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.