It's All Fun and Games......

until the kids go home and the house is empty, and the holidays are over.  Our log cabin is too small for four adults, let alone six and an active toddler, but we would have them all back in a heartbeat.  Maybe we would put us or one couple up in a Bed and Breakfast close by, but we'd still rather have them here.  We had a great time with them all here.  Now we get to see the Facebook updates about McCannell's at the Zoo, Henry showing off his animal calls repertoire to the zoo clerk, and 80 degree sunshine.  :-(  Oh well, it's only another 2.5 years we will be on the island.

We did learn a very important lesson from the holidays:  don't have people visit in the winter!  Kelli and Jared had an unplanned night in Ketchikan on their way in, as planes were grounded.  Next Brady and Faith ran into grounded planes, two weeks later.  On the way home, Brady and Faith again had to take the ferry, as the little planes were grounded.  This forced them to re-schedule their Alaska Airlines flights, which they did, only to have that flight cancelled:  the incoming jets couldn't land due to weather.  Faith was lucky enough to get the last seat on a plane to Juneau later in the day, then fly out to Seattle, where she caught an early flight the next day.  Brady spent the night in Ketchikan, then flew out to Oakland.  Phew, what a trip for them!  Winds of over 50 miles per hour, both in Klawock/Prince of Wales and Ketchikan will certainly screw things up.  

View from the trailhead bridge

We had a great time with Brady and Faith.  They had some uncharacteristic sunny weather.  We did the Sunnahae Mountain trail, a Harris River trail, with Quinlan, the easy Klawock River trail, and all of us hiked part of the 20-mile Spur trail, named for it's location on the highway to Hollis, not it's length.  This was the same trail we used to cut down our Christmas tree.  This time, we drove farther up the road to the trialhead, but still were stopped short due to deep snow.  Judging by the smell of hot transmission fluid when we stopped, the transmission was not happy about the trip over the snow.  From there, we hiked up the road and got to the trailhead, where we crossed a few bridges, then turned around.  It was a brisk 36 degrees, but dry.  We didn't see or hear a single bird.  We did see quite a few deer tracks though.

Trailhead Bridge at 20-mile Spur Trail

 Brady and I had seen a river otter track when we hiked out to the Harris River, pretty cool.  the thick tail-drag sign was pretty clear evidence of who had passed by.  The bald eagles seem to have almost disappeared.  Brady and I got a great look at one standing on the side of the road, unruffled as we flew by at 40 mph, but otherwise, we saw very few of them during the time Brady and Faith were here. 

We also took a long walk on Cemetery Island, in the rain and wind.  It's still a nice hike.  

We had Sandy, our landlord, up for Happy Hour one night, to meet the kids.  This was fun, and we heard more about life on the island.  

It was a special and unforgettable Christmas, just wish it wasn't such a major pain in the butt to get to and from here!  They are looking forward to coming back in the late spring or summer, when the weather is better, the flowers are in bloom, salmon are running and there is more wildlife to see, and the hassles of traveling to the island are near gone.  We, too, are looking forward to their return!