June 2005

Home Up

Wednesday morning, June 1st, dawned cloudy and chilly.  It was about 40 degrees when we woke up - yes, on June 1st!!!  We stopped at the Visitor's Center and then drove a few miles to Indian Pond where we took a tour conducted by the National Park Ranger, Dan Stebbins.  He was born in Hartford, CT - talk about coincidences!!  After the usual warning about bears and other animals, we took a walk of about 1 1/2 miles where we saw bison, elk, and marmots.  It was cold, windy and terribly nasty - we were all bundled up as if it were winters in CT!!  Shelley had on 2 pairs of pants, a turtleneck, sweatshirt, fleece with a hood and her 3 season coat - and was still chilled to the bone!! (from Shelley -no exaggeration - I was cold through and through, it took hours after we got back to the coach to warm up)  The walk ended at a point on Yellowstone Lake, the largest Alpine Lake in the U.S. When we got back to our motorhome, it started to blizzard again - that's three days in a row of snow.  We thought we had left winter behind and would never see snow again - haha - what did we know??!! After lunch, we drove to see the most famous icon of Yellowstone and probably one of the most famous natural phenomena in the entire country, Old Faithful.  While we were at the Old Faithful area of the park, we began to comprehend the enormity of Yellowstone National Park.  To the west of our campground, there is a loop road (one of two in the park).  It was 38 miles to get to Old Faithful by the southern portion of this loop.  Returning by the northern route, the trip is 58 miles.  The other loop is about 70 miles around.  Enclosed within these two loops is only about 40% of the park, which is about 2 million acres.  

Snow on Memorial Day at Yellowstone

Lower Falls of Yellowstone River

Upper Falls of Yellowstone River

We were very surprised to learn that Yellowstone is the largest active volcano in the world.  A big portion of the park (an area 30 miles by 45 miles) is comprised of the collapsed crater of a volcano that erupted about 2 million years ago - which is called a caldera.  This volcano also erupted 1.3 million years ago and then again about 600,000 years ago. Following that progression, we should be ready for another eruption pretty soon - sometime in the next 6,000 years - so we don't need to worry too much about that now!  The 38 mile trip to Old Faithful took us well over an hour.  First of all, most traffic drives at about 40-45 miles per hour, and secondly, we kept stopping to look for/at animals.  Whenever one car stops alongside the road, everybody in both directions stops too - just in case there is a sighting!!  Subsequently, there is almost always a traffic jam!!  Luckily, the people who designed the loop roads put in plenty of lookout points!!  The Old Faithful area is probably one of the more developed areas in the park, with large parking lots, stores, a post office, a cafe', hotel, a medical clinic, etc.  Luckily, as we arrived, we were told that the geyser was expected to erupt in 10 minutes so we rushed to the area.  Eruptions from Old Faithful take place on a predictable schedule,  and before long we were treated to an eruption.  Because the sky was gray, we couldn't fully appreciate the show, but it was still pretty neat.  Eruptions last 1 1/2 to 5 minutes during which 4,000-8,000 gallons of boiling water are shot 100-180 feet into the air.  Its really special to see something that we have read and heard about our whole lives.  (By the way, the decking and benches surrounding the geyser are interesting, too - they were made of 4,000,000 empty plastic detergent bottles which were donated by a detergent manufacturer.)  After the eruption, we took the longer, northern portion of the lower loop road back to our campground at Fishing Bridge.  The snowy trip back was constantly interrupted by animal sightings, both actual and hoped for.  At one point, traffic came to a halt as a herd of bison (the real name...there are no buffalo in North America according to the rangers) sauntered down the road. They can weigh up to a ton, and they look huge up close, although Shelley thought their eyes were so big and beautiful, with eyelashes to match!!  We all had a great day, except for the cold, the wind, the rain, the snow and the lack of a bear sighting.  There's always tomorrow.  

Bison on the road

Before Old Faithful erupts

Geysers

Old Faithful

Old Faithful

Some educational facts now - we learned was that there are 4 kinds of hydrothermal features: 

1. Geysers, where water is expelled under pressure and is shot into the air;
2. Hot springs, where water just runs to the surface;
3. Fumaroles, where steam is vented to the surface;
4. Mudpots, where hydrogen sulfide becomes sulfuric acid and breaks down the surrounding rock into clay.  Gasses escaping through the wet clay mud cause it to bubble and plop.

We got up Thursday morning, June 2nd - and it was still cold and gray.  It was 32 degrees when we left the coaches at 9:15 for our day of wandering.  First we drove north to Artists Point of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.  The canyon is 800-1,200 deep and 1,500-4,000 feet wide.  The upper falls of the river is about 100 feet high, while the lower falls are about 300 feet high.  The sights were just awe-inspiring.  On the way out of the canyon area, we noticed two bison calves nursing.  Periodically, the 2 calves would frolic around their mothers, leaping over fallen logs.  It was really fun to watch.  After a lunch stop, we returned for another ranger trip.  Our guide was Mimi Matsuda, who is a ranger-naturalist during the summer and a nature artist during winters.  She was just so full of enthusiasm and stories as we hiked around the area. We saw the Dragon's Mouth hot spring, where steam and rumbling noises predominated the area as well as the Churning Caldron, a mudpot that appeared to be boiling, but the bubbling was caused by gasses coming up through the liquid.  The water temperature was about 160 degrees.  Mimi led us through the woods to another mudpot.  This one was relatively new.  It was discovered in 1973 when it was only two small steam holes.  32 years later, it is a large mudhole, maybe 50 feet in diameter.  This is another example of the constant changes going on in the park.  She told us that there are an average of 2,000 earthquakes in the park each year, and some result in dramatic changes to Yellowstone's features.  Yellowstone is an active volcano and always changing....we learned alot in the 2 days that we were here.  It was so nice to see families at the campgrounds and on our travels - we both wished that we had the opportunity to bring our kids here....

Mudpots

Mudpots

On Friday, it was time to leave Yellowstone (and hopefully the cold weather).  After minor problems with both coaches, we headed south through the park to the Grand Teton National Park.  Just after we went through the park entrance we noticed a large number of people standing and pointing.  As we drove by, we satisfied one of Shelley's desires.  There was a bear a ways off, golden brown in color.  Shelley was so happy.  The views in the Grand Tetons were wonderful.  We stopped for lunch at a spot were we could see a long line of snow capped mountains off in the distance. views were just extraordinary, but difficult to capture with a camera.  After exiting the Grand Teton National Park, we headed towards Idaho and somewhat lower altitudes.  The scenery turned different.  We passed through mountain range after mountain range (smaller mountains with peaks around 5,200 feet separated by flat valleys at around 4,800 feet that were about 50 miles long.  The road was one lane in each direction, but in the valleys it was often straight as an arrow, an the speed limit was often 65 mph.  We stopped for the evening at Mountain View Campground in Arco Idaho, where we had full cell phone service for the first time in several days, and Shelley and Marsha downloaded e-mails onto their computers and got busy calling family and friends back east.  W also noticed a mountain not far away where each graduating class from Arco High School painted their class year in big numbers on the rocky side of the slope.  The tradition became so ingrained that as the paint wore off, the numbers were repainted, so that there are about 50 years inscribed on the hillside.  We also found out that Arco has another distinction.  In 1951, usable electricity was first generated from electricity at the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-1) nearby.  Since then, more than 50 other pioneering nuclear reactors have been designed and built on site.  It now has a visitor center and is somewhat of a tourist center. We didn't find out about this place until we were 20 miles past it, so we didn't stop off to see it.

Stopping for lunch

Grand Teton Mountains

Saturday dawned clear (the first time in a long time) and we soon stopped off at Craters of the Moon,  This is both a National Monument and a National Preserve located in south central Idaho.  he whole area is covered by flows of different forms of lava that took place between 15,000 and 2,000 years ago.  However, over time, small flowers and plants have been able to find a foothold in some places.  We took a 1/4 mile walk along a path to a cave that was formed when the lava on the surface cooled and hardened, and it served as insulation for the lava below the surface which continued to flow.  In some cases, it flowed away leaving a hollow area, which became a cave when a part collapsed leaving an opening from above.  We explored Indian Tunnel Cave.  From a distance, the floor of the cave seemed rutted and muddy, but instead the ruts were formed by hard lava, making walking somewhat difficult.  We also saw a deep crevass where the snow never melts, because the sun never gets there and also the surrounding lava acts as insulation from the heat.  After a 2 hour park tour, we continued driving west.  Now the mountain ranges were closer together, and it seemed as if we were always either going up or down a hill.  And then, all of a sudden we crested a hill and we say that we had a long way down to go and then it was flat for miles.  We descended to an elevation of about 2,800 feet and drove through the rest of Idaho and into Oregon, where we stopped at a Walmart In Ontario for the night.  We parked our coaches, and then Marsha volunteered to give everyone a haircut.  We were all pretty brave, since nobody but Joe know the extent of her haircutting talent.  While we were being pretty silly with the haircuts, a couple walked out of a big fancy coach parked nearby and headed in our direction.  Suddenly, Shelley recognized RG Wilson and his wife.  RG is the National President of FMCA, the large organization of motorhomers.  

Craters of the Moon walkway

Craters of the Moon landscape

Sinkhole where the snow NEVER melts

Flowers growing on the lava

Flat area by the Craters of the Moon

Marsha giving Norm a haircut

On Sunday we awoke in the Walmart parking lot and soon were on the road again.  We took I-84 west and took aim at the Pacific Ocean.  After a little more than an hour, we left the interstate and stopped off at Baker City.  After about 5 miles, we drove up a steep hill and stopped off at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  This exhibit is managed by the Bureau of Land Management of the federal government and is dedicated to the many pioneers (the book says about 400,000 people) who made the 6 month, 1800 mile trip from Missouri to the states of Washington and Oregon.  About 10% of them perished on the way west.  One of the highlights of the Center was a big picture window which looked out over the countryside.  But after reading the nearby explanatory notes, we could pick out the areas where the actual Oregon Trail was located - really neat.  After leaving Baker City, we continued on I-84 as it went northwest and then west.  We finally found ourselves near sea level and then we say the Columbia River on our right.  Before we knew it, both the road and the river were in a beautiful canyon, a few hundred feet high on each side.  After passing the town of Rufus, we got off the highway and parked in a parking lot for the evening.  This area is known throughout the country for windsurfing, and we weren't disappointed.  The wind was blowing about 25 knots and there were a number of people on the river showing their stuff.  We got to talking with a windsurfer who lives in San Diego most of the time, but he and his wife bring their 24 foot motorhome here  and spend about 5 months (May through October) windsurfing the Columbia River.  They have been doing this for the last 20 years.  Reminded me of a ski bum, except that this guy was 67 years old.  We were awakened at 6 AM the next morning by a freight train roaring through within 20 feet of our coach.  It reminded me of the time when I lived in Brooklyn and the elevated subway used to run all night just a few feet from our apartment.  We all got set and left to continue our westward migration.  We stopped and The Dalles, a town along the Columbia River and just wandered through.  There were murals on the walls of buildings all over the town depicting the history of the area.  We then hopped on I-84 for an hour and then got off to take a loop road pat a number of waterfalls.  We stopped at 620 foot high Multnomah Falls for lunch and viewing.  This loop road was really narrow, and it was tough taking a large motorhome and attached tow car along this windy way.

Columbia River

Windsurfer on Columbia River

Multonah Falls

After lunch we drove through some traffic in Portland Oregon and then followed US route 30 to Astoria Oregon and the Pacific Ocean.  We crossed into Washington at the mouth of the Columbia River and say distant views of the Pacific Ocean.  Our Thousand Trails campground at Long Beach was nearby, and we all sort of collapsed after a long day.  Shelley made a delicious lasagna for all of us and did about three loads of wash in our washer/dryer.  The dryer takes a long time to complete its cycle, so we went to bed with wet/damp clothes hung up all over the motorhome.  On Tuesday morning we left the motorhomes at the CG.  Shelley stayed in the coach and did a thorough job of cleaning up while Marsha, Joe and Norm took a short drive to see Cape Disappointment, the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse and the Pacific Ocean.  Shelley also got a view of the ocean as she and Rags took a walk at the campground and went all the way to the beach.  We then hooked up our trusty tow car and headed back to the mountains. 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Lunch stop

We drove by signs to Mount Saint Helens (because we wanted to get to our campsite and enjoy relaxing afternoon and arrived at Scenic Firs, our campground not far from Mount Rainier.)  That's when things started to degenerate.  First, following a sign that said to turn at the next left for Scenic Firs, we made the left and then got caught on a narrow road where we absolutely couldn't make the turn into the campgrounds.  So we detached our tow car, backed out, and then made the turn into the campground.  There was nobody around, so we picked our own sites.  And we were pleasantly surprised when we found 50 amp service instead if the 30 amps advertised.  Unfortunately, Joe and Marsha had no power at their site, so they decided to move.  And, in a situation that was familiar to Shelley and Norm, they got stuck in the mud.  After a significant wait, the tow truck came and pulled them out. Oh well.  We watched a silly movie and hit the sack.

June 8th found us leaving the campsite without getting mired in the mud again.  We drove to Mount Rainier National Park and, as usual, the peak was lost in the fog and clouds.  We went into the south gate and followed the road, replete with multiple hairpin turns and relatively steep ups and downs.  After some time, at an altitude of 5,400 feet we came to the visitors center.  We stopped to look around, saw a film about the mountain and had lunch.  Following more ups and downs and sharp turns, we left the park via the west gate. We then headed northwest to the Seattle area to visit Steven and Rachel Jacobsen, our cousins who live in Redmond, a suburb of Washington.  When we got close, we had to turn onto a narrow, gravel road that ran steeply up the side of a mountain.  When we got to their driveway, it was a tough turn to make, and our motorhome sustained some damage in the attempt.  We decided to abandon the attempt to stay with Steven and Rachel, but there was no easy way to turn our motorhome around.  So we preceded up the road, and made the u-turn with everyone giving their advice as to how to do it.  We finally got the caravan turned around and stayed at a nearby Fred Meyer, where Rachel had made arrangements with the manager for us to stay overnight.  We had dinner at a new restaurant called Pomegranate.  The food was really good, but the service was slow....they called it a relaxed atmosphere.  Shelley thought the Latte' was the best that she had ever had. On Thursday, we found a nearby Passport of America campground and moved both coaches there.  The campground was really pretty and each site seemed like its own private oasis.  We then took our CRV and drove into Seattle.  First we went to the Pike Place Market.  Its hard to describe the place.  There was an incredible combination of places to eat and places to buy stuff.  Shelley had heard of a fish place where the employees threw the fish from one to the other.  We watched the show there and also got free samples of smoked salmon.  The lobster tails there were about $35 per pound, and there was some special copper river salmon that was about $25 per pound.  We bought 2 pounds of halibut at $10 per pound for Friday's dinner.  We then walked about half a mile to Pioneer Square, where the Underground Tour originates.  Norm had taken the tour more than 30 years ago, and was excited to do it again.  There were about 100 people on our tour, which was split into three groups.  The underground area dates from the early days of the city, when the government raised the sidewalks in an attempt to make changes in the city's sewer system, so that the sewage would continue to flow downhill to the sea.  It was a really interesting 90 minutes.  We then returned to the campground for a short break before we went to Steven and Rachel's for dinner.  Rachel had to tear out to a PTO meeting, and Steven entertained John and Kevin (as well as their friends) and prepared a scrumptious dinner of grilled Copper River salmon with a creamy crab concoction poured over it. It was wonderful.  Steven also repaired our computer so we could get on-line again.  We thoroughly enjoyed the visit and returned to our coach at 1:10 AM. 

Pike Place Fish Market

Check out the price of lox!!

Space Needle

On Friday we slept until 9 AM and then Rachel stopped off for another brief visit.  She brought some delicious scones and bread.  We then drive north for about 100 miles or so to Blaine Washington.  We found our campground and then leveled our coach.  But the ground was so soft that the boards sunk at least 10-12 inches into the ground.  It eventually took us almost an hour to get level and stable.  After our delicious halibut dinner, we were visited by Nathan and Toby Katz, Chai members who live in Reno and summer in Blaine in their motorhome.  We all enjoyed the visit thoroughly. 

We were expecting some mail today, so we drove into the Blaine Post Office at 9 am.  What a shock to find that the post office was only open on Saturday from 11 AM to 2 PM.  So back to the campground we went for a few hours.  The town of Blaine was really pretty.  The gray drizzly weather results in a profusion of flowers; in fact the flower pot hanging from the street sign obliterated the street name.  We finally left the campground at about 1 PM.  We got on the highway and soon saw signs announcing the upcoming immigration checkpoint.  The traffic came to a halt and we crept forward for about half an hour.  This creep was only interrupted by a young guy standing between the lanes of traffic and selling ice cream.  When we finally got to the booth, the lane was incredibly narrow, and we barely squeezed through without hitting our side rearview mirrors.  After about 5 minutes if questions, we were directed to go forward and pull over on the side.  Marsha and Joe soon followed.  Then 2 Canadian officers went through our coach for about 15 minutes.  We waited on the side, and saw three officers  spend about 30 minutes going through a SUV from Oregon.  They missed nothing, even going through the engine compartment in detail.  All of the officers had bulletproof vests on.  We found a beautiful campground (Burnaby Cariboo RV), although the spaces were narrow and difficult to get into.  We got settled and spent some time in the indoor hot tub and heated pool before dinner and bed.  

We had lots of plans for Sunday and we got an early start.  First we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  This 650 foot long bridge spans a canyon about 325 feet deep, and is suspended from 2 cables.  As you walk across the entire bridge swings, and it is sometime hard not to grab onto the railings for support.  It is a bit nerve wracking walking across.  There are also a series of bridges suspended from trees, giving n interesting view of the temperate rain forest, one of the few remaining.  We saw western cedars and hemlocks up to 350 feet high, and took an interesting tour of the area hosted by Caroline, a cute young guide.  Then we visited Granville Island, an interesting area that was congested with traffic.  There were crafty, artsy places around and lots of people strolling.  We had lunch in the public market, where we all had different kinds of pies; Joe had shepherd's pie, Marsha had chicken pot pie, Shelley had a mushroom pie, and Norm had a seafood concoction.  They were all delicious.  We then left and drove into Vancouver where we went to the Sun-Yat-Sen classical Chinese Garden.  It was really beautiful.  We then took a guided tour given by a woman who obviously loved what she was doing.  But she could talk all day.  We were all glad when things ended.  We then went out for dinner and walked around at a Chinese street fair.  We got back to the campground at 7:30 and did the hot tub thing again.  By the way, I just checked and our latitude/longitude is 49 degrees 15 minutes north and 122 degrees 55 minutes west.    Just as an example, we are as far north as Gander, Newfoundland.   

Shelley in front of Totem poles at the Capilano Suspension Bridge

Totem poles

Capilano Suspension Bridge

HELP!!

Sun Yat Sen Gardens

We left Vancouver on Monday morning, June 13 and headed slightly east and mostly north on Canada Route 1.  After RVing through suburban Vancouver, the route turned north and into the Cascade Mountains.  The trip was truly spectacular, as the road followed the Fraser River through a deep, twisting canyon.  The mountains were beautiful, and often looked like the painted backdrop of a Hollywood movie.  It was really neat.  While looking at our roadmap, we noticed that the road went through a number of tunnels, and we couldn't find out the headroom.  We finally stopped at a highway weigh station, and were given the thumbs up by the police officer there.  Eventually, we found a campground at Williams Lake.  Chief Will-Yum campground had only a few campsites, but lots of room.  While walking around, we came upon a beautiful arena built of rough hewn logs, a log cabin, and what looked like a ceremonial building built into the side of a hill side.  Our latitude/longitude is 52 degrees 07 minutes north and 122 degrees minutes west.  Just as an example, Hartford is about 41 degrees 30 minutes north. We are currently about 630 miles north of there.  

On Tuesday morning, June 13 we left the campground in Williams Lake and continued north to Prince George.  We had some extra time and stopped off at the visitor's center in the small town of Quesnel.  They had a small museum, and, after prodding by Ruth, the curator, three of us decided to visit while Shelley took a nap.  They had an old doll there who is called Mandy.  Mandy is supposed to have supernatural powers and people claim to have heard a baby crying while Mandy is there.  In fact, Ruth and Mandy recently went to New York to appear on the Montieth Williams show. We then drove to just south of Prince George where we stopped at the South Park campground.  For one of the few times in the last 5 weeks, the weather was OK, and we had wine and noshes outside between the coaches.  We left the coaches and drove into town looking for some coffee and desert, but everything was closed, so we did some food shopping and returned to our rigs.  The lat/long was 53.51N/122.41W.

Wednesday morning found our direction changed as we headed west toward Prince Rupert and the Alaska ferry.  We stopped at a rest stop for lunch, and the weather was so nice, we ate outside on some picnic tables.  This was the first outdoor lunch that we had had in many weeks....the weather had been just too miserable.  As we got to our destination in Smithers, we began to see snow capped mountains nearby, and they seemed close enough to touch.  After finding free overnight parking in a Zeller's parking lot, we walked into the town, which was designed to look somewhat like an Alpine village.  We ate dinner at Louise's, where we had some Ukranian food, including borscht.  Getting further and further off the beaten track, we are now at 54.47N/127.10W. 

Smither Glacier

Another Smither Glacier

Thursday was Shelley's birthday.  We left Smithers on the way to Prince Rupert, our last significant driving for about a week.  The scenery was beautiful, and we stopped a few times to take pictures.  A large portion of the trip took us through the Skeena River Valley, and we were often at an elevation of 200-300 feet while surrounded by snow capped mountains.    For the first time in a long time, we went a day without using our windshield wipers.  Finally the highway led us to the town of Prince George and, at the end was the ferry terminal.  Our ferry was scheduled to leave at 9 AM tomorrow, and they told us that we would need to be ready at 6:30.  We all groaned at the early hour, but we remained stoical about it as we set our alarms for the early hour.  We lined up our rigs ready for our cruise to Ketchikan and entry into Alaska.  Late in the day is always wine and nibbles time, so we set up our table and chairs between our coaches.  Before you know it, we invited two couples from Colorado to join is, and we had a really nice time.  While kibbitzing, we were treated to a show of bald eagles flying around above our heads.  It was spectacular.  [54.18N/136.21W]

Knock, Knock.  A glance at our clock showed it was 5:15 AM.  We were told to get ready.  Following the phrase "hurry up and wait" we went nowhere fast until we were told to drive our coaches onto the ferry,  On we went, and there was plenty of room,  We had breakfast and wandered around the boat,  There was a lecture about the local wildlife and a program for the kids.  And then came the announcement .. we were in Alaska.  At about 3 PM the ferry was made fast to the dock and we backed up and then drove off.  We went looking for the visitor's center, but there was no place to park or large rigs.  Marsha finally called the visitor's center, and they suggested the parking lot at the local Safeway.  We made our way there through the narrow streets and then negotiated our parking right with the store manager.  We then hoofed it back downtown looking for a place for dinner.  We finally go a recommendation and took a funicular up the side of a mountain to a really nice place.  After a nice dinner we wandered back to our Safeway campground and took out our chairs and watched sail boats frolicking in the water.  We were beat and quietly collapsed into bed.  [55.21 N/131.41 W]     

On Saturday, June 18 we were free to explore the area around Ketchikan.  Since we didn't have our trusty CRV, we traveled in Joe and Marsha's motorhome.  First we went North.  We parked at the end of the road and walked down the hill to the Salmon Falls Resort.  After perusing through the gift shop, we went down a really steep hill to view the waterfall.  And right there, we saw many bald eagles, both sitting in the trees and soaring over the water.  There were many adults (over 5 years) with the traditional snow white heads and tails and also juveniles with less distinctive coloring.  I had always thought that bald eagles were an endangered species, but obviously they are pretty common in Alaska.  Then, on the way back to town, we stopped at Totem Bight park.  Joe parked the motorhome and we hurried to join a tour that was just beginning.  The tour guide was really knowledgeable and full of enthusiasm.  We were surprised to find that she was born in East Brunswick NJ and has only been in Ketchikan for two months.  We were also surprised to find that her tour was a private tour off a tour boat, and we had attached ourselves to this tour without paying.  Oh well....we returned to our exclusive Safeway campsite, and had some wine and nibbles as we looked out over the water watching the boats and the birds..  Then we set up our grill for a salmon dinner right between the two motorhomes.  Then salmon was wonderful, everyone really enjoyed it.

Humpback whale tail viewed from ferry

Rags waiting for a walk

Grilling Salmon at the Safeway

We got to the ferry terminal on Sunday morning and the boat shoved off at 11 AM.  In a short time someone spotted a pod of killer whales (orcas) and everyone rushed to the side of the boat to see.  I was worried that the boat would tip...only kidding!!  We also saw a group of Dalle porpoises as they jumped out of the water.  The weather was dreary with low lying clouds, but the passengers and the boat trip were interesting.  We briefly stopped at Wrangell and arrived in Petersburg at 9 PM.  We found a temporary parking lot for the night.   [56.48N/132.57W - a long way from home.]  Petersburg is a small town (population about 3,000) with a strong Norwegian background.  The town has allocated a lot for temporary RV parking for people just getting off or on the ferry.  However, we decided to spend 2 days there based on advice from the Visitors Center, and we saved the fees for the campground.  Also, the lot was right in the middle of town, and that was very convenient.  The town is small, and we spent lots of hours just wandering around and talking to folks.  We stopped at the library (it didn't open until noon) for some computer time and got a tour of Tonka Fish Company, a very small business where they will pack salmon and halibut for you.  These fish are frequently caught by tourist who then want the fish packed to bring home.  Tonka will either vacuum pack or can the very fish caught that day by sport fisherman.  Obviously its not cheap, but the tour was really interesting.  We learned that smoking fish can be done with either cold smoke or hot smoke, and that the fish smoked with cold smoke is much tastier.  We all went to sleep at around 9 PM.

Petersburg village

A typical Petersburg front door

Waterview at Petersburg

Salmon at Tonka Canning Co.

White and King Salmon

On Tuesday we got up at 2:30 AM.  THIS IS NOT A TYPO!!  Our ferry was due to leave at 4:15 AM, and we were due to be at the dock one hour earlier.  Getting up at that hour is tough, but being in Alaska made it easier.  Believe it or not, the sky was just starting to get light when we awoke, and it was reasonably light at 3:15 while driving to the ferry dock.  We had our headlights on, but it was light enough so that we could see where we were going without lights.  This ferry was the smallest so far, and required some jockeying to get the motorhomes in place.  But the deckhands are really got at this, and eventually we were settled in with not more then 3 inches of clearance on both sides.  This ferry trip is a local commuter special, and we stopped at Kake at 9:15 AM, at Angoon at 2:15 PM, Tanakee at 5:30 PM, and Hoonah at 9:45 PM before arriving in Juneau at 1 AM.  This was obviously a very long day, and we all napped at times.  These towns each have between 80 and 2,500 people and, at each stop, we had time to wander around a bit.  In fact, when we got to Tanakee, everyone was talking about free hot baths in town, and this was supposed to be the time for women.  Marsha and Shelley were ready to go.  But it turned out to be men's time, so Norm took the towels and went.  A the top of the dock ramp was a small innocuous looking building.  After going in, there was a small (un)dressing room with just benches and pegs to hang up clothing.  Going through a door led to a reasonably small room with a pool that was about 6 feet by 12 feet and about 4 1/2 feet deep.  The pool was almost as hot as a Jacuzzi or hot tub.  The bath has been there for many years, and is maintained by a number of volunteers in Tanakee. The hot water flows in through a vent in the bottom of the pool and the overflow goes into the sea.  Oh, we forgot to mention that everyone bathes naked.  We arrived in Juneau right on schedule, and after more jockeying of our coaches we got off the ferry and found our nearby campground.  The owner was there to greet us as we pulled in about 2:15 AM and expertly guided us into our sites.  We all collapsed.  [Juneau - 58.17 N / 134.21 W - To give you an idea of how far north we are, Mystic, CT is 41.21 N / 71.58 W.  So we are 17 degrees further north then Mystic.  Each degree is 60 nautical miles or about 70 regular miles.  So we are about 1200 miles further north than Mystic]

Wednesday morning was a sleep late time.  We got up about 9:30 and spent most of mid-day doing washes and getting our coaches straightened up.  Joe then drove us to the Mendenhall Glacier in his RV. The glacier is about 13 1/2 miles from where the snow falls to the face.  I takes 200-250 years from the time the snow falls until the time it moves to the face of the glacier.  The glacial ice has a bright blue color until it gets exposed to the air, when the blue disappears and become white.  The face of the glacier has been retreating an average of 60 feet a year but last year the figure was closer to 400 feet.  How can anyone deny global warming?  We got back to the campground early, had some wine and barbecued dinner  This reasonably slow paced day, filled with a few naps, was just what we all needed after the long ferry trip of yesterday. 

Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier

Shelley in front of Mendenhall

Nesting tern at Mendenhall

We got another late start this morning as both Marsha and Shelley spent some time on their computers.  After arranging for someone to take care of Rags during the day. We caught a city bus at about 11:30 AM and headed downtown.  The bus was a real local, and seemed to stop everywhere.  Finally, after about 45 minutes we ended up in downtown Juneau at the Alaska State Museum.  There was a beautiful exhibit of native paintings, and while we were looking at these, Norm recognized some friends who were also members of Chai.  We knew that George and Myrna Wolkoff, who live on Long Island, were also traveling in Alaska and were currently in Juneau.  We spent some time chatting with them and then finished looking through the museum, which was full of exhibits concerning the topography, culture, and wildlife of the state.  We then ate lunch at the Hanger which overlooked the port.  The lunch was very good, and the view kept us entertained.  There were 5 very large cruise ships in the harbor, and a number of sightseeing seaplanes kept landing and taking off.  What a place!  We then wandered around the narrow streets of the town for a bit.  We decided not to take the tram to the top of Mount Roberts (about 3000 feet) because it was too expensive ($24 per person) and because the low clouds would obscure the views.  We did stop a buy some freshly made lox an found a bagel store that was about sold out but which did have a package of one day old bagels that we snapped up.  We took the bus back to the campground and got to sleep early in anticipation of our 4:30 wake-up to make the 7 AM ferry.

The day we left Juneau, we were up really early (about 4 AM) but nevertheless it was already light out. We took the high speed ferry from Juneau to Haines. The trip was just over 2 hours and we went as fast as 34 knots. We found our campground, Haines Hitch-Up, and got settled in to this really well kept place. We walked downtown and spent some time before lunch time wandering around a local museum. After a short time, we left Marsha and Joe in the museum and walked down to the local marina, where the boats were a mixture of recreational and fishing. The tide was really high, with a spread of 20-25 feet between high tide and low tide. I spoke for a while with someone who had just returned from a few days fishing trip with his pal. He had a huge freezer full of Dungeness Crabs and halibut. He gave me some halibut cheeks to try. These are supposed to be really tasty and we had never had them. We went out to lunch and then took a walking tour of Haines. When we got back to the campground, we saw 2 micro-mini cars nearby. We got to talking with Bruce Weiner who has 200 mini cars and a museum in Madison GA (suburban Atlanta). The two cars he had with him were a Messerschmidt and a Gogomobil. One of these could fit into the rear of each of the two fifth wheels Bruce was traveling with. Norm even got a chance to drive the Gogomobil around the campground. We had dinner (including the sauteed halibut cheeks) in our motorhome and got to sleep at a reasonable hour. [Haines is 59.15 N / 135.27 W]. By the way, in Juneau today, sunrise was 3:52 AM and sunset was 10:08 PM - but dusk seems to last another few hours after that. Sure makes for a mighty long day, especially when we were up since 4 AM. But we don't seem to have any trouble going to sleep when its still light. 

Haines Harbor

Marina at Haines

Messerschmidt & Gogmobile

Mountain & Glacier view from Haines

On Saturday we had a relatively relaxed morning and then caught the 11:45 fast ferry from Haines to Skagway. We then hustled to catch the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway train which was scheduled to leave at 12:45. This was a 3 hour (20 miles in each direction) train trip on a narrow gauge (3 feet vs. the normal 4 ft 8.5 inches) track that partially mirrored the route taken in 1897 by prospectors heading for the Klondike goldfields. The trip went through two tunnels and across a number of bridges spanning 1,000 foot deep canyons ending at White Pass (near Bennett Lake) at an altitude of 2,865 feet. The incline is as steep as 3.9%, one of the steepest that can be handled by a railroad. What is most amazing is that this railroad route, about 110 miles in its entirety, was completed in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. In 1897 it took prospectors about 2 days to make this trip with a 40 pound pack on their back. Since Canada required prospectors to enter the country with a ton of provisions, they had to make the trip 50 times before continuing on their way. Many built boats on Bennett Lake and sailed down the Yukon River to the goldfields. The trip was really interesting with spectacular scenery, but Shelley and I agreed it was not worth the $89 per person fare for the train alone (excluding the ferry from Skagway to Haines). There was one cruise ship in Skagway, and the streets (which looked like an old western town with wooden sidewalks and false front buildings) was just chockful of shops selling the things that a typical tourist will buy. YUK. We did have pizza for dinner in the Red Onion, a 100 year old building that was a whorehouse for many years. And, would you believe, one of the items on the menu were "Condoms - $2". That's a new one on me!!  We were back in our coaches at the campground by 9 PM. After a week off from driving (we were on the ferries for about a week), its time to hit the road again tomorrow morning. We'll be driving back through Canada on our way north. We'll fill our gas and water tanks before we leave Haines because our trip will take us through very desolate areas. 

White Pass & Yukon Route Train

Another view from train

Another view from train

Another view from train

We filled up our tanks and our pantry and set out - I finally feel as if I am driving through Alaska. Especially when the sign said last gas for 160 kilometers (almost 100 miles)!! We went through Canadian customs after 40 miles and then had to switch our thinking to the metric system. We went up to an altitude of about 1000 meters (3300 feet) and then drove through a long valley at about 2,500-3,000 foot elevation. Eventually we came to the crossroads town of Haines Junction and I really felt like I was in Alaska. We made a left turn and followed the signs to Fairbanks and Anchorage. We stopped and visited a stone glacier (instead of snow moving down the mountain, it is a river of rocks) and came to beautiful Kluane Lake, blue green in color (like the color of the Caribbean waters!!) and surrounded by snow capped mountains. On the far side of the lake we came upon a campground maintained by the Yukon Territory. The camp was in the middle of the woods and some of the sites were large enough to hold a small FMCA rally. There were no hook-ups (water, sewer, or electric) but the setting was really beautiful. After dinner we built a camp fire, had some mini-marshmallows to roast, and invited over a couple from Birmingham Alabama to join us. [61.09 N / 138.33 W] (Trying to roast mini-marshmallows was quite a challenge - but it's all we had!!)  I guess the quiet of the woods did it, but we slept until 9 o'clock the following morning. Actually, it might have been 10 o'clock. Yesterday, after 40 miles, we left Alaska and drove through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Since we know that today (Monday, 6/27) we were going to return to Alaska, we decided to stay on Alaska time. However, Marsha and Joe went to Pacific Coast time for a day, so they turned their watches ahead one hour - so we're never really sure what time it is!! We stopped at Burl Billy's. He makes bowls and other things out of local wood, and the output was really beautiful. During the offseason he cuts 8 cords of wood for heating, accumulates the wood to use for his work and makes about 300 pieces to sell. He told us that he always sells every single item he makes. One of the incredible things that he told us was that the nearest supermarket was 2 1/2 hours away in Whitehorse. Obviously they don't go often, but he guessed maybe once a month. They did have more than one freezer so they could stock up on things. We drove most of the day on the Alaska Highway, which used to be called the Alcan Highway. This is the main road to Anchorage....but what a main road!! It was never more then one lane in each direction, and frequently there were large bumps and dips brought on by frost heave during the winter. The road department marked these spots by placing small red flags in the ground beside the road. So the trip was punctuated by speed up and slow downs. In some areas the road was in really bad shape, and the road crews had dumped gravel to level out things. There were signs warning of loose gravel, and extremely dusty conditions, and these areas also required us to slow down. There were stretches where the macadam was ripped up and the road was just dirt, sometime bumpy like a washboard. This required driving at 5 or 10 miles per hour. And worst of all were the areas where they were doing road improvement. Often one lane was closed, and there were flaggers at either end. One would stop traffic going in one direction while the other direction was allowed to proceed....then the reverse would occur. About 80 miles from our destination for the day (Tok, Alaska) a warning light went on telling us that the pressure in one of our tires was getting low. So Joe and Norm struggled for some time until we could fill the tire (using the compressed air produced by our motorhome for the air brakes). For sure there was a reason that the tire lost air, and 20 miles further we went through the drill again. And then one more time, but this time it was pouring rain out so we got soaked. We finally pulled into the Northern Energy - Tesoro Alaska gas station in Tok, and they fixed our tire while the four of us went to a Salmon Bake for dinner. When we returned to the coach we were surprised that the fee was only $35 for repairing the tire AND both coaches were allowed to park free for the night and fill up with fresh water and dump our tanks and wash our rigs!! As Shelley's mother would say, "What a country!!" For sure it was a huge bargain! About this time, Joe was feeling jealous about all of the troubles we were having with our rig and his trip was going smoothly. While he was putting down his leveling jacks he discovered a support piece on the chassis to the body had broken off and needed welding. We'll take care of it tomorrow. [63.19 N / 142.59 W]

We got up on Tuesday morning and Joe and Marsha went over to get their welding taken care of. Meanwhile, we dumped our holding tanks, filled up with fresh water and washed down the rig. Each of these was at a different spot, and each time we moved the "stop engine" light stayed on. I was starting to think about what else could be going wrong and called Monaco. They said that if we couldn't get it taken care of in Tok we should probably go to a Cummins dealer, with Anchorage being the closest place. I checked with the guys in Tesoro and they recommended a local garage named Grizzly's - what else!! We drove over to Grizzly's, and they quickly diagnosed the problem. The computer checks the level (not the temp) of the engine coolant, and that was marginally low. When they filled the coolant, it was clear that there was a leak in the radiator...green fluid came leaking out. This was to be a full day's job, so we stayed in Tok and Joe and Marsha went on to Valdez, the scheduled stop for the day. We would meet in Glenallen. We parked the motorhome and spent a relaxing day. We borrowed Grant and Tanya's bikes (they are the owners of Grizzly's) and rode about a mile to Chickadee's, a local bookstore that had internet connections and we caught up on our e-mails and bought a used book. Then we crossed the street to the Golden Bear and had some coffee (of course Shelley had to try their Latte') and schmoozed for a while with some locals who all really enjoyed living in this small crossroads town of about 1,500. By closing time, the radiator had been removed and the pinhole leak sealed up (two coats) with epoxy. It was left under pressure for the night to verify that all was well. We went to bed at about 11 PM with the sun out. At 2:15 AM, I got up to go to the bathroom. While it was not quite light enough to read outside, it was certainly light enough to go for a walk or drive without having any difficulty seeing. As of this writing, we are still in Tok, waiting for them to put the radiator back in the coach so that we can move back onto schedule.....

It was 2 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon before BJ had the radiator installed and checked out and we were ready to go.  We paid the bill and hit the road to Glenallen where we were to meet Joe and Marsha.  We were on the road less then 5 minutes when BANG a rock from a passing truck (going the other way) came up and hit our windshield, making a circular crack about one inch in diameter, but it didn't crack all the way through.  We'll have to get it glued in Anchorage and probably replaced when we leave Alaska.  Wow, I didn't think things would be so tough on the motorhome, but that's three things in a short time.  We continued on towards Glenallen and all of a sudden we saw a moose saunter across the road.  It was a little bigger than a horse, but the body was much thicker.  It was exciting to see another kind of wildlife.  And then we came to some more road construction.  The "highway" was without pavement, and we had to drive 8 miles on dirt, with bumps and washboard and bouncing up and down.  We know that the harsh winters are tough on the roads, but it is hard to comprehend how bad they are.  We hesitate to go the speed limit (55 mph) because you never know when the smooth surface will give way to something that will cause the rig to bounce and swing and sway.  If you start off with what would be a local road (one lane in each direction) in the lower 48, add road patches and assorted cracks and bumps and then call it a major road..well that's what all of the Alaskan highways are.  Its almost impossible to average 55.  We passed Mount Sanford in the distance, it is more than 14,000 feet high and covered with snow.  This is the first of the really huge mountains that we have seen, and it was AWESOME.  We pulled into Tolsona RV Park in Glenallen, and as we were registering, Joe and Marsha pulled in also.  The campground is really pretty, about a mile down a dirt road from the highway with campsites in the woods, many backed up to a stream rushing down from the mountains. However, there was one problem.  When we opened the doors, we were met by a horde of Alaska's state bird, the mosquito.  Even a good dousing with bug repellent wasn't enough to keep them away.  Shelley ended up with welts around her ankles from the bites. [62.07 N / 145.58 W]       

We left Glenallen and encountered good roads for a change.  We stopped in Palmer for diesel and diesel prices were down to $2.29 a gallon, significantly lower then we encountered in Tok and other interior stations.  Shelley got a kick out of being in Palmer, since that is the home of Jessica Moore, ex-UCONN woman's basketball star, now playing pro-ball.  At this point Joe and Marsha headed for our Anchorage campsite, while we set out to do a bunch of errands.  First we stopped at a Holiday Rambler dealer to deal with another coach issue.  The floor under our washing machine had given way, and we were afraid of damage to either the machine or the coach.  The dealer had no time to repair the problem today, but they agreed to pull out and store the machine until we returned to Anchorage.  We made an appointment for Friday, July 8.  We then stopped at a glass place to look into the problem with our windshield and were advised to leave it alone until we got back to smooth roads without gravel.  An honest man.  Our next stop was Safeway where Shelley replenished our larders.  Last was a stop at Best Buy where we bought a paper shredder and software for Shelley to use in editing the digital pictures on the computer.  We returned to our Anchorage campground and met up with Joe and Marsha.  [61.12 N / 149.51 W].