Not seen until the very last day we were in Haines……

Along Lutak Road

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.

Since our Glacier Point trip we have done a presentation at the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center in Haines. It was an informal question and answer session with lots of folks asking questions and sharing stories of their experiences with our family.

We donated the first printing of The Children of Glacier Point Book 2 to the Museum.  This volume was hand bound and a special edition.  ( Information on the availability of Book 2 will be shared when we return home next week.)

Went out to breakfast and ran into family friend Butch Strong and enjoyed a great visit with him. Later in the day we stopped by to see Cecelia David and her son Jeff. Was wonderful to see them both.  Of course we have been hanging out with Nellie Clayton Pettit and Janice Clayton Hill over the past several days.

At the museum gathering we saw Mary Manuel, Carol Waldo, George Edwards, Betty Wilde – all friends from way back. So very nice to reconnect with all these folks.

We have enjoyed great food at several establishments around town and will likely have to  diet when we get home!

We have also been exploring all the shops and picking up items from local artists/artisans such as Tresham Gregg and others.

We are going out for Mothers Day dinner at the Hotel Halsingland this evening.

More later………………….much later.

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.

Yes, our flights,  were on time and we arrived in Juneau to beautiful sunny weather.  After checking in, we found out how to get downtown [10 miles away] and took the Tram ride to up Mt Roberts.  Guess what we ate for dinner?  SEAFOOD!  Yummy crab, salmon, halibut….ahhh.  Followed by blueberry pie and cheesecake for desert.

We are now in our motel room and will be up early in the morning [again] to catch the ferry to Haines.  We will try for pictures tomorrow!

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.

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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.

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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!