Haines, Alaska
In order to get to Haines from Valdez you have to go back through Canada. It is a long 675 mile drive. We did it over 2.5 days. The first day we drove from Valdez to Tok. We stayed at the same campground we did on our way into Alaska (the Tok RV Village Campground). The trip was pleasantly uneventful.
The next day we drove from Tok, AK to Deception Bay, Yukon. We had previously stayed here on our way to Alaska. We enjoyed a great home-cooked meal by the park owner, Loren.
Some of the ladies in our group decided to take a lesson in beading.
From Destruction Bay we worked our way on down to Haines, although we stopped in Haines Junction and revisited the Village Bakery. We picked up a cinnamon roll (can you see a theme throughout my posts regarding cinnamon rolls?). We also picked up some of their beef lasagna since we had enjoyed it so much the last time we were there. We put the lasagna in the freezer for future meals.
As we got close to Haines we came upon our group’s Tailgunners, Charlie and Lana. We noticed that their pickup truck was slightly off to the side behind their motorhome, indicating that their tow bar broke. They were aware of it and were in the process of pulling over. We went on ahead until we found a spot and then pulled over, unhooked the Jeep and went back to help them out. Again, I think traveling in a group in these remote areas has proven to be very beneficial.
Once we got the truck unhooked they were able to drive separately the rest of the way. Their truck got a few bumps and bruises, but overall, they faired pretty well. They were able to replace the broken bolt in Haines. This is the second person in our group to have a tow bar failure. We are going to make sure that we get ours refurbished after this trip.
After dropping the motorhome off at the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park we drove the Jeep over to the the local cannery and picked up some frozen King Crab Legs, King Salmon and Halibut. I think we will be good on seafood for quite awhile! We then dropped by the Port Chilkoot Distillery. We enjoyed an Old Fashioned drink there. In the evening we drove out to the Chilkat State Park where there are often bear fishing for salmon. We saw a number of fishermen, but no bear.
The following day we took a scenic boat ride from Haines to Juneau, along with a number of other Fantasy Tour participants. We loved the scenery, which included glimpses of Glacier Bay National Park in the distance.
Below is a gallery of landscape photos. Click on the first picture to enlarge and then scroll through the collection.
We passed this scenic lighthouse.
We spotted some Eagles.
Some Oyster Catchers passing by.
Some Porpoise, although they were very hard to catch a photo of. They are very fast and far away.
And a few Humpback Whales. They never came out of the water very much, but they did show off their tails.
And of course Harbor Seals and Sea Birds.
And this adorable Otter which was surprisingly sitting on land.
In Juneau we toured the town and had a fabulous lunch at Twisted Fish. Their Halibut fish tacos are exceptional.
On our last day in Haines I decided to hunker down at the library and work on my photo collection and blog. Charlie visited the Hammer Museum. I guess they have 9,000 different hammers, with 2,000 of them on display. It didn’t take him long to get through the museum, but he said it was interesting.
Haines is a small and quaint town. There are a couple of small food markets, but because Haines is fairly remote the prices are fairly high. I thought about getting a 12 pack of Diet Coke since we prefer American Diet Coke over Canadian but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $10.99 for a 12-pack.
We enjoyed our 3-night stay in Haines and our short visit in Juneau. This was our last stop in Alaska. It is hard to believe that our trip is coming to an end. We left Haines this morning and in less than a week our 62 day Your-Way Alaska Fantasy Tour will conclude. Charlie and I will move onto the last portion of our whirlwind road trip. We’ll be in Jasper in a week, followed by stops in Banff, Glacier, Coeur d’Alene, Bryce, Zion and Albuquerque. Still a lot to see! For the next three weeks we will be in Canada with limited WiFi and no Cell Service so I’m not sure when I’ll get another post done. Maybe we’ll hit a library down the road. Stay tuned 🙂
2 thoughts on “Haines, Alaska”
Oh no! I’m so bummed you didn’t see bears in Haines. Speedy and her cubs are always awesome!
It would have been great to see them. I’m so happy that we did the bear excursion out of Homer and saw so many. That helps make up for not seeing these ones 🙂