Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 7 June 1997
Day 68 - Hafford, Sask.
7 June 1997 (rain overnight; sunny by noon; mileage = 10.6) -- A - It
amazingly rained overnight! It stopped just before we got up (6ish). We
packed up and went over to the eating shelter to have breakfast. The
pelican tour man drove in around 7:45 and we headed over to the boat ramp
to meet him there. The dirt/sand/gravel road was tough to navigate after
the rain and I lagged about 1/2 mile behind Chris (normal when I'm nervous
about the road surface). Two bird watchers from Manitoba had camped and
were going also (Liz and Marlene). We got to go on a sailboat! He used the
motor to get us going and out past the pelican colony, since the sails
might frighten them, but we did get to sail back in! It was very neat. We
couldn't go very close to the nested island, but we got to borrow glasses
to see better. Once we got back to the center, we saw a video that showed
them up close. It also showed how they freak out and lots of the babies
wind up dying if someone gets too close to the nests. They like to be very
isolated. We got pelican T-shirts and post cards and talked to the director
for a while. The little hump on the white pelican's nose is not permanent.
It's a mating thing and then it comes off. They had some there and we held
one. I wanted one! We ate at the concession again. This time it was
Debbie's daughters, but everything was good. We escaped the dirt hills and
got to Hafford, where lots of Ukrainians hang out. Apparently, churches and
wedding are the attraction in this town. They had street signs in Russian.
Neat. They had a little campground which seems very nice. Early day planned
tomorrow!
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