Close to Home!

9-7-10 through 9-10-10:  We left Rockaway Beach and said our goodbyes to Mary and John.  We hope to see them over in Leaveworth, Washington on future trips.  They have  purchased a home there hopefully for retirement!  We headed down the Oregon coast to Brookings, Oregon, for a short stay.  Managed to play a round of golf at Salmon Run Golf Course in between rain drops but did finish.

We made our way down the coast for a stop at the Elks Lodge RV Park in Eureka, California.  Played a round of golf at the Eureka Golf Course -- beautiful weather and a not-so-bad game for both of us.  I guess we haven't left our golf games in never-never land!

9-10-10:  Our last barbeque on the road!  We will be leaving in the morning for Napa.  Our "Alaska Road Trip" was more than we asked for and there are many sights we would re-visit and ones which we did not visit but would like to see.  Except for the rainy weather, it was an awesome trip!

See you all soon.  We will have more stories!

8-28-10 through 9-6-10

Crossed the border on Saturday, 8/28.  Waited for 1-1/2 hours.  They took some vegetables -- tomatoes, mandarin oranges, peppers, potatoes, green onions.  You are never sure what to get rid of before you get there! Made our way down to the Northwood Casino in Lyndon Washington, just across the border.  Stayed one night then continued on down to Olympia, Washington to visit our friend Cheri Cassedy.  Pat and Bernie motored on down to Tacoma, Washington because Pat wanted to get his truck serviced at a dealer there.  We spent two nights in Olympia visiting then drove to Rockaway Beach, Oregon, to visit our friends Mary and John Henri who own a house on the beach.  We parked our rig at the Bar View Jetty Campground (County of Tillamook) over Labor Day weekend.  The park was packed with many families and there was a lot of activity.  You just have to walk a very short distance and you are on the beach.  We would walk down the beach to Mary and John's every day (about two miles one way).  Most of our stay here was at their house and not much time spent in the rig!  (Sleeping, feeding the cat).  Pat and Bernie are north of us, waiting to get into Ft. Stevens State Park in Astoria, Oregon and will be there until Thursday (10/9/10).  We hope to meet up with them down the road!

Waiting in line at the border in Abbotsford, Canada.  Thought it would be quicker because it is "smaller."  Not so -- long wait!!

We had lunch at Bar Harbor in Olympia, Washington.  The day was gorgeous!  We loved feeling the sun, which we haven't seen much of these past few months.  

The capitol building in Olympia.

Gary and Cheri -- wild sunglasses!

Twin Rocks, Rockaway Beach, Oregon.  Quite a view from the Henri's beach house.  I could live here. This is one of our favorite places on the coast.










Extending and capping the jetty at Tillamook Bay, an Army Corps of Engineer project.  The boulders are very large and are hauled here on a flatbed truck.  Our friend Mary is upset because she can't get to her favorite place to get mussels until the job is done (later on this fall).







John building a bonfire.  This sunset doesn't look like Oregon to me -- maybe Hawaii.  It was a beautiful evening and we sat by the fire until midnight.

Hard to believe this is the northern Oregon coast,  just above Tillamook, below Astoria about 60 miles!  A front is supposed to move in tomorrow, but we had a great evening!






We actually feel pretty close to home after traveling over 9000 miles.  Only about three tankfuls of fuel and we will be back in Napa!  Will be leaving Rockaway Beach tomorow, heading south to probably Brookings, Oregon.

8-26-10 through 8-28-10

These are pictures of the fire as we were waiting to get through on the Cassiar Hwy. Pretty scary! We should have waited another day to get through but elected to go on down the way we came up -- Alaskan Highway. It really sounded like we might not get through for a long time!  However, traffic was led through the next day with a pilot car.  Oh well -- another trip to see the Cassiar Highway.

8-25-2010:  
Finally shorts weather.  This is our rig at Roberts Roost RV Park in Quesnel, BC.  Our awning is out for the first time on the trip.  Weather -- about 75 degrees.  Gary is getting ready to barbeque tonight.










The clouds are looming -- go away!!  However, I love pictures of the sky when it looks like this.  Tomorrow we will make a day trip to Barkersville, BC, rain or shine.








8/26/10:  Barkerville, BC.  A totally restored gold mining town complete with actors portraying residents of the time.  This historic town was named after Billy Barker who discovered gold in 1862 which triggered a stampede of thousands to this part of British Columbia which is known as the Caribou.  There are over 125 heritage buildings, period room displays, and satellite museums.  Also live stage shows, mining demonstrations, gold panning, street theater and tours.  Too much for us to see in one day so we will have to come back again!  I personally want to see the "hanging judge" hold court.

The main street in Barkerville.

Two "businessmen" from Barkerville.

Our guide for the Wells-Barkerville Cemetery tour.  He was portraying the local minister at the Anglican Church.
A very good story teller and historian.  We were so glad we took this tour!

8-27-10:  Stayed at the Gold Trail RV park in Clinton, BC, heading south to the border, and not Mexico way!  The owner of this RV park was a real character.  He put on a great buffet of ribs, chicken, and salmon and was a one-man show!  A very fun evening.

8-28-10:  A beautiful drive down the Fraser Canyon.  Lots of people fishing the Fraser River.  The sockeye salmon run is the largest since 1913!  They are having trouble getting enough ice to put down on the fish.  And to think the past four years they closed the season.  It was real "combat fishing" along the river banks.

We had an hour and a half wait at the border at Abbotsford, Washington.  Declared some produce and got pulled over and searched.  They took tomatoes, peppers, potatoes mostly.  However, kind of a hassle.  My mandarin oranges came from Peru and they took those.  I really don't understand this global thing with the produce.  Anyway, we got through pretty fast because we were blocking the road with our rig (:  Pat and Bernie got searched, too.  It was the waiting in line for an hour and a half that got to me!  We picked a small border crossing but it was just as much trouble as the last time we came through more near Vancouver.  Oh well -- still had a great time in Canada.

We are back in the USA -- YEAA!

8/16/2010 through 8/24/2010

8/16 - 8/17:  We are in Whitehorse, Yukon.  Our truck needs an oil change and we have an appointment at Canadian Tire for service.  Also, had a wonderful birthday dinner at Giorgio's, a restaurant that is as good as any in the Napa Valley!  We were quite surprised because our eating out adventures have not always been good.  We are just spoiled being from Napa and our great restaurants.  Tomorrow we are off to the Cassiar Highway.  The fire is still going on but we are hopeful.

8/18 - 8/20:  We spent the night at Baby Nugget RV Park right before the Cassiar Highway junction (hwy 37).  The fire is still raging on both sides of the road and remains closed.  Sometimes they open it up with a pilot car, so we are planning on getting in line at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow . . .

Stayed in line for 2-1/2 hours and a no-go for the road today.  MAYBE tomorrow.  We elected to forget this route, sadly, and headed on down the Alaskan Highway.  We really didn't want to drive this again but reportws on the fire do not look longterm so we headed to Liard Hot Springs, staying for a couple of days and enjoying the springs and beautiful park.

8/21/10:  Ft. Nelson, BC, Triple "G" RV Park for one night.  We stayed here on the way up.  Good one-nighter, although their Wi-Fi isn't very good.  It's raining AGAIN.  We heard that this was the 6th or 7th historically wettest year for Alaska, which would include Northern BC as far as the weather goes.  We are looking forward to better weather as we move south.

8/22/10:  One night in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Ft. St. John, BC.  Another place where we stayed on the way to Alaska.  Previously there were 14 rigs in the park with us!  Not so m any this time.  Nothing exciting in the way of pics so I didn't take any.

8/23/10 -- 8/24/10:  Prince George, BC.  A long day of driving from Ft. St. John due to road work.  We figured we were delayed about an hour because of construction.  It's raining . . . again.  Gary needs to repair the roll-top on the bed of the truck before we can go anywhere -- a broken bracket -- Planning to leave out of here tomorrow, heading for Quesnel, BC, with a day trip to Barkersville, BC which is an old gold mining town.

8/25/10:  Arrived in Quesnel, BC.  A very short drive so got here early in time to enjoy the park.  We are camped by Dragon Lake, no rain today (yippee!), so just relaxed, read, barbequed and went for a nice long walk.  The Wi-Fi isn't too good so no pictures but just wanted to update the blog.  We are a couple of days away from the border and I'll post more photos.  

8-10-10 through 8-15-10

Our very dirty truck and rig!


8-10-10:  Our first full day in Haines, Alaska.  After a trip to the grocery store (very expensive -- everything has to be brought here by barge -- we ventured up to the Kroschel Wildlife Center where we got to see up close and personal many animals that live in the wilds of Alaska.  Many of them are rescue animals and cannot be released back into the wild.  My favorite was the lynx -- I'm a cat lover!  And yes, we have our kitty with us in the rig. She loves it when she does not have to be riding in the truck.  

We also saw a mama grizzly bear and two cubs.  The mother was fishing in the river and taking it up to her cubs on the bank.  Too dark to get photos - ):

8-11-10:  The weather today is great.  This area is a very beautiful place when the sun is out.  Walked around Haines, a very quaint town.  A cruise ship pulled in this morning so there was more foot traffic than usual.  Most cruise ships seem to go to Skagway.  We visited the American Bald Eagle Foundation where they did a presentation with two owls, a barn owl and a great horned owl.  There were many exhibits of local wildlife, from various kinds of fish to moose.  The resident bald eagle wasn't having a good day so he was not brought out for the show.

We had dinner at a local pizza place with beers before at a brewery nearby.  Bernie and Pat are moving on tomorrow to Whitehorse; they only wanted to stay here for three days. I think they are having Wal-Mart withdrawal!  We are staying until the 16th because we want to do some hiking, geocaching and play a round of golf. The weather is supposed to be great for the next five days so I hope we can do all of our planned activities.

8-12-10:  We played golf today at Valley of the Eagles Golf Links just north Haines.  A nine-hole course but one of the most beautiful courses we have ever played!  There was a 19-foot tide earlier in the day and a couple of holes were flooded for a while.  We played later in the day and the water had receded.  The weather was clear and around 68 degrees.  I am beyond golf withdrawal and was very happy to be on a course again.  This golf course was right next to the Chilcat River.  At high tides, water will come onto the golf course but the locals just pick their time to play golf.  I can't believe my golf game would revolve around high tides but sometimes the water level gets in the way of a couple of holes on this course.  

Waiting in line for brewskies!

Small boat harbor, Haines, Alaska.

8-13-2010:  Ran into people who we have seen in Seward and Valdez, Alaska.  They are from New Zealand and have been here three times.  They purchased a small motorhome and store it in the U.S. at various places and then come here in the summer and travel.  They have been to many places in the US and plan to see more as long as their health holds up.  She is a professional photographer and he runs a charter fishing boat on a lake in New Zealand.  Sure would love to go visit them (I think we will!)

We drove out to Chilcat State Park which was very beautiful but not for big rigs and very remote.  There were bear signs all over the place.

Viewing deck at Chilcat State Park.  The park host gets to live in this cabin and has the above view!  

We loved this license plate decoration -- some of the local flavor in this town!

Speaking of local flavor, this woman was a real character.  She had many things to say about Sara Palin, none of them good, which seems to be how most Alaskans feel about their former governor.  She is truly not liked in every area we have been!

We went on a hike up Mt. Rapinski.  I really wanted to make it to the top  to take pictures but it was practically straight up with lots of switchbacks.  We made it up two miles and decided to call it quits.  I think I could have made it but had to be reminded we had to go the same distance on the way back!!   So, here are some pics of the trail.









Today, 8/15 (Sunday) was a catch-up day with laundry and chores -- they never go away even when you are on the road in your rolling condo.  Tomorrow we head back to Whitehorse and then down the Cassiar highway, which is sort of closed off and on now because of a forest fire.  I do hope it opens back up so we don't have to drive the Alcan again -- would like to see a different part of British Columbia, which was our original intent.  I'll try to keep up with the blog but Wi-Fi is kind of iffy in Canada.  When we are in the states, I have an air card through Verizon and it works great.

Wonderful building, lousy food!

August 7, 2010

We drive from Tok to Cottonwood RV Park, just south of Destruction Bay, Yukon.  This is the worst of the Alcan, as far as we are concerned.  The road has a lot of heaves, Marilyn (the cat) heaved a lot, and a bottle of balsamic vinegar broke and dribbled out into my kitchen.  The rig smells like salad -- oh well, it could have been worse!  Pat and Bernie had had enough of the road so stopped about 90 miles before us.  We just wanted to get through this part of the road in one haul so they will meet us here tomorrow.  This is truly the worst part of the road but very doable.  You just have to take your time.  Pat wasn't feeling well, either, so I'm sure that didn't help.

Will be heading to Haines, Alaska, probably tomorrow.  I was surprised to have internet here.  The owners live in Ontario, Canada but they have this beautiful home with an RV park right on Kluane Lake and come here in May, leave in late September.  It's only 15 amp service with water and a central dump, but is so beautiful.  I would like to stay here for a couple of more days.

  http://www.yukonweb.com/tourism/cottonwood/






                                 Bad Road!

8-6-2010 --

Friday, 8-6:  A one day trip from Valdez to Tok, Alaska.  We are 90 miles from the Canadian border.  Staying one night at the Sourdough Campground in Tok.  The road from Valdez to Tok was ok -- not too many frost heaves.  Tomorrow will be another story.  When we came over this section of the road before, it was full of breaks and heaves.  At least we will know what to expect.  However, Marilyn will have a rough time of it.

Took part in a pancake toss tonight.  If you got the pancake into the "buckit," you won a breakfast.  Needless to say, our bocce skills didn't help us with the floppy pancakes!

I'm posting this tonight because when we reach Canada, I'm not using my air card but will rely on whatever we can get as far as connecting to the Internet.  We will be back in Alaska when we go to Skagway and Haines for a few days and I'll be back on the blog, then back into Canada again.

The mosquitoes are numerous and huge in this campground.  One thing about rainy, cool weather, you don't have the bugs!

August 3 through 5, 2010

This is a picture of the original dock before the 1964 earthquake which devastated the town of Valdez.  Some of the remaining buildings and homes were moved to a new location which they called "new town."  A whole new town was laid out and people were able to move their houses, if the houses were still intact, to the new location, which was on much more stable ground.  This earthquake was a true definition of liquifaction.  The ground was very soft and contained a lot of silt and other types of unstable soil from the Valdez Glacier.  There was a lot of flooding for which they built dikes around the town.  Anyway, the earthquake proved to be the final straw and the town was moved to a more stable location.






Valdez Glacier -- gold rush miners actually hiked over this to get to gold country!  Apparently it was the shortest route.  Gold fever got the best of them!





















I have never seen so many fish!  We visited the fish hatchery below.  The run of pink and red salmon was in full bloom!  The fish were so thick you could hardly see the water.

We fished from the shore and got our limit of 6 for a total of 7.9 pounds of fish after cleaning.  Took them to be vacumn packed and flashed freezed.  I hope I can fit them into my freezer!   Will pick up tomorrow and be on our way to Tok, Alaska for overnight then heading down toward Haines and Skagway, Alaska.

8-2-2010

A beautiful day on our way to Valdez, Alaska. We have been having lots of rainy wather so it was a real treat to see the sunshine!  This road is one of the most gorgeous roads we have been on since entering Alaska.






I took this picture because this rig had obviously been up the "Haul Road."  (The road to Prudoe Bay.)  You wouldn't want to take a rig like ours up that road but a camper/truck would be just fine, or a small RV.  Most of it is gravel.  However, crossing the Brooks Range of mountains is supposed to be spectacular.  Maybe we will get another rig!










Worthington Glacier.

More Worthington Glacier!

July 27 -- August 1, 2010

We arrived in Seward in the early afternoon.  Found a great spot in the City campground right along Resurrection Bay with our back window facing out over the water, looking at the glacier covered mountains on the other side.  We don't have hookups but who cares with this view!  Pat and Bernie managed to snag a hookup spot with water and electric ($30).  Ours is $15!  Tomorrow we are going to go on a cruise to see Kenai Fjords National Park, leaving at 10:00 a.m., and returning at 5:30 p.m.  The weather has a 40% chance of rain tomorrow but we'll see!

7-28-2010:  A beautiful 7-1/2 hour cruise to see glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park.  No rain, calm seas.  A buffet lunch was available, too.  Salmon and prime rib.  Saw humpback whales, puffins and many other bird species, sea lions, and one pod of orcas!  Returned at 5:30 p.m.  Nobody got sea sick but I noticed a whole lot of heads nodding off on the way back.  This puffin picture is not mine -- couldn't get close enough!  But I love these little birds!

Holgate Glacier -- the color of the glacial ice is extraordinary!  As the boat maneuvered closer, the temperature was markedly cooler.  All of the glaciers come off of the Harding Ice Field, a remnant of the last ice age.

A small fishing/tour boat next to us while viewing the Holgate glacier.  I loved the pieces of floating ice.  The crew on our boat snagged a small piece and chipped ice off of it for "glacial ice margueritas."  Of course, I had one -- the ice is so dense you don't dare try to bite into it otherwise you will be looking for replacement crowns, or may need a crown after you broke off a tooth!

We returned to the rig and opened up a bottle of champagne to celebrate our 41st anniversary.  What a gorgeous place to celebrate!

This is our campsite at the city campground in Seward -- a beautiful site.  We watched the sea otters play all day behind the rig.  There was a paved pathway all along the front along the water, so walking was definitely happening for me -- even in the rain.  

We also visited the Alaska Sea Life Center which is much like the Monterey Aquarium but with the local sea life on exhibit.  All of the fish up here are much larger.  We especially noticed the rock fish as being very large compared to ours off of the California coast.  

 

7-30-10 through 8-1-10:

Our next stop will be the Elks in Homer, again, for the weekend.  It's fishing season here and all of the locals around the Anchorage area migrate to Homer, Seward, and Valdez to chase whatever is running and right now it's salmon.  So we are staying put until Monday, 8/2/10 and then we have reservations at a park in Valdez, Alaska.   

We usually have internet access so keep in touch.  Love to hear from you all!