We ARE all home again, and know there are gaps in our trip reports. As we unpack, sort through photos and get recharged we will try to do a more comprehensive accounting.
Our ‘Epic Adventure’, during which we really DID ‘go home’ was outstanding in so many ways.
Now we are organizing [hopefully!] our memories and photos. We’ve acquired some maps as well to help in placing locations correctly.
Standing on Glacier Point, after a 53 year absence.
However here we are now and what a blast!
Eldred Rock
Arrived in Haines, Wednesday after a wonderful ferry ride up the Lynn Canal. Almost cried (ok we did) when we saw Eldred Rock.
After dropping everything at our cabin at Salmon Run Campground, we went for a drive to reconnect with the area.
A call to Drake Air indicated we may be able to go early to Glacier Point. Woo Hoo we were happy as the weather was gorgeous. We headed out to the airstrip at 9:30 Thursday morning (May 9th) for our trip
Small – oh yeah most tiny plane!!!
. Here is a picture of the small (very little plane). As you might imagine it was interesting loading all 4 of us into this tiny plane – lots of giggles and holy cows , can we really all fit in here?
Soon we were airborne, flying over Davidson Glacier and headed for the airstrip on Glacier Point praying and holding our breath the entire way. Beautiful scenery but scary turns over the water. Landed on the “airstrip” (looks more like a double cow track) on the North end of Glacier Point, kinda bumpy but we got on the ground safely. Drake, our pilot, took several pictures of us 
with his plane – we will show them later- and then he left us there to go exploring with a promise to come back at 5 to pick us up. Off we went , down the beach with backpack and camera’s at the ready. We hiked down to the old homestead area, drank lots of water from the crystal clear Stelting creek – best water ever- and had lunch sitting on a log on the beach. Then we tramped through the brush and devils club back to where the old cabin used to be. Sadly the old cabin is long gone but we were able to see the ‘footprint’ of the old barn (pictures to follow soon), that was pretty cool.
After reminiscing by the creek for a while longer we headed back up the beach to meet our flight back to Haines. Understand this was a 7 hour hike all told, so we were some pretty tired gals by the time we reached the “air strip”. As promised, Drake showed up shortly after 5 to collect us. We loaded up and headed back to Haines. Drake dipped the plane down so we could observe the sea lions playing in the bay – very neat to see however somewhat scary the tipping part. Landed safely and we must say it was an awesome flight, a fabulous day and lots of memories were renewed. The weather could not have been nicer, sunny, warm short sleeve t-shirt weather most of the day.
Now we are catching up with old friends and will update you all soon.
and I may not write again before we depart! Although Book #2 of Children of Glacier Point [homesteading in Alaska in the ’50’s] is officially released, our trip means no actual publishing until we return!
Meanwhile…..watch for updates on our journey. We are hoping for non-stormy weather so that we can explore more freely and get lots of pictures.
Some have asked if our old cabin is still there. No, it was already gone in the 80’s. Places that are not lived in and maintained deteriorate rapidly, especially in very damp climates. The cabin was unique in that it had originally been built across the water, from logs that were hand squared. Then they numbered them all, took it apart, floated to Glacier Point and reassembled. This was long before we were in Alaska.
There were a number of other smaller cabins to the north of us that were constructed right on the spot, also quite old.
Never heard the story of how the quonset hut at Teston’s was brought there, but imagine it also must have been taken apart and reassembled. Then, there was the fascinating [to us kids] two story house at the old Gorham place. Wish we knew the history of all those places, and why they were no longer lived in.
Not meaning to ‘scare’ myself or my sisters, but one week from now two of us will already be on a plane to Seattle and the other two shortly thereafter. We will meet in Seattle and fly on from there. Whew!
That means it is time to actually dig out that suitcase/bag and start moving things from List to Pile and then to Will it Fit and Do I Really Need That? or Oops, Not Enough Room! Because we may collect treasures on our trip, we are packing an empty light weight bag. Paying for a second bag is less expensive than the added fee for an overweight bag and we might need it!
Although we are headed ‘back in time’ with our memories, we will have our electronics along because we plan to document, record, shoot [pictures only!], as much as we can to share with our families. Yes, if you missed that part, our hubbies are staying home. What started with them wanting to be kept updated spread to a ‘Why not Blog our trip?’ thought.
We can hardly believe that it is now less than two weeks until our departure on the Alaska trip. We were all together for Mom’s memorial in Halfway Oregon, with many family and friends. Some of the grands were able to get there as well; a special time for the cousins to get reacquainted, spouses to visit, and sisters to go through so many memories.
We’ve now another box [only one? HA] to go through for future writings AFTER the Alaskan saga is finished. Plus all of Mom’s family genealogy research on both the Stelting and Davies sides.
For now, just think Alaskan homesteading and use one of the links below to follow us on our May adventure. You only need to sign in if you wish to be able to comment.
We will fly to Seattle, two of us from SW Oregon and two from Boise. From there we will be on the same flight to Juneau Alaska, stay overnight and catch the ferry to Haines the next morning. Wish we could do the entire ferry ride from Bellingham Washington, but we haven’t the time! One of the days we are in Haines, we will have a bush pilot fly us down to Glacier Point and leave us for a day of exploration.
Will try for another update or reminder before our departure, but feel free to send us comments via email or on the sites at any time!
Stay well and we hope you may enjoy our meanderings.
Denise, Linda, Nancy, Ruth
We’ll be in Juneau Alaska enjoying the sights and then on to Haines by ferry in the morning.
Really nothing more to say at the moment, but 
soon we’ll be seeing these mountains!
Holy cow, only three weeks left before our big trip and are we ready? Yes and no! So many things yet to get done, including another short trip in between now and then. 
Just for fun here is another picture of us ever so long ago. This one includes Nancy, Linda and Denise [left to right] with the old Fordson tractor.
Where are we headed? http://mapcarta.com/24036316
Check it out!
We are on countdown! May 7th, the four of us sisters leave on our trip to SE Alaska and our ‘roots’. Hubbies are staying home this time, to work or feed the pets or mind the manor or deal with mail or whatever else happens along.
Our plan is to post something every day or so on our jaunt down memory lane. For three of us, it has been 50 years since we were there….really! This was something our Mom wanted us to do, and thanks to her, we have our reservations made, contacts with long time friends made, and Book #2 finished! Book #3 will be compiled following our trip, so we can include ‘now’ photos along with all the ‘then’ photos. Oh, you missed that?
Summer on the homestead
Several years ago we published Book #1, Children of Glacier Point. This is the story of the first couple years of our folks homesteading near Haines, Alaska. Book #2 continues on using all the diaries we could find, things Mom remembered, and bits we’ve added to those specific memories.
Book #3 will be more of a ‘coffee table’ style, including several multi-page accounts our parents left on particular events, a number of category sections to include many memories we have that we do not have a date for, and multiple ‘then’ and ‘now’ photos as we continue to dig through those unsorted boxes of ‘stuff’. We think Mom and Dad would both be pleased we are doing this.
Book #1, and Skookum Jim which is poetry our Dad wrote, are both available at Brainstorms Publishing and Book #2 will be listed there soon.
So my issue at first was not being able to find the slide scanner [the one that
worked so much better than doodahs in the lid of the flat bed]. Finally I found it and then I followed directions for software etc and nothing. nada. Okkkkk, tried in regular Win7 computer, so now will try in Virtual XP. Still nothing. Well, what the (*&^^??? Don’t think it has died, because if you poke the little ‘curtain flap deally whop’ that you push the slide holder through, there IS light in there. Just NOT anything happening on the computer.
Spent considerable time messing with this.
At 2:54 AM I am up to potty, and on the way back to bed think of something. Can I get to sleep then? NO, finally after a half hour give up and get up and go try it. Seems like nothing but I restart everything just to check and do this little thing with the Virtual screen again. Aha, now it actually acknowledges there IS a scanner. but…it shows nothing. Just a black screen.
Huh. ok, huh is NOT what I said, or felt etc. Go googling and find some references to this
scanner and others with same problem and cannot see that anyone had a good resolution.
Talk to tech support, who seems to have a ‘foreign’ language service person on board, but
only as a back up, and find out that probably I am stuck with re-employing my old computer. [Called Clyde, Lexy was yakking away like crazy in the background! She’s our 19 month old granddaughter, pretty much a foreign language yet].
Wonder if there is any chance the old laptop will work, even though only Win98. It DOES have a USB which is needed for the scanner. Nope, won’t even TRY to install the software. Okay, fine…
Then the plan is to hook up the old computer [I have to use my current monitor so can’t move anything far, just drape wires all over the place] and scan in saving straight to the external hard drive.
SURE…when I plug the latter in the whole unit freezes. Ok, so an issue with the USB’s was one reason I had to go to a new computer. It seems only the front ports are viable, not the main ones, and only ONE thing at a time. So after THREE restarts, scanner finds its software etc which is still in the old computer and hallelujah I’m on the scan.
It still takes quite a while to do them, hours for just the Alaska ones that I know where are. Then I pulled the scanner, plugged in the external and drug them over to it. And yes they were still there when I got everything hooked back up the way it should be and looked from my main computer. WHEW.
Must put my shoes on and go collect mail etc and whatever UPS just left at the gate. Was this my plan for the day? What do YOU think?
Every plan has its pitfalls, such as life intervening. 2012 was another year of ‘issues’ which we are not going into. We ARE, however, going to work on improving our record for this year!
A helpful tool would be something like this: built in recorder so that after some crazy thing happened [whether it be event, conversation, adventure, spotting….] one could snap the fingers and say ‘Send THAT to the blog!’ What in reality happens is for the barest of moments we think ‘That would be good fodder for the readers.’ and continue on completing our mission of the moment and …. it’s gone. We either don’t remember or forget to transcribe or…well, I’m sure you get the picture.
For instance, any of you know the “United Van Line vs Expodition” story where we almost had instant Pico de Gallo?
Or the “Sisters & White Knuckles” trip?
Hmmm, see how it is?