Sitka Alaska

We arrived in Sitka Alaska on a misty, moisty morning

just as the sun was trying to peek thru the clouds.

There were hundreds of tiny islands surrounding the

main island of Sitka. All of them seemed to have

pretty little cabins on them......it was just so lovely and inviting.

Wouldn't you just love to place yourself into

this picture?

Mike and I did not have an excursion planned for Sitka, but

we were told about a totem pole park that was about a miles

walk from where the ship let us off, so we put on our walking

shoes and took off.

On the way we encountered this stream absolutely FILLED

with salmon swimming upstream.

The picture above does not do it justice.

There was hardly an inch of water that did not have a fish in it.

These particular salmon were coming in from the ocean into

fish hatchery, but later we came upon a creek that was all natural.....

So we made it to the Historical Park where there were

about 20 totem poles that had been preserved.

Mike and I started along the little round-trip trail

and were joined by a park ranger who so very kindly

told us all about the history and folklore of the totems

we were seeing. This man had tons of information about

the history of Sitka and its wildlife as well.

He spent about 1/2 hour walking and talking with us until

a man coming from the opposite way reported that he had

seen a bear on the other side of the trail.

Unfortunately the ranger asked us to please turn back....the

park would have to be cleared as they did not want people to

come in contact with the bears.

Well, being the rule followers that we are, we dutifully turned

back. However along the way we found a path that cut back over

to the stream where the bear had been sited.....

AND WE REALLY WANTED TO SEE THE BEAR!!!!!!

So off we went and lo and behold we found the bear!

He was on the shore looking into the stream selecting his lunch.

The stream was chocked full of salmon.....just ripe for the picking....

I must say that it was thrilling to see a bear in the wild.

And making it a little more exciting was that we were breaking

the rules! Well, wouldn't ya know........the ranger caught us

and had to ask us to move along AGAIN.

I felt like a kid with my hand in the cookie jar....he had been so

very nice to us and we, well, we disobeyed him..........

BUT..........WE GOT TO SEE AN ALASKIAN BROWN BEAR!

After our bear adventure we walked back into town.

You can't really see it in this picture of the main street,

but, YES! You guessed it........there was a quilt shop!

And I went in it! Are you surprised?

Here is Mike above the city. We climbed up to the highest spot

and were rewarded with this lovely panoramic view of the cruiseship, ocean and the beautiful mountains.

Breathtaking! Truly God's country!