Southeast on a Sunny Day-20

We took off Petersburg with not a cloud in the sky and made our way towards Juneau.

The scenery was beautiful and only got better the further we went.

At this point I was very glad we were taking the time to enjoy the good weather in Southeast instead of making a beeline for home.

After a beautiful, and relatively easy flight we found ourselves in Haines, Alaska.

I have fond memories of Haines. When I moved to Alaska with my family in 2000 we took the ferry from Bellingham to Haines. As an adult I bought a Westfalia Vanagon in Bellingham and again rode the ferry to Haines to bring it to Alaska. Then there was the year I went to the Haines Beer fest, and then Woodsen and I’s first anniversary we took a trip in the Supercub along the Alsak River and stopped in Haines. It felt a bit surreal to be bringing my family of now six to Haines to enjoy the sites.

First up, we found a park for the kids to play, then I left them to walk to Mountain Market, a favorite stop on my previous trips to Haines. I was happy to find that the Mountain Market seemed just like it had eleven years ago when I last visited.

After our fill of the park we found the beach near the cruise ships and enjoyed it for a bit. We had landed with some ideas of where we might stay, but with the day half way gone we made the decision to head to Glacier Point to camp.

At this point we were picking up food for meals as we went and we were pretty low on groceries. A local pizza place had been recommended, but since dinner wasn’t for a couple hours, I had the bright idea to order pizza to go, then have a picnic on the beach once we made it to Glacier point.

It was all we could do to keep our ravenous kids away from the pizza for the short ten minute flight, but all my beach pizza picnic dreams came true shortly after landing.

Dinner wasn’t finished before kids started stripping clothes to play in the water.

While the kids were still playing we saw two men walking towards us on the beach.

Charles and Josh introduced themselves and Josh explained that he had at one point worked at Glacier Point bringing tourists to the glacier and had recently purchased land near the point. He was currently staying at a friend’s yurt down the beach.

We told Josh about that the last time we landed here, about 11 years ago, how we had been greeted by a young man named Sam Edward’s who had brought us to the crew house where there was beer on tap. They let us stay in one of the empty cabins, then the next day they brought us to the glacier.

It turned out Josh had not only worked with Sam, but he was currently staying in his yurt, and Sam was supposed to come out the next day with his wife and two kids. What were the chances of that!

The next morning the girls discovered they could braid the roots of the strawberry plants that covered the ground near the runway (unfortunately no strawberries were found), then we figured out how to make crowns with the roots and leaves.

We enjoyed a fire on the beach, contemplated staying longer to see if we could see Sam again, but decided to pack up and head out before the weather changed.

Next stop, and one of our favorites, McCarthy.