The gray whales, Lucy and Little Ricky (my personal names for the mother and calf) have been in the Klamath River for six days now and seem to be content staying in the very spot of the river where we first saw them.   

People are still gathering and quietly watching them from the banks of the river, many now with high powered camera lenses taking pictures.    Friday, we saw a person with the trunk of his car open, selling his matted photos of the two whales for souvenirs to the tourists who are now starting to arrive for the 4th of July weekend.   Just waiting for the t-shirts to arrive!  Lemonade stand, anyone?  It is a beautiful scene here though...the deep forested redwoods at your back, the spectacular and powerful Klamath River in front of you and the redwood covered mountains in the distance.

The mouth of the Klamath River where it meets the ocean.  This view is from the overlook on Requa Road.  This is the beach we walk on when we visit Kamp Klamath which is located on the other side of the river from this view.   You can see the narrow opening where Lucy and Little Ricky entered the river.   They will have to time their exit with high tide...I know!  How in the world did they make it into the river in the first place, right?   Well, four other whales have done the same thing in the past...



Here's the same view from Kamp Klamath side...

Can you see some of the homes that are dotting the far bank.  How would you like those views?



As with any whales who come up river, no one really knows why they venture up stream.  They could be escaping from a shark, she could be looking for a quiet space to let her calf grow a bit or just maybe she's just a curious beast.  

Anyway, Lucy, I hope you are enjoying your time in the Klamath, we sure love having you here for a while and Little Ricky, we can see you're already growing and being playful.  Did you know that a calf drinks 50-80 gallons of its mother's milk every day?  That is milk is 53% fat!  No wonder you're growing so fast!   Enjoy your time, but we all hope you'll be moving back into the ocean real soon.