Going to My Angry Place...

I awoke to a cloudy day in Sitka and took off for a 4 mile run. The town is so small, that this distance covered everything. I ran the totem walk and through the woods and ended up on the beach at low tide. At least a dozen eagles were hanging out on the driftwood looking for breakfast. I tried to get close enough to take pictures, but no luck. I didn’t want to harass the birds and I could tell they were not comfortable with my presence.

Totem walk - my morning jog.

The driftwood on the beach was loaded with eagles. The is only one piece.

A little closer.

Coffee bike cart down on beach...  I got to enjoy my walk back with a hot cup.

We visited the Rapter Center  - a rescue center for birds injured in the state. Unlike the bears, if these guys can fly, they are released back into the wild as soon as possible. Some birds are long term tenants – their wings too damaged to fly. Most of these birds have been shot – a lot of eagles and owls. I didn’t particularly care too much for this center. It seemed slick and robotic, set up to make money. The employees seem to be mostly young males bent on moving people through as quickly as possible (pack them and rack them). If you can only visit one of the animal places in Sitka, go to Fortress of the Bear. We had coffee with Becky from Sitka NHP and talked shop for a short bit.

Eagle with most of wing gone from shotgun blast. Bird center.

We drove to Old Sitka (NHL) at the other end of the road; this means Sitka, Juneau and Haines are all thoroughly explored. We ended our day with a walk on the beach and dinner at Ludvig’s. Oh my goodness – what a wonderful jewel in Sitka. If you can only eat one place in Sitka, this should be the one! 

Halibut and wine at Ludvig's

We passed gift shops that were actually selling sea salt to the tourists. Now this is better than moose poop... don’t you think? They had many flavors of sea salt.

Flavored salt for sale to tourists.

The residents of Sitka definitely have a thing for cross walks. They want to make sure you cross at the walk, not 15 feet on either side of it, or at some random location. They will stop and roll down their windows and tell you that you are not in a crosswalk. This phenomenon occurred numerous times; perhaps because many folks drive worse here than in Anchorage and there is genuine concern for your safety?  There was one particular exchange I’m not proud of since I let an individual draw out “Angry Judy”.  We were crossing a bank parking lot and this crazy maniac raced around us to park, cutting it uncomfortably close.  I got him to go from “buzz off lady” to “fuck you” in 10 seconds. I smiled sweetly.

This trip has been a little challenging for the digital photographs. Jazz inadvertently deleted all the photos she took of the Russian cemetery (first on her computer, second on the memory card). Although she didn’t swear like a truck driver – she is getting mellower as the years go one.  I washed and dried my memory card that contained all the totem pole images and my images from my recent Nome trip. I had forgotten it was in my pocket. Luckily, after an overnight dryout, my photos recovered fine. 

We boarded the ferry and headed back to Juneau. It was a nice easy trip with lots of walking and photo shooting.

fishing nets

boats