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Once again we have wifi !!!!! Dawson CITY not Creek as mentioned before is a nice town...however, the streets ( other than Front St) are not paved and the sidewalks are wooden boards...very unique. We did the standard touring of the town on the 22nd, visiting the Fireman's Museum and the sternwheeler graveyard. There were 3 sternwheels that we saw, and found out later, there were 5 more deeper in the bush. Brandy managed to have a swim in the Yukon River which she seemed to enjoy. We also went into the Grande Theatre with it's dining room style chairs and barrel stoves. The evening of the 22nd
saw us take in the show at Diamond Tooth Gerdie's....sorta neat. At midnight, we drove up to The Dome to view the midnight sun......the pics here show how light is really is at that time. After what seemed to be a very short night, we headed off to find our fortune at panning for gold....we got some!!!!!! it is now in the form of a necklace for Sue. The next stop was the Dredge #4, which was the largest wooden dredge in North America. On the way back to the campground, we visited the old cemeteries of the town, going back to the late 1800's. Following that we visited the original cabins of Robert Service and Jack London. The childhood home of Pierre Berton is also there, back not open the the public as it is reserved for writers. Last night ( Thursday the 24th) had us staying at a Territorial Park Campground. It is for places like that we purchased a generator. Coming back to Whitehorse passed a large area where there was a layer of white material in the ground. This is volcanic ash from a volcano that, the feeling is, now buried beneath a glacier. At one time 1/3 of South Yukon was covered by this ash. We will leave Whitehorse tomorrow and head towards Watson Lake. We are going to go into the NWT, which is something that was not on our original agenda. I expect Internet service will be scarce again shortly.
We bid Tok farewell on Sunday to head for Chicken Alaska. We met two Model A's at the camp from Kentucky...way to go folks. The original name of Chicken, was to have been Ptarmegan, but people couldn't spell it. As a result...Chicken was born , so to speak. It is a thriving metropolis of 21 people. They do not have electricity ( everyone has a generator), cell 'phones do not work and there is no sewer system ( ah, the good ol' shack out back). The Taylor Highway is closed in the winter and mail arrives twice a week via plane. We had great BBQ chicken ( what else). Sue made a valiant effort at panning for gold...alas, no luck. Bill also tried a little ( sore back), with the same result. Today ( Monday) saw us head for the Top Of The World Highway.We faced this trip with mixed feelings as some had said it was the road from Hades, others, including bikers, said "no problem". Well, it had rained for a day and a half sooooo, it was muddy...really muddy. On the US side of the border, no pavement was to be found and the road was slow going. The Canadian side was much better with areas of pavement and the graders had made the going much better. Our hope was to view the solstice tonight, but it is overcast, so we'll miss that event, but still go to the Dome A big hill with a view of the Ogilvie Mountains, tomorrow night, weather permitting. We do not have a sunset here... it is still light enough to read by at 3:00 in the morning. We are here for the next 3 nights and plan to do touring of the town of Dawson Creek and area.
While in Fairbanks, on Wed., we went to a farmer's market as well as the Fountainhead Antique Museum which was an excellant display of a car collection owned by one person. Several of the cars were the last one surviving. Back at the trailer some needed repairs were finished off. That evening we went to a cruise night at the Pioneer Park which featured some of the museum cars as well as many vintage vehicles. Thursday we put on the maps of the USA and Canada and filled in those places which we have visited. Off again we went to Pioneer park, this time to see the various buildings......Sue bought me a diamond willow walking stick (in the rough) which I stripped when returning to the trailer. The Quest West race dog building was also interesting...it's similar to the Iditarod but on a differnt course. They also have sled dogs rescued from shelters which they rehabilitate. The Northern most Southern BBQ is a place called Big Daddy's.....good grub !!! Brenda and Frank G, friends from Troy AL. arrived from Valdez. Frank went Halibut fishing and is the leader in the derby with a catch of 180#. Tomorrow, 20th,will determine if he wins the first round, which is two tickets or anywhere Air Alaska flies. Friday the four of us took off to to tour the #8 Dredge and were surprised to find the admission fee also included a sourdough lunch. From there it was to North Pole where amongst other things, we sat on Santa's knee....whatta treat. On the way to Tok today ( Saturday), we passed a point where the pipeline is suspended acrosss a river...neat. We also stopped at a farm and sampled some elk, yak and reindeer sausages...ended up buying an elk summer sauage. The wildfire that was buring 3 weeks ago when we were here, was finally put out about 4 days ago....a lot of damage to the trees.
After our blowout on Saturday outside Anchorage, we spent a couple more nights at a campground, which we had stayed at before, in Palmer. Sunday they had an ice cream social which we went to and that was about it for Sunday. The decision was made to replace all four tires on the trailer, which we did on Monday. These 10 ply's should hold up better ( we hope). After the tire change, it was off to Denali, where the night was spent about 6 miles from the town. Tuesday morning we had hoped to see a demonstration of what Rangers do at the park, HOWEVER, the slide on the bedroom would not retract into the trailer and by the time we did that manually, we missed the demonstration. We went to the Visitor Center in the park and watched a great movie presentation on the park . The park itself actually turned out to be a bit of a disappointment after all the hype we had heard. There is much more scenery, which we enjoyed elsewhere, than we found there. The drive to the Denali area itself was very scenic and the town itself looked like a version of Collingwood with all the tour buses. We picked up a replacement roll or split pin to fix the broken one on the slide and fixed it last night ( Tuesday) after our arrival here are Fairbanks AK. We will have 21 hrs and 45 min of sun today. The sun sets at :45 am and rises at 3:00 am. We have driven just over 14,000 miles since we began.
As mentioned in the previous post, we were outside Homer. We drove there and went to the Most Westerly Road in North America. From there, you can see the Pacific Ring of Fire which is a line of Volcanoes reaching as far as Asia. Of the four we could see, three are still active, the most recent erupting in 2005. Homer itself is a slender piece of land ( spit) reaching out into the ocean. There are a large number of fishing charter companies there as well as the ever present souvenir shops. We had supper at Capt'n Paddies, a place that had been recommended by someone at a previous campground. Excellent. Sue enjoyed grilled salmon and I had Halibut and chips. Yesterday was our on the move day again. It was to be a short drive.....however instead of an hour drive, it ended up being over 3 because of a blowout on Alaska Hwy 1 just outside Anchorage. Because of the dangerous location, we called AAA and it took them 2 hours to respond. During the time it took the guy to change the tire there was a four car fender bender. One of the drivers attempted to put the blame on the tow driver saying the emergency triangles were not out far enough.....not true. If the drivers couldn't see a 3 ton wrecker with all the flashing lights, they sure weren't gonna see the red triangles. Today, Sunday, we went back to the Ididirod Museum to have a ride on a cart pulled by a team of 8 sled dogs.....man they are fast!!!!! at about 15mph. With a full team (16 dogs) on snow, they typically run at 25 mph ALL THE TIME.
http://picasaweb.google.com/192950A for the photo album
On the 6th ( Sunday) Sue went to a Cowboy Church...apparently it was "different") We tried Geocaching with no luck. The Monday was the day we left for Stewart on the Kenai Pennisula.Our camp site was right on Resurrection Bay...nice spot. Took a hike to the Exit Glacier and saw it from a distance. On the way back we saw a Cow Moose and at one point it was about 10 feet away and moving slowly....we retreated. Tuesday we went fishing with Captain Andrerw aboard the Lucky Lady. He was targeting rock fish and found them. We caught a couple of Flwnder which we sent back to the deep and also a couple of Black Bass that were too small. W#e did keep 4 larger ones and two Yellow Eye Rock fish of which you are only allowed one each. To do this we had to purchase a fising license each> we fished in Resurrection Bay and out as far as the Gulf of Alaska. We were lucky enough to see two Minke Whales, Sea Lions, Dall Porpoises, Sea Otters and Dall Sheep. We enjoyed some of the fish for supper....fresh. Wed we drove to Kenai to the Diamond M Ranch...got the last spot as there is a large Harley Davidson Rally there this weekend and registration started today ( Thursday) They are expecting 450 bikes. On the way to the "ranch" we visited the Sondotna Museum which is made up of log cabins of the original homesteaders in the area...dating from 1947. One of the tour guides was one the original homesteaders. We are just outside Homer tonight and this will likely be our last update for a few nights.
May 29 had us stay at a campground owned by a couple from Russia. There are quite a number of Russian folks in that area. While the camp itself was ok, the experience of eating real Russian food was fantastic !!!!
We also saw 4 extinct volcanoes one of which was over 16,000 ft. The 30th had us attempt to walk on a glacier ( Worthington), however, deep wet snow prevented us from getting to the face. On the way to Valdez, we passed through Thompson Pass at 2,678 ft, then begin a desent of 7 miles through spectacular snow covered mountains....this is what Alaska is supposed to look like. There were 3 pretty waterfalls, 2 at Bridal and one at Horsetail.. The camp called Eagles Nest in Valdez, could not have been better, surrounded on 3 sides by mountains and the harbour on the 4th side. The small craft basin had 100's of boats in it ranging from pleasure boats to charter and fishing boats. The daylight now is 18 hours....11:30 pm setting and 4:30 am rising. On Monday the 1st, we toured a couple of the local museums. In 1964 there was a 9.7 earthquake which caused the harbour in the original town to sink into the sea. There was a ship, the Chena, which brouht supplies etc to the town. It was tied at the dock and people always came to greet it. When the quake hit a, 4,000' X 600 ' part of the harbour disappeared taking with it the complete dock system and the 32 people on it. The tidal wave that followed, had the Chena hit the ocean flooras the sea retreated, rebound on the incoming wave, rode into town on it and returned to the sea. All this while, a sailor filmed the event on an 8mm movie camera. Followinfg this disaster, a number of the homes that survived the quake and tidal wave ( 40 ft high), were moved 4 miles to the current town site. Those that were too badly damaged were burned. It is now a major shipping port, mainly for oil from the Alaska pipeline. Today ( Tuesday June 1st) had us start the trip towards Archorage. WE are staying at mile 108 of the Glenn Hwy. All highways here have names and distances are always refered to by the mile number. EWe experienced a flat tire of the trailer, caused by a piece of steel by the looks of it. The tire could not be repaired, so another was bought. It happened at the "right" spot, as there was a turnoff that allowed us to get off the road. It was a short drive to Glenallen ( after unhooking the trailer) to get the tire replaced....the spare was also flat ( must remember to check that more often).
saw us take in the show at Diamond Tooth Gerdie's....sorta neat. At midnight, we drove up to The Dome to view the midnight sun......the pics here show how light is really is at that time. After what seemed to be a very short night, we headed off to find our fortune at panning for gold....we got some!!!!!! it is now in the form of a necklace for Sue. The next stop was the Dredge #4, which was the largest wooden dredge in North America. On the way back to the campground, we visited the old cemeteries of the town, going back to the late 1800's. Following that we visited the original cabins of Robert Service and Jack London. The childhood home of Pierre Berton is also there, back not open the the public as it is reserved for writers. Last night ( Thursday the 24th) had us staying at a Territorial Park Campground. It is for places like that we purchased a generator. Coming back to Whitehorse passed a large area where there was a layer of white material in the ground. This is volcanic ash from a volcano that, the feeling is, now buried beneath a glacier. At one time 1/3 of South Yukon was covered by this ash. We will leave Whitehorse tomorrow and head towards Watson Lake. We are going to go into the NWT, which is something that was not on our original agenda. I expect Internet service will be scarce again shortly.
