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Eastern Oregon

Last week Robbie and I made our way down to John Day, Oregon. This town is our soon to be home. We took a few photos, and I know that some of you are anxious to see what the area looks like.


Many of the fields we drove past had groups of mule deer grazing, as seen here. I have never seen so many deer in one area. They not only frequent the fields, but they also frequent town and spend their days lazily laying in people's yards.


One late afternoon we drove up to a small lake located in the National Forest. Three gentlemen were fishing, and it didn't look like they were doing too bad. This lake has a trail around it, and could easily be done in an hour or so.
This shot is a little washed out, but gives a better idea of the valley in which we will be living and the forest that surrounds it above.Here is a photo of a pheasant that Robbie spotted on the side of the road one afternoon. He had a lady friend with him, but she wasn't as pretty and was much more camouflaged in the background.



Oh yes, the shoe tree. No highway is complete with out one. Need I say more?

Hoonah

This last weekend Robbie, Chad, Scott (Chad’s Bro), Marc (Chad’s Bud), and myself all took the ferry over to Hoonah, Alaska. Hoonah is a small fishing town of about 800 residents, located on Chichagof Island. We all had the intention of catching Coho (silver) salmon. Chad, Scott and Marc also brought their shotguns for some duck hunting. According to Chad, the fishing wasn’t off the hook, but we were all able to bring in enough fish to send everyone home happy.

We were pretty fortunate the weather held out all day Friday and through most of Saturday. However by Saturday evening the sky broke free into a Southeast Alaska down torrent. Luckily we had a “Tarpologist” with us, as Marc referred to Robbie. Actually, all the men worked really well together and donated great ideas so that we could still enjoy the outdoors, and cook without getting soaked from the rain. Can anyone guess where I was during all of this? Yep, you got it, in the truck, nice and dry. I figured it best to stay out of the way of all that testosterone. Plus, like a moron, I forgot an extra pair of waterproof boots, and didn’t want to take the chance of getting my feet soaked. That could have been a downer for everyone. Needless to say that evening most of us went to bed early, and listened to the rain hitting the cabs and canopy roofs of the trucks.

On Sunday, we awoke to the rain, but not as hard as the night before. Robbie and I didn’t go fishing with the others. We drove some of the forest service roads, looked for critters, and explored the town and its infamous brown bear hang out, the city dump. I’ve heard plenty of stories from Robbie and our friend Keith about the Hoonah dump and how huge the brown bears are that frequent it. According to Robbie the dump is different now, they have a gate around the freshly dumped off trash, and had it on fire, actually more like a smolder. Robbie didn’t expect with the change that we would see any bears, but low and behold one came out of the wood work, and another was down by the big pile of somewhat already burned trash. I thought the bears were plenty big, but Robbie assures me that the bears of the past got so big on human waste, that their belly’s dragged on the ground.


More pictures are down below in the albums, if you care to take a look.

Headed Down South

Come late November, Robbie and I will be living in the lower 48 again. Robbie has been offered and accepted a Wildlife Biologist position with the Malheur National Forest and the Blue Mountain Ranger District in John Day, Oregon. We are eagerly awaiting a new landscape, recreational opportunities and the sun.

When Ma Sanders Came to Town

After Brent, Cheryl, Ryan and Kristy came to visit, my mother, Renee stayed with us too. We had a wonderful time, and were even able to convince her to go out on the boat last Saturday. While heading out to North Pass, to silver (coho) salmon fish, we lucked out and witnessed porpoises, and whales around us and in the near distance. Unfortunately the pictures don't do it any justice. Our adventure was highlighted with mom bringing in the lone silver salmon into the boat. I think it may have been her first too! She did well, and had a grin from ear to ear. It is always awesome to hear the excitement of a none experienced fisher person when they bring in their catch of the day.

We also went up the Mt. Roberts Tram and ate dinner at the Timberline Bar and Grill on top for all of our birthdays. Moms was in July, and Robbie and I at the end of August. The ride up and down on the tram only lasts a few minutes, but to my mother, who isn't fond of small tight object floating up in the air, I think was a lifetime. At one point Robbie and I looked over on the way down, and wondered if she was hyperventilating. All in all we had a wonderful dinner and a spectacular view.


As with any of our summer time visitors, we headed out to the glacier to spot bears. We got lucky and saw a black bear fishing in the creek, and walking about the forest.