Fairbanks,Ak.

So far, we're not impressed with Fairbanks. The downtown area is less defined than Atascadero. Plus, there also seem to be less people on the street than in Atown. On the drive up here this morning we went past the Alaska Mtn. Range. It's a beautiful day today; temps in the 70's, clear blue skies, wonderful views. Here's a shot of the peaks sticking out above the clouds, with the Tenana River in the foreground.

Yesterday we made it to the end of the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction, Ak. Sue was almost in tears she was so happy. So far we've driven 4000 miles since we left home. Tomorrow is a layover day in Fairbanks to do our house chores and relax a bit, then on to Denali National Park.

Just south of Fairbanks is the town of North Pole. Some enterprising young man decided if he named a town North Pole, that toy manufacturers would flock there to make the claim they made toys at the North Pole. Never happened. However, this is where all the letters to Santa are delivered each year. There is a store stock full of every imaginable Alaskan Christmas gift. They even have some of the letters children write to Santa. Here's my favorite- this kid really has his priorities straight.

Gary- was this your letter?

Hopefully the next time I post there will be pics of Denali.

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Tok, Alaska

We have arrived in Alaska. We had a long drive yesterday, particularly with the 115 mile long section of frost heaves. We were bouncing all over the road. I have to say though, the Alaska Highway is in very good shape overall. The entire route through BC was in better condition than most roads in California, and the bulk of the driving in YT was also excellent.

GRIZZLY! Yes, we saw our first brown bear yesterday. It may have been a female, as it wasn't extremely large. She was eating grass on the side of the road, just minding her own business without a care in the world about us. We did stay in Thor though, just to be safe. 98% of all grizzlies in the world live in Alaska, so we should be seeing more.

The day before yesterday (Thursday), we were camped in Kathleen lake Campground. We went on a couple of hikes and didn't see any bears as we walked through the forest, but we suspect there were several who saw us and kept their distance. We did get some awesome views as we hiked up the mountain and looked down on the lake. We hiked above the snow line in the Kluane Range before heading back out. 

The Kluane mtns. are just spectacular. We were driving past them for more than an hour after we left the visitor center and stopped repeatedly for pictures. Here is a pic of the two of us reflected in the visitor center window with a portion of the peaks in the background.

We're off to North Pole, Alaska today. Since we're back in the US, we have full cell phone service again. While in Canada it was very limited and expensive. For all of you who wished Sue a Happy Birhtday, she says Thanks! She couldn't respond at the time with our poor service.

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Sue's Birthday!!

She was born 64 years ago today. WOOHOO!

We’ll be driving to Kluane park today and probably stay there for a few days. It depends on how good the fishing is. We could drive to Alaska in a few hours; we’re that close. But we want to explore as much as possible, so we’ll hang out in Canada for a while longer.

I doubt there’ll be service there, so don’t be disappointed if you don’t hear from us for a while. I expect to still have spotty service in Alaska but we’ll see.

There’s been several requests for Tracey’s blog. Here’s her url- Traceyandchristravels.blogspot.com. They went to Utah and she took some awesome pictures. I think they may be home by now.

No pictures yet of Sasquatch. He’s been particularly evasive. The one time we saw him, he ran off before we got a pic.

 I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a brown bear in Kluane.  In case you’re wondering, bears come in three types- Polar (which we don’t expect to see), Black (which come in all colors; we’ve already seen black and brown), and Brown bears(which we call Grizzly in the States). The brown are the mean ones. There’s a saying in the woods; Black fight back, brown lay down. The blacks are smaller and not too aggressive but if they attack they can be scared away. Browns are much more aggressive and can’t be fought off. Hence, the purchase of a can of bear spray yesterday. It’s like wasp spray but nastier. Of course, you have to spray right into their eyes- from 12’ away! Yikes! If you don’t hear from us in a week, call the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and let them know we were probably eaten by a brown, will ya?

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A little bit of catch up

A couple of days ago we were driving past Ft. Nelson and we stopped at Tetsa River Services about an hour after we started because of their ad; “Cinnamon Bun center of the Galactic Cluster”. They may be right. As we were leaving I noticed a sign on the gas pump- “No Snivelers”. Good thing I didn’t need diesel. The price was $6.80/gl.

A while after that we stopped at Watson Lake for the famous Sign Post Forest. Anyone can put up a sign; as of 2013 they had over 78,000.

While there we talked to a very informative guide who suggested we get off the Alaska Highway to detour to a hamlet called Carcross. It just so happened we woke up at 4 a.m. today(We aren't sleeping as much as usual because the days are so long; at midnight there aren't any stars out yet and at 4 it's bright already)  so we hit the road shortly after. When we rolled into Carcross it was so early not even the coffee shop was open. We had breakfast at the beach overlooking Bennett Lake and then drove to the Desert. Here's a view out of the dining room window- we would have sat outside but it was in the 40's still.

There are several acres of sand dunes created when the wind blows sand up from the beach. Because of the moisture level, it's not technically a desert, but that doesn't stop them from making that claim.

The Yukon Territory, also known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun" has a population of 36,483. Of those, 27,415 live in the capital city of Whitehorse. We're camping there tonight and we spent the day eating, shopping, and doing laundry. It's not a pretty town, but it seemed like Seattle with all the traffic and pedestrians around. Surprisingly, Whitehorse and Carcross are the bicycling meccas of Canada. They have hundreds of miles of trails which rival Whistler! Who knew?

I didn't do any riding.

The Yukon Provincial campgrounds provide a lot for $12/night. Beautiful sites and even free firewood.

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Living in the Wilderness

Which often means we have no cell service or internet connection. It's been a few days due to the wild nature of this country since we last posted. I say we because Sue always checks my posts prior to publishing.

So we made little hops for two days; around 2 hour drives to the next lake for camping. Then today we were on the road for 8 hours making some distance. Tonight we stay in a small town called Teslin in the Yukon Territory. We just crossed the longest bridge of the Alaska Highway getting into town. It's just over 1900' long. Here's a view from the rest stop just before town.

We've seen quite a bit of wildlife the last few days. Most of them are feeding on the side of the road.

These beaver were swimming past the trailer at Summit Lake.

Bear, Moose, Buffalo, Sheep. We've seen a lot recently.

We've had some great campsites too. This is our spot at Summit Lake.

Sue dropped a line into Muncho Lake, but no bites.

We've been able to do a little hiking also. This is looking down on Muncho lake.

Unfortunately, this area is under siege by wildfire. The smoke is so thick in some places we keep driving past where we want to stop because it hurts our lungs. It doesn't seem so to us, but they are having a real drought issue. Couple that with higher than average temps and lightning storms and you have washed out pictures.

Janet was asking about mosquitoes. We had most of our problems in Washington State, with a little trouble in Dawson Creek. So far the bugs haven't been an issue enough to use the DEET. Avon makes a product called "Skin So Soft" which works miraculously well so we've been using that so far. We'll pull out the big guns as required. According to "The Milepost", the only time to avoid bugs on this trip is to go in the middle of winter. So we're expecting issues later.

If you don't hear from us for a while, be patient. I'll post when I can.

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BEAR!

Too bad we didn't get a picture. We're traveling along the highway and I see a black something on the side of the road. I called out to Sue and she looked over just as we passed. We realized it was a small black bear, but traveling at 100 kph (that's 62 mph to you Americans), and rolling with 14,000 lbs I don't have a lot of options when it comes to fast stops. You'll have to take our word for it; we saw our first bear today. It was smaller than I expected.

Rolling 7 tons down the road doesn't lend itself to the best gas mileage either. On the open road, no wind, level ground, I can get 12.5 mpg tops. Today was a lot of hills, long rollers of 4 - 6%. I averaged 9 mpg today.To add insult to injury, we paid our highest price yet today filling up. It was an outrageous $5.36/gl. We've been paying around $4.50 since we hit British Columbia; I hope the price doesn't get higher as we get further from the border. On the plus side, the price of wine is the same as at home!  WOOHOO!!

We drove by an immense cloud of smoke today. Come to find out there is a severe drought in the area and somehow a fire started. It must be huge. It's not surprising when you see the forests in this region. Some of them are 95% standing dead wood. Supposedly it's not getting cold enough in the winter anymore to kill the Pine Bark Beetle, so they are devastating the trees.

We're in Ft. Nelson tonight, and tomorrow is a short drive to Stone Mtn. Provincial park. We'll be hanging around there and getting some real hiking in, finally. Supposed to be great fishing too if the ice has broken yet.

BTW- for you nit picky double posters, I believe it's called the Alaska Highway because it LEADS to Alaska. Geez!

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Dawson Creek, BC

Dawson Creek is a town of about 10,000 people, but it seems much larger. For one thing, they have 11 schools plus a college. It is also known as the beginning of the Alaska Highway. In  March of 1942 the US military Army Corps of Engineers started this project. It stretches 1390 miles to Delta Junction Alaska. The project was completed in under 9 months. Since that time, it has been straightened, paved, widened, and flattened. So it's supposedly an easier drive than it was. We'll let you know later what we think of the driving conditions. Here's a pic of The Beav at the sign.

If you're driving to Alaska, along with the 300,000 other annual travelers, you'll likely have the ultimate driving guide with you. It's known as the "Milepost". It literally has descriptions along the way of nearly every imaginable sight and attraction at the individual milepost markers. It is the size of a phone book and has so much info it's hard to read at times. Dawson Creek is Mile 0 of this famous journey.

The Milepost is so inclusive, it's been guiding us ever since we crossed the Canadian border. It gives descriptions of campgrounds, fudge shops, museums, even turnouts on the side of the road. Of course, it doesn't use mile markers for the first part of the trip; that begins here in DC.

Tomorrow we continue our journey, traveling the most famous section of the overland route to Alaska. Sounds like a good reason to celebrate tonight with a special bottle of Louie D.

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Driving through Scenic Canada

We've been putting quite a few miles under our belts the last two days; about 500. That means we start first thing in the morning and drive through the day with the occasional stop  to stretch and enjoy the scenery. We thought since we are in snow country we'd get Sue a new pair of cross country skis. Unfortunately what they had in stock didn't fit.

Last night we were way out in the boonies at 10 Mile Lake. We had no reception there so I wasn't able to post.

One thing we've noticed up here is how different the weather is than at home. In SLO, there is a low morning marine layer clearing in the afternoon. Dave Hovde uses that line some 360 days a year. Up here it's clear skies in the morning with cloud buildup in the afternoon leading to light showers. So far I could have said that every day with complete accuracy. Crackling thunder with big fat raindrops for 30 minutes, and then it's over. It sure makes for a green countryside.

There is water up here everywhere: Lakes every 2 miles, rivers every 20 ft., snow covered mountains with slick wet cliff sides. A little different than what we're used to.

We drove by the Canadian Rockies today. Of course there was water everywhere, and the reflection off the lakes was incredible. Unfortunately, there are so many sawmills in this area, the sky is very hazy.

We went through a very small town called Chenwyth today that is renowned for it's chainsaw wood carvings. They have a contest every year and people come from all over North America to compete. They have hundreds of sculptures around town. We're talking very involved and detailed carvings.

We're spending the next two nights in Dawson Creek, BC. Time to relax a little and get caught up on house chores. The legendary Mile 0 post will be posted tomorrow.

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We're In!

Well they let us through the border crossing into Canada. They let us right through without a worry in the world. I might have to take up John's offer to send us more wine.

We stopped at a small town just south of the border, called Lynden. Our camp neighbors last night spoke very highly of it as a little Dutch tourist town. Since Susie has Dutch heritage, we had to stop and see if there were any pastry shops. OK, Solvang it is not! Lot's of major construction on the one and only main street in town, which is all of three blocks long. Only one bakery, but fortunately they were able to satisfy our indulgence. After coffee and sweets, we hightailed it out of there.

We're driving through British Columbia, then into the Yukon Territory before we hit the Alaska border. We're just south of Cache Creek right now at a campsite in the Skihist Provincial Park. It's like a state park back home. Here we have snow covered mountain peaks, deep canyons, roaring rivers, and thick forests. They have very few scenic pulloffs on the highways, so we weren't able to capture the scenery along the way. Nice campsite scenery.

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Yoga by the Bay

Today we're at Bayview State Park at Padilla Bay, Wa. We decided not to go to Cascades because of a predicted thunderstorm. Instead, we have the best weather we've had in a week.

The weather was so good in fact, we had a chance to practice our Yoga!

It's a holiday in Canada-Victoria Day- so the campground is full of Canadians. We were able to find a site  (but there was only one).

This is the area where Sue's dad grew up, so we had to explore a little. It's an older area with very small towns. We found the high school that he attended, that was pretty cool. We were also able to find a microbrew for lunch- Sue has a nose for those like a bloodhound.

In response to Bernice's comment on yesterdays blog, I tried to get Sue to buy a hat numerous times but she has refused. I really tried though! She says she just didn't find the right one.

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Off Day

Sue says I don't need to post anything today because nothing special happened. But the last time I didn't post, John gave me a hard time. Just for you John, I'm risking Sue's wrath.

We did go for a short bike ride on a very nice multi use trail. It skirted along the Sammamish Lake; sorta like Atascadero lake but with water, miles long, and houses all along the shore. In fact Don, I think you and Bill should buy property here and you can fly fish right off the deck.

Sue's figuring out our next campsite in North Cascades National Park. I hope the sun will shine so we can see some views. Have any of you been following Tracey's blog? We'd like to get pictures like that!

Tomorrow will be the end of our second week already and we still won't be in Canada. I should have brought more wine. We could be out before we get to the border.

Well, like I say, nothing to report today, so Later!

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Today's word is People

And lots of them. We ended up not riding to the top of the Needle because of the lines. If we had gone earlier when it was in the clouds, the ticket line was as long as the view from the top- 10'.

We did go to a museum called the EMP, which was Rock music, Scifi, and Pop culture. It was pretty cool.The guitar tower was 30' tall at least, comprised of over 700 instruments.

We've had enough of the city though; the noise, traffic, people, smoking. We're looking forward to starting the nature part of the trip. Soon, my friends, soon. Two more nights in this RV park and we wander into the yonder.

We did get to hike almost four miles today. And if I had my bike I could have ridden with the locals.

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Sunshine almost always makes me high!

Now I know what John Denver was singing about. Although I still have a buzz from the new hats.

Byrnie Utz hats in Seattle is one of the best shops I've ever seen. I'm putting the pressure on Len; I finally found my Beaver hat. Ya gotta get one Len, it is really awesome. It is so lightweight and comfortable. I also found a Riverboat Gambler which I had been searching for. And they had the most handsome bowler!

Which is your favorite? Of course, like a good wine pairing with food, I really need to change outfits  to get the proper look. That'll come later.

Here's the Bowler, in a beautiful Camel color-

Here's the Gambler. It's a straw Panama hat.

And here's the crown jewel; a Silver Bellied color Beaver made in Spain.

As you can see, we finally saw the sunshine today. It was a wonderful day to view the Puget Sound. 

We also went to Pike Place Market, where we found the Pike Brewery. What an atmosphere! Bikes hanging from the ceiling, every square inch covered in some sort of beer decor. They even had a beer museum there.

Hopefully tomorrow will be clear and we can check out the view from the Space Needle.

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Driving in the rain, Just driving in the rain, Just singin' and drivin' in the rain!

We were driving to Mt. Rainier National Park today when we decided it wouldn't be the best time to visit during a weeklong rain storm. So we made a stop in Issaquah, which is east of Seattle. We have options; hang out in Seattle and see if the weather gets better and then head over to the park, or hang out in Seattle and go to Canada, stopping by the park on our way back.

Hanging out in Seattle doesn't sound so bad. Lots of culture here- a brewery museum, donut shops on every corner, an awesome haberdashery. Plus there's some big spacey needle Sue wants to check out. We may as well indulge in some city sights before heading into the boonies for the next couple of months. I mean, do they make cinnamon rolls in Canada?

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The word of the day is "Rain"

We've been in Oregon 5 days and this is the third time it's rained on us. This storm has been going 24 hrs and the forecast is rain for the next 5 days. On the plus side, everything here is lush and green. Very beautiful countryside but we can't do yoga in the trailer's limited space. And we aren't excited about doing it out in the rain either.

We've had many people tell us they're having problems commenting on our blog. So I just logged out and logged back in using my painting account. Maybe it's because I'm already a Google user, I don't know. All I did was write my comment, chose Google user in the dropdown menu, and signed in using my email address. Then I hit the publish button and Voila! I don't really have an answer to why it's so difficult for some users.

We didn't do much today, but we did get a chance to taste some fabulous Pinots. I asked the owner of one of the wineries if he'd trade a bottle of his Pinot for a bottle of our double gold Cab. He declined. His loss I'm certain.

We're driving into Washington tomorrow. I wonder if we'll see any rain.

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All of the culture, none of the fat

We should rename this trip "Consuming our way to Alaska".

We drove into Portland today to shop at the haberdashery, but before we started that arduous task we fueled up at Blue Star Donuts. We first heard about this eatery on my favorite Cooking Channel show "Unique Sweets". Sue just had to have the Blueberry Basil Bourbon donut. She thought it was a hit.

There's no fat in donuts, right? But tons of culture in this 38' copper statue of Portlandia.

Downtown Portland is not that big so we left our trusty steed Thor (who doesn't name their truck?) by Blue Star and hoofed it to John Helmer Haberdasher. I'm on the hunt for a Riverboat Gambler style hat. They had some but they didn't fit right. I think I'd also look good in a stylin' beaver felt hat, which they also had, but they weren't perfect either. We were in and out of there in under an hour- empty handed. So sad. There's always Seattle!

We aren't really city people so after hiking around town for a couple hours we called it quits. There sure are a lot of smokers around here. We aren't used to seeing that so it really stands out.

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Better Late Than Never

OK. I got spanked for not posting for the last few days. Lesson learned.

Friday we spent the day in Ashland. Sorry Steve W., but I didn't get a chance to check out the bike trails. We explored the downtown area, which is very nice. Reminiscent of SLO only better. Beware the parking meter maids- they are on top of their game.

Sue started Saturday with a little Zumba and then went into Medford. Nothing exciting to report in that town. I guess John was flirting with my favorite barrister today after his bike ride. Elyse works at Merry Hill and he gave her our blog address to follow. Feel free to pass it on to anyone else who we forgot.

Today we drove to the suburbs of Portland. We arrived at the RV park at 1, so we drove into McMinnville for lunch. Lo and behold, we found a microbrew.

McMinville is in the heart of the Willamette Valley, which just happens to be Pinot Noir Heaven. So we stopped by one of the 200(!) tasting rooms to see what they had. Once we told the barkeep that we also made wine he started pouring blind taste tests for us. We didn't do so good. The Pinots were easy to spot, but their other varietals are not what we're used to.

We asked John to fly up and meet us for coffee- was pretty surprised when he agreed. Apparently he had lunch at a microbrew also; he missed the runway by 1000'. Maybe Bill can instruct him on vertical takeoff procedures.

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We'll be spending the weekend in Rogue River State Park, which is just north of Medford, Or. We went for a ten mile bike ride on the bike path following the river; in the rain. It's really beautiful up here. In fact, above the main street in Grants Pass is a banner- "It's the Climate". In the downtown area they have statues of bears scattered along the sidewalks. Sue's favorite was in front of the wine store.

On the drive here we passed Mt. Shasta. Wow! Although it's 400' shorter than Whitney, it's far more impressive to look at.

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Living the good life

Campsite yoga to start the day.

Short drive today to Shasta Lake. Wonderful campsite. Only one other camper here tonight in the whole campground. Why they picked the  site right next to us, we can't understand.

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Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area. Our first real campsite just south of Red Bluff. BEAUTIFUL!

Today is the day!

We did it this morning. The first leg is under our belt and we're now having coffee at a bakery in downtown San Jose. Dinner tonight at Steve's house.