July 20, 2017

Today was our day to go to Anan. It was a bit sunny this morning and a bit warmer as well which was nice. Had a shower and did the morning routine and walked over to say Hi to Kim. Ken returned after picking up his father and they headed out to Kindergarten Cove to do some fishing with the family. We went for a walk with Bella to try and tire her out a bit and came back and had lunch. A huge sailboat came into the marina while we were there and we watched it and the world go by for a while. Then another recreational boat came in too. We were no longer the only transient in the marina!

We borrowed Ken & Kim's truck and left around 1:10 to head into town to catch the boat. We were a bit early and so had coffee from the shop and wandered around a bit. As we were waiting at the picnic tables for the boat to be ready, we met our boat companions. It was one family with Grandma and Grandpa from Iowa, Son from Thailand, and Daughter and 2 young granddaughters from Virginia. They were traveling throughout Alaska for 25 days. We talked to Gramma and she said that initially, she bought the tour tickets online, including 2 "kids" price tickets, only to read later that children under 12 were not allowed on the tour! She ended up talking to them and finding out what behavior was needed for the kids and they all determined that their kids would be fine. Apparently the tour people just say that so they can "vet" kids beforehand.



We piled into their jet boat and noticed that it was a bit bigger and nicely appointed compared to the previous one. And of course, they had a bathroom on board. It was about a 50 minute trip at 39kts to the Observatory. They had Black bears there! We had a great time, more detail and way too many photos later. Here's a sample.