Debbie to go for a walk on the boat harbor and check out the Viking boat downtown.

In the morning we stopped by the coffee shop for coffee and hot chocolate then headed out on a short trail to the rapids. After that we headed back to our favorite stop, Sandy Beach. Sandy Beach had a playground, a beach, and all sorts of berry bushes the kids loved to forage from.

In the evening we enjoyed tacos downtown, then the next morning Atlee and Debbie made blueberry pancakes with the berries they had picked at Sandy Beach.

Part of me wanted to head straight for home, but with bad weather further up the coast, and beautiful weather in Southeast, we decided to take our time and stop in Haines.

Next stop Haines, Alaska.