Our first main stop along the way was in Lethbridge, AB. On our way we stopped at a small campground in Beaver Creek, UT.
It had a really good family run Mexican restaurant. Other than that our trip was uneventful, except when we got to the border.
After having crossed about a dozen times with no problem, this time they pulled us over to search the rig.
They had us pull the rig into a large enclosed garage and asked us to step out and open all the cargo doors and put the
slides out. We were then told to wait in a side room they had. After all the horror stories we have heard from people we had
no idea what to expect. About 20 minutes later the customs agent came to the room we were in and told us they were finished
and opened the front door and said we could go. It was really not bad and only delayed us about ½ hour.
Our next stop after Lethbridge was Edmonton. We have been moving north slowly since the weather is showing a low of around
32 at night and some chances of snow.
In Edmonton we went to the Royal Alberta Museum which had some very interesting displays. The Government House was adjacent
so we also took a tour of it. It was originally the residence for the governor of Alberta. Since around 1970 it has been used
to hold meetings and entertain dignitaries, such as the Queen when she visited Edmonton last year.
We went to a small town south of Edmonton called Devon. They had the Leduc #1 oil well and a museum. This was the site
of the first major oil strike in Alberta in the 1940’s.
And for all who were wondering, we did walk around the W. Edmonton Mall. This is the largest mall in North America. It
has an amusement park, a food court, a water park with a very large wave pool and numerous slides. It has an ice rink, where
of course they had a Jr. Hockey game going. Also 100’s of stores to walk through.
On May 10th we started north with our first stop being Dawson Creek, BC. This is mile “0” of the
Alaska Hwy. The weather was really nice and the next day was clear and cool. We drove about 400 miles to an area called Toad
Creek. The second night we had heavy rain and it was raining when we started in the morning,
About 30 miles up the road in an area called Muncho Lake the temperature dropped and it started to snow. Yes those white
little flakes were sticking to the side of the road. A short distance later they started to stick to the road, our rig and
everything else. After 5 years on the road we finally got to drive in snow. Not only drive in it, but go up a number of steep
grades about 2 to 3 miles up and about a 6 or 7 percent grade. For all who do not travel in an RV, going up these type of
grades are not fun to start with and doing them with snow on the road is not what I call a good time.
About 100 miles further the snow turned to rain. About 150 miles later in the Yukon the weather cleared and when we pulled
into Teslin Lake the temperature was in the high 40’s and expected to go to the high 30’s at night, not bad at
all.
The rest of the trip to Palmer, AK was uneventful. We had some very nice weather from the border to Palmer and really enjoyed
the view of the mountains and the Matanuska Glacier is still covered with snow. (Pictures in Album, AK 2006).
While in Palmer we visited with some friends of Laurie’s who live in Wasilla. They have a new home and seem to enjoy
living there much more then when they were in Anchorage.
Our next stop is Seward. The trip down was in the rain, but it cleared later in the afternoon. We have arranged to go on
two day trips out to the glaciers. These go out through Resurrection Bay and into the Gulf of Alaska. We are also going on
a dog sled tour. All of these excursions are complementary to us for being front desk personnel at the Denali Park Hotel.
The first tour took us out through the Bay and Gulf and to Holgate Glacier. We also passed Bear Glacier. A short way out
we came across a sea otter who put on a show for us. Then we got to see a fin whale. At the Holgate Glacier there was a mountain
goat and a black bear on the side of the mountain. On the return portion of the cruise back we saw a group of humpback whales
. On shore there were sea lions sunning on the rocks. We also caught sight of Dall porpoise. They are black and white and
look a lot like small Orcas. There were a number of different birds. The most impressive were two bald eagles sitting on top
of a tree. The weather was clear and sunny and the 7.5 hour trip passed quickly.
On our second excursion the Captain seemed to know were the animals were. We got to see Orcas, a hill side full of black
bears. There was a mother being followed by three cubs. There were goats on the side of the mountain and a bald eagle. It
was 8 ½ hours and we enjoyed all of it.
We visited the kennels of Mitch Seavey. He won the Iditarod race in 2004. He has about 80 dogs. They give you a dog sled
ride on a sled with wheels as well as tell you what it is like to be on the Iditarod Trail in minus 40 degree weather. The
Iditarod is a dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome. It takes place in March and covers about 1100 miles. The mushers can start
with up to 16 dogs pulling the sled. If for some reason they have to stop using a dog they will have them sent home, but cannot
replace them. They continue with less dogs.
This weekend was the kickoff for the summer in Seward and so they had open house at the small boat harbor and downtown.
The stores were giving little gifts for coming in. They also were serving a free breakfast and lunch. A lot of the ships were
open to be toured. We visited the USCG cutter Mustang which has been stationed in Seward for 20 years. We then visited the
Sealife center. This was not one of the better aquariums we have been to, but I guess it is more of a research center than
aquarium.
We took a day trip from Soldotna to Homer. It is about a 75 mile ride and along the way we got to se Mt. St. Augustine
(this is the volcano that erupted back in Jan.). Homer considers itself “a small drinking village that has a fishing
problem”. They have numerous charters going out fishing for halibut and salmon. We drove around the skyline drive that
has an excellent view of the city and bay. Along the side of the road we spotted a moose which was nice enough to stay and
pose for pictures.
We stayed in Anchorage for 5 days. While there we went to the Anchorage museum and the Native Heritage Center. The museum
was interesting, but the heritage center was so- so and I feel way overpriced.
We went on a 26 Glacier tour into Prince William Sound. This left from Whittier, which is about 65 miles south of Anchorage.
It is a 4 ½ hour cruise on a catamaran. When we got to Surprise Glacier there were a lot of seals on the ice. It seems that
they go there so as to avoid becoming lunch for the whales. They said the whales will not swim in the area where there is
a lot of ice floating. The glacier was quite active and we go to see some very beautiful calving (ice breaking off of glacier).
We now head up to Healy to workamp. We are looking forward to a very interesting summer working at the hotel and also exploring
Denali National Park.
We will be flying back to Scottsdale in June for Sherri’s graduation.
Page 2
Upon arrival at the hotel our new site was not quite ready yet. So we parked near the employee housing. The problem involved
frozen water , pipes and hoses.
We left for Scottsdale and Sherri’s graduation at 6 am on the morning of June 6th. The temperature was
about 36 degrees. We arrived that night at Sky Harbor Airport and it was around 96 degrees.
We had a wonderful dinner with Sherri, her mother and Marty and Karen her god parents. It was really nice to see Marty
and Karen since it has been a few years since we had gotten together with them.
The graduation was at night and on the football field. There were about 600 students graduating and the ceremony was very
well done as all were called by name to receive their diplomas. Then they had a large party for the students in the school
building. Sherri attended and had a good time.
The next day we returned to Alaska Our flight was cancelled but Alaska Airlines got us on another airline with a direct
flight. We got into Anchorage only 3 hours late.
When we returned to the hotel our new site was ready. (picture in Alaska 2006 part 2 album).
Since we have been back we have managed to keep busy. On our days off we visited Ramy Brooks kennel. Ramy is a musher who
has been in both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest. Both are dog sled races that go for over 1000 miles. He has finished in the
top 10 every year.
We took an 11 hour ride into Denali park. We got to see a large array of different animals as well as mosquitoes about
the size of a house fly. It was a long day. Seeing a mother grizzly and her cub playing on the road right outside the bus
made the whole trip worth while.
We purchased what the national park calls a 6 pack. This allows us 6 trips on the shuttle into the park at a very discounted
rate. We are looking forward to future trips into the park.
We went on a flightseeing tour. This is a twin engine plane that flies around Mt. McKinley. It is one of the most exciting
tours. When you reach 12,000 feet you put on an oxygen mask since the plane is not pressurized. The sight of the mountain
at 20,000 feet is magnificent.
We did a jeep tour into the back woods. It rained for two days before we went and the road was wet and muddy with many
deep ruts. This made it a fun ride with a 4 wheel drive. We were in water up to our a.. and then slid around in the mud. The
good news is that none of the jeeps got stuck so the guide did not have to pull us out.
We took a horseback ride out onto the tundra. They use draft cross horses since they are larger
and have big feet that will not sink into the wet tundra. As the permafrost melts , the area becomes wetter and wetter
. It was an interesting ride and the first time that Laurie and I have been on a horse in a very long time.
The town we are in has the only coal mine in Alaska. They give tours. This is strip mining not underground mining. They
have one of the largest ------ in the country. It is the largest in Alaska. A lot of the coal is sent from here to Seward
by train and then loaded on ships and sold to Japan and Chile.
Denali NP is open year round. In the winter the roads are closed and they allow cross country skiing and dog sledding.
The park is patrolled by rangers who use dog sleds and stay at cabins in the park. The temperatures will go to 40 below zero.
The park has about 30 huskies and they allow the public to view the kennels and give a dog sled demo in the summer.
In mid July we took a week off and went to Fairbanks. We had beautiful weather the whole week we were there. The temp.
was around 80 in the daytime and 55 at night.
We had a really active week and the best part is that since we work at a hotel, most of this was free or discounted. I
will list the activities along with an explanation. There are pictures in Alaska - Part 3
World Eskimo International Olympics - These are some very different type of sporting events. We stayed for one event which
was the two foot jump. Here they try and kick a ball suspended in the air with both feet.
Gold Dredge #8 - This was at one time a working gold dredge, It is like a large boat. It floated on a pond and would bring
dirt in the front and sort out the gold and then dump the dirt back out the back. In this way it would keep the pond about
the same size and just keep moving forward. We got to do some gold panning.
Discovery II paddle boat - This is a 4 hour ride on a paddle boat along the Chena river. There is a stop at a Indian village
where they share information about life in a traditional native style. The housing changes seasonally and they use different
boats and kayaks for different expeditions. A guide modeled a hand stitched coat of many furs in intricate designs. They also
stopped by the shore for a dog sledding demonstration at the kennel of Susan Butcher. She brought dog mushing to national
attention when she won her first Iditarod race. Unfortunately she just passed away at age 51 from an aggressive leukemia.
El Dorado Mine - This is a train ride through a permafrost tunnel and then a demonstration on how the miners would bring
the dirt out of the ground and run it through a sluice box to find the gold. Here again we got to pan for gold. Each time
we pan for gold we find about $5-6 worth. Laurie had them make a nice locket with these nuggets in it.
We attended two shows while in Fairbanks. The first was at the palace theater and the other was when we went to Ester Gold
Camp.
At Ester Gold camp they serve a dinner and then have a slide show about the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), You then
go to the Malamute Salon where they put on a show about life in the gold rush days.
Ice Museum - Every March Fairbanks has the international ice sculpture competition. Artists come from all over the world
to do ice sculptures. They are give either 2 ½ or 5 days to complete their work. There are some beautiful works of art done
in ice. This museum has a film showing some of these as well as some rooms with ice art in them. They also do a demonstration
on ice art.
We are planning on a couple of trips into the park (they have a shuttle bus) and then we will be heading back to the lower
48 for the winter. Our first stop will be Las Vegas and then we will head east and then south.
