Megan's been here 2 days and we've seen SIX whales!
It's true! I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Megan (I've had a count down for about 3 weeks now) and IT'S FINALLY HERE! She got here late on Friday night and have seen and done just about everything so far. We got up on Saturday morning and I showed here around Sitka. We drove to either ends of the road and went to Totem Park. It has snowed everyday in March and Saturday was another day full of snow. She saw her first eagle and acted like a 5 year old, she says. We were both so excited and having her here has made more aware of the beauty around us....it's crazy how quick you can take things for granted. After a snow filled stroll in the park we went to lunch at the Bayview (my favorite restaurant) which overlooks the harbor. After lunch we went cruising out Sawmill Creek Road and found ourselves a pack of sea lions. So I pulled the car over and we jumped out to get a better look. THEN we saw some whales way off in the distance and we both just about peed ourselves and then they disappeared. Just as we were about to leave...little did we know they had swam closer to us and we snapped pictures like there was no tomorrow! Megan has dubbed herself the "paparazzi". It's perfect! After watching the whales until we couldn't any longer we took a little trip to the Theobroma Chocolate Factory of Sitka. We got ourselves a couple of bars of chocolate and went back to see if we could find our whale friends again but we didn't. We came home and took some cat naps and then went to the grocery store to get some groceries to make dinner at Annie's house. Kristen (Annie's roomate) and Pat joined us for some quesadillas and David Bean came over and entertained us with some fun stories. And that was day one of Megan's Alaskan Adventure.....
....AND for day two....we arose early today to catch a boat for a whale cruise! And did we see some whales! We climbed aboard a mini ferry with about 50 other people and got some breakfast that they served. We sat down and ate as we made our way into the Sitka Sound. We quickly came upon a pod of 4 whales. Humpbacks...we learned some fun facts about them...can grow to 45 feet and weigh 45 tons, they usually stay under for 4-9 minutes before coming up for air but have been known to stay under for as long as 20 min., they go to Hawaii to have their babies and stay there until the baby is "beefed" up and then they come to Alaska, they carry their babies for 12 months (crazy!!).....those are just a few! We just about jumped out of skin and OF COURSE snapped more pictures like there was no tomorrow. But this time we were a bit closer to them. It was unbelievable...pictures just don't do it justice!! The captain of the ferry kept our boat in the area of the whales for about an hour so we just watched them do their thing! Then he took us to see some sea otters and then some sea lions....pretty amazing creatures. We got a pretty great view of Mt. Edgecumbe while we were out there and the "paparazzi" got some sweet shots of that. It's been pretty rare because visibility has been so poor. It has snowed everyday of March so far and TODAY was the first day that it didn't!...the LORD is good! Sitka a broken their record for snowfall day after day this month...pretty crazy but fun for us! After our excursion out to sea we went to lunch at the one and only Hermanos....pizza, mexican and american food. Pretty fun and a great crowd pleaser. Then we came back to the house and hung out for a little bit to rest up for the hike we planned. We headed out to the other end of road where we hiked a little bit to get some water from the artesian well. Then we made our way to the Mosquito cove trail which is almost 2 miles. There was tons and tons of snow which made the hike about 10 times harder but made for one heck of a sledding hill at the end! And that was a wrap for the second day of Megan's Alaskan Adventure!
