Skagway

We took the morning Fast Ferry to Skagway, arriving there in about 35 minutes. We were amazed that there were 5 cruise ships in port! Those of you who have been on Alaska cruises have probably been there. We enjoyed riding our bikes all around the outskirts of town. We especially enjoyed going to the Jewel Gardens and talking to a couple of local people who gave us the insider info and history of Skagway. We then took the White Pass & Yukon Railroad to the top of White Pass and finally, on the return trip, we saw a black bear! It was sitting so still that Denny thought it was staged! (“No, Denny, we are not on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland!”) Anyway, after fumbling with my camera, I was able to barely catch one shot of it.
We heard someone say today that Alaska is “drop dead gorgeous”. It just continues to amaze us how beautiful everything is. Besides that, the people welcome visitors in such a warm way.

Haines

We arrived in Haines on Tuesday. At 9:30 p.m. it was still light, so we drove directly to the ELKS lodge and found a spot with full hookups. We decided to stay three nights and take a Fast Ferry to Skagway. We spent the next day exploring Haines on foot, and later on our bikes. It is such a beautiful little town. One thing we have really liked about small towns is that visitors stand out, and they are always interested in talking to us. We met some very interesting people in Haines. Also, we have been on three ferries since leaving Prince Rupert, and one couple has been on every ferry. The woman appears to have early onset Alzheimers or some other disability. It touches our hearts to see how he cares for her. He is so gentle and patient with her. We spent some time talking with them today, and we hope to see them again along the road. They are headed the same direction as us.

Are we still married?

What is the rest of the story? Someone asked Denny at his retirement party if he could survive in a 33 foot fifth wheel with his wife for 4 months! Well, Monday will be 6 weeks, and we have thoroughly enjoyed out trip. We have our moments, of course, especially when we are trying to navigate through an unknown area to find a place to park our 50 feet of rig. We have renewed friendships as we have visited old friends, as well as visiting my sister's family and Denny's Aunt Lilla. We have so enjoyed reading together (Denny just finished The Reason for God by Timothy Keller) and I listened to Pillars of the Earth on my Ipod. We do crossword puzzles, catch a bit of TV when available, and look up places and information when we have an internet connection. I have enjoyed listening to Brian's sermons on my Ipod. We have also listened to some Tim Keller messages as we have traveled along that Brian gave us. We listen to Garrison Keillor (Lake Wobegon) for an amusing time while we ride along. We walk or ride bikes every day. We try to find a unique coffee shop (or Starbucks) in each town.
This has been like a sabbatical for both of us. We have so enjoyed the historical and geographical information about the places we have visited, but we also have done some reflection about our lives at 60plus. Many people have said we are living their “dream trip” , and we agree. We may never do this again, but we have really enjoyed seeing this beautiful country and having time together to think and grow.

Juneau

5/25/08 We disembarked and headed to Mendenhall Lake National Forest campground. We found a beautiful spot and registered for two days. We biked around the lake and saw white water rafters preparing to raft down the river. We then headed to Mendenhall Glacier. Wow. It is just so amazing. We went to the visitor center, then walked right up close to the glacier and Nugget Falls. This is a city visited by cruise ships every day, so the area was packed with cruising tourists.
Today we visited downtown historic Juneau and then came back, got our bikes and rode through the rainforest greenbelt. Tomorrow we will drive up the Glacier Highway, then depart on the ferry for Haines. The weather has been beautiful. It is supposed to stay nice tomorrow for our trip to Haines.

Alaskan Marine Ferry –

5/24They call this the Alaskan Marine Highway, because many of these towns in Alaska are only accessible by air or water. We were in line by 5 am to get on the ferry. We took our 50 feet of truck and RV and loaded on the bottom level. We took a bag up to the fifth level, where we were assigned a state room. We took nightclothes and a small ice chest. We spent the day in the front of the ferry sitting in comfortable chairs or couches with full view of the water and land. We were accompanied by two Forest Rangers who travel with the ferry because it travels through the Tongass National Forest. They kept us informed about the area as we traveled through. If we had questions about anything, they were right there to answer them. We saw a lot of Orcas Whales and some dolphins. We spent most of the time watching the water hoping to see more whales. Some of the people we met on the ferry were from Australia, France, Spain, Switzerland and California. We docked in Ketchikan and Wrangell. We did not get off in Petersburg, because we docked at 1:30 in the morning. Early Sunday morning we got up because one of the Rangers said we would see whales coming into Juneau. Actually, I got my best look at the whales that morning. I gave up trying to get a picture of them because they are not out of the water very long.

Prince Rubert, BC

Wow! The sun came out and it is 70 degrees. We spent yesterday walking around the town, and today we went back to get some pictures of the eagles. The bald eagles are spectacular. This is a picturesque little community with cruise ships and float planes coming in and out. We notice very many First Nations peoples here. Everyone is out walking around the town. We think it is because it is a sunny day!
We have to be at the Alaska Marine Ferry Terminal at 4:15 am to make our 7:15 am ferry departure. Ugh! I just hope we have sunshine tomorrow as we travel to Juneau.

Yellowhead Highway to Prince Rupert

5/21/08 We left the Fraser Lake area today and headed toward Prince Rupert. We need to be in Prince Rupert ready to board the Alaskan Marine Ferry by 5/24 at dawn. We have about 200 miles to go. Today we spent the day looking for a moose. We saw one moose doe and her baby, but we went by too fast, and realized too late to take a picture. We went through many small towns today, and stopped at most of the visitor centers. Today we learned about the Pine Bark Beetle devastation going on in this area. We have loved that the BC people love to talk to us, and we have lots of questions. While fishing is supposed to be great in this area, it is just too cold for us. It never got over 60 today……… We marvel at the people who go around in shorts and short sleeves, while we are bundled up in our heavy shirts and jackets. Right now we are parked for the night under a huge glacier. It is beautiful. The sun sets really late, so we will watch the sun set over the glacier.

Prince George, BC

5/19/08 Prince George. We looked around at some RV parks, but rather than pay $25 we found a nice spot at Wal Mart! Right next to Walmart is Home Depot and Costco. Tomorrow we will begin our trip to Prince Rupert via the Yellowhead Highway (16). We need to be in Prince Rupert by Friday, as we catch the Alaskan Marine Ferry 7:15 am Saturday morning. We will take the ferry on the inland passage to Juneau. We plan to stay in Juneau for two days, then on May 27, take a ferry from Juneau to Haines. Some people we met from Haines said the inland passage from Juneau to Haines is the best. We will be traveling from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. She told us that is not a problem because it stays light until 10:00. Already it has been staying light well after 9, and we change time zones when we hit Alaska. Currently, we are on Pacific Daylight Time.

Have we mentioned Tim Horton's?

5/19/08 Quesnel to Prince George. We tried to find a coffee place in the morning, then headed on down the road. Tim Horton's is like Dunkin Donuts...jam packed with people and donuts. it is in every town, unlike Starbucks which is a rare sight.
All the trees are filling out and the landscape is beautiful with the meandering rivers, lakes and green pasturelands. We have seen so many baby calves and newborn foals. We are beginning to see a few other license plates from the states: yesterday, South Dakota, and today, California.

Route 97 and Quesnel

One Hundred Mile House to Quesnel- This road was beautiful and the temperature all day was in the mid 70’s. We stopped along the river to make lunch. Quesnal has a museum of the Caribou gold country, and we spent a long time in there. It was really amazing. We both decided we learned nothing about Canada in all of our education.
We have enjoyed picking up a little French, as a lot of the signs are in French. Also, even the English is different. We went to church Sunday in 100 Mile House, and the pastor spoke of a First Nations man. We decided that it is what we would call a Native American. They have many different words for things, for instance, they call downtown the “town centre”.

Caribou Gold Fields

100 Mile House- This baffled us. Why were all these towns called 10 Mile House and 93 Mile House? After arriving at 100 Mile House, where we decided to camp in their city campground for a couple of days, we got our answer. We are following the Gold Dust Trail. Stops along the trail were marked in miles from a town called Lillooet, a major Gold Town in its day (1800’s). The weather has been beautiful, in the high 80’s. We rode our bikes all around town yesterday, and took a drive out to a fishing lake. This is a holiday weekend in Canada. There is a parade downtown this morning, and a big rodeo. We found out that we are remotely related to a rodeo star, Lyndsay Sears, who is World Champion Women’s Barrel Racer. I am wondering if she is at this rodeo?
In 100 Mile House, Denny played golf for the first time. The golf course is called the Marmet Preserve Golf Course. It is actually a preserve for the yellow-bellied marmet and one badger! Denny said the course was full of holes. He saw one marmet.
We camped right on the creek within walking distance of town. A short distance away was the beautiful Bridge Creek Falls.
One Hundred Mile House to Quesnel- This road was beautiful and the temperature all day was in the mid 70’s. We stopped along the river to make lunch. Quesnal has a museum of the Caribou gold country, and we spent a long time in there. It was really amazing. We both decided we learned nothing about Canada in all of our education.
We have enjoyed picking up a little French, as a lot of the signs are in French. Also, even the English is different. We went to church Sunday in 100 Mile House, and the pastor spoke of a First Nations man. We decided that it is what we would call a Native American. They have many different words for things, for instance, they call downtown the “town centre”.

More Great Scenery

We followed these rivers and passed these waterfalls.

Waterfalls and Rivers Everywhere

We have seen the most spectacular scenery. We followed the Fraser and Thompson Rivers along the Gold Rush Highway for many miles between Abbotsford and One Hundred Mile House. I couldn't believe all the rivers, waterfalls and beautiful mountains. Did I mention it got up to 90 degrees on Thursday 5/15?

One Hundred Mile House

One Hundred Mile House- This baffled us. Why were all these towns called 10 Mile House, 50 Mile House, and 93 Mile House? After arriving at 100 Mile House, where we decided to camp in their city campground for a couple of days, we got our answer. We are following the Gold Dust Trail. Stops along the trail were marked in miles from a town called Lillooet, a major Gold Town in its day (1800’s). The weather has been beautiful, in the high 80’s. We rode our bikes all around town yesterday, and took a drive out to a fishing lake. This is a holiday weekend (Victoria Day)in Canada. There is a parade downtown this morning, and a big rodeo. We found out that we are remotely related to a rodeo star, Lyndsay Sears, who is World Champion Women’s Barrel Racer. I am wondering if she is at this rodeo? We visited the Chartreuse Moose Coffee Shop and met some local people. We spent a lot of time visiting with them. This is a really friendly town, and they love visitors.

It has finally warmed up in Canada!

5/17/08 Honestly, we were getting a little sick of the gray sky and the low temperature. We haven’t ridden our bikes since Zion National Park. We left Abbotsford, BC, and the sky was blue and the temp got up to 75 degrees. It was beautiful. By the end of the day it had touched 90 degrees for a brief moment. This part of BC is absolutely spectacular. It is difficult to capture all the beauty on the camera, but the abundant waterfalls, the raging rivers, the tall mountains and the beautiful flowers are just great.
Hope. Larry and Renee had told us to see the wooden carvings in Hope. When we arrived at the town centre, a crew was installing a new town sign. We waited to get a picture when the workmen were finished. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the workman was Pete Ryan, the creator of all the wood sculptures! He gave us his card, and talked to us a bit. We took his picture. We headed around town after stopping at the Blue Moose Coffee House, and took in many more sculptures. They are on every corner. When we traveled on later in the day to Hells Gate, a tram that goes down into the canyon of the Fraser river, we saw another Pete Reeves sculpture in the restaurant there.

Vancouver, British Columbia

5/14/08 We got as far as Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It was raining, 49 degrees and grey……… We decided it might not be worth it to drive the rest of the way up this island if the weather was going to be so nasty. We found that we could catch a BC Ferry across Georgia Strait to Vancouver, British Columbia. We were so amazed at the size of that ferry and how many large trucks, not to mention probably over 100 cars got on that ferry. We had a two hour ride on the ferry. The ferries are very comfortable and we enjoyed the ride. When we got to British Columbia (mainland) we set the GPS for Abbotsford, heading toward the western route of our trip to Prince George, and Prince Rupert. We hit the worst construction and traffic……. Thought we were back in the states! It really slowed us down, so we didn’t make it as far as we thought we would……… spending the night in a rest stop near Abbotsford. Tomorrow promises to be better weather.
When we stop in a rest stop, or WalMart parking lot, we usually can get a couple of TV channels. Funny, here in Abbotsford, we can get one channel, which seems to be a cartoon channel! We enjoy reading, doing crossword puzzles, and I usually can download my pictures from the camera to the computer. It is drizzly, and we are learning to tell the temperature in Celcius: currently 13.5 celcius. Also, we have had to use the calculator a few times with the conversion to metric. We learned while buying deli sliced turkey sliced that 450 grams is about a pound.

Mother's Day with Aunt Lilla

We had a wonderful time visiting with Aunt Lilla in Bremerton. We had visited Chuck and Lilla 15 years ago, and had a wonderful time taking in all the sites. Denny's dad had joined us as well, and we visited all the points of interest at that time.
Saturday night we went out for a fabulous fish dinner at Anthony's in Bremerton. We got to spend some great time with Denny's cousin Larry and his wife Renee. They gave us the Milepost book, which will help us navigate Canada and Alaska. I have been reading it ever since. We got so engrossed in talking about their visits to Canada and Alaska, I forgot to get a picture of them, but at least I got a picture of Lil's home, and a Mother's Day pic of her with Denny.

Washington State

We left Coeur d'Alene Idaho on Wednesday morning, May 7 after spending the night at Cabalas Outdoor Store. We headed toward Seattle, through Spokane and over the Columbia River. When we crossed the Columbia River, it was raging wind and bitterly cold. We made it as far as Cle Elum, and stayed the night in a rest area. The next morning we headed over the Snohomish Pass into Issaquah, where we stopped at Trader Joe's and loaded up on our favorite stuff. Of course we also stopped at Starbucks. We ended up going as far as Port Orchard, and spending the night there, Thursday. The next morning, Friday May 9, we pulled into the Elks Club in Bremerton, Washington.