Friday, August 25
We had pancakes for breakfast this morning. I love the pancake mix we found. It is called Krusteaz and all you do is mix water with it, heat up and grease the griddle, and cook. They are unbelievably light and tasty pancakes. Anyway, I did the cooking this morning. I went and paid for the site, since it was late and sooo dark the night before when we got here. then we walked around several of the campground loops. We packed up about 10:00 and headed toward Port Angeles.
Today is errand day. We went by the visitor center for the Olympic National Park first and stopped. The ranger (Rod) we talked to was most helpful. He told us where we could camp by the beach and a rain forest campground we needed to stay at. I think we have the days and nights filled up until we get to Seattle next Thursday. We needed diesel badly so the next place we watched for was a gas station. We found one just east of town. Can't believe diesel is so much higher than regular gas. It is about $.50 per gallon higher. I also filled the propane tank. Next we headed for Walmart. I needed to get a perscription filled and we wanted to pick up a few groceries. It was amazing the cost of groceries is so much cheaper here in the states. We got about $30 worth of groceries that would have probably cost us $50 in Canada. We also had to stop by Safeway to pick up some hamburger for tacos tonight, yum. After that we stopped at two banks to see about changing our Canadian money back to US money. They wouldn't do it so we ended up stopping down by the ferry docks at a 'duty free' place and they changed it.
When we came out, a man and his family were standing near the truck trying to start their car. They had been gone to Hawaii for a couple of weeks and the battery was dead. He asked if we could give him a jump and we said sure. Got him started and chatted briefly with them. They are from Klamouth Falls, Oregon. The wife said not to miss Port Townsend, but since it is the opposite direction from where we mainly want to go, I guess we will have to catch it next time.
Next we went to the public library to see about wifi. Sure enough they had it so I could catch up on the blog. By this time it was about 3:00 and we still hadn't had lunch. When you're retired you just don't have time to eat. We decided to go back out to the campground we were at last night and find another site. By the time we did this it was 4:00 and we finally had a bite of lunch to tide us over. We wanted to go up to Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center and see it since it is a beautiful clear day. We headed up there next and it was well worth it. Lovely scenery and we saw quite a few deer. By the time we got back to the campsite it was about 6:30. I started my generator and downloaded some photos. A neighbor came over about 6:45 and asked us to turn off the generator so I did. Oh well, can't blame him. It does kind of disturb the peace and quiet. I got what I needed done. We cooked tacos for supper and had some more fresh corn. Carol just can't keep from adding this nourishing stuff to the menu. After dishes we played another game of Scrabble. Guess who won. No not me, Carol :-(.
Saturday, August 26
We had a light breakfast this morning and called the kids and Carol's folks since we had cell phone coverage. Then we packed up and headed out again. This time we were heading for Salt Creek County Park. It is only about 15 miles from where we were. It is on the shore and when the tide is out it has some nice tidal pools according to Rod the Ranger. We did stop at a fish shop and pick up some halibut for dinner :-(. Oh well, one of these days we'll be away from all this fresh seafood. I wanted shrimp but they import it from Maine, bah humbug.
We got to the Salt Creek Campground and found a nice site someone was vacating. It is packed here since it is the weekend. After a bite of lunch we went down to the beach and explored. Lots of driftwood and lots of folks swimming. We don't know how they swim in this water since it is cold. Kids can swim in any temperature of water though. There is a tall island not far from the beach. It makes a great photo op. We actually got hot here on the beach, but managed to survive the heat. It must have been in the 80s here and was blocked from the wind.
After awhile on the beach we came back to the camper and read for a while and then went for an evening walk around the campground. When we got back from the walk our neighbors were building a campfire in our fire pit. They wanted to surprise us. They are college age kids and very nice. Their names are Mike and Bev. Mike had brought a bunch of firewood in his pickup so they wanted to share it. It was great. We visited with them and ended up playing the game Taboo with them until about sunset, and then we all ran over to the west side of the point to watch the sunset and get some photos. We cranked up the lantern and ate our clam chowder and bread sticks out on the picnic table by the roaring fire. It got close to 10:00 and we couldn't keep our eyes open so we hit the sack.
Sunday, August 27
We had bacon and toast for breakfast this morning and messed around until about 9:30 waiting for the tide to go out. We wanted to go out on the rocks and see what we could see in the tide pools that were left when the tide receded. We finally ventured out about 10:00 and Mike and Bev were just emerging from their tent. We climbed all over the rocks and really enjoyed the aninames and star fish, etc. in the pools. They are beautiful. As we were out there fog moved in and it gave a feathery look to the coast. I got some great fog shots.
We came back and loaded up and headed out to our next location. We found some cell phone coverage and called Dave Bryan to make arrangements to meet he and Linda next Friday. They are flying into Seattle Thursday to go on an Alaskan cruise so we are going to meet them on Friday before they depart on Saturday. I forgot to ask Dave who won the Rams/Chiefs game though, bummer.
Our goal was to go a whole 60 miles to Mora campground and Rialto Beach. We had to stop in Forks for some milk since we had used all of ours in the chowder last night. We got to the campground around 2:30 and found a site, then we headed for Rialto Beach. Unfortunately the fog was still thick as soup over the ocean, not on the land though. The tide was at it's highest so we had to walk on rocks on the beach. I had read about some huge rocks down the beach I wanted to see. Carol stayed near the parking lot and picked up rocks to take home. I walked on down to the area called Split Rocks. I passed a number of other hikers and some groups who were camped on the beach. I ran into one couple who was pulling a large wagon like you would buy at Sam's. They had it filled to the hilt with gear and a huge ice chest. They were going down the beach for a whole week so they figured a little pain now would provide some luxury as the week progressed. I got to the rocks and took a few photos and then turned back. Luckily the tide was going out a little so I could walk in the sand going back and that made it a little easier. It would be fun to camp here for a couple of days, but it never gets warm I don't think. The wind constantly blows off the ocean. I got back with only one incident of waves hitting me. I wasn't wet above my knees though. I hung my pants and socks out when we got to the campsite, but they were wetter in the morning than when I had hung them out.
We had a halibut dish and some fresh corn for supper. No junk food for me tonight. Oh well.
It was cold out and we didn't have any firewood so we stayed in and read tonight. I was tired after fighting the rocks and sand for about 3 miles today. We went to bed early again, about 9:00 this time.
Monday, August 28
Well, we had cereal and fresh peaches for breakfast and then I had to get out the generator so Carol could wash her hair. No, she doesn't have and electric hair washer, but she does have an electric hair dryer that she needs when she washes her hair. We got away from the campsite about 10:00 (we seem to be in a rut here). Our objective was to head over about 40 miles to the Hoh Rain Forest, another part of the Olympic National Park. I did stop to call Dave though when we had cell phone reception. Since he lives in St. Louis I knew he would know who won. He didn't want to talk about it so I guess the Chiefs won.
We got to the Hoh Rain Forest area about 11:00 and went to the visitor center. After that we walked some of the trails nearby. What a site. The trees here are huge, moss and ferns are everywhere, and there are some places where the sun hardly shines through the forest canopy. By now it was about 2:00 and we went looking for a campsite at the national park campground nearby. We found a campsite right next to the river and it is gorgeous. This is the Hoh River and it is glacier fed, so it is blue green and flows pretty fast right below our campsite. It is narrow and right across the river a herd of about a dozen elk were feeding. They continued to browse while we sat in our lawn chairs and watched. We listened to the birds singing above and the flow of the river. I truly believe that one can get nearer one's God in nature than in any church, mosque, or synagog built by the hands of men. It is just beyond words. What a fantastic sight. It is still sunny and quite warm here also for a change so we are now happy campers.
Carol whipped up some tuna salad for a late lunch and I'm just bringing this log up to date looking out at a lovely scene. It is hard to beat.
We just lazed around all afternoon. I read and brought the blog up to date. About 6:00 I dug out the grill and lit some charcoal to burn a few brats for supper. We had brats with chili and onions. It was actually warm enough to sit outside at the picnic table and eat. It was a beautiful evening. We also had some watermelon, the first of the season for us. It was great. We read a little while and went to bed.
Tuesday, August 29
We headed out after some pancakes this morning cooked by moi, of course. We stopped at the Hoh visitor center and walked another trail we had passed on yesterday. It is called the trail of mosses. It is made up of mature trees with lots of mosses and lichens. It is fascinating to walk through this forest and observe the trees and thick foilage.
Our objective today is somewhere around Olympia, Washington. We have no campground in mind for the night. We stopped at Ruby Beach and the tide was out. What awesome scenery. Large rocks and another tall island. We also saw lots of starfish in the pools left by the receding tide. We stopped for lunch along the coast and watched the waves roll in. I saw a Dairy Queen at Aberdeen and couldn't resist stopping. We arrived at Olympia around 4:00 and went downtown near the capitol to the information center. We were too late to catch a tour of the capitol building but we did find out about a Japanese garden near the city hall so we drove over there. It was peaceful and lovely even though it was small. Someone had hung some origami birds from some of the trees. The birds had tags on them that had some thought provoking notations. One read "We are making enemies faster than we can kill them," and another read " The evils of government are directly proportional to the indifference of the people." There was a third one which I can't remember. The back of the tags commemorated Hiroshima Day, August 6.
We drove on toward Tacoma and found a Walmart. Since we did not have a campsite in mind and our Trailer Life guide book really didn't have any in the vicinity we asked if we could park overnight and they said we could so we stayed there. We did buy a DiGorinos pizza for supper while we were there, plus a couple of other things.
We had salad with the pizza, and after supper we played some Scrabble. I won.
Wednesday, August 30
We left Walmart fairly early and headed to a state park just south of Seatlle called Saltwater State Park. We weren't sure we could get a spot since labor day weekend is this coming weekend, but there were several vacant and we picked one out. We took the camper off the truck in anticipation of running around town. We are scheduled to meet Dave and Linda Bryan Friday morning. They are flying in with a group of their church friends and they are all going on a cruise up to Alaska next week. Since we were going to be here about the same time we made arrangements to meet up.
Today was a chore day. We had showers, took the truck to get the oil changed, found a laundromat and washed clothes and bedding, I washed the truck, and found a library where I could get on line tomorrow and load up the blog.
After that we decided to do an exploratory run down to Pike's Place Market and see what it was like. We made it down there but finding a parking place is a real trick. We finally did and then started walking around. We found the main market with the fish markets, etc. It is a really neat place. It is a combination of fish and meat markets, garden stands, gift shops, and small food stands. It is just fun to walk around and see what is there and watch people. It is fun to watch the guys at the fish market throwing fish around and yelling out orders. It was a little trickier getting back to the campground since it was rush hour but we made it. Now I have the route down pat for Friday when we meet Dave and Linda. They are staying at a motel not too far from where we are camped.
Overall, we had a good day and got a lot accomplished. We got back to the camper and had BLTs for supper with watermelon for desert. It is nearly 9:00 now and I am working on this while Carol reads.
We got a call from Shelby today and it looks like she will be getting a new house soon. I told her Carol is getting a little antsy to get home so after we get together with Dave and Linda we will head south to see Steve, Carol's brother and his family, and then take a more direct route back to Denver than I had previously planned. I told Shelby we would probably be there in Denver around mid-September. We will probably get there just in time to help with painting or moving or somesuch.
Well, a little reading for me and then off to bed. Carol wants to see some more of Seattle tomorrow. Driving in this traffic wears me out.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
August 17 through August 24
August 17, Thursday
We got up and had cereal with fresh peaches for breakfast. It has been a long time since we have had good fresh fruit and vegetables. We actually are far enough south now that we have found some roadside stands selling fruits and vegetables so yesterday we stopped and got some black cherries, peaches, and garden grown tomatoes. What a treat. We really enjoyed the campsite last night. I guess that BC Electric has several of these sites around the province in conjunction with some of their dams. They provide free camping as a public relations move I suppose. Our neighbor in the campground said they ought to be free after what BC Electric charges them. I said I hadn't paid them anything. He said that I probably would be in the future if they start selling in the US.
We went on south on the Duffy Lake Road. What tremendous scenery. This is what mountain scenery should be. It is absolutely gorgeous. I do believe British Columbia has everyone else beat out with beautiful scenery. I would be very tempted to come back here as a destination camping area.
There was a considerable amount of work being done on the highway between the resort town of Whistler and Vancouver. I couldn't believe the increase in people from Whistler on either. The people in Whistler were thick as flies. Whistler reminded me of Vail in Colorado, ritzy and upscale, with not much going for it except the shopping. But is seems to be a very popular area. We picked our way through the construction from Whistler to Vancouver and finally got to Horseshoe Bay about 2:00. This is where the ferry terminal is. Luckily the neighbor last night told us how to approach the terminal. We actually had to pass it and then double back to get in the ferry lanes. We got there and paid the attendant. She said they may get us on the 3:15 ferry but if not we would get on the 5:10 ferry for sure. We really hoped for the 3:15 ferry since we didn't want to wait 3 hours. Sure enough we were the last vehicle loaded on the 3:15 ferry.
The BC Ferry was very nice with comfortable seating and gift shops, coffee shops, cafeterias, etc. It was only an hour and a half ride and a BC Parks person gave a presentation that we went to and that took up about 45 minutes so it seemed like we crossed the strait in no time. We landed at Nanaimo and wow, talk about unloading. These folks have their act together. You better be ready to go or you'll be run over. We were off the ferry within five minutes of docking.
We went to the Nanaimo visitor center to check on RV parks and they told us which ones were available and how to get there. We found a lovely little park (Jingle Pot RV Park) with great landscaping for $20 a night. We caught up on our laundry this evening and managed to squeeze in a bowl of clam chowder in the process. It has been a lovely day today, bright and sunny and warm. We couldn't ask for more.
Friday, August 18
We woke up at a reasonable time this morning, around 7:00. I went to take advantage of the showers while Carol slept a little longer. After we had both showered and had some cereal for breakfast we walked around the park. It was another lovely clear day and the temperature by now, 9:00, was a perfect 70 degrees. The landscaping at this park was fantastic. It is owned and operated by a man of Chinese descent. He converted it from a trailer park in the past few years and he by himself has done all of the landscaping around the park, rock gardens, flower gardens, water fountains, etc. We took quite a few photos and made us want to work on our landscaping some more at home. Carol talked with John, the owner, and he seemed pleased that she was so interested in the landscaping.
We filled the water tanks and emptied the holding tanks and left the park. Our first stop was Walmart. We had to restock on some groceries. I tried to fill a prescription for eye drops here but they couldn't fill any prescriptions from the US. Guess I'll just wait until I get back to the US. We found another truck camper in the parking lot and I chatted with the owner. He had lots of racks attached to his camper and I was checking to see how he had done it. He had a roof rack bracket that attached to the side of the camper, much like I had anticipated doing. This way I can avoid putting any bolts in the roof.
We headed north on 19A, the ocean side route, toward Campbell River and Mike and Carole Dodds house. It took us a whiles since we were driving fairly slow and enjoying the scenery. We also took a side trip to McMillian Provincial Park to see some old growth trees that were supposed to be quite a sight. This grouping of trees is called Cathedral Grove and it is a set of huge trees that have never been cut. It is very pretty. We also stopped at a garage sale. We have a terrible time avoiding those things.
We got to Mike and Carole's about 4:00. They greeted us like long lost friends. What a lovely house and yard they have. They also have lots of fresh garden vegetables, especially tomatoes. We got acquainted and Mike wanted to see our camper and we wanted to see theirs so we talked campers for awhile. They grilled some pork tenderloin with a full compliment of potatoes and veggies to go with it. After supper we chatted for awhile and then we watched some CFL on TV. The BC Eskimos were playing the Edmonton Lions. It was really a good game and fun to watch. It is a little different than NFL football, most notably they only have 3 downs to get ten yards. It seems to move a little faster than American football. British Columbia won, but barely, and only due to a missed field goal.
Mike does a lot of his own wine and beer making. We had a few of his homemade brews and it was just a very pleasant evening. I think I mentioned earlier that Mike and Carole had both retired about the same time I did so we have been in constant touch by email and blogs. They told us a lot about the road we took down from Prince Rupert.
Another great day.
Saturday August 19
We were all up and ready for a morning walk around 9:00. Mike and Carole took us over to the beach and we walked some trails right along the beach and through large heavily forested areas. When we got back to the house we talked about what to do the next few days. They mentioned a campground they really liked west of here called Buttle Lake so we decided we would all head over there tomorrow morning. Mike and I walked down to the market on the corner and picked up some material for supper and for meals over the next couple of days. This afternoon they took us around Campbell River and showed us the sights. We stopped at a U-Brew store. Here in British Columbia there are several of these and mainly it is a place where one can buy a wine or beer kit and they will brew it for you and then you fill the bottles with the finished product. It is a cost effective way to stock up on beer or wine. I thought of Don Haddock while looking at all this since he likes brewing his own wine.
I had picked up some country pork ribs for supper. Carol brewed up some of the famous Eagleburger bar-b-que sauce and we spent a couple of hours grilling these ribs and basting them with the sauce. They turned out delicious and Mike and Carole really enjoyed them. We sure get a lot of use out of that sauce and everybody just loves it. I don't know where Pa or Ma got that recipe but I'm sure glad he did. It is such a hit with everyone we do it for.
After supper we split up and we came out here to the camper to catch up on the blog. Mike and Carole had offered for us to stay in a spare bedroom but since we have our bedroom with us, there isn't much since in that. We sleep very well in our own bed, sometimes too well :-).
Off to Buttle Lake tomorrow and some new areas not yet explored. What a great way to see the country.
Sunday, August 20
We ran down to the corner store this morning while Mike and Carole packed up their camper. We needed some milk. Carol spends a lot of time just looking through the grocery store even if all we need is milk. She likes to see what possibilities there are for future meals. When we got back Mike and Carole let us use their phone to call Becky and Rob. We had a missed message from Rob on out cell phone but didn't have enough coverage to get a call through. Turned out they were just checking on us.
We got away about 10:00 and headed up toward Strathcona Provincial Park. Buttle Lake is in the park and feeds right into a huge reservoir lake called Strathcona Lake. This is the most beautiful area. We got to the campground and got settled into a double campsite and then combines some food for lunch. After lunch we went hiking along the lake shore. So much driftwood and so little room, Carol keeps moaning. She wishes we had a trailer to take stuff home in. By stuff I mean rocks and driftwood. It is probably a good thing we don't have more room though. We are less likely to buy junk at all the garage sales we go to.
We got back to the campsite after a nice couple of mile hike and sat around and chatted until supper. Mike and Carole are great to talk with, we have so much in common. Tonight was their night to cook supper so they grilled up some turkey burgers and had salad and corn. It was delicious with a little of Mike's homemade wine.
After dishes were finished we set up the Scrabble board and all played Scrabble. It was great fun. Mike got a huge score and I challenged the word 'yo' and he lost it. That kind of set Carole up to take the lead and she eventually won. By then it was 9:30 so we all headed to the campers and some shut eye.
Monday, August 21
This morning dawned bright and clear again, and as we hoped the wind was calm. Mike and Carole wanted to take us out in their boat. After a combined breakfast of scones Mike hooked up the boat and we headed over to the launch ramp. they have a nice Double Eagle boat with a 65hp motor and a smaller motor for trolling. We tooled around the large Strathcoma lake for a while stopping and combing the beach for driftwood and rocks. Then we headed over to a favorite fishing area and the girls fished for awhile. Each caught three rainbow trout and we figured that was plenty for supper, so we went into a river to find a place out of the wind for lunch. We sat up above the river channel and gawked at the scenery while we ate lunch. There is something about lunch in a beautiful surrounding that makes it all the more special.
We headed back to the campground after lunch. Mike cleaned the fish and we got the boat loaded back up and re parked and the camper back in it's slot. Then we sat around and chatted for awhile before we started supper. It was supposed to be our turn for supper and we did do a few brats, but Mike also cooked up the trout with salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Yep, cinnamon. He fried them and they were delicious. We feasted again. This could be hazardous to one's waist line. After supper we cleaned up dishes and played Scrabble again until about 10:00. I lucked out and won tonight.
Tuesday, August 22
We got up and had breakfast this morning and then we packed up to leave. We were finally escaping Mike and Carole force feeding us fresh fish and all the fresh vegetables that they have grown. We have had too much corn and tomatoes the past couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting back to junk food myself, bring on the pizza. Seriously, they have been terrific hosts and we really enjoyed our stay with them. It is not often you run into people that you feel so comfortable with right off the bat. We did part but with the understanding that they would come to Missouri so we could treat them to some of our midwest hospitality. Hopefully they will be able to make it next year.
We ended up driving all day. We only went about 150 miles but it was a hard 150 miles. The traffic tends to be pretty heavy when one gets closer to Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We stopped a few times to check out some gift shops and for lunch. One gift shop we stopped at had a number of lawn items made out of driftwood. They were really great. They had made everything from benches to water gardens from driftwood.
We finally got to the west edge of Victoria late afternoon and took Highway 14 northwest toward Sooke and Jordan River. We stopped at French Beach Provincial Park right between Sooke and Jordan River about 4:00 and we were lucky to find a vacant campsite. It was packed. We parked and immediately headed for the beach. It was cold though. The wind is constant on these beaches and we needed a good coat to be comfortable. This is a pretty beach and we walked quite a ways before turning and heading back to the camper.
Carol whipped up some tomato soup with pasta in it for supper and we had toasted garlic buns with it. It was pretty good. This was a powdered soup mix and we weren't sure how it would turn out. After I washed dishes we played more Scrabble. I won again :-).
Wednesday, August 23
After a bacon and egg breakfast Carol wanted to cut and wash her hair so I got the generator out so she could do that. She needs the generator for her hair dryer and curling iron. The provincial parks don't have electric power so that is the reason I had to get the generator out for her. While she did that I headed down to the beach to take a few photos. When I got back about 10:30 Carol was all done. It amazes me that she can cut her own hair in this camper. It really looks good too. We needed to be out of our site by 11:00 so we packed up and departed right about 11:00. We drove a little further up 14 through Jordan River, but we couldn't see much of the beach, just a lot of trees so we turned around and headed back toward Victoria. We stopped at a Vistior Information Center and checked on how to get to Buchart Gardens and where we could catch the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. We also checked on RV Parks in the area.
We followed her directions to Buchart Gardens and finally arrived about 1:30. The roads here are not real friendly to strangers. I guess if you knew your way around it would be okay, but being new I missed the turn to Buchart Gardens and had to exit the highway we were on. Then when I got to that turn again, there was no right turn there so I had to go another few miles and loop around again and then make my approach for a third time. But we finally made it. The directions are marked.. A big sign says take Exit 18 to Buchart Gardens, but then seldom notice an exit number sign at the exit, so it seems kind of useless to have the initial sign in the first place. Of course this could just be that I'm not as observant as I should be.
What a tremendous place Buchart Gardens is. The flowers and colors overwhelm you. It is almost like overload on beautiful flowers. The first garden you enter is called the Sunken Garden. It is an old rock quarry. Mr. Buchart ran a cement company and I guess this is where he got his first rock for his cement company. Their house was right there so when he finished getting rock from the quarry, Mrs. Buchart decided to turn it into a garden. By this time they were fairly wealthy so she had the money to put into developing it. This was in the early 1900s. It has taken nearly a century but what a lovely showplace they have now. The second or third generation Buchart's run it now but it is just amazing that they could turn an eyesore like a rock quarry into such a beautiful place. After the sunken gardens, you pass through other gardens including bog gardens, rose gardens, Japanese gardens, and Italian gardens. Carol, needless to say, thought she was in a gardners Disneyland. It really is quite beautiful. There was quite a crowd there but it was not wall to wall people. They also do play and concerts. It is quite a place. We kept thinking how much Carol's mom would enjoy this place.
After we left the gardens we headed back to the main highway to check out a couple of RV Parks. The first one was like a parking lot, but the second one was a lot newer so we got a site at that one. It is near the beach, and again the first thing we did was walk to the beach. Unfortunately, it was kind of cluttered and rather small so we headed back to the camper.
We had stopped at a couple of farm markets while looking for a campground so we loaded up on vegetables. We had a large chef salad and fresh corn on the cob for supper. So much for my junk food. Maybe tomorrow. I'm determined to have some Tim Horton donuts and some fish and chips before we leave Victoria. Supper was delicious though I must admit. It is really great to have fresh produce again.
Our plans are to visit downtown Victoria in the morning and probably catch a ferry to Port Angeles, Washington tomorrow sometime. That will put us back in the lower 48 for the first time in nearly three months. Gee, we'll be able to use our cell phone again :-).
Well, it is about 9:30 and time for a little reading and bed. Good night all.
Thursday, August 24
We skipped breakfast this morning hoping to find a Tim Horton. We drove north to Sydney first and drove around there. It is a very pretty little town. Then we headed back south toward Victoria. We had to stop at the garden market and get some more corn on our way by. I'm having a terrible time getting away from these vegetables. Carol is just a bad influence on me. We got to Victoria and drove on down by the government buildings and the wharf. After parking at one spot and walking down to their fisherman's wharf we decided to go check on the ferry. We drove over to the ferry docks and it turned out the first ferry available to us was the 7: 30 pm ferry and it was just past 10:00 am. We could, however, go ahead and get in line and buy our ticket and that would provide us with free parking downtown, so we did that. We had to be back at the camper at 6:00 for customs to check us out prior to the departure.
We parked our truck and bought our tickets and took out on foot to explore downtown Victoria. This is one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. Flowers are everywhere. We walked along the harbor and went into the Empress Hotel to see how the rich folks lived. By this time it was about 11:00 and we were getting pretty hungry since we had not found a Tim Horton restaurant. There are a number of street vendors down around he harbor so we bought a couple of hot dogs to tide us over until fish and chips later. We sat and watched the whale watching boats, flight seeing airplanes, and the harbor tour boats running around the harbor while we ate them. Ahhhhh, junk food. After this we went up Government Street and window shopped and went through a few shops and a mall. It is fun because things are very British, or what we suppose British to be like. All this shopping made me even hungrier and the hot dog was not enough so I got a big pretzel from another street vendor. Carol thinks I'm just not happy unless I have something to eat. Needless to say I do take a lot of abuse on this issue. I just tell Carol I'm taking lessons from her dad, Don.
We went to the British Columbia Parliment Building which was built around 1896 and had a great tour of that. They do a very good job of providing these tours. They have a young man who comes out in period costume and pretends to be the architect who designed the building and he tells about the way it's beauty and history was almost lost due to needed office space and remodeling tastes of the time, but it was saved and restored to it's original beauty. It is a very impressive building similar to our state capitol in Jefferson City. By this time, even Carol was getting hungry again, yippee. So we started our walk over to the fisherman's wharf to get some fish and chips at Barb's Place. The fish and chips were okay, it was halibut, but it sure reminded me of Captain D's. Oh well, I think I have this built in aversion to fish. We met a Canadian who was there at the same table with us and he shared some information about the land and prices around BC. They have passed laws restricting the development of farm land for residential use, so that has driven up prices on homes here. He said a regular 3 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood would go for about half a million dollars here. Sounds like Denver.
We took a walk around the wharf after eating and enjoyed some of the houseboats there. Many were decorated with flowers and other memorabilia. It was fun to see what people had done. I just can't imagine the cost of maintaining these homes. Then we took the long way around some of the streets near the harbor and enjoyed the neighborhoods. There are a lot of condos and apartments in this area. Another result of the limiting of development. I do think the law limiting development is good overall though or Victoria would not stay as charming as it is. We found out tourism is the second biggest industry, next to logging, in British Columbia today. It is no wonder, this is a beautiful province.
We got back to the area of the camper around 4:00 and sat on a park bench and watched activity in the harbor again. It is one busy place. We watched a lot of boat traffic and several float planes landing. I'm surprised it is as orderly as it is. We must have walked five miles today so the bench sitting was well received. Around 5:00 we went back to the camper to get ready for departure. We read and waited for the ferry and the customs people to check us. Guess where the customs guy who checked us was from. Yep, Missouri, the Branson and Springfield area. I guess the border patrol does a lot of recruiting in Missouri. I can't believe we have had so many check us through who were from there. We loaded on the ferry and had a pleasant trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We talked with a family of five who were from the Okanagan area of BC who were on a motorcycle vacation. The oldest daughter will be a senior in high school next year and she had her own motorcycle. The other two kids were riding with their parents on cycles. The young lady talked with us extensively. She was very mature and charming. She will do well in life. We finally landed in Port Angeles about 9:30 and had to go through more customs, but this was simple and all we were asked was if we had any meat bought in Canada, and where we were from. We said 'no' and we were from Missouri and he let us right on through. We didn't even show identification. I guess I still need to grow a beard.
We drove in the dark to a national park campground about 6 miles south of town and found a not so level campsite in the dark, amongst giant trees. We couldn't even see the sky it was so dark. It was a lot prettier this morning when we woke up and could see what we had.
Well, time to shut down and head into town. Hopefully, we'll find someplace to put this on the blog. It has been awhile.
We got up and had cereal with fresh peaches for breakfast. It has been a long time since we have had good fresh fruit and vegetables. We actually are far enough south now that we have found some roadside stands selling fruits and vegetables so yesterday we stopped and got some black cherries, peaches, and garden grown tomatoes. What a treat. We really enjoyed the campsite last night. I guess that BC Electric has several of these sites around the province in conjunction with some of their dams. They provide free camping as a public relations move I suppose. Our neighbor in the campground said they ought to be free after what BC Electric charges them. I said I hadn't paid them anything. He said that I probably would be in the future if they start selling in the US.
We went on south on the Duffy Lake Road. What tremendous scenery. This is what mountain scenery should be. It is absolutely gorgeous. I do believe British Columbia has everyone else beat out with beautiful scenery. I would be very tempted to come back here as a destination camping area.
There was a considerable amount of work being done on the highway between the resort town of Whistler and Vancouver. I couldn't believe the increase in people from Whistler on either. The people in Whistler were thick as flies. Whistler reminded me of Vail in Colorado, ritzy and upscale, with not much going for it except the shopping. But is seems to be a very popular area. We picked our way through the construction from Whistler to Vancouver and finally got to Horseshoe Bay about 2:00. This is where the ferry terminal is. Luckily the neighbor last night told us how to approach the terminal. We actually had to pass it and then double back to get in the ferry lanes. We got there and paid the attendant. She said they may get us on the 3:15 ferry but if not we would get on the 5:10 ferry for sure. We really hoped for the 3:15 ferry since we didn't want to wait 3 hours. Sure enough we were the last vehicle loaded on the 3:15 ferry.
The BC Ferry was very nice with comfortable seating and gift shops, coffee shops, cafeterias, etc. It was only an hour and a half ride and a BC Parks person gave a presentation that we went to and that took up about 45 minutes so it seemed like we crossed the strait in no time. We landed at Nanaimo and wow, talk about unloading. These folks have their act together. You better be ready to go or you'll be run over. We were off the ferry within five minutes of docking.
We went to the Nanaimo visitor center to check on RV parks and they told us which ones were available and how to get there. We found a lovely little park (Jingle Pot RV Park) with great landscaping for $20 a night. We caught up on our laundry this evening and managed to squeeze in a bowl of clam chowder in the process. It has been a lovely day today, bright and sunny and warm. We couldn't ask for more.
Friday, August 18
We woke up at a reasonable time this morning, around 7:00. I went to take advantage of the showers while Carol slept a little longer. After we had both showered and had some cereal for breakfast we walked around the park. It was another lovely clear day and the temperature by now, 9:00, was a perfect 70 degrees. The landscaping at this park was fantastic. It is owned and operated by a man of Chinese descent. He converted it from a trailer park in the past few years and he by himself has done all of the landscaping around the park, rock gardens, flower gardens, water fountains, etc. We took quite a few photos and made us want to work on our landscaping some more at home. Carol talked with John, the owner, and he seemed pleased that she was so interested in the landscaping.
We filled the water tanks and emptied the holding tanks and left the park. Our first stop was Walmart. We had to restock on some groceries. I tried to fill a prescription for eye drops here but they couldn't fill any prescriptions from the US. Guess I'll just wait until I get back to the US. We found another truck camper in the parking lot and I chatted with the owner. He had lots of racks attached to his camper and I was checking to see how he had done it. He had a roof rack bracket that attached to the side of the camper, much like I had anticipated doing. This way I can avoid putting any bolts in the roof.
We headed north on 19A, the ocean side route, toward Campbell River and Mike and Carole Dodds house. It took us a whiles since we were driving fairly slow and enjoying the scenery. We also took a side trip to McMillian Provincial Park to see some old growth trees that were supposed to be quite a sight. This grouping of trees is called Cathedral Grove and it is a set of huge trees that have never been cut. It is very pretty. We also stopped at a garage sale. We have a terrible time avoiding those things.
We got to Mike and Carole's about 4:00. They greeted us like long lost friends. What a lovely house and yard they have. They also have lots of fresh garden vegetables, especially tomatoes. We got acquainted and Mike wanted to see our camper and we wanted to see theirs so we talked campers for awhile. They grilled some pork tenderloin with a full compliment of potatoes and veggies to go with it. After supper we chatted for awhile and then we watched some CFL on TV. The BC Eskimos were playing the Edmonton Lions. It was really a good game and fun to watch. It is a little different than NFL football, most notably they only have 3 downs to get ten yards. It seems to move a little faster than American football. British Columbia won, but barely, and only due to a missed field goal.
Mike does a lot of his own wine and beer making. We had a few of his homemade brews and it was just a very pleasant evening. I think I mentioned earlier that Mike and Carole had both retired about the same time I did so we have been in constant touch by email and blogs. They told us a lot about the road we took down from Prince Rupert.
Another great day.
Saturday August 19
We were all up and ready for a morning walk around 9:00. Mike and Carole took us over to the beach and we walked some trails right along the beach and through large heavily forested areas. When we got back to the house we talked about what to do the next few days. They mentioned a campground they really liked west of here called Buttle Lake so we decided we would all head over there tomorrow morning. Mike and I walked down to the market on the corner and picked up some material for supper and for meals over the next couple of days. This afternoon they took us around Campbell River and showed us the sights. We stopped at a U-Brew store. Here in British Columbia there are several of these and mainly it is a place where one can buy a wine or beer kit and they will brew it for you and then you fill the bottles with the finished product. It is a cost effective way to stock up on beer or wine. I thought of Don Haddock while looking at all this since he likes brewing his own wine.
I had picked up some country pork ribs for supper. Carol brewed up some of the famous Eagleburger bar-b-que sauce and we spent a couple of hours grilling these ribs and basting them with the sauce. They turned out delicious and Mike and Carole really enjoyed them. We sure get a lot of use out of that sauce and everybody just loves it. I don't know where Pa or Ma got that recipe but I'm sure glad he did. It is such a hit with everyone we do it for.
After supper we split up and we came out here to the camper to catch up on the blog. Mike and Carole had offered for us to stay in a spare bedroom but since we have our bedroom with us, there isn't much since in that. We sleep very well in our own bed, sometimes too well :-).
Off to Buttle Lake tomorrow and some new areas not yet explored. What a great way to see the country.
Sunday, August 20
We ran down to the corner store this morning while Mike and Carole packed up their camper. We needed some milk. Carol spends a lot of time just looking through the grocery store even if all we need is milk. She likes to see what possibilities there are for future meals. When we got back Mike and Carole let us use their phone to call Becky and Rob. We had a missed message from Rob on out cell phone but didn't have enough coverage to get a call through. Turned out they were just checking on us.
We got away about 10:00 and headed up toward Strathcona Provincial Park. Buttle Lake is in the park and feeds right into a huge reservoir lake called Strathcona Lake. This is the most beautiful area. We got to the campground and got settled into a double campsite and then combines some food for lunch. After lunch we went hiking along the lake shore. So much driftwood and so little room, Carol keeps moaning. She wishes we had a trailer to take stuff home in. By stuff I mean rocks and driftwood. It is probably a good thing we don't have more room though. We are less likely to buy junk at all the garage sales we go to.
We got back to the campsite after a nice couple of mile hike and sat around and chatted until supper. Mike and Carole are great to talk with, we have so much in common. Tonight was their night to cook supper so they grilled up some turkey burgers and had salad and corn. It was delicious with a little of Mike's homemade wine.
After dishes were finished we set up the Scrabble board and all played Scrabble. It was great fun. Mike got a huge score and I challenged the word 'yo' and he lost it. That kind of set Carole up to take the lead and she eventually won. By then it was 9:30 so we all headed to the campers and some shut eye.
Monday, August 21
This morning dawned bright and clear again, and as we hoped the wind was calm. Mike and Carole wanted to take us out in their boat. After a combined breakfast of scones Mike hooked up the boat and we headed over to the launch ramp. they have a nice Double Eagle boat with a 65hp motor and a smaller motor for trolling. We tooled around the large Strathcoma lake for a while stopping and combing the beach for driftwood and rocks. Then we headed over to a favorite fishing area and the girls fished for awhile. Each caught three rainbow trout and we figured that was plenty for supper, so we went into a river to find a place out of the wind for lunch. We sat up above the river channel and gawked at the scenery while we ate lunch. There is something about lunch in a beautiful surrounding that makes it all the more special.
We headed back to the campground after lunch. Mike cleaned the fish and we got the boat loaded back up and re parked and the camper back in it's slot. Then we sat around and chatted for awhile before we started supper. It was supposed to be our turn for supper and we did do a few brats, but Mike also cooked up the trout with salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Yep, cinnamon. He fried them and they were delicious. We feasted again. This could be hazardous to one's waist line. After supper we cleaned up dishes and played Scrabble again until about 10:00. I lucked out and won tonight.
Tuesday, August 22
We got up and had breakfast this morning and then we packed up to leave. We were finally escaping Mike and Carole force feeding us fresh fish and all the fresh vegetables that they have grown. We have had too much corn and tomatoes the past couple of days. I'm looking forward to getting back to junk food myself, bring on the pizza. Seriously, they have been terrific hosts and we really enjoyed our stay with them. It is not often you run into people that you feel so comfortable with right off the bat. We did part but with the understanding that they would come to Missouri so we could treat them to some of our midwest hospitality. Hopefully they will be able to make it next year.
We ended up driving all day. We only went about 150 miles but it was a hard 150 miles. The traffic tends to be pretty heavy when one gets closer to Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We stopped a few times to check out some gift shops and for lunch. One gift shop we stopped at had a number of lawn items made out of driftwood. They were really great. They had made everything from benches to water gardens from driftwood.
We finally got to the west edge of Victoria late afternoon and took Highway 14 northwest toward Sooke and Jordan River. We stopped at French Beach Provincial Park right between Sooke and Jordan River about 4:00 and we were lucky to find a vacant campsite. It was packed. We parked and immediately headed for the beach. It was cold though. The wind is constant on these beaches and we needed a good coat to be comfortable. This is a pretty beach and we walked quite a ways before turning and heading back to the camper.
Carol whipped up some tomato soup with pasta in it for supper and we had toasted garlic buns with it. It was pretty good. This was a powdered soup mix and we weren't sure how it would turn out. After I washed dishes we played more Scrabble. I won again :-).
Wednesday, August 23
After a bacon and egg breakfast Carol wanted to cut and wash her hair so I got the generator out so she could do that. She needs the generator for her hair dryer and curling iron. The provincial parks don't have electric power so that is the reason I had to get the generator out for her. While she did that I headed down to the beach to take a few photos. When I got back about 10:30 Carol was all done. It amazes me that she can cut her own hair in this camper. It really looks good too. We needed to be out of our site by 11:00 so we packed up and departed right about 11:00. We drove a little further up 14 through Jordan River, but we couldn't see much of the beach, just a lot of trees so we turned around and headed back toward Victoria. We stopped at a Vistior Information Center and checked on how to get to Buchart Gardens and where we could catch the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. We also checked on RV Parks in the area.
We followed her directions to Buchart Gardens and finally arrived about 1:30. The roads here are not real friendly to strangers. I guess if you knew your way around it would be okay, but being new I missed the turn to Buchart Gardens and had to exit the highway we were on. Then when I got to that turn again, there was no right turn there so I had to go another few miles and loop around again and then make my approach for a third time. But we finally made it. The directions are marked.. A big sign says take Exit 18 to Buchart Gardens, but then seldom notice an exit number sign at the exit, so it seems kind of useless to have the initial sign in the first place. Of course this could just be that I'm not as observant as I should be.
What a tremendous place Buchart Gardens is. The flowers and colors overwhelm you. It is almost like overload on beautiful flowers. The first garden you enter is called the Sunken Garden. It is an old rock quarry. Mr. Buchart ran a cement company and I guess this is where he got his first rock for his cement company. Their house was right there so when he finished getting rock from the quarry, Mrs. Buchart decided to turn it into a garden. By this time they were fairly wealthy so she had the money to put into developing it. This was in the early 1900s. It has taken nearly a century but what a lovely showplace they have now. The second or third generation Buchart's run it now but it is just amazing that they could turn an eyesore like a rock quarry into such a beautiful place. After the sunken gardens, you pass through other gardens including bog gardens, rose gardens, Japanese gardens, and Italian gardens. Carol, needless to say, thought she was in a gardners Disneyland. It really is quite beautiful. There was quite a crowd there but it was not wall to wall people. They also do play and concerts. It is quite a place. We kept thinking how much Carol's mom would enjoy this place.
After we left the gardens we headed back to the main highway to check out a couple of RV Parks. The first one was like a parking lot, but the second one was a lot newer so we got a site at that one. It is near the beach, and again the first thing we did was walk to the beach. Unfortunately, it was kind of cluttered and rather small so we headed back to the camper.
We had stopped at a couple of farm markets while looking for a campground so we loaded up on vegetables. We had a large chef salad and fresh corn on the cob for supper. So much for my junk food. Maybe tomorrow. I'm determined to have some Tim Horton donuts and some fish and chips before we leave Victoria. Supper was delicious though I must admit. It is really great to have fresh produce again.
Our plans are to visit downtown Victoria in the morning and probably catch a ferry to Port Angeles, Washington tomorrow sometime. That will put us back in the lower 48 for the first time in nearly three months. Gee, we'll be able to use our cell phone again :-).
Well, it is about 9:30 and time for a little reading and bed. Good night all.
Thursday, August 24
We skipped breakfast this morning hoping to find a Tim Horton. We drove north to Sydney first and drove around there. It is a very pretty little town. Then we headed back south toward Victoria. We had to stop at the garden market and get some more corn on our way by. I'm having a terrible time getting away from these vegetables. Carol is just a bad influence on me. We got to Victoria and drove on down by the government buildings and the wharf. After parking at one spot and walking down to their fisherman's wharf we decided to go check on the ferry. We drove over to the ferry docks and it turned out the first ferry available to us was the 7: 30 pm ferry and it was just past 10:00 am. We could, however, go ahead and get in line and buy our ticket and that would provide us with free parking downtown, so we did that. We had to be back at the camper at 6:00 for customs to check us out prior to the departure.
We parked our truck and bought our tickets and took out on foot to explore downtown Victoria. This is one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. Flowers are everywhere. We walked along the harbor and went into the Empress Hotel to see how the rich folks lived. By this time it was about 11:00 and we were getting pretty hungry since we had not found a Tim Horton restaurant. There are a number of street vendors down around he harbor so we bought a couple of hot dogs to tide us over until fish and chips later. We sat and watched the whale watching boats, flight seeing airplanes, and the harbor tour boats running around the harbor while we ate them. Ahhhhh, junk food. After this we went up Government Street and window shopped and went through a few shops and a mall. It is fun because things are very British, or what we suppose British to be like. All this shopping made me even hungrier and the hot dog was not enough so I got a big pretzel from another street vendor. Carol thinks I'm just not happy unless I have something to eat. Needless to say I do take a lot of abuse on this issue. I just tell Carol I'm taking lessons from her dad, Don.
We went to the British Columbia Parliment Building which was built around 1896 and had a great tour of that. They do a very good job of providing these tours. They have a young man who comes out in period costume and pretends to be the architect who designed the building and he tells about the way it's beauty and history was almost lost due to needed office space and remodeling tastes of the time, but it was saved and restored to it's original beauty. It is a very impressive building similar to our state capitol in Jefferson City. By this time, even Carol was getting hungry again, yippee. So we started our walk over to the fisherman's wharf to get some fish and chips at Barb's Place. The fish and chips were okay, it was halibut, but it sure reminded me of Captain D's. Oh well, I think I have this built in aversion to fish. We met a Canadian who was there at the same table with us and he shared some information about the land and prices around BC. They have passed laws restricting the development of farm land for residential use, so that has driven up prices on homes here. He said a regular 3 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood would go for about half a million dollars here. Sounds like Denver.
We took a walk around the wharf after eating and enjoyed some of the houseboats there. Many were decorated with flowers and other memorabilia. It was fun to see what people had done. I just can't imagine the cost of maintaining these homes. Then we took the long way around some of the streets near the harbor and enjoyed the neighborhoods. There are a lot of condos and apartments in this area. Another result of the limiting of development. I do think the law limiting development is good overall though or Victoria would not stay as charming as it is. We found out tourism is the second biggest industry, next to logging, in British Columbia today. It is no wonder, this is a beautiful province.
We got back to the area of the camper around 4:00 and sat on a park bench and watched activity in the harbor again. It is one busy place. We watched a lot of boat traffic and several float planes landing. I'm surprised it is as orderly as it is. We must have walked five miles today so the bench sitting was well received. Around 5:00 we went back to the camper to get ready for departure. We read and waited for the ferry and the customs people to check us. Guess where the customs guy who checked us was from. Yep, Missouri, the Branson and Springfield area. I guess the border patrol does a lot of recruiting in Missouri. I can't believe we have had so many check us through who were from there. We loaded on the ferry and had a pleasant trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We talked with a family of five who were from the Okanagan area of BC who were on a motorcycle vacation. The oldest daughter will be a senior in high school next year and she had her own motorcycle. The other two kids were riding with their parents on cycles. The young lady talked with us extensively. She was very mature and charming. She will do well in life. We finally landed in Port Angeles about 9:30 and had to go through more customs, but this was simple and all we were asked was if we had any meat bought in Canada, and where we were from. We said 'no' and we were from Missouri and he let us right on through. We didn't even show identification. I guess I still need to grow a beard.
We drove in the dark to a national park campground about 6 miles south of town and found a not so level campsite in the dark, amongst giant trees. We couldn't even see the sky it was so dark. It was a lot prettier this morning when we woke up and could see what we had.
Well, time to shut down and head into town. Hopefully, we'll find someplace to put this on the blog. It has been awhile.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
August 14 through August 16
Monday, August 14
I have already entered a little bit pertaining to today. Carol and I were at the Breakers Pub having lunch. When we got up this morning it was completely cloudy. By midday though it had cleared up and was nice and warm. We found Prince Rupert to be a very nice place. It would be fun to spend even more time here. We went to Cow Bay which is a restored area that was once a pasture on the shore and has a cow theme. This is where we found the Breakers Pub. We also found a little fresh fish shop where we got some red snapper for supper. After we finished lunch we headed west on Highway 16. We stopped at the community center and took some photos of some totem poles. We had read about an old cannery that was now open for tours. We found this at Port Edward just outside of Rupert. It was fascinating.
Canneries were once very numerous along the northwest U.S., British Columbia, and Alaskan coast. Canneries had their own fishing fleets and each summer when the salmon would run these fleets would sit at the mouth of rivers and net thousands of salmon coming in to spawn. This and four other canneries were located within just a few miles of each other at the mouth of the Skeena River. The canneries were run byEuropeans or whites, but most of the laborers were Japanese, Chinese, and Native American. The company provided segregated housing for each of these groups. This North Pacific Cannery was established in the 1880s and operated until 1968. A number of things contributed to their closure, automation, consolidation of companies, and refrigeration. It use to be there needed to be a cannery within one day of the ships, but with refrigeration a ship can go out for a week now and the fish will remain fresh. There is now one cannery in Prince Rupert since consolidation and automation have also sealed the fate of the canneries.
A native American guide gave us tours of the fishing procedures used and of cannery life. It was fascinating due to the fact that she had grown up there as a child. Her parents had worked there during the summer. She took us in the store and told us about the store manager. He was very prejudiced. There were not marked prices on the items for sale so he would charge the whites one price, the asians another, and the natives yet another. She said the pay rates were similar to that process only reversed. The whites would get paid most, the asians below that and the natives the lowest.
Trains were a real important part of this process also, and most of the canneries were serviced by trains to get the canned salmon out and to market. There happened to be a great model train layout display here that was left to the cannery museum by a collector. I, of course, thought of my brother when I saw this. Don't worry Mike I got some video of it.
Salmon fishing is now significantly restricted by type of fishing and the state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia are trying to control the take on salmon in the hopes of restoring some of the population, or at least maintaining it.
It just amazes me that the people who built these canneries didn't control their own take. I guess that is one thing that has really struck me with this trip. I fully believe in capitalism and think it is a great motivator, but completely uncontrolled capitalism leads to greed. I think that is what the last century was here in the north, a century of greed. It led to the depletion of a lot of resources, but more significantly the near complete extinction of some animals and fish, forest, and even land that had minerals under it. This land would never have been settled without that greed factor though. Perhaps that would have been okay with the native population that lived here prior to the white man. I have to admire the people who came up here in the 1800s though. What a very rough life they led, they had to be really tough hombres. I don't know, all of this is just too much to think about now that I'm retired. I'm about of the opinion that what will happen will happen. How's that for philosophical?
After we left the cannery we headed northeast toward Prince George. We made it to a town called Terrace. They have a municipal camp ground here so we got a spot for $14. Carol fried up the red snapper, I made salad, and we had some corn on the cob also. Delicious. I think I like fish better fried.
Tuesday, August 15
We got up this morning and took our time again getting ready to go. We had some breakfast and then hiked a nature trail associated with the park. It actually started right behind our camper. We got away from the campsite about 10:00 and stopped by the Visitor Information Center to check on wifi locations. They had wifi right there so I hooked up. I wanted to check email since I was expecting a response from Mike and Carole Dodds who live in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. They have kindly invited us to stop by and meet them and perhaps do some camping with them on the Island while we are there. We met on the RV net bulletin board. I had posted our trip plans a few months back and Mike had emailed and mentioned they live on Vancouver Island. We have since gotten acquainted by emails and are going to stop by and visit them. They just retired also and have a truck camper. I had told them we planned on being in their area on the 18th of August and wanted to make sure that was convenient with them. We haven't had much luck with cell phone service in Canada, so I have been relying on email to correspond.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent driving. We finally got to Prince George about 7:00 pm and turned southwest toward Vancouver. We drove perhaps another fifty miles, until about 9:00 and finally found a rest area to pull into and catch some sleep. We had some chicken salad Carol had made from canned chicken so we had sandwiches for supper and hit the sack.
Wednesday, August 16
We got up and got an early start today. Again it was a day of driving mainly. We did stop at Mile 108 rest area where there was a roadhouse museum and some other buildings that had been preserved. It was very interesting. We drove down to the junction of Highway 99 and took it at the advice of Mike Dodds. It is supposed to be a very scenic route to Vancouver. When we got to Lillooet we stopped at a rock shop and Carol got a polished piece of jade for her necklace. We left Lillooet and drove south a little ways and saw an entrance to a campground. It is the Setton Lake campground and run by a power company. The campsites are free and they have free firewood as well. What a deal and the scenery is very pretty.
We are now officially warm, no hot. I'm not going to complain though we got to this arid hot area about 60 miles north of Lillooet. This is quite a contrast to what we have been experiencing the past few weeks/months. We actually broke out our shorts. I'm sitting outside typing this and it is 7:00 in the evening. It is quite comfortable and not bugs or mosquitoes. This is all right. Well, time to get some supper so we can get the campfire lit when it gets dark. More later.
I have already entered a little bit pertaining to today. Carol and I were at the Breakers Pub having lunch. When we got up this morning it was completely cloudy. By midday though it had cleared up and was nice and warm. We found Prince Rupert to be a very nice place. It would be fun to spend even more time here. We went to Cow Bay which is a restored area that was once a pasture on the shore and has a cow theme. This is where we found the Breakers Pub. We also found a little fresh fish shop where we got some red snapper for supper. After we finished lunch we headed west on Highway 16. We stopped at the community center and took some photos of some totem poles. We had read about an old cannery that was now open for tours. We found this at Port Edward just outside of Rupert. It was fascinating.
Canneries were once very numerous along the northwest U.S., British Columbia, and Alaskan coast. Canneries had their own fishing fleets and each summer when the salmon would run these fleets would sit at the mouth of rivers and net thousands of salmon coming in to spawn. This and four other canneries were located within just a few miles of each other at the mouth of the Skeena River. The canneries were run byEuropeans or whites, but most of the laborers were Japanese, Chinese, and Native American. The company provided segregated housing for each of these groups. This North Pacific Cannery was established in the 1880s and operated until 1968. A number of things contributed to their closure, automation, consolidation of companies, and refrigeration. It use to be there needed to be a cannery within one day of the ships, but with refrigeration a ship can go out for a week now and the fish will remain fresh. There is now one cannery in Prince Rupert since consolidation and automation have also sealed the fate of the canneries.
A native American guide gave us tours of the fishing procedures used and of cannery life. It was fascinating due to the fact that she had grown up there as a child. Her parents had worked there during the summer. She took us in the store and told us about the store manager. He was very prejudiced. There were not marked prices on the items for sale so he would charge the whites one price, the asians another, and the natives yet another. She said the pay rates were similar to that process only reversed. The whites would get paid most, the asians below that and the natives the lowest.
Trains were a real important part of this process also, and most of the canneries were serviced by trains to get the canned salmon out and to market. There happened to be a great model train layout display here that was left to the cannery museum by a collector. I, of course, thought of my brother when I saw this. Don't worry Mike I got some video of it.
Salmon fishing is now significantly restricted by type of fishing and the state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia are trying to control the take on salmon in the hopes of restoring some of the population, or at least maintaining it.
It just amazes me that the people who built these canneries didn't control their own take. I guess that is one thing that has really struck me with this trip. I fully believe in capitalism and think it is a great motivator, but completely uncontrolled capitalism leads to greed. I think that is what the last century was here in the north, a century of greed. It led to the depletion of a lot of resources, but more significantly the near complete extinction of some animals and fish, forest, and even land that had minerals under it. This land would never have been settled without that greed factor though. Perhaps that would have been okay with the native population that lived here prior to the white man. I have to admire the people who came up here in the 1800s though. What a very rough life they led, they had to be really tough hombres. I don't know, all of this is just too much to think about now that I'm retired. I'm about of the opinion that what will happen will happen. How's that for philosophical?
After we left the cannery we headed northeast toward Prince George. We made it to a town called Terrace. They have a municipal camp ground here so we got a spot for $14. Carol fried up the red snapper, I made salad, and we had some corn on the cob also. Delicious. I think I like fish better fried.
Tuesday, August 15
We got up this morning and took our time again getting ready to go. We had some breakfast and then hiked a nature trail associated with the park. It actually started right behind our camper. We got away from the campsite about 10:00 and stopped by the Visitor Information Center to check on wifi locations. They had wifi right there so I hooked up. I wanted to check email since I was expecting a response from Mike and Carole Dodds who live in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. They have kindly invited us to stop by and meet them and perhaps do some camping with them on the Island while we are there. We met on the RV net bulletin board. I had posted our trip plans a few months back and Mike had emailed and mentioned they live on Vancouver Island. We have since gotten acquainted by emails and are going to stop by and visit them. They just retired also and have a truck camper. I had told them we planned on being in their area on the 18th of August and wanted to make sure that was convenient with them. We haven't had much luck with cell phone service in Canada, so I have been relying on email to correspond.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent driving. We finally got to Prince George about 7:00 pm and turned southwest toward Vancouver. We drove perhaps another fifty miles, until about 9:00 and finally found a rest area to pull into and catch some sleep. We had some chicken salad Carol had made from canned chicken so we had sandwiches for supper and hit the sack.
Wednesday, August 16
We got up and got an early start today. Again it was a day of driving mainly. We did stop at Mile 108 rest area where there was a roadhouse museum and some other buildings that had been preserved. It was very interesting. We drove down to the junction of Highway 99 and took it at the advice of Mike Dodds. It is supposed to be a very scenic route to Vancouver. When we got to Lillooet we stopped at a rock shop and Carol got a polished piece of jade for her necklace. We left Lillooet and drove south a little ways and saw an entrance to a campground. It is the Setton Lake campground and run by a power company. The campsites are free and they have free firewood as well. What a deal and the scenery is very pretty.
We are now officially warm, no hot. I'm not going to complain though we got to this arid hot area about 60 miles north of Lillooet. This is quite a contrast to what we have been experiencing the past few weeks/months. We actually broke out our shorts. I'm sitting outside typing this and it is 7:00 in the evening. It is quite comfortable and not bugs or mosquitoes. This is all right. Well, time to get some supper so we can get the campfire lit when it gets dark. More later.
Monday, August 14, 2006
August 8 through August 14
uesday, August 8
We messed around the Hi Country RV Park this morning taking care of chores, checking email, dumping tanks, etc. and finally got away around 11:00. The next stop was a gas station to fill up with diesel, $132.48 in Canadian dollars. Gas is really high up here in Canada. Next we got a half gallon of milk and were on our way back northwest toward Haines Junction. This was repeat territory so nothing too spectacular to see. Once we got to Haines Junction though we got onto the Haines Road. The clouds started to break up a little and we saw some sunshine. This is a very pretty drive. It skirts the Kluane National Park (Canadian) and has some great scenery. We have no destination in mind for today.
We found a Yukon campground and pulled into it. It is called the Million Dollar Falls campground. The Milepost magazine says to be extra cautious for bears here. It is a really pretty campground and there is no one here so we decided to spend the night. The sun did come out for a little while, but then around 4:00 it an actual thunderstorm moved in and it poured. It has been raining for the last three hours with no letup in sight at this time. It sure is hard to believe this area we are in is semi-arid with only 10" of moisture a year. I think it has all come while we are here.
Most locals we have talked to have said that this is an exceptionally cool and wet summer. I hear it is exceptionally hot and dry at home. Thus the reasoning would be that if we stay home next summer it will be a cool and wet summer there. We can be bought to stay in Missouri if any of you want a cooler summer next summer.
Carol whipped up some fried rice with pork tonight for supper. It was really very good. It was the last grilled porkchop we had from the other night. We had pear and cottage cheese salad along with it.
It is now 8:00 and we are sitting in the warm, dry camper listening to the rain fall on the roof. We're both in the middle of a couple of good books. We do spend a lot of time reading. Most places we camp are not too conducive to being outdoors a lot, due to the mosquitoes up here, so we do read a lot in the evenings.
Wednesday, August 9
It was still raining when we woke up, but not as cold as it could have been. We had breakfast and broke camp about 8:30. The drive south from here was gorgeous even with the heavy clouds and at one point it actually started to break up and the sun popped out for a few minutes shortly after we hit the British Columbia border. We have about 60 miles of British Columbia to go through before we hit Alaska again. We stopped at the Yukon Welcome signs and took some photos since we didn't have any of the Yukon sign. We spent quite a bit of time and money in the Yukon (considering gas) going and coming so we wanted something to remember it by. We drove a few miles further south stopping frequently at pullouts or side roads and on a couple of occasions I did a little exploring. As we were driving a long we hadn't seen any cabins or houses for a good fifty miles and there was a cabin out in the middle of nowhere so I pulled into the road to the cabin and took two photos of it. A car pulled in right behind us. My first thought was, what a copycat. I could see it was a woman driver and I thought she was going to take a photo of it also. She got out of the car and walked up to me. She said she owned the cabin and we were welcome to pull up and take a look at it. Of course I was blocking her way in, maybe she was just being nice to get me to move but we agreed and I pulled over so she could lead the way. We got to the cabin and chatted with Lis (sounds like lease) for awhile. She invited us in and I took a few photos. She bought the cabin from an native who has a 99 year lease on the property. It was built 50 years ago so she still has 49 years on the lease. It turns out she is a doctor in Whitehorse and she had just come up to supply the place for fall and winter when it gets it's most use. She said she comes up and snowshoes and cross country skis from it. Some of her friends use it as a hunting cabin.
What a fluke that we should be there when she pulls in. It was fun to talk to her. She says it remains unlocked year round so people can seek shelter in it if they need too.
We headed on south and finally got to the US border. We had to go through the US border check again, our second time in a couple of months. The border guard who checked ;us was very friendly. It turns out he is from Nevada, Missouri, and the other agent that was with him is from Nixa, MO. What a small world. We got through with no problem. Maybe we look too honest. Perhaps I should grow a beard or something.
The border check is still about 40 miles from Haines but we started seeing homes and mail boxes right away. We hadn't seen much of those for awhile. We went through an eagle preserve on the way down but didn't see any eagles. When we got to Haines there was a Holland America Cruise ship in port and quite a few people walking around. We explored the city some. I stopped and got prices to take the fast ferry to Skagway, but it would be about $90 for the two of us so I think we will pass on that. We went to the visitor center and were talking to the staff person there and we overheard a lady mention they had seen a lot of bears out by the state campground (Chilkoot Lake) east of town. She also said it was a very pretty campground. They had stayed at an RV park in town. After stopping at the grocery we headed out that way to see about a site. It turned out to be a very pretty campground and only $10 a night. There were several tour buses out there watching eagles. We found the eagles. The salmon are running and they are all out here eating salmon.
We headed back into town. We wanted to stop at the ferry dock and check on our ferry and ask a few questions so we did that since it was on the way to town. Then we decided to eat at a local restaurant the visitor center person had mentioned. It is located in the old Ft. Wm. H. Seward area. The army once had a fort here and the buildings are quite impressive. They are all privately owned today but it was easy to imagine the army occupying this place. That is what all the large white buildings are in some of the photos, old army buildings. By old I mean about 1930s or 40s vintage. All history here in Alaska is relatively current compared to back home. A lot of the museums we go into up here has stuff we used when I was a kid. What does that tell me?
Anyway we went to the Fireweed Restaurant. The service was slow but I had beer and pizza and Carol had a vegetable zita, which is a noodle dish with all vegetables, so we were both happy. We chatted with some of the folks in the restaurant while we waited for our food. After supper we came back out to the campground, watching for bear all the way along the Chilkoot River. Didn't see any so we came back to the camper and spent awhile and then walked up to the mouth of the river where it comes out of the lake. We had to wait almost an hour and a half before we saw anything but finally a bear came out around 9:30 and caught a few salmon. We tried taking some photos but they didn't turn out very well due to the lack of light. They were too blurry. We got back to the camper about 10:00.
Thursday, August 10
I got up early and took the camera out to see if I could see more bear. Being the avid hunter that I am I knew it might take a while so I found a rock to sit on and it had a nice back rest. I almost went to sleep. I had walked down the road quite a ways to a weir (gate) where they count the salmon coming into the river. I did get a few shots of an eagle and a duck family but no bear. I saw some bear scat on the road. That made me think. I thought these bears were all on the other side of the river. I got back to the loop near the campground and there were some guys from Vancouver there. They said they had just seen a couple of grizzlies down by the weir. I said I had just walked back from there and hadn't seen any. They said they were right beside the road, yikes. I got back to the camper and Carol was gone so I went looking for her. Turns out she had been down to the weir also after me and hadn't seen any bear. She was probably closer to being breakfast than I was. Guess we better stick together.
We decided to take the truck down there this time and look for bear. Again we didn't see any, so we went out on the road and headed toward town. We stopped along the beach and had a little breakfast and then headed down toward town again. We went around a bend and there were some cars and a bus stopped there on the beach so we pulled in. There was a sow and a cub walking along the beach, not more than a hundred feet from the road. We kept following them as they went down the beach in our truck getting out to take a few photos now and then. We got some good photos and were within 50 feet of them at one time. What a thrill. We finally lost them when they got to the mouth of the river so we headed back toward town. I stopped and wanted to walk along the beach for a bit. Carol decided to stay in the truck since it was breezy and cold. I had some success beach combing. I found a whole box of salt water flies someone must have dropped overboard. I got back to the truck and we headed into Haines. We walked around the small boat docks. It is fun to see the different boats and really fun to look at the names on the boats. We went downtown again and I picked up some Canadian beer to go with the smoked salmon we planned to have for lunch. Then we went out to the southeast state fair grounds where the set of the movie 'White Fang' is located and browsed there for awhile. The Haines Brewery is located there so I had to buy a little to bring back for lunch. Guess the Canadian beer will have to wait.
We got back to the campground and had smoked peppered salmon with cream cheese and crackers, and I had beer while Carol had Pepsi. I then set up the generator so I could update this blog and download photos from the camera. Carol decided it was a good time for a nap so she is presently sleeping.
The weather here is cloudy but the sun has broken through the clouds briefly yesterday and today for a few minutes at a time. The temperature is not too bad. It is around 60 right now. As I glance out the camper window I see a pretty thick rain forest type setting here. Moss hangs from the trees. The woods are dark and deep and Bobby Frost would say (Robert Frost) for those of you who don't know him that well.
I think Carol has some Hamburger Helper (Lasangua) planned for supper and about 7:00 we will head back up to the river to hunt bears. I just hope they aren't hunting us. I know, it is a rough life.
I've tried to find a wifi setup here in Haines but haven't had any luck. Looks like we'll probably have to wait until we get to Prince Rupert or later before I can find some place to post the blog.
"You sure you like griz, pilgrim?" (From the movie "Jeremiah Johnson)
Bears, bears, bears. We finally saw a bunch this evening. We saw a sow and cub again this evening. They may have been the two we saw this morning. Shortly after that we had a couple of sibling grizzlies come down on the road near the weir and walked into the water and started fishing. It got within about 30 feet of us. I got some great photos. One sibling went back up into the woods when he saw the cars and people but the one I got the best shots of was the brave one. Luckily we fall well below salmon on the grizzly food chain so as long as the griz has a salmon he is happy as long as people don't antagonize them. The one sibling that went back up in the woods was calling to the other one. It was a great show. Of course we had to watch the one in the woods to make sure he didn't get frustrated and charge. It is amazing how easy it is for the bears to catch the salmon. The weir is kind of a fence across the stream and a Alaskan fish and game person sits on the weir and opens a gate and counts the salmon that go through to spawn. The salmon seem to find the gate. The bears have learned that the fish tend to congregate below the weir and that is one of their favorite places to go to catch fish.
It was great being so close to a wild bear in his own habitat. It is also fun to watch the eagles calling as flying around while waiting for the bears. This is a great place. I would enjoy coming back here in a few years and doing a little salmon fishing. This is a beautiful area.
We played Scrabble before we went to bed and Carol beat me :-(.
Friday, August 11
We got up and had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast and then headed out to walk the road and watch for more bears. We didn't see any bears but we did enjoy the walk. We had to check out of the campground by 11:00 so we packed up and moved out. As we were leaving a man from Quebec asked me if I could help him register for a site. I walked him through it an even took him down and helped him fill out the registration. I don't think he was comfortable with English. Carol accused me of practicing my camp hosting skills.
We have been seeing a lot of a blonde in a super expensive truck camper called an Earth Roamer. This truck camper probably runs in the 6 digit range. We saw her in town and then out at the campground also. She must be rich. She is traveling all by herself. I wonder if she is a movie star. Carol accuses me of having too much interest in her. Actually I'm just fascinated by the truck camper. Later in the day she was at the service station where we emptied our holding tanks and filled with fresh water and fuel. I went over and asked her if I could take a few photos of her camper. She said sure. I was hoping she would show me the inside, but no such offer was forthcoming. She is from New Mexico. She said the campers are made in Colorado.
After we left the campsite we ran into town where we found some postcards and a paperdoll book for Annabelle and got them in the mail, then we went and dumped tanks, got fuel, and of course I got the photos of the Earthroamer. We stopped along the beach and ate lunch about 2:00, and then drove on back out to the campground road again to watch for more bear. We messed around out there for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. We found a place to pull off the road beside the river so we could watch for bear and cooked some hamburgers for supper.
We did see a few bears this evening but they were so far away we didn't take any photos. Got some good photos of eagles though, including some of two eagles on the same rock. What fun. We stayed here until past 8;30 and then drove into the ferry staging area and checked in. We're getting good at this ferry thing. We parked in the staging line we were assigned and then we packed our bags for the ferry. We still had a little time before loading so we played another game of Scrabble. I won this time :-). We can't access our truck and camper except when we are in a port. We had signed up for a cabin so we were anxious to see what it was like. Of course it was dark when we got on the ferry so we got our cabin and wen in to hit the sack. We got to bed around12:30. The room is nice with a bathroom and shower and bunk beds. I got the top bunk, and we didn't even have to flip a coin for it. I think our cabin is pretty close to the engines. The bed feels like it is vibrating and rocking at the same time. All of this and I don't even have to put any quarters in it.
Saturday, August 12
I got up early this morning when we arrived at port in Juneau, about 5:30. I had to go down to the camper and get my toothbrush which I had forgotten, and then I went up on the solarium deck to see what I could see of Juneau. After that I went back and laid down again until 7:00. I wanted to get some photos of the area around Juneau as we departed port around 7:30. By the time I got back to the cabin Carol was up and had showered and we were ready to head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Carol had a muffin and orange and I had hotcakes and sausage. Right after breakfast we went back up on the solarium deck and saw a couple of whales breeching not too far from the boat. At 9;30 we went to a presentation by a forest ranger who rides the ferry. The Alaskan Marine Highway has an agreement with the forest service to provide a forest ranger on each boat and they do presentations throughout the cruise and help watch and identify wildlife for the passengers. We docked at Hoonah, Alaska and we got off the ferry for a few minutes to walk into town. We only had about 45 minutes but we got part way in before we had to turn around.
We're sitting up in the forward observation area which is a large glassed in room at the front of the ship with lots of seats. Everyone is watching for whales and porpoise which we see pretty frequently now. This is really a nice way to travel. Like I told Carol, the ship is not so large as a cruise ship where you kind of get lost but it is not so small as to rock and roll and make you seasick. It is just right and they are extremely comfortable. This is the way to travel.
A little more about this ferry ride. We left Haines, Alaska at about midnight on August 11 (actually 12:15 on the 12th but who's keeping track. We arrived in Juneau at around 5:00 in the morning. We stayed here until around 8:00 a.m. and then left for Hoonah and arrived there at 11:00 a.m. and departed at 12:00 noon. Our next stop is at Kake, AK. We arrive there at 7:30 p. m. and leave at 8:15. The next port is Petersburg at 12:15 a.m. on August 13 and depart there at 1:00. Then Wrangell, arriving at 4:00 a.m. and departing at 4:45. We get to Ketchikan, AK at 10:45 a.m. on the 13th and depart at 11:45. Our destination and final port is Prince Rupert, British Columbia arriving at 7:00 p.m.
Thus we spend almost two days on the ferry. I think it is well worth it because it saves me about 4 days and 1,000 miles of driving. Besides that we get to eat in the cafeteria. I would still take a ferry from Prince Rupert south to Vancouver Island if I could but it is just too hard to get on that ferry. When we get to Prince Rupert we will have about another 1,000 miles to go before we get to Vancouver city and can catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island. This will probably be around the 17th or 18th of August.
Going down the inside passage is more like going down a large lake. It is pretty protected and you can always see land on both sides of you. The ride is smooth and not rough like you would think an ocean cruise would be. I had often heard how cloudy the panhandle of Alaska was due to the fact it is really a rain forest. I thought that would be somewhat depressing, but just the opposite. The clouds cover the mountains like syrup in places and other places it looks like cotton candy gracefully laid over them. It is really very lovely and adds a unique dimension to the scenery. Even though it is cloudy it really rains here very lightly and most of the times not at all. Rain is very spotty.
When Carol and I walked into Hoonah earlier we got very hot. There was no breeze and it must be 60 degrees. I think we might have some difficulty contending with the hot, hot temperatures back in the lower 48 when we get there. Gee, you'd think we were never happy.
One of the presentations by the rangers this evening was on the Wrangell narrows. They said it it got as narrow as 300 feet from shore to shore and was only 26 feet deep at high tide. Our ship draws 17 feet and needs another 5 feet for steering so this is a minimum for the ferry and must be taken at high tide. Unfortunately we are going to go through it at 1:00 in the morning so it will be dark and Carol and I will most likely not get up to see it.
Sunday, August 13
We didn't get up to see the narrows. Probably just as well, from those who did they said it was had to see because of the darkness outside and the light inside and there was also a hard rain.
We had breakfast in the cafeteria, bacon and eggs with toast and then headed to the observation deck again. We spent much of the day on the observation deck watching the scenery and reading. We struck up conversations with some folks, notably an fellow from New Zealand, and a lady from Utah. The man from New Zealand was a stay at home dad and he and his wife had a 2 year old son named Benjamin. Everybody on the boat knew Benjamin at the end of the two day trip. He was interesting and told us a lot about New Zealand and Australia, especially economic issues, taxation, health care, etc. The lady from Utah had lost her husband last winter and was traveling with friends. She was very nice and was really enjoying her trip. She and her husband had been ranchers so she was a pretty tough lady.
The most notable stop today was Ketchikan. It is a very busy harbor with lots of ships, tugs, seaplanes, ferries, and fishing boats all using it. The cruise ships come into a dock a little farther south since they are so big. It looks like it would be a fun place to visit sometime.
The fog started to really get thick as we came into Prince Rupert this evening. As we drove off the ferry it was raining. We had to drive through customs and again we had no problems. It was about 8:00 when we got through customs so we stopped at the first RV park we came to. It was kind of pricey but it is the only one in town and I wanted to see some of Prince Rupert in the daylight. It is getting dark around 9:00 now since we are farther south. We pulled the front spare out of the camper in the rain and got inside and turned on the heater. We snacked for supper since we had had a little snack at mid afternoon on the ship. I had a small pizza and Carol had pasta salad on the ship. The food prices on the ferry are very reasonable it seemed to us. About what you would pay in a local diner back home.
Overall it was a great cruise with lots of smooth water, great scenery, and lots of whale sightings. We listened to some more of 'Up Country' by Nelson Demille on tape and went to bed around 10:30.
Monday, August 14
Got up this morning and took advantage of the shower here at the RV park. We can take showers in our camper but it is pretty small and the grey water holding tank fills up really fast when we do so we like to use the showers at the parks when they are available.
We're heading off to explore Prince Rupert this morning and will try to find a wifi hook up to load this up today sometime. It better be here or we may have to wait until Prince George to get one. It is about a 1,000 miles down to Vancouver from here so we will be on the road for the next three days heading that direction.
More later.
Well, found a pub with wifi. What will they think of next? It is about noon so will have lunch looking out at the harbor. We have been walking around Prince Rupert this morning and we're ready for a little energy boost anyway. More on Prince Rupert later.
We messed around the Hi Country RV Park this morning taking care of chores, checking email, dumping tanks, etc. and finally got away around 11:00. The next stop was a gas station to fill up with diesel, $132.48 in Canadian dollars. Gas is really high up here in Canada. Next we got a half gallon of milk and were on our way back northwest toward Haines Junction. This was repeat territory so nothing too spectacular to see. Once we got to Haines Junction though we got onto the Haines Road. The clouds started to break up a little and we saw some sunshine. This is a very pretty drive. It skirts the Kluane National Park (Canadian) and has some great scenery. We have no destination in mind for today.
We found a Yukon campground and pulled into it. It is called the Million Dollar Falls campground. The Milepost magazine says to be extra cautious for bears here. It is a really pretty campground and there is no one here so we decided to spend the night. The sun did come out for a little while, but then around 4:00 it an actual thunderstorm moved in and it poured. It has been raining for the last three hours with no letup in sight at this time. It sure is hard to believe this area we are in is semi-arid with only 10" of moisture a year. I think it has all come while we are here.
Most locals we have talked to have said that this is an exceptionally cool and wet summer. I hear it is exceptionally hot and dry at home. Thus the reasoning would be that if we stay home next summer it will be a cool and wet summer there. We can be bought to stay in Missouri if any of you want a cooler summer next summer.
Carol whipped up some fried rice with pork tonight for supper. It was really very good. It was the last grilled porkchop we had from the other night. We had pear and cottage cheese salad along with it.
It is now 8:00 and we are sitting in the warm, dry camper listening to the rain fall on the roof. We're both in the middle of a couple of good books. We do spend a lot of time reading. Most places we camp are not too conducive to being outdoors a lot, due to the mosquitoes up here, so we do read a lot in the evenings.
Wednesday, August 9
It was still raining when we woke up, but not as cold as it could have been. We had breakfast and broke camp about 8:30. The drive south from here was gorgeous even with the heavy clouds and at one point it actually started to break up and the sun popped out for a few minutes shortly after we hit the British Columbia border. We have about 60 miles of British Columbia to go through before we hit Alaska again. We stopped at the Yukon Welcome signs and took some photos since we didn't have any of the Yukon sign. We spent quite a bit of time and money in the Yukon (considering gas) going and coming so we wanted something to remember it by. We drove a few miles further south stopping frequently at pullouts or side roads and on a couple of occasions I did a little exploring. As we were driving a long we hadn't seen any cabins or houses for a good fifty miles and there was a cabin out in the middle of nowhere so I pulled into the road to the cabin and took two photos of it. A car pulled in right behind us. My first thought was, what a copycat. I could see it was a woman driver and I thought she was going to take a photo of it also. She got out of the car and walked up to me. She said she owned the cabin and we were welcome to pull up and take a look at it. Of course I was blocking her way in, maybe she was just being nice to get me to move but we agreed and I pulled over so she could lead the way. We got to the cabin and chatted with Lis (sounds like lease) for awhile. She invited us in and I took a few photos. She bought the cabin from an native who has a 99 year lease on the property. It was built 50 years ago so she still has 49 years on the lease. It turns out she is a doctor in Whitehorse and she had just come up to supply the place for fall and winter when it gets it's most use. She said she comes up and snowshoes and cross country skis from it. Some of her friends use it as a hunting cabin.
What a fluke that we should be there when she pulls in. It was fun to talk to her. She says it remains unlocked year round so people can seek shelter in it if they need too.
We headed on south and finally got to the US border. We had to go through the US border check again, our second time in a couple of months. The border guard who checked ;us was very friendly. It turns out he is from Nevada, Missouri, and the other agent that was with him is from Nixa, MO. What a small world. We got through with no problem. Maybe we look too honest. Perhaps I should grow a beard or something.
The border check is still about 40 miles from Haines but we started seeing homes and mail boxes right away. We hadn't seen much of those for awhile. We went through an eagle preserve on the way down but didn't see any eagles. When we got to Haines there was a Holland America Cruise ship in port and quite a few people walking around. We explored the city some. I stopped and got prices to take the fast ferry to Skagway, but it would be about $90 for the two of us so I think we will pass on that. We went to the visitor center and were talking to the staff person there and we overheard a lady mention they had seen a lot of bears out by the state campground (Chilkoot Lake) east of town. She also said it was a very pretty campground. They had stayed at an RV park in town. After stopping at the grocery we headed out that way to see about a site. It turned out to be a very pretty campground and only $10 a night. There were several tour buses out there watching eagles. We found the eagles. The salmon are running and they are all out here eating salmon.
We headed back into town. We wanted to stop at the ferry dock and check on our ferry and ask a few questions so we did that since it was on the way to town. Then we decided to eat at a local restaurant the visitor center person had mentioned. It is located in the old Ft. Wm. H. Seward area. The army once had a fort here and the buildings are quite impressive. They are all privately owned today but it was easy to imagine the army occupying this place. That is what all the large white buildings are in some of the photos, old army buildings. By old I mean about 1930s or 40s vintage. All history here in Alaska is relatively current compared to back home. A lot of the museums we go into up here has stuff we used when I was a kid. What does that tell me?
Anyway we went to the Fireweed Restaurant. The service was slow but I had beer and pizza and Carol had a vegetable zita, which is a noodle dish with all vegetables, so we were both happy. We chatted with some of the folks in the restaurant while we waited for our food. After supper we came back out to the campground, watching for bear all the way along the Chilkoot River. Didn't see any so we came back to the camper and spent awhile and then walked up to the mouth of the river where it comes out of the lake. We had to wait almost an hour and a half before we saw anything but finally a bear came out around 9:30 and caught a few salmon. We tried taking some photos but they didn't turn out very well due to the lack of light. They were too blurry. We got back to the camper about 10:00.
Thursday, August 10
I got up early and took the camera out to see if I could see more bear. Being the avid hunter that I am I knew it might take a while so I found a rock to sit on and it had a nice back rest. I almost went to sleep. I had walked down the road quite a ways to a weir (gate) where they count the salmon coming into the river. I did get a few shots of an eagle and a duck family but no bear. I saw some bear scat on the road. That made me think. I thought these bears were all on the other side of the river. I got back to the loop near the campground and there were some guys from Vancouver there. They said they had just seen a couple of grizzlies down by the weir. I said I had just walked back from there and hadn't seen any. They said they were right beside the road, yikes. I got back to the camper and Carol was gone so I went looking for her. Turns out she had been down to the weir also after me and hadn't seen any bear. She was probably closer to being breakfast than I was. Guess we better stick together.
We decided to take the truck down there this time and look for bear. Again we didn't see any, so we went out on the road and headed toward town. We stopped along the beach and had a little breakfast and then headed down toward town again. We went around a bend and there were some cars and a bus stopped there on the beach so we pulled in. There was a sow and a cub walking along the beach, not more than a hundred feet from the road. We kept following them as they went down the beach in our truck getting out to take a few photos now and then. We got some good photos and were within 50 feet of them at one time. What a thrill. We finally lost them when they got to the mouth of the river so we headed back toward town. I stopped and wanted to walk along the beach for a bit. Carol decided to stay in the truck since it was breezy and cold. I had some success beach combing. I found a whole box of salt water flies someone must have dropped overboard. I got back to the truck and we headed into Haines. We walked around the small boat docks. It is fun to see the different boats and really fun to look at the names on the boats. We went downtown again and I picked up some Canadian beer to go with the smoked salmon we planned to have for lunch. Then we went out to the southeast state fair grounds where the set of the movie 'White Fang' is located and browsed there for awhile. The Haines Brewery is located there so I had to buy a little to bring back for lunch. Guess the Canadian beer will have to wait.
We got back to the campground and had smoked peppered salmon with cream cheese and crackers, and I had beer while Carol had Pepsi. I then set up the generator so I could update this blog and download photos from the camera. Carol decided it was a good time for a nap so she is presently sleeping.
The weather here is cloudy but the sun has broken through the clouds briefly yesterday and today for a few minutes at a time. The temperature is not too bad. It is around 60 right now. As I glance out the camper window I see a pretty thick rain forest type setting here. Moss hangs from the trees. The woods are dark and deep and Bobby Frost would say (Robert Frost) for those of you who don't know him that well.
I think Carol has some Hamburger Helper (Lasangua) planned for supper and about 7:00 we will head back up to the river to hunt bears. I just hope they aren't hunting us. I know, it is a rough life.
I've tried to find a wifi setup here in Haines but haven't had any luck. Looks like we'll probably have to wait until we get to Prince Rupert or later before I can find some place to post the blog.
"You sure you like griz, pilgrim?" (From the movie "Jeremiah Johnson)
Bears, bears, bears. We finally saw a bunch this evening. We saw a sow and cub again this evening. They may have been the two we saw this morning. Shortly after that we had a couple of sibling grizzlies come down on the road near the weir and walked into the water and started fishing. It got within about 30 feet of us. I got some great photos. One sibling went back up into the woods when he saw the cars and people but the one I got the best shots of was the brave one. Luckily we fall well below salmon on the grizzly food chain so as long as the griz has a salmon he is happy as long as people don't antagonize them. The one sibling that went back up in the woods was calling to the other one. It was a great show. Of course we had to watch the one in the woods to make sure he didn't get frustrated and charge. It is amazing how easy it is for the bears to catch the salmon. The weir is kind of a fence across the stream and a Alaskan fish and game person sits on the weir and opens a gate and counts the salmon that go through to spawn. The salmon seem to find the gate. The bears have learned that the fish tend to congregate below the weir and that is one of their favorite places to go to catch fish.
It was great being so close to a wild bear in his own habitat. It is also fun to watch the eagles calling as flying around while waiting for the bears. This is a great place. I would enjoy coming back here in a few years and doing a little salmon fishing. This is a beautiful area.
We played Scrabble before we went to bed and Carol beat me :-(.
Friday, August 11
We got up and had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast and then headed out to walk the road and watch for more bears. We didn't see any bears but we did enjoy the walk. We had to check out of the campground by 11:00 so we packed up and moved out. As we were leaving a man from Quebec asked me if I could help him register for a site. I walked him through it an even took him down and helped him fill out the registration. I don't think he was comfortable with English. Carol accused me of practicing my camp hosting skills.
We have been seeing a lot of a blonde in a super expensive truck camper called an Earth Roamer. This truck camper probably runs in the 6 digit range. We saw her in town and then out at the campground also. She must be rich. She is traveling all by herself. I wonder if she is a movie star. Carol accuses me of having too much interest in her. Actually I'm just fascinated by the truck camper. Later in the day she was at the service station where we emptied our holding tanks and filled with fresh water and fuel. I went over and asked her if I could take a few photos of her camper. She said sure. I was hoping she would show me the inside, but no such offer was forthcoming. She is from New Mexico. She said the campers are made in Colorado.
After we left the campsite we ran into town where we found some postcards and a paperdoll book for Annabelle and got them in the mail, then we went and dumped tanks, got fuel, and of course I got the photos of the Earthroamer. We stopped along the beach and ate lunch about 2:00, and then drove on back out to the campground road again to watch for more bear. We messed around out there for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. We found a place to pull off the road beside the river so we could watch for bear and cooked some hamburgers for supper.
We did see a few bears this evening but they were so far away we didn't take any photos. Got some good photos of eagles though, including some of two eagles on the same rock. What fun. We stayed here until past 8;30 and then drove into the ferry staging area and checked in. We're getting good at this ferry thing. We parked in the staging line we were assigned and then we packed our bags for the ferry. We still had a little time before loading so we played another game of Scrabble. I won this time :-). We can't access our truck and camper except when we are in a port. We had signed up for a cabin so we were anxious to see what it was like. Of course it was dark when we got on the ferry so we got our cabin and wen in to hit the sack. We got to bed around12:30. The room is nice with a bathroom and shower and bunk beds. I got the top bunk, and we didn't even have to flip a coin for it. I think our cabin is pretty close to the engines. The bed feels like it is vibrating and rocking at the same time. All of this and I don't even have to put any quarters in it.
Saturday, August 12
I got up early this morning when we arrived at port in Juneau, about 5:30. I had to go down to the camper and get my toothbrush which I had forgotten, and then I went up on the solarium deck to see what I could see of Juneau. After that I went back and laid down again until 7:00. I wanted to get some photos of the area around Juneau as we departed port around 7:30. By the time I got back to the cabin Carol was up and had showered and we were ready to head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Carol had a muffin and orange and I had hotcakes and sausage. Right after breakfast we went back up on the solarium deck and saw a couple of whales breeching not too far from the boat. At 9;30 we went to a presentation by a forest ranger who rides the ferry. The Alaskan Marine Highway has an agreement with the forest service to provide a forest ranger on each boat and they do presentations throughout the cruise and help watch and identify wildlife for the passengers. We docked at Hoonah, Alaska and we got off the ferry for a few minutes to walk into town. We only had about 45 minutes but we got part way in before we had to turn around.
We're sitting up in the forward observation area which is a large glassed in room at the front of the ship with lots of seats. Everyone is watching for whales and porpoise which we see pretty frequently now. This is really a nice way to travel. Like I told Carol, the ship is not so large as a cruise ship where you kind of get lost but it is not so small as to rock and roll and make you seasick. It is just right and they are extremely comfortable. This is the way to travel.
A little more about this ferry ride. We left Haines, Alaska at about midnight on August 11 (actually 12:15 on the 12th but who's keeping track. We arrived in Juneau at around 5:00 in the morning. We stayed here until around 8:00 a.m. and then left for Hoonah and arrived there at 11:00 a.m. and departed at 12:00 noon. Our next stop is at Kake, AK. We arrive there at 7:30 p. m. and leave at 8:15. The next port is Petersburg at 12:15 a.m. on August 13 and depart there at 1:00. Then Wrangell, arriving at 4:00 a.m. and departing at 4:45. We get to Ketchikan, AK at 10:45 a.m. on the 13th and depart at 11:45. Our destination and final port is Prince Rupert, British Columbia arriving at 7:00 p.m.
Thus we spend almost two days on the ferry. I think it is well worth it because it saves me about 4 days and 1,000 miles of driving. Besides that we get to eat in the cafeteria. I would still take a ferry from Prince Rupert south to Vancouver Island if I could but it is just too hard to get on that ferry. When we get to Prince Rupert we will have about another 1,000 miles to go before we get to Vancouver city and can catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island. This will probably be around the 17th or 18th of August.
Going down the inside passage is more like going down a large lake. It is pretty protected and you can always see land on both sides of you. The ride is smooth and not rough like you would think an ocean cruise would be. I had often heard how cloudy the panhandle of Alaska was due to the fact it is really a rain forest. I thought that would be somewhat depressing, but just the opposite. The clouds cover the mountains like syrup in places and other places it looks like cotton candy gracefully laid over them. It is really very lovely and adds a unique dimension to the scenery. Even though it is cloudy it really rains here very lightly and most of the times not at all. Rain is very spotty.
When Carol and I walked into Hoonah earlier we got very hot. There was no breeze and it must be 60 degrees. I think we might have some difficulty contending with the hot, hot temperatures back in the lower 48 when we get there. Gee, you'd think we were never happy.
One of the presentations by the rangers this evening was on the Wrangell narrows. They said it it got as narrow as 300 feet from shore to shore and was only 26 feet deep at high tide. Our ship draws 17 feet and needs another 5 feet for steering so this is a minimum for the ferry and must be taken at high tide. Unfortunately we are going to go through it at 1:00 in the morning so it will be dark and Carol and I will most likely not get up to see it.
Sunday, August 13
We didn't get up to see the narrows. Probably just as well, from those who did they said it was had to see because of the darkness outside and the light inside and there was also a hard rain.
We had breakfast in the cafeteria, bacon and eggs with toast and then headed to the observation deck again. We spent much of the day on the observation deck watching the scenery and reading. We struck up conversations with some folks, notably an fellow from New Zealand, and a lady from Utah. The man from New Zealand was a stay at home dad and he and his wife had a 2 year old son named Benjamin. Everybody on the boat knew Benjamin at the end of the two day trip. He was interesting and told us a lot about New Zealand and Australia, especially economic issues, taxation, health care, etc. The lady from Utah had lost her husband last winter and was traveling with friends. She was very nice and was really enjoying her trip. She and her husband had been ranchers so she was a pretty tough lady.
The most notable stop today was Ketchikan. It is a very busy harbor with lots of ships, tugs, seaplanes, ferries, and fishing boats all using it. The cruise ships come into a dock a little farther south since they are so big. It looks like it would be a fun place to visit sometime.
The fog started to really get thick as we came into Prince Rupert this evening. As we drove off the ferry it was raining. We had to drive through customs and again we had no problems. It was about 8:00 when we got through customs so we stopped at the first RV park we came to. It was kind of pricey but it is the only one in town and I wanted to see some of Prince Rupert in the daylight. It is getting dark around 9:00 now since we are farther south. We pulled the front spare out of the camper in the rain and got inside and turned on the heater. We snacked for supper since we had had a little snack at mid afternoon on the ship. I had a small pizza and Carol had pasta salad on the ship. The food prices on the ferry are very reasonable it seemed to us. About what you would pay in a local diner back home.
Overall it was a great cruise with lots of smooth water, great scenery, and lots of whale sightings. We listened to some more of 'Up Country' by Nelson Demille on tape and went to bed around 10:30.
Monday, August 14
Got up this morning and took advantage of the shower here at the RV park. We can take showers in our camper but it is pretty small and the grey water holding tank fills up really fast when we do so we like to use the showers at the parks when they are available.
We're heading off to explore Prince Rupert this morning and will try to find a wifi hook up to load this up today sometime. It better be here or we may have to wait until Prince George to get one. It is about a 1,000 miles down to Vancouver from here so we will be on the road for the next three days heading that direction.
More later.
Well, found a pub with wifi. What will they think of next? It is about noon so will have lunch looking out at the harbor. We have been walking around Prince Rupert this morning and we're ready for a little energy boost anyway. More on Prince Rupert later.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Monday, August 7
Well, we had a great supper last night. I grilled some pork chops on the charcoal grill. They were thick and delicious. I still ended up doing dishes though. I haven't figured that one out yet. Carol made salad and I guess that is more work than grilling, although I had to contend with the light rain and cold temps.
Speaking of cold temps. It was 34 here this morning. That is a bit ridiculous for August in our opinion. Carol says you shouldn't have to wear a coat on vacation. We are both ready for some warmer weather now and figure we should see some when we hit Prince Rupert the end of this week.
We didn't really do much today. Just hit a couple of museums and went to Walmart. Yes, even Whitehorse, Yukon Territory has a Wally World.
Other than that we are just trying to stay warm.
Tacos are planned for supper. I guess we'll have more fish when we get to Haines in a couple of days. Carol said she wants to go to a Salmon Bake down there. I would prefer a pizza parlor. Oh well.
Speaking of cold temps. It was 34 here this morning. That is a bit ridiculous for August in our opinion. Carol says you shouldn't have to wear a coat on vacation. We are both ready for some warmer weather now and figure we should see some when we hit Prince Rupert the end of this week.
We didn't really do much today. Just hit a couple of museums and went to Walmart. Yes, even Whitehorse, Yukon Territory has a Wally World.
Other than that we are just trying to stay warm.
Tacos are planned for supper. I guess we'll have more fish when we get to Haines in a couple of days. Carol said she wants to go to a Salmon Bake down there. I would prefer a pizza parlor. Oh well.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
August 1 through August 6
Tuesday, August 1
We took our time leaving the Bear Paw RV Park this morning because we did our laundry. We don't often stay at RV parks so when we do we take advantage of them. We finally got that done and got away at check out time, 11:00. We went to the Post Office first to pick up our mail that Barb had forwarded to us here at Valdez. From there we went to the library so I could load up my blog and check email. Well, I couldn't get on there for some reason. Other people were using it okay. I had tried to get onto the wifi at the RV park but hadn't been able to get on there either. The librarian told me about a guy that worked on computers down the street a little ways so I took it down there. He was in but didn't know what the problem was. He said to try his network so I did and got on fine. I'm not sure what my problem has been. It may have something to do with the other networks I have been trying to get on and my firewall. Anyway I finally got that done and got back to the library. Carol was not too happy because I hadn't been able to find her and let her know what I was doing with the computer when I left the library. The librarian knew we had come in together and had not told her where I had gone. I had left the truck parked at the library so I figured she would know I hadn't gone very far. When I got back she said she thought I had gone and left her after 39 years of marriage and left her the truck. I told her I wouldn't have left the truck if that were the case. We next went to the Valdez museum and it was really a well done little museum. It also had a quilt exhibit which Carol liked.
When we came out of the museum they were working on the road we needed to take to the grocery store so we took an alleyway. Unfortunately I forgot about the height of the camper and ran into a roof overhang. I didn't hurt the overhang but I put a couple of sizeable cuts in my rubber roof on the camper. We went to a couple of places in town and checked to see if anyone worked on RVs but no such luck so I got some silicone caulk and duct tape to repair it myself when we got to a campsite. There's nothing duct tape won't fix.
We finally got the the grocery and stocked up on supplies and headed on out of town north. This is one of the prettiest drives we have seen here in Alaska. It was rainy and cloudy on the south side of the Chugach range. We came up over the range and saw numerous glaciers and the clouds disappeared on the north side of the range. We only got about 50 miles out of Valdez before we came to little creek and a road that turned off down the creek. We followed that and found a place to park for the night.
I got up on the roof and began my repairs. I just got the silicone on tonight. I want it to dry some and cure before I put the duck tape on. The duct tape is white the same color as the roof so it won't be obvious like gray or silver duct tape. By the time I got all that done Carol had some sloppy joe sandwiches ready for supper so a couple of beers and the sloppy joe tasted pretty good. We read for awhile and got be bed around 10:00.
Wednesday, August 2
After we got up and around this morning I whipped up some pancakes. They tasted pretty good if I do say so myself. We have an arrangement regarding meals. Whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes. Well, needless to say I do a lot of dishes. This morning however it was Carol doing the dishes so I walked up the road a ways to explore the river upstream. I found a spot where someone had built a sweatlodge. I saw plenty of animal tracks but no animals. Guess I'm too noisy. We got a late start again this morning. We just kind of piddled. We got on the road around 10:30. We finally got to the Chitna/McCarthy road and headed east on this. This road is 30 miles of pavement to Chitna and then it is 60 miles of gravel to McCarthy. Carol had read the description in the Milepost last night and was really worried about taking it. When we got to Chitna we pulled into a spot and ate lunch in the camper and then went to a couple of the shops in town. We asked about the road and everyone said it wasn't bad. This road is the reason I brought two spare tires. Anyway, I talked Carol into trying it and if she didn't like it we would turn around. Well, they have been working on it. The first 30 miles of gravel are not too bad. I was limited to about 20-25 mph, but the road is okay. About 17 miles in is an old single lane railroad bridge that now is used for cars. That was fun. Luckily it had side rails or Carol would have made me turn around there. We got down the road a little further and there was an old wooden railroad bridge that is not used anymore. I thought of my brother Mike at both of these. This is an old railroad grade so I also kept watching for railroad spikes along the road but didn't see any. Sorry Mike.
We got here to McCarthy about 5:30. It took us better than 3 hours to drive the 60 miles of gravel. We found a lot to park at for $5 and set up camp. We used the left over sloppy joe for spagetti sauce and that was our supper along with salad and bread. Hey, it was pretty darn good. Tasted like Chili-mac from Steak and Shake.
After supper we walked across the foot bridge toward McCarthy. We never did make it that far but we had a good walk. We took some photos of the Kennecott mine which is 5 miles back and the Kennecott Glacier which is 25 miles away.
When we got back to the camper Carol wanted some popcorn so I pulled out the generator and we ran it for a few minutes to pop corn in the microwave and then read for awhile.
Thursday, August 3
We had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast this morning. After I did dishes, yep Carol cooked, we headed across the foot bridge to catch a shuttle to the mine. Guess I better explain. We are currently as far as most private motor vehicles are allowed. This is the end of the road. There is quite a bit of private property interspersed with this park due to the fact that it was only established in 1980. The national park is the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park. The park service didn't buy any of the Kennecott mine land until 1998 and now they own about 2/3 of the mine buildings, etc. There are still people who own property in McCarthy right across the footbridge and some that own property in Kennecott including a Lodge where we ate lunch. This is the largest national park in the system, but very little of it is accessible except by plane. We are at one of only two points that are accessible by car. I must say it is lovely. The mountains and glaciers are a site to behold. We caught a van to the mine for $5 each and got there around 10:00. We meet a full-timing couple on the van who was staying in Mc Carthy. They had flown in and left their truck and fifthwheel in Chitna due to the fact that they didn't want to take it on 'the road'. That was probably a wise move. The road would be pretty bumpy for a trailer. We chatted with them about our travels and theirs. They gave us some good advice on what to do at the mine. There is a movie they wanted to watch at 10:45 and then there is a nature walk with a ranger at 1:15 and a history walk with another ranger at 3:45 so we took advantage of all of them.
The rangers that give the talks are mother and daughter and have lived in this area for a few years. The mother and her husband do go south to Washington in the summer, but the daughter lives here year round. I do admire people like that but I couldn't do it.
As I mentioned we had lunch at the Kennecott Lodge and it was delicious. It was a glorious sunny day and we had a great time. We got a van ride back about 5:30 and I still haven't had any supper. It is about 8:15 now so will be getting a sandwich in a little while. No dishes tonight.
The Kennecott mine was established in 1906 by a group which included the some rich industrialists including J.P. Morgan. Cooper was discovered here in 1900 and it took them that long to get things capitalized and rolling. The first chore was to build a railroad from the port of Cordova to the mine site. This was completed in 1911. The first train load of copper out of here was valued a a quarter of a million dollars. I am amazed at what this must have cost. But supposedly the vein was so rich and pure that Kennecott made $100 million dollars in profit on it. It closed in 1938 and was abandoned. For many years it was just a place for locals and few toursts to stop and visit but it was very hard to reach so it didn't get much traffic. Kennecott became worried about liability with the mine and sold it to the Alaskan government and some private parties and finally, as mentioned it was named a national historic site in 1980 and the park service started getting involved in the 1990s. This is well worth a visit despite 'the road' and I would recommend it.
Friday, August 4
We left McCarthy (end of the road) at 8:00. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes this time, but we didn't get stopped for highway construction this trip, to go the 60 miles to Chitna. Not much happened today. It was mainly a driving day. When we got back out to the Richardson Highway we headed north through Cooper Center where we got an ice cream cone and then headed on up through Glenallen and up to the Tok Cutoff. We got within 20 miles of Tok and there was road construction the rest of the way into Tok so we decided to stay at the Eagle Trail Campground (an Alaskan recreation area campground). We figured there wouldn't be any good boondocking places between here and Tok and we wanted to get groceries in Tok so we thought this might be our last option other than an private park in Tok which are like parking lots and expensive. The Tok Cutoff was a little rough but they are doing a lot of work on it to get it in shape
After the rough road into McCarthy we noticed that the tiedown holder on the camper on the front passenger side was pulling out a little. This was a poor design on Alpenlite's part it seems to me since it is located in the gas tank compartment and there is no wall to hold it. It is hard to explain but it is obviously a weak spot. I can fix it when I get home and have a few days to tear it apart but I'm just hoping it will hold until we get home. I think it will. I patched it up with caulk and duct tape. It's hard to beat that combination for repairs.
We found enough wood for a campfire tonight but after we got it going some sort of little knat like bugs drove us crazy so we had to go inside. We had chili for supper.
Saturday, August 5
We headed into Tok after breakfast this morning and stopped at the visitor center to find out where the ATMs were located in town. The lady at the desk said there was one at the gift shop across the street and one at the grocery store, 'If there is money in them', she said. Since we were getting groceries anyway we went to the grocery store. Guess what, no money, so I had to go back to the gift shop. We had also called Had and Barb to check on the mail situation and Barb mentioned we had a trash bill that was probably due by the 31st of August since they had just gotten theirs and they have the same trash service so she checked on how much it was and gave me their address and I put a check in the mail to them for the last quarter of the year. The water and trash were the only things I couldn't take care of by computer. We didn't ask Barb to forward mail because we would leave Haines Alaska before it could get there and won't be back in the US (Washington state) for about 3 weeks.
We finally got some cash and groceries and filled the gas tank and then headed on down the Alaskan Highway southeast toward Whitehorse. We went back through Canadian customs about 3:00. The lady that checked us seemed pretty bored with her job and just asked us if we had any firearms. I said no and then she asked if we had any liquor. I said yes, but less than an quart of bourbon. She said she didn't know what a quart was and I said, 'Oh okay, less than a litter than.' She said okay and said have a nice trip. We proceeded on. It is pretty easy to cross the border back and forth between Canada and the US so far. Don't know what will happen farther south. Our plans are to go to Whitehorse and see that and then double back to Haines Junction and down to Haines. We will catch the Alaskan Ferry at Haines on August 11 and it will take us south to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
As we headed southeast the clouds and rain set in and it started to rain pretty good. We drove until we were almost to Burwash Landing and I found a section of the old Alaskan Highway and turned off and drove a ways down this deserted section and found a level place to park for the night. We drove about 200 miles over the toughest road today. I had a difficult time watching for frost heaves. We wanted to be careful due to the tiedown bracket. If you hit one of these frost heaves too fast it will send everything about a foot into the air and it really puts pressure on the tiedowns.
We had brats and sauerkraut for supper. It rained all night just a regular steady rain. I was very pleased that my patch job on the roof did not leak. Got to love that silicone caulk and duct tape. Since we were out in the boonies by ourselves we thought we might see a bear tonight but didn't.
Sunday, August 6
Pulled out of our campsite this morning after breakfast while it was still raining lightly. The first place we stopped was Burwash Landing to get our Yukon passport book stamped and then headed on toward Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We pulled into Whitehorse about 1:00. Wow, it is much bigger than I thought. I figured it would be like Dawson City but it is really a fairly large town with a population of 22,000. We found an RV Park (Hi Country) that has showers, electric, and wifi, so I am typing this up now so I can get this loaded on the blog. We will probably just relax this afternoon and stay here another night and see what we can see in Whitehorse. We get a little lazy when we get all these creature comforts :-).
We took our time leaving the Bear Paw RV Park this morning because we did our laundry. We don't often stay at RV parks so when we do we take advantage of them. We finally got that done and got away at check out time, 11:00. We went to the Post Office first to pick up our mail that Barb had forwarded to us here at Valdez. From there we went to the library so I could load up my blog and check email. Well, I couldn't get on there for some reason. Other people were using it okay. I had tried to get onto the wifi at the RV park but hadn't been able to get on there either. The librarian told me about a guy that worked on computers down the street a little ways so I took it down there. He was in but didn't know what the problem was. He said to try his network so I did and got on fine. I'm not sure what my problem has been. It may have something to do with the other networks I have been trying to get on and my firewall. Anyway I finally got that done and got back to the library. Carol was not too happy because I hadn't been able to find her and let her know what I was doing with the computer when I left the library. The librarian knew we had come in together and had not told her where I had gone. I had left the truck parked at the library so I figured she would know I hadn't gone very far. When I got back she said she thought I had gone and left her after 39 years of marriage and left her the truck. I told her I wouldn't have left the truck if that were the case. We next went to the Valdez museum and it was really a well done little museum. It also had a quilt exhibit which Carol liked.
When we came out of the museum they were working on the road we needed to take to the grocery store so we took an alleyway. Unfortunately I forgot about the height of the camper and ran into a roof overhang. I didn't hurt the overhang but I put a couple of sizeable cuts in my rubber roof on the camper. We went to a couple of places in town and checked to see if anyone worked on RVs but no such luck so I got some silicone caulk and duct tape to repair it myself when we got to a campsite. There's nothing duct tape won't fix.
We finally got the the grocery and stocked up on supplies and headed on out of town north. This is one of the prettiest drives we have seen here in Alaska. It was rainy and cloudy on the south side of the Chugach range. We came up over the range and saw numerous glaciers and the clouds disappeared on the north side of the range. We only got about 50 miles out of Valdez before we came to little creek and a road that turned off down the creek. We followed that and found a place to park for the night.
I got up on the roof and began my repairs. I just got the silicone on tonight. I want it to dry some and cure before I put the duck tape on. The duct tape is white the same color as the roof so it won't be obvious like gray or silver duct tape. By the time I got all that done Carol had some sloppy joe sandwiches ready for supper so a couple of beers and the sloppy joe tasted pretty good. We read for awhile and got be bed around 10:00.
Wednesday, August 2
After we got up and around this morning I whipped up some pancakes. They tasted pretty good if I do say so myself. We have an arrangement regarding meals. Whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes. Well, needless to say I do a lot of dishes. This morning however it was Carol doing the dishes so I walked up the road a ways to explore the river upstream. I found a spot where someone had built a sweatlodge. I saw plenty of animal tracks but no animals. Guess I'm too noisy. We got a late start again this morning. We just kind of piddled. We got on the road around 10:30. We finally got to the Chitna/McCarthy road and headed east on this. This road is 30 miles of pavement to Chitna and then it is 60 miles of gravel to McCarthy. Carol had read the description in the Milepost last night and was really worried about taking it. When we got to Chitna we pulled into a spot and ate lunch in the camper and then went to a couple of the shops in town. We asked about the road and everyone said it wasn't bad. This road is the reason I brought two spare tires. Anyway, I talked Carol into trying it and if she didn't like it we would turn around. Well, they have been working on it. The first 30 miles of gravel are not too bad. I was limited to about 20-25 mph, but the road is okay. About 17 miles in is an old single lane railroad bridge that now is used for cars. That was fun. Luckily it had side rails or Carol would have made me turn around there. We got down the road a little further and there was an old wooden railroad bridge that is not used anymore. I thought of my brother Mike at both of these. This is an old railroad grade so I also kept watching for railroad spikes along the road but didn't see any. Sorry Mike.
We got here to McCarthy about 5:30. It took us better than 3 hours to drive the 60 miles of gravel. We found a lot to park at for $5 and set up camp. We used the left over sloppy joe for spagetti sauce and that was our supper along with salad and bread. Hey, it was pretty darn good. Tasted like Chili-mac from Steak and Shake.
After supper we walked across the foot bridge toward McCarthy. We never did make it that far but we had a good walk. We took some photos of the Kennecott mine which is 5 miles back and the Kennecott Glacier which is 25 miles away.
When we got back to the camper Carol wanted some popcorn so I pulled out the generator and we ran it for a few minutes to pop corn in the microwave and then read for awhile.
Thursday, August 3
We had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast this morning. After I did dishes, yep Carol cooked, we headed across the foot bridge to catch a shuttle to the mine. Guess I better explain. We are currently as far as most private motor vehicles are allowed. This is the end of the road. There is quite a bit of private property interspersed with this park due to the fact that it was only established in 1980. The national park is the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park. The park service didn't buy any of the Kennecott mine land until 1998 and now they own about 2/3 of the mine buildings, etc. There are still people who own property in McCarthy right across the footbridge and some that own property in Kennecott including a Lodge where we ate lunch. This is the largest national park in the system, but very little of it is accessible except by plane. We are at one of only two points that are accessible by car. I must say it is lovely. The mountains and glaciers are a site to behold. We caught a van to the mine for $5 each and got there around 10:00. We meet a full-timing couple on the van who was staying in Mc Carthy. They had flown in and left their truck and fifthwheel in Chitna due to the fact that they didn't want to take it on 'the road'. That was probably a wise move. The road would be pretty bumpy for a trailer. We chatted with them about our travels and theirs. They gave us some good advice on what to do at the mine. There is a movie they wanted to watch at 10:45 and then there is a nature walk with a ranger at 1:15 and a history walk with another ranger at 3:45 so we took advantage of all of them.
The rangers that give the talks are mother and daughter and have lived in this area for a few years. The mother and her husband do go south to Washington in the summer, but the daughter lives here year round. I do admire people like that but I couldn't do it.
As I mentioned we had lunch at the Kennecott Lodge and it was delicious. It was a glorious sunny day and we had a great time. We got a van ride back about 5:30 and I still haven't had any supper. It is about 8:15 now so will be getting a sandwich in a little while. No dishes tonight.
The Kennecott mine was established in 1906 by a group which included the some rich industrialists including J.P. Morgan. Cooper was discovered here in 1900 and it took them that long to get things capitalized and rolling. The first chore was to build a railroad from the port of Cordova to the mine site. This was completed in 1911. The first train load of copper out of here was valued a a quarter of a million dollars. I am amazed at what this must have cost. But supposedly the vein was so rich and pure that Kennecott made $100 million dollars in profit on it. It closed in 1938 and was abandoned. For many years it was just a place for locals and few toursts to stop and visit but it was very hard to reach so it didn't get much traffic. Kennecott became worried about liability with the mine and sold it to the Alaskan government and some private parties and finally, as mentioned it was named a national historic site in 1980 and the park service started getting involved in the 1990s. This is well worth a visit despite 'the road' and I would recommend it.
Friday, August 4
We left McCarthy (end of the road) at 8:00. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes this time, but we didn't get stopped for highway construction this trip, to go the 60 miles to Chitna. Not much happened today. It was mainly a driving day. When we got back out to the Richardson Highway we headed north through Cooper Center where we got an ice cream cone and then headed on up through Glenallen and up to the Tok Cutoff. We got within 20 miles of Tok and there was road construction the rest of the way into Tok so we decided to stay at the Eagle Trail Campground (an Alaskan recreation area campground). We figured there wouldn't be any good boondocking places between here and Tok and we wanted to get groceries in Tok so we thought this might be our last option other than an private park in Tok which are like parking lots and expensive. The Tok Cutoff was a little rough but they are doing a lot of work on it to get it in shape
After the rough road into McCarthy we noticed that the tiedown holder on the camper on the front passenger side was pulling out a little. This was a poor design on Alpenlite's part it seems to me since it is located in the gas tank compartment and there is no wall to hold it. It is hard to explain but it is obviously a weak spot. I can fix it when I get home and have a few days to tear it apart but I'm just hoping it will hold until we get home. I think it will. I patched it up with caulk and duct tape. It's hard to beat that combination for repairs.
We found enough wood for a campfire tonight but after we got it going some sort of little knat like bugs drove us crazy so we had to go inside. We had chili for supper.
Saturday, August 5
We headed into Tok after breakfast this morning and stopped at the visitor center to find out where the ATMs were located in town. The lady at the desk said there was one at the gift shop across the street and one at the grocery store, 'If there is money in them', she said. Since we were getting groceries anyway we went to the grocery store. Guess what, no money, so I had to go back to the gift shop. We had also called Had and Barb to check on the mail situation and Barb mentioned we had a trash bill that was probably due by the 31st of August since they had just gotten theirs and they have the same trash service so she checked on how much it was and gave me their address and I put a check in the mail to them for the last quarter of the year. The water and trash were the only things I couldn't take care of by computer. We didn't ask Barb to forward mail because we would leave Haines Alaska before it could get there and won't be back in the US (Washington state) for about 3 weeks.
We finally got some cash and groceries and filled the gas tank and then headed on down the Alaskan Highway southeast toward Whitehorse. We went back through Canadian customs about 3:00. The lady that checked us seemed pretty bored with her job and just asked us if we had any firearms. I said no and then she asked if we had any liquor. I said yes, but less than an quart of bourbon. She said she didn't know what a quart was and I said, 'Oh okay, less than a litter than.' She said okay and said have a nice trip. We proceeded on. It is pretty easy to cross the border back and forth between Canada and the US so far. Don't know what will happen farther south. Our plans are to go to Whitehorse and see that and then double back to Haines Junction and down to Haines. We will catch the Alaskan Ferry at Haines on August 11 and it will take us south to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
As we headed southeast the clouds and rain set in and it started to rain pretty good. We drove until we were almost to Burwash Landing and I found a section of the old Alaskan Highway and turned off and drove a ways down this deserted section and found a level place to park for the night. We drove about 200 miles over the toughest road today. I had a difficult time watching for frost heaves. We wanted to be careful due to the tiedown bracket. If you hit one of these frost heaves too fast it will send everything about a foot into the air and it really puts pressure on the tiedowns.
We had brats and sauerkraut for supper. It rained all night just a regular steady rain. I was very pleased that my patch job on the roof did not leak. Got to love that silicone caulk and duct tape. Since we were out in the boonies by ourselves we thought we might see a bear tonight but didn't.
Sunday, August 6
Pulled out of our campsite this morning after breakfast while it was still raining lightly. The first place we stopped was Burwash Landing to get our Yukon passport book stamped and then headed on toward Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We pulled into Whitehorse about 1:00. Wow, it is much bigger than I thought. I figured it would be like Dawson City but it is really a fairly large town with a population of 22,000. We found an RV Park (Hi Country) that has showers, electric, and wifi, so I am typing this up now so I can get this loaded on the blog. We will probably just relax this afternoon and stay here another night and see what we can see in Whitehorse. We get a little lazy when we get all these creature comforts :-).
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
July 24 thru July 31
Monday, July 24
Today is chore day. Carol did laundry this morning while I updated the blog, paid bills, and updated my computer files. The auto pay system we set up before we left for our accounts is pretty convenient. The only thing I have to do is remember to put the payments into my Quicken bookkeeping system each month. I only have two accounts that I use the internet to pay the bills manually, those are my credit card and gas credit card bills. I can check those on line and then log onto my banking site and set a payment date to coincide when the bills are due. It makes everything very simple. So far this trip everything has gone like clockwork. I was a little concerned since my old pay system would stop and the retirement pay system would kick in. Actually the retirement pay system doesn't kick in until the end of July so I will soon see if that works.
After I paid bills and checked email I went to the Kansas City Star web site and saw that the Chiefs have signed Ty Law. That gives them some strength at the cornerback position and should help their defense. Hope they can do something this season, especially beat Denver. Denver is getting to be the only real threat in the western conference. Besides that I hate it when they lose to Denver and I have to listen to Buddy and Shelby's comments. Buddy is our friend that lives in Stockton, for those of you who don't know, and he is a big Bronco fan.
After catching up on all these chores we had to do some shopping. It does seem like we are always shopping for groceries. The reason for that is that our storage is so limited and our refrigerator is pretty small. We really have virtually no freezer space. That is one of the costs of being so small and maneuverable. That's okay, I'll take maneuverable. You should have seen the hill we had to climb the other night when we stayed at the creekside off of the Telkeetna spur. Carol was holding on.
Anyway, we also had to get some perscriptions filled. I had made sure I had some written perscriptions before we left home. I took them into Walmart in Anchorage and they filled them no problem. They also accepted our state perscription carrier (Express Scripts) for payment so we are all set. Now we're on the Walmart computers and will be able to fill them anywhere.
We stopped by Sams to pick up a few things. When we paid Carol took off with the box of goods while if fumbled with change and the receipt. When we got to the exit I gave the ticket to an older black lady who checked it with what we had, which is normal for Sam's. When she handed the ticket back to me she said, "Do you need some help with that receipt? I could carry it out to the car for you." Obviously she put me in my place. Being as astute as I am I quickly realized Carol was holding the box of goods and took them from her. We all got a good laugh from that.
We finally got back to the campground around 5:00 and cooked supper and then went over to John and Eileens site to chat about the Kenai and what they had seen down there. They told us about a number of places and we took notes so we wouldn't forget. We shared our experiences in Denali with them. Got back to the camper about 10:00 and read for awhile before going to bed.
Tuesday, July 25
Slept a little late this morning. I think we got up around 9:30. It isn't easy to sleep that late, but we work at it. What worries me is that 9:30 here is 12:30 at home. Don't know what kind of schedule we will be on when we get home. I'm sure we won't sleep that late. When we are home Carol thinks up a million and one chores to do and she drags me out of bed around 7:00 to get an early start. Now you know why I like to travel.
We each took advantage of the showers here one more time before packing up. We finally got away from the campsite around 11:00. We had one more stop to make at the store to pick up a couple of items we had forgotten yesterday. Carol also wanted me to stop at REI and see about exchanging my daypack that bleeds red onto my shirts and the water bladder that I got with it because it sprang a leak. This is the pack I took when Bob McCoy and I hiked the Grand Canyon last year. It was a comfortable fit but the red color on it was bad on clothes.
When we got to the REI parking lot there was a younger guy there with a truck and big Lance truck camper. He came over to us and asked where in Missouri we were from. We told him and he said he grew up in the Odessa area. He seems to be quite an entrepreneur. He has some land and a condo here in Alaska, which is his legal residence now, and some land at the Lake of the Ozarks. He and his wife live in the truck camper and rent out the condo. It was a huge camper. He carries it on a Ford one ton dually. He gave us some pointers on some places to stay in Whittler and Seward area. His wife is a traveling nurse so she gets work anywhere they go and he works for a private security firm as they need him. He also has a website I need to check out. It is www.beeneverywhere.com.
We got into REI and they took the pack and water bladder back no questions asked even though they were a couple of years old. Gave me a store credit for the original amount I spent on these items. We went to look at packs and I ended up getting a larger daypack that could actually double as a small backpack. It would be perfect for Carol to carry if we go backpacking some time. We won't go up here because I didn't bring my tent or backpack but we might try a little of the Appalachian Trail next summer, if I can talk Carol into it.
We finally got away from Anchorage about 12:30 and headed around the Turnagain Arm to the Kenai Peninsula. It had been threatening rain all morning an finally got going good as we headed south. We stopped at a trailhead for a bite of lunch and then headed on. Our goal for today is to get to Hope, Alaska and possibly stay at the forest service campground at the end of the Hope spur. We got to Hope around mid afternoon and it was windy and cold but the rain had let up. There were a bunch of fishermen there at the mouth of Resurrection Creek fishing for salmon. We went down to watch and ask questions. There was a lady down there who wanted to give away a salmon so we took it. Since we didn't have a fishing license we asked her to give us a note that said she had given us the fish. She did, her name is Wendy Smith. Carol cleaned it there in the creek while I supervised. We put it in the sink of the camper until we could get to the campground and cut it up into cookable pieces. We went up to the campground and found a site, but it wasn't along the arm like we had hoped we would get, but it was so cold we didn't care. We just wanted to warm up.
Needless to say, we had salmon for supper. I'm not a big fish person. I much prefer meat to fish, but I do eat it. Carol loves fish so she does most of the prep work.
Wednesday, July 26
We got up and had pancakes for breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny day. I decided to work on updating the blog while Carol walked the loop at the campground. She came back shortly and said that a site on the arm was open so we moved down there. It was a beautiful site with a great view of the water. It was also at the trail head of the Gull Rock trail so we decided we would walk the trail.
We packed up my new daypack and headed out. We only walked in about 2 to 2.5 miles and found a good view point of the arm and stopped to eat lunch. I took a power nap as Dave Bryan calls them, about half an hour of resting my eyes. Carol finally got restless and wanted to start back. Now I know how Dave feels. I suggested she wear the pack back to see how it was to wear. She thought that was a good idea. I just hoped we didn't run into the little old black lady from Sam's on the trail. We got back to the campsite and got some firewood for a campfire this evening, and then just set and read and looked across the arm some, and watched the tide go out and then come back in. It was a great sunny warm day for being outside.
We had more salmon for supper. I grilled some brats along with the salmon, so I had something good to eat. After supper we got the campfire going and sat and enjoyed that. We finally went in to bed around 10:00.
Thursday, July 27
We pulled out of our campsite this morning after breakfast and only about a mile down the road we cross the bridge over the Resurrection River. Downstream we could see the fishermen fishing. I glanced upstream and saw a big grizzly crossing the stream. We parked the truck and came back up to the bridge but didn't see the grizzly again. There was a guy fishing right below the bridge he offered us a fish but I told Carol I really didn't want anymore fish. He had caught about 45 pink salmon in the last couple of hours. He had his limit and was just catching and releasing.
There have been a few times when I wished we had brought our fishing gear. We had decided not to so as to save room and also because of the cost of out-of-state licenses. An annual permit is $140 per person. We have found that we can get fish from other people, but to me catching them is much more fun than eating them. Oh well, next time.
We went and explored Hope some more and stopped in at a little local museum. We actually got there a little before opening and a man by the name of Bill Miller let us into the buildings. He was there working He said he had come up here in 1949 and never left. He said he had worked the mines and logged, etc., whatever to get by. We asked him about living here he said he liked it most of the time, even liked some of the tourists. We weren't sure where we stood there. Anyway we headed out of Hope and down toward Homer. It was another beautiful and sunny day so instead of messing around on the way down we headed straight through because we knew the weather wasn't like this much down here in the Kenai. We did stop at one beach access spot and there was a couple there who had been out Halibut fishing. They had three smaller halibut in their ice chest. I took a photo of the lady holding the largest of the three. We hoped they might offer us some halibut, but no such luck. We got to Homer around mid afternoon and went out onto the spit. The Homer spit is the main place to camp in Homer. There are a couple of private campgrounds and the city of Homer has some spots on the spit where you can stay for $15 a night. We got one of those and parked. The ocean spread out behind us and we were virtually surrounded by mountains and glaciers. The spit itself would be much prettier if it weren't so commercialized and tourist though. We walked up and down the beach and the docks. We also drove on down to the end of the spit and found a little fish market to buy some fresh halibut. While we were down there I went into the Alaska Ferry office to check on riding the ferry from Whittier to Valdez. While I was there I asked about the ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert. The lady gave me some prices and times for each. The fellow we had met in the REI parking lot had mentioned how much cheaper the ferry was to ride just to Prince Rupert instead of all the way to Seattle. He was right.
We went back to the camp site and cooked the halibut and some oven fries and had supper and talked about possibly taking the ferry through the inside passage since we had heard it was so pretty. We decided that it would not be very much more than driving all the way around so that is what we are going to do. I could never get confirmed on the British Columbia ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy so we will cancel out waiting status on that and drive from Prince Rupert down to Vancouver and take a ferry across to Vancouver Island from there.
Friday, July 28
There is sign warning to be careful of the sand on the spit when you park on the side we were parked on. A Class C with two guys had pulled in the night before and gotten stuck immediately trying to back in a little ways down from us. They spent the night with their camper at a very difficult angle. I didn't have any problems because I have 4 wheel drive. I would have offered to pull them out if I didn't have the camper on but I can't access the hitch to secure a chain due to the camper hanging down so low. They finally called a tow truck and he pulled them out.
After breakfast we walked the beach at low tide. Carol got some photos of a bald eagle on a rock right below our camper and I took some shots of a jellyfish and starfish. This is not a real pretty beach but it was fun for us since we are not use to beaches.
Around 11:00 we headed down to the ferry office and got our tickets for both the ferries we planned to ride from Whittier to Valdez and from Haines to Prince Rupert. Now we have schedules to meet. Oh well, that's life. We have to catch the ferry from Whittier on July 31 at 12:45. We headed back into Homer itself and we passed a quilt shop so we stopped so Carol could look. Next we passed a McDonald's and we stopped there so I could look. Actually we bought some lunch there. I was ready for a hamburger after several days of fish. Next we stopped at the Artic Seas National Wildlife Center. That was really interesting. The Artic Seas National Wildlife Refuge takes in most of the Aleutian chain of islands and others up into the Bering Sea. It is a big summer nesting area for millions of birds and the sealife that frequents the area is numerous but not like it once was.
We left Homer and headed for Kenai about 60 miles north. We got there and visited an old cannery that had been converted into a shopping, restaurant, hotel type facility. Then we went into town and looked for old town Kenai. There we found a couple of old Russian churches and other old buildings. We also stopped at the public library because they were having a big book sale. I picked up 3 more paperbacks for $1. Hard to beat that. Next we went to the Kenai visitor center and parked and tried to decide where we would go camp for the night.
The Kenai Peninsula has a lot of lot alloted to the Kenai Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are several campgrounds on lakes through out the refuge so we found one about 12 miles off the Sterling Highway and decided to go check it out. That worked out perfect. We drove up the gravel road at about 15 mph in hopes of seeing wildlife but we didn't see any. We did find a nice campsite though and finally got settled a little after 7:00. We cooked up some tacos for supper, yum.
Saturday, July 29
We got up early this morning (6:00) and took off in the hopes of seeing some wildlife on the way back down the road. We didn't see any driving so decided to take a 1.5 mile hike to Silver Lake. Still didn't see anything but some swans. We hadn't eaten yet because we anticipated stopping at Sterling and getting some cinnamon buns for breakfast. John had mentioned this place to get them a few nights ago. We got to the station where they were sold and they didn't look all that good to me so I just got a long john with carmel icing. Carol got a cinnamon bun. It wasn't all that good she said. We'll have to talk to John about his experience with cinnamon buns the next time we see he and Eileen.
We drove the Skilkat Lake Loop which runs about 30 - 35 miles south of the Sterling Highway. We have stopped at every campground along the way. The weather is partly cloudy and cooler today and pretty windy. We finally found a campground toward the east end of the loop and are now sitting here at Hidden Lake Campground. Carol is taking a nap and I have the generator running so I can operate the computer since my battery was dead and update this journal for the blog. I guess we will have fish chowder for supper tonight. Luckily, I have a couple of leftover brats in the refrigerator.
Well, Carol cut my hair this afternoon and then we collected firewood for a campfire. We did indeed have fish chowder for supper, and I must admit it was pretty darn good. Chowder is one of my favorites although I do prefer it with clams.
We went to a ranger program this evening. It was pretty interesting. She told about what ate what around here. She mentioned that plants are producers because they require nothing in the way of food to grow. From there we go to herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters), and omnivores (eat both plants and animals). Humans of course are omnivores, we eat anything. She also discussed the different kinds of salmon and their life cycle. We got back to the camper about 9:30, read for awhile and then sacked out.
Sunday, July 30
We packed up and headed out after a simple breakfast this morning. We wanted to get on down to Seward and then up near Whittier to be ready for the ferry on Monday. As we were driving down the Sterling Highway along the Kenai River we saw some traffic slowed down in front of us. Being as astute as I am I realized that that more than likely meant an animal. So we kept our eyes peeled for something. Sure enough, two grizzly bears were playing in the river right beside the highway. we got a couple of photos of them and then stopped by the mouth of the Russian River where it meets the Kenai a little further down the road to watch the fishermen. We were also hoping to see more bear there. No luck. We went back up to where we had seen the two bears earlier but they were gone. As we headed back down more people and more bears playing, this time at the mouth of the Russian River where we were before. They may have been the same bears but we weren't sure. It is amazing how some of these fishermen just kind of ignore the bears. I think this one must have been within 50 feet of the two bears as you can see in the photos.
We ran into Jerry and Trisha from Denali here. They stopped to see the bears also. They had kind of been following the same route we had the past few days. They were on their way to Seward also.
We hit the road again and stopped at Tern Lake to see an interpretive sign. The sign was gone but there was a great viewing spot to watch the spawning salmon. So we did that. This was at the junction of the Sterling and Seward Highways. We took the Seward Highway south from here and stopped at a fish hatchery. It was kind of interesting. They just help to maintain the salmon population and are sponsored by commercial fishermen. I guess the commercial fishermen and sport fishermen have some political battles up here. Both claiming the other takes too many fish.
We finally got to Seward about mid afternoon after being slowed down in construction traffic. The only place we really went here was the Sea Life Center which was built as a part of the settlement on the Exon Valdez oil spill. It was interesting. They had a lot on the sea life of the Bering Sea and around the Alaskan coast. We both enjoyed it very much. After we got out of there we walked around town a little and I got an ice cream cone. We wanted to see Exit Glacier so we got back to the truck and drove down a side street. There were Jerry and Trisha again so we stopped and visited for a few minutes. Then we headed out to Exit Glacier which is part of the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was really raining and we barely got a photo of it before it was covered in clouds. We got to the parking lot and started to walk back to it. There are signs showing where it was over the past century and how much it has retreated. We got to 1926 and weren't even close to the glacier and were getting soaked so we turned around and headed back to the car.
Since the weather was so lousy and it was nearly 6:00 we decided to head on up toward Whittier. Whittier is accessed through the longest tunnel in North America. This tunnel is 2.5 miles long and it only wide enough for one vehicle at a time. It also services trains. Therefore, west bound traffic takes it on the hour and east bound on the half hour except when a train is going through. We misread the schedule and arrived a little before 8:00 thinking we would go at 8:00. Of course since we were east bound we couldn't go until 8:30 so we had about a 45 minute wait. That was interesting, straddling railroad tracks while we sped through a tunnel at about 30 mph. We got through okay and bingo there was Whittier. I thought there was a little more road after we got through the tunnel before we hit Whittier but there wasn't. It was raining pretty good and as we drove through town we could tell it was kind of the arm pit of Alaska.
We finally found a place to park for the night down on the Whitter beach which doubles as kind of a dump area. It was not the prettiest place we have ever camped. We warmed up chowder and had that before we went to bed. We listened to the rain fall on the roof as we went to sleep. That is the only thing good about rain, it is nice to listen to in the camper as it falls on the roof. It is great knowing we are dry while it rains outside.
Monday, July 31
We woke up this morning and it was pretty cloudy but not raining. A cruise ship had pulled into the Whittier harbor while we slept. After breakfast we packed up and headed into town to try and find some place to fill our propane tank. We had meant to fill it in Seward yesterday but forgot and had to ration our gas last night.
Things started looking up when we got to town. I pulled into a parking lot to ask about propane and low and behold there was a propane place right across the street. The temperature started to warm up also and the clouds seemed to be getting thinner. We went by the ferry office to see about taking an earlier ferry but the lady we talked to said we really shouldn't do that. It was faster and you didn't get to see as much wildlife.
We decide to take the 2:45 ferry and were glad we did. It turned out to be a great ride. The Alaskan ferry system is great. The ship was very pleasant with plenty of comfortable seats, nice and clean, and heated outdoor viewing areas as well and indoor lounges, also they have cafeterias with decent prices. We shared a snack of onion rings shortly after we got on board and then had some hamburgers around 7:00 for supper. Our entire trip was through Prince William Sound and we stayed fairly close to shore. We saw lots of lovely and fantastic scenery, lots of glaciers, a humpback whale, sea otter, and stellar sea lions. This is the way to travel. It was easy on and easy off even with the camper. I would highly recommend it.
We got to Valdez at 8:30 and found a campground, got some showers taken, and now I'm updating my journal. I thought I could get on wifi here but for some reason can't get it to work so will have to try and find a place tomorrow to update the blog.
Today is chore day. Carol did laundry this morning while I updated the blog, paid bills, and updated my computer files. The auto pay system we set up before we left for our accounts is pretty convenient. The only thing I have to do is remember to put the payments into my Quicken bookkeeping system each month. I only have two accounts that I use the internet to pay the bills manually, those are my credit card and gas credit card bills. I can check those on line and then log onto my banking site and set a payment date to coincide when the bills are due. It makes everything very simple. So far this trip everything has gone like clockwork. I was a little concerned since my old pay system would stop and the retirement pay system would kick in. Actually the retirement pay system doesn't kick in until the end of July so I will soon see if that works.
After I paid bills and checked email I went to the Kansas City Star web site and saw that the Chiefs have signed Ty Law. That gives them some strength at the cornerback position and should help their defense. Hope they can do something this season, especially beat Denver. Denver is getting to be the only real threat in the western conference. Besides that I hate it when they lose to Denver and I have to listen to Buddy and Shelby's comments. Buddy is our friend that lives in Stockton, for those of you who don't know, and he is a big Bronco fan.
After catching up on all these chores we had to do some shopping. It does seem like we are always shopping for groceries. The reason for that is that our storage is so limited and our refrigerator is pretty small. We really have virtually no freezer space. That is one of the costs of being so small and maneuverable. That's okay, I'll take maneuverable. You should have seen the hill we had to climb the other night when we stayed at the creekside off of the Telkeetna spur. Carol was holding on.
Anyway, we also had to get some perscriptions filled. I had made sure I had some written perscriptions before we left home. I took them into Walmart in Anchorage and they filled them no problem. They also accepted our state perscription carrier (Express Scripts) for payment so we are all set. Now we're on the Walmart computers and will be able to fill them anywhere.
We stopped by Sams to pick up a few things. When we paid Carol took off with the box of goods while if fumbled with change and the receipt. When we got to the exit I gave the ticket to an older black lady who checked it with what we had, which is normal for Sam's. When she handed the ticket back to me she said, "Do you need some help with that receipt? I could carry it out to the car for you." Obviously she put me in my place. Being as astute as I am I quickly realized Carol was holding the box of goods and took them from her. We all got a good laugh from that.
We finally got back to the campground around 5:00 and cooked supper and then went over to John and Eileens site to chat about the Kenai and what they had seen down there. They told us about a number of places and we took notes so we wouldn't forget. We shared our experiences in Denali with them. Got back to the camper about 10:00 and read for awhile before going to bed.
Tuesday, July 25
Slept a little late this morning. I think we got up around 9:30. It isn't easy to sleep that late, but we work at it. What worries me is that 9:30 here is 12:30 at home. Don't know what kind of schedule we will be on when we get home. I'm sure we won't sleep that late. When we are home Carol thinks up a million and one chores to do and she drags me out of bed around 7:00 to get an early start. Now you know why I like to travel.
We each took advantage of the showers here one more time before packing up. We finally got away from the campsite around 11:00. We had one more stop to make at the store to pick up a couple of items we had forgotten yesterday. Carol also wanted me to stop at REI and see about exchanging my daypack that bleeds red onto my shirts and the water bladder that I got with it because it sprang a leak. This is the pack I took when Bob McCoy and I hiked the Grand Canyon last year. It was a comfortable fit but the red color on it was bad on clothes.
When we got to the REI parking lot there was a younger guy there with a truck and big Lance truck camper. He came over to us and asked where in Missouri we were from. We told him and he said he grew up in the Odessa area. He seems to be quite an entrepreneur. He has some land and a condo here in Alaska, which is his legal residence now, and some land at the Lake of the Ozarks. He and his wife live in the truck camper and rent out the condo. It was a huge camper. He carries it on a Ford one ton dually. He gave us some pointers on some places to stay in Whittler and Seward area. His wife is a traveling nurse so she gets work anywhere they go and he works for a private security firm as they need him. He also has a website I need to check out. It is www.beeneverywhere.com.
We got into REI and they took the pack and water bladder back no questions asked even though they were a couple of years old. Gave me a store credit for the original amount I spent on these items. We went to look at packs and I ended up getting a larger daypack that could actually double as a small backpack. It would be perfect for Carol to carry if we go backpacking some time. We won't go up here because I didn't bring my tent or backpack but we might try a little of the Appalachian Trail next summer, if I can talk Carol into it.
We finally got away from Anchorage about 12:30 and headed around the Turnagain Arm to the Kenai Peninsula. It had been threatening rain all morning an finally got going good as we headed south. We stopped at a trailhead for a bite of lunch and then headed on. Our goal for today is to get to Hope, Alaska and possibly stay at the forest service campground at the end of the Hope spur. We got to Hope around mid afternoon and it was windy and cold but the rain had let up. There were a bunch of fishermen there at the mouth of Resurrection Creek fishing for salmon. We went down to watch and ask questions. There was a lady down there who wanted to give away a salmon so we took it. Since we didn't have a fishing license we asked her to give us a note that said she had given us the fish. She did, her name is Wendy Smith. Carol cleaned it there in the creek while I supervised. We put it in the sink of the camper until we could get to the campground and cut it up into cookable pieces. We went up to the campground and found a site, but it wasn't along the arm like we had hoped we would get, but it was so cold we didn't care. We just wanted to warm up.
Needless to say, we had salmon for supper. I'm not a big fish person. I much prefer meat to fish, but I do eat it. Carol loves fish so she does most of the prep work.
Wednesday, July 26
We got up and had pancakes for breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny day. I decided to work on updating the blog while Carol walked the loop at the campground. She came back shortly and said that a site on the arm was open so we moved down there. It was a beautiful site with a great view of the water. It was also at the trail head of the Gull Rock trail so we decided we would walk the trail.
We packed up my new daypack and headed out. We only walked in about 2 to 2.5 miles and found a good view point of the arm and stopped to eat lunch. I took a power nap as Dave Bryan calls them, about half an hour of resting my eyes. Carol finally got restless and wanted to start back. Now I know how Dave feels. I suggested she wear the pack back to see how it was to wear. She thought that was a good idea. I just hoped we didn't run into the little old black lady from Sam's on the trail. We got back to the campsite and got some firewood for a campfire this evening, and then just set and read and looked across the arm some, and watched the tide go out and then come back in. It was a great sunny warm day for being outside.
We had more salmon for supper. I grilled some brats along with the salmon, so I had something good to eat. After supper we got the campfire going and sat and enjoyed that. We finally went in to bed around 10:00.
Thursday, July 27
We pulled out of our campsite this morning after breakfast and only about a mile down the road we cross the bridge over the Resurrection River. Downstream we could see the fishermen fishing. I glanced upstream and saw a big grizzly crossing the stream. We parked the truck and came back up to the bridge but didn't see the grizzly again. There was a guy fishing right below the bridge he offered us a fish but I told Carol I really didn't want anymore fish. He had caught about 45 pink salmon in the last couple of hours. He had his limit and was just catching and releasing.
There have been a few times when I wished we had brought our fishing gear. We had decided not to so as to save room and also because of the cost of out-of-state licenses. An annual permit is $140 per person. We have found that we can get fish from other people, but to me catching them is much more fun than eating them. Oh well, next time.
We went and explored Hope some more and stopped in at a little local museum. We actually got there a little before opening and a man by the name of Bill Miller let us into the buildings. He was there working He said he had come up here in 1949 and never left. He said he had worked the mines and logged, etc., whatever to get by. We asked him about living here he said he liked it most of the time, even liked some of the tourists. We weren't sure where we stood there. Anyway we headed out of Hope and down toward Homer. It was another beautiful and sunny day so instead of messing around on the way down we headed straight through because we knew the weather wasn't like this much down here in the Kenai. We did stop at one beach access spot and there was a couple there who had been out Halibut fishing. They had three smaller halibut in their ice chest. I took a photo of the lady holding the largest of the three. We hoped they might offer us some halibut, but no such luck. We got to Homer around mid afternoon and went out onto the spit. The Homer spit is the main place to camp in Homer. There are a couple of private campgrounds and the city of Homer has some spots on the spit where you can stay for $15 a night. We got one of those and parked. The ocean spread out behind us and we were virtually surrounded by mountains and glaciers. The spit itself would be much prettier if it weren't so commercialized and tourist though. We walked up and down the beach and the docks. We also drove on down to the end of the spit and found a little fish market to buy some fresh halibut. While we were down there I went into the Alaska Ferry office to check on riding the ferry from Whittier to Valdez. While I was there I asked about the ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert. The lady gave me some prices and times for each. The fellow we had met in the REI parking lot had mentioned how much cheaper the ferry was to ride just to Prince Rupert instead of all the way to Seattle. He was right.
We went back to the camp site and cooked the halibut and some oven fries and had supper and talked about possibly taking the ferry through the inside passage since we had heard it was so pretty. We decided that it would not be very much more than driving all the way around so that is what we are going to do. I could never get confirmed on the British Columbia ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy so we will cancel out waiting status on that and drive from Prince Rupert down to Vancouver and take a ferry across to Vancouver Island from there.
Friday, July 28
There is sign warning to be careful of the sand on the spit when you park on the side we were parked on. A Class C with two guys had pulled in the night before and gotten stuck immediately trying to back in a little ways down from us. They spent the night with their camper at a very difficult angle. I didn't have any problems because I have 4 wheel drive. I would have offered to pull them out if I didn't have the camper on but I can't access the hitch to secure a chain due to the camper hanging down so low. They finally called a tow truck and he pulled them out.
After breakfast we walked the beach at low tide. Carol got some photos of a bald eagle on a rock right below our camper and I took some shots of a jellyfish and starfish. This is not a real pretty beach but it was fun for us since we are not use to beaches.
Around 11:00 we headed down to the ferry office and got our tickets for both the ferries we planned to ride from Whittier to Valdez and from Haines to Prince Rupert. Now we have schedules to meet. Oh well, that's life. We have to catch the ferry from Whittier on July 31 at 12:45. We headed back into Homer itself and we passed a quilt shop so we stopped so Carol could look. Next we passed a McDonald's and we stopped there so I could look. Actually we bought some lunch there. I was ready for a hamburger after several days of fish. Next we stopped at the Artic Seas National Wildlife Center. That was really interesting. The Artic Seas National Wildlife Refuge takes in most of the Aleutian chain of islands and others up into the Bering Sea. It is a big summer nesting area for millions of birds and the sealife that frequents the area is numerous but not like it once was.
We left Homer and headed for Kenai about 60 miles north. We got there and visited an old cannery that had been converted into a shopping, restaurant, hotel type facility. Then we went into town and looked for old town Kenai. There we found a couple of old Russian churches and other old buildings. We also stopped at the public library because they were having a big book sale. I picked up 3 more paperbacks for $1. Hard to beat that. Next we went to the Kenai visitor center and parked and tried to decide where we would go camp for the night.
The Kenai Peninsula has a lot of lot alloted to the Kenai Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are several campgrounds on lakes through out the refuge so we found one about 12 miles off the Sterling Highway and decided to go check it out. That worked out perfect. We drove up the gravel road at about 15 mph in hopes of seeing wildlife but we didn't see any. We did find a nice campsite though and finally got settled a little after 7:00. We cooked up some tacos for supper, yum.
Saturday, July 29
We got up early this morning (6:00) and took off in the hopes of seeing some wildlife on the way back down the road. We didn't see any driving so decided to take a 1.5 mile hike to Silver Lake. Still didn't see anything but some swans. We hadn't eaten yet because we anticipated stopping at Sterling and getting some cinnamon buns for breakfast. John had mentioned this place to get them a few nights ago. We got to the station where they were sold and they didn't look all that good to me so I just got a long john with carmel icing. Carol got a cinnamon bun. It wasn't all that good she said. We'll have to talk to John about his experience with cinnamon buns the next time we see he and Eileen.
We drove the Skilkat Lake Loop which runs about 30 - 35 miles south of the Sterling Highway. We have stopped at every campground along the way. The weather is partly cloudy and cooler today and pretty windy. We finally found a campground toward the east end of the loop and are now sitting here at Hidden Lake Campground. Carol is taking a nap and I have the generator running so I can operate the computer since my battery was dead and update this journal for the blog. I guess we will have fish chowder for supper tonight. Luckily, I have a couple of leftover brats in the refrigerator.
Well, Carol cut my hair this afternoon and then we collected firewood for a campfire. We did indeed have fish chowder for supper, and I must admit it was pretty darn good. Chowder is one of my favorites although I do prefer it with clams.
We went to a ranger program this evening. It was pretty interesting. She told about what ate what around here. She mentioned that plants are producers because they require nothing in the way of food to grow. From there we go to herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters), and omnivores (eat both plants and animals). Humans of course are omnivores, we eat anything. She also discussed the different kinds of salmon and their life cycle. We got back to the camper about 9:30, read for awhile and then sacked out.
Sunday, July 30
We packed up and headed out after a simple breakfast this morning. We wanted to get on down to Seward and then up near Whittier to be ready for the ferry on Monday. As we were driving down the Sterling Highway along the Kenai River we saw some traffic slowed down in front of us. Being as astute as I am I realized that that more than likely meant an animal. So we kept our eyes peeled for something. Sure enough, two grizzly bears were playing in the river right beside the highway. we got a couple of photos of them and then stopped by the mouth of the Russian River where it meets the Kenai a little further down the road to watch the fishermen. We were also hoping to see more bear there. No luck. We went back up to where we had seen the two bears earlier but they were gone. As we headed back down more people and more bears playing, this time at the mouth of the Russian River where we were before. They may have been the same bears but we weren't sure. It is amazing how some of these fishermen just kind of ignore the bears. I think this one must have been within 50 feet of the two bears as you can see in the photos.
We ran into Jerry and Trisha from Denali here. They stopped to see the bears also. They had kind of been following the same route we had the past few days. They were on their way to Seward also.
We hit the road again and stopped at Tern Lake to see an interpretive sign. The sign was gone but there was a great viewing spot to watch the spawning salmon. So we did that. This was at the junction of the Sterling and Seward Highways. We took the Seward Highway south from here and stopped at a fish hatchery. It was kind of interesting. They just help to maintain the salmon population and are sponsored by commercial fishermen. I guess the commercial fishermen and sport fishermen have some political battles up here. Both claiming the other takes too many fish.
We finally got to Seward about mid afternoon after being slowed down in construction traffic. The only place we really went here was the Sea Life Center which was built as a part of the settlement on the Exon Valdez oil spill. It was interesting. They had a lot on the sea life of the Bering Sea and around the Alaskan coast. We both enjoyed it very much. After we got out of there we walked around town a little and I got an ice cream cone. We wanted to see Exit Glacier so we got back to the truck and drove down a side street. There were Jerry and Trisha again so we stopped and visited for a few minutes. Then we headed out to Exit Glacier which is part of the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was really raining and we barely got a photo of it before it was covered in clouds. We got to the parking lot and started to walk back to it. There are signs showing where it was over the past century and how much it has retreated. We got to 1926 and weren't even close to the glacier and were getting soaked so we turned around and headed back to the car.
Since the weather was so lousy and it was nearly 6:00 we decided to head on up toward Whittier. Whittier is accessed through the longest tunnel in North America. This tunnel is 2.5 miles long and it only wide enough for one vehicle at a time. It also services trains. Therefore, west bound traffic takes it on the hour and east bound on the half hour except when a train is going through. We misread the schedule and arrived a little before 8:00 thinking we would go at 8:00. Of course since we were east bound we couldn't go until 8:30 so we had about a 45 minute wait. That was interesting, straddling railroad tracks while we sped through a tunnel at about 30 mph. We got through okay and bingo there was Whittier. I thought there was a little more road after we got through the tunnel before we hit Whittier but there wasn't. It was raining pretty good and as we drove through town we could tell it was kind of the arm pit of Alaska.
We finally found a place to park for the night down on the Whitter beach which doubles as kind of a dump area. It was not the prettiest place we have ever camped. We warmed up chowder and had that before we went to bed. We listened to the rain fall on the roof as we went to sleep. That is the only thing good about rain, it is nice to listen to in the camper as it falls on the roof. It is great knowing we are dry while it rains outside.
Monday, July 31
We woke up this morning and it was pretty cloudy but not raining. A cruise ship had pulled into the Whittier harbor while we slept. After breakfast we packed up and headed into town to try and find some place to fill our propane tank. We had meant to fill it in Seward yesterday but forgot and had to ration our gas last night.
Things started looking up when we got to town. I pulled into a parking lot to ask about propane and low and behold there was a propane place right across the street. The temperature started to warm up also and the clouds seemed to be getting thinner. We went by the ferry office to see about taking an earlier ferry but the lady we talked to said we really shouldn't do that. It was faster and you didn't get to see as much wildlife.
We decide to take the 2:45 ferry and were glad we did. It turned out to be a great ride. The Alaskan ferry system is great. The ship was very pleasant with plenty of comfortable seats, nice and clean, and heated outdoor viewing areas as well and indoor lounges, also they have cafeterias with decent prices. We shared a snack of onion rings shortly after we got on board and then had some hamburgers around 7:00 for supper. Our entire trip was through Prince William Sound and we stayed fairly close to shore. We saw lots of lovely and fantastic scenery, lots of glaciers, a humpback whale, sea otter, and stellar sea lions. This is the way to travel. It was easy on and easy off even with the camper. I would highly recommend it.
We got to Valdez at 8:30 and found a campground, got some showers taken, and now I'm updating my journal. I thought I could get on wifi here but for some reason can't get it to work so will have to try and find a place tomorrow to update the blog.
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