Prince Rupert Eagles & Rainwear

Leslie Wednesday, May 28, 2008

For many miles approaching Prince Rupert we saw billboards for "Slickers, the Largest Warehouse for Rain Wear". Of course, I had to find it. Slickers is a small store that carries nothing but rainwear. (Think of the foul weather gear that the crew on Dangerous Catch wear.) You could buy hip-waders, tall rubber boots, waterproof gloves, old fashioned yellow hats and coats, even children's rubber rain suits. You might guess as to how a store could succeed devoted entirely to rainwear -- but if you were here you wouldn't guess for long.
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After visiting Slickers we went exploring down along the coast. The bald eagles were everywhere! Because we tend to lose our internet connection in the evening, I'm uploading the eagle pictures without organizing them in any particular fashion. You'll see sole bald eagles along the coast and three at the top of a pine tree. The ones without the telltale white heads are juvenile bald eagles. Notice how large they are.

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sole eagle
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eagle family frame - see both parents and two juveniles
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I didn't have my long camera lens along so the pictures that are fairly distant were taken with the Nikon DSLR 18-70mm lens. The ones that appear closer were taken with my little Nikon coolpix using digital zoom. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the little camera captured the eagles.

We also found the tourist area of town. There was a large Celebrity Rhapsody cruise ship in port. The tourist area is really only two blocks of shops. (I would not be pleased at a shore excursion to Prince Rupert.) They may have had shore trips out in whalewatching boats.

Tomorrow we board the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry) to travel to Ketchikan. We have to be in line at 5:30 AM. Weather in Ketchikan is supposed to be better but we don't know if we'll have internet access. June 4th we'll move on to Wrangell where we do expect to have internet access.

more later,

Leslie