Home Again, Home Again

After 9588 miles of driving in 72 days we are back where we started from.

The memories are priceless and they'll be with us forever. The mountain peaks, the wildlife, the fishing, the microbrews, and the hats- all I can think to say is WOW!

Sue would have stayed out indefinitely I think, but I'm glad to be home. I think secretly she is too. She will definitely miss her favorite read- the Milepost. She's been going through withdrawals, but now that we're home at least we have an unlimited supply of wine  to help her get over the loss.

Thank you all for following along. I'm not sure who you all are, but we've had 4046 page views to date, so I know someone is following this. If you find yourself going through withdrawals not having my posts to follow anymore, find your own wine. I don't have that much to share.

You'll be seeing us around again and we'd be glad to share any stories you're willing to hear. Don't hesitate to mention how much you like the new hats.

Until our next trip then-

Peace and Happiness,

Dave and Sue

Homeward Bound

Well we're back in California again. It won't be long before we're home. I'm surprised we have cell service here, being out in the boonies as we are. Even last night by Portland I couldn't connect.

We stayed with my sister two nights ago. That was pretty nice as we rarely see her and in fact, this was the first time we'd seen her house which she's owned for ten years. It isn't smoky here right now and that's a relief. We had gotten so annoyed by the haze it's very pleasant not to see it any longer.

We went through a downpour of rain earlier today, which is sad because it actually cleaned some of the bugs off the trailer. It was just covered with dead bugs and was going to make a great picture when we got home, but not so much now I'm afraid. On the plus side, it seems I finally found the water leak and fixed it so it won't rain in the trailer any longer... kind of, anyway. It is ever so slightly damp.

We'll be stopping in Milpitas to share a fish dinner with Steve and Harsha. I hope they have some wine, because we are fresh out, and there's no stores close by. WAH!!

I'll be posting again when I get home, just to wrap everything up. I'm not telling you when that'll be though, just because I want to keep you on pins and needles as long as possible.

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Something went wrong

I sent a new post two days ago when I was using someone's free wifi, but I see it didn't go through for some reason. I guess you get what you pay for after all.

Well, we're still having record breaking heat here, but tonight we're staying in an RV park, which means we have 110 volt electricity, which means we have Air Conditioning! Oh yeah!

Tomorrow we'll be in Washington visiting my sister, who happens to live by Seattle. We're driving about 300 miles a day right now, so we should get home eventually. We're a little disappointed we haven't seen any wildlife in a few days, but I guess we did see quite a bit already, so we aren't complaining.

We're trying to get rid of our Canadian money before we cross the border, so we stopped today at the "Cold Beer and Wine" store and picked up a 6 pack of ale. Life is good!! I have to wait another 28 minutes though before it's officially cocktail hour. That's Sue's rule by the way. Maybe she won't mind if we break the rule just this once....

I can't type and drink at the same time, so, later-

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Stewart, BC

Stewart is a cute little town almost at the end of a road which leads to Salmon glacier. After passing through Stewart you drive two more miles into Hyder Alaska, a town of "About 100 happy people".

After driving another few miles, you are back in BC again and on your way to the glacier. Salmon is the fifth largest glacier in Canada, and the largest one you can drive to in Canada. It was very impressive.

Well, I have to tell you about the drive down the Cassiar highway. You may recall in a previous post that I mentioned our friend Larry, who we had dinner with after Sue caught her salmon, told me the Cassiar was 500 miles of frost heaves and potholes. Come to find out, Larry has quite a sense of humor. Other than a short 25 mile section, it has been a wonderful road. In fact, yesterday we saw 6 black bears during our drive, and not one frost heave in sight. What a jokester! I tried my best to talk Sue out of this section of road after talking to Larry, and I'm very glad she didn't agree.

Unfortunately, it is really remote, so I haven't posted in some time. And I may not be able to post again for a few days. But the scenery is just spectacular. We have a lakeside campsite now, which is very nice since they are having record breaking heat here. It 's probably burning up in Atown, but here it's pretty toasty too- 90 yesterday. The lake water felt pretty nice.

Till next time-

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Back in Whitehorse

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada that is. Alaska is but a memory now. Here's a tip for you travelers to Alaska. Don't get your oil changed in Whitehorse. I don't know if it's because I'm from out of town or what, but the price seemed a little steep at $159.62.

We're celebrating the Fourth of July in the parking lot of Wal Mart with 37 other travelers from the states. If you didn't see the sign on the building you would think this is an RV campsite. Well,one night here and we're on the road again; this time we're driving the Stewart/Cassiar Highway instead of the Alaska highway. It's supposed to be more scenic. Larry told us, while we were having fresh salmon for dinner, that it was 500 miles of frost heaves with constant slowing to a crawl to cross over them without launching the trailer in the air. Then as soon as you get up to speed, you have to slow down again for the next one.

Doesn't that sound like fun? I couldn't talk Sue out of it, so we're going the scenic way.

Speaking of scenic, we took a parting shot of the Fireweed and an unknown mountain peak as we were leaving Valdez. What a gorgeous day that was. Lucky for us we had so many.

BTW- when I mentioned that Sue wouldn't move far away from Levi in my last blog, I really meant Levi's family. That would include his parents, uncle, great aunts and uncles. third cousins twice removed, and everything in between.

While traveling in Canada, if you have Verizon for your service carrier, you have to get a special plan to get service. I opted for the plan with unlimited text (which is free), phone calls at 99 cents per minute, and data at $1/10mb. Good thing they don't have very good service up here or I'd be blogging even more than I am. I know I've spoiled some of my followers with regular posts, but I'll be cutting back until we get closer to the border. So for all you JSL's out there, be patient. I will return.

I wonder if Wal Mart is going to have fireworks for us tonight?

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Good day Sunshine!

What a beautiful day in Valdez. Clear blue skies this morning, with clouds building as the day progressed, and the temp is in the 60's. This is living.

We started the day on a bike ride, but the trail was a little rugged for Sue, so we got off the trail and rode through town on the streets. What a great place.

We then decided to go for a hike just outside of town on the Shoup Trail. Unfortunately it is overgrown with thistle at mile 1.5, so we didn't get far. What views though.

Today is our last day in Valdez, so we ended up at the harbor again where the restaurants and coffee shop are located. Just spent some leisurely time soaking up the sun, suds, and java. If I could get Susie to move this far away from our grandson, Valdez is where I'd go. They are in desperate need of a microbrew. I think that'd be a good second career for me, and since Mike doesn't want me to retire, I could make him happy too. And I could be looking at this view while working.

 But like I say, she won't go that far from Levi. Guess I won't be going back to work after all. Sorry Mike.

Tomorrow we'll be pointing the truck towards Atascadero when we hit the road. Before long, my blogging days will be over. In the meantime, I'll stay in touch.

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Valdez

We've been on the road now for 8 weeks and 3 days, and I think I've found my favorite area in Alaska. Valdez, and the road driving in, has some of the best scenery I've ever seen. Canyons, waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, the bay and harbor; WOW!!

Even I look good here!

Can you guess what hat I'm wearing?

A shot of the Worthington Glacier.

We don't know the name of this mountain or lake, it was one of many beautiful shots coming into town.

The small boat harbor is very busy and extremely picturesque.

Valdez is 100 miles from the nearest turnoff of the highway. You drive south to the port city and once you're here, there is nothing else in the area. It isn't big enough to have cruise ships dock here. Consequently, there isn't a lot of traffic, either from tourists or Alaskans. The town itself has a population of only 4100 people and it shows.

However, they have an average annual rainfall of 64", and an average annual snowfall of 325".There are lots of waterfalls around here. They have their own Bridalveil Falls, not to be confused with the famous falls in Yosemite.

It was raining really hard when we came into town yesterday, but as you can see, today is very nice indeed. Tomorrow is forecast to be even better, but even if it is, I think we'll be going for a bike ride.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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Score!!

Sue finally got the monkey off her back today. She's been wanting this for a long time. Here she is with her fishing guide, JJ,and her Sockeye Salmon. I didn't go with her today since I had no burning desire. Maybe if I actually liked eating salmon it'd be different.

They boated down the Kenai river till they got to the secret spot and got out and spent the day fly fishing. She's never used a fly rod before, so that was an experience in itself. She's pretty tired right about now. Fortunately for me, JJ lives right down the street from the campground so I didn't have to drive her over to the boat ramp at 4:45 a.m. I feel fine. If she didn't have to beat off the bears, she probably wouldn't be so exhausted.

I'd mention all the eagles they saw today also, but she didn't get any pictures of them, and I don't want JSL asking for pics, so I won't mention the eagles. Or the black bear.

To top it all off, it's been raining for the past 24 hrs, so she was in her element. All in all, a wonderful day of fishing.

Our friends Jan and Larry from Atascadero are here in the campground tonight, so I get to grill salmon for dinner for us. We'll be pairing that with a Gloria Ferrer Pinot Noir from Carneros, in case you're wondering. I hope I don't burn the fish....

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Rain and Coffee

We moved up the road a ways to explore another area. Since it's raining today we decided to go for a hike. We ended up doing a 7 mile O & B to Ptarmagin Lake. The trail was much easier than the last one we did, but they did mention it could be overgrown. Here's a shot looking up the trail.

The rain didn't bother us much, as it was typically light, but the wet plants got my pants so soaked I had to remove the legs.  We have been remarkably lucky with the mosquitoes though. When we got to the lake we got a couple of bites and I actually used Janet and Brian's parting gift of Deet. But for the most part we've had no bug issues to speak of. Sue's good friend Jan and her husband Larry are on the road up here also (Once they heard we were having so much fun, they had to come up here too). We haven't been able to connect with them yet, but the girls are texting each other and Jan told her the mosquitoes are so bad they have to stay in the trailer. Perhaps on the way back, we'll run into bugs.

Oh, here's the lake-

We're at the coffee shop again; Sue's checking out the good looking guy a couple of tables away, and I'm slaving away updating the blog for my public.

We will be off the grid again for an undetermined time. Come to find out, Verizon is not a good carrier up here. I'll check in again when I can.

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Into the Netherland

We're leaving Seward today and heading back into the woods, so I won't have internet access for a while I fear. We were going to stay in Seward longer, but they only have the one brewery anyway, so what the heck.

Yesterday it was clear, sunny, and temps were in the 70's, which made it a perfect day to hike. We decided to tackle Mt. Alice, which is rated as difficult, but should have been called extreme. It's basically a dry waterfall down the mountain side in most places, with some trail work done occasionally. So it's straight up the mountainside. It was the steepest hike we've ever done, eclipsing anything we encountered in the Sierras. Great views once we got up there though; looking down on Seward, Resurrection Bay, and the glaciers.

The day before we hiked to Exit Glacier, which was not that big in the scheme of things, but it's fed by the Harding Ice Field, which is 700 miles long and feeds over 50 glaciers!

So you may not hear from me in a while, but when I report in again, I'm sure to have something to say. Fish caught, beers drunk, hikes hoofed; who knows?

P.S. Fish size doesn't really count for that much does it? It's how much fun you have. Sue says it was huge.

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More on the epic battle

Well, I'm sitting in the Sea Bean coffee shop now in Seward with great wifi. Yahoo!!

OK, back to Homer for a minute. We stayed there for 5 days because we were waiting to get on the fishing boat for halibut. It was a great day on the water; the sky was overcast all day, the water was very calm (like a lake), and there were only four of us fishing on the boat plus the captain and his ten year old son- it was fathers day. The other couple had been halibut fishing 23 times before and had caught a 138 lb fish in the past. So we spent most of the day hunting for the big guys. We never found the monsters though. Good thing too, because it was more than Sue could do to bring in her trophy fish of 28.5. The captain helped her quite a bit.

It was a hell of a battle and she got everyone excited and laughing just watching her. At one point she let go and handed the rod to the captain so she could shake out her arms. She was pretty stoked when she got him landed.

Then it was off to Buttwhackers (as in halibut) where they filet the fish for us. I felt kind of sorry for the other experienced couple since Sue and I caught the two biggest fish.

While we were hanging out in Homer we saw a lot of bald eagles. The best one was the guy who landed on the beach 8 ft away from Sue, but I didn't get a picture of that. This one was sitting 50 ft from our camper one morning.

It's the funniest thing, but when we were in Homer, all the locals badmouthed Seward whenever the subject came up. We like Seward much better. The town is very cute, great views, we have an awesome campsite, and there is a lot of hiking for us here. We should have some more pics for you soon, but I should mention it's overcast today and the forecast is for rain the next 8 days. Sue will probably want to go for a bike ride tomorrow if it's actually raining.

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Halibut

Really poor internet connection. Here's some highlights from yesterday's fishing expedition. We both caught our limit and are shipping fish home. Sue really had an epic battle bringing in her biggest catch(28.5 lbs)

It looks like this is the only pic I can upload. Sue was so excited because she caught the biggest fish of her life. It was even more fun for the rest of us on the boat to watch her. She's so sore today all she could do was lift a pint in celebration.

BTW, I grilled some of the halibut last night for dinner and it was the best we've ever had.

We're in Seward now and expect to be spending some time here hiking and drinking. Too bad the reception is so bad, I have some great pics to share. I'll send 'em later for your viewing pleasure.

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Homer

This is a great place to hang out. Fishing everywhere, Two Sisters Bakery (phenomenal sticky buns), great views.

We got up early so Sue could try her hand st Salmon fishing; no luck yet, but we did break a borrowed reel. Sorry Manny. Bald eagles, the sunrise over the glaciers- WOW!

We'll go Halibut fishing on Sunday. In the mean time, she'd really like to catch a salmon, so she isn't done yet. Plus, we haven't tried the local brew yet either. We did stop by the Salty Dog, which is the local bar where the fisherman hang out. You don't see a place like that every day. I'd show you a picture, but my connection is really poor. I'm glad I was able to get the sunrise for you.

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Soldotna

We were relaxing in the campground yesterday afternoon. It seemed like every day we were off running around doing something, and I felt a little down time was warranted. So we went to the St. Elias brewery for lunch and came back for a little nap. It felt nice doing nothing for a while. Especially since we're in the middle of a heat wave. Neither of us feels like hiking in this heat, but napping...that's another story.

Today we drove to the city of Kenai and beyond. If it weren't for the smoke we would have had some awesome views across the Cook Inlet to the Alaskan Range. There is a fire just down the road from us in Sterling; fortunately we are headed in the other direction on Thursday towards Homer. We're still debating if we're going halibut fishing or not. We'll make a decision when we have all the pertinent data.

I think that tall amber ale I had with lunch is sneaking up on me. I feel another nap coming on. Till next time.

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The fish are jumping

But Sue didn't fish today after all. She wants to wait till the salmon are thick in the water. It's a little early in the season and the fish are just now starting to show up. Here in the Russian River the fisherman are so thick they have to time their casts according to their neighbors. I'm not kidding; they synchronized their efforts to avoid crossing their lines. The people we talked to weren't catching anything though.

So we went for an 8 mile hike today instead. We hoofed it up to the Russian River Falls, where you can't fish, but sometimes you can see the grizzlies feeding on the salmon. No bears today, but if they had been there they would have had a feast. We saw at least 100 lolling around in a little cove waiting to catch their breath before they tried getting up the falls. We can see them in the picture, but only because we know they're there. On the other hand, they were jumping enough that I was able to get some pics of that too. We were standing on a viewing platform 100' from the action.

One thing about this trip, we're seeing things we haven't seen before. Awesome!!

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Cooper Landing

Manny told us Cooper landing was one of his favorite places on the Kenai Peninsula. We're here camping on the Kenai River. It's gorgeous for sure and I'd include pics but my connection speed is too slow for that.

She'll be salmon fishing tomorrow. I'm sure that'll be an adventure. Yesterday we rode our bikes on the Blue Ice Trail in Portage Valley. She says it was the best bike ride she's ever had.

The weather finally turned. We had 10 days of clouds and rain, but now it's sunny and warm.

I'm not sure we'll have good internet service for a while, but I'll post when I can. Unless you hear otherwise you'll know we're having a blast.

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Loose Moose on the bike trail

We went for a ride on one of the trails today. It's an odd thing, Sue is not a cyclist per se, but she does ride short distances on paved trails. Oddly enough though, she likes riding in the rain. Those of you who ride with me know I'm adamantly against riding when it's wet; not Kristen, Peggy, or even Bernice, can get me out there if it's raining. I'll be in the coffee shop with John. But Susie.... that's another matter. So out we go, riding for three hours with it raining half the time. It was a beautiful trail right in town. We were able to get in 22 miles total. Susie wants to say it wasn't raining that much. Dave wants you to know half the time we were out there, water was falling from the sky.

Along the way we had great views of the Cook Inlet. In one direction we saw the skyscrapers downtown, in the other direction we would have seen Denali if the clouds hadn't been in the way.

There was also a moose just off the trail; if you look closely in this pic you can see a brown lump not far off.

After that we went to the Moose's Tooth Pub and Pizzeria for a well deserved refueling. Tomorrow the Kenai Peninsula.

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Anchorage

So far we like Anchorage. It has a nicer downtown area than Portland. And great microbrews. The state of Alaska has 24 breweries, putting it in the top tier nationally for breweries per capita. Anchorage has 135 miles of paved trails for your biking pleasure, and another 300 miles of unpaved/wilderness trails for you hikers out there. There's fishing in Ship Creek right in town, literally.

It's possible you could run across a mosquito, but we haven't yet. The warning signs are there though.

Today was our work day, shopping, laundry, quaffing ale. Tomorrow we get to play, and if the weather is nice, we'll even go for a bike ride. Woohoo!!

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Talkeetna

Remember the tv show called "Northern Exposure"? We loved that show. Talkeetna is the town that show was modeled after. Lots of gifts shops, one coffee house, and one microbrew. So we were both happy today.

We drove in the rain all day today. Unfortunately my trailer has a leak at the very front. Whenever we drive in the rain the bed gets wet. For the life of me I can't find where it's coming from. I've caulked extensively around everything I can think of but I'm not done yet apparently.

The drive was pretty uneventful except for a cow moose ran across the road right in front of us. I hit the brakes pretty hard as I watched her look over her shoulder at us, and thank goodness she had some speed, because I couldn't have stopped on that wet road. Tomorrow we drive through an area the Milepost calls a "moose danger zone". I'll keep my eyes peeled there for sure.

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Hiking Denali

The last two days we've been hiking the trails. Boy, these are the best trails we've ever seen. They're well marked, wide, and easily traversed. Most of the time we're in forested area, so Sue is nervous a bear will be around the corner. We sure see a lot of moose tracks on the trail, but have never spotted any wildlife on the trails. I saw a funny looking caribou at a pullover.

 We saw three different beaver dams at Horseshoe, which was kinda cool. Those beavers are very industrious. Sue did a little fishing at Horseshoe lake. Nibbles, but nothing hooked.

We saw a demonstration of the sled dogs today. They have quite a few, 50 maybe. They're very sweet and well behaved. They are also quite large, but surprisingly they only weigh 60-80 lbs. During the winter they are working animals and run approximately 3000 miles in a season. They're favorite climate is cold; 20 below 0 is where they work best. Sue tried to get a picture of them pulling the sled, but they were moving too fast for a good shot.

Tomorrow we head out of the park to Talkeetna, and then down to Anchorage. If one of us is attacked again, you'll be the first to know.

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ATTACK!

You never think it's going to happen to you. It's always someone else who made a dumb mistake. We know the rules and obey them all: Make noise on the trail so you don't startle a wild animal, hike with your head up and look around you at all times, carry your bear spray for worst case scenarios. And then all hell breaks loose.

Here's the scene. We hiked 2.5 miles to the top of a peak to get a great view, which we surely did. Those triangular looking clouds on the horizon are actually Denali.

The wind was blowing 30-40 mph up at the top, so we were hiding behind a natural wind barrier of some big rocks, eating lunch. Granted, we couldn't hear anything except the howling wind. Susie was joking how it'd be funny if a grizzly poked it's head over the rocks and looked at us.

 Out of nowhere it comes running at us! He actually started chewing on my boot! And the claws on this thing! OMG!! Our first, and hopefully last, close encounter with the wildlife. I knew JSL wouldn't be a believer without proof, so I whipped out my camera and got a quick shot. My hands were shaking so much I'm surprised it's in focus.

We quickly hightailed it down the trail before he brought over his buddies and overpowered us. What a day!!

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A Wild Ride

In as much as we saw many animals today on our tour bus trip. Let's start at the begining. We were driving out of the campground on our way to the bus when we saw the Loose Moose. She's been hanging around for a while scaring the rangers because she's a little aggresive. She kicked a lady in the head and the lady lost an ear in the incident. I'm guessing she got too close. Here she is laying in the brush.

Once we got on the bus, the first thing we saw was a momma moose with her calf. She was walking down the middle of the road, and my picture is out the front window of the bus.

We saw a number of birds which we did not get any pictures of; Willow Ptarmigan, golden eagles, arctic falcon.There were a number of birders in our bus, so they really went wild. Apparently the falcon is rarely seen. We saw a herd of thirteen Dahl Sheep, but the picture is not that good since they were way, way far away on the mountain. Plus they were moving around a lot.

From there to the Eielson Visitor center at mile 65.9, we didn't see much more wildlife.:-(. The weather was not really in our favor either. We did get a glimpse of Denali through the clouds, but if you didn't know what you were looking at, you wouldn't know what you're looking at. This is the north peak, which is shorter than the south peak, which is 3 miles from there.

We took a short hike while at the visitor center. It was really windy and cold, so we called it our popsicle hike. It was climbing the whole way though so we got a little workout.

We hopped onto another bus for the trip back. We didn't ride the same bus line as Marsha did, no tv or boxed lunch. We rode the shuttle bus, which runs every 30 minutes, and you can get off and on whenever you want. So, we're driving back when we ran into a grizzly walking down the road. It's important to note there are about 350 grizzly bears in a park of 6,000,000 acres. The chances of seeing one are slim at best. This guy wouldn't get off the road, and the bus is not supposed to pass until they are off the road. So we followed him for a while. Once he did get off, it was to grap a ground squirrel, so of course we couldn't leave then either.

We finally got to see some caribou up close too.

WOW! We finally got back and were so excited we had the chance to see so much wildlife. As we were driving back to camp, we found Loose Moose again. She loves our campground.

After a day like today, we opened one of our two remaining LouieD's. What a day!!

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Lazy Day

Today we spent exploring the surrounding area at the entrance to the park. That includes the visitor center, the railroad depot, hiking a local trail; plus we drove into the shopping area outside the park. We bought lots of gifts (which we've been doing all along), had lunch at the 49th State Brewery, and coffee at the Black Bear Coffee shop. They had more brews to select from then we've ever seen at any other brewery, and the food was not only fantastic but not your typical brewpub fare. We were so impressed we may go back. Clouds and rain all day today, but we better get used to that.

Tomorrow we take the bus ride into the park. Unlike most national parks, driving is resticted here. The road is open to the public for 13 miles; after that you have to take a tour bus. The road is actually 92.4 miles long. We'll be going in to mile 65.9. That's a total of 8 hrs on the bus plus time to get off and explore. It'll be a full day, but we should have animal pictures when we return. If we're lucky we might see the peak again.

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