Alaska -- Day Ten -- Haines

We arrived in Haines, Alaska at 6:30 this morning. We had breakfast in our room and headed out to explore. It appeared that most people were going by ferry to Skagway or taking the Whitepass train ride to Yukon gold country.

We found totem poles, stopped at the visitor center, went past the Hammer Museum and walked through a historic cemetery.

Then we boarded a bus for the Chilkat River Bald Eagle Preserve. From October through January there are about 4,000 Bald Eagles along the river feeding on the salmon. However, in June there seemed to be very few. We roasted a hot dog for lunch and then they bundled us in coats and blankets for a jet boat ride down the river.

It was a gorgeous ride down the river, which is only 2 inches deep at some points. We saw three bald eagle nests, which can each weigh 2,000 pounds. We saw four eagles. I simply enjoyed being on the river between two mountain ranges.

When we returned to town we hiked up the hill to historic Fort Seward. We saw the shop where they build totem poles, poked our heads into a few galleries, admired the biggest dandelions we have ever seen and returned our sore feet to the ship.