Trip to Alaska

May 9, 2005

We have been in Las Vegas for the past five weeks and now we are on our way north.

While in Vegas we got to go to the doctors as well as visit with some friends and family. We attended a number of shows and buffets.

The weather is starting to get better and we are now on our way to Alberta and then on to Dawson Creek, BC for our start up to Alaska.

5/9/05

Our first stop is Antelope Valley campground in Delta, UT. We arrived here after driving all day with winds of 30-50 mph and it continued all night along with rain and cold. This is our Home Membership Park and our first visit here. It is very well maintained and a nice place to spend a few days.

Fri we drove to Pocatello, ID and spent the night at a KOA (May 13-no charge camping) on our way to W Yellowstone.

5/13

Arrived at W. Yellowstone and since the weather was nice ( forecast is rain and cold for the next few days ) we went to the park for the afternoon. Sunday also turned into a nice day so we spent 9 hours driving around the park. Sunday night the rain started.

We were lucky and got to Old Faithful right before it erupted. (goes off about every 1 ½ hours).The scenery here in the park is really nice and since it is spring the rivers and waterfalls are flowing really fast from the mountain run off.

The following is a list of wildlife we got to see Buffalo ( bison ), Elk, Coyotes, Black Bear ( two ) and a Bald Eagle at its nest. We think we saw a marmot. We also saw a mated pair of trumpeter swans. Usually the Buffalo will walk alongside the road as well as down the center of the road. This really slows traffic at times.

There are a few main waterfalls, The Upper Falls, Lower Falls and Tower Falls. Beside these there are waterfalls along the side of the road.

Overall a trip through Yellowstone NP is well worth the time.

(pictures in album section, under Yellowstone):

5/20/05

Left W. Yellowstone today after 3 days of rain. Did an overnight at Flying J truck stop in Great Falls, MT.

Fri. morning we head to Lethbridge, AB for the next week. We reached the Canadian border in about two hours and there was about a 45 min. backup in the truck lane. So I took the car lane. After about 5 questions the agent told us to have a nice holiday and we were on our way. Guess my honest looks helped get us through customs in about 5 min.

The Campground (Bridgeview) is very nice and it stays light until almost 10 PM.

Filled up with diesel at Petro Canada. Their price was not that bad considering what they get in the states, it was .76 per liter or about 2.33 per gallon US.

We spent a couple of days viewing local attractions here. The wind does not stop blowing, I was told they call it the windy city of Alberta. We went for lunch at Tim Hortons, this is Laurie’s favorite fast food place. She had a bowl of soup, roll, cup of coffee and a donut (as good as Krispy cream) all for $4 Canadian.

We are at Dawson Creek, BC. This is Mile 0 for the Alaska Hwy. Now our real Alaska adventure begins. We have visited the downtown area and looked at the murals they have painted on the sides of buildings. Also went to Mile Post 0 (right in the center of town) . Visited a few museums with stories about the building of the Alaska Hwy.

Went to see the Kaskatinaw Bridge which was build at Mile Post 21 and is on the Old Alaska Hwy. It is the only wooden bridge structure that is still in use in Canada. It has a 9% curve and is 534 feet long.

On the way to see the bridge Laurie finally (she has been waiting over a year) got to say “Moose”. We finally got to see one along the side of the hwy. I’m sure this will be the first of many.

The drive to Fort Nelson, BC is just 300 miles of road with nothing but some small towns along the way. We did get to see 2 black bears, a moose and a deer.

Fort Nelson had a very nice Museum. With a film on the making of the Alaska Hwy. It seems every town along the way has a small Museum with items dating back to the building of the Alaska Hwy.

The drive along the hwy from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake was long and wet (rain most of the way) also hwy construction which caused delays.

Watson Lake was an overnight stop, but had 2 interesting attractions. The Northern Lights Center with a planetarium show about the Aurora Borealis.

The signpost forest in really unique. There are 1000’s of signs people have posted over the years, a lot of license plates (pictures in album).

The drive to Whitehorse was very scenic. We stopped at Rancheria Falls and Telsin Lake. The mountains with the snow caps are really beautiful to look at as you drive along the hwy. We will be spending a few days in Whitehorse and then we are going to Dawson City.

When you leave Dawson City and cross into AK there are about 40 miles of gravel road (not thrilled with this.) The reason we have been told is because the gold miners currently working there will not allow the road to be paved since they move equipment from one site to another.

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon. There are a number of interesting museums. There are also a number of food stores as well as a Walmart. We went to Miles Canyon which has a suspension bridge and the water running through the canyon is a beautiful green color.

We took a daytrip from here to Skagway, AK. It is about 100 miles and the drive is enjoyable. Along the way we stopped a Carcross, YT. There was a very interesting visitors center and the town is known for having the smallest desert in the world. It was caused when the glaciers receded and left the sand behind.

Skagway, AK is a real tourist town. Their main source of business are the cruise ships. The National Parks Service has restored many of the old buildings and rents them out to gift shops. They explained how in 1898 during the Klondike gold rush everyone had to go through Skagway . The people living there realized that they could make more money by selling supplies to the prospectors than by trying to find gold. Now over 100 years later they are still doing the same thing (selling trinkets to the tourists). The information center is a building which has over 6000 pieces of driftwood on the front.

On to Dawson City where the Klondike gold rush took place. We got here and went to the information center. The volunteer told us that they were having the Commissioners Tea. This is an annual event which is free and at which they honor the current Commissioner of the Yukon (like Governor of a state) and give awards to locals. They served tea, lemonade and lots of good finger sandwiches and cakes.

We now have about 21 hours of daylight. Sunset is at 12:45 and sunrise is at 3:45. It is really strange to have light 24 hours a day. The time after sunset is like twilight (not really dark).

We went to the local casino called Diamond Tooth Gerties. They have 3 shows a night and about 2 dozen slot machines. The show was enjoyable, and fun. It is the oldest casino in YT. All proceeds are retuned to profit the town.

Dredge #4 is the largest of its type in YT. It is now open for viewing by Parks Canada. It was very interesting how it would float on a pond and dig the dirt out in front and seperate the gold and the drop the gold out the back. This was in use up until 1960.

Next stop will be Alaska and will continue on page 2

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Drove the Top of the World Hwy from Dawson City to Tok, AK. This is an experience not to miss. First you cross the river on a ferry. Luck was with us and we only waited about 20 minutes. The view on the drive is spectacular. Laurie really enjoyed it, I had to pay attention to the road since it was all up and down hill (7-9% grades which is real fun when towing) and sharp turns with no guard rails. To add to the fun is the fact that there is about 45 miles of dirt road. But we made it.

Tok is a good place to spend the night since there is really nothing to see there. There are about five campgrounds, one grocery store, four gas stations and a visitors center. Their claim to fame is that you must go through Tok when coming and going from Alaska.

The drive from Tok to Palmer is very scenic. The Mtns are magnificent. We drove on a rainy day so we could not totally appreciate them. We did pass the Matanuska Glacier (picture in album). The rivers are full and running very fast since they have had a lot of rain the past few months.

June 21 - No night - It is 22 hours between sunrise and sunset with 2 hours of twilight between. It is really strange for us to have this much daylight. It is a good thing we have blackout shades on the rig.

Took a ride up to Hatcher Pass where there are the remnants of the Independence Mine. We also went to the Reindeer Farm and they admitted that reindeer do not fly. Reindeer are domesticated caribou. Both were very interesting places to see.

Attended the Good Sam Samboree in Palmer. It was well done with some interesting seminars. We got to see some people we had met previously on the road coming up here as well as two couples knew from Nova Scotia.

The drive from Anchorage down to the Kenai Peninsula is just breathtaking. You drive along the waters edge and see the mountains and pass the Portage Glacier along the way.

True story with surveillance tape shown on the news at an ER in an Anchorage hospital. A moose walks in and saunters up to the desk. It looks around and turns around and leaves. (I guess he didn’t have health insurance).

Drove up to Captain Cook State rec. area. You can look across Cook Inlet and see 4 volcanoes and also about a dozen oil platforms. On a walking tour of Kenai we passed a Russian church that was built in 1894 and is still in use today.

Since we are not going on any fishing charters, we stopped at a fish processing plant and purchased some fresh halibut. In speaking with some people here, we learned that a lot people cook the halibut by boiling it in salty water. They call it poor man’s lobster. We tried it and it came out very good.

We are in Seward for the week, which includes July 4th. They have all kinds of activities going on including a street fair. They also have their annual race up Marathon Mountain. This is a race we will watch and not enter since the mountain is 3022 feet high and 3 ½ miles total distance. The record time is 40 minutes up and down. This year one of the men did it in 45 min. and a women did it in 52 min. (picture in album)

We went to Exit Glacier. We were able to walk out along a path that goes up to the glacier (pictures in album). Exit Glacier comes off the Harding Ice Field. An interesting fact explained by the park ranger is that the wind near the glacier is caused by air coming off the glacier as the ice melts. For this reason they say the glacier is breathing. As we drive around the area there are many other glaciers in the mountains most of which do not have names.

For the July 4^th they had a fireworks display at the water front in Seward. It started at midnight on July 3^rd. Since it was an overcast day it was almost dark at that time. It went on for about ½ hour. The best part of this was the noise as it echoed from the mountains surrounding Seward.

We are currently staying in a nice wooded campground in Kasilof. The town is about 60 miles north of Homer, AK. The weather has been really nice. It goes up to about 75 daytime and 55 night. The sun is out and the sky clear.

We drove to Homer for the day. This is the southern most point on the Kenai Peninsula and where there are a lot of fishing charters. As we drove there we could see across Cook Inlet to Mount Saint Augustine & Iliamna volcanoes. (the picture in the album does not do justice to the view). Watched as the charters came in. They had mostly halibut . The largest we saw was 75#. It is fascinating how fast they can filet them.

Went on a tour of a commercial fishing operation. It seems on the Kenai Peninsula these are all small family operation. The one we watched had a good day and brought in a little over 300 salmon for the afternoon. They sell it to the cannery for $1 per pound. Since Laurie is allergic to salmon we did not buy any. They did bring in some Fluke so we bought of for $ 0.25 per pound. I got to clean and filleted it. I never did this before.

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Pictures related to this section in album Anchorage & Denali

Arrived in Anchorage. Laurie’s son , John, joined us here for a week. We went to the Forest Service building in town. They have a small museum and also a show or movie every hour. Today they had a musher in with one of her dogs. She showed us how they packed their sleds and also explained about being in the Iditirod race. The race is the longest dog race there is (1100 miles). The next longest is the Yukon Quest (1000 miles).

The Anchorage museum is well worth the time. On the first floor they have art work, and on the second floor they have displays all about Alaska. Starting with the early days and coming right up to the present. The displays are extremely well done as well as informative

The next day we drove down Seward Hwy, after one stop to admire the scenery we came upon a herd of Dall sheep on the side of the road. Then on to a 1898 gold mining town. They had the original buildings and also would allow you to pan for gold in the creek. From there we headed to Portage glacier. The glacier is on the other side of a lake so you cannot get too close. We now headed over to a wild life preserve. They had all the different types of animals native to this area .

We went on a 6 hour boat trip out into Prince William Sound. The day started out as quite overcast but cleared by the time we got out on the water. The first area we went to was a fish hatchery. Here we saw salmon jumping out of the water. They said the salmon use this area to practice jumping before going up river to spawn We got to see a number of eagles on shore. There were a few babies as well as some full grown ones.

Now we headed out to Surprise glacier. Along the way we passed a few other glaciers as well as an area where there were sea otters swimming and playing. Surprise glacier is one that is actively calving. Calving is when the glacier meets the water and pieces of it break off and float into the water. This is what forms ice bergs. The ones we traveled through were small. We stayed in the area for a while and watched as the glacier calved. It makes a sound like thunder as the pieces break off. From there we headed over to a few more glaciers and then back to the dock.

When we were returning we stopped at a trail that you can hike out to Byron glacier. We hiked out to the bottom off the snow field below the glacier. It was about 1 ¼ mile out. If we wanted to go up to the glacier it was about another mile up hill. We chose to stop where we were.

There is an area near the Anchorage airport where the small planes land. It has both runways and a lake for the float planes (sea planes). We spent some time watching them land and take off on the lake.

Driving north on Parks Hwy to Denali Park is another very scenic road. We were very lucky since the day was totally clear. There was not a cloud in the sky. They tell us these clear days are very rare in this area. As you drive north on Parks Hwy you have your first sighting of Mt. McKinley. It looks like it is right in the center of the road. Further along the road there are areas where you can stop and get a view of Mt. McKinley as well as the Alaska mountain range. It is very difficult to describe the view of the mountains. I don’t think the pictures even do it justice.

Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America. It is 20,320 feet high. This year a record number of people tried to climb it (around 1300, about 700 made it to the top). In order to try and climb you must prove you have mountain climbing experience or hire a professional guide to take you up.

We have been looking into doing some Workamping. This is part time work where they provide an RV parking place as well as some pay. There was an ad for next summer to interview at Denali Park Hotel so we called and set up an interview. When we got there they said they needed a couple to also finish out this season if we were interested. We will spent the next 4-6 weeks working at the front desk. You work 3 days and then have 4 days off. This will give us a chance to explore this wonderful area.

One of the really nice perks of this job is most of the tour companies will either comp you a tour or give you about 50% off. So we hope to get to do a lot more than we would otherwise have done.

You are only allowed to dive 15 miles into Denali park. If you want to go further you need to take a park service bus. The is a small charge for the bus, but this really gives you chance to view the park and since the road is dirt it also saves your car from a real bumpy ride.

We took the evening bus 4 PM to Toklat river. This is 53 miles into the park (road goes a total of 90 miles) it takes about 6 hours. Along the way we got to see Mt. McKinley as well as many animals. 2 Moose, 2 grizzly bear, numerous caribou, dall sheep, ground squirrels, snowshoe hare, falcons, and a couple of family of ptarmigan (these birds are brown now and turn white in the winter). We are planning on taking another bus all the way to the end of the road (13 hour trip) some time in the next month.

We are now settled in at The Denali Park Hotel and starting to work. We will be working for 3 days then off 4 days then working another 3 days and then off for a week. At this time we will take the rig and spend a week in Fairbanks.

More about Fairbanks and our other adventures in the next update.

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Pictures for this section in “Fairbanks” Album

Fairbanks is a very interesting city with lots to do.

While we were there they had the Tanana Valley State Fair. We attended this for an afternoon. It was quite large with all kinds of rides, food, and exhibits. It is definitely one of the better fairs we have attended.

Interesting piece of information about Fairbanks. It has the most northerly Taco Bell, Burger King, Mc Donald’s, etc. in the United States. This is information you really need if you plan on being on “Jeopardy”

The next day we headed for the Arctic circle. This is about 200 miles north of Fairbanks on the Dalton Hwy (also known locally as the Haul Hwy). The Dalton Hwy goes all the way to Prudhoe Bay. It follows the Alaska pipe line which is 799 miles long and goes from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

Since the road is both paved and dirt we decided to take a tour bus up there. We left Fairbanks at 6:30 AM and headed north. Our first stop was Joy, Alaska which is about 50 miles north and has only a trading post. The next stop is at a restaurant at the Yukon river crossing and then on to the Arctic Circle.

The drive was long and a lot of the view was blocked by the smoke we were driving through. There are 100’s of forest fires burning currently in Alaska. The whole area is under a blanket of smoke. In most cases they do not even fight the fires unless they are endangering someone’s home. We drove through one of the recovering forest fire areas.

Upon reaching the Arctic Circle there is a rest stop with a sign. Our tour director took out a red carpet and had us cross over in a little ceremony.

The pipeline was designed to withstand the many earthquakes in Alaska. At some points the pipeline can move up to 18 feet sideways. In the pictures the stand the pipeline is on has a Teflon bottom that allows it to shift sideways.

We returned to Fairbanks at 11 PM tired, but happy that we had the experience of having been to the Arctic Circle.

The Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is very worthwhile. They use head sets so that all of the exhibits are explained. It gives a lot of the local history and the exhibits are very well done.

The ride on the paddle boat Discovery III along the Chena river is 3½ hours

of enjoyment. They have a float plane take off right next to the boat (video on site). Then we stopped at the home of Susan Butcher who is a Musher and won the Iditarod race four times. Then onto a fish camp and a recreated village of the Athabascan Indians. The guides in the village were all native American from Alaska.

El Dorado mine showed us a old mine site. We got to ride on a train through a permafrost tunnel. They then showed us how they bring the dirt out of the ground to find the gold. They had a sluice box which helped sort the gold from the dirt. After that we got to pan for gold.

Fairbanks has lots to do and we look forward to returning there. We are now on our way back to Denali Park hotel, where we will be working for the next three weeks and then head south to the lower 48 for the winter. It will take us about 12 days to get back to Las Vegas.

While we are back in Denali we hope to take a plane ride to the top of Mt. McKinley and do some other activities.

Leaving the The Last Frontier 9/6/05

Our first Alaska adventure is over. We are heading back to the lower 48.

We are planning on returning to work here again next summer and really look forward to it. Alaska is a very interesting state and one we will enjoy in the summer.

The one fun event we did have in Dawson Creek, BC is when the people in the rig next to us (a couple we had met three campgrounds before) woke us up at 4 AM to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). This is really a great show to watch. The lights just dance across the sky.

The trip down the Alaska highway has been uneventful. Which is to say it has been good. We stopped in Lethbridge, AB for two days to take a break from the 6 days of continuous driving. We then went on to Delta, UT. For 5 days. Then on to Las Vegas for a few weeks.

Delta, UT is where our home park is and it is a very nice, quiet area. This gave us some down time and a chance to clean the rig and wash and wax the truck.

We are heading for warmer places. In Nov and Dec we will settle into Orlando, FL. We have a lot planned for those two months and I will keep you informed as we go.