Wednesday, October 16, 2013

We're Home

Well we’re finally home from the Alaskan trip after 4 ½ months. We drove 9,630 miles with the motorhome and 2,740 miles with the car. This included seeing our daughter Michelle and her family near Seattle and our son and his family in Sacramento. It also included staying on our boat in Brisbane, CA for several weeks. Following that we then headed north, yes north as that is not a typo, to the Dry Creek area for some wine tasting. We meet our friends the Sloans from Sun Lakes there and had a great time. Then we went back to Sacramento before heading south to Semi Valley there we had dinner with Ruth Jacob (or son in laws mother) and her other son Todd. Then we headed east to Quartzsite, AZ and then to Sun Lakes.

We had talked about driving to Alaska for several years. Then we bought another rig and it was just too nice for those roads. But in the end insanity won out and we headed up north to cross this one and only trip to Alaska off of our Bucket List.

But somewhere around Fairbanks we began to realize that we were on a very exciting and unique adventure and first one of us and then the other said “We could come back a second time!” and we may just do exactly that! After all we now know what we missed on the first trip.

Although we saw some very exciting and beautiful parts of Alaska we were confined to a very small portion by the roads. You can’t even drive to Juneau the capital of Alaska. You can take a ferry, boat, canoe or airplane but you can’t drive there. You could probably take a sled dog team there and in fact this is another way to reach much of this far North Country. I’d love to take a sled dog team for perhaps a mile in the winter but I’ll leave the 1,000 mile Iditarod Trail to the professionals.

Northern Canada is even more remote. In Yukon with a population of 36,000 and 186,272 square miles you can meet one person every 5 square miles – how’s that for a big front yard?

We didn’t see huge numbers of animals just like we read – go to Yellowstone for that experience. But the ones we saw were wild and on their turf – moose, beaver, horses, bears, elk and more. At Deep Creek Beach we watched eagles soar for hours. Also saw a few “wild” Alaskans but everyone we meet was friendly! One of the things an Alaskan woman will tell you is that in the smaller areas there are about 8 males to one woman. So your odds are good at meeting someone…but the goods are odd!

One of the most interesting animals was the Wood Bison which was actually in an enclosed fence. This is a huge massive animal (the largest living animal in North America)  and there is no question that if they wanted to go through the fence they could. These animals which weigh up to 2,200 pounds are unique to the far north with five historical grazing areas in Alaska. They are well adapted to the cold harsh environment and survive where the pains bison would perish. They were believed to be extinct before some were found in Canada. In about 2002 Canada sent thirteen of these animals to the Alaskan Wild Life Conservation Center south of Anchorage. The herd has grown to about 150 animals and are to the point where they can begin to survive on their own. The release of the animals to their native grazing areas is set to begin in 2014. What a great success story.

There is just so much to see, hear and experience in Canada and Alaska.

Well that’s our trip and we’re going back! Below are maps showing the stops on our trip. Stop 13 on the map is Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaskan Highway, stop 21 is Delta Junction the end of the Alaskan Highway. Some other stops: Fairbanks – 22, Denali – 23, Talkeetna – 24, Portage Valley on the road to Whitter – 26, Seward – 27, Homer – 30, Valdez – 38, Tok – 41, Haines – 44, Skagway – 45 and Hyder – 48.

Our Overall Route


The Alaskan Highway Including SE Alaska


Fairbanks, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula




Thursday, September 12, 2013

Prince George to Brisbane


We had a good 2 lane road from Prince George, an arid almost desert area, south and we did not do any special sightseeing beyond what passed our windows.  We should have stopped in Clinton, which had a Trading Post that looked like it had been in business for many decades, for the night but went on to Cache Creek.  It was just basically a stopover. The road from there took us through the Frazier and Thompson River canyons which were spectacular deep canyons cut out by the wide, swift rivers.  The drive was a little slower through the canyons and generally overlooked the train rails which ran on both sides of the rivers. This area became mountains, forests and dramatic.

Throughout Canada diesel fuel prices were about 10-15 cents less per liter than regular gasoline. Fuel is expensive in Canada and we paid $5.77/gallon at one location on the Alaskan Highway. We observed prices as high as $6.50/gallon at small operators so it pays to manage your fuel purchases.

The general advice is to keep your tank above half full and to have cash in case the internet is down. This is good advice for some roads but we had no problems finding fuel and used our 5% cash back credit card. However, in late August travel was down on the Alaskan Highway and a number of small operators were closed for the season.

Crossing the border into Washington we were asked about fruits and vegetables but the agent did not want to see what we had. Sometimes they want to look at the labels to see what country the produce was grown. One time the US took 5 tomatoes while I ate the sixth and we cut off the tops of the green onions which they kept. That agent said they had just gotten this regulation.

The border agents are looking for suspicious behavior, etc. and we apparently pass the test. The procedure: Hats off, hand them the passports, answer their questions and don’t volunteer any information. In all of our crossings, we have had two agents come inside and look in the refrigerator including the tomato agent. At the crossing north of Skagway the Canadian agent came just inside so she could see both of us.

One time, coming off of the ferry in Victoria, I was waved through in the motor home with just the standard "any alcohol?" and "any firearms?". But Diane, in the car, didn't fare so well. He couldn't understand why she didn't have any reservations or any luggage in the car for a 3 week stay. He couldn't seem to grasp the concept of "my husband is up the road with our motor home."  So after 30 minutes it apparently dawned on him what this suspicious lady was doing and she was allowed to go through. 

In Washington we stopped at Lynden but didn’t do any sightseeing. We will go back to this town which is a cross of Scandanavian and German.  ( A mini Solvang, CA)  Then on to the Anacortes casino and we did take the car to the town of Anacortes, Oak Harbor and La Conner. La Conner is a small cute tourist town that was fun to walk around. Anacortes is a major port for the San Juan Islands with 5 ferries running various routes.

We stopped at our daughter"s home in Carnation, Washington and took this picture of the grandkids picking blackberries in their PJs. They love driving the tractor.

Came across this guy at a rest stop. He certainly has a lot of "stuff"!

The next stop was Hillsboro, OR to see friends. Then north a few miles over the Columbia River to Vancouver to have the car tow system checked and a new auxiliary braking system installed in the car. Then down to Junction City Oregon to have an update made to the satellite system plus two new tires for the motor home.  Ouch!

We drove to Canyonville for the next nights' stay at 7 Feathers Casino. We passed on gambling but did go to the buffet. The trip continued with this great view of Mt Shasta in northern California.

Then we continued on to Redding and then Sacramento to see our son’s family. Here are the kids all nice and clean for soccer pictures.

Next we headed for the boat at Brisbane, California. On the way we crossed the bay bridge which has a new eastern span that just opened. So after a 30 minute wait for the toll booth we were driving across the new span seen below. The suspension portion is a single tower as you can see. It’s still new, clean and white and looks nice. We’re not sure that it was worth the 3x initial cost at 6+ billion. Also seems strange that it had a lot of support from San Francisco considering that the new span is on the east side of Yerba Buena Island and not real visible from San Francisco.


Here’s a picture of the bridge on the San Francisco side which is the same design at the now replaced section on the Oakland side.
They could have replaced the Oakland side of the bridge with a similar structure at much less cost. But what do we know about bridge building?


We’ll be in Brisbane for several weeks.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Prince George

Prince George has a number of beautiful parks and this sign was in one of them. 


Prince George also has a very nice Railroad & Forestry Museum

Fire Equipment






Durant

And it even had Four Wheel Brakes

Fire Equipment

Chain Saws

Lots of equipment


Besides a snow plow this piece of equipment was on display which is apparently a different type of snow plow. Those heavy metal panels will swing out and push the snow further away from the track. Since it has a coupler in the front it may be pulled behind the more traditional type of snow plow.

 While not apparent this is a railroad turntable and all of that equipment can be moved to any of the surrounding tracks.


Friday, August 23, 2013

Signs

These signs were in a campground office just south of Prince George.













Thursday, August 22, 2013

Hyder

Bear watching area. These are chum salmon and the bears least favorite and we missed the few bears that did show up.

Steward has a few stores and Hyder a few less. Both towns are in wind down mode as the tourist season is ending. We crossed into Hyder and then up to the fish viewing area. Plenty of fish but the bears were elsewhere. While the fish look great they are worn out, consumed all of their energy (they don’t eat once they enter fresh water) and aren’t good to eat unless you are a bear. 22 miles up the gravel road is Salmon Glacier where the view is spectacular. Along the way this young black bear was dining along the road and we followed him for about 15 minutes. 

He was likely weaned by mom and about 3 years old. We’ve become such bear experts!



He was close and kept an eye on Diane!


The view up to Salmon Glacier and the glacier itself is spectacular. This and other glaciers are part of the Cambria Ice field. The Salmon Glacier is the fifth largest in Canada. The most recent glaciations period is known at the Fraser Glaciation which covered most of Alaska and British Columbia 14,000 years ago. Then the ice sheet began its slow retreat which continues today.

Canada? We started in BC, crossed into Hyder, Alaska and then the gravel road to Salmon Glacier crossed back into BC. On the return we crossed back into the US – trust me there is nowhere else to go and I’m sure if we tried we would either freeze or starve. So now we have been in Canada, US, Canada and then the US again without any customs. We must be illegal immigrants or tourists or something. But returning to Steward we did go through Canadian Customs. He asked “where are you going” – to our motorhome “do you have any firearms” no “have a nice day”. I’m sure his job description requires him to ask us something! However in 1920-50 when going to the mines in Canada from Hyder there was a Canadian Customs office but apparently a free trip back into the US.




The black spot an the end of the glacier is actually a very large ice cave with the river flowing out of it!








The environment is harsh

Premier Mines along the road has been an active mine off and on since 1910. The mine is again active. And another mine may be active. This was important to us as the signs indicate they maintain the roads.

Since this is our last stop in Alaska I should mention that Alaska has a unique university program where you can get a PHD in Driving as in driving a car!

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PHD – As in Pot Hole Dodging!