Tuesday, Wednesday, August 2-3, 2011

Tuesday.  Don and Sharon’s internet is not working tonight.  We should have access tomorrow night, as there are some areas in the Yukon where the satellites can not be received.

We were planning to leave Whitehorse at about 8:30 or 9am.  However, Don and Sharon still had to contact Atwood to get their jacks up and air bags inflated.  As we were bringing in the slides, the driver side slide sheared another bolt.  We had to go to a hardware store to buy more.  At least now we have more spares.

We drove to the junction of the Alaska Highway, and the Cassiar, which is the highway to Hyder, AK.  Along the way, we did see a small black bear, although we were unable to stop and take pictures.

We have now seen the Alaska Highway for the last time.

Wednesday.  We continued down the Cassiar Highway to the Kinaskin Provincial Park, BC.  The sites are nice, and Don’s Hughesnet found the right satellite, so we have internet tonight.  We think we saw a Ptarmigan (bird), but otherwise saw no wildlife today.  Maybe there will actually be bears in Hyder, AK tomorrow.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Another sightseeing day here in Whitehorse, YT.  This morning we headed to the bank again to convert some US$ to C$ – they limit you to US 250 at a time, which does not buy a lot of fuel.  Then we went to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History – a steam locomotive from the White Pass and Yukon railroad, a Mounted Police substation, and Sam McGhee’s original cabin.  Robert Service wrote a poem about the cremation of Sam McGhee, although he had to get permission from Sam to use his name in the poem.

Our next museum was the SS Klondike, a paddle wheel river boat that travelled on the Yukon River.

We met Sharon and Don at the river boat, so all four of us drove up to see salmon swim up the fish ladder.  No fish were swimming yet, but we did get pictures of fish.  See Marilyn, Don and Sharon looking at the fish.

We all went back to the Klondike Rib and Salmon restaurant.  Don and Sharon shared ribs, while Marilyn and I shared halibut and chips.  Everyone said their dinners were excellent.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Our fearless leader of the Loosey Goosey Last Frontier Gang (Dennis & Carol Hill) left this morning for southern borders.  We will miss them, but should see them in less than a month at the Escapade.

This afternoon, Don and Sharon Del Rosario made it to Whitehorse.  They had trouble getting one of their jacks to go down, so we will stay here for one extra day before heading to Hyder, AK.  We hope that they will be able to get it fixed tomorrow so they can leave on Tuesday with us.

This morning, I worked on my monthly news email, and this afternoon we went to see salmon climb the fish ladder, but they have not started yet.  We may stop by tomorrow too.  Afterwards, we went to WalMart, and, of course, they did not have half of what Marilyn wanted so we also went to the Canadian SuperStore.

Type at you later.

Friday, July 29, 2011

We left Haines, AK today, driving back through a little of British Columbia in the Yukon, ending up in Whitehorse, YT at the Pioneer RV Park.  We were last here in May.  In other words, we have come full circle, and are back on roads we drove on the way to Alaska.  We do plan to drive into one more Alaskan town on the way back south- Hyder, AK.

The only animals we saw on the trip to Whitehorse were a couple of swans and a bunch of ground squirrels.  The temperature is a little warmer than on the coast – 58 at 8:15pm.  Otherwise, it was a good trip.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

There is not a lot to do in Haines. The town is noted for its Eagles, but they winter here. Thus there are not many bald eagles in the area now. There will be over 600 pairs in November. We did drive to the right and to the left of town center to each sides’ dead end. That was a relatively short, but pretty drive. Here is a pretty shot of Haines taken from the beach. And then there is a picture of Haines from the other side of the bay.

We drove out to see if the bears were out again, and they were feeding on salmon in the Chilkoot River about 9pm once again.  First, here is a picture of a totem pole on the way out to see the bears.  Then there are pictures of momma, two cubs, and a male bear.

Tuesday, Wednesday, July 26, 27, 2011

Tuesday, we left Tok (after our final breakfast at Fast Eddy’s in mainland Alaska), and headed towards Haines, AK.  This requires a drive east to Haines Junction in the Yukon, and then south to the coast.  The road from the US (Alaska) border towards Haines Junction is a road on perma-frost which means that it is full of frost heaves.  It is even worse than I-10 form the LA border to New Orleans.

Along the way, we stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge visitor center for some information on bird migration, etc.  The entrance door had a cute bird.

After leaving the Refuge visitor center, we drove into Canada, in the Yukon.

We stopped at the southern end of Kluane Lake (the largest lake in the Yukon) for the night at a beautiful pull-off.  Jim and Pat, and Gary and Mary spent the night with us.  These three pictures not only show off our RVs, but the beautiful view we have.

Wednesday, we left Kluane Lake, and drove to Haines Junction, where we hung a right down to the coast and Haines, AK.  The drive continued in the Yukon, then into British Columbia, and finally back into the US at Haines, AK.  Here is the back of Mary & Gary’s rig going through US Customs ahead of us, and the US Border sign..

After dinner, we, Marilyn, I, Dennis and Carol drove out along the shore to see if we could see any bears along the Chilkoot river.  We saw momma and her twins.  I apologize for the blurriness if you try to blow it up.

 

Type at you later.

Monday, July 25, 2011

I changed the air filter in the motorhome this morning with some tool help from Gary along with some supervision and help from Dennis.  Marilyn did laundry, and in the afternoon we went to the Post Office, a gift shop, grocery store, and a visitor center.  Dennis & Marilyn decided that I should post pictures of my dirty self changing the air filter.

Here are some pictures taken during our drive from Anchorage to Paxson Lake, and to Tok, AK.  They include a picture taken in the same pull-off that we spent the night in on our way to Anchorage in June, as well as another picture of the Matanuska glacier.

While in Paxson Lake, Marilyn took a picture of a ground squirrel.

On the drive from Paxson Lake to Tok, we took pictures of Wilds Preston Richardson’s memorial, another glacier, and said goodbye as we saw the Pipeline for the last time.

Before arriving in Tok, we stopped in Delta Junction to take pictures of mile post 1422, the Alaskan end of the Alaska Highway.

The Delta Junction visitor center also had a couple of statues of Alaska’s state bird.

Sourdough Campground, where we have stayed last night and tonight, has a contest every night to where you toss pancakes into a “Buckit”.  If you complete the toss correctly, you receive a free breakfast in the morning.  This youngster made a bucket with some helpful bucket movement.