Dorothea got up at 6 am to go crabbing at low tide. But no luck. Apparently the season doesn't really begin till July (it was late June).
It so happened there was a Totem Pole raising happening today just down the road and everyone was invited, including tourists.
We drove down, but soon came to a giant line of parked cars, and had to walk the remaining 2 km.
We arrived just in time for the last speech. The pole was hoisted into place,
You can see that many of the Haida wore their traditional cedar hats. Then the carvers danced around the pole.
Then everyone took their places on the four ropes
and we all raised the pole. We were actually on one of the two rear ropes that were used to steady the pole and later to straighten it out.
Mission accomplished!
Afterward we were all fed a meal of salmon and calm fritters.
On our walk back to our car it started pouring rain. A nice young man and his daughter gave us a ride. He mentioned he was a carver himself.
Turns out it was this guy:
http://jaalen.net
Connie failed to mention the ensuing Naikoon Road chase scene which was a something out of a Keystone Cops movie. When we piled out of the carver's black SUV, he drove off without noticing that we had accidently knocked a child's booster seat and some clothing onto the road during our exit. We quickly hopped into our pickup and attempted to pursue the black SUV which was several cars in front of us in the procession of slowly-moving cars up the Naikoon Road. Honking and flashing lights didn't work, so we continued our pursuit all the way back into Masset (20km+), by which time we had fallen back considerably as the carver was much more willing to pass cars than Sybille. Connie was all-the-while wishing she was at the wheel. Fortunately, we spotted a black SUV crossing the bridge at Masset or we might have driven all the way south to Skidegate. By dumb luck it was pulled over on the first side street. The family was reunited with their booster seat and the Haeussler ladies felt much better (although somewhat foolish). Second comical moment of the trip.
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