AFTER DENALI

Lee & I at the Indian village.


Unbelievable that it has been a week since I posted last. Time does fly when you're having fun.

We left Cantwell and drove to Fairbanks. We liked Fairbanks a great deal...it was large enough that there were things to do, but not so large that it felt like you were in a big city.

While we were there we did a riverboat tour that really didn't deal with the river as much as the people around Fairbanks. Susan Butcher's (Iditarod champion, she passed away from leukemia in 2006) husband gave a talk about their kennels and a little about Susan. He gave a demonstration with the sled dogs. We also had a bush pilot take off and land right next to the riverboat. We then traveled down the river to an Indian village. Indians from several regions of the state gave informational talks about their dress, preparation of salmon, their houses (no, not igloos) and just about their lives. Very interesting and not commercialized at all.

The next day Lee, Burl and I went to the University of Alaska to the Museum of the North. Fantastic museum with a lot of information. Next we went to a automobile museum that probably had one of the most impressive collection of cars that we have ever seen.

We left Fairbanks behind and traveled to Whitehorse, where we stayed at a hot springs and lazed around for the afternoon and evening. Today we traveled to Watson Lake in the Yukon. Pretty little town of about 400 people but very busy as it is a major crossroads to Alaska and other parts of the Yukon and BC.

We are now meandering our way back home.

Denali

Incredible!



I don't know how else to describe Denali. It is mountains, it is water, it is trees it is tundra, it is animals, it is big. We took an eight hour bus ride into the park 66 miles and that was just a small portion of it. We saw eight grizzly bears,
two different moose, dall sheep and several caribou including a mother and baby.

Halibut Fishing

Hey, we finally got to go out fishing from Homer on Saturday. We had fourteen people on board and all filled their limit. The Swiger's from Oregon filled their limit last only so they could fish longer. Not large halibut but in the 20 to 30 lb. range. Very yummy!

We stayed and rested in Homer on Sunday. Took a long drive along the Kachemak Bay. We went to a beautiful alpine meadow with great views of glaciers across the bay and on the way back to town there was a moose hiding in the trees. The picture of the moose is not very good, but we did see him.

A unique find was a winery near Homer. This winery imports its juices from other areas then adds local berries to make fruit wines. Very good and unusual fruity wines. Maybe this would make a good wine run!

Be sure to check out Lorraine's blog as she posts beautiful pictures and different information than I do. The address http://lllbalaska.blogspot.com/

Good night all from Wasilla, Alaska!

Update on Halibut Fishing

Well, we didn't get to go halibut fishing in Seward. The waves were 12 to 15 feet and the wind was blowing 30 knots so the company canceled our trip. We rescheduled for a charter out of Homer, which is where we're at now. We fish tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to give you good news then.

Beautiful trip over here from Seward. The lake picture is of a small lake at the junction of the Seward and Sterling highways, lots of birds and mountains. The picture of the mountain in the distance is of Mt. Redoubt, an active volcano which last erupted January, 2009. Hope that it keeps quiet a little longer.

Fishermen need to rest so good night to all.

Wildlife Cruise

Had a spectacular day! We went on a five hour wildlife cruise in the Resurrection Bay and visited the Alaska Marine Life Center. We didn't take photos in the center but we sure did on the cruise. I'll post a couple of the more exciting sights.

The bottom photo is of two sea otters playing, the other is of a whale breeching, she had a youngster with her. We were able to watch them for at least 15 or 20 minutes, but it is very hard to get them to pose.

Tomorrow we off to catch halibut, if the weather will let us. Stay tuned for the pictures.

Anchorage

The photo was at the zoo yesterday ... you're free to make your own caption.

Nice city, but I am ready to get back to the wild side of Alaska....although we were at a botanical garden this morning and a moose walks by very casually. Tomorrow we leave for Seward where we have scheduled our halibut fishing trip on Thursday. We should be out about 12 hours 2.5 hours out/2.5 in and 7 hours of fishing. I can't wait.

The other photo is of Anchorage from Earthquake Park, a park that has sign boards about the 1964 Alaskan earthquake (9.2). Very little loss of life but immense damage to the area.

4th of July

We decided to stay in Anchorage for the 4th of July. As we were traveling down the Glenn Highway today it appeared that half of Anchorage was leaving town. We have three and half days here to explore and recuperate, not that we need to do this as this trip has had very little stress.

Have a wonderful 4th everyone!

Just photos of a very beautiful area

Back in the Yukon

Wow! It is really difficult to get internet service in some areas. Oh well, we'll catch up when we can.

It is hard to believe that we have been gone two weeks, but then again when I think of all things that we have seen it makes sense. We have covered over three thousand miles since we left Baker City.

Today we are on the bank of the largest lake in the Yukon, Kalahun Lake. Beautiful, but then again this whole trip has been. Since my last post we have spent a night Prince Rupert, Stewart, Dease Lake, Continental Divide in the Yukon, Whitehorse, and two nights in Haines.

Unbelievable, the sun doesn't go down until after 10:00 p.m.

Time to sign off.

I wrote this blog on Thursday, June 17.…We have not had internet access until today.

Whew!

50 mile day today….the country is so beautiful and we wanted to go fishing so we traveled a whole distance of 50 miles. I think that it will take us a long time to get to Alaska at this rate…but it was worth it. Lee, Burl and I rented a small boat and went out on a very large lake (Francois Lake, 65 miles long) and fished for about an hour. Burl caught one fish and Lee and I each had one on, Burl released his.

Funny thing, it is 9:41 p.m. and it is still light outside…people told me about this but I just could not comprehend it.

Big day tomorrow…we’ll try for at least 75 miles.




Friday, June 18

Well, we did do more than 75 miles and stayed at a provincial park Seeley Lake.
Fished from the shore and didn't catch a thing.

We are now in Vanderhoof, BC, which is between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Sorry to let the Baker City folks know, but it was 71 degrees when we pulled into the rv park today at 4:00 p.m. I hear that the weather is not so June like there.

We have intermittent internet service so there will be days that I won't be able to blog such as yesterday. We stayed at a rodeo grounds last night in Williams Lake. It was the second time that we have done that. Neat idea to make use of facilities that otherwise may just cost government money to maintain. This way they can at least pay upkeep costs.

I think that I saw a bear today along the highway. Lee said it was just a stump, I have never ever seen a stump walk!

Hope to catch ya all tomorrow!

Canada At Last

Whew! We're in Cache Creek, BC tonight. We left Baker City yesterday a little after 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Omak, WA at about 5:00 p.m. Had a great trip with no problems. We stayed at a City Park on the Okanagon River that they use as an RV park. Very nice facilities, highly recommended if you're in that area. Today we traveled up the Okanagon River Valley into Canada. Beautiful area with lots and lots of vineyards and wineries. Too early in the day to stop or we probably would still be there in jail. We did stop at a classic car museum in Summerland, BC. Lots of Oldsmobiles and Fords. If you're interested, their web site is nixdorclassiccars.com

Funny thing happened after driving over six hundred miles, we were stopped by construction and one car ahead of us was Lee's brother! We arrived in Cache Creek at 3:30 and are now just hanging out.

Nicest day of the spring and what are we doing? We're leaving for Alaska! Yes, the day is finally here and away we go.

Another Blog to Follow also

LLL&B Alaska 2010. lllbalaska.blogspot.com So you all get two for one.

Four days left....

Five days to go before we head out on the road...camper is packed and ready to go!