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1650o miles
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Graceland

we saw the hurricane but didnt want to get too close

Sunday, September 7,2008

Seattle was a nice city. We took a tour around the city. It's a pretty spread out city but has a beautiful cityscape from afar. Our guide told us it was expensive to live there, guess taxes are high there. What was pretty cool is when something new is built a certain percentage of that has be an art piece. The troll however was built to keep homeless from living under that bridge. It seems like there were always bottles and cans left there so the troll was put there and it did solve the problem. While on this tour we went through this very wonderful market place. It gives Italy a challenge. The vegetables and fruit were flawless and the flowers we spectacular. It was huge as well. Also a fish area, a meat area, cheese, jams and jellies, nuts , pastas, it was pretty amazing. The next day we went to Boeing. This is an area just outside of the city. It was in the red building where the company began. And now it is all museum including to larger building. It was quite interesting. Across from the museum were two planes you could go through. One was a Concorde and one was Air Force one. The Concord was very narrow and quite small inside. It could cross the Atlantic if 2 hours and 49 minutes. Very expensive to run however and it never made any money. Air Force One was interesting as well. The presidents that used this airplane were, Eisenhower, Nixon, Carter, and Kennedy. I guess President Eisenhower designed the interior and it was a rather no frills sort of interior. It was nice but not fancy at all.

Ok now from there we went to Crescent City, CA to see the Giant Redwoods. There is a state park near where we stayed and it is filled with red woods. And they are red as you can see from the fallen one on the ground. They are very tall up to 370 ft.. The bark is very striated, almost like ropes going up the tree. Some are quite wide as you can see from the picture of Mike. Well we found a state park ranger and he told us that the Sequoia is a bigger tree!!!!! At least the trunk is, not as tall only about 300 feet but much bigger around. So we are going to go see those on our way out of California. Our drive from Crescent City to Petaluma was quite beautiful as it was along the pacific most of the way. Also from Crescent City and closer to Petaluma the temperature changed enormously. WHEW hot hot hot.

Got Petaluma and are in a KOA campground. Huge campground with 300 sites. They got a pools showers, everything and also have these cute little lambs and sheep as you drive in to the office. It ends all there. It STINKS, it smells like we are inside of the barn. It REEKS, we can't open the windows. Looking forward to leaving. Anyway yesterday we went into San Fran. They have a tour you can take from here but it was $69.00 per person for 6 hours. So no no no we drove in. Found a place (near the waterfront) to park the truck for $5.00 for the day. Walked a couple of blocks down the from the truck and bumped into this great market place with all the great stores in it. One I have never seen before, it was a Caviar place to eat!!!!!! All they served is wine and all different kinds of caviar. It was a great place I could shop there more. From there we went to Fisherman's Wharf and had a late lunch. Walked a little to where the old trolley cars are. A long line to ride it at $5.00 a ride and you couldn't do it round trip. I rode on it many times 40 years ago when it was probably a quarter to ride and you could jump on whenever. That took much of our day, and we were back to the barn about 8:00 pm.

Today we went in the opposite direction to Napa Valley. We were hoping to do Sonoma as well but did not have the time. Most of the winery's do not open until 11:00 and close about 5:00. This poop-aroma haven we're in is about an hour from Napa. We had great fun however, we went in Domaine Carneros which is connect to Tattinger in France. Beautiful tasting mansion and grounds. Mostly champagnes of coarse. Did not taste. Then we went to BV, but they did not have their zin so we did not taste there. Then to Merryvalle, we did taste there. A flight of white and a flight of red. They were ok, they did not have any starmont. But they did have some Zin that we bought. We did not get to taste the Zin and hope it is good, but they only make 200 cases of it and we would not be able to get it anywhere. Then lunch, nothing special but thought we should eat before going on. We went to Grgich and I tried there Zin. Gag gag gag. It tasted like a tart cab!!! Guy said our Zins are the syrupy Zins you get in Europe!!! What? EH? It had no fruit or berry flavor at all. Ah well
The we went to a winery called Peju, a fairly new winery. Very beautiful place. Most of their wines are shipped in the state. They produce about 40,000 cases a year. Found the wine pretty good. I'm not big on cabs and merlots which is mostly what we tasted. I tasted there Zin and like that. The last place we went to was Supery. In this place we saw their big vats and the area they make the wine and bottle it. It was fascinating. Did not taste there, we were done.

So tomorrow we are on our way to Yosemite where the Sequoia are located. We are forfeiting Lake Tahoe.

Headin South

denne's busy so I'll pop a post. The pics on the left for victoria and seattle represent a feeling of euphoria about being out of canada. To support their socalist lifestyle they pay a 5% gas sales tax above the regular gas taxes that push the price to near $6 a gallon (part of the National sales tax on everything) and they complain in every newspaper about the lack of healthcare (the free stuff). Most difficult operations are just sent to the US. The news reports are just full of this stuff.
These just too much canada between US and AK
So back to normalcy. Cresent City next to see the giant redwoods and then to Sonoma for a few days. Lake tahoe on the way to colorado and then down to taos and then homeward bound.

the weather is perfect 72 daytime and 50s at night
Will keep you posted
Telephone works now too
That's nice
Mike

August 22,2008

It's been 4 days and we have been traveling every day since I last posted here. We have traveled the entire Alaskan/Canadian Highway total miles 1454. The highway starts or ends whichever way you are going, in Delta Junction, AK and ends in Dawson Creek, BC. We stay over one day in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. I wanted to stop there because of all the gold rush stories we have been hearing about. The "stampeders" that started in Skagway Ak hiked over mountains to get to Whitehorse. Then once there they had to build boats which would take them down the Yukon river to Dawson City which is where the gold was suppose to be. The Yukon river is a very big river which starts somewhere just south of Whitehorse and travels all the way to the Bering Sea. Amazing what those gold seekers went through. The town itself is not much to see. We went through the shops but everything is the same in those places. We went to see the largest fish ladder in the world. It was something else I'll tell you. The coho salmon come down the Yukon river from the Bering sea to spawn. By the time they get to this fish ladder they have traveled over 1800 miles. Just amazing. Then in the evening we went out for a quick bite and went to this show called the Frantic Follies. It's a vaudeville style show and it tells tales of mostly gold rush days and the pioneers who lived by in the 1890's. It was very funny and very entertaining.

From there it has been driving everyday ever since then. Very long, but it was definitely time to go as the trees are changing colors. Bright yellows. New snow on the mountains and temps in Whitehorse was in the 40's. It has been in the 40's and 50's up until today. We saw a few animals on this trek. Buffalo, a bear, and caribou and a baby moose without it's mother!!!!

We are now in Dawson Creek BC which is mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. This is a busy town and we are going to spend one day here. (tomorrow) There are some historical things here we want to visit. Plus I think we need a break for riding in the truck.

From here we are on our way west again. On our way to Victoria, still about 2 days drive from here. Looking forward to getting out of Canada. Gas is outrageous here. It was bad in Alaska but not as bad. Alaska has the most expensive gas in the US but it is still less than Canada. One of the drawbacks of going to Alaska by car is the distance you have to go in Canada. It takes days and days. Once you get into Alaska, nothing is over a days drive. There is so little of the state you can really explore by car. So much of it has no roads and you have to fly to get there.

A little word about the Goob. He's doing very well and is getting very spoiled. We bought him some toys in Alaska cause I was concerned he wasn't getting any exercise. So we play with him almost everyday. We just got a catnip toy and he's been batting that thing around all evening. We we start to pack up, he goes under the comforter on the bed and stays there until we stop in the evening. The ride doesn't seem to phase him anymore if he can be under the covers. He's really a nut.

Take care all, talk to you again soon.

August 18, 2008

It's early morning on our last day in Alaska. We will be over the border in only 5 miles from this campground. After Mike's fishing trip, which, he loved, we stocked up with a few supplies from Sams, and did our laundry . I got caught up on the housekeeping while Mike was on his trip. The drive from Fairbanks to where we are now which is called Border City, was not the greatest. It rained most of the day and the road was all torn up and most of it gravel. But, we did see a moose yesterday. She was really close to the road and I got a lot of pictures of her. She was so close we could hear her chopping whatever it was she was eating. She puts her head under the water to get her food, And boy was she big!!!! We watched her for quite a while.

I forgot to tell you while we were in Fairbanks we went to a little town called THE NORTH POLE! Yep I bet none of you thought the North Pole was in Alaska. The town is cute with the light poles looking like candy canes. The bus stops are also in red and green. We went to Santa's house and there met the Mrs. and Santa himself. It was fun.

Well how would we rate Alaska? I guess for me it was dampened by the bug I had, it messed me up for a good 2 weeks or more which I'm sure messed it up for Mike also. So other than that we both thought it was okay. Definitely beautiful with so much of it being untouched. The weather for the most was awful with mostly rain with the exception of the last 4 to 5 days. Rain and cold and it was getting the people who lived here down as well. Imagine having only 4 months of long days and warm weather and then darkness and cold for 8 months. and those 4 months are cold and damp. The people who live here are kind of rude also. You go to their stores where they want you to buy something and the sign on the close racks says: "We are you mother, so if you try this jacket on, hang it back on the hanger and zip it back up". Saw things like this in more than one place. One of the more expensive campground it was your responsibility to wipe the shower down with your towel before you left. It's tough up here but maybe that's the way you need to be to live here. Not for us that's for sure. We are glad we did it but we will not be back.

So now we are looking forward and looking forward to going to Virctoria Canada. Then off to Washington to maybe Seattle and eventually to the giant redwoods and wine country. (and maybe a little summer!)

i go fishing

Well Im back.....alive.....no plane crash, no eaten by a bear...just loads of fish. The trip started at a float plane runway just north of the real Fairbanks airport. 7 people in this plane

picture a picture of an airplane with no wheels, uh oh, it showed up up there 9 uh oh, if you click on the tail you may find the whole picture and some more.

A one hour flight past lots of trees and rivers and lakes and no cars and no people.
2 of the people went on to another lake and 5 of us stayed on Dune Lake. A 60ish couple went to the cabin on the end of the lake and peter and paul (12) from Austria, stay with me in the 4 bunk cabin. Every one had there own boat and I headed out immediately with my 3 fly rods all hooked up different and proceded to find out what the pink plastic barrier was that was across the lake. Humm, flowers. Humm, fish in there? about 15 on this little tiny fly. 10 or so caught on a purple bead-eyed egg sucking leach wooly bugger fly. (is anybody writing this down?).....oh yeah, me....nevermind. About 15 trolling on the way to the fishing hole I liked with a small spinner and a number 2 hook. Most of the fish were rainbow trout the there to six pound variety and some silver salmon raised in the lake. They all did not want to be caught and several took 10 - 15 minute to boat. They would just take off and swim away, leaping out of the water and shaking like the bass in Maine. And that was on Friday. Ate one of the silver salmon for dinner (pan fried over a piece of burning wood) and took what i thought would be a nap and some late evening fishing but is started raining. Very quiet. The boys were out boating and hiking -they were a little woodsy for me, but very nice. He is a teacher with relatives in Ak so he visits quite often. Very quiet, really quiet. I never did wake up till 6 am. Little coffee and off to more fishing. More of the same but a little rain and overcast. Water was warmer to the touch than air. Temp on Friday got way up into the 60s and Sat morning was 55 ish. So couple hours almost late for the pickup, there was fog in Fairbanks, we finally got up in the air an I called Den on the cell. I don't think she was worried about me, but she had no way to communicate with me or the pilot and neither did we, but we did make it and I must say it was a great fishing adventure and it's time to eat some trout, so, later.

August 15, 2008

It's been a while. I know, but I'm telling you Internet is very bad in this state. We heard on the news this morning, Alaska's Internet is the slowest in the entire 50 states and Rhode Island is the fastest. How bout that!!!! Soooo we are in Fairbanks right now and just got on today.

Fairbanks is pretty cool. It is the second largest city in Alaska! (and it really isn't that big) There is a lot to do here, as a tourist that is. Yesterday we went to a place called Pioneer Park. In this park they moved here many of the old log homes of the very early 1900's and late 1800's from areas all around the town of Fairbanks. The log homes are now little gift shops or small museums. It was really fun going into these homes. Most were one room homes with a couple of windows. Some had sod roofs. We also saw a railway car that President Harding used to come to Alaska for the golden spike ceremony which I assume it connected the railway from Fairbanks to Seward. Fairbanks to Seward is call the interior. It is on the eastern side of the Alaskan mountain chain. In Fairbanks you can't see a mountain. That's pretty unusual in this state. Fairbanks is also call a desert! Well it was explained to me that is based on the amount of rainfall they get every year. Very little, except for this year, much rain this year. It's green and the trees are not stubby but still it's a desert. Ok Pat which one is the right spelling? Not something you eat but very dry and arid! It get very cold here in the winter but also has the best summer weather. In the winter it will get down to 40 below or more sometimes. It it goes below 40 kids do not have to go to school that day. Anyway it is a very dry snow so you can't make snow balls. They get about 60 inches a year here, which I'm told is not that much! Also, they do not plow the road here or anyway, I guess, in Alaska. The cars drive on the fresh snow road and it gets packed down. The snow gets stronger and stronger and has more traction than a plowed road that could get rain and turn to ice. So every now and again they get this grater or scraper that takes a layer off the hard pack which keeps the traction up. I found it interesting. This is also done in Anchorage as well so based on that I have made the assumption it is the same throughout the state. One more thing. The weather for the last 5 days has been quite nice. Sun and mild temperatures. It has been very rainy and cold the entire past month in this entire state. Even the Alaskans are commenting on this.

Today we on a paddle boat trip down on the Chena River. The Chena goes through Fairbanks. It was such a beautiful warm day, a very nice day for this trip. They had a bush pilot and his plane of coarse, take off on the river right in front of the boat and land right beside the boat, the the commentator talked with the pilot and we could all hear the pilot. It was cool. Now there are homes all along the river. It is not a deep river only about 8 or 9 ft deep so it freezes completely in the winter. The residents drive across it, sled with their dogs on it, ski doo, I guess it is just as functional in the winter as the summer. In the summer the homes have docks and boats and who knows what they do. The Chena flows into the Tanana River which is a glacial river that eventually flows into the Yukon River which flows eventually into the Behring Sea.
On this river is where Susan Bucher lived with her hubby and two girls. This women is an 8 time Iditarod winner. Very famous in this state. She died 2 years ago from cancer. Her children are still quite young early teens. Anyway her husband and the girls still live on the river and raise and race musher dogs. So we talked via a mike from the land to the boat and he told us all about how they raise the dogs what they feed them etc. The he gives us a demonstration of the dogs pulling a ATV about 9 or 10 dogs. When they start to hook up those dogs, those dogs go nuts. Barking, jumping, they can't wait to take off. They went on their run and when they go back all the dogs hit the river to cool off. Then we went the we got to the Chena river and saw the Tanana river but there is a big sand bar at the end so that is as far as we went. Turned around and stopped at this village that is a replica of an Indian village of ancient times. It was interesting. This tribe was a nomadic tribe as they had to go where the animals were. Eventually they learned the animals travels the same areas every year and were able to settle into a village. While they were traveling they would carry caribou pelts and willow branches and make tents with these for protection. They was tons of stuff to learn but I'm not going through of it right now.

Tomorrow Mike is going on the trip!!!!! Yep, he's going to get in this tiny dinky little plane, fly somewhere for an hour and land on this lake somewhere where nobody else is!!!!! He gets a cabin and a boat. The pilot leaves and will pick him up the next day. Hmmmmm sound like fun to you? Well he's excited. He has a bell and some bear spray. Keep you eye open for that story.


Ok so before we got here in Fairbanks we were in Denali. Not in the park but just outside of it. It rained and rained for 2 days so didn't do much. Then the weather broke and we had a nice day so we took a drive into the park hopefully to see some moose. No luck. Well you can only drive into the park 15 miles they have to turn around. If one want to go further you must take a bus. So that what we did I think last Sunday. We had a beautiful day. It is an 8 hour trip. The driver of the bus was very informative. He is a biologist. Don't ask, it takes to long. All the roads past the 15 mile mark are gravel roads and some very skinny with very large drops. The park is very beautiful. We followed the Alaskan Mountain range, which by he way are all snow capped that happened within the last week. Yep new snow on those mountain tops. We also saw grizzlies, horned sheep, snowshoe hares, mama moose and baby and caribou and learned the difference between the taiga and the tundra. It was fun. The we get to where we will turn around and there it is Mt. McKinley or better know in Alaska a Denali it original name. We were very lucky to see the top, it is covered in clouds most of the time. The driver said it was the first time he had seen it in a month. Mike was very taken by this mountain. It is huge as you can see after we left Denali on our way to Fairbanks on another very nice day, we could still see this mountain over 125 miles away. We didn't stay in Denali very long as it is overpriced and touristy.

Before Denali we were in Anchorage, but on our way to Denali we stopped in this little town called Palmer where there is a Muskox farm. Muskox look kind of like a buffalo. They are tundra animals so they grow very very thick fur. They are happiest in the winter, much more active. So when spring comes they shed this fur from under the long fur they have. This fur was gathered by the Eskimos in the old days and spun and used for clothing. This underfur is called qiviut. The muskox was over hunted in Alaska and became extinct here. I think in the 1930's someone bought 30 muskox from Canada and tried to re introduce them in Alaska. Well the wolves and other animals endangered them then. Hence now they are farmed and protected. I do here however there are wild ones in the tundra above the Arctic circle . Guess there aren't any wolves up there. Anyway at this farm they brush and comb the qiviut out of these animals. They are a co-op so they sell this to women who are Eskimos that are in this co-op. This is cleaned and processed in Rhode Island. Then sent back here to the villages where the knitters knit scarfs, hats etc. Each village has it own pattern. This stuff is softer than cashmere. It is vey expensive. One ball of qiviut yarn is about $80. It's very durable and washable. It's really cool stuff.

Well congratulations if you made it this far. I'm done! WHew!

Go to the Picasa Album for new pics of Fairbanks

August 7, 2008

As you know from Sterling we went on to Seward which is on Resurrection Bay. We were not impressed with this town. It was over priced, heavy tax just felt like you were getting ripped off here. However, one day we went to Exit Glacier. I know funny name isn't it. We climbed up part of the mountain to get to the edge of the glacier. It was pretty cold with the wind coming off the ice. That was pretty interesting.


Then the last day in Seward we went on a dinner cruise out to a tidewater glacier. We left at 3:00pm and traveled out of the bay to the Gulf of Alaska. (got a little rough but we both had taken our Bonine) We saw quite a bit of wild life, mostly birds. Puffins which I had never seen before. They are quite a small bird. They are call heavy bone birds. They can swim under the water with remarkable speed. Cormorants, these birds have to open there wings to dry as they have no oil glands to help them repel the water on their feathers. Then of coarse tons of sea gulls. We saw sea lions, river otters, doll dolphins, and sea otters (my favorite, cause they are so cute). No whales on this trip. Those sea otters stay around the bay just floating on their backs. They have the densest fur of any mammal with over 500 thousand hairs per square inch. The fur is so thick because these animals do not have any blubber to keep them warm. The fir somehow gets air in it and it protects the animal by floating on their backs without touching the water! Something like that anyway. The highlight of this boat trip was seeing a tide water Glacier. It is the tidewater glaciers that Calv. Approaching the glacier are chunks of ice, they look like mini iceberg's but the captain assures us they could be bigger than they appear. Glacier ice is denser than regular ice, it is compacted so it about like a rock. The captain tells us that he wants to keep it away for the prop of the boat. Anyway we saw some calving of this glacier. I think what was so unexpected was the noise it makes when it breaks off. Very loud crack like a very loud thunder. The when it drops in the water it displaces the water and creates a wave. Nothing big when we were there but guess it can be at times. The noise is constant even if it doesn't drop. It come for the back of the glacier. It was something that's for sure. This glacier is advancing!

So the next day we were off to Anchorage for more supplies before we head north. Went to Sams, got Mike's hair cut (it was pretty bad as it is the first cut since we left Florida), and laundry done. Got all that done in one day so we had a second day to play. We went moose hunting and actually found one, a male! Very exciting. So we got that under our belts and decided to go into town and do some shopping. The weather has been cooperating with sunshine with temps getting in the high 60's. The flowers in the downtown area were so beautiful I had to take pictures. They are so much more vivid that any flowers we grow in the north or south east. They are so vivid they almost don't look real, very very pretty.

Okay so now you are all up to date, we are on our way to Palmer and then Denali. Let you know how it all is soon.

Aialik glacier

We spent about half hour and saw lots of ice come down.

August 3, 2008

We left Homer on Thursday and ventured up to Sterling which is only about 150 miles so we got there pretty early. We picked Sterling as it has a population of over 4000 so we thought it would be a reasonable size town. NOT. Doesn't even have a grocery store. It has nothing!!! Hmmm so what do we do? Well it's supposed to be good fishing in Sterling on the Russian River so that day Mike messed around with his fishing gear getting it ready. I found the prettiest wild flowers so I made a bouquet , that's what we are doing at that picnic table. Anywho, Mike went fishing to no avail. Now on our way to Sterling we did see a mother moose and two babies. Two babies is unusual.

So on Friday we decided to take a "float" trip down the Kenai River. This trip begins in Cooper Landing about 40 miles from where we camped. We left about 8:00 and just made it by 9:00. We are joining another couple making the trip. They suit us up! Rubber boots, rubber pants, LIFE JACKET, Had to sign a paper, guy says to keep track of the bodies! I'm saying "FLOAT?" So all four of us get in the rubber raft and sit on the same seat. I'm thinking of Dora and Pat and how proud they would be to see me get on this RIDE! For the most part it was very nice. It was pretty cold as every one's feet got cold. Water was 40 degrees and those rubber rafts aren't that insulated. We went down some mild rapids, not even rated but big enough for me, then we went over rated 2 rapids which by the way is NOT on my bucket list. Yes we got a little wet. All along the river are fishermen and on one shore a brown bear, a big one or better known as a grizzly. Well he wasn't having much luck fishing either, so he decided to to take a swim, hmmm, we had to slow down so we wouldn't run into him. The fishermen on the banks were scattering as he swam by in the current. He went quite a ways till he made it to the opposite side of the river bank. Did I mention he was BIG!
Well we made it, got home, and was exhausted so we took a nap.

Took off from Sterling to Seward which is only about 125 miles. It is cold here in Seward. It didn't get up to 60 yesterday(Saturday). It's Sunday and is still cold. Long underwear day I think. We plan a boat trip to see calving Glaciers on Tuesday. That should be good. This town is a little pricey as it is a port town for cruises. Heavy sales tax. Did I tell you in Anchorage there is no sales tax on ANYTHING, NOTHING. This tax thing kind of bothers Mike, plus here they have a borough tax plus if you go out on a boat there is a fuel charge. We will be out of here on Wednesday.

We have some pictures but they are stuck in the camera. Seems Mike took out the card of the camera and left it in my puter so took pictures on the memory in the camera and doesn't have the right cord? But with patience I'm sure they will get on this blog.

I've been watching the weather and I know many of you are sweating! You know if it is over 60 here and you are an Alaskan, it is hot and many swim or wish they had worn there shorts! Ironic isn't it.

July 30, 2008

We left Anchorage on the 27Th. Docs appointment got me more drugs. Guess I was trying to get pneumonia. So I'm better and getting out more.

We made it all the way to Homer Alaska. I hope Mike shows you where it is on the map. This is a nice little town. Quite a lot of people live here. It's milder here in the winter I'm told as there is so much water in this town. It gets cold but not as much snow as other areas. Homer has what they call a spit! This is like a long skinny peninsular that stretches out into the bay. At the end of this spit are shops and many fishing boats. Check out the ocean buoys that Mike is standing in front of and in the same area are the weights that they hold these buoys in the water. One of those cement sinkers was 80,000 pounds. They were huge.

There are a lot of fishing charters for halibut down on the spit. So Mike went out today, from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. The seas were very high, many people go sick on his boat. Seas were in the 7 ft variety. But he did come home with two halibut, which is the limit for the day for each person. One halibut was 35 pounds, and one was 18 pounds, out of that we got 22 pounds of edible fish. We are having them shipped and we will all have halibut this Christmas.

We took a ride off the beaten path here and saw a couple of glaciers. Glaciers are big up here. One of them is bigger that the state of Rhode Island. Any who, the scenery is beautiful. Speaking of big, i heard you can put 5 texas's in state of Alaska!

We saw sunshine today, it was really nice on shore. It got cold this evening. Homers is south so we have night time here. I is dark by 11 pm here.

Pat, I drove the truck today.

We are out of here tomorrow, but not sure where we are going. So till then..........

July 26, 2008

I know, it's been a while and as most of you know I have been sick. Really sick. We moved from Skagway and after a couple of days drive we found ourselves in a little town called Tok. We got there early so I figured this would be a good time to do some cleaning etc. As I did, and made some egg and tuna salads for our trips on the road. I felt fine, then by evening I had a sore throat and a chest cough. Told Mike I thought I was getting a cold. Next day my head felt like it was going to blow up. We were going to go to Valdez but I asked for a day of reprieve. Next day head was worse stay in bed couldn't sleep blah blah blah. So went to the only clinic in Tok. Had to wait an hour in sheer pain. Got a PA. Didn't care, just fix me. Gave me an antibiotic . Next day still had the head ache from hell. Finally the sinuses began to drain, but the antibiotic made me sick to my stomach. We took off to Valdez. That was 230 miles of agony with an upset stomach. I made however. I stayed in bed for the next 4 days but Mike got to fish and he caught some salmon!!!! I was so excited for him. It really kept him busy. I went out for a ride once to see the town but back to bed I went. So then we took the trek to Anchorage, about 325 miles. We have been here for 3 days. Got one more day on the antibiotic and am still not perfect which the Doctor told me to see someone if I wasn't completely well by the end of the medicine. So will probably get checked out on Monday. I am really much better and hope to be well soon.

We have been out in Anchorage a bit. It's a pretty large city. I would say most of the states population live here. All the modern conveniences here. Paved roads, stores of many varieties, traffic, nice restaurants. Guess I'm not the country type.
It's very beautiful here. It certainly is untouched and I'm glad to see it, but I don't think I could live here unless it was here in Anchorage.

So we hope to go to Kenai next. Salmon are running down there. That is about 220 miles from here. Sorry don't have too much Alaska news for you. I can tell you though the flowers that are grown here are really something. They are much more brilliant in color than ours at home. I was told because of the long days.
I met a man who races in the Iditarod. He was most interesting. He has been racing for a while now. He's a physics PhD! Trying to raise money for the race. Not a young man probably in his 60's. We'll have to keep an eye on him in March when the race takes place.

So that's my boring blog, hope I will have more interesting stuff in the future.

July 16,2008

I know you are wondering why it takes me so long between posts. It's all about the Internet availability! So here we go will catch you up again.

As I said we were on our way to Skagway. We made it and spent 4 days there. Skagway is a little town with a lot of history. It used to be a start for thousands of people on a trek to the Yukon for a gold rush in Dawson City. There was no gold in Skagway but there is a port in which many came in by steamer from Seattle, Washington. This was in 1898. Well there was this character who also went to Skagway, his name was Joseph Smith. He was a con man and moved to Skagway when he heard about the gold rush as that is what he did, conned all the prospectors and many lost all their money before they even started out on there trek to Dawson. One of his cons was selling soap with money strapped around it. Two of his men would go up and find money in there soap, $5.00 oh I got $50.00! Then everyone would rush up and buy his soap. His men who posed as buyers would return him the money. He became quite wealthy and opened a saloon. This is why he was called Soapy Smith! Any way he did many types of swindles and robbed many of the miners. The towns people got tired of this and wanted to run Soapy out of town. Not on your life Soapy said, this is my town. Well he got shot in the heart and he shot his killer in the groin and he died 12 days later. This is a true story and there more to it but it is one of the highlights of this town. We went to a play which was about this character, it was quite cute and comical. Before you go into the play you gamble with money they give you when you come in. You get $1000.00. You can play black jack, roulette or a game call 4 5 6. The actors are the dealers. Well we played roulette, I lost Mike won. We payed black jack, I lost Mike won. We played 4 5 6 and I won some and Mike won more. He won the most of anyone in the room and got a poster with kisses on it. Very cute.

The stampede it was called in 1898 of people coming to mine for gold in Dawson. Thousands came in that year and a few years after. Pretty serious at first as these fellows walked over mountain passes carrying hundreds of pounds of supplies to last them the trip. Many died, one pass they took pack horses. The pass was so bad 3000 horses perished in one year. The trip to Dawson was 1500 miles from Skagway. Walk and raft down the Yukon river to get there.

Skagway is also a port town. Which means cruise ships come in everyday, at least two at a time and as much as 4 when we were there. So with the exception of a few places it is fine jewelry, furs, carvings etc. typical cruise port.

Our last day there which was Monday, we took a boat trip from Skagway to Juneau. This is an 80 mile trip. We went on a boat with about 40 other people who were also there as RVers. It was a lot of fun. The captain pointed all all kinds of wild life. We saw sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales, many Bald Eagles, Dall porpoise, dolphins. The trip is all in a Fjord so the sea was very calm. Mountains on both side the whole way. We saw fishermen fishing for salmon. That was something too. It took about 3 hours to get to Juneau. A bus waiting for us, took us into the city where we had lunch at this place called "The Hanger" which is right on the water. Well in front of this restaurant is about 4 sea planes. They left and came back twice while we were having lunch. Just taking people out for a ride. Each plane held about 10 people. Chaching!!!! Anyway for lunch we walked around the city a bit as we only had about 1.5 hours (not nearly enough time for me) to shop. Then we met the bus and it took us to a glacier. This glacier was kind of interesting as we could see the burgs it dropped in the water. I learned that all these glaciers we are seeing are from a mini ice age we had 3000 years ago. So that old ice and of coarse it is shrinking, one however is advancing. Got back on the boat and came back to Skagway seeing more wildlife on the way. It was a great way to end our visit in Skagway.

One more thing, that train you see Mike standing in front of is a train snow blower!!! It clears the tracks in the winter. Saw a short film on it, the snow was as tall as the train.

The last two days have been travel days, nothing exciting not stories there. We are in a town called Tok. This town was named after a dog. The Alaskan Highway was built during WW2.

Tomorrow we are heading to Valdez. Sound familiar? It's about 250 miles from here. So stay in touch, haven't heard so much from ya'll.

July 10,2008

We are still driving every day for the last 6 days, I think, and we have about 100 more miles to get to Skagway, Alaska. Tonight we are in the Yukon in what town I cannot tell you. The campground is call Yukon Campground!!!! So for any of you old timers that can remember "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" on tv, I'm there!!!! It's on a beautiful lake. Campsites are nothing to write home about but it's ok for an overnight.

Today was a tough drive as we were on the Cassiar Highway, which we have been on for 3 or 4 days now. The first part of the highway was paved but the part we drove on today, about 150 miles, was dirt road with some paved areas in between. Then to top it off, it rained and that dirt road is all over our camper and truck. Was a mess. So it was a slow go today.

When we first got on the Cassiar Highway we went to our first Alaska town which is on the south eastern part of Alaska and the western part of BC. It's a tiny little town, with one road in and the same road out. Hyder Alaska, population 69(that is what the book we have says.). Well it looked like a few more than that lived there. Not a paved road in the place. I felt like I was in Northern Exposure. We took this road that went up into the mountains and saw an enormous glacier, called Salmon Glacier. We also saw a couple of black bears as well. On this same road there is a place where state, (not sure if its Canada or America as you cross the line a couple of times on this road) built a large viewing area over a stream where the salmon run. When they are running the bears come and catch them and you can watch them in safely. The salmon just began to run day before we got there so there weren't any bears. We could see only 2 pairs of salmon making their nests but the ranger told us in a month or two there would be 100,000 salmon spawning in this location. As we went down the mountain we saw numerous waterfalls. It was really beautiful. As we drive through these mountain areas we see so many waterfalls which we never get tired of. Also many streams, rapids, rivers, lakes just fantastic.

The town you must go through to get to Hyder is called Stewart which is in British Columbia. On our way into Stewart we saw another very large glacier. This one was called Bear Glacier. You can see the blue in the ice. I was told by a ranger that the blue is cause by minerals in the ice.
Anyway so it's time to head out and Mike says, nah, lets not get gas here, we'll get it on the highway. Hmmmmmmmm
Well he figured wrong, he didn't want to pay $1.49 in Stewart cause he thought it would be cheaper once on the highway. Well the next gas was about 110 miles down the road. We made it with 30 miles to spare and we paid $1.60 per liter for it and gladly. Canada is very expensive for gas people we have talked to say it's better once we get into Alaska.

The rest of the trip has been kind of uneventful except for the MOOSE we saw. Or maybe I should say hit!!!! Yep she jumped right out in front of us but fortunately she kept moving across. We have seen 2 more since that one but they disappear before we can get a picture. We have seen only female ones so far. Man they have long legs.

The Goob is getting quite acclimated to travel now. When Mike starts to mess with the outside of the camper he jumps up on the bed and buries himself under the covers but as soon as we stop in the evening he is up and out. This traveling stuff is not so bad after all.

July 6, 2008

This is our first day back with Internet since we last talked to you on the 28th of June. And I must first address Kristi's message on this blog. I was very sad to hear Uncle Lou died. He had been quite ill for a while now and I'm sure he must have been tired of fighting. He was a very nice man, we enjoyed seeing him each Christmas for the last few years. Best wishes to Althea I sure she feels the loss the most.

Let me see if I can catch you up to the present. It's not going to be easy. We were in Montana, drove to the Canadian boarder and sat. Wow what a long wait. They are really being careful. It took us over an hour to get through. The line wasn't that long, they just asked each car a gazillion questions. Anyway we got through and we are now in Alberta Canada. Well I have to tell you it wasn't that exciting. Alberta to up the Canadian Rockies is huge farmland(guess they call them prairies) Farm after farm but miles apart. This was a travel day and not much excitement. We went quite a ways that day, camped, next day we drove about 100 more miles to a town call Cranmore which is about 40 miles away from Banff. We spent the 30th and 1st if July here and left on the 2nd. This was a lovely little town. Lot of building going on there so it must be pretty successful. We we there for Canada Day which is the 1st. It's like our 4th. Parades, fireworks!!!!! We drove around the mountains in the area and I did manage to get Mike to stop at one store other than the grocery. This was a good stop to get caught up on our laundry and all those kind of things. We got to Banff pretty early on the 2nd. You know Banff is in a Canadian National Park and you pay to enter by the day! So just to stay the 4 days we had to pay $20.00 per day to start. Then when we got to the campground, which is a "state" campground we had to pay there as well. The campground was nice, very large, and the showers were free!!!! (bonus) $3.50 a shower in Yellowstone! OK so now we are settled and we are going to check out the town. Well it was very nice. It is not a huge town but very pretty surrounded by the Canadian Rockies. A very popular town, busy with tourists. Anyway being our anniversary we decided to eat out. We ate at a pretty nice place but were both kind of disappointed in the quality. The shops we wonderful. There were some very artsy shops with museum quality things for sale. With, I might add, museum prices. But beautiful one of a kind pieces. BUT when I found and acrylic bead bracelet that was made with that stretchy elastic bands was $35.00 I figure everything was very very inflated. So guess you can guess, we didn't buy a thing. Oh sorry did buy one thing and you will experience at Christmas. Nope not telling.

The next day we went to Lake Louise. We took the longer way in hopes to see some animals. (We didn't) Anyway got to the lake. Very very beautiful. Lake Louise was created by glaciers. As a matter o fact, some of the glacier can still be seen at the end of the lake. The color is a turquoise and of coarse there is reason for this. The glacier moves and grinds the rock down to a powder, it is called "rock flour". It washes into the water, the water absorbs all the light except blue which is the reason why it is this color. Not only is Lake Louise this color but many many lakes and streams and rivers are this color. At the other end of the lake is a big beautiful hotel. Lake Louise Hotel, unique eh? Anyway it is quite posh, but we had lunch there anyway. Best lunch I have had on this trip yet. We ate outside and the day was warm and the view beautiful. There is a trail that goes along the lakeside and Mike and I took it for about 1.5 miles then turned back, almost to the end. The old guys knees were bothering him.

So the next couple of days we would drive around a new mountain or stream and would usually end up downtown with me having to see all the shops. The day before we left we went to the Banff Hotel which is very very beautiful. It's nestled in the mountains amongst pine trees. The view isn't as pretty a Lake Louise but the hotel is most beautiful. The shops in this hotel were expensive and elaborate, fun to look at!! These hotels are both owned by the same people who also own the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec. Cannot remember the name and Mike is sleeping so you're on you own on this one.

We left Banff this morning and road all day. (about 280 miles) Everything is in kilograms, kilometers, liters,and centimeters here so we have to figure it out when we stop. On the drive today we stopped by the Colombian Ice Fields. This is a glacier that has been around for a long time. The ice is as deep as the Empire State Building is tall. We thought about taking the tour out on the ice but decided not to as it was a 2 plus hour tour. From that point we saw many glaciers. Pretty amazing. We figured we would also see a lot more glaciers in Alaska. This area is in Jasper National Park, yep, another fee! However, it was a beautiful drive and also bear country. We got a few pictures and we spotted 3 separate bears. Saw lots of waterfalls as well. One of these pictures is called the "Weeping Wall". One of these falls is called "Bridal Veil Falls, can you tell which one it is? We are now in a little town called McBride Canada. Which is in the middle of nowhere. We were out of milk so we went into town. Oh my goodness.......it's Sunday so the town was empty but the market was open. You wouldn't believe the prices of things in this store. I don't know how this little town can afford to live here. I don't see any industry ,a few small farms, mostly cow type farms. A very small bag of snow peas was $10.00. Amazing. As you can imagine gas is expensive here as well. It is sold by the liter but is well over $5.00 per gallon. Have no idea how it is in the states now but it is expensive here.

We are on the long drive now to Alaska so I don't anticipate any great experiences but if I have any I will let you know. I don't know when I will have Internet again either so wish me luck.

Yes it gets cold at night, in the 60's in the day. I'm waiting for snow.

June 28, 2008

Well we have been in wilderness for 4 days. I mean WILDERNESS!!!! Yellowstone is absolutely beautiful. Every turn is a completely different experience. Plains where the buffalo roam, mountains topped with snow, mud boiling, steam bursting from the earth, geysers, sulfur smell, rapids, lakes, rivers and of coarse animals.

For animals we saw, bears and cubs, elk, ducks, fish, coyote, buffalo (lots of them), and deer. Never saw a moose or a horned sheep which are there as well. The park is over 2 million acres so there is a lot of space to roam.

This place is a geologists dream. Some parts are from volcanoes, some are from the ice age, and so much more I can't even tell you cause it's over my head.

Mike did some fishing. He bought a 3 day license. No luck. First you couldn't fish in the Yellowstone river that fed into the Yellowstone lake cause the Cut Throat trout were spawning. Couldn't fish in any river that left out of the Yellowstone lake cause the cut throat trout were spawning. But you could fish in the Yellowstone lake. I guess the spawn and are too tire to eat. The do have to go over some pretty remarkable rapids. We watch them do that. Oh yes and you can't fish with a barbed hook. You have to smash the barb down. But he looked good fishing. (just ask him)

Yellowstone was great but we had no extras. No Internet, not TV and you had to pay for a shower. Everything is green green green. I did enjoy it but I don't think I'm such a primitive camper anymore.

Last night was probably the cherry on the top of the cake. We were lying in bed, it was about 12 am. When at first we heard a dog bark. Mike said, wolves. I said no; a dog. Well............. it was not a blooming dog. It was coyotes!!!! A pack, right through out campground. On the road behind us. I'll tell you even though I knew they couldn't hurt us it was one of the most frightening things I have ever heard. Whew!!!!!

We are in Great Falls, MT. Stores, Internet and antenna TV. not as beautiful but easier.

June 23, 2008

Didn't do to much today as my cold is not better. So we found a walk-in clinic and as you can imagine it took 2 hours of our day. Have sinusitis and got some antibiotics. Mike had lost a crown a few days ago. (has the crown it just fell out) So while I was waiting for my appointment he was searching for a dentist in hopes he would glue it back in. No luck for him.

We did have some time this afternoon to go to this western village of the 1800's. These log cabins are original, some were one room homes, some were blacksmith's shops, one was a saloon, one was a store, one is a two room house that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hid from the law. These buildings were found all around the area, some in Montana. They were moved here where they wanted to start the town of Cody. Didn't happen cause the water wasn't so good in that spot. It was pretty interesting. I think I like the west!!!!! People are really nice here. I need to make one correction. This town was named after Buffalo Bill Cody, not Wild Bill Cody. He had a wild west show he took all over the world.

Ok, so tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone. I doubt if we will have Internet there, so I'll have to catch you up when we head to Canada.

Take care all.

June 22, 2008

Today was a really fun day but would have been better if we both didn't feel like we are getting colds. Hope it passes.

Today is Sunday, we have one more day here before we go to Yellowstone. The weather has been nice here in the 80's and 90's but will drop remarkably when we go to Yellowstone, as it is over 8000 feet above sea level. Here in Cody we are 4000 above sea level. It gets cooler at night but not bad.

Anyway we went to a Pow Wow today. They were called Plains Indians. However, there were all kinds of tribes there. They sang, danced, and spoke in there native language. Of coarse they speak English normally but I was amazed how many could still speak their native language. There was a Chief Jo Medicine......... can't remember his full name. He was 94 years old. He was considered a war time chief as he served in World War II. The costumes we quite pretty. Some were real authentic made of suede and feathers. Some were a little plastic but all very colorful. I especially like the ladies shoes. They were all beaded moccasins. They were more like a boot-moccasins as they went up the leg. Very pretty.

We went back to the camper and rested cause tonight we went to the Rodeo. It was great. Kinda smelly but once you got past that it was wonderful. Bare back bronco riders, saddle bronco riders, bull riders, lasso the steer and tie 3 legs together, women lasso the steer but no tie, kids 12 and under bronco steer riding, women's barrel racing with horses, kid barrel racing with horses (one was 4 years old!) and a very funny clown.

So that's about it for today. Glad to hear from you Annalisa. I'll try my best at your request!

Oh yes I thought I would show you how Goobie looks out the window in the night! Have to raise those blinds.

To see better pics of the slideshows - see http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.dicesaro

June 21,2008

Well sorry didn't write last night, Friday, as it my beatin night. I got a good beatin too!!!! So bad I couldn't lift my arms to type. I was sent to do laundry and back for a good Friday night beatin. ............ Truth: I was real tired and we did do laundry.

Yesterday the 20Th we left Hill Town and went to Deadwood. Deadwood is still in the Black Hills but it famous for preserving it buildings from the late 1800's. It was a very notorious town in it's day. A big gold mining town. Guess a lot of gold in those there hills. Very lawless for a time from what I understand. Burned down 3 times but was rebuilt. Seems the bank burned down but the gold in it didn't. Very interesting town. In this town Wild Bill Hickok was slain in the #9 saloon. He was only 39 years old. Calamity Jane also live in this town and she died the day after Wild Bill. She was in love with him but don't think it was mutual. She is buried right beside him. From Deadwood it was only a while when we hit Wyoming. Wow what a first impression it made. Rolling hills green, just beautiful but we were still in the Black Hills. A few miles into Wyoming we stop at what is called a "vore". A vore is a sink hole!!!!! The Indians use this sink hole to send the Buffalo in. Yep corralled them to their death. They would send about 300 at a time to this hole. And, they would use every part of the buffalo. All the meat was taken out of the hole by the children, put on sleds and taken to where ever they lived, which, was not near there. They would use the hide, some was stiff and use for armour some was soft and this hide was rub with the brain and a chemical in the brain would soften the hide to like a suede. Amazing. Use the fur,use it all except some of the bones which was left in the hole. There was 20 feet of bone in this particular hole. Oh yes and this is the "pre-historic" indian, they did not have horses!

Not far from there we stopped at Devils Tower. Our camp site was at the foot of this thing. This tower is made of lava, lime stone and other sediments. It is constantly eroding.

Ok now we are today the 21st. We got up, had a very good night of sleep. Went up to the Tower, it's a national monument, to see it up close. We ended up waking around the circumference of the base. Saw some nutty climbers on one side of the face. (Look like fun Judge?)

We started driving and driving. We saw white capped mountains. We went over what was called Big Horn Mountains. They were beautiful. Snow capped. Not bad going up but coming down kinda scary. But Mike did a great job. We saw beautiful wildflowers, snow, great temperatures. It was beautiful. But let me tell you what is in-between Devils Tower and the mountains. Many many many horned antelope. There are more antelope in Wyoming than there are people. You can't go more than 10 miles without seeing one or many. But also there are miles of kind of no so pretty fields with an oil well here and there. Many more than I expected. But I didn't expect any. Not such a nice part of WY. Got over the mountains and there is a large space to the Rockies. Like a plain. Lots of farms, lots of live stock. Drove some more and got here to where we are now......Cody. Went out to dinner in Cody. Home of Wild Bill Cody. He built a hotel here which is where we had dinner. Had ribs that fell of the bone and were still as moist as a rare steak. Yum. Town of Cody is pretty big and was quite busy. Has a rodeo every night. Think we might give it try tomorrow night. We are about 50 miles from Yellowstone so we are here for about 3 days. Goobie will be happy.

Some of my readers have been curious about our gas mileage. We are averaging about 10.5 miles per gallon. And the gas prices since South Dakota have been under $4.00 per gallon. Talk to to all tomorrow.

June 19,2008

We had a rip snortin storm here last night about 2:30 am. It lasted a good hour. They have some violent thunder and lighting storms here. It was so bad Goobie got under the covers and hid. But when we got up this morning the weather man said it would be in the 80's. It was nice in the morning so off we went.

Well as I told you yesterday we were going to the museum to see the works or Borglum. We we went back to Rushmore ; they had a free museum. (need I say more) It was interesting. We actually met a guy who worked on the carvings. He was very old but amazing. The carving at Rushmore took 14 years to complete. I definitely think everyone who can, should visit this place. But on our way, we saw SNOW on the side of the road, at least it looked like it. We stopped, it was hail from the storm last night. Oh yea, forgot to tell you it hailed last night too. Very noise!!!

After we went to Keystone as we found out there was an old part of town. There we went through the oldest general store, The town doctors office, the ice house, and the school house. All in the late 1800s. The store is still in operation and is on the National Historic Register. The ice house is now a fancy gift shop and the school house had it's last 8 students in 1988.
Carrie Ingals Swansy lived in Keystone. She is the sister of Laura Ingals of "Little House on the Prairie". Lot of information about the Ingals family here. Didn't realize that this famous TV series was from real lives.

The a casual drive around the National Forest to see if we could see some mountain goats. Well the weather dropped to 52. Then we had a little hail, then rain. Exciting eh?

By the way, enjoy your comments. Keep em coming.

WeLL I think I will start to tell you what is going on at home so you don't feel so left out. Today is Thursday the 19th. It was very hot today and it might rain. I just thought you might like to know.

June 18,

If you hadn't figured it out I wrote the 17th of June this morning during a storm but it was about things we did on the 17th. So here I am 9:30 pm SD time on the 18th. Ok now we are on the right day.

Had a thunder storm this morning!!!! (surprise) The storms here are pretty intense. One crack of thunder actually rattle the camper. It warmed up by noon, in the 70's and off we went. Today we went to Custer State Park. It's really really big. Many roads. First we went on Needles Highway. Believe me, it is not a highway. It goes up and up and there are tons of granite rock formations. Some look like cathedrals some look like big rocks. lol just kidding. But it was neat to see these things. We stopped at a lot of overlooks and I found this pine tree with the oddest pine cones, or the start of pine cones so I took a picture of it. It is really thick and fat. Then right next to it was a different pine tree with a skinny pine cone start and took a picture of that too. Let me add here that I am at the mercy of my husband to load the pictures here as my computer will not download pictures from my camera. It is a bit frustrating.
The we went to Custer, the town. Well I wouldn't recommend this town to you all. It did have some old buildings from 1880's but that's about it. We had lunch there and Mike had a wire in his salad. Everything else was pretty good.

Then we went back into Custer State Park again.
We took the wildlife loop. This area of the park is more grass land and is suppose to have a herd of 1500 buffalo. Well we saw everything but buffalo. We saw prong horned antelope, white tail deer, and burro's. These burro's were once used to take people up a mountain which is near this place. This was discontinued and so they let the burro's go free in the park. Some are real friendly, they will come up to you and let you pet them. Then we ran into a bunch of them. The next one we saw was in the middle of the road and we had to name him, bigus dickus. He was on his way to a large group of other burro's but was having a hard time walking across the street. He gathered quite a crowd in the middle of the wilderness. Mike said he didn't think burro's could reproduce but I really doubt that especially after meeting bigus!

Now we are going to the big city! Rapid City ( that's when I called you Bob). Yep got to go. Had to refill a prescription and the only Walgreen's was in Rapid City. Also went to Sam's. Very hard to find out here. Food in the grocery is expensive here. At least in these little towns where there is only one grocery store. So we picked up a few things, about $210.'s worth. Ok we bought a couple of chairs and a side of beef. No sorry just a tenderloin of beef. Wanted to stop at a Staples but I think that was enough city for Mike.

I'm going to send you that brochure Emily as soon as I can get some envelopes.

Well we have one more day here in Hill Town and then off we go again. Goobie likes the looooong stays (3days). Tomorrow we are returning to Keystone to see the museum of Borglum the artist of Mt. Rushmore.

Forgot to tell Pat. Found my sign in Mitchell SD. Remember I was complaining how all these new signs I have missed. (parking for pregnant mothers, parking for mothers with babies, parking for green vehicles) Well I found one for us and I am having Mike post it here.

Take care all, Chad have fun in Maine.

June 17, 2008

Well we made it from the Bad Lands to the Black Hills in South Dakota. The distance between the 2 areas are only about 50 miles however it took up about 4 hours of travel. Why? Well we had to stop at the Ellsworth Air Force Base. There is an Air & Space museum there, AND, a Minuteman Missile Silo! Hmmm. Well it was pretty interesting. These silo's were built in the 60's and there were lots of them all over the country. Well in '92 we signed a treaty to destroy all these silo's which now are filled with cement! So this one is a training silo. Don't know to train about what, but, we got to go on this base and go down inside of one. It gave me the willies but Mike like it. They had a lot of planes all on display outside of the base, that was interesting.

After Ellsworth we soon arrived in Rapid City. The biggest city we had seen since Chicago. I was getting excited. A big post office, regular stores, most towns have been cowboy and Indian stores for a long time now. I'm thinking well we can just bop into town if we need anything. (And we do) WRONG...... Twenty five miles later we are in the hills in a very small town called Hill Town population 703. We went from Wall to Hill. Hill is a nice place, a cute one street town with souvenir shops and fast food places. It's pretty. We are right in the Black Hills. The Indians named these hills, as from a distance they do look black, but in reality they are covered with pine trees. It really is nice. It's cool at night, 40ish and nice in the daytime. However, so far we have had two thunder storms, one last night and one RIGHT now.
Anyway last night we went into the town of Keystone which is a little bigger than Hill Town but has more souvenir shops and restaurants. But it also is where Mt. Rushmore is located. There is an evening show there every night at 9:00pm. So we went. It was very inspiring. Very patriotic. Girl Scouts lead you in the pledge of alliance, a movie about all the carved presidents, then they light the carvings, then we sign the national anthem, then all the Veterans and service men go on stage. (yep he went up there) Then the Girl Scouts take down the flag, fold it, and it is passed to everyone on the stage. That took a while. So that's about it. But it was pretty cool.

So now we are kinda waiting for the storm to get over. So will probably talk to you all tomorrow.

June 16, 2008

Better late than never, eh Bob?

Well you all know the start of our trip with the burned out little balls in a wheel of our camper which cause big damage to the axle on our first day of our big trip to Alaska. Yep 11 miles from our first campsite in Connecticut. Yep new axle, new tires too please, all is not good. Oh has to be shipped from Indiana, grrrrrrr, 3 working days?, grrrrrrrrrr. Ok have to kill our trip to Chicago. Went to Pat & Bobs. Stay for a couple of days, went to Newport, saw Jarrett, ate Black Pearl Chowder and Pearl Burger, had a wonderful time, called the camper repair guy, camper all fixed in two days, whoopeee, we are back on track to Chicago.

So on the way out the door, Uncle Bob says, send an e-mail every day to us all about the trip so we can keep track of what we have seen and done. Good idea Bob, ok will do. Hmmmmm, got to Chicago and haven't done it yet. Truthfully nothing really to talk about except Pennsylvania is a really BIG state, is very, very green has many many hills and no one lives there cause we didn't see a house!!!!!!!!
Got to Chicago region, (60 miles from the city) and found a camp ground. Very unusual place, but, very cheap! (need i say more?) Many abandoned and rusted travel trailers, kind of a cemetery of trailers so to speak. Some nice ones too! Some Vietnam Vets live there too. Just so many things can't tell them all to you, it's a must see. Anyway had to have a place for the Goob meister to sleep and be comfy, air conditioning an all. We spent first night there and then into Chicago the next at Judge's place. New bed, very very comfy.

We had a great time there, went on a historical tour and a architectural tour all on the river. Very very interesting. Loved it. Ate a Avec, one of Judges favorite restaurants and once you have been there you would understand why. But first we met Emily at Trumps new place right on the river. Went and had a cocktail up in the lounge. Bob, you would like this one, very understated for Trump. No Gold!!!!! Simple lines very tasteful. Judge took us to Millennium Park. WOW Many sculptors very beautiful art and gardens. Another really must see.
Okay I know you are probably bored by now but I'm only catching you up, it'll be better after this one.

Ok so now we are still in Chicago, we slept that night at Judges. Got up the next day and played Wii. Liked it! Then we three went on a bus trip around the city, that was good too. We had fun then met Em for dinner at BlackBird which is owned by the same people as Avec. Different menu, a bit more upscale (table cloths fancy knowledgeable wait person) very unusual. Liked it, my entree a little salty. Then we were off to the Goob meister. He was great didn't even bat an eye when we got back to our camper. He's not sure he likes this traveling stuff. He hides under the comforter most of the time, looks out the windows in the night when we are sleeping.

So we are off the next day very early about 7:00 am. We had a heavy day of driving throught Wisconsin and and into Minnesota. Stopped in Minnesota at a KOA. Can't say much about Minnesota except we did see some of the flooding. Highway 90 runs south all most on the boarder of Iowa. Lot of farms growing corn but not distroyed by flood there. Stay 2 day in Mn. as I was burnt out from the last 3 days about 18 hours all together. From Mn. to South Dakota where we stayed in Mitchell SD, where the corn palace is located.

Ok this is where it started to get interesting. This place is something else. It has been built and rebuilt 3 times the last time in 1931. The whole outside is decorated in different corn cobs. The cobs are cut in half and then mounted on the walls. It changes every year in August (first part) when the corn is harvested. Also in Mitchell, SD, is a Carbala store. So aren't you all excited about this? Hmmmmm, Carbala is a famous store that sells fishing stuff and other things (we didn't look at) it is kind of like Gander Mountain or Bass Pro shop for those of you that are not familiar. It was exciting, I think. I went once, Mike went again once while I was showering.

So here we are at the present! WHew!

We are in Wall, SD. You see, Wall Drug advertises on the road like South of the Border! You have to stop ya know. Well Wall is a very small town right near the Bad Lands. We are camping in Sleepy Hollow in Wall. Not a bad place, got to see Design Star!!! Anyway Wall drug was a drug store that was started in 1930. The guy was a pharmacist and the wife was a humanitarian. It seems people traveling at that time were very thirsty and the wife would offer free ice water to everyone who came to the drug store. Word traveled fast and more and more people came and Wall Drug became something else. So the kids took over and built it bigger and bigger and now Grandchildren are in charge and it is bigger even yet. Shop after shop, cowboy boots, fudge shop, jewelery shop etc etc. Now there is only a population of 1000 people inthis town. So this place if very successful. Not real tacky, very western. One grocery, one car repair, one bank.
Now today we went to the Bad Lands. How did it get it's name? Well first we were told it was from the outlaws hiding there. ( an unnamed source ). The border of SD the information guy told us it was the indians that named it because the land was poor and couldn't grow anything! So today we went to the visitors center in the Bad Lands and found it was call the Bad Lands from French explorers who said nothing would grow here, so you take a guess on who named it. Anyway, it is very interesting. It is a national park, (so you know we get in free cause we are old and have a lifetime pass, which Mike takes great pride in, he got to use it twice, whoopie ) Much has happened in this area. It wasn't always a national park. It was an area where back in the earyly 1900's ('10's, '20's '30's) where one could homestead. Unfortunatly drought in the 30's and bad farming techniques cause a lot of land erosion and the people lost and left. The government took over and made most of this area grassland. Now protected all kinds of beauty and wild life live here. It was very fascinating. Have some pictures of the wildlife we saw here which include Bison, which by the way is the same as Buffalo! and that not mozz.

Ok now you are all caught up! Love you all, miss you but also having a great time (most of the time).