The Most Excellent Adventures of Two Old Prunes

Sob, goodbye California

2011-11-22T21:04:00.001-05:00

PortHueneme

Ventura harbor is kind of a mix of very expensiveboats,

shops and eateries. Then there isa free beach with lots of sand and surfers.

No one really goes into the water here without a wet suit.

Did I say the water was cold? It is a great place to people watch.

The Reagan Library is about 25 miles from here in SimiValley. A lot of money went intoit. It sits high on a hill overlookingthe entire valley.

They actually managed to get Air Force One into abuilding built especially for it. Thatmust have been something to see. Raysaid they removed the wings and the fuselage then trucked the whole mess to thetop of the hill and put it all back together.

As is the case with presidential libraries, it was very well done and wemanaged to spend quite a few hours touring the place. The library was NOT funded with your taxdollars in case you were worried about that. They used all private donations.

Mission Santa Barbara and San Buena Ventura are justtwo of the missions that dot this area of California. They are not (at least to our old eyes) asinteresting or as unique as those found in San Antonio and New Mexico but theyare beautiful.

Oxnard is a clone of Ventura with sand, surfers, boatsand a nice little harbor. People actuallytalk to you here which is very nice.

Our reason for coming here was to see the ChannelIslands NP. Well, we did see the movieand listened to a ranger-led discussion and we even booked a trip but, guesswhat, it was cancelled due to weather. We did see the closest island from shore and you can see theweather.

It is frustrating when you havetemperatures of 65, lots of sunshine and there is a storm in the harbor thatkeeps you on shore. We are definitelyjinxed on these special trips.

Oh, well, we are off to Joshua Tree.

JoshuaTree NP

How many of you remember that I had to beg and pleadand promise Ray our first born son to take me to this park? He finally agreed but he kicked and screamedthe whole way. Well, hope the old boyenjoys his dish of crow.

We were delayed getting to the park for quite a while. There was a truck towing a fifth wheel and,for some reason, the man driving lost control and the whole thing turnedover. A good Samaritan managed to getthe man out and disconnect the batteries but he couldn’t get the wife out. Another guy drove back to the nearest townfor the sheriff. After an hour anemergency helicopter came and took the man away and it was another hour beforethe wife was freed and also taken by helicopter to Vegas, we think. It was sad to see the truck and trailerstrewn all over the road. Ray has drivena little more carefully since.

After a whole lot of “Oh wows” just looking at thescenery on the way into Joshua Tree, it just kept getting better. The park itself has so many eco systems thatyou just go from one view to the next with your mouth hanging open.

The park campground left something to bedesired but, luckily, there was a marine base nearby and more centrally locatedso we headed there giving up our last night in the national park but we did endup staying an extra day just so we wouldn’t miss anything. Did you know that there is snow on some of the mountains in this park?

The Mohave Desert has the Joshua Trees while theColorado Desert has Chollas.

They meetin a kind of no-man’s land where a little bit of both come together.

The fall colors are really beautiful but you just haveto like deserts and this kind of place makes it easy.

Of course, the desert has some of the mostspectacular sunsets EVER.

DeathValley NP

Our next stop was Death Valley. Ray griped the whole time about the troublehe had to go to just to get to the place. As soon as we drove in, he asked for and managed to get us an extra night.

I guess you just have to see this place tobelieve it. It is surrounded bymountains.

and the valley has everything fromsalt flats

to briny streams.

It isdefinitely desolate at first glance but teeming with life if you look hardenough. It may be called Death Valleybut there is lots of critters and plants that call this place home. Survival is hard with temperatures reaching upwardsof 120 during the summer and lows hovering at the 100 mark. There are marvelous sand dunes,

salt flats,

the colorful display of the Artist's Pallet,

and let's don't forget those wonderful sunsets at Zabriskie's Point.

We were lucky and enjoyed temps in themid-seventies with lows in the forties and fifties. The campground was over a hundred feet belowsea level and one lady commented that, after the mountains, it was like havinganother lung.

For those of you old enough to remember borax, this isthe home of Twenty Mule Team Borax and remnants of the mining operation and thewagons are still around today.

Danged ifwe know what the heck it was used for but seems to have been an ingredient inlots of stuff. Ray keeps forgetting togoogle it.

All of this desert living has caused a huge thirst andwe are beginning to think there isn’t enough water in the world to quenchit. I can’t believe that some peopleactually come here in the summer but the ranger assures us that they do. My lips are chapped, my hands are dried upand I think I found a couple of more wrinkles that weren’t there earlier. I am starting to look like an iguana! Help me! I need another drink of water (never thought I would take water overwine.)

Most everything here is named after the devil. There is the devil’s golf course,

the devil’scornfield and Dante’s Peak just to name a few. To tell you the truth, I think hell might look a little more appealingin the summer months.

Well, after all this talk of the devil, it is off tosin city – Vegas baby!

The California Bays

2011-11-05T20:24:00.000-04:00

Monterey

We arrived with the truck spitting some serious blackexhaust. Both of us were worried but wemanaged to get to the campground, clean up the cat barf (she may have beengassed) and call the Ford dealer who said to bring it in and they would takecare of it. Ray rented the cutest littleNissan Cube that it made the waiting to see what was up with the truck almostbearable. I want to own one of thoseCubes.

We were given free tickets for the aquarium by the ladywho checked us into the campground. Thatwas a savings of almost $60; life can be really good sometimes. The aquarium itself is world class. The jellies and the seahorses captured ourattention and we kept going back to their exhibits.

We took the Cube and went to Cannery Row. Touristy but still worth the visit. We evidently brought the fog with us but thisarea has lots of fog anyway.

Lots of old missions in the area and Carmel has abeauty - Mission San Carlos Borromeo.

Wemanaged to spend the greater part of a morning there until the Ford dealercalled and said the truck was ready.

On the way to pick up the truck we decided to see alittle of Ocean Drive. The fog neverlifted as promised by the weatherman but the coast was still stunning.

The truck got fixed (for free). Something to do with one of the fuel injectors. They ordered the part, put it in and we hadto turn in the Cube. I loved that littlecar. I wonder if it could tow the fifthwheel?

Next on our list was the Pacific Coast Highway. What a drive and the one everyone talks aboutfor good reasons. It is absolutelystunning and the most beautiful stretch of coastline in the world. Really!

The section that goes through Pebble Beach will cost you $9.50 but thattoo is worth it. Well, you have all seenthe golf course on TV but it is even more beautiful in real life.

What do you suppose they do with thatmoney? Surprisingly enough, the homesaround the golf course weren’t very ritzy looking. Many of them looked like 50’s style ranchers.

Well, time to leave Monterey and head further down thecoast to Morro Bay.

MorroBay

This is where we are going to retire. We absolutely love this little town. It has everything from a really big rock inthe bay

to lots of wildlife in the waters surrounding the town.

Not only that but we found some of the bestolive oil and balsamic vinegar that was made right in the area. Did I mention that Paso Robles wine area isjust a twenty minute drive and they have some marvelous blends andcabernets. And yes, we may have bought acouple of cases (we are a long way from home.) Natives refer to the town simply as Paso.

San Louis Obispo is called SLO (pronounced slow) mainlybecause it takes too long to say and way too many letters if you are going towrite it down. They have a lovelybotanical garden (yes, things bloom in October here)

and another one of thoseSpanish missions.

We took a trip to see the breeding grounds of elephantseals. The sub-adults have come ashorenow to practice fighting and to rest up.

They are a treat to watch and their barking can be heard for miles. We spent several hours there then returnedlater in the day to watch them some more. The males will start coming ashore in December and the females willfollow in January. They have their pupsright on the beach. The males evidentlywill spend their time fighting with other males for the privilege ofmating. They are enormous creatures,well over 5000 pounds.

Hearst Castle was REALLY expensive and not worth themoney. Biltmore is much more beautifuland you get a lot more for the price of admission. Of course, if you are in the area you have tosee the place.

Now that Hearst Castle is out of our system time to seesome of the more natural areas that surround this bay. Montana de Oro SP is one such jewel and, likemany California parks, it is free.

BayShore park is a breeding ground for Cormorants who, when not breeding, poopeverywhere. Pigeons don’t have anythingon these birds.

The fog really gave thissection of the coast a ghostly beauty.

Did you know that Monarch butterflies come to Pismobeach for R&R. The trees fill upwith these lovely creatures and people come from all over to stand andgawk. We also came to stand andgawk. They start arriving late Octoberso we have only caught a smidgen of what it will look like when the eucalyptustrees fill up.

For lack of anything else to do, Ray and I spent oneentire afternoon taking photos of pelicans diving for fish in Morro Bay. We have lots of pictures of water, some ofthe splash, many of them flying overhead but only one of an actual dive. Of course, I’m the one who managed to captureit.

Ray is so jealous. The bay also had Sea Otters, Great Blue Herons, and seals.

That should give you anidea how much fish live in these waters.

Capturing a sunset on the last night was a fitting endto our visit in Morro Bay.

We reallyhate to leave here but it is off to Port Hueneme near Ventura and the gatewayto the Channel Islands.

RIP

Phoebe

1993-2011

She was a cranky old girl who really didn't care for her humans but she did learn to tolerate us over the years. She was famous for barfing but always felt guilty about it. Our furniture will show signs of her passing for years. She was well-traveled having visited both Canada and the USA; 45 states including Alaska. She will missed.

California

2011-10-27T15:24:00.002-04:00

SanFrancisco

Hello California! We are just outside of San Francisco near the heart of the Californiawine country thinking we have died and gone to heaven. First of all, the traffic turned out to be anon-problem because there just wasn’t as much of it as we expected. Of course, we haven’t done rush hour yet. We have learned a few tips about Californiadrivers though. Firstly, they do notmerge until the merge lane ends and not one inch before no matter how large theopening is. Secondly, the little dottedline that separates two or more lanes of traffic going in the same direction isfor motorcycles.

Awful photo I know but just wait until thefirst one sneaks up on you and see if you can keep your pants dry!

Al and Gail are here but have been busy with their sonthat, outside of a happy hour the night we arrived, we haven’t seen them. The truck keeps disappearing so we know theyare in the area.

Our first priority was to get our bearings whichinvolved collecting a lot of tourist guides that we don’t have enough time toread especially if we actually want to see something. We did figure out that the best way to getinto San Francisco is by ferry from Vallejo, a city about 45 minutes from us. The ferry is pretty cheap especially if youare members of the oldster’s club and it drops you off at Fisherman’s Wharf andthe parking to catch the ferry is free. OK, we have the ins and outs for getting to San Fran so our next bigthing is how to do wine country. I mean,this is WINE COUNTRY, and there is an awful lot of it. Armed with maps for all the different areasand more brochures on all the wineries we have decided that we will have toretire here just to do them justice.

So where did our first trip take us – Sonoma Coast SPthrough Bodega Bay and on down to Point Reyes NS and lighthouse. The coastline was stunning and the smalltowns along the way were charming.

Again, there was very little traffic which came as a pleasant surprise. Trips of any kind take a long time herethough because distances are deceiving and when you throw in a few stops alongthe way it is well past happy hour after you get home. The same was true on this trip and theculprit was that darn lighthouse. Wehave never been to one that is more remote. It took forever to drive to it down a semi-paved road through farmlandsthat dated back to the 1800’s and were still in use by descendants of theoriginal families. The road was full oftight curves that required a speed limit of 10 MPH. Once you arrived at the lighthouse, you weregreeted with a series of over 300 steps to get you down to it. Not the prettiest lighthouse ever made anddefinitely not worth all those steps.

All of that climbing required a day of rest and, if youremember, we have gotten very good at the resting part. Staying on a military bas does have itsdisadvantages in the sleeping department though because they are firm believersin reveille being blasted out over loud speakers at some ungodly hour of themorning so it can be heard by absolutely everyone within a forty mileradius. Does the sound of freedom haveto be so noisy? Whatever happened towalk softly and carry a big stick? Sigh!

The resting got us geared up for Sonoma winecountry. We were advised that Sonoma wasa lot friendlier and less snooty than Napa. As it happens, it was the farthest point we planned on going so westarted there. The grapes are almostready for harvest and the vines are bursting. The smell as you drive down the highway is intoxicating (but most likelywill not get you a pass on a DUI citation.) We did take in quite a few wineries that were housed in buildings thathave to be seen to be believed.

Thetasting rooms were five deep in tasters and it was pretty darn near impossibleto elbow your way to the front. Once youdid find your little spot of paradise, most of them wanted to charge you theprice of a bottle to taste their wines. A few gave you your money back if you made a purchase but most didnot. My blue jeans and tee shirt did notendear me to many of these places but I did get to taste a few wonderfulwines. We are concentrating on thosewines that you can only purchase at the winery itself because a lot of theseplaces also produce the grocery store variety and they will even sell you someat an inflated price. Bottom line, somewineries are snooty even in Sonoma but most are very friendly and love to talkabout and teach you about their wines. They also like to sell them to you and we were happy to let them.

Sonoma called for another day of rest. You do realize that these rest days involvedriving all over the area looking for cat food that didn’t contain any fish ordairy so the cat wouldn’t barf? It alsoinvolved laundry, cleaning the carpet to get rid of cat barf, and groceryshopping. Day of rest, phooey!

We are now feeling brave enough to tackle the ferry toSan Francisco. We caught the 10 AMwithout any problems; it was a catamaran that held 300 people.

The ride took about an hour and dropped usoff at Fisherman’s Wharf.

The area was alittle tacky with lots of people from the various restaurants and storeshawking their wares. It reminded us ofthe Las Vegas girly shows that handed out fliers on every street corner. Gets to be a pain. We wondered around for a bit, had lunch and thenRay, in all his wisdom, said “Let’s go see the crookedest street in America.” Have you seen the streets in this city? They are literally straight up. I emphasize UP.

It was a twelve block walk from the bay andstraight UP. Once you arrived there, itwas straight UP again to get to the top of the drive.

If I had had enough strength left I think Icould have murdered Ray and gotten off with a warning. My thighs hate me and my butt is starting tolook toned. What’s up with that? The fog here is not exaggerated. Alcatraz and The Bridge were fogged in butthat somehow added to their attractiveness.

Two more days of rest were called for here but Isettled instead for a trip to Napa where I plan to lighten Ray’s wallet inretaliation for all the UPs in my life. Thestories about Napa being snooty turned out not to be true. We visited during the week so there were lesscrowds to deal with. We had a greattime. At Sterling Vineyards you get toride a tram up to the tasting rooms and winery. The building itself is white and looks like a Greek villa.

Stunning. Sterling is the king of grocery store wines but they do make a few thatare only sold at the winery and some of them are very good. We also hit a few wineries that are calledboutique wineries. We really enjoyedthose the most because you won’t even see their name much less their winesoutside of Napa. Surprisingly enough,their wine prices were comparable to all the others we visited. Many of the wineries had picnic areas and alot of them also sold artisan cheeses and breads.

One notable winery (V. Sattui) sold completemeals to picnic on or take home. We didboth.

I felt that Ray’s wallet had suffered enough and myrevenge was complete so we headed home. Thestorage space under our bed is quickly filling up with wines and we aresleeping much better. We are notfinished with Napa yet and still have Paso Robles (Zinfandels) to go to. We may have to get a king size bed. By the way, just in case you were wondering,we aren’t drinking any of our good wines; oh no, we are saving them for when weget home. Its grocery store wines for menow. Sigh!

Another rest day allowed Ray to get the routinemaintenance done on the truck and me to do absolutely nothing. Really, not one darn thing.

Back to Napa, more wine, more food (the best darn pizzaEVER) and lots of those little white charge slips for Ray’s wallet. We have had to move most of the wine out fromunder the bed. It was beginning to getto the point that it would put too much strain on the slide mechanism. Thankfully, we do have room in the“basement”.

Our last trip in the area took us back to San Franciscoand China Town. We rode a cable car,

walked through the financial

and shopping districts,

saw some painted ladies

and hada wonderful meal in a Chinese restaurant.

I actually ate the entire meal with chopsticks. Ray had to break down and ask for afork.

China Town borders on Little Italyand the whole area is something to see. Everynationality is represented in one way or another and English is the predominantlanguage. It is even spoken in ChinaTown. Much more interesting thanFisherman’s Wharf in our opinion. Although Ray swore that the trolley would leave us off at the top of thehills and we would only have to walk back down to the wharf – he lied. My glutes really do look great.

Al and Gail came by to say farewell. They had a great visit with their son and are on the way to San Diego before heading for home. We will miss them and wish them a safe journey.

Our next stop is Monterey.

Glacier NP to California

2011-10-12T14:25:00.001-04:00

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

East Glacier

We are finally home again and it sure feels good. They even speak the language here. Of course it is still remote. This portion of the park is surrounded by the Blackfeet Nation. There are no Walmarts and only one grocery store thirty miles away. Still, it looks like the good old US of A and we are glad to be back.

We have been to Glacier NP twice before years ago. It has ranked as our #1 favorite park of all time so we were looking forward to seeing again after having been to so many other parks. Will it hold up? Hard to say.

The weather was hazy due to fires in other states and the sun just couldn’t make it through that haze. There was no big sky in Montana during our stay. The Going to the Sun Road was being redone and the dust and construction work managed to ruin the most beautiful section of that road.

I know it had to be done but wish they had waited because now we have to come back.
Because it was fall most of the waterfalls had dried up also.

The Many Glacier Hotel was being redone and looked its age. A private company bought it and who knows what will happen when they finish with their updating. Will you still have to walk up five flights of stairs to get to your room on the top floor? Will college students working for the summer still run your luggage upstairs for you? One thing is for sure, lightening will still dance around in the valley that holds the hotel in its heart and thunder will roll from mountain to lake and there will still be no better place in the world to see a spectacle like that.

We did have full moon while on this side of the park so we spent a lot of time trying to find the best vantage point to capture it. Wild Goose Island in St. Mary Lake was the logical place to go because it is the most photographed island in the park.

Red Rock Lake and falls was another of our memories that we wanted to revisit.

Then there was St. Marys falls and Virginia Falls. No way we could miss those.

Did I mention Sunrift Gorge?

Two-Medicine Lake?
That lake and its waterfall was even prettier than we remembered it.

The drive to Two-Medicine was worth it since it was a really narrow winding road that hugged the side of a mountain.

We only drove a small portion of the Going to the Sun Road but did manage to find a few Big Horn Sheep at Logan Pass.

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

West Glacier

Ok, here were our plans for this side of the park.

Lake McDonald at sunset and at any other time of the day we could manage to spent some time on its shores.

Drive the entire length of the Going to the Sun Road

Hike the Trail of the Cedars (OK, it is just a walk but this is my blog).

Hike to Avalanche Lake (this is a real hike and it hurt my thighs).

We managed to catch some reflections at Lake McDonald the first day and that was the absolute last time there were any reflections during the daytime.

We also had lunch with a bear. Well, he ambled through before we started eating but we did keep a sharp eye out in case he was of a mind to come back.

Sunset at the lake was worth it also.

As noted before, the construction on the Going to the Sun road really made the trip less than noteworthy. The lower portions took us past Sacred Dancing Waters, a lovely mountain stream with lots of cascades that make a lot of noise as it tumbles down from the mountains.

Trail of the Cedars led to Avalanche Gorge and waterfalls. Very nice.

Besides being long, the trip to Avalanche Lake was steep and the lake was not the prettiest we have seen. It is surrounded by lovely mountains with a waterfall or two trying to keep it filled but there were lots of downed trees in both the lake and on the trail that spoiled its beauty.

The trip back to the trailhead did yield some lovely cascades that made my screaming thighs think it was worth it.

Time to move on towards California. We plan on doing a lot of resting along the way so we will be moving fast.

Idaho

We stayed at a lovely Core of Engineers campground and decided we may retire here. Lovely weather and some nice people too. Lots of Canadians as it is pretty close to the border. We didn’t do a thing but sit around. Time to move on.

Washington

Another COE camground and another spot where we did even less than in Idaho. We aren’t too far from the Columbia Gorge but we have been there a couple of times already and decided that doing nothing felt too good to give it up for a few waterfalls.

Moving on.

Oregon

Bend, Oregon found us at the most expensive campground on the whole trip. It was almost like staying in a first class hotel right down to the hot tub. We had been resting so much that Ray decided we needed to do it in style. We paid a visit to the high desert museum while here and, of course, went to the Deschutes Brewery so Ray could compare the beer with that of Canada and Alaska. The food was good.

Leaving Bend we thought we were headed toward the beach. Love those Oregon beaches but decided that maybe we should head for Crater Lake instead. Why not? It was an idea that almost didn’t work. We arrived on the last night of their season so we parked and took the drive around the lake. There was a rainbow over Wizard Island. How cool is that.

The temperature dropped to the low 30’s so we were actually kind of glad we could only spend one night.

Since we nixed the beach idea we then decided to explore the Valley of the Rogue. Great wine country, some neat little towns, Harry and David have their factory there and the state park was one of the best we have seen this side of the Mississippi.

As it turned out, we have become so used to doing nothing that we really didn’t do much of anything here either. Pears were just coming into season and we decided that was a good time to tour Harry and David’s factory. Everything there is done by hand and a not very cost effective way of doing business but rather nice to see anyway.

We did hit a few wineries and found some wonderful bargains but not at the wineries. They really don’t give you a price deal but the tastings are nice and you do tend to learn something about wine.

There was a wildlife safari that you could drive through that was interesting. They rescue injured wildlife and were especially noted for breeding cheetahs. Lots of photo ops there.

This area along the Rogue River is really beautiful. Another place we are going to retire too. I have no idea how many times you can retire but we are going to push it to the max.

It is off to California now. Mixed feelings about it. The thought of traffic terrifies me and Ray’s driving is not what it should be. I scream a lot now but we want to see things so here we go. Besides, the raisins will be there and we have missed them.

Farewell to Canada

2011-09-24T20:27:00.000-04:00

Lake Louise

Banff NP, AB

From Jasper it was off to Lake Louise. Everybody has seen photos of Lake Louise. If you haven't just google it because our photos are just not that great.

It just so happens that Lake Louise gets all the attention but Moraine Lake is the best kept secret in the area. It is so much prettier and surrounded by some awesome mountains. To really take advantage of the color of the lake you have to get up high. Moraine Lake allows you to do it. Take a hike up the rock pile, see some Pika,

take some photos

and voila, you have beautiful pictures to show all your friends. To do it at Lake Louise, you have to rent an expensive room on the top floor of Chateau Lake Louise.

This is Ray's new dream so all of you who are wondering what to get us for our 50th anniversary need look no further. (Mom still has her eye on something else.)

A rainy day sent us to Yoho NP and Takakkaw Falls.

The falls speak for themselves but the drive to get there was like everywhere around this area, stunning.

We also drove up to Bow Summit, the highest pass on the Icefields parkway. Guess what, it was snowing. Yep, fluffy flakes fell on our little South Carolina heads. The views of Peyto Lake from summit suffered because of the flurries as it most likely would have been much more beautiful if it hadn't been snowing but, what the heck, we just don't see that much snow.

Banff NP, AB

The town of Banff is central to the national park. It is an all season resort town with most of the tourists coming for winter sports. Jasper is its poorer cousin. It is a thirty minute drive from Lake Louise. The whole town can we accessed on foot. The shops here are upscale. The restaurants have chefs. I found myself actually thinking about panty hose then Ray whopped me up the side of the head and I came to my senses. Turned out that you can have a pretty decent Alberta AAA steak at a nice casual place called Mellissa’s.

We really just took some down time in this part of the park. We spent one day on the Bow Valley Parkway,

a scenic drive that included a hike to a waterfall.

After an attempt on the holiday weekend (this was both the American and Canadian Labor Day) we gave up trying to find a parking spot in town and went to the local botanical garden instead.

Cascades of Time Gardens has a lovely ring to it don’t you think?

Time to hop back in the truck, hitch up the house and head on down the road to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Our first stop will be on the Canadian side.

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Waterton

The jewel in the crown of this National Park is the Prince Edward Hotel. The hotel itself is kind of shabby but you can’t beat its location.

Whoever came up with the idea to put the hotel on the hill is to be commended because it couldn’t sit in a better place. The view from the bar isn’t too bad either now that I think about it.

How would I know what the view from the bar was like? You will just have to guess.

The campground had its own waterfall that can be heard from our campsite. It is a real beauty too.

Along with the waterfall, there were several entertaining critters that occupied the campground.

We spent quite a bit of time chasing the evening light that lit up the prairies and mountains in the surrounding area. Everything turned into gold because of the grasses. We could look at that kind of stuff all day.

A trip to Cameron Lake went to prove that Lake Louise doesn’t have a monopoly on beautiful lakes. We beat the tourist boat crowd which just messes up those lovely reflections.

Although this lake scene looks peaceful and beautiful and a wonderful place to be on a sunny day, rest assured it was 32 degrees and we didn't think to take coats. Freezing!
Red Rock Canyon was supposed to be worth seeing but the canyon itself was barely visible due to the overgrowth but there was a really nice waterfall to make the hike worthwhile.

All in all, these Canadians know how to do their national parks. I hate to admit it but we wish ours were as well-run and as user friendly. We were really surprised that we enjoyed them as much as we did and we will certainly not hesitate to visit a few more of them.
Time to go home and it will be good to be back. Our next stop is Glacier NP which is the American half of the International Peace Park.

Cassiar Highway and Jasper

2011-09-15T12:15:00.000-04:00

The Cassiar Highway

We spent four days in three camgrounds on this highway. It is an alternative to the Al-Can. All three campgrounds were provincial parks (the equivalent to our state parks) and all were located on lakes so the views were stunning. We actually had two semi-sunny days at the first two and were able to enjoy the view.

Boya Lake

Kinaskan Lake

We decided to spend two days at the last one and have a little rest. The temperature dropped down into the 40's and the rain started and never stopped. The view was probably the best of the bunch if we could have seen it. Rumor has it there are mountains behind the lake.

Maziadin Lake

There are black bear everywhere here. You mainly see them sauntering across the road. They move too fast for photographing them (at least for me) but it is fun to see them anyway. After we set up our campsite, we even saw a big guy walking along the lakeside.
We did take a day trip to Hyder, AK. The Stewart highway is definitely the most beautiful highway in the world. Mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, this road had it all.

There was no border crossing to get into Hyder. No one in their right mind would want to go to Hyder for any reason. It is pothole city. I mean there are so many potholes that even bicyclists had problems getting around. We found a '69 VW bus buried in one of the larger ones. No one inside so we aren't sure whether they escaped or just disintegrated after so many years.
Hyder is known for its bear population. For $5.00, you get the privilege of standing on a boardwalk and looking at where bear would be if they had them. Actually, the Golden Age Passport got us in for free but it didn't get us a glimpse of a bear. To give them their due, the rivers were running so high (from all the rain) that the bears would have drowned trying to catch anything. Wonder if they will use the money to fill in those potholes? We did catch a young bear feasting on some baneberry bushes on the way back to Stewart.

By the way, there is a border crossing to get back into Canada from Hyder. They want to make sure you don't bring any potholes with you.

Jasper NP, AB

We had high hopes about this national park. We really expected it to be spectacular. Boy, were we NOT disappointed. It was gorgeous. There were elk in the campground.

How cool is that! One huge bull had to be chased out by a ranger with a rifle one night because he was getting kind of frisky. The roads were crowded with Big Horn Sheep and Mountain Goats.

One night, a coyote strolled through our campsite. Yes, there were bear too but they are kind of a dime a dozen now.
The jewel in the crown of Jasper is the Icefields parkway which culminates in the Athabascan Glacier.

People, this is one spectacular piece of parkway. Our mouths are still hanging open from the drive. You have to get off your fannies and come up here to see this area. Pictures just don't do it justice.
We hiked to the five lakes one day. Five lakes with varying shades of blue-green water. Lovely.

Then there was Athabascan Falls and Mount Edith Cavell and Angel Glacier.

Did I forget to mention that we had sunshine the whole time we were in Jasper. We also had the best hamburger EVER at a place called Earls. A half pound of AAA Alberta beef with red pepper Aoli and topped with freshly made full sized onion rings. Be still my beating heart (the fat alone is sending little balls of cholesterol to still my beating heart but it was worth it.)
I really have to admit that there is one minor problem with this area of Canada. Almost everything is written in both English and French. Ray keeps reading all the French instructions with a Hungarian accent and it is driving me crazy. Arret, moi oui.
Sadly, Al and Gail decided to leave a day earlier than we wanted too but we will follow them to Lake Louise and Banff. They are hoping to go on to Washington and Oregon on the way to California so we will all be going off on our own until we meet up again at Travis AFB.
So everyone, sit yourselves down and raise a glass to our Great Alaskan Adventure:

Tlingit

Seward to Haines

2011-09-13T23:03:00.000-04:00

Seward

The land of the really big tour boats. They pull into the harbor one at a time every day. We haven't quite figured out what all those tourists do once they hit land but we imagine it has a lot to do with spending money.

We all went to the Sealife Center where Ray and I paid the big bucks to feed the puffins. Puffins. Cute little fellows and my favorite bird.

They also had a ring neck seal whose face would tug at the heartstrings of the most hardened soul.

There was a huge sea lion that managed to entertained the crowds

and a cute harbor seal that spent the day playing with faux kelp.
The favorite pasttime around here seems to be watching salmon fight their way upstream, lay some eggs and then die.

We spent an afternoon doing just that. What kind of pathetic people are we? All it needed was a few bears to make it a worthwhile trip. (I just can't get away from thinking about bears and salmon.)

On the way home we saw a rainbow laying on the ground. Weird and no place to pull over so all photos were taken through the windshield again.
The highlight of Seward was our trip to Kenai Fjords. We all debated on loading up on dramamine but finally decided to take our chances. Al found us a really neat tour on a small boat that held only sixteen people when full (it wasn't) and everyone was able to get close to the side of the boat to see everything to be seen.

We saw Fin Whales,

Orcas,

and the highlight of the whale portion of the day, humpbacks.

Lots of birds and a few sea otters were added to the mix.

The captain took the boat's nose (I can hear you navy people cringing when I called it a nose - deal with it) right up to a glacier.

The sound was spectacular. It sounded like a train, thunder, falling rocks, and glass cracking all at once. Too bad the blog doesn't come with sound effects.
Exit Glacier was located close to the campground and was accessible by a short trail.

If we had had some sun, it would have been really beautiful. Sun, did I mention sun? Alaska doesn't have sun in the summer, that way they don't notice it never sets.
Well, it was back to Anchorage for a few days and TO TAKE A BEAR FLIGHT TO LAKE CLARK NP TO SEE THE BEARS. Yep, Ray got us a couple of seats. Sorry there are no pictures. We sat around for two hours waiting for the weather to clear before they cancelled the trip. We have given it up.
Phoebe got sick and we thought we might lose her but she has recovered and is almost back to her cranky self.
To make matters worse, my motherboard died on my almost new computer. I also forgot to bring all my software discs so, even though I am the proud owner of new computer, I can't run any of my photo programs. Bummer. Ray did give me a free hug (free meaning one I didn't have to ask for) because he knew I felt bad.
We are leaving Anchorage without taking a single picture but our underwear is clean and we have lots of groceries. Valdez is our next stop and, although no one will say it out loud, they are supposed to have some salmon runs with bears right outside of town. I for one don't believe it.

Valdez

Rumor has it that we have Exxon to thank for being able to pronounce the name Valdez. The pipeline ends here and a large protion of shoreline is given over to storage tanks. Don't let that fool you though, this is one really gorgeous place. Surrounded by lots of mountains and glaciers, a beautiful bay and an abundance of wildlife, it was well-worth the visit. Some sunshine would have made it a little better I will admit.
Valdez has its own glacier of the same name and it floats above a lake with icebergs in it.

Keystone Canyon is located just outside of Valdez and there are so many waterfalls on that stretch of highway that it boggles the mind.

At the end of Keystone is a wonderful view of yet another glacier, Worthington.

Why do you think they have to name glaciers? Do glaciers even know they have a name? Just something to ponder over on those cold, dark winter Alaskan nights.
Salmon. I have talked a lot about a fish that I wouldn't put into my mouth if I was starving to death but let me tell you what we found in Valdez. SALMON! They were coming back to their spawning grounds in such numbers that you could almost walk across the water.

Seagulls were fighting over their eyeballs (I know it sounds yucky and it is but they eat one eyeball then flip the fish over and eat the other one while leaving the poor thing flopping around on the shore).

I'm not sure if any of the other critters around are interested in eating blind salmon.
Just off shore you can find sea otters with fish propped up on their bellies. Sometimes the gulls will land on the belly of the otter and eat some of the salmon.
Wait for it. Are you ready. BEARS - BROWN AND BLACK.

We watched a mama black bear teaching her cubs to fish in a narrow inlet full of salmon. As we were leaving a male grizzly (called brown bears here) was on the bay side practicing his fishing skills. He wasn't very good at it but did finally manage to catch one.
BEARS, how nice for all of us.

Haines

We had a hard time deciding about Haines. It is really out of the way but we decided to do it anyway.
To get to Haines, you have to drive into Canada. We have gone through Canadian customs enough times now to know that there is no consistency in what you can and cannot bring into their country. We always answer all their questions truthfully, never volunteer anything and do whatever they want us to do with what we come in with. Al and Gail told them about their beer and wine (they were over the limit) and the snippy border guard girl (brand new to her duties and 12 years old) told them they were over the limit and not to try to come back across with same amount. We came with two bottles of whiskey and the twit threw a hizzy fit. She treated us like criminals and made poor Ray haul his little behind inside and pay a fine of $20/bottle. We had more than that when we came into their country from Montana and lots more than that last year when we traveled from Maine to Campobello (Finger Lakes wine country). No consistency and they treated us like terrorists. Can you tell I am a tad upset?

The drive to Haines was spectacular

until you get to the border then it seemed to be a loooooooong 36 mile drive into the town. Of course, it was raining. If I hear one more person tell me that they haven't had rain all summer I am going to scream.
Anyhoo, Haines is lovely. They only allow one tour boat a week into their harbor.

Lots of fisherman here need to fish to eat. In the winter, they have around 3500 bald eagles coming here for the warmer waters and the fish. That must be something to see.
For those of us who won't be here in the winter, they have GRIZZLIES and lots of them. Fish come up the river to the Chilkoot lake to spawn and the bears are just waiting for them. What a site to see. Mostly mama bears and their cubs getting fat for the winter months. We spent three of our five days here bear watching.

The stream is dotted with fishermen also. Where is the sport in catching a dying fish; does a dying fish even taste good?

Al went fishing one of those days; Gail was tired of bear watching so she stayed home; Ray and I had a look around the town (loose description of a collection of buildings) of Haines

then we went back to see how Al was doing and check on the bears again.

Al did well enough that Ray will have to let you know how dying fish tastes. He caught some salmon and brought one back to us. No one else eats salmon but Ray but Al seemed to enjoy the sport anyway. There were lots of grizzlies in the area and both Al and Ray and I were chased away by them.
We watched mom and her cubs swimming off shore right below us. Mom would decide to come ashore and everyone would run for their cars. Finally, she and her cubs came across the road and the show was over for the day.

Our last day found us on another tour boat headed to Juneau. The weather really was awful. Lots of cold rain and just plain nasty. We did see a few whales and some harbor seals and the scenery with all the lighthouses might have even been beautiful if not for the weather.

Juneau was a surprise. With all the huge tour boats in port you would think tacky but it turned out to be quite charming in a touristy kind of way.

After being allowed to roam around in town for a while, a bus picked us up and drove us to Mendenhall glacier.

What a wonderful treat. It was raining so hard that our raincoats couldn't keep up. And cold! Let me tell you, this southern Magnolia was made of rusted steel after they finally let us back on the bus an hour later. The bus driver was so happy that we had extra time there - didn't the idiot know it was pouring cats and dogs? Was it worth it? Yes but on a drier day it would have been spectacular.
We are all longing for sunshine.

Anchorage to Homer

2011-08-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

Anchorage

We checked in to the base campground at Elmendorf AFB. Cranky Cat managed to barf in the bed so I went to the laundry while everyone else set up camp.

Our first stop was the Anchorage market. All the veggies came from California and, with green beans at $10/lb. we decided not to buy anything. Ray was either eating or taking photos of food.

Gail spent her time looking at shoes and trying to decide if the current look was suitable for Boston.

Ray spent his time looking at food and drooling. The man sure can work up some spit when he looks at food.

Since none of us spent money at the market we decided to go to the ULU factory and correct that. What is a ULU you ask – darn if I will tell. Check your stockings this Christmas and you may find one.

Ray and I spent day 2 taking the scenic tour of Turnagain Arm. It follows the shore of a bay off of Cook’s Inlet. There were stops for birds, waterfalls, Dall Sheep and scenery.

It was another dreary Alaska day but not very cold and without wind. Al and Gail went off to watch airplanes land and take off on the water and Al went to see more airplanes while Gail finished reading her book and did a little crocheting. You know guys, once you have seen the first and the last airplane ever made you have seen all of them. Needless to say, Ray made me go and look at the same airplanes taking off and landing on the water and I had to go see the ones in the museum. I really have to learn to crochet.

Day 3 and Ray and Susan stayed home and caught up on the chores that Al and Gail have been keeping up with all along. They headed up Turnagain Arm and took in the sights all the way to Portage Glacier. They had a great time and managed to be late for happy hour two days in a row. Al also discovered a great little campground where we will spend a few days on our way out of Anchorage. We have grounded them for the rest of the week. We had a not so great time and the weather is supposed to be dull, gray and rainy the rest of the week. I think I will ground us also.

Day 4 was a wilderness wake-up call. Al came over to get Ray and he looked out our back window and there was a GINORMOUS (an Athabascan word for something really huge) black bear.

That is why we got an RV with the huge back window. The bear was checking each camper for food left outdoors. The pictures may be a little fuzzy (well, I got excited) but you can get an idea of his size. If you want to know, Ray had me go outside to get the shots. He stayed indoors. Al went and got Gail and there the three of us stood around until the campground host came by with a horn to scare him off. All the books say something about staying at least 300 feet away from bear. Well, Ray did.

Chugach National Forest

Williwaw Campground

Don’t let the name fool you. This little gem of a campground was discovered by Al and he raved about it so much we decided to give it a try for a few days. There is a glacier in the campground. Yes, in the campground. How cool is that.

There is another one down the road that you can walk on if you are so inclined.

There is a lake with icebergs floating in it from a calving glacier.

There were mountains with lots of snow, lakes and streambeds. Wildflowers are everywhere. Alas, the salmon haven’t arrived yet but we will come back here on our way home and hopefully see them.

Homer, AK

On the Spit

How to describe Homer Spit, AK? I’m not sure it can be done. Homer itself is a tiny town that lies a couple of hundred miles south of Anchorage. It sits on Kachemak Bay which leads into the Bering Sea. Stretching out of Homer is a tiny five mile spit of land about 400 yards wide with a two lane road down the middle.

On either side of the road you will find campgrounds (ranging from $15/night to $79/night. As luck would have it we were kept entertained by a couple of bald eagles that loved to hunt near our RVs

and some kite surfers who loved to show off outside our back window.

There are wonderfully colorful gift shops that are just too tacky to be tacky.

There are tons of fishing charter places, boat taxi places, wildlife cruise places, and bear charter places. Of course, there are restaurants and then there is the Salty Dawg.

The Dawg is filled with dollar bills that are pinned everywhere from floor to ceiling. On the outside, it is a mixture of a couple of cabins and a lighthouse. All were cobbled together to make a really great local bar. It is loud and friendly and the bartender makes sure you don’t have too much to drink.

We decided to spend seven days here but paid for it piecemeal in case we changed our minds. Ray and I spent a morning tidepooling then set up some trips that were on our list of places to go and things to do. Al and Gail decided to wait until Al firmed up his fishing trip. There was so much to do that we were beginning to think we didn’t plan enough time.

We spent quite a bit of time on the spit watching fish being weighed and filleted.

I am definetely looking at the halibut. Right!

Al booked his fishing charter and caught two large halibut that we will be eating for the rest of our lives. Al and Ray spent hours filleting the fishy things.

By the way, the hairy guy is Al. Told you he was going native and you didn’t believe me did you? I am starting to crave a swim in saltwater and my skin feels scaly. What is wrong with hot dogs for heaven’s sake? Gail elected to stay home instead of trying her luck with rod and reel. Probably a good choice.

Ray and I went on a wildlife boat ride to Gull Island, some of the scenic places in the Bay

and finally ending up in Seldovia for lunch. This tiny spot on the bay is not for the faint of heart. There are a few cars on the island but almost no roads to drive them on. The businesses that are there are only open from 1-3 PM from Memorial Day to Labor Day when the tour boats come in. How they make enough money to stay in business is a mystery. During the last earthquake their island lost about 8 feet and most of it’s boardwalk. What is left is quite charming. The town is also home to lots of chainsaw art which is awfully big here.

What else are you going to do when the tourists leave? The ride to the island was really nice and we got to see both horned and tufted Puffins and sea otters which everyone has to love. Al and Gail took the same trip the following day but didn’t have as nice an experience as we did which is a shame.

Al and Gail decided to take the land route and take some scenic drives. We followed the same route a day later. Their first trip took them to some stunning overlooks of Kachemak Bay.

The second trip took them to Anchor Point where you can watch boats being towed back and forth into the water by tractor.

The water is too shallow to do it any other way and it was something to watch. From there it was off to see a Russian Village of “old believers” that settled her in 1986 or so.

They broke off from the Russian Orthodox Church back in the 1600’s and ended up here via Brazil and Oregon. As interesting as their story is, if you want to learn more you are just going to have to google it yourself. When we arrived in the village, Ray and I found a horribly quaint café

run by Nina, a Russian speaking electrical engineer, who tried to sell you food you didn’t want, tourist gifts you wouldn’t buy and she even offered to take your photo for $5.00. We finally succumbed to a cup of tea made of fireweed and some herbs from her garden and a cream filled desert that was to die for. After she told us how much to tip her we managed to escape with our skin and wallet intact (semi-intact).

Being gluttons for punishment, Ray and I took another boat trip to Halibut Bay. The sole purpose of the trip was to have a glorious meal at the Saltry.

Paula Deen said it was good and dagnabit, she was right! I can’t tell you how much I hate to admit that. The little cove is an artist’s colony now and, except to eat at the Saltry, there is not much else to do except enjoy the view and it is quite a view.

The highlight of the entire Alaskan trip, for me at least, was to have been a bear-watching flight to Katmai. We had reservations for two seats on Friday. On Thursday we were called and told they were over-booked and would we mind going on Saturday instead. Stupidly, we said yes. Friday was a glorious day; Saturday the rain and wind came in and the trip was cancelled. We were scheduled to leave Sunday. The Sunday trips were also cancelled due to weather or we would have stayed another day. Looks like the weather will remain bad until at least the middle of the week. Needless to say, I was and am devastated but Ray assures me that I will get over it. Yeah, that really makes me feel better.

Things to do on the spit include:

Eagle watching. Some things never grow old.

Kite surfing. How cold do you think that water is.

Watching fish being weighed. OK, I was actually photographing the cute shirtless young thing in the orange pants but everyone thought I was taking a picture of the halibut. HA!

Watching fish being filleted. Sort of like watching paint dry but they do a lot of it here.

Watching fishing boats. The only thing that is worse is looking at airplanes.

Having a brew at the Dawg. Enough said and I bought the shirt!

Denali.

2011-07-25T22:24:00.001-04:00

Travel day to the park left me tired and cranky. No one else was so I made them feel my pain. I was a pain in the patootie but managed to shake it off after distancing myself from everyone. The drive here was made in the usual Alaska weather we have come to expect. Lots of clouds and some light rain with 29 miles of gravel road to look forward to at the end of our journey.

Well, for once I am speechless. The park was ready for us and the paperwork was kept to a minimum. The gravel road turned out to be as smooth as a baby’s behind and we saw a grizzly bear as soon as we got on the road to Teklanika campground. I slept for twelve hours straight which didn’t hurt anything either.

The rules for the campground were very strict. You had to park your vehicle after arriving and were not allowed to move it again until you were ready to leave. There was a three night minimum stay and we had elected to stay for four nights. Found out that you couldn’t take any of the park buses back to the visitor center or camp store either. We thought that would be restricting but we turned out to be wrong.

Our first full day was spent on a bus ride to Wonder Lake. Lots of stops on the way for wildlife. There are the BIG FIVE that everyone wants to see: Grizzly Bears, Wolves, Caribou, Moose and Dall Sheep. The mountain is a bonus and only seen by 30-40% of all visitors. Well, we managed to see four of the big five

and lots of other stuff besides on the first day. We added Golden Eagle, Ptarmigan, and red fox to the list.

The biggest thrill was when Al yelled out for the whole world to hear; “The mountain is out!” The bus came to a screeching halt and the cameras came out and hundreds of photos were taken. All we managed to see was the North peak but it was wonderful to behold.

All of this viewing of animals was done through the bus windows and, trust me, we had to do a little work to make that possible. At every stop, everyone got off the bus and began washing windows.

Well, maybe not everyone. Someone had to take the photographs.

I did discover that I had a ton of pictures of white dots on a mountainside, brown dots in a meadow, and blonde dots on a hillside.

Ray and I decided to put ourselves through the ordeal of another bus ride the following day while Al and Gail got caught up on some trailer maintenance. We saw a wolf walking down the road and another one chasing a Caribou cow and her calf.

We spent a lot of the time at Eielson Visitor center taking photos we didn’t have time for the day before.

At midnight, I woke up and looked out the window and saw the hills had turned bright red. Ray couldn’t believe that I would actually get out of a warm bed to go traipsing outside with wolves and bears in the vicinity to take photographs but I did and was it worth it. I brag about it to this very day. I didn’t get lost either which was a miracle in and of itself.

The next day, it was back on different buses for our intrepid travelers. It had been raining all night and continued into the morning but we were undaunted. Al and Gail had more energy and left early. They captured a bull moose, grizzlies, and a wolf. Evidently, wolves aren’t that easy to see but our theory is that the rain brings them out. Poor Al suffered most of the day because he ended up on a bus with non-English speaking people and he had no one to talk to. It was quite an ordeal for him and he may never get over it.

Ray and I wanted to try and stop at Polychrome Pass which really looked like a great place to photograph and hike but it was raining too hard to get off the bus so we stayed on it until it turned around and went through the pass again. The rain had stopped so we hopped off and took lots of pictures including some of the buses traveling on this treacherous stretch of road. It is really narrow and there is no guardrail. Beautiful colors in the rocks however. We flagged down another bus and met up with Al and Gail in time for happy hour.

We all agreed that we were just having too much fun to spend just two days at Riley CG. Besides being the largest campground in the park it was chock full of things to do. Letting Al lead the way from Teklanika CG we made our way to Riley. There is one road in the park and we were convinced that there was no way Al could get lost or make a wrong turn. Well, he did but at least he couldn’t get too far off the beaten path so we made it safely. We stopped and had an extra night added to our stay then set up camp. While Gail reached out and touched family (phone service was great in the CG), Al went for a hike and Ray and I decided to give financial assistance to the park through a generous contribution in the gift shop and visitor center. We did take a nice hike afterwards in Savage Creek (more ptarmigan and a marmot)

then met up with Al and Gail for pizza at a local pub just outside the gate. Rumor has it that we may see some sun tomorrow but it is just a rumor.

Well, the sun did come out and it played havoc with our sleep patterns. Ray and I stayed up until 1:00 AM driving the park road trying to see the mountain. Al and Gail had much more sense and went to bed. No mountain but a couple of Bull Moose made the evening worthwhile. Can you tell it is almost midnight in these pictures? It is really hard to get used to all this daylight.

The next morning we woke up to sunshine so Ray and I took off on another hunt for the mountain. Al and Gail heard us go and decided to have a go themselves. We passed them on the way back home for coffee. Alas, no mountain for Ray and Susan but Al and Gail managed to see it. They took the hike at Savage River also so they ended up waiting out the clouds. Ray and I were green with envy but glad someone saw it.

Time to leave Denali. We really hate to go. It is so beautiful here but other delights await. The sun is out again so the ride to Anchorage should be filled with lots of scenery.

Guess what happened a few miles down the highway: THE MOUNTAIN CAME OUT – ALL THE WAY OUT!!!!!! It was a wonder to behold and traffic filled the overlooks. Perhaps it is not as majestic as the Tetons, Mt. Hood or the Rockies but it is a sight to see anyway.

We spent the night in the quaint little town of Talkeetna. It is the jumping off place for people who are going to climb the mountain. Climbing season is over for now because the snow is beginning to melt and it has become too dangerous. The town was worth the stop. It was quite touristy but without the tacky.

For those of you following the hair growth on Al’s face, it is progressing nicely.

Richardson Highway and Fairbanks

2011-07-04T14:55:00.000-04:00

Including June 21 – The Longest Day

For those of you who phoned in their concerns, Ray lives for now. He is on his best behavior which is not great but better than nothing.

The road to Fairbanks was pretty boring except for the pipeline views. That is one impressive structure.

Al even climbed up on top of the RV to grab a shot. By the way, some of you who know Al may have noticed that he is beginning to look like a mountain man. Yep, he's growing facial hair.

Ray played with trying one through the electrified fence.

Both ended up in one piece but that was strictly the luck of the draw.

Eielson AFB is about 25 miles from Fairbanks and the campground is located at the end of the runway. We were pleasantly surprised to find they were having practice maneuvers this week so the noise level is high enough to prevent conversation and sleep.

The longest day was spent in sleep by some (Al and Gail) while Ray and & went for a walk in the rain at midnight. Really, midnight! You could read a book.

On our first day here, the guys and gals went to the Ford dealer. That just screams excitement doesn’t it but oil changes have to be done. After that little chore it was off to the grocery store to replenish everything the border guards took. By that time we were all tired and had to rest. Resting is bad for Al who decided to look at the bill the Ford dealer gave him. They put in the wrong oil. It evidently didn’t weigh enough (anorexic motor oil). Not a good thing for an F-450 but probably not too bad for an F-250. Al then had to spend day 2 getting a second oil change (for free due to his wonderfully persuasive personality) while Ray decided to suck it up and go do the tourist thing instead.

Al and Gail took off for the North Pole and bought Santa things for the grands (Rudolf was not mentioned because, if you remember, he was eaten by the fabulous threesome I travel with.) Ray and Susan (OK, I can’t keep calling her "&") went to the Creamery Wildlife Center to see Sandhill Cranes and other odds and ends of the bird world. Look them up in a bird book if you must but it can become an all-consuming hobby if you do.

We also visited the LARS (large animal research center) to see muskox. Now there is a weirdo of the animal world. Looks like he got himself misplaced somewhere in the last millennium. Poor baby.

We also drove to the top of a dome because some article suggested it might be interesting. They were wrong but what the heck, we hadn’t been on a road that bad in two days. Made us feel right at home.

Fairbanks is an interesting place. For one thing it is decorated with lawn ornaments comprised of every single piece of equipment ever brought into the area. They throw nothing away; they just leave it on the ground to take up space. Then there are the gold mines. You remember your early cowboy movies where the panhandler wears the funky flat hat, has a beard and an old pie tin and he sifts it back and forth in a charming stream? In reality, they have huge machines that tear up the landscape and leave piles of brown mud and rubble behind. After they are done with one particular area, they leave all the equipment behind to decorate the newly desecrated landscape.

People make fun of southerners because we like to leave our old sofas on the porch right next to the beer fridge. Humph!

We all four spent one day at the Ice Sculpture Museum of Fairbanks which turned out to be surprisingly interesting.

They had the winning sculptures from last year plus a demonstration by a guy named Andy (who spoke very little English and his name wasn’t really Andy to boot.) He was very good at sculpting however.

The winters in Fairbanks are so bad that all they have to do for entertainment is figure out how to keep their ice ornaments frozen. Evidently this is not a problem in the wintertime because it gets down to -40 degrees.

You aren’t going to believe this but the natives actually say, “It isn’t so bad because it is a DRY cold.” Yeah, just like the dry heat in Arizona. An interesting little known fact, these people still use outhouses and when they are done, they race them down the street on the snow. They also don’t have indoor water. And it is cold. Dry cold be damned.

Al and Gail spent a day doing chores; Ray and Susan don’t believe in chores. We went to Fox springs to get water because this water is really awful.

Then we decided to check out Chena Lakes Recreation Area. Saw some moose which is getting pretty boring as they are a dime a dozen around here. Cute though.

Climbed an earthen dam to see the view and decided there wasn’t much of one until we looked right. Blew our minds. For those of you who have no idea what Denali looks like, this is Denali. For those of you have seen her, this is actually the Alaskan Range of which Denali is about 7000 feet higher than any mountain in this picture.

The drive back and forth to Fairbanks from the base gets boring after a while but we braved it once again. We all piled into Ray’s truck to go to the farmer’s market – no veggies. We evidently should have gone yesterday. They did have some lovely bread and some fireweed honey.

UAF (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) has a wonderful museum of Alaskan art and history. Spent several hours there, watched a few movies, looked at some paintings, touched some furs, drooled over golden nuggets, marveled at whale bone carvings, basically managing to instill a little bit of culture into our feeble brains. It most likely will not last but we did try and it is really a beautiful museum.

Beer, did I mention beer? They have one brewery here in Fairbanks. Only one you ask? Yes, not enough sunlight for more than one.

The Silver Gulch makes a wonderful beer but their pub menu is even better. Or maybe the pub food was so good because the beer was better. Or maybe the better was beer because the pub made good beer food. Or the pub was beer because it had food. Well, we came, we tasted, and we ate. It were good.

The Al Can - to the end of the line

2011-06-22T21:15:00.000-04:00

Milepost 404

Oh the day we woke up to! It rained all night and the temperature dropped down into that area where Canadians use single digits. It rained all day with low lying clouds as we began our drive through the Rockies. Don’t get me wrong, it was just so beautiful that we took it slowly and stopped as often as possible to take some photos.

Our first stop had nothing to do with photos though and everything to do with CINNAMON ROLLS. We are talking the most enormous, gooey, soaked in butter and caramel rolls you have ever seen. We ordered four and everyone ate all of theirs except Gail (she was the only one who had any self-control). Ray finished off Gail’s and we had to roll him back to the truck. I don’t think any of us can eat again until we get to Alaska but it was sure worth every calorie.

Mile 404 is Toad River RV park and lodge. You will note the sign says 422 but that is the original milepost and it now means nothing. There is nothing here except a huge pond dammed by beaver and occupied by moose. Yes siree – MOOSE and we have pictures to prove it. A young male with a small set of antlers and a cow were waiting for us at our campsite in the water just behind us.

We saw the beaver too but the moose kind of took precedence over him.

This is a really lovely spot and would be something to see if the sun were out. The clouds are hanging low on top of the hills and it is cold. Thank heavens for electricity.

The lodge collects baseball hats and they put them up on the ceiling. There are almost 8000 of them to date. Al and Ray both donated one and received a card as proof. I’m thinking they may hang them in the bathroom.

Wildlife count: Moose: 3 Beaver: 2 Fox: 1

Milepost 477.7

These one-night stands we have been having can be very tiring even though we stop early. Today we headed to Liard Hot Springs. After watching a truck come close to hitting a moose who was standing in the middle of the highway, things improved. Poor trucker was trying to pass us. Bet he wished he hadn’t had that last cup of coffee.

The scenery was so beautiful it made you want to cry. There were some beautiful waterfalls viewable from alongside the road. Muncho Lake, a popular resort area for those with more money than we have, was stunning.

We made good time to the hot springs. They are located inside a provincial park that had one of the best campground we have seen. No water or electricity and no dump station either but it was worth staying there.

The brave ones hit the hot springs.

The only one with sense took photos instead. I managed to find some yellow lady slippers and an orchid whose name I can’t remember.

After Al, Gail and Ray turned the color of a well-done lobster, we had dinner then made an early night of it.

Back on the road for us again tomorrow. We should make it to the Yukon Territory. If that doesn’t just get your romantic juices flowing nothing will. Does anyone remember Sgt. Preston of the Yukon?

Wildlife count: Moose: 1, Bison: 5, Black Bear: 1 Stone Sheep: 2 Hoary Marmot: 1

Milepost 612.9

We all have pictures of black bear. There were two right on the side of the road and they even posed for us. We both were able to pull over on the side of the road without getting killed or interfering with traffic.

We spent the night at Watson Creek which means the sign post forest.

Ray and I hung our sign in a place of prominence.

Yeah right, we will never be able to find it again but it looked good. We even managed to find another sign from the West Columbia Gamecock Club.

t was our anniversary so we spent it at a movie about the Aurora Borealis. It also had a 3D movie about space. The chairs in the theater inclined so you could watch the show on a domed ceiling that really made you want to upchuck.

Back home to another early night (Ray and I did have the last bottle of wine from New York – it was really sad to see it go.)

Alaska does not seem to be getting any closer.

Wildlife count: Black Bear: 2

Milepost 769.6

Alaska may not be getting any closer but the scenery and weather are awesome! There was even a waterfall to stop and gaze at on the way to this milepost.

We saw no wildlife on the way here but there were potholes in abundance. Lots more graveled sections of the road also. This place is really remote. Lots of businesses closed and that takes the gas stations with it.

Ray and Al are proud to say they managed to spend $7.00 a gallon for gas. That was in BC where you can reach down, scoop up some dirt and wring oil out of it. Those refineries are not getting any poorer. Overall, gas in Canada has been averaging about $5.00 a gallon. The old wallet and credit card are crying. There was a sign on one gas pump that said “Quit sniveling.”

We are sitting on Teslin Lake in the Yukon Territory at a lodge and campground known for the best Bumbleberry and Rhubarb pie in the whole country. It was so good we decided to stay an extra day so everyone could have a second piece. That is traveling in the lap of luxury. Guess what, we went back for that second piece and the they were out. The bluegrass band they invited to play ate it.

Tlingit Indians predominate here. You’re dying to know how to pronounce their name aren’t you? Well have a look at some of their artifacts while I enlighten you.

Ray could never get the pronunciation right so Gail finally told him to remember how ice sounds in a glass – clink it. That has worked for now but none of us are sure he will remember it in the future. Anyhow, you all now know how to say the name of one of the Yukon’s First Nation people.

The mountains behind Teslin Lake really took on a wonderful glow our first night here.

Not so much on the second night. All in all, we were really glad for the stop because we felt rested and ready to charge on.

Milepost 880.8

Still no wildlife to be seen. Where are they hiding? The weather was perfect, the roads were in good condition and 30 miles into the journey we managed to find “WORLD FAMOUS” cinnamon buns again. They were as big as Al’s head and so very, very good.

No calories of course because these were Yukon buns. My stomach hurts just thinking about them. And yes, you can eat too many buns.

There are still lots of mountains, some snow-capped to look at while driving. Everything seems so green here (the bits that aren’t covered in dust from road construction anyway.) This is supposed to be our last stretch of good road until we get to Alaska so we will be taking it nice and slow.

We arrived in Whitehorse, YT early in the day with big plans for relaxing. Ray couldn’t get our landing gear down which meant we couldn’t unhook from the truck which meant we couldn’t drive anywhere unless we took the old trailer with us. In two words – not good. After calling a repair shop, we drove it in to them and they asked us to bring it back the next day. Our dinner plans went up in smoke so I had to cook. Yuck.

Early – like 8:00 AM – we had to take it back to them. They poor cat was completely confused at this point. Anyhow, they unhooked the truck so we were allowed to go our merry way. It was repaired by one, and many, many, many Canadian dollars later, we took her back to the campground.

During our wait, we managed to spot some Baldies (eagles) flying around one of the marshy areas we drove to.

Al and Gail spent the morning walking like they were youngsters and then we all had to listen to Al talk about how hungry and sore he was. Poor baby, we took him out to one of the most popular restaurants in Whitehorse to eat. We had to wait 30 minutes to be seated, another hour to get our food (after asking about its whereabouts several times) and then the fish came to us overdone and Al got caught hiding his cauliflower under his napkin. Gail was kept up past her bedtime. Not a good tourist experience. We still managed to enjoy the experience because the waitress kept hitting on Ray until I slapped her hand and two elderly ladies were trying to eat a mountain of bread pudding and offering bites to everyone in the vicinity.

Our last day was spent in adult recreational pursuits. We went to the Yukon Brewing Company to sample their wares. Take our word for it, they know their beer and how to make it. They give out lots of samples also which is not a bad thing. Al was soooooo glad he was standing next to Gail because he was on the receiving end of all her left overs.

We are leaving Whitehorse tomorrow but it felt good to spend three days here doing none of the things we had planned.

Wildlife count: Bald Eagles: lots

Milepost 1039.3

Still not much wildlife but the scenery blew us away. The Kluane Icefields are really awesome and we couldn’t take our eyes off them. Most of the photos come through the front windshield but a few are from the few places we could stop along the way. Have a gander at these and try and tell me you miss wildlife!

Al finally bought a fishing license and we stayed at a Yukon Government Campground so he could use it. Now Gail has told us repeatedly that Al has never caught a fish and we shouldn’t hurry and make tartar sauce. Guess what happened.

(This was not photoshopped.) We have no idea if it is edible but we are all going to eat it and enjoy it for dinner tomorrow. He says he caught five fish but we only saw one and everybody knows that fishermen tell tales.

The MOSQUITOES here have finally reached epic proportions. The only good thing about them is that they don’t buzz like those irritating ones in South Carolina and most of the Canadian ones don’t seem particularly interested in biting you. I think they mostly bite moose. They are also very sluggish and you can kill them with a hammer (they are very big and slapping them with your hand only makes them angry.)

The lake at the campground was very pretty and the rocky beach harbored millions of the above-mentioned pesky critters but it is OK because Al caught a FISH.

Milepost 1202

Life is just not good. They talk about the horrible Alaskan roads; they almost brag about permafrost, upheavals, dips, holes, gravel and just plain nasty roads. No one really, really prepares you for this. According to Gail, it took us five hours, two lost fillings, and five hemorrhoids to travel 100 miles today. Oh, the cat upchucked in the bed too. I so wanted to upchuck in the truck but Ray vetoed that plan.

We did however, accidently, find the best CINNAMMON BUNS ever. They were in a place that was supposed to be closed and made by a Frenchman’s hands. It was like eating a large flaky croissant with cinnamon and icing. I have to stop writing about it because I am beginning to drool on the computer keys and it is shorting out the screen.

Ray just read a paragraph in Milepost that indicates the roads in Canada have improved so much we most likely will not notice any difference after we cross the border – that will happen tomorrow by the way – and if that is true I am going to upchuck no matter what anyone says.

Wildlife count: moose – 1

Milepost 1313

We have arrived on the American side of the Al-Can at Tok, Alaska. For good reason it is known as the RV and car wash capital of Alaska.

We started out with rain and 50 miles of bad road with lots of potholes, frost heaves and mud. There may have been scenery but we sure couldn’t see any of it.

The white RV now matches the tan truck both of which have enough gravel embedded in their tires to build another road.

After crossing the border the rain decided to quit and the sun tried to come out. The road on the American side is a definite improvement. Smooth as a baby’s bum. What a relief. Al and Ray actually were able to hit 45 MPH today and they felt MANLY for it.

The border crossing was a breeze except for the overhead clearance at the port. As you can see, if Al had sneezed, he would have lost his air conditioner.

They confiscated all of Al and Gail’s fruit and took our potatoes. I guess they had enough fruit. My thinking is they were planning on having a border farmer’s market at some point in time. Of all the people we have talked to, no one had to give up the same type of fruit and/or vegetable. Methinks some of the border guards need to go back to confiscation school. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, they don’t want you bringing any goat meat into the good old US of A either. Darn.

We couldn’t wait to fill up with our first American gas in three weeks. Imagine our surprise when we found it for $4. 86 – CASH ONLY price. Welcome home!

We did take the mandatory shots at the border and the international boundary.

Then we had to have a ceremony (with the essential drinks) to put our John Hancock’s on Ray’s “Alaska or Bust” sign.

After another drink or two, we then filled in our states map with the appropriate sticker for Alaska.

Milepost 1422

The End of the Al-Can

Guess what? It started out with rain again this morning. The roads continue to be almost excellent. A few gravel patches but mostly smooth roads with no potholes. The most amazing thing happened, the temperature actually reached 70 degrees. We all thought about getting out some shorts but remembered MOSQUITOES and decided against it.

Our major stop for the morning was at Delta Meat and Sausage Company.

They specialize in meats that you would never consider eating no matter how hungry you got. Well, Al, Ray and Gail were evidently hungrier than that so don’t blame me if Rudolf does not get to lead Santa’s sleigh this year. Yep, they all scarfed down reindeer meat. They also managed to gobble up buffalo and elk. They even bought some. My refrigerator is actually making horrible animal growling sounds. I swear. I’m afraid to open the door.

The Al-Can ended in the town of Delta Junction whose only purpose seems to be to sell tourists a certificate stating they completed the drive.

Of course, we all bought one along with some tee-shirts. We even added Phoebe’s name to ours. She is so proud of having made it that Ray gave her some of Al’s fish to celebrate. She liked it enough to not upchuck. Lucky us.

The saddest story associated with the end of the Al-Can was Ray’s trip to the visitor’s center where he signed the guest book. Now I know it is no big thing, one person out of every couple signs both names in the visitor log. Well, good ol’ boy Ray signed “Ramon & Lopez”. He said at first I was the “&” then he said that Gail rushed him. When she denied it, he finally confessed that he just forgot my name. Believe me, the suffering that man is now going through I wouldn’t wish on a dog.

Alaska Web Albums

The Al-Can

2011-06-10T19:50:00.001-04:00

Alaskan Highway

Milepost 0

We have reached Dawson Creek, BC – mile 0 of the Alaskan highway.

We are in a campground filled with people from all over the world, from all walks of life, all ages, and all with only one purpose; drive this highway all the way to the end.

The campground itself is expensive and filled with mud and potholes but it is the only game in town so we learned to love it.

I wish I had the words to describe the atmosphere here. It makes me think of what it must have been for the settlers who began their journey west from St. Louis (without a microwave, flat-screen TV and indoor plumbing of course.) Everybody wants to hear everyone else’s story. Where are you from; where did you cross the border; how long are you going to be gone; have you ever been to Alaska before? All of us are excited and we all seem to talk at once. Everyone’s car and/or RV is covered in mud.

There are some who can’t stand the grime and wash it off and there are those like us who consider it a badge of honor and will leave it until we get to Fairbanks. We met some “blokes” from Australia who were drinking their way North and some Southern Baptists who won’t touch liquor. It doesn’t make any difference; we are tolerant of one another and eager to compare notes.

Dawson Creek is steeped in the history of the Alaskan highway. The town is here because of that road. Although the buildings were built in 1942 they are “historic”.

Murals decorate the sides of every building

and the milepost sign draws in every RV, car, and motorcycle that aims to drive that road.

We love it here because we are spending three days without driving and getting some much needed rest. We also love it here because it feels like a party and everyone is invited. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!

Beaver were plentiful in a creek near the campground.

Near here is a section of the original highway with a lovely bridge still intact that you can drive across so we did.

We even had rain here but it came with a double rainbow so we didn’t mind.

Wildlife count – either three beaver or one beaver three times. You may take your choice.

Milepost 159.6

Well rested and eager to be on our way we left the party at Dawson Creek and headed for Sikanni River and a campground in the middle of nowhere.

The drive has been much easier than expected with some lovely views but the best views are to be had once we reach the Rockies so we have been told.

We spent our time here sitting around a fire, looking for moose and bear from our campsite, and pretty much just soaking up some sun that has been with us all day.

Ray and Al did their imitation of Paul Bunyan and chopped some wood

and Al decided to go into the river to see how cold it was. Took him longer to get ready for that little jaunt than he actually stayed in the water. Does hypothermia ring a bell?

Wildlife count: one moose

Milepost 283

We are spending the night in Fort Nelson. The drive was a tease with small glimpses of the Rockies.

Tomorrow we will actually be in them and the campers we have met that are going down (we are apparently going up) have really got us excited.

We gassed up (it is getting more expensive @$1.45 a liter which is evidently a lot). They say it gets cheaper again once you cross the mountains.

Wildlife count: two moose, three black bear (including a cub)

These animals are viewed from our trucks and are either crossing the highway or on the side of it. Some are seen by one couple or one and half couples. The one who has seen the least is the oldest lady but she did see momma black bear and her cub. Sadly, everyone will have to take our word for these sightings as there will be no photographic proof.

Gail’s shoes have been the highlight of the trip so far with everyone. The Canadians love them and Ray can’t stop photographing them. We will just have to compile a book when we get home for all to enjoy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

Crossing the Border

2011-06-04T17:44:00.000-04:00

We woke up to sunshine, blue sky and those lovely marshmallowy fluffy clouds that make everything look more vibrant. Talk about having our spirits lifted. Al, Gail, Ray and I left our last campground in the USA until we get to Alaska in the best of spirits. We had to take a lot of pictures at the stop just before crossing the border or no one would be able to tell we were tourists.

After embarrassing each other, we had lunch and approached the big red line that divides our two countries. (OK, the line exists only in Rand McNally but it would look really nice on the pavement too.)

The crossing was uneventful although, as usual, Al talked to the border guard (a nice lady) until she finally yelled uncle and went to lunch.

Poor child may never be the same. She asked about firearms, alcohol and pets but didn’t seem to care about the alcohol or the cat. None of us had firearms so we are unsure what kind of interest that would have peaked. Al’s bear spray hardly raised an eyebrow although she was curious about the picture on the canister. As if anyone would remember that kind of a detail. Ray and I were asked about Al and Gail and we weren’t sure what to tell them so we didn’t tell them anything but that we were traveling together. Maybe that is what kept us from getting inspected. The whole process for both of us took less than 20 minutes.

We arrived at the campground a lot later than planned, left our RV’s in the assigned spot, told the guy in charge we were going to the Head-Smashed in Buffalo Jump and would be back later to pay for our sites. THIS WAS OK WITH HIM.

It seems odd that there would be a World Heritage Site dedicated to the destruction of the buffalo. This however is exactly what it is. In the fall of each of the last 2000 or so years, the Blackfoot Indians would funnel a herd of buffalo toward a cliff using young men disguised as wolves and baby buffalo. This process caused 100 or so buffalo to fall about 200 yards and smash their heads. The women would gather the meat, hides, bones and anything else the animal had to provide materials and food for the coming winter. Thousands of Blackfeet would be able to survive the harsh winters in this manner.

It is June 1^st now and leaving our campground in less than ideal weather conditions, we continued on our journey to Alaska. Although it wasn’t raining, it looked like it would any minute. Not really too bad for traveling.

Getting through Calgary was a real treat. Road construction and an accident kept us in a bottleneck for thirty minutes. Calgary is HUGE. (My goal this trip is to use the caps lock button as much as I can.) Until the bottleneck it wasn’t so bad and after the bottleneck it was even better.

We had planned on getting gas somewhere around Calgary but that just didn’t happen. It is really, really, hard to find a gas station that sells diesel. Most are not located where you can see them. You see a sign, get off the highway, drive around a while, spot a gas station if you’re lucky, find diesel if you are luckier and, if God is smiling on you and yours, discover that you can get in and out lugging 30+ feet of RV behind your truck. Al had to back out of the last one. As it turned out, there was no gas to be had (that we could find) between Calgary and Drumheller. We also planned to stop at a rest area for lunch (they are long pull-offs on the side of the road); couldn’t find one of those either. We ended up eating lunch at a spot that was clearly labeled NO PARKING but, since the RV’s blocked the visibility of the sign, we ignored it.

Half of the road to Drumheller was “UNDER CONSTRUCTION”. If you really want to know what that means, it means that they have removed the road in its entirety and left you with a gravel path that would hopefully end before your brains were so rattled that you didn’t care about life anymore. Since everything is in kilometers, you have no idea how long the torture will last.

Well, we did get to Drumheller; the nice man at the RV park has already given us an alternate route for our departure. Where the hell was he when we started down that road!

Ray and I spent the afternoon driving the Badlands scenic route. You can’t stop as there are only two pull-offs but we did take advantage of them to take a few pictures.

We also took the free ferry that gave us access to the other half of the badlands. The road was UNDER CONSTRUCTION and down to only one lane but at least it was already semi-paved. Ray’s truck is coated with black tar but it looks nice over the mud that was there before.

Al and Gail took pretty much the same route we did only an hour later. They got stuck waiting for everything from the ferry to the construction lead truck. They even by-passed the second overlook for fear of never getting back onto the highway under construction. They came home with Canadian coinage however and we came home with some steaks from Alberta. Believe me, the steaks were the best we have had including those from Wyoming. This is beef country without a doubt.

All in all though, both couples had a good day and both of us are glad we aren’t scheduled to leave tomorrow. We also learned to plan shorter days if there is a chance of construction because none of us make good looking bobble heads. I think my thighs look a bit thinner but no one else thinks so.

Have I mentioned how friendly these Canadians from Alberta are? From the guy in traffic next to you to the man who rings up your groceries, they all go out of their way to be helpful, friendly, and seem to want to hear the story of why you have crossed paths in this particular place. It is so refreshing.

Thursday, all four of us scrunched together into Ray’s truck and headed for the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

(In case anyone was wondering, Al is the worst front seat driver we have ever come across and Ray may just have to ban him to the backseat from here on out.)

The Royal Tyrrell is all about bones. Pre-historic bones too boot. Figuring we would most likely get bored or just tired of reading after a couple of hours, we decided to go first thing in the morning and leave for lunch and come back for another go later in the day. Well, dad gummit if we didn’t get ourselves fascinated by those bones. Nearly missed lunch and had to come home eat and hurry back in case we didn’t have enough time to see it all. We learned all about the Plastic Scene, the Crustacean, the Dysenteric, and the Pale Peoples Scene and all the periods in between. We took enough bone pictures and skinless dino pictures to start our own museum. Tripods were not allowed so I have lots of blurry pictures but I just don’t care.

Al entertained so many of the staff that we quickly became persona grata and received special attention. Personally, Gail and I think they were watching us in case we decided to remove a bone or two. All kidding aside, this place rivals anything the Smithsonian has to offer and it is really one of a kind.

We woke up to beautiful sunny blue skies on Friday and headed out toward Edmonton. We had not driven 30 kilometers when the temperature plummeted to 9 Celsius and the rain came. Of course, with the rain came the wind. What else did you expect in the Alberta plains? As if the weather wasn’t bad enough, we had to figure out how far we had gone and how cold it was. Not easy in the land of Celsius and kilometers. Multiply kilometers by 6 and divide by 10 and there you have it. Celsius is better if you don’t know how to convert – it is always just cold.

We arrived in Devon early in the afternoon and, after a great display of parking ability,

we went to see LeDuc #1. In case you are interested, this was the oil well that made Canada completely independent of foreign oil and gas and made America completely dependent on Canada for oil and gas. Good thing they are our friends. I have never toured a more boring place or one that smelled so much of oil, gas and money.

The guys loved it (naturally) but Gail and I came back home to an early happy hour. Gail also made muffins which made the rotten weather a lot easier to tolerate.

On the Brink

2011-05-30T12:33:00.000-04:00

Al and Gail finally caught up to us in Buffalo. The weather was, as usual, wet, windy and cold but we had a grand reunion and a very nice happy hour to celebrate our coming journey.

Getting out of Buffalo was a little easier than we first thought. We still had to take a detour and the route was a little longer but we made it. The water from the Yellowstone River and several tributaries touched the side of the road in several places but we stayed dry.

Wind? Did I hear you ask about the wind? Suffice it to say it was blowing harder than the MPH we were managing. The cat was not happy again and barfed several times to make her point. We thought the trip was very nice considering the fact that we could see the snow covered mountains the whole time but I guess the jostling she suffered due to the wind was just more than she could handle. Poor dear.

Surprise, surprise, the weather in Great Falls is cold, wet and dreary. We have all gotten our laundry done and bought enough groceries to get us across the border and into Canada. Ray and I went to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center dodging rain and impending snow to see the series of falls Lewis and Clark had to portage around on their Journey of Discovery. One of the falls is now underwater and the rest are a little tamer due to dams but still pretty impressive.

There were even kayakers trying their luck in the fast moving Missouri.

WE ARE OFF IN THE MORNING ON THE REAL FIRST LEG OF THIS EPIC ADVENTURE! WISH US LUCK AND SUNNY SKIES.

From Omaha to Buffalo, Wyoming

2011-05-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

We managed the trip to Omaha without incident which made a nice change. The weather is cold, gray and dreary with rain off and on most of the way. We stayed at Offutt AFB in Omaha and our site is right on a huge lake near the Missouri River. Very nice.

You can’t come to Omaha without visiting the Henry Doorly Zoo, the king of the zoos. It doesn’t disappoint. The weather even cooperated, sunny and mid-60’s. Would you believe they have an entire forest inside one building and you walk from the upper story to the understory. Comes complete with waterfalls, caves, animals. Another highlight is the underground night forest exhibit, complete with a southern swamp and all its critters. Quite spooky.

Of course you aren’t supposed to come to Omaha without sampling their steaks but, at $50 a pop (for one) and that doesn’t include sides, we decided there wasn’t a darn thing wrong with hamburger.

We decided to take a side trip to Badlands NP in South Dakota for a couple of days. We had been there before but it was worth a revisit.

We hadn’t been there two hours and we managed to see a herd of Big Horn Sheep,

a flock of wild turkey, a couple of Magpies (you aren’t out west until you spot a Magpie), some mule deer,

and a field of prairie dogs. Of course, the weather was not conducive to much. Rainy, cloudy, temps in the 50’s and wind - lots of wind. The rain never stopped. Our bedroom window faced the east and guess where we planned to spend the mornings watching the sun rise? Guess who was wrong as you can see.

It did decide to clear up a bit as we left the park so we did a little more touring on our way to Custer SP

Custer SP is the crown jewel of South Dakota SP and all state parks everywhere. We had reservations for the weekend but decided to extend for a few extra days.

Lots of bison

and pronghorn

to watch in the park

and also several prairie dog towns. The secret to photographing the prairie dogs is to stay in the truck. If you get out they all start whistling and then disappear.

Our first afternoon was beautiful. Then the rains came again but at least it wasn’t steady so we still managed to get out and about. We ran into the begging burros on the wildlife drive. One of them managed to sneak up on me and scare me to death. He also shoved the side view mirror against the side of the truck

I have the crud again. Ray is happy because my voice is semi-gone but I get even by coughing all night and keeping him awake. The weather is still rainy but there are periods which allow for sightseeing so all is not too bad. We came home from a drive today and found the field next to our fiver filled with buffalo. These animals are huge (up to 2000 lbs.). We try very hard not to make them angry.

We spent one afternoon taking the scenic (means really curvy – the throw up kind) road to Mount Rushmore. It was so socked in by fog that we turned around and came back home. You couldn’t even see Abe’s nose. Glad we have been there before because it would have been disappointing not to have been able to see anything.

The rainy weather did give us a few photo perks. Made some colors pop.

We finally got tired of photographing buffalo and antelope so decided to pack it up and head further west to Buffalo, WY. What a name. It conjures up all kinds of things like cowboys and roundups and American Indians. In actuality, it is a rain filled basin off I-90 with signs warning that I-90 is closed because the road is washed out. We have stopped here because we need to figure out a way to get to Billings and on into Great Falls from here.

Al and Gail really enjoyed the Badlands and got stuck there an extra day due to really bad winds and rains. You have to love spring. I have seen so much of Ray due to being inside so much because of the weather that I finally got a good look at him. Boy, has he gotten old!

Heading West

2011-05-13T19:12:00.000-04:00

May 5^th, Cinco de Mayo, the day we finally hit the road. As usual, we didn’t get very far. We stopped off at our favorite Maggie Valley campground in North Carolina and spent the night mainly making sure everything worked. The fridge decided not to but it was an easy fix.

The next day we headed off to Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Another favorite and a perfect spot to watch the Derby on TV. I have no idea who won so don’t even ask. And no, we did not have any mint juleps but would not have refused any if they had been offered.

We did take some photos around the campground and the park just to keep our shutter fingers busy. Again, our aim was to check out all systems and make sure everything was in working order. The hot water heater quit working on electric power. It worked fine on gas. Another easy fix and we hope it will be our last scare.

Off to Dayton, Ohio and Wright-Patterson AFB. The campground was situated on a nice little lake but the MP’s weren’t too fond of our taking photos of the area since it was almost on the flightline. I did get one shot off however.

Our youngest son was born here. Ah, the memories. We tried to find the house we lived in and think we did but since the address was buried deeply in the one mind left between the two of us we couldn’t be sure.

Ray managed to drag me to see airplanes again. I really get tired of seeing planes. Boring. The museum is first class however and he did feed me so all was not lost.

The Columbus Zoo has billed itself as the best zoo in the US but methinks it overrates itself. It wasn’t bad but was not the best we have seen. There are animals of course and lots of walking to make you fit but they closed some of their best exhibits. Orangutans were no where to be seen and no reason given. They closed the polar bear exhibit also which is new and supposed to be their crown jewel. I think the zoo’s main claim to fame is Jack Hanna is in charge.

We left Wright-Pat and headed west spending a night in Illinois and one in Iowa City where we spent one of our nine lives. Ray almost hit an SUV that was riding in his blind spot and he had to swerve off the left hand shoulder. I may have done a little screaming but my man managed to get everything back on the road, The inside of the RV was a real mess and the cat is no longer speaking to us. It is amazing how many things can get flung out of cabinets. We lost one coffee cup and open drawers were everywhere but the TV stayed in place. The cat didn’t throw up either.

You are wondering where those raisins are aren’t you. Well, they are on their way and we hope to meet up with them soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

Alaska or Bust

2011-05-02T10:01:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time in the land of South Carolina, two couples collided on the shores of Lake Moultie in the village of Monks Corner. From this meeting a trip to the farthest corner of the country was born.

There were lots of planning materials to go through,

many phone calls to make and a gathering in Pennsylvania to firm up plans.

Even Old Cranky was reading the latest articles in preparation.

In May, our intrepid travelers hit the road to begin their first great adventure as fruit!

Meet the two prunes (they have used this blog before so you may already be familiar with them): Ray and Susan, who hail from South Carolina and are willing to go anywhere, anytime.

Then there are the two raisins: Al and Gail who hail from Massachutses and love to say things like “Wicked”. While raisins are not as plump as prunes they are a little more dried up and we all hope this trip will fill them out a bit.

Last but not least is the cranky cat: Phoebe, also from South Carolina. She doesn’t like humans; she doesn’t like to travel; she barfs a lot but, for some reason, we take her along anyway.

Come with us all you armchair travelers and enjoy our adventure of a lifetime (I think this is at least our fourth adventure of a lifetime but since we travel with a cat we share her nine lives.)