Skagway May 9-14

Wednesday: We stopped at the Visitor Center as we left Watson Lake. Lots of good pictures on the building of the Alaska Highway and some good dioramas. Also a good movie describing the highway construction. The Visitor Center is set at the edge of a signpost forest. People bring signs from their hometowns and post them here. I did see Boulder CO and Plano TX. We didn't bring a sign.

We planned to drive to Carcross, formerly Caribou Crossing, and spend the night there before heading across the border to Skagway. We headed toward great snow covered peaks with frozen rivers and lakes near the highway. We seldom see anything open and no animals, except a guy had stopped his car to take a picture of a marmot. The guy was getting too close even for the marmot's comfort and it was scurrying up the cut-bank.

We stopped at the Carcross Desert (Dunes) to read the display. The sand came from a lake deposit caused by glaciers. Looks like a lot of people do go tramping across the fragile dunes.

 Heading toward the snowy mountains

William at Carcross Desert

At Carcross we are told the RV campground will not open until June when the ground unfreezes. The cashier will sell you chips or gas however.

So up the mountain to the border we head. Good thing it stays light really late. Snow is blowing off of snow drifts at the side of the road. Snow is actually blowing into drifts on the road. The road is poorly built so melt water drains onto the road and refreezes, nice. White Pass became almost a whiteout.

At the US border we are stopped and asked to pull over and come inside. Luckily the agent decides we are harmless and tells us that the stop was just random (total lie) and we are free to go. We just say fine and scurry out.

Finally we check into a nice RV park on the waterfront. The wind is fierce enough to rock our little RV, but I make minestrone soup for dinner and we snuggle into the Hungarian goose down for the night.

Thursday: The next morning we set out for town bundled up so we look like bears only to find that most businesses in town are closed because there is no cruise ship in town. We wander around town and patronize the businesses that are open.

The Park Service Visitor Center is closed, but there is a great photo display with stories about the Klondike gold rush. But they have the heat set on about 80. I took off four layers. Back outside William offers to take my heavy coat back to the RV as he forgot his camera. It feels slightly warmer, but the wind is gale force. Once when we are walking a couple of blocks right into the wind, I feel like the skin on my face is going numb.

We ate lunch at the highly rated restaurant Starfire. I was not sure I wanted Thai, but the assortment of appetizers we chose as our lunch were superb. We brought home the large scoops of rice that came with the soups and I made fried rice for dinner.

We highly recommend the Starfire, the Hardware Store and the News Depot.

Friday: We get up early and make it to the Train Depot for the 8:15 excursion up to the White Pass. The first two cars are reserved for the Skagway Reunion crowd. Once a year for 60 years a group of people who have ever lived in Skagway gather for a reunion. This is the first time in a number of years they have actually come back to Skagway. Most recently they had been gathering in Seattle.

The third car is for cruise ship people and miscellaneous people like us. The other cars are for people who have taken tour buses down from Whitehorse.

The tour narrator on the train tells a story about President Harding's visit in 1923. Supposedly he brought both his wife and girlfriend. His wife found out and went for a walk to calm down. She was seen picking flowers. Monkshood grows around here and is a plant that poisons and causes death by imitating food poisoning.. Harding came down with food poisoning and died upon arriving in San Francisco a few days later. This is a story that apparently is just told here in Skagway.

Even though it is windy and rainy the trip is great.

Bridal Veil Falls

 The intrepid traveler

 The end of the train through a rainy window

 The heater

 the caboose the Forest Service rents as a cabin.

Another train tour had gone about 1/4 hour ahead of us intending to go to Fraser. The engine had a plow on the front, but it ran into too big a drift and got stuck. So our train had to stop at the top. They set the brakes and our engine went up to take the passenger cars off of the stuck engine and attach them to our train.

When the train stopped in front of the disembarkation point for the cruise ship passengers, we rushed off as soon as the conductor put down the stairs. We wanted us to be the first ones at the wharf restaurant, The Fish Company. We were. The place was packed eventually. But we were served first. Great food here.

The wind and rain were fierce after lunch, so we thought to just go by the RV to regroup. We stayed in.

The original Tlingit name for this area was Shgagwei or Skagua meaning whitecaps on the water or windy place. The Tlingit village was at Dyea, the protected arm of the inlet, with a shallow harbor and less wind.

Skagway harbor 

Saturday: The day was lovely, misty with NO wind. The stores are all open for the cruise ship today and more museums are open. Some highlights were the Mascot Saloon (Museum) and the Benjamin Moore house (Museum).

 The Mascot Saloon

 The Moore House

More Moore House

We visited the Sarah Palin Store. Everything was marked BOGO. I asked and was told it meant buy one get one.

Me and Sarah

The Days Of 98 Show about “Soapy” Smith had already begun their only show for the day. Their mock gambling house was deserted. We will have to stay over for the next show Tuesday the 15^th at 10:30. We have tickets for the ferry to Haines in the afternoon.

 Soapy's gambling house

The Statue Garden was most certainly closed, but a back gate had been left open and we toured it anyway. No one was around to tell us to leave. Whoever runs this had a different story to tell about the notorious con-man “Soapy” Smith. We learn he was quite the philanthropist for homeless dogs and burros and even donated to help build a church.

Statue Gardens

We found a giant rhubarb plant on our way to the Bombay Curry where we planned to have lunch, but it was closed. The cook's daughter's wedding was the posted reason.

Alaskan Rhubarb

Sunday: Happy Mothers Day. The Visitor Center is open today and running walking tours. No cruise ships come in on Sundays by agreement with the cruise ship companies. We have a private walk about town with a park service ranger. William gets to ask endless questions. One of my few questions was what is the stuffed animal on the cigar case in the Mascot Saloon. It is a rare blonde raccoon from West Virginia. Someone higher up in the park service thought this was a good idea years ago. Our guide thought that it was not. But I liked it.

Blonde raccoon

We also went to the McCabe Museum. This is a town museum. Well organized displays and with a good movie about the impact of WWII on Skagway. The military essentially ran the town for a few years, 1942-1946, in the push to protect Alaska from Japanese invasion and to get the Alaska Highway built. They took over the railroad and ran it at a huge rate to take supplies to the road.

Lunch today was back to the waterfront to the Stowaway Cafe. Great food here. Not an extensive menu. But each item was delicious.

Monday May 14^th : Happy Birthday to William. We will hike up to “Soapy” Smith's grave today and head to the Brewing Company for lunch. Windy and overcast. I am getting tired of this gray sweater. But Annie Hall, born 1870 in Nevada City, CA, and a pioneer to the Klondike, said a woman only needed one good dress in her gear.

On to the Yukon

Our trip today took us from Fort Nelson B.C. to Watson Lake Yukon.  We headed into the Rockies.  To build this part of the highway the Army used local trappers, hunters and bush pilots to plot out a route.

Today was a day for spotting animals.  We were not far outside of Fort Nelson when I spotted a lynx in the dry grass about 25 feet from the road.  He looked right at me.  We were going too fast for a picture.  But 60 kilometers further down the road we came upon caribou licking the road.  It had just rained in this spot and there was something they liked.  We had to drive around them.  Caribou are about a smart as cows.  Not very.

At Summit Lake a marmot popped his head up for a picture.  Really marmots are beggars. Since the Lake was still frozen, pickings had been slim for him.  He was probably hoping I would throw him a sandwich. No such luck.

Not much further on we saw some moose. Right before the big sign that said Caution Moose!

William coaxed them to turn and pose.

Toad River was the color of glacial melt water, blue-green opaque.  An elk with a big rack of antlers was hanging around the road near Muncho Lake.  The ice was cracking up on the lake.  A lot of the businesses along the highway seem to be either closed up or for sale. William says the tourist traffic to Alaska has been down.  We have met Alaskans rushing home to plant their gardens and other people headed to Alaska to visit like us.

Above Muncho Lake there is a big sign Caution Bison!  Along the cleared roadsides, about 50 feet wide, there are piles that really look like Buffalo Chips.  Finally we spot Buffalo at the Laird River.

We stop for lunch and a dip at the Laird Hot Springs. No charge as it is really not officially open yet.  But the Hot Springs are always available.  We walk about a 1/4 mile along a nice sturdy boardwalk to the springs.  There is a changing room and the pool is lovely.

We saw many more bison on the last leg of the day into Watson Lake.  We had our choice of the one RV Park in town that is open and functioning.  It has good wifi here in the laundry room and is right next to Wye Lake.  William went for a walk around the lake while I was blogging.  I was afraid he would take his discs with him and lose one on the lake ice in this howling wind.  The RV owner said it has been windy non stop for two years.  "It never used to be like this." 

The Alaska Highway

We started out from Lynx Creek Campground early this morning as we had 5 or 6 hours to drive depending on what book you read.  Since it was early, we saw about 8 deer in groups on the edge of the road.  Thankfully none of them decided to run across the highway.  Since they are just the color of the dead grass at the edge of the road, they were harder to spot than the big darker animals.

Finally we turn the corner on to the Alaska Highway. The US Army built the Alcan in 7 months in 1942.  In the days before privatization overtook the military, ordinary soldiers did the construction work. Thirty thousand of them.

This highway has become vital for the oil and gas industry in B.C.  Roads lead off on either side to fracking sites.  Huge work camps have been set up.  Portable buildings with 3 "apartments/rooms" are set up in rows.  

Mostly the road is dreary.  Wide mowed shoulders make it easier to watch for animals. But all we see is a small black bear running across the road in front of us near Pink Mountain. This is not my picture. But it looks like the bear that ran into the woods.

The facilities along our route  to Fort Nelson consist of widely spaced pullouts with litter baskets, bear proof.

We were delayed at one flagman stop for quite a while.  When we finally went by the site workmen were hosing off the road and I spotted a vehicle tires up off the road.  This was at the bottom of a long steep grade with a curve at the bottom.  We decided the firetruck we had seen go past in the opposite direction might have come from this accident.

The forest is odd. The trees are close together, spindly and almost like a pygmy forest in most places.  There must be a problem with the soil, because at times the trees were robust. If we had seen an office of the Forest District when we came into town, I would have liked to stop and ask what was up with the forest.

The gas gauge was approaching empty and we might have stopped for gas when we saw a Shell sign.  But it looked like the owners had just abandoned the shop.  Maybe they just took off to work in the gas fields.

The museum in town won't open until the weekend of the 19th of May. Some big Canadian holiday.  William says Victoria Day.  The visitor center was supposed to be open, but had a big closed sign on it.  The RV park cashier speculated that they were cleaning up after some big trade show that they had over the weekend.

We made good time, so we stopped early. But this is a good spot and William needed a break.

  

Further North More Wildlife

This morning started about 2AM when I got up to use the bathroom.  I saw the supermoon and pulled the upper passenger window curtains to have a good view.  William said it would have looked better low to the horizon, but there were too many trees.
We headed north out of Prince George B.C. on 97 and saw a lot of wildlife in the next 100 Kilometers.  We were looking at the snow on the side of the road and partially frozen lakes.  But thankfully kept an eye on the road.
First before Bear Lake we saw a small black bear, less than 2 years old,  who changed his mind about crossing the road when he saw us.  Not too long after we saw a moose about the same age as the bear who also turned back from the road.
Then there was a highway sign. Accident ahead, stop for flagman.  When we were waved past there was a twisted and burnt up RV that had been loaded on a flatbed.  You could still smell the smoke though the accident had obviously happened hours before. Some other workmen were shoveling ash? off of the roadway. This was on a straight stretch of highway.  Maybe the RV had swerved for an animal?
Four eyes were watching carefully for anything on or near the road.  Not long after we saw two caribou. One just stood in the roadway and another with antlers in velvet just loped across in front of us before they ambled off together.

Finally we got to Chetwynd.  I took this picture of a Sikh Temple that was right next to a grocery store we stopped at.
Tonight we are camped near Hudson's Hope.  The wine was purchased in Canada.  They don't let you bring much in.  This was not a great wine. Took two nights to finish it. Note the screw top.

This picture is looking across the Peace River at the bluffs where we are told elk often come to graze.  No elk now, but plenty of terracets on the hillsides that are evidence of their passage.

Eagle in the ditch

May 5th
Today we continued north.  Some of the light rain was snow spit.  We came upon a huge blood spot on the road from a road kill and there was a lovely eagle sitting proudly on the kill in the ditch.

Pretty uneventful day otherwise.  We went through a nice museum in Quesnel.

They have a big festival called Billy Barker Days in July.  So I asked who was Billy Barker and was told that he was a miner who really struck it rich in the nearby historic town of Barkerville.  He died a poor man however as he spent all his riches on whiskey and women.  We are staying at SouthPark RV Park outside of Prince George.  Snow at the edge of the swampy hiking trails.

First day in Canada

May 4

We went through border security this AM.  Not too bad. We did get pulled over, but just to get rid of some broccoli, cauliflower and an apple.  The other fruits and vegetables we had were OK.
Most of our trip today was through steep u shaped valleys.  Probably glacial shaped.
When it was sunny I spotted a marmot sunning on a boulder.
We traveled on mostly back roads from Osoyoos to Cache Creek. Near the end of the day we passed "Otto" driving the empty school bus back, smoking what might have been a cigarette, or not.  He was really racing along.  The only time we could beat him was up hill.  He knew all the twists and turns.    

Poised at the Border

May 3
We had to stop to get a leak in the gray water system fixed this AM. Luckily it was not too involved and we headed back up 97A to our next stop, the Rocky Reach Dam.  Only one lonely fish on the fish ladder.  But the Museum was interesting and very well done.  We stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe, the Apple Cup.  Always careful with the calories I opted for the veggie wrap and cup of soup.  The wrap was 90% shredded lettuce with a whiff of cream cheese.  William had the beef super burrito.  It looked like a tank on his plate.  He brought a chunk back.  We traveled through more semi arid country with apple orchards watered by river irrigation.  In Oroville we are staying at the River Oaks RV Resort.  After I did the laundry we took a hike around town before dinner. The weather continues to be cloudy and cold with misty rain.  The locals have said the springs recently have been much wetter than normal in this country that normally gets only 10 inches of rain per year.  Tomorrow we head into Canada. 

From April to May

Days 4,5 & 6

April 30, May 1 and May 2

Days are flying by but we are traveling slowly as we are stopping to see the sights on the way and we go through museums very slowly. Bill says, “ We keep the old lady docents awake when we are there.”

We both found the Yakama Nation Museum in Toppenish WA a lovely spiritual experience. It was a place to slowly meditate through. We boondocked this night at a free BLM campground in the Yakima River Canyon. We crossed the river on a suspension bridge and hiked along a long trail next to the river.

The next day we stopped in Cashmere and went to the Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village. The Museum had its high points and low points. I am less fond of museums that are just collections donated by individuals. The natural history dioramas were worth going to the museum.
The Pioneer Village which is on the museum grounds was impressive. The individual cabins were moved to this location and furnished authentically. Very worthwhile.

We spent last night at the Wenatchee Confluence State park. No rangers, just a rather poor method of self pay for campsites. This is blamed on funding cutbacks.

This morning we spent a long time hiking around the Ohme Gardens. Interestingly the State gave this site over to the county to manage in 2008. The county had a county jail inmate crew weeding.

We hiked up and down across the park on stone paths and stairs. Amazing stone benches and lots of waterfalls.

We lunched out in Wenatchee at a small restaurant recommended by the young cashier at the Gardens, The Tropical Salvadorean. We tried for authentically Salvadorean dishes. William had a hand made corn tortilla cooked with meat and cheese inside and a sandwich of some kind of fry bread with chicken and avocado. I had a plate that was called a salad with fried cassava root, pork, slaw and hot sauce. We will have leftovers and a few more vegetables for dinner.

We walked to the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Much of the downstairs is being redone, but we enjoyed what was available. The Great Northern Railroad diorama was fun. I put in quarters to run the train and sound the whistle and horn. A docent demonstrated how all the old apple sorting machines worked. She had to take the lift back upstairs. We were OK with the stairs. William liked the apple labels and the crouching man statue in front.

Tonight we are back at the Wenatchee Confluence State park. The campers on either side of us must be here for the Apple Blossom Festival that gets into high gear tomorrow. We don't plan to stay. They both have raging bonfires and stacks of wood, fancy tablecloths and pots of flowers on the table.

Three Days Closer to Alaska

4/29/12

This morning we spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the warm mineral pool at Kah-nee-tah. I thought to get some exercise by treading water in the 10 foot deep end. The only problem with this is I float well anyway and even better in highly mineralized water. I was out there more than ½ hour. Maybe I got some exercise.

We took off at about one intending to go on a back road through the reservation, but we had forgotten that we turned off the main road to get to Kah-nee-tah. We had to turn around and backtrack a few miles.

After we crossed the Columbia we went up to the Stonehenge replica that Samuel Hill built as a memorial to the local World War I dead. We were here before in 1979. We took the kids out of school in 2/79 and traveled up here for a spectacular total solar eclipse. Our first ever. We watched it from the parking lot of the Maryhill Art Museum.

After visiting the replica we decided to camp nearby at Peach Beach Campark. A few geese here and 13 babies. I don't think 13 will make it to adulthood. Maybe 2 or 3. But geese can't count, so it will be OK.

Now I am finally posting.  My laptop was having a problem and it took the high speed internet here at Peach Beach to fix it.

Snug As Bears

4/28/2012

We were as snug as two bears in a nest under the down comforter this morning despite the cold temperature. But William got up to start the coffee. Darn. The bag of coffee was a bag of whole beans. We rushed around and pulled out of Collier State Park in 45 minutes, looking for coffee.

We stopped at Diamond Lake Junction Cafe. We were the only ones there. The waitress also did the cooking. The food was very good but not very weight watchery. We both ate just half and took the other half in to go boxes. The waitress/cook was not good at addition however and William had to correct her addition on our bill.

After we found an Albertsons in Bend to buy ground coffee (we also ground the bag we had). We went on to Smith Rock State Park outside of Terrebonne. It was really crowded, mostly with rock climbers. Thankfully there was a spot left in the RV parking. We walked from one end of the upper area to the other and all along the Rim trail, stopping to look at the tiny climbers inching their way up the huge rock formations.

After lunch we drove on and stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint. Three hundred feet straight down the cliff face. “Watch your dogs. Many dogs have died here.”

It was getting time to stop for the night so we headed to Kah-Nee-Ta in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. We will soak in the hot springs pool in the morning.

We Leave Redding

4/27/2012 Time to get busy writing. Our trip officially began today as we pulled out from our friends and almost relatives house, Frank and Robbin Borden, in Redding. We are heading north to Alaska. Our first side trip was outside of Weed on highway 97. We stopped at the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden. Ten huge and unique welded sculptures capture many feelings about soldiers and war. You can tell that a lot of emotion went into these sculptures.

Photo of The Nurses sculpture.

 As we passed through Klamath Falls I reminisced about my family's move from Florida. Dad was looking at a trade school in Klamath Falls, but when we arrived he did not like how it looked, so we headed down to the bay area. What if we had stayed in Klamath Falls? Children are at the mercy of where their parents take them. I certainly would not have gone to Berkeley.
 We wound up in a tiny apartment in Richmond. I slept in the living room on the couch. We went out to pick fruit and mom canned in the tiny pullman kitchen. I was almost 12 and was let to ride public transportation to the library and wander around the neighborhood. We were in the East Bay about 2 months before moving to Daly City across the bay.

 Our next stop was at the Collier State Park Logging Museum. William appreciated the logging equipment more than I did. Although the wood fired locomotive nicknamed the old GOP (get out and push) for its habit of running off the tracks, was funny.

We are nested in at the state campground just across the highway at the confluence of Spring Creek and the Williamson River. It is quite cold and spit a few bits of snow. I think the Hungarian goose down comforter we brought along in case of cold weather will be just right.

 William has prepared the typical Baker bonfire for later.