Humpback whale in Hoonah harbor

After anticipations to teach a weaving class in Hoonah were postponed until next year, I figured I would not be visiting Hoonah during this Summer’s weaving tour – however, a few days before Labor Day, my friend Margie mentioned that she wanted to go to Hoonah, and without a beat I exclaimed “When?…Let’s go!”  We made acommodation arrangements with our mutual friend, Darlene and we were on!

Margaret waits at the dock

I cannot remember when I took a vacation on Labor Day weekend, or if I had ever done one in the past at all!  Golly!  After Margie and I spent the previous week picking berries and preparing them for winter, we jumped the ferry to Hoonah!  Yaaaaah!  We are going after fish and berries!

MV Talatche docked at Hoonah Harbor – it’s for sale

Like all Southeastern Alaska towns, there are various shades of gray:  gray green, gray blue, gray white, gray black, gray yellow,…gray this and that mixed in with a bit of color here and there – the following photos will show you a hint of our color scheme here in our beloved “north country”….

Bull whips mingle amongst the kelp and seaweeds

On our way….

The dock at low tide…

Discovering color…

Darlene heads us out towards Icy Straits

Depth finder and reel

Fishing comrade…

Removing hook from the Coho…

Heading home….(notice the red bogs; Spider Woman!)

Boat 1

Boat 2

Thank you Darlene for taking us out fishing and driving around the mountain sides searching for big blueberries!  We had a great time even if it did rain all weekend!  We Alaskans know that if we waited for good weather to do anything, nothing would get done!  We are born with the color gray!

Boat 3

We brought home the salmon, marinated the strips overnight in a special “Filipino-influenced” brine, ready for the smoker!

Favorite part of smoking salmon is packing the jars before the water bath.