Dear Friends & Family,
No, it wasn’t a bear or a moose, it was our nephew, Mitchell Smith, from Kansas City. He flew in on Thursday evening and stayed with us until Monday.
Friday morning, he got up and hiked with Travis, Seeley & Lego. That afternoon we were able to get him on a tour for FREE! Dacotah has connections! He got to float down the Chilkat river looking for eagles. They call it the “eagle float” tour. We had just met his guide, a man by the name of Tom Lang, who is a local author, who also lives in Bali and it a yoga instructor. Mitchell and Tom really really hit it off. That evening the Russell’s joined us for a salmon dinner. We introduced Mitchell to Ted Lasso & binge watched it with him.
Saturday brought a trip to Alaska Rod’s for some gifts he could bring home. I found a beautiful hand carved wooden bowl that I HAD to HAVE! I told Steve that it would be perfect to serve nuts in-of course, he had to call it a nut cup! We took him to the farmer’s market in search of freeze-dried skittles, but they weren’t there this week. We met the Russell’s at the firehouse for the volunteer firehouse BBQ fundraiser. We had potato salad, coleslaw, beans, rolls and brisket. Mitchell (coming from Kansas City, which is very big on BBQ,) said he was very impressed by the brisket! We took him to the Whale Rider, which is a gift shop by a local artist, Treshem Gregg. He is our landlord, Annette Smith’s, brother. We bought a silk screen print of his and he has a small totem called “The Owl Woman” that I REALLY want! Also took him to the grocery store for ice cream since we didn’t have any (which he thought was strange). That evening we dined at the Russell’s, and we had Sushi! There is a couple here that occasionally makes Sushi and sells it at the fairgrounds. We had spicy tuna, California roll with REAL LOCAL crab.
Sunday, we watched Seeley while the rest hiked up Mt. Riley. I’m pretty sure we had more fun-LOL. Mitchell needed a nap afterwards and Steve was busy making dinner-eggplant parmesan, chicken piccata, and Caesar salad. We invited Rebecca and her boyfriend, Beardsley (not sure that is his real name or a nick name) It was EPIC!!! A little more Ted Lasso and to bed because Steve and I both work the next day and Mitchell had to be at the “airport” at 7:30 am. We had a great first visit!!!
Kiss, Kiss,
Stephanie
Haines Happenings 