Our good friends, Rachel and Spenser Briggs, invited us to come to Sitka, Alaska with them along with Spenser's family as they honored their son, Wesley, who passed away three years ago at age two. This week was his birthday and his "angel day," and they have started coming to Sitka to find peace and solace (Sitka was where Spenser's father grew up). We were honored and so grateful to be able to be here with them. And what a wonderful trip it has been--truly incredible.
Clayton was such a trooper with all the traveling and maintained a generally good attitude throughout the 8+ hours of being on two flights, carrying his giant backpack a lot of the way in the airport. We landed abruptly on a very short runway right on the water and then drove to our Airbnb at about 3am in the morning EST. And then got up at 5:15am (9:15am EST) for Michael and Robbie and Henry to go on a fishing trip with the Briggs.
It was a success! Robbie also caught a King Salmon which had to be thrown back because you can only keep them during certain points of the summer.
The views are all truly stunning. It's a slower pace here and the locals really seem to love living here.
The boys have especially loved playing with Jesse Briggs, who was born two years after Wesley's passing and who is an absolute joy.
Shortly after returning from the fishing trip, we all headed back out on a wildlife boat tour. It was great timing because there weren't any cruise ships scheduled that day, which bring nearly half of the entire population of the island (4,000-9,000 people, depending on how many ships are there that day), to Sitka to visit for the day.
One of Michael's favorite experiences on the whole trip, arms outstretched while the boat is streaming along the water.
I was trying not to get my hopes up but we were so thrilled to see several whales as well as a coastal brown bear on the shores of the water, catching salmon. The salmon are coming back to spawn right now and the waters are full of them. Truly incredible to see. They all die (those who aren't caught or eaten by other animals) after they spawn, so in a few weeks the air smells of rotting fish for about a week. Glad we aren't here then!
Very happy that we didn't get seasick like we did on the whale watching tour in Boston five years ago! Clayton fell asleep on the boat and wasn't too happy to take a photo.
Going to church in Sitka was a delight. The building is like a log cabin, very unique in its layout and design. A family friend of the Briggs, Jaclyn, made salmon and rice for everyone after church--she married a native Tlingit man (pronounced Kling-it) who also made fish heads for everyone to eat. I tried a bit but refrained from eating the eye :-).
The Fortress of the Bears was a unique rescue facility for bear cubs that have been orphaned and otherwise would be euthanized. They had black bears (not native to Sitka but are in mainland Alaska) and coastal brown bears. We watched them being fed raw chicken legs and crunching on the bones. The facility is held in a former pulp mill which was used when the logging industry was active here.
More beautiful views.
After the Fortress of the Bears we visited Whale Park, which had steps down to the water's edge.
Chilling on a whale's tail.
We went on a hike called Mosquito Cove, which fortunately did not live up to its name, at least while we were there.
These two-inch black slugs were all throughout the forest. Ick.
Salmon berries grow all over, which taste like a tart, seedy blackberry.
We drove up to the furthest end of Baranof Island (Sitka is the main city on the island and is actually the largest city in the U.S. by square mileage) to see this beautiful view. The boys love throwing rocks so much that Michael said our next trip we should just drive to a rock quarry to throw rocks, and Robbie said that sounded good!
These blue skies were very unexpected as the weather is generally gray and rainy in Sitka. We felt incredibly grateful.
Looking forward to a bright future together.
The next day we hiked up to Harbor Point, which had by far the best views of the whole trip. Truly stunning.
Brotherly love.
Clayton was with Michael in the backpack. We got them all hiking shoes for the trip and they were well used.
The sun is pretty bright here and you can get burned easily. We also wore sleep masks at night since there's 17 hours of daylight in the summer.
In the distance you can see Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano.
Shortly after this hike we meet up with the Briggs on the Herring Cove trail to see a beautiful waterfall.
It is actually a temperate rainforest, and I loved seeing the interesting plants, including giant skunk cabbage plants 3+ feet in diameter.
After that hike, we visited the Sitka Sound Science Center. A touch pool in the science center was really fun--touching sea stars and anemones, little tube worms, and crabs.
Watching folks fishing from the shore.
We received a fascinating tour of the fish hatchery, where the guide taught us that the salmon travel hundreds of miles to return to the same stream where they were spawned, and the fish hatchery helps that along (to increase total numbers of salmon in the wild for both animals and fishermen). The fish who've spawned at the hatchery fight their way back to the same place, hanging out at the entrance by the thousands and millions until the net is opened to allow them to swim "upstream" through this corridor to have their eggs and semen taken out after they're euthanized (they die anyway after they realize their eggs), fertilized by hand (mixed together in a bucket, essentially), then raised for a few months until they're big enough to be released out by the million to go back into the ocean. Only 4-8% return, but the guide said that's perfect for what they need. They want them to be eaten and be part of the food chain.
Fishing off the pier was a highlight for Robbie and Henry. The ocean is literally roiling with salmon as they make their way back to spawn. One of the Briggs' uncles, Mack, said they're like zombie fish because they're really almost dead, mushy, dying from the inside out as they come back to lay their eggs and die. Sad but cool. Amazingly, we learned from a nature film we saw in the theater that the dead salmon carcasses also nourish the forest floors after bears leave the leftovers, and the dead salmon also provide food in the ocean for microorganisms to grow which other organisms rely on, all in an inspiring circle of life.
The harbor, one of six in Sitka.
Happy birthday to Benjy! The Briggs family has been incredibly kind and welcoming to us, even singing to Benjy and celebrating his birthday on Wesley's angel day, which was undoubtedly a difficult day for all of them (here with Briggs cousin Brooklyn).
The Briggs family and us :-)--they even got us family reunion t-shirts! Wesley, their son who passed, loved wearing his yellow boots everywhere, so they had a photo with all of them wearing their boots.
We stayed one day longer after the Briggs crew left so we could experience a few more things.
Walking out to Magic Island was pretty special, especially seeing the surrounding mountains peeking through the clouds. Magic Island is so called because during low tide a land bridge is formed, allowing you to walk out onto the island.
I think the boys were disappointed thinking it was like Pinocchio's Pleasure Island, but fortunately initial disappointment gave way to wonder and interest as they discovered sea stars, tiny crabs, and squishy sea anemones.
Michael enjoyed the smooth rocks, creating his own reflexology walk ;-).
Sitka truly is a special place, intentionally preserved and protected by the native Tlingit people, conservationists, and businesses. What a wonderful, inspiring trip it has been!
