June 29, 2018

Waking up this morning was like something out of a story book or a movie.  The sounds of the waterfalls and the birds echoed in the silence of this pristine corner of the world.  Once again the clouds were hanging low enough to cover the tops of the little mountains that completely encircle our oasis on the edge of the calm sea waters.  The misty morning just adds to the mystery and majesty of the place.  Whittier was memorable for the tunnel into it and for this perfect spot to camp for the night.  

Lucky for us there was a worker preparing to mow the grass around this area and so we were able to find out that there is a free dump site and water refill just next to the cannery in town.  Since all of our levels are getting up there we decided we’d better take advantage of the opportunity and just get ‘er done.  It took a little driving around the townsite to find that sani dump but eventually our perseverance won out and we were backed in and ready to “unload”.  Lynda decided she would like to try her hand at doing the dump this time and I was happy to pass the torch!  She donned the gloves and pulled the plug on the dump hole and she was ready to go.  Pulling that sewer hose out of it’s cubby and getting it all connected to the waste pipe is a bit tricky and she’d taken her glasses off “just in case”.  But again she persevered and in the end won the battle of getting the little slots lined up with the little tabs and making sure nothing could leak out in this very shitty process.

She let the black water run till it stopped and then we dumped a full bucket of fresh water down the toilet just to make sure.  Then she stopped the black and opened the gray to continue the flushing/cleaning of the system.  Once everything had stopped running it was time to unhook those little tabs from the little slots which she did like a master.  Unfortunately this was one of those times when things hadn’t gone as they were supposed to!  She got the sewer hose half off and could see that there were still solids half in and half out.  EEEK!  She stuck that hose back on so fast nothing had a chance to spill out; and back into the RV I went with buckets of water.  We refilled both the black and the gray tanks with clear water this time and then she went through the entire process of dumping again.  This time I’m happy to report....all went as planned and we likely have the cleanest RV sewer system in Alaska!

Once our RV was clean as a whistle we decided to check out that ferry office....just in case.....  You’re not going to believe it but....yes the ferry was sold out (and is sold out until July 4th) BUT they agreed to put us on a stand by list (we were #1).  They came out to confirm that we are 20’ long and within minutes they were able to change our status from standby to confirmed.  WAHOO!  We were going to get on the ferry!!!  This really is another lucky day for us and we really like being lucky!!!  :-)

We were the last vehicle on the ferry and boy oh boy did they have us packed in there like sardines!  Vehicles went on one at a time and the ferry staff did a great job of guiding us into our teeny tiny space.  Our mirrors were all pushed in and.....Honestly there was just over an inch between the side of my overcab roofline and the steel beams of the ferry!  Our propane was turned off, our emergency brake was engaged, and we were directed up to the passenger decks where we spent the next 7 hours ogling the shoreline and the icebergs and the glaciers and the sea lions and the seals and the mist over the mountains and the snow capped mountains in the distance and....well you get the picture.  We had the best part of an Alaskan cruise on our little ferry through Prince William Sound this afternoon!  

Once we arrived in Valdez we drove off the ferry through the side of the boat.  It’s been a long time since I was on a ferry that used this method of offloading.  Once again...it was all seamless and we were on terra firma in a pretty little town that has been described as the “Switzerland of Alaska”.  Valdez is surrounded by mountains and is nestled on the edge of the sea.  It has wide streets and an air of calm welcome about it.  It is also known for having more waterfalls than anywhere else and a few of them are considered to be some of the best in the world for different reasons.  Bottom line....it’s a pretty little place.  When we could first see the massive oil storage tanks on the hills as we entered the port area I wondered what the town would be like but I must say...I’m very pleasantly surprised.

There are a few RV campgrounds right in town but they were so packed we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it...especially after last night in that perfect spot in Whittier.  So, we headed out of town (just about 5 miles) to a campground that is operated by the military but open to the public.  We’ve signed in here for two nights at $25/night and were lucky enough to get the spot closest to the washrooms and showers which are free....wahoo!

Its been another great day on the road...well....actually it was more the waterways than the roads today but it was great nonetheless AND a pretty easy way to travel all the way from Whittier to Valdez!  In fact, we were figuring out the cost of the ferry vs driving and when we take into consideration the strong likelihood that we will go over our maximum mileage that was included with our rental...I’m pretty sure this ferry was cheaper than if we’d driven the road so....I’m choosing to say that today Lynda and I lucked out and got a FREE Alaskan cruise!  Wahoo!

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?  Hopefully somewhere to do some laundry!  It is definitely time!!  LOL....till then,

L & L

June 28, 2018

Today got off to a hilarious start!  Lynda was up and out of the RV by 7:30 in search of the shower that is across the road from our parking spot.  Within 15 minutes she was back and none too happy but with a story to tell.

I will preface her story with the information that yesterday when she scoped out the showers she noted that you need a token for a 7 minute shower.  The tokens are available only from a machine that is located outside the building where the showers are.  Lynda purchased a token for each of us as the machine wore a sign saying that it occasionally runs out of tokens and she didn’t want to be the one not to get a token in the morning!

Now for her story.....she is standing in the doorway of the RV....I am still in my bed....it is not yet 8 a.m.  

Lynda:  Do you want to hear my story now?  It is a doozy!  Or you could go back to sleep and I can tell it to you later.

Me:  Now is good.

Lynda:  Are you sure...there is no rush....we can stay here another day....I can just read my book for a while.

Me:  Now is good.

Lynda:  I’m wet but its not from a shower....it’s raining outside.

Me:  mmm hmmmm

Lynda:  So, I went in to have my shower - there are two stalls.  One is handicapped and really large but I thought I’d go into the other in case someone came in who needed the larger one.  I got all my clothes off and when I went to put my token in I noticed on the machine that it said you needed two tokens for a 7 minute shower and I knew that I’d never be able to get my hair washed in 3 1/2 minutes so I put my clothes back on and went outside to the bakery across the street to buy a coffee so I could get a dollar bill to buy another token.  The token machine only takes $1 and $5 bills and I don’t need $5 worth of tokens!  I came back with my coffee and bought my 2nd token and went back into the shower stall and got undressed AGAIN and put my first token in and nothing but a trickle of cold water came out!  Nothing I did affected the pressure or the temperature of the water!  I figured it must be broken.  So, I got dressed again and went back outside and bought one more token (as I still needed two of them) and went back into the handicapped shower stall and got undressed again.  I put my first token in and once again....nothing I did affected the pressure or the temperature!  It was at this point that I decided to give up and come back here with my last token to give to you and hope that you have better luck than I.  All I got to do was pay $4 to get undressed 3 times!

Me:  Yikes!  That doesn’t sound good at all.

Lynda:  Nope, you can go back to sleep and I’m going to sit up front here and read my book and drink my coffee.

Me:  Sounds good.

15 minutes later I roll out of bed, get up, put my bed away, reinstall the table, and gather up my bag for the shower across the road.  I take the extra token Lynda brought me this morning and off I go.  There is someone else in the first shower so I take the handicapped shower, flip up the seat so there is lots of room in there, get undressed, dropped my token in, turned on the shower and voila....there was lots of water and after a few seconds it was nice and warm.  I had a great shower and only needed to use one of my two tokens.  I got dressed, came back to the RV where I told Lynda about my experience.  

She took my extra token and another dollar so she’d have two and is now back over at the shower and I’m hoping that she’s having a better experience this time!  

LOL....she’s back and I’m happy to report that she is smiling and clean AND with a left over token as she only needed one in the end.  We’ve decided that the place might not have turned on the showers/heater until after 8:00 a.m.  That’ll teach her to be an early bird in Alaska.

What an interesting day this has been.  We ended up doing the Ididaride Dog Sled tours with the Seavy family here in Seward.  Although there was stuff to learn and the scenery was gorgeous we both agree that this is NOTHING like riding a real sled with a team of five dogs pulling you across a frozen lake in Yellowknife where there is not another soul in sight.  Today we were in a wheeled sled (7 of us in total including our musher) being pulled by 14 dogs along a gravel path that led through the lush green of this coastal climate.

So the upside was that we got to see some amazing scenery, we learned that there is nothing quite like the real thing, we got to meet a movie star dog (he was in Disney’s Snow Buddies), and we helped the Iditarod teams with their summer training programs.  Another very cool element of this experience is that one of our 14 dogs thought he was a rabbit!  He was about 1/2 way back the string and he just kept hopping straight up into the air like he had springs on his feet.  It was hilarious!  As well, I love the name of this company....Ididaride is such a great play on the name of the race “Iditarod” and speaks to the activity of I did a ride.  There have been several really unique and creative names of businesses we’ve seen along this adventure.  One that comes to mind for me was called Moosquito and their logo was of a moose with a mosquito nose...very clever....the mosquitoes here are the size of small moose after all!

From Seward we headed north in the direction of Whittier where we planned to catch a ferry to Valdez.  I say planned as that is what we’ve been saying to everyone who asks....unfortunately we’ve arrived in Whittier and from what it appears....the sailing tomorrow to Valdez may already be sold out.   We’ll be able to find out for sure in the morning when their offices open again so until then we’ll remain hopeful (Lynda is way better at doing that than I am on this one tonight though).  On the upside...the drive here was unforgettable.  One of our first stops was along the highway where there was a huge pond that was completely covered with lily pads that had beautiful yellow flowers.  I was hoping to find a moose standing in the water there but alas that sight is still eluding me.  As we drove further north we began to see changes in the landscape.  We were leaving the thick coastal vegetation behind and moving into a more open type of space.  It looked like it should all be perfect for wildlife but today was not a wildlife kind of day...nothing presented itself to us.

The highlight of our trip though was when we arrived at the tunnel that would lead us into Whittier and the entrance to Prince William Sound.  This tunnel trip is a full 7 minutes inside where the walls are jagged rock and you’re driving on train tracks. We arrived just in time to line up for the 7:30 pm run into Whittier.  (Traffic is just one way in the tunnel and so runs on a specific schedule for both directions). The toll to go through the tunnel is $13 into Whittier and free going back out.  Our fingers are crossed that when we go into the harbour masters office in the morning to pay our campsite rent for tonight ($20 for the MOST gorgeous spot on the planet) the ferry office will tell us that magically there is one spot left on Friday’s ferry to Valdez but if that doesn’t happen we will get to drive the most amazing tunnel for a second time!  The Pollyanna side of me is excited by that prospect but the realist part is thinking that a 5 hour ferry ride through the most majestic scenery ever is preferable to a very long drive tomorrow.

Lynda is making a pot of Kraft dinner for our supper tonight as I get caught up on this post.  There is a very interesting bird singing and calling to his friends right outside our RV.  The sun is glistening off the snow on the mountain tops all around us and we are tucked up right next to the sea with a view of glaciers, waterfalls, and little mountains that are so close you can pretty much reach out and touch them.  We are literally stuck in Whittier (the tunnel closes at 11 pm) and it feels kind of creepy cool.  We can’t go anywhere if we wanted to which takes the control away from us but this place is so unbelievably gorgeous that somehow it’s okay to just “be” here for now.

Tomorrow will be a new day with new adventures.....

L & L

June 27, 2018

It was an interesting start to the morning today!  We got a ticket!  We actually got a ticket!  Not the kind you might be thinking....we weren’t speeding or anything....we were parked in our site for the night when we got it.  We’re not actually sure when they brought it around and put it under our windshield wiper but there it was when we went to drive out this morning.  Believe it or not but we’d already picked up the envelope to pay for our site in this tiny little state park at Anchor Point but we hadn’t gone back to the drop box to drop it in last night as it was raining miserable and cold and yes...even a little bit dark.  We just figured we could drop it off in the morning (hoping the rain would have stopped).  Well, we were wrong!  Oh well, we decided to simply tell the truth so wrote a note on the ticket and dropped it in our payment envelope along with our thanks for this pretty little site and we were on our way.  I guess if I see lights and siren in my rear view at any point today I’ll know that wasn’t good enough.  LOL!

From our campsite we continued west for another couple of miles to the westerly most point a vehicle can drive on the North American continent where we got out just long enough for a quick photo.  It is COLD here!  So cold that we had to put the heater on in the RV this morning for a few minutes as we were both shivering and couldn’t get warm.  A big part of the reason for the chill is the dampness here on the coast.  Cold, damp, and windy....a recipe for freezing your ass off!

As we continued our journey north toward Cooper Landing, where we’d veer southward again toward Seward, we spied another moose in the ditch on the side of the highway headed in our same direction.  He was all alone and a BIG fella.  Still haven’t seen one with antlers yet though.  A few minutes later there were about 10 bald eagles putting on a show for us.  There were also a couple dozen seagulls but we weren’t nearly as interested in their show.  The eagles were dancing with one another in the air right in front of our windshield and it was an impressive sight.  They were moving in our same direction and we were moving slowly so we got to enjoy their performance for several seconds.  Lucky!  Lucky! Lucky!

It had been a couple hours since leaving Anchor Point and our tummies were rumbling so we took advantage of the fact that we have this RV, pulled over to the side of the highway (in a pull out of course) and whipped up a couple sandwiches and a cup of tea.  Yep....this is the life.  This is where we’re sitting now...just finished a delicious lunch and enjoying tea and a chocolate covered cookie.  Hi Ho....there’s another bald eagle just overhead come to say hello.  In fact his screaming call gave us both a bit of a start!  

Going to enjoy the rest of my tea before it gets cold and then hit the road for Seward, another little end of the road place, where I’m sure we’ll find some new adventure waiting for us.

I’m back.....

We got the best site for the night here in Seward!  It is right downtown in a parking lot/campground.  Well....it’s just a parking lot but you’re allowed to park here for up to 3 days at $10/day which is the best price (other than free) that we’ve found anywhere.  As well, Seward has a free shuttle that runs around the town that you can access as you’d like.  And...there is a nice big water refill/dump station that we’ll be able to access for $5 before we leave town.

But perhaps the best news of all is that there is a dog sled deal here that we’re going to check into tomorrow!  It is dogs who actually are used for the Iditarod and during the summer season part of their training is pulling tourists around on sleds that have wheels.  Wahoo!  Could be a fun thing to do...tomorrow will tell the tale about whether it is meant to be or not.

We wandered around the part of town that we’re parked in tonight and found a restaurant that wasn’t too expensive - lots of them are as this whole Kenai Peninsula is a pretty touristy part of Alaska!  I went for a fresh seafood pasta (salmon, halibut, and shrimp) because...remember....I made a commitment to eat seafood every day that I’m here.  Not sure that I’ll make it but I’m giving it a shot.  LOL. Lynda decided to change things up a bit and she opted for the wild game slider (a mixture of reindeer, elk, and venison) with a side of tempura mushrooms.  Needless to say we’re both now full but of course have just enough room left for a little coffee and Baileys so we’re back in the RV with the kettle boiling and the coffee maker at the ready with the bottle of Baileys in the middle of the table.  My kind of dessert!  :-)

It will be an evening of cards and coffee as we settle into our parking lot that has a view of the sea and the mountains across the water.  So for now....night night.

L & L

June 26, 2018

The drive down to the bottom of the peninsula today was beautiful and looks so much like home it was kind of like déjà vu for much of today.  The Kenai River (the one that we were camped beside last night in Cooper Landing) is the most beautiful colour of green and the road followed it for the first hour....gorgeous!  Today is the first day of fishing season (salmon I think) and so the fishermen were coming in from far and wide to try their luck.  In fact the campground that we stayed in last night is fully booked starting tonight - we got in and out of there in the nick of time!  As we were driving along the river we could occasionally catch a glimpse of the fishermen all standing hip deep in the water.  There were some spots where we could see at least 20 people in a cluster!

We also noticed a fair bit of Russian influence in this region.  For example one of the rivers is called the Kasilof River and many of the little towns have Russian names too.  One of those little towns, Nikolaevsk (pop 312), lives a very traditional lifestyle, the people wear traditional clothes, have Russian as their first language, and where the men do not shave as dictated by the Church.  We didn’t go right into this tiny hamlet as it is off the main road and not really geared up for tourism but signs of Russian influence in the region are obvious.  

Today we also got lucky on the animal front as we spied a massive mama moose and her two (yes....two) babies.  Those babies couldn’t have been very old at all...they were still so tiny!  The three of them were right at the edge of the road so we got to have a really good look at them and they at us.  They were all pretty shy tho and so mom had them turned around and away from the highway before I could even get my camera out!

Next stop was the end of the road.....When we rolled onto the spit in Homer we could have been in Steveston!  It is a very quaint area with loads of tourists.  RV’s and cars and busses and even a cruise ship were packed onto (or pulled up to) the spit.  The buildings were all brightly painted in different colours and the whole place had a very festive air about it.

We worked up an appetite for some fantastic seafood while wandering through the many crowded little shops and then were lucky enough to get Jill as our server at Captain Pattie’s.  Jill has been a resident here for the past 2 1/2 years having moved from Los Angeles.  What a change that must have been!  But she followed her heart (or at least her husbands heart) and so here she is now living a happy albeit much simpler life in Homer.  We had to chuckle as when Jill first came to our table in Captain Pattie’s she asked, “where are you from?”  We replied that we were from British Columbia.  Immediately Jill came back with, “I’m sorry for our president!”  This is not the first time we’ve had that comment when we told someone where we are from....Matt (worked for the Denali Air company and the guy we got our ticket from) said exactly the same thing in exactly the same under his breath kind of way.  It must be so hard for people living in the US, regardless of their politics, watching the way Trump is representing them on the world stage.  But enough about that....back to the adventure at hand.....

After our massive meals of a wide array of seafood we drove back up off the spit and into the downtown business district of Homer.  It too is small but there appears to be enough variety to satisfy the residents need.  Initially we’d planned to find a spot to camp in town but in truth we didn’t need to hook up anywhere and the parking lots didn’t look all that inviting right on the side of busy roads so we decided to begin the journey north a little earlier than planned and look for a spot along the way.  

We were only about ten miles up the road when we noticed something round and hairy on the side of the highway ahead of us.  As we got a little closer we could see that it was waddling up the road in our same direction.  Once we were close enough to be able to confirm it’s identity we’re happy to report that we’ve both now seen our first ever porcupine!  And then just a minute or so later there were the same three moose we’d seen earlier in the day.  This time the mamma and her two babies were on the other side of the highway and about 20 feet away down in a ditch whereas earlier they’d been right on the shoulder - a very dangerous spot!  Once we were finished with oohing and aahing about our good luck with animals we refocused on the task at hand.  It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot so here we are next to the Anchor river where we are the only vehicle.  This little river (not much bigger than a large creek) is located in Anchor Point aptly given its name because Captain Cook actually lost an anchor when he was here all those years ago.  I’m not sure how they know that or if someone found it but...that’s the story anyway.  

We’re really happy to be here as this is where we’ll be able to access the western most point of land that can be accessed by a car in all of North America.  So....that will be on our agenda after breakfast tomorrow.  :-)

Till then.....

L & L

June 25, 2018

It was a chilly one last night!  So cold that Lynda just told me there was a thin crust of ice on the top of her bowl of water in the bathroom!  (Just kidding-its not quite that cold). But it is definitely the coolest night we’ve had to date.  Lynda has a massive comforter and a fleece up on her bed above the cab with her.  I just have a little fleece and in truth I thought about getting up to find my comforter in the middle of the night but decided against it when I stuck my leg out and discovered just how cold it was out there!  Certainly we could have turned on the heater and all that good stuff but honestly....it’s not cold enough to do that and we are camping after all.  :-). But the really funny bit of this story came to light this morning when Lynda discovered that when she added her fleece jacket to her wardrobe in the night time she actually put it on inside out up there in her bed.  She couldn’t figure out why the pull on her zipper was so difficult to do.  It was this morning that she realized the reason was that the whole jacket was on inside out and that included the zipper.  No wonder she’d had to struggle to get her arms into the holes!  She is getting to be quite the contortionist in this trip though....for example this morning while she was giving me privacy in the main part of the camper by staying up in her bed a few minutes longer she managed to take off her pyjama bottoms and don both her underwear and jeans!  This may not sound like a big deal to you but when you think about the fact that she cannot even come close to sitting up up in her bed....it gets a whole bunch more impressive doesn’t it?!

We’ve got the kettle working away on the stove and I think scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes, and a piece of bread with peanut butter are on the menu this morning.  It has to be bread as we can’t use the toaster when we’re not plugged in but that’s okay....we are camping....remember.  :-)

Soon we’ll be headed for Anchorage (only about 1/2 hour away) where we’ll spend some time today before heading further south into the Kenai Pensinsula.  

I had planned to put this away till much later in the day but have just kicked off my day with Baileys in my coffee and a little p.b. and honey on bread as an appetizer to the main that will follow.  That honey was amazing!  It is Alaskan raw wildflower honey and interestingly it has a distinct cinnamon flavour to it.  Not because there is anything added...just due to the type of flowers that grow wild here.

Something else that I just noticed is that the picnic table right behind our RV has one side of it chewed off much like a horse would do to the top of a fence but there are no horses here which tells me that moose must like to chew wooden things too.  At first I thought he must have done it last night but Lynda assures me that it was already that way when we arrived.  However, she says, the grizzly that came round in the night might have knocked over the tree beside it....hahaha....made me look!  :-). 

Speaking of trees I’m looking out the window in front of me at a cluster of white birch.  Too bad they already have their leaves or we could have made our own syrup today.  :-). 

OMG!  I just looked out the back window again and there is a little squirrel on our picnic table licking the top of it.  What he might be licking off there is beyond me although it is possible that there might be some dew still on it from the night and he might be thirsty...clever fellow!

Lynda just commented, “You’d think we’d been doing this for years!”  And she is right.  We’re quickly becoming a well oiled machine.  We have a system to catch our grey water in a bucket to dump outside (as our grey tank fills more quickly that our water is depleted), I can put up and take down the table/bed pretty efficiently if I do say so myself, we each have our own sink to use, the meals we’re making are delicious, we get extra natural light by leaving the bathroom door open (there is a huge skylight in there), we’ve discovered little places for everything to sit so it’s still handy but not in the way, and we can batton down the hatches very quickly when it is time to hit the road again.  Yep....we’re pretty much professional RV’ers already.  :-)

And now it really is time for breakfast....so till later.....

We’ve just parked for the night....it is getting very near 10 p.m.  This never ending daylight business is GREAT!  No worries about what time we finish driving for the day.....we really just get to go as long as we want and pull in when we want.  I’ve said more than once in the past several days.....”I could get used to all this daylight!”

We’ll be spending the night in Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula.  It is a tiny little place and we’ve tucked into a spot with a bunch of other RV’s at the Kenai River Campground.  Reasonable price, water, power, and supposedly a place we can dump before we leave tomorrow.  It was so funny when we pulled in!  There is a group of three men enjoying a beer at a picnic table just across from the spot we decided looked like a good one for us to pull in to.  It is in between two other RV’s and you back into the space.  All the guys were watching and you could totally imagine their conversation as they snickered behind their beers looking like they expected me to have to go back and forth several times before I got it backed in there perfectly.  Lady Luck was on my side and Lynda’s directions were flawless so we wheeled our baby in there like the pros that we have become.  :-). Driving into and around Anchorage this morning and backing into a parking space in the downtown area there pretty much moved us into the expert category in the driving an RV department!

Speaking of Anchorage....another beautiful downtown (as was Fairbanks).  Population in Anchorage is almost 300,000 which makes it the largest city and home to almost 1/2 of all Alaskans.  There was a huge earthquake here in 1964 (9.2 on the Richter scale I think it was) and that quake pretty much destroyed much of the city.  In fact it split the city along 4th avenue and changed the drop to the water dramatically.  Where 4th Ave used to be level and run gently into the water....it now has a drop of at least 40 feet to get to the waterfront!  One of the activities we did today was to hop onto the tram tour (1 hr long) which took us past many sites.  One site was where the undulating ground from that quake was frozen in time as the blue clay soil solidified in the midst of rolling.  Some of the solid “waves” are as much as 9 feet high!  That was a super interesting thing to be able to see.  Another super interesting thing to see was the small plane airport.  Did you know that 50% of all of America’s small engine planes call this air field home?  There are actually two parts to this site.....one is for land planes and the other for sea.  Perhaps even more amazing is that the small planes at this field account for 10% of the small planes in the entire world!  I’m struggling to believe that stat but....heh....if the tour guide said it it must be true right?!  :-). One thing that I do believe about this airport is that the runway actually crosses the road!  This I know because I saw it with my own eyes.  We had a stop sign and the runway had a gate across it.  When the run way is open the gate closes the road.  Other things we learned today is that the blossoms on the flowers in the gardens here are 30% larger than other places due to the additional daylight they’re exposed to.  This fact I do believe as we saw the flowers and they’re amazing....really amazing!  Traditionally the first people here would build their homes underground to keep them insulated.  We got to see one modern home that has followed their lead (just from the road though).  Originally it was just a 2 bedroom apartment but now it is a 2800 square foot home that goes down 3 stories.  I can only imagine how interesting it would be to see the inside of it.  Supposedly it cost about a million $ to build but they estimate that they will save so much on heating (their most expensive month is $65 for heat) that they will recover enough to make the original cost worth while.  Their walls are 3’ thick concrete for added insulation and to keep the temperatures constant.  Other homes in the city cost about $450K on average and they are more than 3 times as expensive to heat so although it will take a lot of months to make up the difference through heating costs alone....it just makes sense for so many reasons.

In addition to learning so many things today we also saw a couple of really cool things.  One was the “whaling wall”.  This is a massive mural that has several whales painted on it.  Each of the whales on the wall is actually life size!  It is incredibly beautiful and impressive.  We also attended a movie at the Performing Arts Centre.  It was called The Aurora and was a compilation of almost 40 years of work of an Alaskan photographer.  It too was beautiful and impressive!

For dinner tonight we hit a very well known place called Humpys where I had some Alaskan King Crab and Lynda opted for Halibut.  We’re in seafood heaven now so have committed to “overdo” it on that front.  :-). We also hit a very famous little shop called the Kobuk.  It is filled with a million gifty things to buy and in the back they sell what is said to be the best donuts in all of Alaska and maybe even the world.  So of course we had to buy a couple.  We haven’t tried them but perhaps with coffee tonight.

Leaving the city was a tiny bit of a challenge as we ended up on the wrong Avenue heading out of town so we had to loop back up to get on the right one.  Once we did that we had to guess which way to turn....and of course we guessed correctly.  :-). From there we hit the #1 South and stayed on there surrounded by mountains and inlets from the sea.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  Other sections had no sign of the sea....just green green green fields and hills.  Really pretty country.  Much of the time we commented that we could easily be driving along the Hope Princeton or on the Sea to Sky up to Whistler.  

Well, coffee is on and donuts are calling so will sign off for now.  Night night.....

L & L

June 24, 2018

We’ve lucked out again with a little state park just outside of Wasilla tonight.  $20 and we are the only campers in our section of 6 sites so it feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere and all on our own.  Seriously considered the parking lot in Fred Myers as we came through Wasilla but this is a way better option!  The kettle is bubbling away and tea will be ready in a few minutes.

The drive down from Denali today didn’t even begin until noon as we took advantage of our late check out to sleep in and have lengthy showers this morning.  Although there was no rain today the cloud cover was still pretty low and so no sign of Denali’s peak again today.  This makes us even more grateful for having decided to catch the plane back from the lodge yesterday afternoon as that was the only chance to have seen the bit of the peak that we did catch a glimpse of as well as that face of the glacier that neither of us will ever forget!  

First stop this afternoon was at a little roadside diner for some fresh meat pies that were piping hot and delicious.  Each one was made to order and the place was packed for good reason.  For a minute I had a creepy thought that was Sweeney Todd’esque but that passed as I hadn’t seen any barber shops or the like for many many miles.  Once our hunger had been sated and we’d picked up another great little tourist booklet about the region we were off and heading south once more.  

Next real stop was at the Kahiltna Birch Works Syrup manufacturer.  They are the largest producer of Birch Syrup in the world and it was a great stop!  We got to learn about the process of tapping and making the syrup as well as getting to taste all of the different runs.  The tapping season only lasts for 3 weeks in early spring (as long as the sap is running and until the leaves are out).  From there the sap is put into a reverse osmosis machine to reduce the amount of water that is in the sap and once it hits about 40% sugar left they put it into the boiler and reduce it down until it is 67% sugar because at that point it is syrup.  Birch sap differs from maple sap in that it is only 10% sugar at tapping whereas the maple is about 40% sugar right from the tree.  It also differs in that maple sugars are sucrose and birch is fructose so for those of you who are into understanding the different kinds of sugars....it is believed that fructose is easier for our bodies to process.  We also learned during our tastings that the syrup made from the first run of the sap each season is lightest in colour and in flavour too.  By the time the final runs are being processed into syrup they are as dark as molasses and taste almost as strong as molasses too.  The most popular product Kahiltna sells is a blend that while very delicious couldn’t touch the first run in my opinion.  That first run batch from 2018 has an amazing buttery flavour and is downright gluggable!

From Kahiltna we went another 10 miles to the end of the spur road we were on that paralleled the Parks Highway.  At the end of that road we reached the little town of Talkeetna.  This bustling little place is quite touristy and is the jumping off point for climbers bound for Denali.  We thought about climbing Denali, but just for a minute as we then realized we’d already seen that glacier up close the day before and we’d taken a much easier route!  LOL.  We wandered the Main Street of this bustling town and located a pub where I opted for the halibut and Lynda for the salmon.  Both were delicious and then we walked our dinner off with a little wander down to the river’s edge in the hope that Denali would peek out at us from behind her cloud cover.  But alas...she was still in hiding.  Perhaps we’ll see her from Anchorage in all her fullness tomorrow.  :-)

With these long days (it is 10:30 as I type this and it is total daylight) there is never any rush to get to a site to set up for the night so we just take our time and check out all the little towns we go through.  One thing that we have noticed in all these towns is that we must be in the Bible Belt of Alaska as there is a different church on every corner in every town.  We also take our time to watch for wildlife along all the roads and today we were rewarded with another adult moose just behind some small trees at the edge of the highway.  There continue to be highway signs warning us to be diligent in watching for moose so we do.  We stopped and got gas again and continue to be consistent with our usage.  We fill up about every 300 km and the cost is always about $25CAD when we’re in the states or $30CAD when we’re in Canada to travel 100 km.  This RV business isn’t cheap but it is kind of nice to always have your bed and bathroom with you.  :-)

I’m about ready for my second coffee and baileys and Lynda has about finished a pot of tea.  She’s already in her p.j.’s and got her nose in a book which looks pretty appealing to me so.....till next time.....

L & L

June 23, 2018

Gotta start this days post off with a big “happy birthday from the land of the midnight sun mom!”

And now for today’s update......you know those times when you can’t decide if you’re more exhausted or excited?  Well, that was us this afternoon when we got back from our Denali Backcountry Adventures adventure.

It had been an early start....a VERY early start when the alarm cock rang in the RV at 4:30 this morning ....and it had been a VERY short night in the Denali Bluffs parking lot that we’d called home for the night.  But heh....we were excited about what the day had to offer and so we crawled out of our respective beds and readied ourselves for the day ahead.  We had to hoof it up the hill to the Bluffs lobby but remember....it never gets dark here so 5 a.m. is kind of like midday.  By the time we’d finished our early morning breakfast in the Bluffs cafe (yes, they’re open this early in the morning) we were both ready to crawl back into bed but the bus was about to arrive and so we sucked it up and gave our “excited” button another charge.

Mikey was our bus driver and Lynda and I were lucky enough to get the seats right at the front of the bus.  We were very grateful to each have gotten our own seat as the seats on this bus are small and that wheel well is in the wrong place to be able to put your feet anywhere and the wall in front of your knees is close but heh....we could see out of the windshield and that to me was more important than anything!  That meant I was less likely to feel car sick for the entire 13 hours AND that we’d get to see whatever animals we found right from the front of the bus.  Wahoo!  There were 35 people on the bus....way more than we’re used to travelling with!

You have to be on a bus to be allowed to drive very far into the park.  This helps on many fronts but most importantly....it helps to keep the park (and it’s inhabitants) safe’ish from humans.  People can hike (and camp) in the park but they have to have a permit and so anyone who goes to that much trouble to get in there is less likely to leave their footprint behind.  Bus drivers are tasked with policing their guests about not having any food outside the bus etc.  Having said that....at our first rest stop one of the bus drivers wasn’t policing her people at all....she was giving them cookies to have with their drink right out in the parking lot!  Our driver actually had to go and say something to her (he is supposed to report her).  She apologized and said she didn’t know which makes no sense at all as even we were aware of the care and attention paid to not disturbing the natural habitat and even crumbs of human food waste can cause wild animals to be affected in a negative way.  But back to the trip.....that would take us to the end of the road....92 miles deep into Denali Park.

Denali used to be called Mt McKinley and that name was changed back in the early 80’s to the original name that had been given the mountain by the First Nations people who have lived in this area for 7500+ years.  Denali is the only mountain named just Denali (no Mount in front of it) and it is recognized as being one of the tallest mountains in the world.  There are four ways mountains are measured (I cannot remember what they are) and Denali is one of them.

Within minutes of being on the bus and even before we were inside the park gates we spotted our first moose.  It was actually two moose - a cow and a calf that was likely just one month old.  The only thing that could have made this any better would have been if they were standing in a shallow pond munching on reeds and grasses as seeing that image IRL is on my bucket list.   It wasn’t long before we came across moose number two.  This young female was even closer than the first two.  She was standing right on the side of the road alone (literally just 2 meters from our bus) chowing down on the leaves of small trees.  She was old enough to have a calf but she was alone which meant that either her calf was hiding somewhere we couldn’t see close by or that she’d lost her calf already this spring (a very common reality as wolf and bear are always on the look out for young calves at this time of year).  Next was a den of foxes on the hillside near the road (far enough that you could see them with the naked eye but where binoculars really made seeing them that much more fun). The kits were playing and tumbling around outside their den while mom looked on protectively.  Then there was a young bull moose in the bushes off to our left and then not too long after a male grizzly right on the road in front of us.  He was impressive enough to see up close like this but when someone on our bus spied 3 more bear just off to our left it got a whole bunch more interesting!  The three off to our left was a sow (female) and her two cubs (likely born last year from the look of their size).  It is currently mating season and so the boars (males) are constantly in search of a female.  The problem comes when females still have cubs with them as they will NOT mate if they do.  The result is that the male will kill the cubs to be able to mate with the female but the female will defend her cubs soooo it can get very very ugly!  This female had her cubs right beside her and was constantly standing up to check on the exact whereabouts of this male who was in her “area”.  This was one of those times when it might have been a very good thing that there are humans in this park as the bus in front of us was causing the boar to keep moving forward down the road (unintentionally for sure as they are VERY intentional about not interfering with wildlife in the park and it is highly doubtful that they would even be aware of the sow and cubs off to our left). In the end the male moved on and the other three could breathe easier. There were two small and one very large herds of caribou off to our left and then there was another fox den with kits playing outside for us to enjoy.  Next there was another lone fox right on the road who even posed for our cameras before he made himself scarce on the hillside beside us.  There were a couple of snow hares (rabbits) and too many to count ground squirrels.  We saw eagles and ravens and flora and fauna and geologic phenomena at every turn.  All of the broad valleys in Denali were carved out by glaciers and there are little kettle lakes dotting the surface of these valleys as there are still chunks of glacial ice under there melting and creating these perfect “little” puddle-like lakes.  The valleys are also riddled with braided rivers that wind their way through the millions of tons of gravel deposits left in the glaciers wake.  There were plenty of planned rest stops and so the 6 hour trip in to the lodge (where we’d stop for lunch) went pretty quickly until the last hour or so....that last hour was LONG!  During lunch Matt came in to talk to us all about another option we could consider....Denali Air Taxi was available to take anyone who wanted to fly back with them (for a fee of course).  I was immediately interested in finding out more....Lynda not so much but with just a few minutes to think about it she was game to listen too.  In the end we were able to cut a deal with Matt for a 2 for 1 fare (ssshhhhh - don’t tell anybody) and so as we waved goodbye to Mikey and the 33 guests he had left on his bus we hopped aboard a van for the ride up to the airstrip.  We’d be flying back with a family of 3 who’d come up on an earlier bus and our pilot for the one hour flight would be Chris.  The six of us climbed aboard this tiny plane (I got to be co-pilot and it was packed by the time we were all in there!) and we were off.  The first thing Chris pointed out was a wooded area that contains nothing much more than “moose and mosquitos”.  He said there are so many mosquitos there that on average a moose will lose one quart (about a litre) of blood every day to mosquitos!  I believe it!  There were soooo many mosquitos at the lodge that I can imagine it would become unbearable before you learned to live with it.  We hadn’t been able to see much of Denali at all on the way into the lodge due to low clouds and mist but boy oh boy...did we get a show on the way back out!  In fact, Chris was able to take us right up to the north face of the main glacier that makes its home on the side of Denali.  At that point we were at about 6600 feet and up close and personal with a wall of white!  It was AMAZING!  We also saw another 35 mile long glacier from the air.  This one is on the valley floor and is black in colour!  We could clearly see all the valleys that the glaciers had carved out over the millennia and the residual lakes too.  We felt like we could almost reach out and touch some of the mountaintops we were so close and so we kept an eye out for dal sheep along the way too but it was the scenery that took our breath away.  The trip into the park had been about the animals and the trip out was about the topography.  At two different times we were literally over a rainbow!  There were two other planes in the air at the same time as us and so we were also able to see them flying about in our same vicinity as well.

We made it back to our hotel lobby before 5 pm....a little more than 3 hours ahead of the scheduled arrival of our bus AND we’d had the best adventure ever!  In fact we’d checked into our room, had dinner and a couple of drinks and still our bus wasn’t back.  To make this story that much sweeter...I was out of the shower and in my p.j.’s by 7:20....and still our bus wasn’t back!  Yep....it was a good decision for the experience of it and it was a good decision for the timelines too!

It’s now almost midnight....I’ve slept for a few hours as I literally fell into bed as soon as I got out of the shower and when I woke up a little bit ago figured I’d better get this memory captured as there will be more adventures to report on tomorrow.  As well, I wanted to take advantage of the rarely available wifi while we have it!  :-)

Till next time,

L & L

June 22, 2018

Today has been the first rain that we’ve seen on our trip thus far and we are thanking our lucky stars because originally (before we left home) we had planned to make this (the 22nd) the date that we booked our tour into Denali Park.  But....as luck would have it we figured that might be cutting it a bit tight on the solstice activities (whatever they might be) and that we’d make it for the 23rd instead.  Are we ever glad we did!  It would have been such a disappointment to have paid for a huge tour and a room in Denali if it were raining the entire time.

As a result of this rainy day we’ve spent the first half of it in the WalMart parking lot (yes, we decided to move last night ...or should I say this morning) rather than be the only vehicle looking like it was camped in the parking lot at the ball park.  We’re very grateful to have the motor home as we’re still in our p.j.’s and sipping on endless coffee (and some of it might even have a little Bailey’s in it). We don’t have to be in Denali (hotel parking lot) until 5:30 a.m. so we can just take our time checking out a little more of Fairbanks and whatever we find between here and Denali Lodge.

We’re considering finding an RV campground nearby where we can just use their shower (and maybe their laundry facilities) this afternoon too.

Lynda has just gone into our bathroom to get dressed while I type this up and I have to tell you that while she was in there the bathroom door opened and out shot her leg and then an arm and then she said, “I’m just practicing my can-can for when I come back to Dawson and need a job”.  LOL - OMG!!  I can see it all now.....she will be the one that can just let her perky bits show but keep her saggy bits under cover.  LOL

The rain has now stopped completely and the skies are starting to have some beautiful blue sections peeking out again.  Fingers are crossed that this trend continues and that Lady Luck stays on our side as we head into Denali....and we want to get there before dark for sure!  LOL (it never gets dark here)

Lynda has just read the MilePost and there is tons for us to see/do today so we’re going to forfeit the shower/laundry idea and just wait another day to get clean’ish.  It’s been so long now...what’s another day of pretending we’re settlers from a hundred years ago where the opportunity to wash your hair was limited.  

Lynda’s just gone into WalMart to grab something and I’m seriously thinking about moving....just a couple of stalls over so when she comes back she won’t be able to tell which RV is us.  See what happens when you have no wifi or cell service (I tried to get cell service today but without any luck)....you get really creative in entertaining yourself.  LOL. 

The other thing I should mention here is that the WalMart parking lot in Fairbanks has at least 100 round yellow posts with four plugs on each.  I’m pretty sure these are for locals in the winter who need to plug in their car but now in the summer........they’re sure great for RV’s!

Better run and get ready to roll....till later.....

L & L

We’re back.....parked in the lower parking lot of a fancy hotel here in Denali Park for the night.  We’ve decided we are just going to squat right here in the parking lot and keep our fingers crossed that no one says anything to us.  We’ll be taking a 13 hour tour into Denali from the lobby here tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. and we’re booked to stay at the lodge here tomorrow night after we get back from our tour soooo we feel kind of justified to crash here tonight....at least that’s the way I’m choosing to see it.  :-)

We had a bit of a damp drive down from Fairbanks today ....the first rain we’ve had so can’t really complain and even though there was a bit of rain there was just as much sun and blue sky.  We stopped for a late lunch at a place just north of Nenana, a little town (population 500) that gets its name from the Athabaskan first people and it means “a great place to camp between the rivers”.  It was a great place to stop for lunch too!  Monderosa (the name of the restaurant) is said to have the best burgers in Alaska and they were pretty damn good alright!  Massive but really good.  Afterward we went into the little town where our first stop was at the Info Centre that is run by a local family.  The mom and her four boys (all under age 6) were “working” today.  The boys had matching yellow aprons and hats and ran a lemonade stand out front and mom ran the info centre/gift shop.  The building has a grass roof and is one of the original buildings from the area.  The main industry in Nenana is the train...in fact the train tracks almost completely circle the town.  The train doesn’t stop there unless someone flags it down but historically this location was key for the industry.  The other claim to fame in this little place is a competition called the Ice Classic.  A tri-pod is placed on the ice in the river and everyone from far and wide places bets as to the exact time that tri-pod will fall through the ice officially ending winter and signalling the start of ‘break-up’.  A trip wire runs from the tri-pod on the ice to the watch tower on land.  That wire is attached to a clock.  This is how they can know the exact time the tri-pod goes down....its a very competitive event and locals spend months researching past dates and climate conditions in their attempt to predict the current year’s date and time and win the lottery.  We also took advantage of the RV campground in Nenana so were able to get a shower and do a load of laundry.  It was a super nice campground with great services....if we weren’t needing to be in Denali by 6 a.m. we might have stayed the night there.  Our final stop in Nenana before heading back to the highway was at the First Episcopal church which is one of the oldest churches in the region and that is left open for anyone to visit 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year.  It has a gorgeous red door at the end of a shrub lined stone walkway and as promised...that door was unlocked.  Inside we found hand hewn benches and on the alter at the front there was a beautiful white hide fringed blanket that was decorated in traditional native beadwork.  The stained glass window behind the alter added to the simple beauty of the single room building.  All in all....Nenana was a good place to camp between the rivers back in the day of the first people and still today it is a good place to stop.

We’d hoped to see some more wildlife between Fairbanks and here (heading south toward Anchorage) but no luck on that front.  Tomorrow will be a better day for seeing animals!  In fact, our RV is parked atop two massive mounds of moose poop pellets....a good sign I’m thinking.  :-)

Till next time,

 L & L