Tuesday, June 30th

In Billings Montana and just had a thunderstorm...very cool.

Been staying in KOA campgrounds (since crossing into the lower 48) which are very nice. Upscale in comparison to some of the places I've stayed in over the last 6/7 weeks.

More pictures from Jasper:

Wall of waterfalls.

Glaciers

Looks like this is all I can download....

Monday, June 29th

So,there's this bridge over one of the 100's of rivers I've crossed...and right in the middle of it is this bison....just taking his time and walking down the center stripe...yes, for real. The picture was taken after he got off the bridge and moved away from the line of cars, and RVs....

I know I posted an earlier photo of Muncho Lake on my way up to Alaska...but this one is much better. I camped on the lake this time and the lighting could not have been better.

In Jasper - Athabasca Falls and River

Mt Robson is the tallest of the Canadian Rockies

This one is at one of the many stops...Ann is looking thru her binoculars

Neverending beauty along the Icefields Parkway.

Made it to Great Falls, Montana. Calgary is very large sprawling city. Super clean and very green. Warmest weather I've had in months. 85 degrees when we got to the KOA in Great Falls. Heading to Billings Montana tomorrow.

Sunday, June 28th

Wow and wow (again)...Jasper is incredible. We hiked around the Athbasca Falls - thru the rain, yes, rain again. It was clearly snowing on top of most of the mountains. Just a beautiful site. Went thru the town of Lake Louise but did not see the lake - very disappointed but a large sign advised against RVs and trailers so, I did not push it. Now in Calgary - the outskirts. Real highways with crazy drivers - might just be me not used to so many on the roads. I do have lots of photos and will go thru a 100+ tonight and post tomorrow if possible. Should be in Great Falls, Montana by tomorrow afternoon. All is good...

Saturday, June 27th

Long time without wifi. Have not had any wifi for several days. Had a rough trip from Whitehorse, Yukon. The road construction that I went thru a few weeks ago is much larger and the roads much rougher. Plus lots of rain. A lodge and campground that I stayed at on the way up was out of gas and no vacancies. So, we headed down to another lodge per Milepost and it was open - 2 spots left and gas at 1.58 a liter...but no choice, I was down to 65 miles left on the tank I had. From there to Fort St. John on Thursday, no wifi, and Friday at Prince George where I had the truck fixed. Wifi but could not get it to work. $248 for the light assy and they put it in for me no charge.
In Jasper, Alberta National Park today/tonight. Unbelievable. Canadian Rockies are incredible. Completely different than Denali and much more dynamic than Rocky Mountain Natl Park. Tomorrow, Sunday we drive down Highway 93, Icefields Parkway thru Jasper and Banff Natl Parks into Calgary. Hope to stop often, hike and see all the sites and there are many.

I should be in Montana on Monday, and back to Colorado by Wednesday.

Sorry, no new pictures...won't download. All ok...later

Tuesday, June 23

Been out of wifi range. Place I stayed in Beaver Creek, Yukon (same one as trip west 2 weeks ago), did not have the wifi working.

Well, my first problem finally occured. Between Burwash Landing and Haines Junction (thru Destruction Bay - beautiful area along Kluane Lake), the Alaska Hiway is the worst. I thought it was bad going West 2 weeks ago, but going East is much worse. The gravel I can deal with - the miles of washboard is horrible. Even going at 10 miles an hour, somehow the passenger side taillight assembly came loose from the truck; dangled for miles and was melted by the exhaust. Completely ruined. I am back in Whitehorse, Yukon tonight and they have a Chevy dealer which I went right to, but they do not stock them. If they ordered it would come from Vancouver and maybe get here Thursday...not. So, I called a Chevy dealership in Prince George - the next major town I'll come to on Friday - and they have ordered it and I will go right there on Friday.

Weather has been crazy...may get down to 32 degrees tonight. Rain off and on all day. Tomorrow I will make the turn south on the Cassair Hiway at Upper Laird, British Columbia. That 500 mile highway will save me 200 miles in back-tracking. Wifi here is not strong enough to download photos...may have to wait until I'm in Prince George Friday. I don't plan on having hookups tomorrow night - plan on staying at a Provencial Park along the Cassair Hiway. Hang tight... I'll be back. All is good!

Well, I Lied....

Soltice, today/tonight is 21 hours and 50 minutes of daylight, I gave you incorrect info earlier. It is now 10:28 pm and the sun is still bright and shining. Rain stopped and our Riverboat ride, sternwheeler, was great. Learned a lot about the native people, Athabaskans - still many in the Fairbanks area with most still in villages in Fort Yukon about 130 miles north of Fairbanks (toward the Arctic Circle). Very interesting. We also met Susan Butcher's husband who still raises sled dogs with his 2 daughters. She passed in 2006 of leukemia. They gave a great demonstration using the actual dogs up close and personal. The dogs are quite amazing.

More pictures from Denali National Park:

Now, this one is definitely dorky..however, w/o the nets we would have been eaten alive by huge mosquitos.

Heading South and East tomorrow - will update with more photos when I can.

Sunday, June 21st...Soltice

Fairbanks: Population is pretty small 31,000 in the City (compared to Anchorage at 283,000), and 96,000 in the borough. Boroughs are counties. Eielson Air Force Base is here. Elmendorf was in Anchorage. Fairbanks is flat in comparison to Anchorage, and of course Denali. But still very green. Two major rivers converge here, the Tanana and the Chena. I am camped along the Chena River. Large RV Park, first one with trees in a while. Full hook ups including TV which is a treat. Going to take a 3 1/2 hour stern wheel boat tour up the rivers this afternoon. It's been raining since late yesterday afternoon. Not a downpour, but a steady rain.

All kinds of Soltice celebrations - midnight run, festivals, etc. Longest day of the year with over 20 hours of daylight in Fairbanks. Still strange, but actually getting used to daylight at 11:30 pm.

Some photos from Denali:

I'll post more later today...have to get to the Sternwheeler Boat trip down the Tanana and Chena Rivers.

Miss Me? Saturday, June 20th

Hi...no wifi in Denali. Arrived there on Wednesday afternoon. Pretty nice drive up from Anchorage on the George Parks Highway. There are so few highways in Alaska, that everyone of them is named for the "first" somebody.

Denali was absolutely fantastic, amazing and downright fabulous. (see, I'm running out of adjectives). I have tons of photos but need to get them from the camera to you.

Denali National Park and Preserve: much different from any other Natl Park I've been in. First, there is no "gate" as such, to pay your entry fee. You must go to the Wilderness Access Center and pick a plan. You can only drive in the first 15 miles of the park - total mileage on the road is 93. Everything else is by bus. You have a choice of about 4 different bus tours. Road is dirt and gravel and very, very narrow in many places. We decided on the full tour...13 hours all the way to the end. The end is an old mining town from the early 1900's called Kantishna. Wonderful history to this place. Denali NP is now over 6 million acres. The Alaska Range, 600 miles long, goes right thru it. This includes Mt. McKinley - which we could not see. In the summer the warm air from the Pacific hits the ice fields (the upper 10,000 feet are ice) and clouds are formed preventing anyone from seeing it. December is the best month. The town of Denali is about a 1/2 mile long. Not on roads, just dirt and gravel off the George Parks Highway with buildings that are only open from mid May to mid September. The road that goes thru Denali Natl Park takes 10 weeks to get ready for the tourist season. We saw, moose, grizzlies, beavers, golden eagles, dahl sheep and wolves. The park is a preserve. No human intervention at all with the land or wildlife...what a concept, huh? It is studied by the best and many discoveries have come from there. They literally let nature do it's thing - and only those who will sit on a bus can be a part of this fantastic environment.



Our driver and guide is a resident of Kodiak and was a commercial fisher person for 25 years and also participated in a couple of the Ididarod sled races. She now works the summers in Denali and raises and trains sled dogs. She's 50 - what a life!

I am in Fairbanks now. Left Denali this morning. Easy drive, 110 miles. Will stay here until Monday morning and then start the trek east and south. I'll tell you more about Denali when I add pictures later tonight/tomorrow. Wifi here seems to be working well.

More Photos From the Kenai Fjords Boat Trip

These are the endangered Stellar Sea Lions

Yes, I look dorky, but heck - it was very cold....

We are back in Anchorage after a great one day trip from Seward to Homer...what a place. Homer sits on the Cook Inlet with huge mountains off to the west. One of which is Mt Redoubt--the one that erupted in March of this year. Cold and windy and a much different town than Seward. Fishing is huge, but halibut is their fish right now. There is a piece of land that literally deadends in the water called the Spit. Some very funky, yet neat places there...Salty Dog is one of them. Homer is about twice the population of Seward - 3000 vs 6000. Both are on the Kenai Peninsula.

This may help:

We are leaving for Denali tomorrow and will stay until Sat. Then Fairbanks for 2 days and then the journey back....stay tuned...

A Few Photos from the Boat Trip

The boat tour was needlesstosay fabulous. We were out for 6 1/2 hours and saw glaciers, puffins, Orcas, porpoise and many other birds in their natural habitat. Absolutely amazing.

Ok, here ya go...a few of the 100 pictures I took

Holgate Glacier....about 1/4 mile wide and in some places 5000 feet deep. We were lucky enough to see huge chunks falling off

Monday, June 15th Exit Glacier

No words at all for today....here are a few pictures from Exit Glacier. Short drive from Anchorage and then a mile hike....

Lots more pictures, over 100 from the Kenai Fjords Boat Tour - absolutely breath-taking. I'll need time to get all these downloaded...

Monday, June 15th

Beautiful drive from Anchorage to Seward. Once settled in our motel, we met Nate (nephew). They had just come in from Resurrection Bay with 20,000 lbs of salmon. We went aboard and watched the process of removing the fish from the boat. It is then taken immediately to the processing plant less than a football field away. Salmon is processed, packaged and frozen within a couple of hours of being caught. Quite amazing...

Today, Monday - we have visited the Exit Glacier and will be leaving at 3:00 for a 6 hour dinner cruise - from Seward thru Resurrection Bay to Aialik Peninsula and Harris Peninsula. We will be seeing the Holgate and Aialik Glacier. I'll have a bunch more pictures to post later tonight or tomorrow.

From the Lucky Star - 20,000 pound catch

My sister and her son

A few pictures of our trip with the crew. They did not find any salmon - or in their lingo...did not run a set.

Saturday, June 13th

Got sister, Ann, all situated in the 19 foot trailer. Went over the do's and don'ts and spent the day playing tourist in Anchorage. They have a Market Festival every Sat and Sun until mid Sept. Most of the vendors are selling Alaska made products. Was wonderful. Visited a few more places and ended up at Moose's Tooth (the brewery). Had a great time. People here are pretty friendly. Seem to enjoy talking to us "sourdoughs" (folks from the lower 48).

Heading to Seward tomorrow for 3 days. Leaving the RV in Anchorage and staying in a motel. Will be a treat for me. Salmon fishing is down, so not sure if my nephew, Nate, will still be in Seward or have moved over to Homer.

Ann and I will be taking a boat tour of the Kenai Peninsula. I'm sure it will be cold and wet, but gotta do it.....should be some great photos. Motel has wifi so you will be hearing from me......later.

Friday, June 12th...Pictures

Taking forever to download...these will have to do for now. More tomorrow...have to get to
airport.

Friday, June 12th

Oh, the train trip....there are no words to describe the beautiful scenery. Freezing cold in Seward - right on Resurrection Bay. The mountains were cloud covered but still gorgeous. The train was wonderful. I upgraded to Gold class and sat in dome car...with an observation deck. Fabulous and well worth the extra money. I took over 200 pictures. Saw 3 glaciers, moose, a black bear on the tracks; a female bald eagle sitting in her nest, 3 other bald eagles flying around. The bald eagle population is doing well - slowing coming back.

I will do my best to get some posted as soon as I can. Weather is getting iffyyy....even in Anchorage it's turned cooler. From what the folks on the train said (employees), the last 2 spring/summers have been terrible. This one started slow but much warmer than previous. Now it's turned cooler. We'll see what happens.

My nephew was in the harbor in Seward so I got to see him and met the captain of this salmon fishing boat. Only 4 guys on the boat including the captain. Lots of rules and laws to catching fish here. Highly regulated. My sister and I will head back down to Seward on Sunday. Nate should be back in the harbor late Sunday or Monday. We want to take one of the glacier tours to Kenai.

Ok, I'm going to work on my photos and try and post them later today.

Wednesday, June 10

Spent most of the day playing tourist...which was most welcome...tourism is down about 20% so lower 48 $$$$ are most welcome. Found another brewery...Moose's Tooth...had a great time...really nice folks...I'm beginning to see that the average age here is about late 30's to late 40's. Not many ole folks like me seem to be full time residents. Also most are transplants..came here like me on vacation and every left....(hint....Carl!)....nah, I'll be back.

Clean and open city. Everyone is wondering why the weather has been so good. No rain for a couple weeks which is really unusual, and very warm...temps are in the 70's and 80's which is really strange.

Daylight is now 19 hours and 11 minutes - still weird, but I'm doing ok with it. I wonder how I would do with only 5 hours of daylight in the winter...I bet that's very difficult.

A photo of my first glacier...

Tomorrow I'm off on the train from Anchorage to Seward - yes, I'll be driving it on Sunday, but the train is supposed to be great, so why not. One day trip with a 5 hour layover in Seward. I can scope out places for us to stay at. There are cabins on the water which would be really cool. Long day...leave at 6:45 and don't return until 9:15 pm...but it will still be light....upgraded myself to a club car...all the amenities..I will take plenty of photos....

I've decided to leave the RV here and just drive to Seward...had the truck checked out today and the air filter, as I suspected, was a mess, so that was changed and some other minor stuff done. But, otherwise, the truck is really doing well.

Well, doesn't look like I cannot download anything tonight. Will try again late tomorrow or Friday morning. All is good!

Tuedsay, June 9

I have arrived in Anchorage. First stop was a truck/rv wash - I have to be 20 pounds lighter. RV Park - only 1 of 4 in all of Anchorage - is ok, nothing special but it will do. Going to take one of the train trips, just don't know which one yet. Doing laundry now...once that is done and I'm cleaned up, I'll head into city center (Anchorage's downtown). RR station is there so I'll stop in and get more info. I have photos, but this wifi is pretty poor. I'll try again later.

One a different subject...Intel Colorado Springs is finally, yes, finally closed. My son and the few others that remained were let go officially today. Some of the facilities folks are being contracted or hired (not sure which) by the Real Estate Investment company that bought the campus. Someone needs to maintain minimum services on site.

Will post again later...

More pics from my first day in Alaska!

Monday, June 8th

Wow and wow and holy wow! Magnificent - I'm running out of adjectives to describe Alaska....First, how about this photo!!!!

I'm in a wonderful, small RV park between no where and no where (actually, on the Alaska Hiway between Glennallen and Anchorage). Nothing else around but this place, surrounded by mountains. I have cable TV (not had that in a while) and wifi. Plus they have a cafe here so I'm going to treat myself to dinner out. I was able to download the one picture, but now I cannot seem to add more. I will try again later. I'll be in Anchorage tomorrow and will stay until Sunday. Ann (sister) arrives late Friday night. This will give me time to get everything cleaned and I mean cleaned. Thank heavens I did a truck/rv wash in Whitehorse. I'm also going to have the truck checked out again. Will be nice to stay put for a few days.

On Sunday, we head south to Seward to see my nephew. Seward is on Resurrection Bay which feeds from the Gulf of Alaska. This replaces Fairbanks, not a big deal. I love the ocean, so this should be great. I'm thinking of storing the RV in Anchorage, hopefully at the RV park I'm staying at. It's a long trip home, and I'd like not to beat it up anymore than necessary. I'll find out more about doing this tomorrow.

I will try posting more photos later...

Sunday, June 7

Rough ride from Whitehorse to Beaver Creek...I'm about 40 miles from the USA border, but no RV parks there. The road was as awful as I read. However, the scenery was fantastic..the best yet. Not many places to pull over for pictures, so I just stopped in the road. I'm hard-wired here in the little store.

So much history thru this area - from the building of the highway to gold mining - fascinating..... As I drive this road, it is not hard to imagine those folks back in 1942 constructing the original road. How they did it is, however, beyond imagination. Year-round construction in 40 below zero temps...wow! And ever since then, the road is constantly under going improvements. Just before entering Beaver Creek, they has these pipes ( I have a picture but it's still in the camera), they are being used to try and find the best way to deal with the perma-frost melting. When it does, it becomes liquid and the road collapses. Now I know not everyone believes in Global Warming, but that seems to be the issue here. Major studies going on. I'm hope to find out more in Anchorage - I'm curious...




Some pictures...seems I can download a few...

Momma grizzly and cubs...that's her backend...

My last Arrogant Bastard beer!

































From my boat ride on the Yukon River


































All is Good!