The next morning we set off via small charter plane to Gustavus, a tiny coastal frontier town (pop 400) which is only accessible by plane (no ferries or roads). It's adjacent to Glacier Bay National Park. To give an idea of the size - “downtown" Gustavus is a 4-way intersection with a pizza place, a gas station and an ice cream store. No power lines are visible (all buried underground), making for uninterrupted wilderness meshing with an occasional small house. The scenery in Gustavus is breathtaking. The town is surrounded by white-capped mountains, but in July the temperature is perfect (upper 60s and low 70s). Tall, majestic spruce trees are everywhere along the roads. There are many clearings with gorgeous red, purple, or gold wildflowers. Salmon River runs through town, and as you can guess, the salmon run there in mid-July. There’s also no way you can miss the bald eagles. Down by the docks, you’ll see dozens just hanging about, or from a distant shoreline you can easily make out their white heads scattered among the pine branches.
Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska last summer. At the 4th of July parade in Gus she sort of showed up.
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