We got to tour the aquarium and learn all about its salmon hatchery (clever on them, they added stuffies for dramatic interest) and how it grows food to feed its aquatic celebrities.

The Sitka town parade!

Votes submitted online! Winners published in the newspaper the next day! In this digital age, it took some explaining to Meryl about how the printed newspaper cycle works:)

We went on a boat! And a humpback whale followed us! No matter how hard I tried, I never seemed to get a good picture of it. But hearing it breathe was very cool.

We stared at the horizon, we ate a lot of chips, and we caught fish that weren’t salmon.

We all got sleepy trolling from cove to cove.

King salmon in the boat!

It’s real!

Round two and we netted another King in the boat!

It literally took us fifteen minutes to catch two King salmon after what felt like eons to some. (We narrowly missed the, “it was nice to just be out on the water” kind of day.) Regardless, success!

Via an inflatable boat!

As our reward, we headed to a boat-access only public beach with hot springs hot tubs that were formerly a brothel when logging roads provided thoroughfares to more than trees:) A great family destination! (And, I of course remembered everyone’s swimsuit but my own. Good thing I wore layers!)

The hot springs hot tubs were pretty darn cool. We could adjust the heat, we had them all to ourselves, and the view was pretty spectacular too!

Off to Sitka and Ketchikan!

It’s gorgeous here! Meryl and Holmes went for a beach walk with Xanna. Watching our kids from afar is so enjoyable; distance makes the heart grow fonder:)