4 Wheels 4 Girls

On July 14th, we had to say goodbye to our friends Ava and Brooke. They were leaving on a ferry to Prince Rupert at around one in the afternoon, so we didn’t have much time that morning to play with them on the beach and exchange contact information with their mom. They were so cute; I wish they’d move to Atlanta so I could babysit them! We played on the beach with them for a while, but it was kinda cloudy and cold so we ended up hanging out in our RV instead, all six of us. It was fun.

By that time it was almost time for Ava and Brooke to go, so we said goodbye. There were many hugs exchanged, and then we traded emails and such. Finally they left, and we shouted, “GOODBYE!” as their camper drove away.

We were mostly bored for the rest of the day because we were missing our friends. We’ll have to email them soon!!! 🙂

We had a great time with our friends

July 15th, we decided to leave the Oceanside View campground for a short while on a 20 mile bike ride. None of the kids wanted to go. We were having fun on the beach and we didn’t even want to bike at all. But once we got started, it was okay. The only problem was that we were really hungry.

So after we’d gone down mostly down-hills, (which is bad because they’re up-hills on the way back) it got pretty flat. Once we were at the river, we got to see some men and women fishing. One woman caught a little silver fishy, and she said it was called a Dolly Varden. Her husband gave us some “Cheesies”, which are, according to him, only made in Canada, but they’re like the same thing as Cheese Puffs. (And by the way, we were in Haines, Alaska, but he was from Whitehorse, Canada.)

After a few minutes of watching them fish, we started the up-hill ride back home.

Riding along the Chilkoot river, north of Haines

At Oceanside RV Park on July 13th, I was playing at the beach and then I went up to see Mama and Beth and then this lady was talking about sea otters. And then she pointed out a sea otter. And then I shouted to Greta and Stella and Ellie and Ava and Brooke, “There’s a sea otter, you know!” and they said, “I know!” but actually they didn’t see one; they saw some rocks instead. And then I said, “Those are rocks!” and then I pointed to the real sea otter.

Then we went back to play, and Stella and Ellie went to ask if we could put our swimsuits on. But they came back saying, “No, but we can get as wet as we want.” So I did, and I was silly enough to pour a whole water bottle of water on my head, and I got soaking wet. Then Brooke tied a piece of string to a stick, and then I went in a very shallow part in the ocean, and sat down so we could help me up. And then I climbed up the rocks, and then had to help Ava down through the rocks since she was afraid to touch the poison oak. But we didn’t touch it. Instead she went down before me so I could help her with her poison oak issue. Then we climbed on the big rocks and me and Ava both got our knees scraped, and Greta helped us feel better.

Little sisters!

Then we had to go back up for lunch, and we had a picnic with Ava and Brooke. And after that Ava and Brooke left and then I was very sad and now I’m waiting for them to come back, and then we’ll go play again.

And that’s the way my story ends!

Today, on July 13th, we went out to the beach again to play. Ava, who’s five, and Brooke, who’s three, were out, and so were two boys, Ethan and Connor. Ethan was eight and Connor was ten. It was great to have a lot of kids, and I showed them Pilot Jake’s grave and his steering wheel, and we found three old torn-up shoes. We decided that they had once belonged to Pilot Jake, the dead fish, so we put them around his body. we played in the ocean and watched the tide come up.

Working on Pilot Jake's grave

Then, unfortunately, Connor and Ethan had to go, but we continued to play in the waves. The tide was going WAY up, and I realized that if we didn’t move Pilot Jake and his grave, he would be washed out at high tide if we didn’t move him. So I dug a hole, pretty deep so dogs wouldn’t dig him out and so he wouldn’t be demolished by the waves, and then Stella picked up Pilot Jake and dropped him in the hole. Then we buried him and piled him with sand almost two feet high to protect him from the tide, and then we put shells on top as a protective covering. I didn’t really think it was much protection, but Ava insisted, so we did. Then we found a thick sheet of metal to cover the grave, so we put it on top and then packed it down with sand. Then we covered the grave with kelp, seaweed, and shells, and then tested its strength by dumping large amounts of water on top. Finally, it was ready.

At the campground with Ava and Brooke

We left the grave alone and played on the rocks since the tide was so high. Then we all had to go eat lunch, so we had a picnic out in front of the beach so we could see the tide come up even higher. Then Ava and Brooke went to a museum, so now we’re taking a break until they come back. More later! 😉

After ariving at our campground we went down to play at the beach. It was really fun. We played with Ava and Brooke on the beach. After playing with them for along time we went up to go to the RV. Our parents stopped us and said we were going to go help kill crabs for dinner. That is the opposite of what I wanted to do. We went to go help. When we got there we saw a ton of crabs. I mean A TON OF CRABS!!! I think the person that caught the crabs said there were 40 crabs!!!!!

Cleaning the crab, removing the lungs and guts

Then the killing started. Joyce the owner of the RV park would Uhhhhh I don’t want to say it. It’s sad. Ok well she would take the crab in both her hands and would knock off its shell and that would kill it. Ouch! Then Daddy would take the dead crab and crack it in half. Then it was me and Stella’s job to take off the lungs. It was so sad. We did that over and over until we finshed.

Putting the cleaned crabs into buckets to take back to the campground for cooking

After that we left to go get ready for dinner at the pot lock. We made salad with the vinegar that Gretchen gave us. When we got there they would call us to come and get our food. We each got a whole crab. Joyce showed us how to get the meat out of the crab. The crab was good but when you put a ton of it in you mouth it was really bland. After that we all went back for desert. I got cake and I fed Daddy his while he was getting all the meat out of the crab. After a really nice dinner we went down to the beach.

Washing the crabs after cooking them

July 12th, we arrived at the campground before I knew it. Ellie looked out the window and spotted a beach– just what we’d been looking for for the whole trip! So Ellie and I asked Jean if we could go check it out while Dad and Ana went to check in to the Oceanside RV Park. We asked Greta if she wanted to come and she answered, “Sure.”

Here we are, down on the shore in Haines, Alaska

We hopped out and stepped up to the edge of the 15-to-20-feet-high cliff. I searched for a path down, but couldn’t find one so I just decided I’d follow Ellie, who was leading. But then I spotted a place where the rocks had been pushed aside and there was a little path. And that lead to our adventure.

We explored everything, first the bog. There wasn’t actually a bog, we just called it that. There was tons, and I mean TONS, of kelp, seaweed, and other slimy ocean plants. We were really grossed out at first, but got over it as we realized that it was just like walking on wet grass, only it was a little slimier.

We met some little girls named Ava and Brooke. Ana finally joined us and we all played with our new friends. We played with kelp that was shaped like an onion-sized bulb with a really long tail, and more kelp that was like a sheet of gooey paper. We used the bulby kelp with the tail to surround a dead fish that we found and named Jake. We had a fake funeral service and we held hands around Pilot Jake’s “grave” and said things like, “We’ll miss you, Jakie!” and, “We love you!” ,and cracked up afterwards.

We had a great time. Today I’m going to collect my sisters, Ava, and Brooke, and go out and do the same!

Haines!

July 12th, we drove to Haines. During the drive, we spotted two trumpeter swans and what we thought were six signets (baby swans). But it turned out that the “signets” were actually baby wood ducks! They were ADORABLE! We didn’t get any pictures of them, but I took a picture of one of the swans.

We think this is the gander

We stopped in a pullover just outside of Haines. It was along a river where tons of salmon run, so that means lots of bears. We didn’t see any, but Dad got this picture of Ana.

Along a big river near Haines, Alaska

That was our last stop until Haines.

In the morning on july 12th we were seting in a polovere *(pullover) along the Haines Highway and I looked out the window and there was something like a dog. I asked my mom if it was a fox. She looked and said “yes”. Then daddy said it was a gray fox. We watched for a while and then he went down the road. Then we started driving to follow him but he went into the ditch but I spotted him again. This was my second gray fox on this trip. So far on this trip, I am the only one who has spotted a gray fox. Done.
(*editorial and typing assistance begins here)

A gray fox in the morning

Let July 11 forever be known as the Night of the Porcupine.

This whole trip I have wanted to catch sight of a porcupine. For weeks and weeks, I have gazed out the window of the camper, searching for one along the road. Looking for porcupine, I have spotted bear, moose, elk — all manner of critters — but not a porcupine. I have, perhaps, driven Jean and the girls a little crazy with it. One night, as we were watching three moose grazing in a lake, I joked, “You know, the one thing that would make this moment better? A porcupine.” They were less amused than I had hoped.

Anyway, July 11, we made our way back through Canada toward Haines, Alaska. Jean spotted something move off the road into the brush ahead. It was pretty far away yet, and she guessed it might be a small bear. As we neared the spot, I scanned between the bushes for a critter and, when I recognized what I was seeing, I excitedly exclaimed, “a porcupine!” All the girls came running up to the window as the porcupine scurried off into the woods. It was pretty good sized–much bigger than I expected–about the size of a small pig or a very large raccoon.

I was overjoyed to finally see a porcupine. I gave Jean a big kiss of gratitude and sat contentedly reliving the sighting in my mind as we cruised on down the road.

Then Jean spotted three more, one after the other, over the next twenty miles. I was beside myself.

And now, as Ana would say, my story is told.

This black bear is not one of the porcupines we saw that evening. It is a black bear which we spotted earlier that day.

As we were driving from the Sourdough Campground on July 11th, we saw some trumpeter swans! They were gorgeous and white as snow. The mom and the dad had four cygnets, or babies, with them, just like our family! We got out our binoculars and watched them for a long time. We also took lots of pictures.

A family of trumpeter swans on a lake in Alaska

The next day, we saw four more swans, just as pretty as the last ones. I had a perfect view of one from my window.

I’m so glad we got to see those beautiful birds. I hope we see more! 🙂

The view near Destruction Bay, Yukon