First stop on our way north.  Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.  Arrived on Wed 4/23.  We got a great spot at  Atlatl campground, with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.

This pic is from the climb up Atlatl mountain looking back at the campground.   Took a hike that afternoon along Mouse’s Trap Petroglyph trail.  Several locations with well preserved petroglyphs.  Very cool. We discovered that Poppins is NOT a hiking dog.  It was a short 3/4 mi. round trip hike and we kept her well hydrated, but I guess being just a couple inches off the ground and breathing in the sandy trail wasn’t great.  Greg carried her out the last little bit.  She stayed in the RV for the rest of our hikes and just got out around the campground. 🙂

From the site that evening we saw a huge bird on a mountain about 5 miles away.  Pulled out the binoculars, but it was just a bit too far to tell what kind of bird it was.  If you zoom on this pic you can see it spreading it’s wings at the very top of the point.  We thought it was a goat at first look, just seeing it moving around up there .

Day 2, we hiked White Domes trail, Rainbow Vista & Fire Canyon.

Spring has sprung in the Nevada desert.

They were filming a Ford commercial along the road we were on, so there was a helicopter and film cars all over.      

Back at camp – we called this rock formation “Screaming Man”

Friday, 4/25 – climbed up Atlatl steps to see more petroglyphs right in the campsite before heading out.

Kinda glad they’ve put in new stairs to see the petroglyphs, looks like these were the previous way up and down!

There’s a storm coming in for northern Nevada (Ely, which is where we were headed), so we’ve changed our route.  Heading for Idaho up the 15 N today instead.

Wouldn’t think I’d post a picture from a Walmart parking lot, but we had a great view of the mountains in Springville, UT, then the storm blew in.

Saturday, 4/26 – since we couldn’t go the way we’d first chosen, decided to try a campground near Soda Springs, ID.  In my never ending search to find a name of my father’s birth parents.  He was adopted straight from the hospital in Soda Springs (only 3K ppl there now), 1939.  Probably nothing recorded that I’ll be able to find, but since we’re in the area….. Found a very small campground – Lava Spa RV along the Portneuf River.

Sunday after visiting some historical spots along the Oregon trail, where the town of Chesterfield was founded in the late 1800’s.  Poppins was happy to see us pull up at the homestead. 🙂

Mon 4/28 – Visited Soda Springs public library in search of Dad’s birth parents. No luck, but the librarian gave me a couple of large books with the history of Soda Springs, names and pictures from the late 1800 to the 1950s. Since we were told Dad was the son of a doctor and perhaps a nurse at the hospital at the time I tried to find pics of doctors in resident at what I hope was Caribou County Hospital in 1939. She also gave me a card with a phone # of Soda Springs Family Historical site which may have newspapers from the time on microfiche… They’re only open a few hours Wed thru Friday.  No luck, again.   Left Lava campground about noon, north on 15. Arrived @ Idaho Falls Elks parking lot ~2pm. $10 for electric – filled up water. Saw a drug deal go down in the parking lot around 5:30 pm. Money thrown from one car to another & a bill fell on the ground. Went out around 15 minutes later and made $20 illegitimate dollars that day! 🙂   Tue 4/29 – Got up at the crack of dawn to leave Idaho Falls by 8:30am. Again North on 15. Arrived at Costco in Helena, Montana around 3ish. Nice manager allowed us to stay the night. Wed 4/30 – Left Coscto, Helena 8:20am. 15N to 287. Beautiful, narrow roads with rolling hills, snow capped mtns all around.      Had to slow down a bit to allow a cattle drive to join us on the road.  The cowboys use 4-wheel ATV’s now instead of horses. Lots of little calves all along the trip. Got thru the Port of Piegan US/Alberta CN border with no issues. Our first time in another country!  She didn’t even stamp our passports – DANG!  Apparently passports and documents showing the dog has a valid rabies shot and a really nice officer at the border is all you need! 🙂 Arrived at Lee Creek Campground, Cardston, AB around 2:30pm. They haven’t opened for the season yet, so no water on until, hopefully, tomorrow. We’re the first ones here and thankfully they let us in. Beautiful grounds with a large creek behind us and a walking trail. Poppins is very happy to be still for a couple of days. As we’re unhooking, this happened on the trail across the creek 🙂 Our site across from the creek, and the walking bridge across the creek, then a shot from the bridge.  Gorgeous.

Thursday, May 01, 2014 –  Exchanged US for Canadian currency. Drove on 5W to Waterton Nat’l Park. Had lunch at the lodge (Vinny’s, yum). Saw a red fox while at lunch, lots of big horn sheep. Beautiful blue/green glacial lakes.

Friday, May 02 – Departed Lee Creek Camp in Cardston, AB. 2N thru Calgary and stopped in Red Deer at the Westerner Campground. Cramped, tight, and not a lot of scenery here, but there’s a storm a’comin and it’s a safe place with electricity for a few days. From here we can visit Edmonton and Calgary for day trips in the Honda, weather permitting!   Saturday, May 3 – Snow flurries all day.  It didn’t stick until around 5pm, but was beautiful (and cold) to walk in.

Sunday, May 4 – 3″ of snow overnight.  Flurries all day, but melting when they hit the ground and the snow accumulated, melted pretty quickly as well.  We walked the Kerry Wood Nature Center around Gaetz Lakes in the snow.  Around 35 degrees F.  Such a beautiful nature preserve, we decided to come back tomorrow when the snow was to let up.

Monday, May 5 – Took the loop around the Kerry Wood Nature preserve.  Still not a lot of wildlife out and about, but we did see some pretty large moose hoof prints, tons of deer poop, a beaver working on his dam, a red squirrel who was not happy with us, and lots of birds.

Tuesday, May 6 – Again, no it seems we actually DON’T learn!  The awning on the living room slide froze over night and Greg spent 30 minutes climbing the ladder and scraping it off.  At least we didn’t need the blow dryer this time.  Left Red Deer, AB around 10:20 and arrived in Devon, AB, just 15 minutes south of Edmonton, around 12:30.  Camped at the Devon Lions RV park right on the North Saskatchewan River.  Beautiful park, lots of hiking trails all around and the river is huge and fast!   We had snow flurries most of the afternoon, it was cold and the wind bit thru our heaviest jackets.

Wed, May 7 – Headed to the West Edmonton Mall for kicks.  Wow, I’ve never gotten actually lost in a shopping mall, but this one was crazy.  They have a beach, ice rink, black light miniature golf, several food courts, and more stores in one place than I’ve ever seen.  Went to Eddie Bauer and got Greg a warmer and better fitting jacket.  We’re ensuring good weather from this point on with this purchase. 😉

Thursday, May 8 – Left Devon about 9am, heading northwest to Valley View, AB. Arrived at Sherks RV Park around 1:10pm.  Very nice, clean, friendly park.  Had a nice walk about the grounds.  The sun sets so late these days!

Good coverage again at Hi Country RV park in Whitehorse, YT – The capital city of the Yukon Territory, Canada.  Gonna catch up on the last couple of weeks now.  🙂 Friday, May 9 –  Drove from Valley View, AB to Dawson Creek, AB.  Camped at Northern Lights RV Park. Nice visitor center and Kim loaded us up with way too many brochures for our trip.  The grain elevator art gallery next door was closed for a private party, but looked like it would have been a great place to visit. Right at the visitor center/art gallery area is the true “Mile 0” of the Alaska Highway.

         

The “Mile 0 post” was moved to the center of downtown at some point. Mike Jalbert, owner of the Northern Lights RV park we were staying at, happened to be downtown and snapped this pic for us.   Mike and his wife Annette were great hosts. 🙂

Saturday, May 10 – We visited Kiskatinaw Provencial Park, home of an original curved wooden bridge built in 1942 for the Alaska Hwy.  We’ll have to remember this beautiful park on our next trip!     

 

 

 

Had dinner that night at Fixx, an outstanding restaurant recommended by Robin, office manager at the RV park.  YUM!

Sunday, May 11 – Time to leave Dawson Creek.  Drove through the city of Fort St. John on our way north, and some whack job decided to pass everyone in the middle median spewing sand, rocks, and gravel up on everyone’s windshields.  We got 3 windshield chips out of that.  He sped off, in a hurry to visit Mom on Mother’s Day, I’m sure… We were hoping to boondock for a night at Inga Lake, but it seems there are no signs heading north on the AlCan, and we hadn’t synched our odometer to what the Milepost book said so we never found the turn off!  Ended up at the Sikanni River Campground.    Seemed a little rough, but it was on a nice river and the manager was a nice guy.  The electric was run from their own generator, which had broken, so they were running on a backup.  They had us at a kinda crummy spot with a view of the snow plows, backhoes, and burning brush.

  

But we plugged in, and after a few minutes heard a loud pop.  Assumed we’d blown a circuit turning on the microwave.  Then we started to smell an electrical burn in the bedroom area, which was kind of hard to discern from the strong burning leaves wafting in.  We’d seen that the manager had kicked a fire ring out of the way for us to back in to the spot, and we thought maybe something was burning under the rig in the back. We decided the spotty electricity and smoke from the brush wasn’t worth it, and asked if we could just move to a spot along the river bank without a hookup.  Since there was no one else in the park, and since we’d already paid $35 for the electricity, of course it was no problem.  Turned out to be a great spot, with a beautiful river view.  The smoke smell dissipated a bit, but was still very strong in the bedroom.  Figured the smell had really soaked into the fabric.

Monday, May 12 – Next morning, Greg noticed there was an error code on the fridge and it wasn’t cooling anymore.  Turns out the flaky generator had fried our Hughes Auto-former, which helps regulate uneven electrical currents.  That was the burning smell, the pop we heard, and the dead fridge.  Thank goodness it’s housed in its own metal case and didn’t fry anything else.  $600 down the drain, and now only one safeguard between bad electricity and the coach.   Decided to head backward to the larger town of Fort St. John.  A nice lady, at the Rotary Club we called in Fort St. John, recommended the Fort Ford dealership, and the people could not have been nicer.  They immediately got their top tech, Clint, to look at the fridge.  He figured out a full restart on it and got it working like new again!  It was done in about 30 minutes and the cost was minimal!  Clint is DA-MAN!  Found a windshield repair place back south in Dawson Creek who could fit us in the same day, so we headed backward again, and they fixed us up within about an hour.    All good – so we headed north again and spent the night in the Fort St. John Walmart.    One step forward and two back, but we’re going in the right direction now! 🙂

Wednesday, May 14 – Stayed at Triple G Hideaway in Fort Nelson Tuesday night, and headed out for Muncho Lake this morning.  Within about 15 minutes, we saw two baby black bear cubs climbing a tree.  We think they were frightened by the RV pulled over looking at them, so we didn’t stop to get a pic.  This was some of the beautiful scenery:

A bit further on, we saw two large black bears.  Finally seeing some wildlife!

Stopped at Tetsa River for highly recommended cinnamon rolls, then at the Toad River Lodge for gas.  Great little spot, we came back here for a great  lunch during the week, and will remember it for camping in the future.

  Further up the road we saw a herd of wild horses, and the biggest beaver in all of North America down a ravine by the river along the road.  (sorry, no pic of that guy or gal – s/he was fast!)   Got to Strawberry Flats Provincial park at Muncho Lake.  We were told these provincial parks would be open , but apparently not until the 15^th (tomorrow).   Luckily, there was one spot right outside the gate on the lake and we were able to pull right in there for the night for free!

Beautiful blue/green water is attributed to the copper oxide from the surrounding mountains.  The name “Muncho” is derived from the Kaska language and means “big water”.  Absolutely gorgeous, even though the lake was mostly still frozen.  We got to watch it slowly thaw along the coast during our first 4 day long  boondocking stay. Thursday, May 15 – The gates opened and we moved to the best site in the Strawberry Flats campground (since there was no one else there)- #15.

         

Took a drive up to the Northern Rockies Lodge for lunch.  Beautiful lodge also on Muncho Lake, but quite a bit more expensive than a Provincial park – which is $16/nightly.  Saw a few caribou, big horn sheep, and bison (quite a few babies) along the way to lunch and back to camp.

Saturday and Sunday (5/17&18) – Did a bunch of trail walking, went back to Toad River for lunch.  A little girl, Francesca camping with her family from Fort Nelson, learned to ride a two wheel bike this weekend in camp, and fell in love with Poppins.

We were fascinated by the cracking and tinkling of the ice on the lake as it started to thaw.  The water along the shore was crystal clear and you could see the rocks below like there was nothing in between.  The ice was up to a foot thick where we could see it, and as it broke apart formed crystal spears.

Monday, May 19 (Victoria Day in BC) – Left beautiful Muncho Lake and landed at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park.  Another low cost stay, but in a beautiful wooded area with mineral pools to soak in.

They were testing a bear deterrent, different pitch whistle sounds would go off every 15 seconds or so.  Supposedly, the bears don’t like that particular sound.  Guess it worked, we didn’t see any during our stay there. This is a shot of the source of the hot spring.  The pools are beautiful and HOT!  It’s a great stop, even for those of us that don’t generally enjoy sitting in a vat of hot water with total strangers. 😉

Tuesday, May 20 – One month on the road.  Had a good thunderstorm last night.  Left Liard Hot Springs park and beautiful British Columbia today for the town of Watson Lake, Yukon,  Northwest Territory.  After over a week of boondocking, we finally have electricity, water, sewer, WiFi, laundry facilities, a grocery store, and LO AND BEHOLD – – CABLE TV!!!!  The campground (Downtown RV) was a dirt/mud/gravel pit, but seemed like an oasis to me.   Went for a walk around one of two Wye Lakes.  They have a beautiful boardwalk and trails all the way around the lake.  Supposedly, the town was designed around these two lakes and the main road formed a “Y” between them.  The lakes are Wye and Wye2.

Wednesday, May 21 – Added our sign to the Watson Lake signpost forest, a well-known location for memorializing your journey on the Alaska Hwy.  Here’s our sign:

We also went to the Northern Lights Center in town to see a SciDome projection presentation.  One was on the cosmos and black holes, the other showed videos of the Aurora Borealis at different times of year and different northern locations.  Figured that was the only way we were going to catch the northern lights, as summer is not prime time for them up here!   Thursday, May 22 – my official one year retirement anniversary. 🙂   Drove through mostly rainy and low 40 temps, and have arrived at a Yukon territory campground on Teslin Lake.  More boondocking, but with views & locations like this, it’s worth it!

Friday, May 23 – Departed beautiful Teslin Lake, and drove up to Whitehorse, YT – the Yukon capital.  Staying at the Hi Country RV park.  Lovely people all over so far.  Can’t wait to explore the city over the next few days.

Saturday, May 24 – Explored the Whitehorse Visitor Center and it’s beautiful location on the river.  Then hiked along Miles Canyon.  A gorgeous trail along a deep river gorge.   You take a swinging suspension bridge to get to the trails.

Ran into the nicest couple from San Jose who have been RV’ing since the 70’s.  We ended up chatting for the longest time.  Shared info on RV’ing, where we’ve all been and where we’re going.  Talked about the best grocery stores in the area and agreed we’d all kill for a Trader Joe’s!  (Future daughter-in-law, Sharon, currently a “Captain” at Trader Joe’s,  this post is for you 🙂 !)

 Sunday, May 25 – Beautiful day in Whitehorse, YT.  Took a long walk with Poppins along the Yukon riverfront.  Whitehorse has made a wonderful walking/biking/dog walking (and cross country skiing in the winter) path along the Yukon.  We saw our first bald eagle!!!  We’re walking along, and I look up, see this big bird with a white head and white tail…  “Is that a bald eagle?????”  Greg – “I believe it is!”.  Of course we didn’t have our good camera with us as it landed on the top of this tree on the other side of the river – but this is what we could get with our phone cameras. Honest!  It was a bald eagle at the very top of the tallest tree!  We also saw a beautiful red fox trotting across the dirt/gravel road as we went over to Long Lake this afternoon.  Loving the wildlife. 🙂

Later that evening the neighboring campers accidentally backed into a not well secured WiFi post (the campground and local provider were just  figuring out the best locations for updating).  And wham.  Yet another windshield trauma..

Ouch.

Thankfully, they were so nice and apologetic and offered to pay for the damage.

Monday, May 26 – From Hi Country RV in Whitehorse, YT to Congdon Creek Yukon Gov. Campground along the Kluane (kloo-WA-nee) Lake.
Another amazing lake that was mostly melted when we got there so we got some good pics of the mirror images of the mountains around us. They were not allowing tent camping due to bear activity, so of course I was freaked out. This poor dog hasn’t been on a proper walk due to my fear of running into a bear in so long! 😦

Beautiful Kluane Lake (although it was hazy due to smoke from a fire, it was still fab):

Tuesday, May 27 –
The Alaska Hwy after Kluane Lake was rough going – we had to go really slow. They’re starting work on it as they have to do every year.

Aaaaannd we arrived at the 49th state :):

Checked into the Sourdough RV Park and Campground,Tok, AK.  Very nice, lots of trees, squirrels, and birds.

Wednesday, May 28 – Greg drove all the way up to Fairbanks, about 4.5 hours each way, to get the windshield in the Honda replaced. He left early in the morning and got to see this guy along the road:

I stayed with Poppins in the RV and cleaned and watched an insane bird attack himself in the mirror, on the kitchen window, and on the horn on the roof all day! 🙂

Went to the famous pancake toss on Thursday night. It was fun. The owners of this park Dave and Ann really work hard to make everyone feel welcome.

Saturday, May 31 – Left Tok, AK for Chicken, AK.  We camped at Chicken Gold Camp for $14/night.  No plugins this night, as we didn’t want to risk electricity.  The entire community runs on generator only.  Since we lost our auto-former at Sikanni River, we didn’t want to risk blowing anything else electrical.    Had a mad lightening/thunder/rain and wind storm about 5 minutes after we unhooked the car and backed into our dirt spot.  The winds knocked one of the tail feathers off of the 30′ chicken statue and knocked down trees.

As the story goes:  In the late 1800’s, early miners traveled here in search of gold.  Food was scarce, but this particular area was abundant in Ptarmigan, now the state bird, which bears a resemblance to a chicken.   In 1902, the town was to be incorporated, the second town in Alaska to do so.  The name “Ptarmigan” was suggested.  The only problem was that no one could agree on the correct spelling.  They didn’t want the town name to be the subject of ridicule, and they figured everyone could spell chicken, so they decided on “Chicken”.   🙂

Came this way to drive the Top of the World Hwy.   Didn’t want to take the RV as the road is gravel a lot of the way (Dawson City side).  We camped at Chicken to take the Honda on the dirt road and then turn around and come back when the big gravel started.

The storm we just experienced, although it only lasted about an hour did some damage on the Top of the World Hwy:

Thankfully, this alternate roadway was avail as the trees blocked the Top of the World Hwy after the storm.

On the way back stopped at a state recreation park to let Poppins rest from the road trip a bit.

Sunday, June 1 – After grabbing some yummy baked goods for dessert at the Chicken Creek Cafe we headed back to Tok for a quick lunch at Fast Eddie’s (highly recommended) and then on to Moon Lake Rec area for a boondocking night.

Monday, June 2 – Pretty along the way to Fairbanks from Moon Lake today.  Saw 3 moose grazing along the way. 🙂

We haven’t had too much trouble yet, but we know it’s coming:

Toward Fairbanks 6/2/14

Stopped at River’s Edge RV park in Fairbanks for a few days to explore Fairbanks.  Got a nice spot on the Chena River.   Great green grass to walk Poppins.  Too bad it’s been raining all day long. Hopefully tomorrow will be clearer.

Wednesday, June 4 – And it’s a gorgeous, sunny day! Thoroughly enjoyed the Riverboat Discovery Tour this morning!  Had a bush pilot take off and land a couple of times for us on the river, and talk about the importance of them in the history of remote Alaska.

Then we cruised over to the Trailbreaker Kennels where we met Laura Allaway, who will be a first time contender at the 2015 Iditarod.

Trail Breaker Kennel was established in 1980 by the husband and wife team of David Monson and Susan Butcher (four-time Iditarod winner).

We got to meet some of the new puppies and learn how they’re trained.  Then they started saddling up the dogs to show us a mushing demo with an ATV.  The dogs were just going nuts!  They were so excited to get to run.   The ones in the kennel were going just as crazy wanting to get out and run with them!

After docking, we went into a room they have to experience a typical mid-winter day in the upper Alaskan interior at 40 below!  I didn’t stay in there long enough to take a picture.  🙂   The river boat guide told us of taking his kids trick-or-treating one Halloween at 37 below.  BRRRRR!

This afternoon, we rented a canoe to float down the Chena River.  What a beautiful day!

After the canoe float we enjoyed an Alaskan Amber at Pikes while waiting for the pick up!

The day was perfect.

Thursday, June 5 – Rainy day, but we really enjoyed the University of Alaska Museum today.

Friday, June 6 – Walked a trail at Creamery Field Wildlife Sanctuary.  We fed mosquitos all the way –they were vicious, but it was beautiful.

      

Saturday, June 7 – I’ve decided to move to Fairbanks & buy this house, which just went up for sale, across from our campground on the Chena River.  (When we win the lottery…)    😉

Sunday, June 8 – Drove from Fairbanks to Denali National Park.  Several very long patches of no pavement.  Bumpy drive.

We were a day early for our reservation but hoping there might be a spot open somewhere inside.  Nope.  Camped tonight at Denali RV Park and Motel.  Just about 20 minutes outside of the park.  Pretty darn nice for a last minute find.  J

Monday,  June 9 – Arrived at Savage River Campground and grabbed a pull-thru site, #A29 – it’s first come first serve once you have a reservation.  Found out later from the camp host that when it’s clear you can see Mt. McKinley from the site.  Only 30% of the visitors to Denali ever see Mt. McKinley (tallest mountain in North America ~20K feet) due to the clouds.    It was socked in today.

Tuesday, June 10 – Took the Savage River, Savage Cabin, and Mountain View trail walks.

SavageRiverAreaDenali

As it was our 36^th anniversary we splurged and went out of the park to the Salmon Bake restaurant for dinner.   Excellent food.  The whole building is slanting to the south though.  It would never pass inspection in California. J

When we got back to camp, we sat outside with a campfire for a bit.  The camp host came ‘round and told us it would be best if we put Poppins inside as they’d just had a grizzly come thru their site and into to woods behind us about 45 minutes ago.   Yeah, we picked up and went inside.  Liz (the camp host) will hopefully email me some pics she got of him!

Wednesday, June 11 – Got out for a small walk with the dog in the morning armed with a big can of bear spray.   Of course, I want to be prepared, so I had the safety off.  When we got back to the RV, I bent over to remove Poppins’ harness and the spray dropped out of my pocket spraying a little bit in the RV.  Poppins and I started gagging.  We all ran out and Greg opened all the windows and vents to air it out.  Of course it started hailing, then snowing as we’re sitting outside getting fresh air…   Now that the RV is as cold inside as it is outside we figured it was ok to go back in after getting rid of the entry mat the bottle fell on.  All was well, thankfully.  What a moron – I’ll keep the safety on unless I actually see a bear.

Full on snow kept coming.  Huge flakes and it snowed for about 3 hours.

It stopped around 1:30, the sun came out and we went for a hike called the Savage Loop. Beautiful walk along the Savage River. It was freezing!!!

Later that evening, around 8:30pm we saw a momma and baby moose in the woods next to our campsite!

Thursday, June 12 – Greg got up around 4am and chanced to look outside (it’s always light here) and lo and behold – Mt. McKinley big as day, covered in snow, and clear as a bell!  We are now part of the 30% club.  Such a stunning view most of the day.

 

                                                                                         Friday, June 13 – Left Savage River Camp and headed in for our last 3 days in Denali at the Teklanika Campground.  We had to leave the Honda outside at the Visitor Center as you can only take one vehicle in that far, and you’re locked in for at least 3 days – no trips out.  Getting a shuttle tomorrow morning at 7:10am to go further into the park – no RV’s allowed past this point.

Saturday, June 14 – It rained hard all night long.  We decided about 2:50am to not take the 7:10am bus trip on the long and winding road into Eielson.   The rain stopped around 7:40am, we decided to see if we could catch a later bus.  Caught the 9am bus into Kantishna, which is another 30 or so miles further than we had planned to go because we didn’t want to leave Poppins alone more than 6-7 hours in the RV, but the driver Sheila Paxton, told us we could ride along anyway to our destination on her bus.   She was a great tour guide.   We saw a large, beautiful gray wolf, caribou, Dall sheep, a Pika, and several grizzlies (our first!) along the way.

We were very lucky.  They said wolves are a rare sight around here anymore and that only about 4% of visitors to Denali actually see one.

Beautiful and terrifying (at times) drive from Teklanika to Eielson in Denali:

The bus driver who should have been watching the 5,000 foot drop off the cliff decided to point out a family of Pika to us halfway down instead.  😉

Sunday, June 16 – Walks along the river bed  at the campground.

 

Monday, June 17 – Left Teklanika campground and Denali Natl Park heading south.               As we stopped at the dump station to refill water and dump the tanks, near Riley Camp in Denali, the door to the RV decided to lock.  I was out walking Poppins after picking up the Honda after 3 days in Teklanika.  Greg had the keys, but the lock was broken…  Greg found that one of the windows wasn’t locked completely, and was able to get the ladder out, open the window and climb into the coach.  From there, he was able to hold the lock open and open the door.  (Wish I’d gotten pictures of the climb thru the window)

We figured out a scheme of bungee cords and such to make sure it didn’t come open during the trip south and hoped we’d find someplace soon that might be able to fix it.

Landed in Talkeetna, AK at the Talkeetna Camper  Park.  Right in front of the Alaska railway and the Talkeetna airstrip.    Cute little town.  It’s the home base for many of the climbers of McKinley.  We got another chance to see the beautiful mountain while we were here.

 

 

 

 

Train tracks over the Susitna River

 

Had a great walk into and around the town along the huge Susitna River.

 

                                                                                               

 

 

 

Wednesday, Jun 18 – Left Talkeetna toward Anchorage.  Gotta hit Costco and get some laundry done!  (whoopie)

 Friday, June 20 –  A great birthday!  Walked to the Slam’n Salm’n Derby right by our campsite to watch fishers try to nab a salmon as they make their summer run up the river.  We didn’t see any fish, or anyone catching any, but it was still fun.  Did a great walking tour around downtown.  Ended up at a restaurant called “Ginger” – – Oh my gosh – so, so excellent!   Greg said it was probably one of the best chicken sandwiches he’s ever had, and I wolfed down the kale salad in no time.

Took an hour long tour trolley ride, which was totally worth it.  Saw a lot of sea planes taking off and the Moose guard that they have adjacent to the airstrip.  Then got to see a baby seagull on the way back home.

We’re leaving Anchorage tomorrow 😦  toward Hope, AK and will be boondocking there and near Captain Cook Point, so we’ll probably be off line for a week or so as we head south around the Kenai peninsula.

Saturday, June 21 – Drove south along Turnagain Arm around Cook Inlet.  During our tram tour yesterday the guide told a very interesting story on how the place got it’s name.   From Wikipedia:

“During  the 1778 expedition of James Cook who sailed into it while searching for the Northwest Passage. Cook received maps of Alaska, the Aleutians, and Kamchatka during a visit with Russian fur trader Gerasim Izmailov in Unalaska, and combined these maps with those of his expedition to create the first Mercator projection of the North Pacific. The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook’s Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage.

Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cook’s orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, which quickly returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a river.

Afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenuous name “Turn Again”. Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the “Turnagain River”.

She also explained how the tidal surge is around 14′ daily in Turnagain Arm and how the salmon come up the river on the tides.  It’s called a bore tide.  The beluga whale chase the salmon up the inlet based on the tide which can have a wave up to 10′ high.  Pretty amazing in my book!

We were lucky to get the last open spot at a BLM campground  called Porcupine in Hope, AK for the next two nights.   And they have pretty decent coverage in the area, obviously!

Took a great little hike along Gull Rock Trail this afternoon and hope to go further tomorrow.

Sunday, June 22 –  Breakfast this morning at Discovery Cafe, great little diner with some good food!  Another hike today along Gull Rock trail.  Much longer, but still didn’t make the almost 6 miles in.

Monday, June 23 – Left Porcupine Camp in Hope, AK for Cooks Discovery State Park.  Beautiful walks and sites along Cook Inlet.  The tides are still just phenomenal with their 20 foot changes.

Tuesday, June 24 – Tide was way out, we had a couple hour walk along the Cook Inlet beach to Swanson River and back.

Wed, June 25 – Arrived at Halibut Campground (Alaska State Campground) in Anchor Point.  One word – WOW!  Met some of the nicest camp hosts there.  Nina and Cody, they are San Marcos, CA transplants.

Took a 30 minute drive north to a tiny little town called Ninilchik with a lot of Russion history.

 

Thurs, June 26 – Rainy, drive to Ocean View RV park in Homer

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Friday, June 27 – Walk to old downtown.  “Two Sisters Bakery” for breakfast – amazing, fresh yummy food!  Long walk along the slough and bird sanctuary then the rocky beach back to camp.  Dinner at Captain Pattie’s Fishhouse – YUM!

Saturday, June 28 – Visited the Islands and Oceans Research Museum today after a walk up from the Beluga Slough.  Lovin’ that Two Sisters Bakery so we got sandwiches to go for dinner  from there and ate overlooking our beach.

Sunday, June 29 – Reluctantly left Homer, but got to enjoy a little drama from Mt. Iliamna volcano across the Cook Inlet  on the drive.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Tuesday, July 1 – From Stoney Creek RV park in Seward, we toured Exit Glacier.  So called because in 1968 a party of seven made the first documented traverse of the Harding Icefield. Traveling west to east on skis and snowshoes, the party made the crossing in seven days, completing their traverse at the appropriately named, Exit Glacier.

 Wednesday, July 2 – Visited the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.  A very well done education and rehabilitation center.  Beautiful aquariums and views from the deck.

Thursday, July 3 – We had to move from our spot at Stoney Creek for a couple of days because we hadn’t reserved far enough in advance.  There are loads of places to camp along the water, but that was also just crazy, packed with campers due to the July 4 holiday.  Luckily, we were greeted by the City Manager, on one of our outings, and he let us know that the Seward Elementary school parking lot was going to be open for camping during the holiday.  It was $15/day and the $$ went toward field trips for the students during the year.  Perfect!

Friday, July 4 – Every 4th of July, Seward hosts the Mount Marathon race.  These crazy people race up and down this steep mountain for fun!?  Here’s some pics from the photographers on the mountain, and some trivia.  In the 2012 race, a man was lost on the course and has never been found.  Last year a man fell, hit his head, and was in a coma for a couple of months – he came back to run it this year!

The whole town (and thousands of visitors) come out.  There’s the race, yummy food, vendors, pie, and a great 4th of July parade down the main street.  One of the best 4th of July’s we’ve ever had. 🙂

Hated leaving the Kenai Peninsula, but had to move on after enjoying a couple more days cruising around Seward.

Tuesday, July 7 & 8 – Drove up the Glenn Hwy, then down the Richardson Hwy toward Valdez.

Camped at Squirrel Creek State Park.

Wednesday, July 9 – Along Richardson Hwy, beautiful rivers, waterfalls, Worthington Glacier in the Thompson Pass.  Trail of ’98 and Keystone Canyon.  Some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve ever seen!

Checked into Bear Paw Camper Park on the Valdez Bay Small Boat Harbor.

 

Tuesday, July 15 – Left Bear Paw Campground in Valdez. Spent the night at Beaver Creek RV Park in Yukon, then on down toward Haines, AK.  Horrible road conditions, lots of pilot cars and gravel.  We lost both of the Honda fog lights due to the rocks.  Spent the night of the 16th at a roadside pullout for the Kluane National Park.  What a gorgeous view (another one, sigh!) and a free night – – although we did have an earthquake at about 4:40am!  Thankfully, the epicenter was quite a distance away.

Thursday, July 17 – Arrived at Haines HitchUp Park in Haines, AK.  We loved this park! Green grass and very clean.  Enjoyed lots of fresh halibut, walking down to the bay, and all around Haines.  Took the ferry over to Skagway on our last day there.

Tuesday, July 22 – Traveled from Haines, AK to Hi Country RV park in Whitehorse, Yukon for 2 nights.  Enjoyed dinner at the Klondike Restaurant.

Thursday, July 24 – Traveled from Whitehorse to Big Creek Yukon Provencal Park.  We just can’t say enough good things about Canada’s Provencal parks.  They are usually on a lake or river and very reasonably priced.  We stayed here 2 nights for $24.

Friday, July 25 – Heading south on the Cassiar Hwy.  Very slow and bumpy with lots of devastation from a fire back in 2010.

Landed at Boya Lake Provencal Park in British Columbia. Site #16.  We loved this place, spent 2 days renting canoes and hiking. Stunning!

Sunday, July 27 – Headed south again for one night at Mt. Shadow Camp in Iskut Valley, BC,  then on to Bear River RV in Stewart, BC.  This park is about a 5 minute drive back and forth to Hyder, AK so we used this as a base camp and drove the Honda back and forth.  We took the drive up to awe inspiring Salmon Glacier, and spent lots of time at the Fish Creek watching the spawning salmon.  Those poor babies work so hard to get home and die.  ;(

This was our last stop in Alaska, proper.  We took our time heading south through Prince George, Cache Creek, & then Oliver British Columbia.  On down to Orondo, WA and then Memaloose State Park on the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon where we got to spend some good times with cousins Don, Erin, Sam, Darby & Colleen!

Had some coach work done at Oregon Motorcoach near Eugene, OR.  Spent a couple of nights at Sunset Bay State Park in OR (highly recommend!).   Then down to Trinidad, CA in the middle of the giant redwoods.  Lodi, Buellton, CA and arrived home in San Diego at 3:15PM on Thursday, August 21, 2014.

The entire trip was approximately 10,000 miles and about 130 days and we’d do it again in a flash! 🙂