I'm Dreaming of A White November?

Friday was a state holiday, which meant we had the day off from work.  This holiday luckily coincided with the Bald Eagle Festival in Haines, the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world.  SO, on Friday, my co-clerks and I (and a few other friends) were up, on the way to the ferry docks.  I was tired and just wanted to sleep, but the views of sunrise were amazing.  Obviously, I had to wait a bit before I could justify closing my eyes.  Here's one of my favorites:

I must admit, watching the moon reflect over the water was even cooler than the sun peeking out from behind the mountains.  We really lucked out with the weather.  On Friday, it was clear and not raining (this is very uncommon in Southeast) so we were fortunate to be able to view the entire inner passage all the way to Haines (or at least for the 2 hours that I was not asleep).  Haines is about 75 miles from Juneau, but it takes 4.5 hours on the ferry to get there (yep, travel in Alaska is not cheap or easy).  It was worth the trip-

After arriving in Haines, we immediately went out to the Bald Eagle Preserve, 48,000 acres of protected land.  Once we pulled over to one of the lookouts, it was crazy, there were eagles EVERYWHERE.  We'd think it was black spots in the distance or tree stumps...nope, just eagles perched in the snow.  Turns out, eagles are lazy...SUPER lazy.  They come to this spot for 2 reasons: 1) the water stays warmer than surrounding areas and doesn't freeze because of percolating something or other and 2) dead salmon.  Yep, that's right.  Eagles prefer to not have to hunt their food.  They wait until it comes floating up to the surface and then will maybe expend the energy to bend down and fish it out.  Oh, and if that eagle buddy nearby has a salmon, they'll just take his instead of getting their own.  And this is our national symbol...Go Team USA!

Despite the fact that they're lazy, eagles are still really cool to watch.  There were so many eagles in the preserve (literally thousands) that we could watch them in the trees by the side of the road, see them across the river or in the far trees (with binoculars) or see them soaring overhead.  We also got to see them pooping...literally, it seemed like there was a communal poop time when they all just let it flow.  I saw one bird poop on another guy lower in the branches (often several birds would hang out in the same tree).  I guess he figured his buddy would get mad so he decided that was an opportune time to scamper off and fly away.  That's right, I saw a bald eagle poop and dash...LOVELY.

On Saturday, we woke up to over 6 inches of snow.  Everything was blanketed in white and that's the way it would stay the rest of the weekend.  Haines is the quintessential charming small Alaska town.  It has one real main road and a cluster of houses, but mostly it's just mountains.  If you didn't know anybody, you could miss the tiny town tucked into a cove and just soak up the views of the inlet.  I went for a run on Saturday (snow running, woo hoo) and it was absolutely breathtaking.  Yes, I slipped a few times on the snow and ice, but the views were worth every bruise.  That mountain air really does something good for me.  Besides, I expected to see Santa and his sleigh flying by at any minute...

We spent our leisurely weekend enjoying the town (and the snow), getting out to see the birds at the preserve another time, visiting the Haines brewing company twice (and other local shops), and savoring Chai lattes at the local health food store (yep, even a town that small has its Whole Foods type wannabe).  Unfortunately, the hammer museum was closed.  On Sunday night, we returned to Juneau.  Although it had snowed here basically all weekend, there were already 3 inches on the ground when our ferry arrived and it hasn't really stopped yet.  I think I had to wipe over a foot of snow off Lester today...but he started so yippee!

 *More pics of the Haines trip are on facebook.  Enjoy!