Twas the night before leaving

Emma, Riley and Gavin...on our elusive eagle hunt.

My last night in Cordova has come already....and it was a fun one.  Melissa's kids came home a day early...which was awesome, because I got to see them.  I met Melissa when Riley (in the middle above) was just an infant, she is now 12 going on 21!  Melissa's kids are the fun ones you feel comfortable with right away, and even when you have not seen them in a couple years, you will find yourself snuggled up to one while watching TV.

After picking up kids that had traveled all day from Southern California, first on the to-do list was to feed them!  We had a great dinner and dessert.  After dinner, Melissa had one more spot to check out, for the elusive eagle...so we headed out.   After a little bit of driving she reminds me to keep an eye out for bear as well.  That's a lot of concentration, I was driving on a dirt and gravel road full of pot holes that resembled the surface of the moon, which bordered a lake on one side and mountainside on the other, while watching out for bears and eagles.   We get to the end of the road...to pools of spawned out salmon (salmon who have done their "business" and are now just waiting to swim on to salmon heaven)...as we get out Melissa says to leave the key in the ignition, walk closely together and to talk real loud...pretty easy to do when you have three kids tagging along.  We saw lots of salmon...still wish I could have caught one, how impressive would that be?...but no eagles and no bears (kind of thanking goodness for this, especially with kids in toe).  The giggles we shared were just as fun as seeing a bald eagle.

As I lay here in bed, thinking about what I have seen this week...the beauty of nature here still inspires and amazes me, to see a different lifestyle, one that is sort of off the grid, and the food I have tasted...halibut here is like no other, I cannot help but be grateful for this adventure.