Chief Shakes Historic Site

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Rambling Bears Rambling North America
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- Aug 8, 2017
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 33 m
- United States Alaska Wrangell Chief Shakes Historic Site 56.470657, -132.37727456°28’14” N 132°22’38” W
Day 13
On the move. Ketchikan to Wrangell.
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
It was a reasonably early start to the day with check-in at the ferry terminal at 7.15am. This section of our ferry cruise is on the Matanuska.
As Wrangell is just six hours away we put our luggage on the trolley so that that we did not have to worry about it till we reached Wrangell. We lunched on clam chowder then spent the remainder of the journey in the front observation room.
Once in Wrangell our host, Barb, at Zimovia BnB picked us up, after delivering another Aussie couple back to the BnB, and whisked us back to our lodgings after a brief orientation tour of major sights. Two others issues, Stevie and Ruth, had been on the ferry with us but we only met when we disembarked. They are also spending the night at Barb's
The BnB rooms as are on the ground floor of Mike and Barb's home and cute as. The Garnet Room is cute as, with ist's fishy theme and our own sauna room, and a kitchen bench with fridge, toaster, sink and two burner top-plate. Compact but comfy. Breakfast supplies are supplied. Because the weather is continuing to be ideal Ruth and Mike are running away to camp for a few days on a nearby island so we are in charge! Promotion comes quickly.
Wrangell - love at first sight. A gem of a town reminiscent of an old Australian coastal town. With a population of just 3,000 it nestles between the hills and the coastline. Picture postcard perfect.
Dinnertime we walked down to the Stikine Inn, perhaps the only viable option of a decent meal in such a small town unless we self catered. Of course there is a burger joint, a fish and chippery and the Not So Famous Pizza joint but I think we will probably pass on those.
So if you are only going to have one decent restaurant option in town the Stikine Inn definitely fit the bill and will be our dining venue of choice for the next four nights. We will work our way through the menu. Not a lot of vegetarian options but a good range of seafood selections. Tonight - shared calamari with sweet chilli sauce and beetroot, spinach, walnut and feta salad.Read more
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Rambling Bears Rambling North America
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- Aug 9, 2017
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 31 m
- United States Alaska Wrangell Chief Shakes Historic Site 56.470608, -132.37681256°28’14” N 132°22’37” W
Day 14
Wrangell
August 9, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
The summer weather is continuing with bright sunny skies and a pleasant temperature. We are in love with Wrangell. It is a small working town of about 3000 people living in the area. Although they get small cruise ships they said no to the big liners taking over their town and maintained their integrity. It is typical of any small town where everyone knows everyone else in the town. They are friendly and have time to stop and chat and don't mind to stop and chat either.
We took a slow stroll down the hill and walked the Main Street to see Sylvia at Alaska Vistas but since she was out at the observatory we checked in for the following day and went for coffee and pumpkin and walnut bread at the Stikine Inn. The two girls serving were highly amused with Neil and his antics.
From there it was a short stroll to the museum. Only small it was a very interesting museum giving the history of the area and the town's growth. Wrangell was the only town in Alaska to be ruled by four nations - the Tlingit, the Russians, the English , and the USA. Wyatt Earp was a temporary Marshall here for 10 days when he and his wife were on their way to the Klondike to seek their fortunes. He declined the offered full time position and many locals feel that Wrangell was to wild for Wyatt. Josie, Wyatt's common law wife, described it as a godless hole. It was bit of a rough old town back in the true frontier days.
In the afternoon we walked over the hill from where we are staying to walk through the muskeg, which are mossy bogs found in Northern America. I expected the bog to be similar to wetlands but they were not in any way similar. The bogs tend to be acidic and trees grow to a lesser height to elsewhere but it still seemed like Forrest to me and was a great walk communing with nature.
Dinner at the Stikine Inn. Neil - fish tacos and me chowder and salad.Read more
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Rambling Bears Rambling North America
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- Aug 11, 2017
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Altitude: 34 m
- United States Alaska Wrangell Chief Shakes Historic Site 56.470619, -132.37585456°28’14” N 132°22’33” W
Day 16
Last day in Wrangell
August 11, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Our final day in Wrangell and I think we may have seen the last of the beautiful sunny weather. South East Alaska has now had nine sunny days straight so we have been lucky to experience it. Today is still warm but there is now a nip to the air and the clouds are building up. Today we had a quieter day and our rambles have taken us along the byways east of the township.
Dinner at the Stikine Inn once again (there really aren't too many other options for a decent meal since burgers and pizza are not usually in our culinary vocab). Tonight we had a rerun of last nights octopus and hot potato salad - not shabby at all.
We will be sad to leave Wrangell tomorrow. It is a beautiful town - small and super friendly. Half of the fun of being here has been talking to the locals. Town life is relatively slow, all the locals know each other and they are only too happy to stop and have a chat with you.Read more
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