Bears, Salmon & Ravens - Oh My, in Sitka

 

Yup, that is one big brown bear.   We were at the "Fortress of the Bear" in Sitka.  This one is about 1,000lbs of bear.   That is 1/2 the size of the really big ones!

Karen signed us up for a tour of the Baranof Island sights with Amy.  Highly recommended.

Amy carted us off to the Fortress of the Bear for our first adventure.

Like many tour guides she was very conversational.  She shared good stories of the history of Sitka and Baranof Island.

Photos from the Fortress of the Bear...   A black bear (no shoulder hump).

A brown bear, see the shoulder hump?   The color doesn't matter in species identification as there are black brown bears and brown black bears.

After the Bear Conservancy, Amy drove us to the Sitka National Historic Park.   We'd been here last year, but this year we got to see different areas of it.  This is the Indian River.

See, Taylor and Lizzy are still safe and were not eaten by the bears.

Chum salmon in the river.  They are just starting their annual spawning run up the rivers.   I'm sure the bears will be happier (and fatter).

This is only a small pittance for what is to come.   This river will be so full of salmon that there will hardly be room for water.

A cool looking tree stump.

A good portion of this park is dedicated to the preservation and display of totems from the various local native tribes.   I think this one is Tlingit.

Two Floridians at the base of a large totem.

Each totem is a story.  They may be stories of people, important events, or important stories/lessons.  I don't know how to interpret them, but the totems are beautiful and impressive.

The totems on the outside are hand carved by master totem carvers of the originals, some of which are stored inside in this museum.

We bid farewell to Amy as she dropped us off downtown so we could wander around Sitka.   We shopped, grabbed some lunch at Beak (a James beard award winning restaurant), and then walked back to Eliason Harbor where Blue Redd is moored.

A raven on a local signboard.

Cool old Victorian/Russian home.

A Tuk-Tuk full of tourist goods in front of the Beak restaurant.

The main totem in town in front of the Alaska Pioneer's Home.

The wildflowers are in bloom everywhere.

Eliason Harbor...

A pair of ravens that we disturbed.  The one on the right is taking flight.

A questionable restaurant.  It may be fine, but the outside is such an odd collection of fishing garbage, that I'm uncertain if we should try it.  It doesn't score well on Yelp anyway.

It was about here, that we came upon a baby goat (kid).   He was a beautiful little black goat running around the neighborhood and street.   We paused as the goat kept following us until a local came and picked it up.

I had no idea that kid goats were that soft, cute, and cuddly.  Very nice little guy.  I hope he made it back to his home OK.

We hiked back into town to the Bayview Pub for dinner.   I was hoping they had elk ribeye on the menu.  I had that last year, and it was fabulous.

This year, they had elk tenderloin - OK, sign me up!   It was excellent.  Even Taylor liked it!   I paired that with the 2019 BV Tapestry Bordeaux-inspired blend.  I can report that I preferred the 2019 over the 2018 and the 2020.

This was in the shop under the Bayview Restaurant.  Not sure where to go with this.   But it does beg the question - Why?

On that note, we wrap up today and get ready for tomorrow's adventure.   We are off towards Petersburg (about 7 days away).   Stay tuned for exciting updates!!!

Good Night, My Friends.