Week Eleven~Alaska Trip June 24-June 30

                                          Denali National Park

What is to be said? It is beautiful. We arrived at the park on Saturday morning and registered. Before leaving the building we met Cool Judy, a fellow SKP. We talked with her about site placement and then we went looking for a site. They don’t assign you a site. We were listed as an A site because we were close to 40 foot RV.  So we were driving around the first loop looking for an open site. Before we were finished we located Tom and Paula Nankivell, who are fellow Chapter 20 members. We found a site big enough for us just two sites down from them. So, we set up and had a quick lunch. As we were finishing Tom and Paula came down and we had a great afternoon visiting and comparing notes on our travels. Soon after they left, Judy came over and we visited with her also.

You can only drive about fifteen miles into the park in a private vehicle. So about 9 PM on Saturday Tom and Paula picked us up and we drove to the Savage River Rest Stop looking for some wildlife. We did see some birds, a caribou , a snowshoe  rabbit and a double rainbow, but no a lot of other wildlife until we got back. Then just a little way from the campground we saw a female moose munching leaves by the side of the road.  She was quite close to the road and was very unconcerned about all of the traffic stopping to take her picture.

Sunday morning was quiet and then we got ready for our bus tour through Denali. We had opted for the more expensive bus tour and I think it was worth the money. We had a tour bus that was a pretty quiet ride and the seats were more comfortable than school bus seats. Plus the driver had a video camera and when we spotted wildlife he could zoom in on it and it was projected onto overhead video screens on the bus. That helped everyone on the bus to be able to see the animals.

We spotted: Dall sheep, caribou, wolves, a ground squirrel, a fox, a moose and calf, golden eagles, a harrier hawk, magpie and a collard pika. AND of course, we were able to see Mt. McKinley, so we are members of the 30% club of people that travel to Alaska and actually see Denali.
We spotted a lot of the wildlife on the way out to Stony HIll, which is as far as our tour went. While we were at Stony Hill everyone spotted a lone wolf and watched him for quite a while. Then everyone was busy taking pictures of the mountain. On our way back we saw the wolf again and tracked him for about five miles. It was great. He finally got tired or us and just stopped and lay down in the grass and disappeared. However, not more than about five or six miles up the road we encountered a whole wolf pack traveling toward us. There were four in the pack and it was obvious that two were young. We got to watch them for quite a ways as well. We were told by the bus driver to stay very quiet because they do not want the wolves to become accustomed to the sound of a human voice. They were walking up the road and passed right by the left side of the bus.
Things were going great until we were about one hour from home base. We stopped for our last rest stop and when the driver attempted to start the bus it was obvious to all of us that something was amiss. Sure enough, he had shred a serpentine belt on the engine and had to radio in for a ‘rescue bus’. We were on the 2:30 PM bus,  scheduled to return at about 10:30 PM. Well, we caught one of the shuttle busses going back to the park, so we returned home about 11:30 PM. Phil took this picture so that you could see what it looked like when we got home.
You’ll notice that there is not much difference between this picture and the one that he took when we got there on Saturday afternoon!
                  Here are some of the animals that we saw:
                   Caribou on the mountain. He was posing for us!
                                       Two of the Wolf Pack
                                      Lone wolf from Stony Hill
                                          Raven in the brushWe couldn’t get pictures of all of them. The Dall sheep looked like little white dots on the mountain they were so high up. I spotted two golden eagles circling overhead on the way back that I don’t think anyone else spotted. Here is a picture of one of the hairpin turns on the way, Phil was sitting in the window seat, not me!
We explored the Visitors Center and it was outstanding. They had a diorama about the wildlife and history of the park that was two stories tall. They also had a video about the different seasons in Denali NP that we purchased to bring home. Pictures cannot do the park justice, the video is better.
Sad to say, we missed the SKP Happy Hour that day, but we did visit with Tom and Paula again before we all left on Monday morning. They have recently upgraded their RV and it is lovely. However, the only thing that I really wish we had on this trip is the one piece windshield. It is so much nicer for viewing and taking pictures without the center seam and windshield wipers in the middle of the windshield.
The next three days were very quiet. We went to Denali State Park, Denali North. It is suppose to be one of the best places to view Denali. Well, the mountain never came out to play for us. Denali was totally socked in with clouds the whole time we were there. Plus, there was no cell coverage or air card coverage while we were there either, plus we were boondocking. (That is no electricity, water or sewer for you non-RVers) We went for a ride one morning and took the computer but we could not locate any hot spots. So, for the holiday weekend we are in Talkeetna AK at the Camper Park. I had made reservations ahead, happy to have electric and water, as there are limited full hook up sites. Well, when we got here we found that the lovely man that runs this place had set aside one of the FHU sites for us. Yippee! I can do as much laundry as I want, we can shower and wash dishes, and we can use real plates and glasses. There are also three couples that we know that are traveling through Alaska from South to North, so we met them in our travels from North to South. We will spend some time this weekend comparing notes and telling lies, of course. Life is good!!  I will close this week with a picture of Denali. It is not great, hopefully there will be some better ones to follow.

Week Ten~Alaska Trip June 21-24

                Fairbanks Alaska and North Pole

In the morning we did some necessary errands like grocery and liquor shopping as well as getting a chance to use our new debit cards! We have had to use the credit card all the way through Canada and Phil said he thought it was going to melt. We did a little exploring and then had lunch. After lunch we booked our reservations for the Riverboat Discovery Tour on Friday. We are hoping for a nice day. We were able to use our two for one coupon, so that is a savings! We drove around town some to see where everything is. Yepper, looks like a small city with all the fixin’s.
Then we headed back to the North Pole to see Santa and his house. That was fun. I told Santa how wonderful all of my grandchildren are and we took some pictures. The town is cute as well, they have candy cane light poles and Santa Claus Lane and such for street signs. I think they should redo the town so that it looks like the one in The Polar Express but that would probably cost too much.

  There were also the reindeer as well. They are shedding this time of year.

On Thursday we traveled only a few miles and went to the Fountainhead Antique Car Museum. This was a pleasant surprise. The building is rather new and the cars are in pristine shape. We spent a very enjoyable morning browsing through this museum, The camera battery gave out part way through so Phil went back in the afternoon to finish taking pictures. Check out the Picasa Web Album to see all the photos that he took. We watched a worker painting pin striping on one of the cars in the morning. In the afternoon when Phil went back he was out on the floor. He is here volunteering at the museum for a few weeks. Phil asked him if he was enjoying himself and he replied, “Oh yeah!”.
  






Many of the cars were one of a kind and really neat to see. In the afternoon we went to the Creamery Farms which is a wildlife preserve. They have a lot of Canada Geese and Sand Hill Cranes. That was it for today……..


Friday was a beautiful sunny day. What a treat. In the morning we went to Pioneer Park and walked around. This is a free admissions park with museums and such inside. Some have a small fee. There are lots of free things to do and look at.

        S.S. Nenana                                      President Harding's railroad car.



Phil really enjoyed seeing a lot of the old equipment that was used to mine the gold.

           After lunch we went on the Riverboat Discovery Tour. The boat was clean, the staff was mostly young local teenagers and the whole tour was well done, if scripted.
We saw a bush pilot take off and land,
watched Susan Buther’s husband and children train the dogs for the Iditarod Race. Susan won the race in 1986, 87, 88 and 90. Then we traveled up the Chena river to a Athabascan Indian Village. Here the crew members showed us how the native tribes survived the winters.











                                                                                 Pretty, isn’t she?

On the way back I could help but snap some pictures of the ‘shacks on the creek’ that we went by……







Tomorrow we head for Denali National Park and I will not have internet unless we run the generator. We will probably do that for a short while a couple times a day, just so I can check mail and things. After that we will be boondocking for a couple of days, so I will probably not be posting any pictures or updates until next weekend, when we go back into a commercial campground. See ya’ll then!

Week Ten ~ Alaska Trip June 18-21

After we finished our chores in the morning on Friday, we headed out of Whitehorse YK. Whitehorse is really a neat city, but we were more than ready to move on. We met two other very nice couples that were also stranded at the Kenworth dealer, but I will tell that story in another post.
We did not make it a long travel day. There is not really any half way stopping point between Whitehorse and Tok Alaska. We stopped just before Destruction Bay at a very nice campground called Cottonwood. It is right on the shore of the Kluane Lake. The lake has a unique blue-green color that comes from glacial melt off and sky reflection. Kluane lake is also the largest lake in the Yukon territory.
Phil snapped some pictures after we arrived. Not much more to say about them except that we will enjoy our time here. Who wouldn’t??




 So tomorrow we will head for Tok. It is about 250 miles from here so we will probably not make the Post Office to get our mail until Monday.
Wildflowers of the Yukon.



Well, we arrived in Tok AK and were all set up at 3:45 PM Alaska Time. We are having our own Happy Hour! The road from Destruction Bay up was awful. Terrible dips and frost heaves. We had about 150 miles of AWFUL road. At times it makes you wonder if it was worth the trip! Scenery was wonderful but it takes a terrible toll on the RV and truck. The roads in the Yukon are BAD. Worst part is that we need to go back out that way as well. 20 to 30 MPH was the fastest we could travel at times.
However, roads in Alaska seem to be better, so we will enjoy our time here and then travel back out VERY SLOWLY!
We spent three nights in Tok. Notice the grass on the roof…..


On Sunday we spent a day cleaning the RV, it really needed it. Phil washed the outside and the truck, while I did laundry and washed mirrors, windows and polished cabinets. Phil took out all the screens and vacuumed the dust out of them. It is so nice to see out clearly again. Monday we set off for a day trip. We planned to drive up to Chicken, across the border and do part of the TOP OF THE WORLD highway. The trip was almost 100 miles to the border. There were miles and miles of forest damage from fire. It is recovering, but slowly.
  Sad to see so much damage.
Well, it was a rainy dismal day and after about 50 miles, we agreed that we had seen enough so we turned around and returned to Tok. As Phil said, we chickened out of going to Chicken. When we returned to Tok we had lunch at Fast Eddy’s Cafe. It was excellent. We had the best meal we have had since crossing into Canada. Once we got home, we had mail to take care of. Hurrah, we now have new debit cards and our tax refund was also in the mail. Whoo Hoo!!
Tuesday we set sail for Fairbanks.


Ice on river. Yes, it is June 21st.

                                                                  First view of the pipeline.
 
We passed through the North Pole. It is only about 15 miles south of Fairbanks, so we will need to return there to get some pictures for the grandkids. Got settled in a campground on the outskirts of town, the site is a little tight, but it will do.

Week Nine~Alaska Trip June 12 -18

After we arrived in Whitehorse on Saturday we took a tour of the town. There is lots to do here, and unfortunately we will probably have plenty of time to tour the sights!!
Since we knew that nothing would happen on Sunday, we took a day trip down to Skagway Alaska. The trip down to Skagway had some of the most awesome scenery that we have seen so far. You can only take so many pictures of mountains, lakes and trees, but each view is so beautiful that it is impossible not to keep clicking the camera.
The lakes are different shades of blue and green, depending upon the time of day and the light reflections. Just before reaching Carcross YK there is Emerald Lake, sometimes called Rainbow Lake. The water looks VERY GREEN. This is caused by the reflections of light off of the white bottom of the lake. The white bottom is called marl and is created from shells of native lake animals. On the return trip the reflections turned the water royal blue. It was incredible to see.

Partway to Skagway is the Yukon Suspension Bridge. You can stop and take the trip across the bridge over the rapids. Phil took pictures for me, I declined the walk across the bridge……
 





Then we traveled UP to the summit. It is mostly rock and fog when you reach the top. It is over 3200’ at the top. Then you go DOWN to Skagway which is at 32’. Quite a ride. We were happy that we had decided to do this as a day trip and not to drive the RV on this road.
 











Skagway is a lovely little town. It is a stop for all of the large cruise ships, so there are a lot of cute little shops, jewelry stores and such. We did some grocery shopping and bought me a bottle of wine and browsed through town.


We had some things to mail and I was able to access the internet while we were having lunch harbor side. My cell phone worked so we made a few quick calls. We would have taken the ferry to Haines and come home the long way, but it was not running on Sunday. However, there was only one ship in town, so it was an ideal day to browse around town, it was not crowded at all.

We had a good trip back over the mountain to home. Saw a bear on the way back, I guess they do come out for regular traffic!
So, now we are sitting waiting for repair. NOTHING happened on Monday. They kept assuring Phil that they would get to us as soon as they could, however they are under contract with the truckers, so they come first. They did take us in around 9 AM on Tuesday, so hopefully we will know what is happening soon.
Wednesday Update: They found that the radiator did not have a hole, but being ten years old it just failed. It was taken to the radiator shop for repair. They project it may be fixed and reinstalled today. One can only hope……I’ll let you know.
We went down to see the SS Klondike. It is a national historic site here in the Yukon. Lovely to see:

Well, they took the RV in the shop at 2:00 PM and then the tech was called off the job. The RV was pushed out of the shop at 4:00 PM when the tech finished for the day.
During the morning Phil took me to the library so that I could connect to the internet.Then we sat in the Kenworth lounge in the afternoon for nothing! So, we went out to dinner and had fish and chips. We had time to come back to the RV and have a glass of wine before we went out to see Frantic Follies downtown.  It was a burlesque type of show about the gold rush in the area in the late 1800’s. It was a great evening out. We really enjoyed the show.

 

Thursday they took the RV in the shop at around 8:00 AM. At 3:00 PM the radiator was installed. Let’s hope they can finish in a hour and we will be on our way….
At just about 4 PM they came in to get Phil. They wanted him to drive (YEAH) the RV out of the shop and let it run for a while to check the temperature of the engine and make sure there were no leaks. Everything seemed to be a go! They were faster to produce the bill than they had been to do anything else all week! But, we were repaired so that we could be on our way.
We opted to stay the evening and make a fresh getaway in the morning! Hurrah!