Haines to Juneau to Fairbanks

 Eaglen Haines
Sat. July15-18 Haines to Juneau to Fairbanks

Norm really enjoyed his massage with Lee, the same therapist he had gotten one from in 2002. She gave him a package of smoked salmon straight off the smoker, it is scrumptious. In the evening we took another ride to view the eagles. The population of Eagles year-round is about 350 but in the autumn it swells to 3,500 making it the largest gathering of Bald Eagles in the world. They can spot a fish a mile away and dive up to 100 mph to get it! We also toured Ft Seward, built in 1903 in response to a border dispute with Canada. It was there we almost pulled an Allen and Gene! There were several white tents set up on the parade grounds, with music coming from them and lines of people waiting to get in. They were grilling salmon so we ask what was going on. It turned out to be a memorial service for one of their local fishermen. Glad we didn’t stand in line too long.
We got up Sat to bright sunshine and a great day for our 8:30 Fjord Express to Juneau. The catamaran picked up folks in Skagway before coming for the 8 of us leaving from Haines. Skagway is just ½ hour away by water on the Catamaran, 353 miles by land. We were docked in Juneau by 11:45 where a bus picked us up and took us the remaining way into downtown Juneau. The driver, the boat captain’s brother, gave us a short tour of the downtown area then left us to our own devises for three hours. Norm and I toured the Capitol building, ate lunch and did a little shopping. The shops are very nice there, a lot of them filled with native items, I found the best bead shop, called “Peer Amid Beads”. They have more colors of seed beads than I have seen anywhere. The city sits below a mountain and the flats, where everything is built, is created from crushed rock taken out of the mountain from mining. Land downtown is scarce; the library is built on the fourth floor of a parking garage! There were two cruise ships docked downtown. The bus driver told us of a murder that occurred in the red light district, the guilty party shot a man who was mistreating a lady of the evening, he got 3 years for man slaughter, but while in prison he killed a guard, and this landed him life. He later became known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.
From downtown Juneau we boarded the bus and went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. It is beautiful, with a waterfall on its right side. We had 1 ½ hours to hike the trails then back to the boat where we saw a whale from the bus. Our trip on the Linn Canal was filled with whale watching, Eagle spotting and two really good stops to view the sea lions. The salmon were jumping as they swam up the canal searching for their spawning stream. It was 12 hours since we left Mickey and he sure was glad to see us.
Sun morning the trip out of Haines was sunny and warm. We stopped for about an hour to watch a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs. I’m sure we will never get an opportunity like that again. I couldn’t get enough and exhausted the battery on the camera! We toured a small but well done nature museum in Burwash Landing, and then drove by Kluane Lake with its deep blue water. It’s the largest lake in the Yukon at 154 square miles. We boondocked at an overlook and were joined by 3 other RVs.
I guess now would be a good time to mention the travel conditions. The roads have been 2 lane with a lot of them tar and chipped. The worst thing about them is the construction areas that are just stoned. Here is where we have picked up our chips in the windshields, I haven’t counted lately but on the motorhome passenger side we have two dandies, there are several on the car but that is cracked anyway so we know we’ll be replacing that one. The speed limit has usually been around 50-55 mph except for construction, and we are usually going slower to spot wildlife. We stopped for gas in Tok AK today $ 4.26 per gal, much better than the Yukon. I told Norm this morning that the moose have been avoiding us and just about then he spotted a mother and her baby on the side of the road ahead. Till I got the camera out she crossed the road and headed into the bush, I just managed one poor shot. Again we are boondocked a little south of Delta Junction which is the end of the Alaskan Highway, 96 miles south east of Fairbanks. A red fox just stopped in front of the motorhome, he had dinner in his mouth, What Luck! On to Fairbanks, stopping at Delta Junction for a photo of the end of the Alcan sign, and again at the Knotty shop, a gift shop that sells burled wood. We arrived at the North Pole and are camping at the same place we stayed at in 2002.

  Fjord Express to Juneau
Sea Lions from the Linn Canal

Whale tail

Eldred Rock
Peer Amid Bead shop
Downtown Juneau
Alaskan bikini
Downtown Juneau
Mendenhall Glacier

Eldred Rock Light

Momma grizzly and her 2 cubs


What a cutie

More Pictures from Haines AK

 1.) Dahl sheep

 2.) and 3.) Entering Alaska

 4.) Just glorious sceinery
 5,) Moose on the Haines Highway
 6.) and 7.) Bear along the Haines Hwy. The second one is a Grizzly.

 8.) and 9.) Norm with Mickey and a fish wheel along the Chilcoot River.

 10.)The town of Haines
11.) The small boat harbor in Haines
 12,13,14,15) The Hammer Museum notice the Alaskan mosquito!



 16.) Eagle at the Harbor
 17.) Fishernan bring his crab pot in.
 18,19,20) Eagles in the trees along the river.

7-9 to7-13 Whitehorse to Skagway to Haines

 The day started out beautiful with a stop at the Continental Divide, then on to Teslin, a small First Nations village where we stopped for lunch and visited the Tlingit Heritage Center, with it's five totems representing the Wolf, Eagle, Frog, Beaver, and Ravin Clans.
We intended to stay at our favorite campground just north of Teslin, Mutluk Annies, but were dissappointed to find it had closed. The owners had retired and soon after that he passed on. We remembered it fondly as they had a delicious salmon bake and he had taken us on the river in his boat. Instead we drove on to Whitehorse WM.
We explored Whitehorse in the morning,driving down Miles Canyon and stopping at the fish ladders, the longest wooden fish ladders in N America. Miles Canyon is where 30 or more prospecters perished in the swift rapids trying to reach Dawson out of Skagway or Dyea in1898..
We drove to Carcross where we unhooked the car and took it into Skagway. The drive down into Skagway has to be one of the most beautiful we've ever been on. The town of Skagway has turned into a cruse ship town with the cruse lines owning most of the stores. There were 5 ships docked  while we were there.
The streets were crowded with tourists. I went in one of the jewelery stores and was ambushed by an agressive salesperson, took me awhile to get away! Wanted to sell me a chocolate diamond
in the worse way!
1 This is a picture of the White Pass & Yukon train that takes you
up the pass that we just drove down, taken from the road as we came down.
2 Skagways main street.
3 Some Alaskan quilts in a quilt shop in Skagway for my quilter friends.






4 Outdoor advertising on the mountain above Skagway.




                                                                              2

 The town is remembered for it's gold rush days of 1898 when it was the start of the White Pass and Yukon Trail. Last time we were here we visited the goast town of Dyea which was the beginning of the shorter but harder route over the mountains.
The track was laid for the train two years later but by then all the gold claims were taken.
The best thing about Skagway, in my opinion, is the trip down and back . On the way back  we saw 12 Dahl sheep up high on the mountains. My Nikon did a great job of catching their immage. We also saw a moose cross in front of us and a Lynx by the side of the road.
We left our beautiful boondocking spot and went back to Whitehorse before heading to Haines.
Stopped in Haines Junction at their beautiful new visitors center. They had a great movie on the KluaneNational Park, which we will be driving through on the way to Haines.  Our camp for tonight is about 40 miles down the Haines highway, another splendid boondock.
Found another great spot to boondock only 6 miles from Haines, the highway is about 150 miles long. from Haines Juction to Haines.
Drove around the area for a while then started walking the streets of Haines. We took in the Hammer Museum and talked with the owner for a while. He came here from Cleveland OH. many years agio and has himself a nice little collection of Hammers. His 26 year old son is a commercial fisherman.
Dad said the state of Alaska has a great program to help people get started in the Fishing business. They pay for 80% of the fishing license fee which can range form over $100,000 down to as low as $25,000 depending on the year. His ran $58,000 and his dad helped him with the other 20% . You must have fished for 3 years here and have been refused by a bank to qualify. The program helps keep young people in Alaska. There are only 400 Commercial licences in Southern Alaska. While we were there his son called to offer him interest on his loan, 6 red salmon, part of his catch today. Pop said the smoker would be working tonight.
We bought some Halibut at a local store, and Norm remembered a massage therapist he had gotton a massage from 10 years agio so we looked her up and he scheduled one for tomorrow.  We have a down day tomorrow because we are going to take the Fjord Express trip to Juneau on Saturday from Haines. I will be at the library working on my blog.
In the evening we took another seinic drive up the Chilkoot river to Chilcoot Lake to  see the eagles and bear.   We were rewarded with about 12 eagles perched high up in the trees overlooking the river. There were lots of fisherman lining the banks because the salmon were running. We didn't see bear but we will try that drive again tomorrow night maybe whithout the drizzle?                                                                                                       

Gates of the Mountain above Helena MT

Columbia icefields

7-3

Heading west toward Jasper (about 4 hrs) we stopped for gas and after walking Mickey I was coming back into the motorhome when all of a sudden this huge black dog bolted in front of me and went right in after Mickey. The owner came running after him, but he had trouble getting him to leave. Guess he just wanted to say HI! Thank God Mickey didn’t get snippy; he could have done some real damage. Norm was sitting in the driver’s seat with a real shocked look on his face! We saw lots of elk, and went through a hard rain storm entering the park. We started looking for a campground but soon found out we should have made reservations. We finally found room at Wabasso with electric for 2 nights. On the road to Wabasso a momma bear with her little cub crossed the road in front of us. When we got to our campsite we had another surprise. Our rear window in the Focus was in little pieces! It must have happened after the storm because nothing was wet. We unhooked and headed into Jasper to find some plastic to cover it. Got there just in time before the hardware store closed, with NO WALLET AND NO PARK PASS, left them back at the motorhome. We scrounged around in the car for parking meter quarters and had just enough with 2 cents left. Talked our way back into the park. There was still time for a ride so we went to the top of Mt Edith Cavell where there are 2 glaciers to be seen, We decided to go back up when the weather improves. We also went back to Jasper and drove to Pyramid Lake. It stays light here until after 10pm.

7-4

Had a wonderful Independence Day! We took Mickey and headed south toward Banff, it was cloudy but no rain. We stopped for a walk at Athabasca Falls which isn’t far from our campsite, then continued south on the Icefields Parkway stopping to see bear 3 times! We walked up to the Icefields, quite a hike in thin air! Since we hiked all that way we decided not to take the bus that takes you out onto the ice. We could see them very well from our vantage point. ($105.00 for two) We continued south to Rocky Mountain House where we turned and headed back. When passing the Icefields we stopped to give two girls a ride. They were staying at hostels and had just met. One was from France and the other from Saskatchewan. The Canadian girl was looking for work in Jasper, and the French girl was here on an organic farm work program. She is visiting the park for 7 days then goes to a farm where she will work for her food and lodging. She stays about 6 weeks at each farm. She said she had worked in France for 5 years and wanted to take advantage of this program to travel. After picking them up we saw 3 Dahl sheep. The girls were going to the falls and we dropped them off on our way back to camp to rest after a wonderful day.

7-5 2012

We have to break camp today so we got up early and headed back to Mt Edith Cavell. There was ice on the car roof but it is sunny. There is a 45 minute walk to the glaciers (took me 90 min) but worth every step. When we got close we realized why it’s called Angel Glacier.  We took pictures for our funeral slide show!  We moved the MH into town where they have plenty of rv parking and hunted up wifi. We found 20 mins. at a wonderful bakery (The Other Paw), We had lunch there then went searching for the Nikon. No luck in Jasper, the second photo shop just sold the last one this morning. We decided to check out Miette Hot Springs about 30 mins. back toward Hinton. On the way we had to stop for Big horn sheep on the road. The truckers were honking but the rest of us were taking advantage of the great photo opp. The road up to the springs was also beautiful and when we got there their parking lot was full of mountain goats. They were licking the salt off the bottom of cars. Norm decided not to indulge as it was a swimming pool, not natural. On the way to Jasper we came across the largest elk I’ve ever seen with a rack to match. Just about into town we pulled into the transfer station road in hopes of seeing wildlife and we were rewarded immediately by about 25 elk, I think they were the big ones harem!  Spent the night in Hinton Walmart ready to start the trip up rt 40 just outside Hinton.

7-6

RT. 40 is a good road. We saw lots of deer and 1 moose and it’s only 9 am. There are beautiful fields of canola and lots of timber along the way. We saw one elk farm. Stopped for lunch at Grande Prairie pop 50500. Stocked up at WM and went looking for the Nikon.  BINGO I found it at London Drug and it was the same price as Amazon. Got a sexy red one. I also indulged in 2 folding walking sticks in hopes that they would help the knees! A good stop for me. We continued on to Dawson Creek mile one of the Alcan Highway.

7-7 Carissa’s birthday

A travel day for us. Our dollar and the Canadian dollar are at par. We haven’t even exchanged any money, everyone seems happy to take American dollars or plastic. Fuel is getting higher the further north we get. We came through our first construction, about 10 mi of stoned road, lots of stones on the car and another chip in the windshield. There have been several large staging areas for gas exploration, and quite a bit of truck traffic. Fort Nelson seems to be prospering.  Some of the hills have 10% grades but were handling it well. The scenery is vast and beautiful with massive mountains and roaring rivers. Not much wildlife viewing today. One bear, two deer, and some stone sheep, just before we stopped at this pull off overlooking the MacDonald River (mm379).

7-8

We’re heading toward Liard Hot Springs and Provincial Park, We have fond memories of this place with Its sandy bottom, boardwalks leading to it and water getting hotter as you walk upstream. Took a short break at Muncho Lake. It is 7 miles long and 1 mile across with deep green water and 7000” mountains surrounding it. We arrived at Liard by 10:30, they now charge a day use fee of $5.  We walked over to the kiosk to find out if there were vacancies, and there were. Last time we were here they were full! Our happiness didn’t last too long, we found out why the room. VICIOUS MOSQUITOS!  We had our soak, just as we remembered it but decided not to spend the night. The Ranger said the mosquitos seemed to be just here, several miles north or south were not bothered with them. Bear! After we left Liard we saw over a dozen! Got a real good shot of a brown bear.  We also got a real good look at a herd of Wood Bison, they are larger than the buffalo in the states. A great day for wildlife viewing!  Stopped for diesel at Contact Creek YT.( $5.18 per gal.) The man at the gas station said the summer has been cool and wet so far. Made a stop at the signpost forest in Watson Lake where they had a most helpful visitors center with a nice movie and museum. Wifi could be found at the community center next door where there was a curling rink and swimming pool. Made our camp at a pull off just up the road.

PA to the Border

 We came back to Milton and things just worked out that we were able to have the swimming pool repaired before we left for our adventure. It needed new coping brick around the edges and a new liner. I was able to get in it one time before we left.


6-23 2012

We left Pa at 3:45 after a nice day with the family. We spent the first night at Youngstown and the second near Chicago, and the third in Council Bluffs Iowa. From here we headed north on RT. 29. I’m really liking my new I Pad, a trucker put me onto gas buddy and it saved us plenty already. The cheapest diesel we got so far was $3.33 with credit at Sams in Souix City Iowa.


6-26 and 6-27

Camping in the Badlands

It was a scorcher on the highway and we got hooked up and ran the air as soon as possible! Our neighbor said it was 109 degrees. I think I’ve never been that hot! In the evening we took the Badlands loop road by prairie dog colonies. I could watch them forever. We also saw plenty of mule deer, big horn sheep and one buffalo.

We realized our Toad need tires BAD! The break wasn’t working properly and had flat spots on every tire. Due to the tires needing replaced we headed into Rapid City and found a Ford garage that would take us a 1PM. We drove through the park to get there and it was a lovely drive. We had some time to explore the city. There is a bronze statue of each president on the corners. We had lunch there and browsed in some art galleries, one had some beautiful beaded jewelry. The buildings there were very well kept and they had a lovely water park for the children.

The Ford garage had a nice lounge with wifi and snacks. The wait wasn’t so tough. Stopped at Wall Drug on the way home and took in a ranger program in the eve.

6-28

Another warm day and a travel day for us. We took the scenic route 44 thru the Black Hills to Deadwood then 85 and 212 north thru a corner of Wy. and into MT. We were rerouted in MT because of wildfires, so we headed north to Miles City where we spent the night.

Next stop Bozeman where we noticed our Focus windshield was cracked, hopefully it will hold together until we get out of Alaska, because I’m sure we’ll get more dings up there.

6-30 7-1

From Bozeman to the border we took RT 15 a beautiful drive along streams and railroads. We stopped at “Gates Of the Mountain”, and took the boat ride on the Missouri River between high granite cliffs. We saw an eagle and picturegraphs made by Indians hundreds of years ago. They painted with iron oxide and some kind of base ,not really known, but it sure did last! This was the path of Lewis and Clark. We camped 56 miles from the border, and crossed with no trouble at 9 AM. We stopped for info and realized today is Canada Day. They invited us to stay for a barbeque at noon but we thanked them and moved on. The bright yellow fields of canola are a sight to see.

 Repairing the pool 



My favorite little critter!
Big Horn sheep in the Badlands

Cleveland Rocks

2012 ADVENTURES 


We attended the Cleveland rally at Burke Lakefront Airport with our 10 year old grandson Kyle, from June 6-9.

We had a great time getting to know Cleveland, taking in museums, a great Arts in the Circle parade, and Kyle went on the Cod two times. It’s a WW2 Submarine docked close to the airport. We also had a lovely dinner cruise on Lake Erie. The Cleveland unit put on a great rally feeding us WELL! I highly recommend it to any Airstreamer.


The Cod


Cleveland at sunset