Final Chapter Pictures

Our final chapter of our Alaska adventure with the International Peace Garden, Sioux Falls, SD and Northwest IA:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/FinalChapterPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCI6t3pbAm9rT-wE&feat=directlink

Final Chapter

The final chapter of our 2010 Alaskan adventure is being written with our journey through the International Peace Garden back into the lower 48. The International Peace Garden was both beautiful and slightly disappointing as we apparently were too late for the full glory of color that would have been visible when all the flowers were in full bloom. Beauty was still evident in the colorful gardens depicting the American and Canada flags with the World Peace Towers in the background. Especially memorable was the Peace Chapel where many worldwide newspaper accounts of the 9/11 terrorist attack were on display.  Also displayed were engravings of quotes from many statesmen and biblical accounts encouraging world peace.  The entire display was quite touching.

As we left the Peace Garden it was back through Customs and our return to the good ol' USA.  It was great to again be able to use our cell phones, find somewhat lower fuel and food prices and once again recognize crops that were being harvested as we drove along the roads.  We made an overnight stop in Hillsboro, ND before going our separate ways for a few days.  The Gregg's went to Sioux Falls, SD to renew driver licenses.  The Glosses made an overnight stop in Pipestone, MN to visit relatives before proceeding on to Sioux Center, IA where we have been calling home for the past week.  After becoming legal again and seeing some of the sights around Sioux Falls, John and Glynda rejoined the group on Monday at Sioux Center.  Since Northwest Iowa was Jim and Marlene's original "stomping grounds" they acted as tour guides in showing John and Glynda around.  Included was a trip to the Iowa Great Lakes where we met up with Ken and Gale Van Der Sloot, Marlene's brother and his wife, for supper at a restaurant overlooking Lake West Okoboji.  The following day we enjoyed a tour of Demco Manufacturing in Boyden, IA whose main emphasis is varied agriculture products.  Our tie to Demco is that they also manufacture the Glide-Ride kingpin box we both have installed on the front of our RVs.  Later that day we drove to Markus, IA to have supper with Pat and Galen Ducommun, Jim's sister and husband, who the Greggs also know from wintering in AZ.  That also gave John and Glynda a chance to meet and get acquainted with Jim's younger sister, Mary Ellen.  Today, Friday, September 3rd, was the day set aside for the graveside memorial service for Marlene's Mom who passed away July 2nd.  She was laid to rest in Hull, IA where family and friends gathered under beautiful blue skies.  That occasion and the lunch following also gave John and Glynda an opportunity to get acquainted with Marlene's family and friends.  

All in all this summer has been a GREAT adventure.  We were blessed with mostly good weather, better than expected road conditions, excellent health and hardly any mosquitoes about which we had been forewarned.  We drove nearly 15,000 miles, learned a lot about the Northwest U.S., Canada and Alaska....and, about each other.  Through it all, we are still great and probably even better friends.  We will separate again this weekend but will reconnect in less than a month for a couple of HitchHiker events before heading to AZ for the winter.  We hope all of you have also enjoyed our travels. 

 

Edmonton & Swift Current Pictures

Check out our pictures from Edmonton, AB and Swift Current, SK

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Edmonton to Swift Current, SK

We made a weekend stop in Edmonton, AB as we headed Southeast from Dawson Creek, BC. The main attraction in Edmonton was the West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America. With nearly 800 shops, if you can't find what you want, apparently you didn't need it anyway. The Mall is an interesting entertainment center also with an ice rink, a huge wave pool and Galaxyland amusement park with numerous rides that will test even the strongest stomach. We weren't brave enough to try any of them.

From Edmonton, we headed East across the prairies into agriculture land that started to make us feel more at home. We observed large fields of wheat, canola, oats, barley, lentils and field peas. The peas reminded us of soybeans although they were smaller. Our destination in Saskatchewan was Swift Current where RV park friends from Arizona, Harvey and Marilyn Braun, have a permanent residence. We had warned them we were coming and they stayed home anyway. Harvey and Marilyn treated us royally with couple of delicious, home-cooked meals. They also acted as tour guides for the area, taking us to their farm to show us the Bison herd owned by their son, Trevor. Trevor was on hand to explain the ins and outs of raising bison. The Brauns also directed our tour to Cypress Hills Provincial Park near Maple Creek Southwest of Swift Current. On the way, we stopped at the Cypress Hills Vineyard and Winery for lunch. The Provincial Park features Bald Butte, the highest point in Saskatchewan, at 4172 feet. We survived our hike to the top of the butte. From the Provincial Park, we drove to Fort Walsh, an historic Northwest Mounted Police post that was acted in the mid to late 1800s. We arrived just in time for the last tour of the day which included a re-enactment of a trial, before a magistrate, in which Jim was chosen to play the part of one of the bad guys. Even though he pleaded not guilty, he was convicted of public drunkeness and fined $200.00. Since he was unable to produce that much cash, he was hauled off to the brig. The Fort is quite well preserved with much restoration still in progress. Docents acted as tour guides giving excellent details as to life as it was at the Fort.

We left Swift Current Tuesday, August 24th and will be back in the lower 48 sometime Wednesday following a visit to the International Peace Gardens on the Manitoba-North Dakota border.

Whitehorse to Dawson Creek Pictures

The following website is pictures of Watson Lake, Ft. Nelson, Fort St. John, and Dawson Creek:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/WatsonLakeFtNelson?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSSmfjyiZDhxwE&feat=directlink

Whitehorse to Dawson Creek

The 889 mile drive from Whitehorse, YT to Dawson Creek, BC was fairly uneventful, compared to some of our other routes, but still showed a variety of terrains and several interesting attractions.  An attraction we had hoped wouldn't affect us, smoke from the many forest fires burning in the area, finally caught up with us in the Cassiar Highway area where it intersects with the Alaska Highway just West of Watson Lake, YT.  The smoke stayed with us until we got to the East side of the Canadian Rockies.  It never hampered our travels although we were able to see the flames in one area just West of Fort St. John, BC.

In Watson Lake, the Sign Post Forest was even larger than we had imagined and we added our sign to the 61,000+ signs already there.  The pictures speak for themselves as we observed signs from all over the world including many from our home areas.  One other interesting attraction at Watson Lake was the Northern Lights Centre, a planetarium type theater where they had a spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis plus a side feature on the solar galaxy.

On the way to Ft. Nelson, we stopped overnight at Toad River where we helped Marlene celebrate her birthday at the Toad River Cafe.  The people at the cafe were extremely nice, even giving Marlene a free meal and a piece of pie.  In addition to that, the food was really good.  Prior to that, we stopped along the road, at a rest area near Liard River Hot Springs, for lunch and to look at the springs.  John and Glynda were even brave enough to wade into the 108 degree water.  Ft. Nelson featured the Ft. Nelson Heritage Museum which had many displays of authentic artifacts and a very good  collection of antique vehicles and construction equipment.  It was quite enlightening to visit with the 78 year old museum curator who still is active in maintaining all of the vehicles which are in running order.

Near Fort St. John is Charlie Lake, famous as the location of a tragic drowning incident that claimed the lives of 12 U.S. soldiers, during construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942, when their barge transporting construction equipment and supplies across the lake encountered a storm and sank.  A monument at the lake commemorates the accident.

As we drove on toward Dawson Creek, we took a short detour to drive across the only original wooded bridge on the Alaska Highway that is still being used.  The curved structure is 531 feet long spanning the Kiskatinaw River.  From Dawson Creek, we made a couple of day trips, first to Kinuseo Falls, near Tumbler Ridge, then to Chetwynd to see an amazing display of chainsaw carvings.  The most memorable part of the drive to the falls was 26 miles of the roughest gravel road we have ever encountered, making the drive to the Arctic Circle seem like we were on a super highway.  Thankfully, Jim's truck held together!  Chetwynd has more than 85 chainsaw carvings throughout the town, the result of an annual chainsaw carving festival each June.  The artistry is spectacular coming from artists worldwide.  We spent several hours walking the town and taking dozens of pictures.  Back in Dawson Creek, at the Highway Heritage House, we viewed an excellent documentary on the building of the Alaska Highway, commonly known as the Alcan.  It's difficult to imagine the hardships, challenges and weather conditions that were overcome to allow completion of the 1500 mile roadway, between Dawson Creek, BC and Fairbanks, AK, in just 8 months.  We also took pictures of the Mile "O" post, in the center of Dawson Creek, that signifies the start of the Alaska Highway.  We have now driven the entire length of the Alaska Highway, a contributing factor to having our trucks serviced one more time.  That means another 5000 miles have gone by.

We'll now be headed East to Edmonton, AB as we continue to work our way back to the lower 48.  

    

Chicken Pictures

See pictures of Tok, Chicken and Yukon on site below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/ChickenAlaska?authkey=Gv1sRgCMDyjJ-7jLacJA&feat=directlink

Chicken, Alaska

On the way from North Pole to Tok, we made our first stop at the Delta Meat & Sausage Company near Delta Junction to stock up on some much needed (?) Buffalo, Reindeer, Elk and Yak sausage.  With their generous samples, choosing a favorite was difficult so we bought some of each and filled our freezers.   Our second stop was at Rika's Roadhouse, an old homestead, established in 1910, which played an interesting part in the transportation of goods on the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks.   The roadhouse served as a stopping place for truckers who needed food and lodging while waiting for the ferry which allowed them to cross the Tanana River.  Today, Rika's Roadhouse is part of the Big Delta State Historical Park featuring historical buildings and artifacts and they still serve food to travelers.

While in Tok, we stayed at Sourdough RV Park which features a sourdough pancake breakfast each morning.  Each evening, all registered guests have an opportunity to earn a free breakfast by competing in a sourdough pancake toss.  John and Glynda participated and won a breakfast.

   

A must-stop for Alaska travelers is the town of Chicken, an old gold mining settlement, population 21 in the summer and 6 in the winter.  The downtown business district of Chicken consists of three establishments, all of which we visited.  In fact, we ate lunch at the Chicken Creek Cafe.  We found out while eating that the entire downtown is owned by the same lady, Susan Wiren, who has owned the businesses since 1976.  It's interesting to note there is no city water, sewer or electrical service in Chicken with services provided by generators, wells and outhouses with drinking water being hauled in from Tok.    One other attraction in Chicken is the Pedro Gold Dredge which was instrumental in extracting approximately 9.5 billion dollars worth of gold from Chicken Creek between the years of 1959 and 1967.  It was one of the richest single gold mining camps in Alaska.  By the way, if you're wondering how Chicken got it's name, the early miners wanted to call it Ptarmigan but were unable to spell it so settled for Chicken which is the common name in the North for the Ptarmigan.  The drive from Tok to Chicken and back, along the Taylor Highway, was quite scenic and, on the way back, we were even rewarded with a sighting of a large bull moose grazing in the wetland just South of town.  He was nice enough to pose for a few good pictures.

We left Tok and Alaska July 29th completing a very rewarding two month tour of our 49th State.  We are a long way from completing our trip, however, as we are now back in the Yukon.  We stayed one night at Destruction Bay, along Kluane Lake, which provided a beautiful view.  We also took advantage of some decent weather to give our trucks and trailers a good cleaning, badly needed after much highway construction.  We spent ($$$) the weekend in Whitehorse and will now move on to Watson Lake, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek and other points Southeast. 

Fairbanks Area Pictures

To see pictures of Fairbanks, Arctic Circle and North Pole

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/FairbanksArea?authkey=Gv1sRgCPiehcLq-dO8kgE&feat=directlink

Fairbanks Area

Driving to and being in the Fairbanks area for a week gave us a good lesson about old Alaska and the native culture.  Even the landscape changed to reflect better the picture we had formed in our minds over the years as to how Alaska would look. 

Nenana was our first stop after leaving Denali and gave us our first look at the interior of Alaska including the confluence of the Tenana and Nenana Rivers which fortified the small towns role in Alaska.  To this day, Nenana is still a major river port with barges loading and unloading food and supplies for the interior villages.

We then traveled on to the Fairbanks area and took up residence for another week in Santaland RV Park at North Pole.  From there we took several day trips in our exploration of the area.  The Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was one of the highlights showing why it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state.  From the architecture of the building to the magnificent displays inside it was truly a class act.  Collections within the museum include archaeology, documentary films, history of the native culture, gold mining and many fine animal displays.  Also featured is the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, artifacts representing the Russia-American influence in Alaska and even 36,000 year old mummified Alaska steppe bison which is an especially treasured highlight.  We were fortunate to be in Fairbanks during their annual Golden Days Celebration which gave us more opportunity to interact with the locals at Pioneer Park, a local attraction, featuring another fine museum of Alaskan artifacts, original buildings from Pioneer Fairbanks as well as old-fashioned celebration fun including free food and entertainment.  Another enjoyable and educational experience was our tour on the Riverboat Discovery as it cruised on the Chena River.  Our trip included a demonstration by a bush pilot, viewing of Susan Butcher's Iditarod champion sled dog kennel, and a guided tour of a Chena Indian Village.  That was especially informative as native guides explained various facets of Athabascan culture including fishing, hunting, food preservation and the making of clothing from animal hides to protect themselves from the severe winter weather.  We also saw modern culture as we viewed many upscale houses on the riverfront.

One of our goals, as we planned our Alaska trip, was to reach the Arctic Circle.  We accomplished that Friday, the 23rd, by driving the Haul Road, officially named the Dalton Highway.  That proved to be a very long day trip, and thankfully, a much easier drive than had been anticipated.  Although the 115 miles of the Dalton Highway is unpaved, the gravel road surface was generally good.  We even found the truckers, who we had heard, were infamous for throwing rocks all over oncoming traffic, were very courteous and slowed down when we met them.    There were many interesting stops and sights along the way including the small village of Joy which consisted of a general store and genuine "outhouses".    A prominent feature along the Dalton Highway is the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as it runs parallel most of the way.  We stopped at a visitors center, along the Yukon River where the pipeline crosses the river on a dual-purpose bridge constructed to carry both vehicle traffic and the pipeline.  A "must-stop" is at a place called The Hot Spot, a popular cafe featuring one pound burgers.  We were advised ahead of time to ignore the outward appearance of the place and stop there anyway.  We did and were not disappointed.  We also found their restroom facilities to be another outhouse complete with a warning sign to beware of bears.  When questioned, the owner of The Hot Spot told us the sign was not a joke.  In fact, they had seen a couple of bears on the property that morning and, there was even one spotted while we were eating.  As we proceeded on North the terrain took a noticeable change to mostly tundra with very few trees or other vegetation.  We finally reached the Arctic Circle at mid-afternoon and promptly crossed that off of our "bucket list".   The trip back was quite uneventful except for the fact that Jim's truck became a different color from all of the mud caused by a road maintenance crew applying water to the road.  We're not sure why but it was the first time we had ever seen a water truck spraying a road from two inch nozzles.  Needless to say, Saturday found all of us on the truck clean-up crew.   The other notable feature of Saturday was the celebration of John and Glynda's 40th wedding anniversary.

Aside from routine activities, that pretty well concludes our Fairbanks experience as we will now move on toward Tok and points Southward.  

Denali Pictures

Visit the website for more pictures from Talkeetna and Denali Park:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/DenaliNPArea?authkey=Gv1sRgCNKKt7vcqrahRw&feat=directlink

Denali NP Area

This week we consider ourselves among the fortunate as we have had the unusual experience of seeing the peaks on Mt. McKinley three times.  The first time was on our drive to Talkeetna.  The weather that day was as close to perfect as it gets in Alaska.  The sky was totally blue which allowed the mountain to stand out for all to see.  It was then we captured our first photos.  We were hoping they wouldn't be the last, but at least we had our pictures of Denali, as it is known to native Alaskans.

We stayed in the Talkeetna area for three nights and visited the town twice.  Talkeetna is an old railroad town which now serves as a starting point for people attempting to climb Mt. McKinley.  We enjoyed a program presented by a National Park Ranger that detailed a round trip to the summit of the mountain and back.  We decided that was not a trip for us!  We related better to the many restaurants and gift shops that lined the one or two streets in this small town that is more tourist attraction than anything else.  It was a fun place to visit.

We then moved on to Denali Park which is another tourist oriented community.  Evidence of that abounds with two large complexes that house lodges, cabins and restaurants all related to the cruise industry, namely Princess and Holland America.  Real evidence of that is the absence of  a "real" grocery store for common folks like us who do like to cook occasionally.  We took advantage of a couple of attractions we hadn't really expected in this area.  The first was a free tour of the Usibelli Coal Mine, a large strip mine near Healy that supplies Alaska with coal, mainly for the operation of electric generating plants throughout Alaska.  They also ship coal to both Chile and the Orient.  We had, in fact, seen their coal being loaded on a ship at Seward however, we were not aware of it at that time.  That evening, another fun experience was the dinner theater we attended at one of the resorts.  The evening started with a delicious family-style dinner of BBQ ribs, baked salmon and all the trimmings.  The waiters and waitresses doubled as the cast of the show as they portrayed the history of the Denali area in a musical review.  Of course, no trip to this area would be complete without a bus tour into the heart of the park.  With the assistance of AccuWeather, we decided on Friday which proved to be a good choice as the skies were mostly sunny which allowed us to have another good look at the mountain.  In addition, our bus driver-naturalist was very enlightening as he described all aspects of the park including the animals, plant life, rivers and the history of the park itself.  We also had several animal sightings including Grizzly Bears and cubs, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Golden Eagles and Snowshoe Hares which most people incorrectly identify as rabbits.  We learned there is a definite difference.  Again, we felt fortunate to see the top of the mountain three times as the vast majority of the visitors are never afforded the opportunity even once.  We made a final drive through the park Saturday evening and were rewarded by the appearance of a beautiful rainbow.  We also had our best look at the railroad trestle over the Nenana River and finally, as we were nearly out of the park, saw the elusive moose we have been seeking.  As a bonus, the moose cow was accompanied by her calf.  They were both very cooperative, busy feeding, giving us an opportunity for some excellent photos.  We now have seen four of the five major animals to inhabit Denali Park, lacking only the wolf.  

The next stop on our journey will be in the Fairbanks area.  We'll tell you more about that later.  

Portage, Whittier, Girdwood

Rain plagued us all the while we were at Portage Valley RV Park but it didn't totally stop our exploring. We donned some rainwear and continued on although it did limit our photo chances. We took an interesting trip to Whittier. The only road leading to the small port village is the Portage Glacier Road that includes the longest combined railroad-auto tunnel in North America.  This one lane tunnel is two and half miles in length and was constructed to protect military supply vehicles enroute to Whittier during WWII because it was an important seaport.  The only drawback to the tunnel is the toll the state charges which will range from $12 to $300 depending of the class of vehicle.  It cost us $35.  Whittier is a very young town having been constructed as a military post at the beginning of WWII to protect a vital area of North America from encroachment by water.  It is still an important seaport although military is no longer there.  Cruise ships use the port once a week during the summer however commercial shipping is prominent year around because it is an ice-free port.  We were fascinated watching the port activity of loading shipping containers onto a barge with huge forklifts which are specific for that purpose.

The only neat thing about Portage Valley RV Park was the nice shelter where we spent an evening sitting around a campfire.  That evenings activities also included the sighting of a black bear at the edge of the park and eating popcorn that Jim popped at the shelter.  The night before we also had the thrill of a 5.2 earthquake that shook the area.  We weren't sure what was happening when the RV's began to rock.  Wind was the first thought until we looked at the trees and they weren't moving.  The earthquake was confirmed the following day when we learned the epicenter was probably no more than 20 miles from our location.

The weather cleared as we left Portage Valley, allowing us a stop at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood for a tram ride to the top of Mt. Alyeska.  Just after we arrived at the top of the mountain, a power outage occurred which shut down the entire area including the tram.  Our visit on top of the mountain, beautiful as it was, was extended to almost two hours while waiting for power to be restored.  At least the coffee at one the eating places was good and the view was excellent.

We also enjoyed our drive along the Turnagain Arm as we drove to Anchorage to do a little shopping and to visit our friend, Susan Collingwood, at the hospital after hip replacement surgery.  Susan's trouble began when she tripped over a friend's dog, while camping at Eagle River, and shattered her hip.  We're happy to report she is recuperating very well.

We're now headed on North to the Denali area.

Portage, Whittier, Girdwood Pictures

See some of our pictures for Portage, Whittier and Girdwood

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/PortageWhittierPortage?authkey=Gv1sRgCKr66fqfqYHo0gE&feat=directlink

Kenai Peninsula

We arrived on the Kenai Peninsula Saturday, June 26th and set up in Soldotna along the Kenai River.  We had planned to fish but that fell through when we found out we were between salmon runs.  After weighing all of our options, we decided the best use of our resources would be to buy some fresh salmon and halibut.  Since we now have full freezers, we were able to pursue other activities that had nothing to do with fishing.

Friends we met in Mesa, Arizona, Dave and Betty Lowery, are Soldotna residents in the summertime so we were anxious to meet up with them.  They gave us our first opportunity by inviting us to their home, with a beautiful view of the Kenai River, for dinner Sunday evening.  The halibut dinner was delicious.  We had other opportunities to see Dave and Betty.  John and Glynda met with them Friday noon for lunch at the Soldotna Hospital where they spend some time volunteering.  Saturday evening, July 3rd, we treated them to a "Traeger-meal" at our RV park.  We fed them good, old fashion Midwestern food, pork tenderloin.  We certainly appreciated their hospitality and suggestions about things to see and do.

A concern back in Lyons, Kansas that we had been dealing with for a week and a half, Marlene's Mom being hospitalized with pneumonia, ended July 2nd, when back at her residence in the Lyons Good Samaritan Center, she was taken to her Eternal home by the Lord, less than a month short of her 97th birthday.  In accordance with long-term plans, she will be memorialized with graveside services, at Hull, Iowa, Sept. 3rd.

We did a couple of day-trips to Homer, a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.  At least, that's how they describe themselves.  We don't know about the drinking part but we can attest to the fishing part because, as we watched over the harbor area on the Homer Spit, fishing vessels were constantly on the move both in and out of the harbor.  We also watched numerous shore-fishermen reeling in one fish after another.  After watching them, as we ate lunch overlooking the harbor, we then went down where they were fishing and found out they were catching Flounder, Cod and Pollack.  We, of course, had to stop in the Salty Dawg Saloon, one of the most famous places and most photographed buildings on the Spit.  By the way, in case you're wondering, the Spit is a long, narrow peninsula of gravel that extends out into the bay.  It is there where the harbor is located and the fishing industry is centered.  Now, it's also the hub of Homer tourism with many shops, restaurants and campgrounds along the water.  If you're a fan of "Deadliest Catch" you'll be interested to know that the fishing vessel, "Time Bandit" calls Homer it's home port.  While in Homer, we were fortunate to have clear skies which allowed us a spectacular view, from the highest point in town, across Kachemak Bay, Homer Spit  Cook Inlet on to the mountain glaciers and Mt. Redoubt in the background.  Of all the active volcanos in Alaska, Mt Redoubt is the lastest to erupt having done so in 2009.  Our second trip to Homer included a stop, enroute, at the Norman Lowell Gallery, a collection of Alaskan art.  The paintings in the gallery were exquisitely done, depicting all phases of Alaskan scenery.  We were honored to meet the artist, Mr. Lowell, as he was in the gallery when we visited.  We continued on to Homer where we eluded the Independence Day weekend crowd by again going to the harbor to watch the fishing boats as they were again coming and going constantly.  The boats range from small family-type vessels to large charter and commercial craft.  We also met Monty and Sue Thomas again, as they were staying at a Ninilchik RV Park, for supper, overlooking the bay.

We also learned of the Russian influence in Alaska as we visited a couple of Russian Orthodox Churches, one at Ninilchik, the other in Kenai.  In Kenai we received quite an education on history of the Russian Orthodox religion and the meaning of the Orthodox cross with it's slanted lower bar.

Two other points of note are a couple of places we went to continue our culinary conquests.  The first was a bakery named "The Moose is Loose!".  Three-fourths of our party chowed-down on the sweets.  We all "chowed-down" when we had lunch at "Buckets Sports Grill", a place famous for their burgers.  Our burgers were Buffalo, Elk and Caribou and caused us to sufficiently over-eat.

Tomorrow, we will head Northeast to the Portage-Girdwood area.  

Kenai Peninsula Pictures

Here is a link to our pictures for Soldotna, Kenai and Homer, Alaska:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/SoldotnaKenaiHomer?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPKisLG757csQE&feat=directlink

Seward Pictures

Pictures from Seward, Alaska

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/SewardAlaska?authkey=Gv1sRgCI6hqvfwzbnjyQE&feat=directlink

Seward

The drive from Palmer to Seward was very interesting as we experienced beautiful scenery along the Turnagain Arm with mountains on both sides of the water and road. Many pull-outs enabled us to have a good view of the area. A highlight of the trip was when we encountered several Dall Sheep high on the side of a mountain. That was our first opportunity to see Dall Sheep in the wild and photograph them. They were very cooperative in posing for the pictures.

We were only in Seward a couple of nights but our view from the campground made it inviting to stay longer.  We overlooked Resurrection Bay, a branch of Prince William Sound, which afforded an abundance of water traffic ranging from small personal boats to large commercial fishing vessels and even a huge cruise ship.  While dining along the waterfront, we had a excellent view of the marina.  After lunch we walked the docks to get a better view of the vessels in mooring.  We always wonder about the people who own the expensive yachts, one reportedly valued at over four million dollars. 

One of the attractions, of which Seward is most proud, is the Alaska SeaLife Center, an institution of learning and entertainment, Alaska's only public aquarium and ocean wildlife rescue center featuring 177 different species of marine life.  The Alaska SeaLife Center is a direct result of the settlement with Exxon following the oil spill at Valdez in 1989.  

We enjoyed watching, from our campground, the departure of a large Princess Cruise Ship as it backed away from pier and turned around in the bay before heading out to sea.  It's amazing how easy it looked.

We are now headed to the Kenai Peninsula. 

Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla

Our stay at Palmer featured real camping, for a change, and several day trips to a variety of attractions.  We enjoyed being able to sit around campfires a couple of evenings and cooking on the "Traeger".  We were all getting hungry for some good old-fashioned smoked meat again.  The highlight of cooking was when a neighboring camper was gracious enough to give us a filet of salmon he had caught that day.  It was probably the best salmon we had ever eaten.

Because the weather was so nasty on our way to Palmer, we retraced part of our drive to go back and view the Matanuska Glacier.  What a beautiful spot to eat our picnic lunch.  The glacier was significant in carving out the entire Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Valley which is a prime farming region in Alaska.  Reports have it that enormous vegetables are grown in this area.  Unfortunately, we were too early to see them for ourselves.

Another day we toured the Reindeer Farm, thanks to the generosity of John and Glynda's daughter, Michelle.  It was a Father's Day gift to her Dad that included all of us.  While at the Reindeer Farm, we were able to get up close and personal with the Reindeer (Caribou in the wild) as we were allowed to go into their pens and feed them from our hands and pet them.  In fact, the Reindeer are so people-oriented they almost became pests begging for food.  Also at the farm we saw Moose, Elk, and Bison and were able to feed them, but only through the fence.  The Reindeer and Elk calves were especially cute.  From there we toured a Musk Ox Farm and were surprised to learn they are strictly cold-weather animals and exist, in the wild, only in the Arctic.  This non-profit farm raises these prehistoric ice-age survivors for the rare under-wool, qiviut, from which fine hand knit garments are made only by native Alaskans.  Qiviut is warmer than even Cashmere and Wool.

Our next adventure took us to Happy Trails Kennel, home of Martin Buser's Iditarod sled-dog team.  Buser, four-time Iditarod winner and fastest-time record holder, was on hand to personally conduct tours and greet all of the visitors.  The two hour tour allowed us to learn many of the intricacies of Iditarod racing through a highlight video of Buser running an entire race.   We were also able to interact with the sled dogs and experienced them being put in harness to pull the sled.  Talk about eager animals, the dogs yelped and tugged at the ropes, anxious to start their pull.  It was quite the sight and sound!  It was especially interesting to learn how the cute puppies are actually in training for future sled-pulling even before they are weaned.  We were very impressed with Martin Buser, not only as a championship racer, but more importantly, the compassion he shows to his animals, his visitors and the sport in general. 

After the Happy Trails Kennel visit, we learned that our HitchHiker friends, Monty and Sue Thomas were at an RV park in Wasilla, so we picked them up and made our second trip to Anchorage, just for supper.  Our first trip to Anchorage included a visit to the zoo which features only animals native to Alaska.  We also went to the Seaplane base and museum at Hood Lake.  In continuing our culinary quest, we ate lunch at that Glacier Brewhouse, another place highly recommended by locals. 

One other memorable event was attending the Sunday morning worship service at the Wasilla Bible Church, Sarah Palin's home church.  Sarah was not in attendance.

Our next stop will be Seward.

   

Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla Pictures

To see pictures of Anchorage, Palmer, and Wasilla pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/AnchoragePalmerWasilla?authkey=Gv1sRgCJivj6v_z8zMWg&feat=directlink

Alaska-Valdez

We enjoyed our drive to Valdez as the scenery was some of the most spectacular we've encountered so far. The snow-covered mountains were in view all the way and included close-up views of the Anderson and Worthington Glaciers.  In fact, Valdez is noted for having more tidal glaciers than nearly anywhere else in the world.  We were up close and personal with another very large glacier, the Columbia, as we took a six and a half hour Stan Stephens Cruise on Prince William Sound.  In addition to the glacier, while on the cruise, we were also able to get fairly close to many other creatures including Humpback Whales, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, Dolphins, Puffins and even an Eagle perched in a tree.  As we approached the Columbia Glacier, the temperature dropped rapidly and the icebergs were so numerous we could only get a rather distant view of the glacier.
  Sunday allowed us to have a very unique experience as we worshipped on a boat in Prince William Sound.  This worship service is sponsored by the Valdez Ministerial Alliance and the boat, Lu Lu Belle, a tour boat, is donated by it's owner, each Sunday, for the service.  The Baptist minister in charge added levity to his message, as we were in the middle of the Sound, by advising the congregation we were free to leave, by the back door, if we did not agree with his message.

Another learning experience was watching a couple of videos, one on the 1964 earthquake that demolished the original Valdez townsite with a 9.2 Richter reading that lasted for four and half minutes.  The earthquake then spawned a four-story high tidal wave that completed the devastation of the area.  The town was rebuilt at it's current location in 1967.  Valdez has since gone on to become a major seaport with the terminus of the 800 mile long Trans Alaska Pipeline that runs from Prudhoe Bay.  An amazing fact is that the entire pipeline has a capacity of 9 billion barrels of oil and, at the Valdez Terminus, storage tanks allow for that entire amount to be stored at any one time. The other video detailed the construction of that pipeline.

One other place of note in Valdez is the Jesse and Marrian Whittier Museum, on the campus of Prince William Sound Community College.  The museum contained many artifacts related to the Valdez area and had an exceptional taxidermy display of wildlife native to the area.  In our judgment, this was one of the finest taxidermy displays we have ever seen.  The animals all looked like they could walk away at any moment.

We then moved on, through the rain and haze, to the Palmer/Wasilla area where we will "hole-up" for the next week or so, so we can explore the area, receive our mail, etc.

Valdez Pictures

Our pictures for Valdez, Prince William Sound, Glacier:

http://picasaweb.google.com/105809468097297499618/Alaska201002?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzxvM2W7onKDg&feat=directlink

Whitehorse and Skagway

The first few days in Whitehorse gave us a chance to take care of a few necessities including having our trucks serviced and getting caught up on laundry.  We had an interesting experience worshipping at the United Church of Canada on Sunday.  When we arrived at church, we learned the service was being held in a nearby park.  The outdoor service was very unique and exhilarating.

On Monday we took a tour of the S.S. Klondike, an early stern-wheeler on the Yukon River, that carried mail, general cargo, passengers, and silver ore between Dawson City and Whitehorse.  The boat remained in service until 1955.  While waiting for the tour to start, we all played a  ring toss game on the front lawn of the Visitors Center.  Glynda and Jim  are not prone to brag but they soundly whipped the other two members of the party, six ringers to nothing.

In the afternoon we took another tour, to the Yukon Brewery Company, a local micro-brewer that is Canada's Northernmost brewery.  They have the distinction of being the Yukon's only brewery and have gained National and International recognition for several of their beers.  They were even generous with their samples.  We finished the day with a visit from HitchHiker friends, Jeff and Susan Collingwood from California.  We hosted a fish-fry followed by a great little campfire.  The evening was beautiful and the mosquitos were few which allowed all of us to stay up way past our bedtimes. 

On Tuesday we took a day trip to Skagway which put us back in Alaska for a few hours.  One of the highlights of that trip was being able to have cell-phone service again.  That allowed Glynda and Marlene to make contact with their Mothers.  Skagway is definitely a "tourist" destination with the majority of their visitors coming ashore from cruise ships.  In fact, there were four cruise ships in port that day.  We understand the ships dock in the morning, leave in the evening to be replaced by more ships the next day.  Several times while we were shopping the clerks even asked us "which cruise are you with?"  We hope they weren't disappointed when we replied "We are RVers".  As usual, food was another highlight of our Skagway trip.  We took a tour to Liarsville, a quaint little village where we enjoyed an all you can eat Salmon-bake buffet, a live melodrama and panning for gold.  Unfortunately, proceeds from the panning experience fell far short of paying for our trip.  

The drive to and from Skagway has to rank among the most beautiful we have experienced so far.  The many visas were "postcard-picture" perfect.  

From Whitehorse we drove on to Alaska, where we are currently located and where we will remain for the next couple of months.  We'll be telling you more about that later on. 

British Columbia and Yukon Territory

It sure seems good to be back in some sort of civilization again after nearly a full week of limited communication.  We left Seattle in the rain and wondered, as we drove, if we'd ever see dry weather again.  The first three days into British Columbia it rained most of the time as we drove through mostly forestland with no spectacular scenery.  As we drovee toward Terrace, the weather improved enough to allow for some decent pictures of the Bear Glacier and other beautiful scenery along the way.  While in Terrace, we took a day trip to Prince Rupert, an important seaport on the Pacific Ocean.  We enjoyed seeing several large freighters in port as well as an Alaskan Ferry and a huge BC Ferry.  Also fascinating was the seaplane port.  We happened to be there to see one plane land and  two others take off.  It was interesting to learn the planes at Prince Rupert only fly to areas within British Columbia.  A disturbing fact we learned was the unemployment rate in Prince Rupert is 22% due to the decline of industry related to timber.
  
From Terrace we headed up the Cassiar-Stewart Highway with our next stop in the border towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK.  After hearing about Hyder for many years, we were shocked when we saw the town.  I guess we were expecting a modern tourist town, but found an old fashioned, rather decrepit community.  While less than 100 people call Hyder home, it is still host to thousands of visitors every summer, with the prime draw being bear watching during the salmon run.  Hyder is also a start of a driving tour to Salmon Glacier.  Salmon Glacier has the distinction of being the only glacier accessible by road.  It's also interesting to note that Stewart, BC is the northernmost ice-free seaport.

Between Stewart and Whitehorse, Yukon, there was more marvelous scenery to include a couple of Black Bears, Grizzlies and a Moose.  We were pleasantly surprised that the Cassiar Highway was mostly good.

As is our custom, we have checked out a few local eating places.  It's been an interesting experience with cuisine ranging from Caribou Stew to Musk Ox Stroganoff, Halibut, "Toad in the Hole" (Yorkshire Pudding) and even BBQ Ribs.  The only thing not to our liking are the prices.  We find the restaurants very expensive.

We will be exploring Whitehorse and Skagway, AK in the next couple of days and will tell you about that next time.