Home again

We are in Red Bluff today. We should be home Tuesday the 24. We are back in the heat. Today it got up to 96. Welcome home!!!

We stopped for three days in Salem, OR. We drove around the countryside one day and the next day we met with Erv's cousin, Bill Perin and he took us through the Mission Mill Museum. He's a docent there and he's a talker. We learned a lot about the mission from 1840's and the mill from 1870's (I think.) We were on the site for about 3 hours. Anyway it was really interesting. And they have a yarn shop in the museum.

We left there and drove down to Medford, OR for three more days. We drove the 80 miles up to Crater Lake. It is beautiful up there. I'd forgotten how big the lake was. We wondered around up there for a couple of hours. The weather up there was fantastic. The temp. was 68. As we drove back down the mountain the temp. went up to 95 when we got down to Medford. Yesterday we visited a few wineries in Sourthern Oregon. I've refilled my cellar again. It was getting pretty bare.

This is the last blog for this trip. And of course these are the last pictures I'll be sending. Hope you all enjoyed our trip. I know we did.

Coming home

We're in Bothell, WA today. We leave for Salem, OR in a couple of hours. We went to Seattle two days ago to Pike Place Market. It was very busy and a great place to people watch. I love it there even though I hate large crowds. They have huge bunches of flowers for $10 and some even larger for $15. Of course I got some Alder smoked salmon, YUM. I also got Mick's pepper jelly to use all sorts of ways. We ate lunch at Pike Brewery. We've eaten there before.

On the way here we stopped in two places in Canada. In Clinton, BC we went to a historical site called Hat Creek Ranch. It's a road house from the gold rush in 1898. but the most interesting thing was there was a Pow Wow held there. That's the only pictures we took after the goodbye dinner, so I didn't take any in Hope, BC. where we also stayed.

The dinner was not much to write home about, but the company was great. We were sorry to have to go.

See you all about Aug. 24 or 25. Can't wait!

Canada on the way home

We're in Smithers, BC right now. On the way here we stopped at a First Nation site and took some pictures of their buildings. We leave for Vanderhoof this morning on our last day of the tour. We should be back in the lower 48 on about five days. I will call you offspring when we get to Seattle.

We were in Stewart for two days so we could go across the border to view the bears in Hyder, AK. There is a stream where the salmon go to spawn, and of course the bears like it there. Well our luck didn't hold to see bears feeding on fish. We went there twice and only saw one bear who was more interested in berries than fish. At least we got pictures of it. One couple saw a Grizzle eating fish there at 7:oo yesterday morning. Dee said it tried to catch a fish and couldn't so she ate one that was laying on the bank. The bear peeled it like a banana before she ate it. I guess the skin is tough. Hyder is a dumpy little town about ready to fall apart in a brisk wind. They have a post office, but the mail only goes out twice a week and isn't delivered to houses. You have to pick it up yourself like the Waltons did on TV. Stewart is just a bit above Hyder. At least it's school is still open for kids to attend.

The road in and out of Stewart is beautiful. We drove by at least eight glaciers in various sizes. We could stop by one, the Bear Glacier, to get pictures. And the waterfalls up there are spectacular. Yosemite doesn't hold a candle to this 25 mile stretch of road. One of the falls had three falls coming down the mountain side-by-side meeting up in a huge fall into the Bear River. We also saw a bear running and I do mean running down the left side of the road. I think a motorcycle scared it and it ran for the bushes to hide. The roadsides are for the most part very dense with brush, so lots of bears could hide and not be seen. This was all while driving, so no pictures. There was no real place to pull over. But at least I have the pictures in my head.

That's about all of the things we've done since last we wrote. See you soon.

Skagway and Juneau

We have had a busy three days here in the panhandle of Alaska. Wednesday we went to a show about Soapy Smith, a con man from Skagway who was shot in a gun fight with the marshall. Then we walked over to the train depot and got on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad train bound for White Summit. The whole trip took about three hours and the scenery was amazing. We could see all the ocean liners in port on the way up. The train goes up the mountain hugging the side and at times it looks like there is nothing holding us up there. It was fun though. After the ride we all walked over to the Skagway Fish Co. and had halibut for dinner. It was terrific.

Thursday we got up at o-dark thirty to catch a ferry to Juneau. It took three hours to get over there from here. On the way we were lucky enough to see bald eagles on trees over looking the fjord about every quarter of a mile or so. They were probably looking for fish (their favorite food.) We also saw six humpback whales feeding. They didn't put on the show like before, but it was great to see them doing whale things. We also saw Stellar sea lions basking in the sun. But the best thing was we were right in the middle of a pod of Orcas. I didn't get any pictures because they were too fast. We followed them for a while, and one of them was right near our ferry. It was pretty cool.

In Juneau we had a bus tour of the small city. I cracks me up that it is the only state capitol that you can't get to from a road. Any way we were dropped off in town, and we ate lunch in the Red Dog Saloon. It was noisy and there was sawdust on the floor, but the food was pretty good. We walked around the five or so blocks of gift shops and then got on the bus to be taken out to Mendenhall Glacier. The visitor center is up a steep hill but the view is fantastic. Some people went for a hike down a trail to see bears eating fish. They saw a bird. Bummer!

We got back on the bus and she took us back to the ferry for the trip back to Skagway. We didn't see many animals except eagles and a group of porposes splashing in the water. We did see a liner go back out the fjord, and it's wake made our little boat ride like a bucking bronco. We didn't get back until 8:30 . The poor dog was glad to see us after 14 hours. Holly was walked twice while we were gone, but she was lonely anyway.

Today was a free day. The staff made us breakfast of omelets and toast, and then our travel meeting. We did laundry and played around in town for a while. Well we have to get going now. See you all soon.

Prince William Sound

We spent the day ( 10 hours) on Prince William Sound yesterday. It was wonderful. The weather was the best. It was sunny and warm as long as we weren't going into the wind. The best part was the glaciers we saw. We saw the Columbia Glacier first. We couldn't get very close to this one because it calfs huge iceburgs as big as our boat. We got about ten miles from Columbia, and the ice field we had to travel through was very icy and you could hear the pieces of ice hitting the hull. Capt. Amanda went very slow so no damage. The next glacier is called Meare. And we could get about a quarter of a mile from it. This one only has little pieces coming off of it. But the noise is like listening to thunder. And the ice made a huge sound as it hits the water. It was the neatest thing I've ever seem.

The glaciers were not all we saw. We saw a mother whale and her calf, tons of birds ,and lots of piles of Stellar Sea Lions on beaches,rocks, and on big pieces of ice. The whales we saw in the sound were feeding on krill and they breached high in the air. It was amazing to see how big they are. And of course we got no pictures of all of this because I can't take it fast enough. One of the whales laid on his back and flapped his big front flippers just to make a big noise, maybe. The cutest thing we saw were rafts of sea otters. There are loads of them up here. The are much bigger than the otters in Monterey. We had a good time, and got very tired.

Today we took a bus tour of the history of Valdez this morning. It was very interesting to learn that the earthquake that hit in 1964 made it neccessary to move the whole town up the hill to solid land. One of our group's mother was born up here in 1912 or so. So he couldn't find any place that she would have known. It is all gone or moved. This whole town as it is, is only 45 years old. Wild

The rest of the day was to do laundry and stuff. We had a potluck and of course we both ate to much. We leave for Tok in the morning. The on to Distruction Bay, YT and then on to Skagway. So it's early to bed because we have 270 miles to go tomorrow. Bye for now.

Homer

We haven't done much of anything here except try to get over this cold. and most of the pictures we took are in the group blog. We didn't go anywhere yesterday, and today we went out to lunch and to Safeway for milk, etc. We leave for Palmer in the morning, and we don't know what kind of WiFi we'll get so don't know when we'll blog again. We only have 15 or 16 days left of our tour. Time has just whizzed by. The weather here has been cool and drizzly, but today the sun has finally come through. I think I like it here in the summer. It looks like a lot of other people( boaters) like it here as well.

Anchorage and Seward

We went from Denali to Anchorage; it seems to be the largest town we've been in since we left the lower 48. We got a bus tour of the city and went to the Wildberry Theater to watch a film about Alaska and then we had dinner. After dinner we walked around and we saw an eagle that can't be in the wild anymore because his half of his right wing is missing. He was beautiful and very proud looking. I'd hate to be a small animal with those talons coming at me. We also saw some reindeer. Both sexes get antlers in the spring. the anlers are in velvet until they stop growing. I touched them and they feel just like the fur on the animal. They are warm because they are supplied with blood while they grow.

The next day we went to the Native Cultural Center. We saw some dancing and storytelling, some totem carving, and a few of the native dwellings. A lot of the houses were built underground or built up with bones and rocks and covered with dirt. They seem to be very cozy. The clothing that they wear in winter is made from fur and skins of the animals they hunt for food. The native people used everything from the animals. There was no waste. Bones became tools or building materials, innerds became rope or waterproof clothing, and the hides became clothing and or blankets. Of course the meat was eaten or dried for storage. I was impressed by the culture.

The next day we drove to Seward. It is on the Kenai penninsula. It really is pretty here. Wednesday we got up early and went to the aquarium for a behind-the-scenes tour. Our guide was a student from Missouri. He was very interesting to listen to. The place is nothing compared to Monterey, but nice nonetheless. At eleven we all got on the bus to be taken down to the dock to board The Star of the Northwast. We were going on a tour of the bay here. Wow!Did we get our moneys worth. We were weren't out of port for more that an hour ( in which we were feed very well) when we came upon a humpback whale. He spy-hopped a lot, rolled over on his back and slapped the water with his flippers, breached and slammed the water, and did some vocalizations. It was amazing. The captain told us that he had only seem one other whale this season and it just left the bay. We really had a show. The whale hung around for twenty minutes or so. It was great even though I only got a picture of his tail when he dived. We also saw a group of basking Steller Sea Lions, and we saw tons of sea birds nesting along the the rocks that lined the bay. We saw puffins, kittiwicks, common murres and a tern looking bird. We also saw a sea otter floating out there just resting. We saw at least four bald eagles as well. We saw iceburgs coming from Bear Glacier. It was an action packed five hour boat trip. We had a forest ranger on board too, and she gave us a running commentary on what we were seeing. This place is almost as beautiful as the Denali park.

We leave for Homer tomorrow morning. It's drizzly today, but we've been lucky so far as far as sightseeing goes. It's always a beautiful day for the sights. That's all for now.

Love, Mom AND dAD

Denali National Park

We went to Denali National Park today. It was great. We'd heard that it is really rare to see the mountain because of the cloud cover. Well today was as clear as a bell. We could see both peaks of Mt. McKinley. It's over 20,000 ft. tall. The highest peak in North America. I got a picture of a moose; in fact we got pictures of two moose in two different places. We saw five grizzles. Two were a mated pair, and the other three were a mother and her three year old cubs. We saw a wolf but it was too far away to get a picture. We also saw a male moose with a hugh rack. He was up on a hill, so no picture. This was the best tour. The bus was late picking us up due to miscommunication. We were on and off the bus for about 14 hours. We stopped at the end of the road ( 92 miles) where a lodge is located. We had a lovely lunch and we could walk around before our trip back down the road. We got home about 8:00 this evening. The big joke here is we'll get back to our rig before the sun goes down. It never really sets until August. I hope you all get a chance to see this beautiful place.

That's all for tonight. Love, Mom and Dad

Fairbanks

I'm on your dad's computer because my modem sucks, and I can't get on line. Anyway the pictures are on my computer. So there will be none this time. But it's not too bad because you have seen most of what we've seen on the group blog. We have been very busy here in Fairbanks. For two days we lived on a tour bus. We saw the late Ididarod champ, Susan Butcher's dog kennels and watched her husband do a training run with a team of Huskys. They were pulling a quad with the man and his ten year old daughter on board. Boy could they run, and they appear to love the whole process. I'll not bore you with any more because you've heard it before.
Love to all, Mom and Dad

The Yukon

This is the first time in a week that we've got to stay in one place for more that one night. We are in Whitehorse, YT. We've been very busy here for the two whole days we've been able to explore. But let me start with the road to get here.

We drove 285 miles from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson We rode over several frost heaves on the way. At least most are marked so we could slow way down to get over them. We got to see the Heritage Museum that was next to the RV park. That was about all we did that day.

On Tuesday we headed out for Liard (Lee-ard) Provential park. We saw at least three caribou and a wild ram. We stopped for lunch at a roadside place that has a gift shop. We saw a sign that said, " I drove the Alaska Highway both ways, Dammit!"The park is a beautiful place. We dry camped again, but the scenery was outstanding. the trip that day was 185 miles. We went over to the hot springs thatare very famous up here for the "cures" the water is suppose to do. All we saw was steam rising from the water. It's said to be about 105 or 108 degrees. We didn't partake. We got a lot of mud and bug "guts" on the windshield.But that's an everyday occurence up here.

We went to Watson Lake next to put our sign up at the Sign Post Forest. I couldn't believe how many signs there were. We got overload looking at them. That night we went to a theater to see a show called the Northern Lights. It was wonderful. And it's probably the only way I'll see them since they can only be seen at night.

Here in Whitehorse, that is 289 miles from the last place we've seen an old stern wheeler, a museum about the ice age up here, and a vaudville show. It's eleven o'clock and the sun is still up. This about like it was in Scotland.

So far we've only been in three provences in Canada, and we've seen all kinds of flora and fauna. There are wild roses everywhere and some blue flowers as well as some sweet white ones close to the ground. We saw them on our walk to a waterfall. And we saw our moose finally. In fact we saw three that day. One was out in the middle of a river and another was a mother and her calf crossing the road. Both times the moose way there and then gone, so no pictures. But I saw them.

hat's all for now. Love, Mom and Dad PS I was having trouble with the pictures, so they are mixed up. It's mid-night and I'm done...