Final entry - I think!!!

6-29-06
This will probably be my last posting. This trip has been even more exciting than we anticipated. We have discussed driving to Alaska for years. Harold was ready to go, but I was dragging my feet. We are glad we took this opportunity to do it although it was long. Of course you don't have to travel the way we do - driving long days, but we aren't too good at just sitting around in a park. We like to see what is over the horizon. We didn't see it all in just five weeks, but we saw a lot and don't regret missing some of the places we did. For us five weeks was enough and with the week of relaxing in Fairbanks, thanks Tom and Shelley, we were refreshed and ready to go again.
It was fun to go to Dawson Creek and drive the whole Alaska Highway, but if doing it again I would just go up the Cassiar Highway. For those who don't want all that driving I would suggest taking the ship up, rent a car or small RV, tour around for about ten days then fly home. Also there are places where you can drive an RV up to Anchorage for a company who rents them, see all the places you want on the way up with their RV and your gas, then fly home or take the boat.
Some people have driven to Alaska many times and I think that is great, but once was enough for us. We would love to go back one day, but I can't see us driving a round trip again.
As we met people heading north on our way south, they asked us what we liked best in Alaska. I can't put my finger on any one thing except maybe the people. When Alaskans leave Alaska they say they are going outside. I thought this was an odd expression until I spent time there and the rest of the world is truly outside. Alaska seems like a different world. The people are so nice, friendly, trusting - just like the rest of the U.S. used to be years ago. The mountains and scenery are just awesome. Anchorage is surrounded by different mountain ranges so everywhere you look you see more mountains. Whittier is in a bowl in the mountains, even Skagway on the water is surrounded by snow covered mountains. As you get into BC (before the dead trees) everything is so green - many, many shades of green. The rivers in Alaska and BC are green, jade, brown (from running through muskeg), grey to white from the silt washed down from the glaciers to crystal clear sparkling creeks. Always something different wherever we went.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip. Wish it would have been easier finding wi-fi hookups, but we did what we could. I have posted some scenery pictures in no particular order.
Just for those who might want to make this trip we spent about $5,000 with gas being our biggest expense.

6-28-06 Final leg home

Mt. Sheep at Spences Bridge

Blue wildflowers blowing in the wind.
US Border crossing - almost home




6-28-06
Left Spences Bridge at 5:30, but we had no brake lights. Didn't want to wake up the whole park so drove out about a mile where we could stop off the road. Harold started switches fuses since we didn't have the right one for the one that blew. We finally had brake lights, but once again no turn signals. Where we stopped there was a group of about 12 mountain sheep almost on the road.
The stretch is a beautiful drive along the Fraser River. At times both the river and our road became rather narrow. Again there were many freight trucks, but the construction people were not on the job yet so we didn't have that slow down. We have been to the gorge north of Hope where they have the tram that takes you across the river so didn't stop there. Besides it was about 7 am and they were not open yet.
We passed Minter Gardens which is advertised as 32 acres of flower gardens second only to Buchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. We will save that for a picnic trip one day. As we approached the border I was worried that I wouldn't get my moose antlers across the border, but they didn't seem to be interested in anything we didn't get in Canada so we breezed right on through.
We stopped at Baker Cookies in Bellingham because 2 dozen of the cookies I had bought on the way north had molded. They gave me two more dozen as they had some problems with that batch also. Stopped in Burlington to wash the truck and trailer one more time, emptied the holding tank in Anacortes and were home by 12:15.
I told Harold I really like our little 20 foot trailer, but I LOVE our home. It felt so BIG and cool when we walked in. Sheila is glad to have her back yard to patrol also.
As soon as we got the truck and trailer unloaded, Sheila and I got in the shower. There was no hot water since we had turned off the heater when we left. I told Sheila we had to get out so she stepped out then right back in. I had her get out again then I got out and closed the door. She just leaned up against the shower door and hung her head. When the water was hot she came running for her shower and afterwards she ran through the house as frisky as a puppy.

6-27-06 Vanderhoff to Spences Bridge

Scary, I am driving and taking pictures and you thought driving and talking on a cell phone was dangerous. These are statues at entrance to Smithers, B.C.

One of the roads we traveled.
6-27-06
The park gate was locked until 7 am so after we emptied our holding tank and filled our water tank it was 7:30. I drove to Prince George 9:10 where we bought gas for $1.12/liter. Prices are going down! Mostly there were trees along the road and we couldn't see much scenery. It was pretty with all the different shades of green at this time of year, but couldn't see off into the distance. Saw a coyote in one of the hay fields south of Quesnel. Lots of horses and hay fields around this part of B.C. Stopped at Cariboo (they spell it Cariboo in B.C. and Caribou in Alaska) Wood Shop for our last stop at a gift store and to get out and walk around. They had homemade fudge so had to indulge ourselves. Stopped south of William Lake and had lunch then decided we wanted to go farther today so we pulled into a provincial park and napped for about an hour then headed on down the road. This part of the trip there were lots of freight trucks and even more so the closer to Vancouver we got. They don't seem to slow down for anything so we pulled out whenever we could. Bought gas again in Cache Creek and finally stopped at Acacia RV Park at Spences Bridge. We were going to stay at another Provincial Park, but it was so hot we chose to have electricity to run the air conditioner. Once again by the railroad tracks, but we were too tired to care and slept pretty well. We have been having problems with the turn signals not working on the trailer, but little did we know what was to come the next day.

Hyder to Beaumont Prov. Park 84 miles W of Prince George

Bear by road
Bear in Hyder
Dead trees
Crossed several bridges with wooden decks.






6-26-06
Drove 355 miles today About 7 hours
Started out in mist, but by about 9:30 we were in sunshine.
This morning we went back to Fish Creek, but still no bears. A couple from Prince Rupert came by and said they had seen bears at the dump, but we didn't find any there either. We left at 7:45 and stopped by to dump the tank and wash the trailer and then stopped for a few pictures of Bear Glacier. Finally left the glacier at 9:10. We topped off the tank at the same station where we filled up yesterday and headed on down 37 toward Highway 16 which is also called the Yellowhead Highway and runs from Prince Rupert on the coast east. We saw a black bear crossing the road in Hyder then 3 more along the roadside and one hawk. We couldn't stop to take pictures as there was traffic and only a two lane road with few pull offs. I drove from 11:30 to 1 to give Harold a break. After we got on Highway 16 there were pull offs every ten miles or so. The speed limits are about 70 to 100 klicks per hour so we made good time today. We decided to try a provincial park and it is great!! It is Beaumont Provincial Park on the Fraser Lake just west of Vanderhoff for those following us on their maps. No hookups of course, but the cost is only $14, they are very nice and not crowded. At least this one isn't. We have talked to other people who have been staying in them and have had good reports. We stopped for lunch at 11 and it was 76.1 degrees and just kept getting warmer as we headed east. Finally at 3 pm we stopped at a rest stop so I could put on my shorts as the sun was on my side and I was getting pretty warm.
As I mentioned in an earlier posting there are many dead trees in this part of the province. Today we found out that it is from the mountain beetle that eats the lodge pole pine. I know in Oregon they have had some trouble also. In BC the beetles have destroyed 75 million hectors of lodge pole pine. They are harvesting the logs trying to get them to market before they are all rotten inside. Also if they leave all these dead trees there will be a fire hazard. When I am able to put more pictures on, I will include one of the dead trees. Then they will plant new trees and hopefully get the forest growing again. It is hard to capture in pictures just down much of the hillsides are brown from these dead trees.
At Smithers we were back into hay farming and dairy cows. Something we did not see in Alaska. Perhaps they grow things somewhere in Alaska, but we didn't find it. Paid $1.12/liter for gas in Smithers.
I probably won't get this posted until we return home which should be June 28 if all continues to go well.

Jade City to Hyder

6-25-06
Jade City to Hyder, AK 323 miles
At 5:35 am we left Jade City and went down the road to a rest stop where we could run the generator and the water pump and not wake anyone up. After our showers and breakfast and taking pictures of our dirty rig, we were back on the road at 6:35. The weather was cool and overcast, but the sun was soon out partially making it a good day for traveling. There was one lake after another along the sides of the road. Some small and some many miles long. We finally saw a moose with horns. He cut across the road and up into the trees almost before we could react. He was very dark brown and had lost most of his winter hair so was beautiful. We bought gas in Iskut at 9:30 for $1.32/liter then again at the junction of 37 and 37A for $1.19. Most of the day we saw road constructin signs and watch for flaggers, but since it was Sunday no one was working except for one area where they were running a grader so it was one way traffic. We saw a black bear then about four miles saw two small black bears - think they were about year old cubs. On the road into Stewart/Hyder there are glaciers across the way that come almost to the highway. We are stopping there on our way out this morning. We drove through Stewart - stopped to wash the truck (only had enough loonies for the truck, will wash the trailer on the way out of town) then decided to drive on to Hyder which is actually in Alaska. There is customers from Alaska to Canada, but not from Canada to Hyder. Hyder has NO paved roads, but we liked it better than Stewart so stayed here. Drove up to fish creek (about 4 miles) to see if there were any bears getting fish from the creek. But the fish aren't here yet so no bears. Then many people have said to drive up to Salmon Glacier where you are looking down on it. I thought it was a bad gravel road, but the lady in the office said the Canadian Government had put millions into the road and it wasn't bad. Wellll, I was driving the it was gravel, about 1 1/2 car lanes wide, no shoulder, no guard rails and washboards and we kept going up. When we got to the bottom of the glacier (yes we were looking down to see the bottom of it) we had gone 16 miles and the road kept going up and up and around the corner. The top was supposed to be 20 miles total, but we found a place to turn around and I asked Harold to drive back down as I was going to have my eyes closed!!! Needless to say we got back down safely, but if I were recommending a road to someone I would be a little more honest about the conditions. Since I have been running on about 3 hours sleep per night, I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 9 in the morning.

Whitehorse to Jade City

6-24-06 Traveled 332 miles today
Watched the sunset at midnight then at 4 am the whole horizon was orange through the trees outside our window. Beautiful!! Got up about 5:30, had breakfast then washed the trailer with the power washer, dumped the holding tanks and were on the road at 7:10. The sun was out and it was cool. The right trailer light isn't working again and Harold tried several things, but nothing worked. As we drove farther east it finally felt like we were leaving Alaska. The snow topped mountains were now in the distance and the tree line has dropped so we have trees all the way to the tops of the mountains around us. Still lots of rivers and lakes all along the road. We stopped at Johnson Crossing for those delicious cinnamon rolls and even bought a couple for tomorrow's breakfast. Bought gas at Teslin for $1.09 with our 3 cent discount card.
Saw a black bear 142 miles east of Teslin just after crossing the Continental Divide. The pickup about a mile ahead of us did a u-turn so we started looking for animals and there was this huge black bear. It was a grizzly, very dark and very BIG. We stopped on the side of the highway and took our pictures, he was about 100 yards away. Then continued on to another gift store at Nugget City where we parked in their lot and had our lunch. Stopped about a half mile farther on and filled with gas again. This time it was $1.21/liter which amounts to $70.01 for 150 miles of driving.
Turned south on Highway 37 (the Cassiar Highway - pronounced Cass E R) and about 20 miles down the road saw a smaller black bear cross the road about 50 ft in front of us and go up the hill on the other side. Then another 48 miles and there were two adults, two babies and one teen ager sheep on the road. The RV in front of us had stopped to take pictures, so we stopped behind them and got a few shots also. Most of our shots are of the sheep going up the hill to get away from those crazy tourists.
The Cassiar highway was very rough at the beginning, but after the first ten miles hasn't been to bad. Not much traffic, few cars, few freight trucks and mostly RVs that don't want to go too fast and shake up the stuff in their trailers. Not many turn outs, the the ones they have are large and usually by a lake. There is no striping and the road is narrow in spots but we took it easy.
Tomorrow will try to get to Stewart/Hyder or at least to the junction of the road that goes to them.
Tonight we are in a free RV camp in the trees at Jade City. Only two of us are here. Guess people thought if it was free must be something wrong with it!!
Thought about my agility friends at Lacey this week end. Sure hated to miss that trial.

Whittier Pictures

Give you an idea of the size of the glacier.

We saw the piece in the lower left fall.

Discovery Bay to Whitehorse, Yukon

6-23-06

Sorry there have been no pictures. I have a hard enough time just getting on wi-fi and the blog spot site has trouble downloading my pictures. When I get home and have all day, I hope to be able to add a bunch of pictures.

Today we left at 7:30 and drove to Whitehorse, Yukon arriving around 11:30. We checked into the RV Park just east of town, washed the truck (it was FILTHY) and went to town because I couldn't get the wi-fi to work here in the park. Harold went to the transportation museum at the airport while I checked out downtown. Now Harold is changing the oil in the truck and I found another building in the RV Park where I could get connected.

We drove around Kluane Lake which was almost totally frozen when we went by on May 31, but is now totally thawed. Some upheaved roads, and a couple of places where they are doing construction - one place with a pilot car to follow for a couple of miles. For the most part the roads were pretty good.

Haines Junction has a downtown someplace, but we didn't find it. There are 811 people in residence, but they must hide in the woods! Whitehorse is a larger town right on the river and just like in Alaska there are bike paths and places for people to be outside.

Saturday we plan to get to Nugget City that is at the junction of the Alaska Highway and Highway 37 which is the Cassair Highway. Will head south Sunday morning assuming all goes well. It will take two days to get to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK which will be our next stop.

We had sun all day today and only saw a some raven and horses that were open range grazing along side the road. They say the grizzlies come out just before dark, but since it doesn't get dark don't know what time that would be. I was awake at midnight last night and saw the sun set at midnight, at least that is the way it seemed to me.

Whittier Cruise & drive to Discovery Bay

6-19-06
We arrived in Whittier at 10 am. Didn't leave Seward until 7:05 and it was cloudy with sun breaks. Here in Whittier it has been raining most of the day. They didn't stop us from walking around town though and finding people who knew our friends, the Hughes, who ran a glacier sightseeing boat for several summers up here. We were in the fudge shop and heard four people talking and one of them mentioned Anacortes. Our ears perked up and we said we were from there. Seems the people who just sold the fudge shop have had a place in Anacortes for the past three years. As soon as the sale is finalized they will be in Washington full time. I have a feeling they are planning a fudge shop in Anacortes. I also found a lady who owns a gift store and she remembered our friends from the early 1990s. There is a cruise ship here as there was in Seward but I think the one in Seward was smaller. As we were waiting to go through the tunnel our motorcycle friends, who are catching the ferry to Valdez, drove up beside us. The tunnel is one way so on the hour it is west bound and on the half hour it is east bound then periodically it is for trains only. There are six lanes and when your light turns green your lane can go. A little farther along they also have red/green lights like the I-5 freeway entrances to keep the cars spaced correctly. It is 2.5 miles long which is the longest vehicle tunnel in the United States. The speed limit is 25 which makes it seem much longer. Before they allowed cars in the tunnel you had to drive up onto a train and stay in your car through the tunnel in the pitch black. Now it is lined with lights and is quite bright. I took some pictures which didn't turn out too well. Will try again on the way out.We are parked in a gravel parking lot with all the boat trailers so feel free to run our generator and we won't be bothering anyone. But no wi-fi in town so no telling when I will be able to post this.

6-20-06
Went to the Rolling Pin Bakery for biscuits and gravey this morning and met Nancy who also remembers our friends, the Hughes. Then drove around a little before going back and hooking up. Then read and napped until noon when we walked to the boat for our glacier cruise. It poured rain all day in Whittier, but where we were on the boat it was perfect. Cloudy with an occasional sun break. The glaciers are more beautiful on the overcast days because they look blue. In the bright sun, they reflect the light and just look white. We saw lots of sea otter swimming near our boat. Many of them had their babies on their stomachs as they floated around. While swimming on their backs their little back feet are really moving propelling them along. Many of them had yellow heads and were not at all afraid of the boat, but moved out of the way. We were amazed at how large they are. Our boat was a catamaran about 86 feet long. It had two stories inside with booths for 4 or 6 people and we could go outside in the back and up another story to the top of the boat. When we were traveling at 46 miles an hour, it was too windy to be out there, but when we stopped it was great! We were assigned to a booth for six and I know the three seats across from us were sold. But those people did not show up. So we each got a window seat then two other people from another group joined us. There were actually four in their group so at times we had any of the four. They were very interesting to talk with. A dad, son, daughter and her husband. The trip was originally to be the two couples, but the mom hurt her leg in a car accident, so the son went along. We went a long way and saw many glaciers and chunks of ice floating in the water. One glacier even calfed some pieces while were were there, but no pieces the size of a car like you see in the movies. We were very excited and had a great time. When we got back to Whittier it was still pouring so we hurried to the RV, loaded up Sheila in the truck and got in line at 6:50 for the 6 pm tunnel opening. We are now in an RV park about 6 miles from Whittier. We didn't want to go any farther, but wanted to be on this side of the tunnel in case we decided to hit the road at 4 am like we sometimes do.Tomorrow starts the return trip. We still have lots to see, and have decided not to go to Chicken and Dawson City and that route. But will take the Glen Highway through Anchorage, Palmer, Glennallen, and Tok. Then will go south to Haines Junction and east to Whitehorse.Stay tuned as we change our minds along the way.I took 132 still pictures and 6 movies, but won't put all those on the blog!!!

6-21-06
We left Whittier at 6:50 this morning. Harold woke up at 4, but I was snoring and really sleeping so he did not wake me. There were about 30 tour buses headed south but only two of them had passengers. Guess the rest were headed to the cruise ships for passengers heading farther north. We arrived in Tok after several areas of construction which slowed us down. The last two sections required a pilot car to get us through. The last one was about 7 miles long and we had a 20 minute wait for the pilot car before we could even start. Both of the last two jobs won't be completed for at least another year. The flagger works 12 hours a day six days a week. Don't know whether they have another crew and work through the night with these long days or not. Since we are in the southern half of the state, the days aren't quite as long as in Fairbanks. Tomorrow we head for Haines Junction and people tonight told us that the road is still bad, but that this end of the Cassair Highway is worse. Oh well, there is only one way home so guess we will just take it easy. There were MANY wild flowers along the sides of the roads today as we traveled through the mountains from Anchorage. Purple lupin (I think), a pale yellow small flower and a reddish purple flower. Anyway they are all beautiful. Saw a couple of more glaciers also. I am still amazed at all the water EVERYWHERE. Most of the rivers are "braided" rivers which mean they meander all over the river bed which is full of gravel/sand bars from the silt, etc. washed down from the glaciers. The rivers are about 100 yards wide, but the water doesn't cover the whole area in any one place. When I get a good wi-fi connection, I will try to add a picture of a "braided" river.We are staying at the Sourdough Campground where we stayed in June 1, but didn't want to sit through the guys routine again and stay for the pancake toss so are going to bed early and read. It is raining once more, but hopefully it will slack off tomorrow. We only had about 30 minutes worth of rain since we left Anchorage today.
6-22-06Woke up to rain this morning. So we showered and hit the road at 7:30. It rained for about an hour then the sun worked its way out and were had sunshine off and on the rest of the way. We only went to Discovery Bay, Yukon today. Needed to do laundry and since we had been on up-heaved roads and constructions most of the day felt it was time to stop. This area had been gravel when we came through on May 31, but now they have the chip seal down althought it has not been paint striped yet. Our truck and trailer are covered with mud from all the constructions the last two days. May have to wash it one day, but hear we have more areas of constructions ahead so will probably wait a little while longer. The place we are staying tonight is Cottonwood RV Park. It is a nice little park right on the Kluane Lake. When we came by May 31, the lake was still frozen. Now it is totally thawed and has white caps from the wind. In my June 1 posting I mentiond the stuff blowing across the end of this lake. Found out today it is silt that has washed down from the glaciers. When the river is low, the silt dries out then blows in the wind like sand. There are snow topped mountains around us and the grizzlies are known to come walking through the park at any given time. We are hoping they will come through while we are here, but haven't seen any yet. We saw two large moose in a swampy area this morning between the US and Canadian borders and the border agent said there had been a grizzly by the road the last few days, but we didn't see it.
Washed clothes today at the park $2.50 to wash and $2.50 to dry each load. Paid $2.98 for gas at the last place we stopped in Alaska. We are now in the Yukon Territory and will be going through Whitehorse tomorrow. Don't know how much farther we will go beyond that. I am working on making a CD to tell the story of our trip. Not counting the pictures I took today, I have taken 895 pictures that I will need to go through and pick for my CD. Oh well, that will give me something to do!!!

Anchorage to Seward

6-18-06Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. We had a great time in Anchorage. I was finally able to get a wi-fi hookup at a little cafe there so sent as many pictures as I could. We walked around Anchorage downtown on Friday and they had a street fair in one of their parks there. There are many parks in Anchorage. Everything about this state shows the people enjoy being outside. There are bike trails along the highways for miles and miles. These trails are also used for snowmobiles and dog sleds in the winter.
Friday night we went to the home of my nephew and his wife in Anchorage and had a wonderful halibut dinner and lots of visiting. This is another couple we have never visited much with and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. The nephew we had dinner with in Fairbanks was also down with his wife so the six of us got caught up on the rest of the family.
Friday night we drove to Eagle River just north of Anchorage for my dog trial on Saturday. The people there were so great and we had a good time, even though our runs were not the best. The sun was out most of the day and we were through by 2 so packed up our tent and unhooked the truck and went to get hair cuts as we were getting pretty shaggy. When we came out from getting the hair cuts, it was pouring rain! Hit the road at 4:30 am today, Sunday. Drove to Seward with a side trip to walk out to the Exit Glacier. The drive to Seward was beautiful. This area of Alaska is surrounded by mountains and everything is so green with lots of snow here and there. Our camping spot is right on the water. Have been walking for the last hour in the rain - so glad we brought our umbrellas.
There is an area of water south of Anchorage that is called Turnagain Arm. It is similar to Elliott Bay but more shallow and the tide range is more than 33 feet. A bore tide is an abrupt rise of tidal water just after low tide, moving rapidly landward, formed by a flood tide surging into a constricted inlet such as Turnagain Arm. This foaming wall of water may reach a height of 6 feet. The beach is very sandy, but the guide book says to stay off the sand as there is a lot of quicksand because of all the silt washed down from the glaciers. We didn't get to see the bore tide, but maybe will luck out on our return trip after Whittier as we head north again through Anchorage and up the Glen Highway to Glenallen and Tok.
We ran into our motorcycle friends today. At least three of them are here in Seward. They are catching a boat from Whittier to Valdez, but the other two are riding their bikes to Valdez so I think they are on their way to Anchorage now.Now we are going to unhook and drive to another part of town where we saw wi-fi advertised. If you get this today you will know we were successful.

Denali and trip to Anchorage

6-12-06 DenaliWe left Fairbanks today at 6:08 headed south toward Denali National Park. About 40 miles south of Fairbanks we ran into the smoke from the forest fire which has now reached 33,000 acres. Some of the trees were still smoking. We drove through that for almost 20 miles sometimes with the visibility down to 100 yards. There was red fire retardent on the blacktop. Some homes were still standing and looked untouched while the area all around them was burned black. You could tell where the swamps were as they were still green with grass. It will take years for this area to recover. Got to Denali at 8:50 s made good time even with the slow driving speed. This fire was cause by a man dumping the ashes from his burn barrel into a wooded area!!!We visited the vistors centers and got our camping and tour bus tickets. Then we caught a bus to the Denali Dog Kennels where they keep the sled dogs. We got to walk up and pet them then they harnessed up five dogs and they pulled a sled at high speed around a short track. Very exciting for them and for us. We had seen this on TV, but so much better in person. We had sun most of the morning but now it is a little cloudy and we had about 5 minutes of sprinkles. They say the mornings are better weather wise so we are hopeful for tomorrow. Our bus leaves a 6 am and we hope there are lots of animals along the way.We were told there is a grizzly and a cow moose with her calf wondering around our camp area. There will be no long walks with Sheila. Tonight the ranger is giving a talk about the footprints of the animals in the park. Should be interesting. Will be the first time we have gone to a ranger talk and not had to take a flashlight to find our way back to camp!


6-13-06Woke up at 4:30, ate, packed a lunch, walked Sheila and was at the bus station at 5:30 for the 6 am bus. What a beautiful day. There were only about 21 people on the bus so each of us got a window seat the whole day. We saw wolves first - they were so much bigger than any I had seen in museums, etc. Before the day was over we saw Dall Sheep and Caribou, ground squirrels, ptarmigan, snowshoe rabbits, golden eagles, moose, grizzly bears, marmets, and one fox. Most of them were pretty far away (except for the rabbits and squirrels). Mt. McKinley (Denali) was totaly covered in clouds, but we didn't expect to see that anyway so were not too disappointed. The day was beautiful and the group was very friendly and talkative so we had a great time. The bus went 65 miles into the park (no cars allowed except for researchers and park personnel). We made about 4 potty stops each way and stopped on the road when we saw wild life and took our pictures from inside the bus. It took about 8 1/2 hours to complete. I was tired and can only imagine how the bus driver felt. The road is gravel and one way in most places. The drivers have to look ahead for another bus and then one of them stops as far over as they can and the other bus drives past slowly. No guard rails and on the way back we were sitting on the downhill side and it was straight down in a lot of places. I tried to look across the tundra and on the hills for wild life and not look down too often!!We came back to the trailer and took Sheila for a walk and I took a short nap then we drove back up the highway outside the park and hit a couple of more gift shops. You are going to be seeing me in Alaska T-shirts for some time. Saw a movie about the northern lights (aurora borealis) which was very well done. We have seen the lights a few times from Lopez Island, Table Mt. near Ellensburg and Whidbey Island, but nothing like the ones you can see from Fairbanks. We noticed last night around midnight that it is a little darker here than in Fairbanks, but you can still see plenty well without other light.We were scheduled to be here for four nights, but saw a lot yesterday then the trip today and the movie this evening so are ready to head on down the road. There are some places I want to visit in Anchorage and one place is only open Tuesday through Saturday and we will only be there Thursday and Friday. Don't know where we will be Wednesday night - perhaps at the Chugach State Park near Anchorage or perhaps somewhere north of there????


6-14-06We made it to Anchorage. I wanted to go down the "Old" Glenallen Highway and took a wrong turn. We were going north instead of south so had a rather long detour, but finally got back on the right road. By then it was 4 pm I was hot and tired and didn't know where the state park was and we never did see a sign for the it. So we went to and RV park that is almost right in downtown. It is near the railroad tracks, but we shall see whether we sleep through the trains or not. One comes through between midnight and 2 am and another between 4 and 6 am. Tomorrow we shall tour around Anchorage and do laundry. Friday - who knows??? Meeting David, Wendi, Travis and Tracey for dinner then will drive out to the place for the dog trial after dinner. Hope we don't get lost again!!We have wi-fi at this trailer, but I cannot get it working on my computer. Will try again tomorrow as I am tired tonight.

Pictures Valdez to Fairbanks

Pipeline just north of Fairbanks



Downtown Fairbanks


Fairbanks, AK

Alaska State flower - Forget-me-not

North Pole, AK


Alaska Mosquito made from burls

Boat Harbor in Valdez



Information about Valdez

Valdez to Delta Junction and Fairbanks

Today is actually June 9 and I am posting from Harold's cousin's computer because we are having trouble finding wi-fi in Fairbanks. So there won't be any pictures for a while and this will probably be the last few entries for a couple of weeks.

6-3-06
We had a good drive from Valdez to Delta Junction. Some construction but actually some of the best roads we have found so far. Tonight we are in Delta Junction. Stopped at the information center and bought our t-shirts saying "I survived driving the Alaska Highway". Filled with gas $3.01/gallon and stopped at an RV park just down the road. No one here so like the people next to us, we just parked and hooked up and will pay when someone comes around. (Later we found out the lady was in her house the whole time but forgot to unlock and front door and didn't hear us knocking.) We could have gone farther, but were tired and had rain/snow for the past 50 miles. Left Valdez with scattered clouds, but warm and sunny. About 100 miles north of Valdez we took a little side trip (the guide said a trip NOT to miss). What a waste of time. Nothing there but a few old cabins. We did not get to the Kennicott mine because it was gravel road and we are trying to stay off of those. Besides we have to save something for our next trip up here!!
Saw some more beautiful country today. Every 30 miles or so it changes dramatically. No trees, then lots of trees and underbrush, then a few trees and no underbrush. Followed the pipeline all the way from Valdez. It is underground except where it might damage the permafrost then they put it above ground. In one place it was 13 feet above ground and another it was about a foot off the ground. At the information center there was a cross section of the pipe and the "pig" they send through it to check for imperfections and to clean out the dirt, etc. periodically. Actually there are two different kinds of pigs. One to check for imperfections and one to clean it out. Tomorrow we will go 83 miles to the city of North Pole and probably spend the night there. It is not actually the North Pole, but a place where they celebrate Christmas every day. Probably a tourist trap, but after all we are tourists.


6-4-06
Cold this morning - 36 degrees. Drove to Rika's Roadhouse and had breakfast. The eggs tasted like they were grown right there, although they came from Anchorage. The toast was home made sourdough and delicious so we bought a loaf for the road!! Our South Beach diet has pretty much gone out the window this trip!! Drove to the City of North Pole, through the snow showers. Thought that was appropriate since we are visiting the North Pole. A nice RV park and a LARGE gift store where we left some money. Called Harold's cousin in Fairbanks and she said to come on out. Which means we will be staying with them for a week, but they go to work and we go sight seeing and Shelley and I take turns making dinner (She loves to cook and does a WONDERFUL job) so hopefully we won't be too big of a burden.

6-5-06
Shelley's husband has Monday and Tuesday off so we visited with him some this morning then Harold and I went to the museum at the college. A beautiful building which they just renovated. We have been to a lot of museums about American Indian culture, but this is the first one about Native Alaskan culture. Many different things with all the masks, eye masks with little sits because of the bright sun on the ice and snow. All of the stuffed animals from this region. Also I didn't realize that Japan actually invaded the Aluetian Islands during WWII and captured some of the people and took them back to Japan basically as slaves. It was 2 years before we were able to get them back to Alaska and many of them had died. Tom has a boat and he has been getting it ready for his fishing trip to Chitna next week. He and Harold are taking the boat out this morning for a short trip to check it out while I go shopping and grocery shopping.

6-06-06 through 6-08-06
We have been having a ball in Fairbanks. They is a beautiful fountain with sculptures in the downtown area, Pioneer Park has an aircraft museum, a museum of old time stuff, and an old steam train plus many, many shops with mostly Alaskan made crafts. We have been to that Park a couple of times. We to the old theater in town and they show a movie about the ice sculpting competition in March then afterwards you can go into three different areas where there are lighted sculptures and we took pictures there.
Shelley and I stay up until 11 pm talking. We have never had a chance to visit on a one to one basis and it has been fun getting to know her. Wednesday afternoon my nephew took us to Fort Wainwright and we got a tour of where he works and even got to go on a Chinook helicopter (on the ground of course) which is what he flies. Then we went to their home and had a delicious dinner made by his wife. Again we have never visited with them one on and one and have really enjoyed getting to know them also. They are going to be in Anchorage when we are so we are meeting another nephew of mine and his wife there and the six of us will go out to dinner.
Today we are going out to an information center about the pipeline so I better get going. Will write when I can.