July 27 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DEATRA

July 27, 2010 Deatra and I celebrate 42 years of marital bliss!

The big new is that today we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem possible that we have been married that long. It has been a few downs and an innumerable amount of good times. We are looking forward to even more good times.
We had a big day that started in Stewart BC. We went to town and walked around a bit. It is a very small town with almost no traffic. We visited the harbor on the way to Hyder. Next to the visitors center they had a real nice boardwalk over the marsh where you could look for birds. The entire boardwalk must have been 1/4 mile long. It had no rails or any protection on the sides. You would not get away with that in the States. It was a real nice walk as the weather was sunny and warm. Guess what? Shorts and T-shirt weather again.
We then went to Hyder, Ak just 3 miles down the road. All the streets are dirt. It looks just like an old west town. A lot of stores have closed down on the main street. Just a few General Stores scattered about, a restaurant in a bus, a couple of souvenir stores, and a bar. Deatra talked to a woman that owns a souvenir store that sells wood from this area to a man in Pilot Mountain that is a well know Dulcimer maker. She had several Dulcimers their and played a little on each. She was an interesting individual.
We drove out to Tongass National Forest to watch for bears on Fish Creek. Immediately as we got to the walkway a female grizzly bear came running down the stream after a salmon. We watched her catch and eat it, then go look for another. She caught another one and went into the bushes. A little later a female black bear came along found a salmon another bear had left and went into the bushes with it. That was all the bears. We watched the salmon swimming in a stream that looked too shallow for them to swim in. Sometimes their backs and tails would be out of the water. One pair was spawning and another male came along. The first male kept ramming him until he chased him off. A pretty neat place with incredible sights.
We came back to Stewart and had dinner at the Silverado Cafe. It was a little local place with good food. We are staying in Stewart tonight and heading out tomorrow. About one more week in Canada it looks like. It will be good to get back in the USA!!!