<![CDATA[Meandering the Blue Highways]]> Follow Meandering the Blue Highways, filter it, and define how you want to receive the news (via Email, RSS, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.) https://follow.it/meandering-the-blue-highways Sat, 28 Jan 2023 02:25:13 +0200 <![CDATA[Alaska 2022: Valdez]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lncv593KTJUwX50KYzL9tX
July 21-25, 2022

    Spectacular. Gorgeous. Stunning. Breathtaking. Awe-inspiring. Valdez is pretty difficult to describe.

View from our campsite at Valdez RV Park. 


    But first, we had to get there--it was 200 miles from our boondock on the Matanuska River. We got an early start and enjoyed views of the sprawling Matanuska Glacier as we headed northeast on the Glenn Hwy toward Glennallen.

Matanuska Glacier: 27 miles long, 4 miles wide at terminus.

Chugach Mountains south of Glenn Hwy.

    As we neared Glennallen, upside down "L" poles lined the highway. One tour bus driver is known to tell his passengers that the poles spray water, giving passing vehicles a free wash.

Poles to guide snowplows.

The poles are actually for snowplows. The vertical section marks the edge of the road, so the drivers don't end up in a ditch. The horizontal section indicates the shoulder area. Poles on the Richardson Hwy also have GPS to guide snowplows.
    We were treated to a moose sighting. It appeared to be a juvenile. At least, it wasn't a adult bull, as it had no rack.

Who, me? 

    Glennallen isn't much more than services at the junction of the Glenn and Richardson Highways. In addition to a gas station, grocery store, post office, campground, and visitor information center, there's a library, BLM office, and, most importantly, Ernesto's Mobile Grill. Ernesto's appeared to have found a permanent home at the "Hub of Alaska." Breakfast was the most amazing huevos rancheros--nothing like good Mexican food! 

Heading south to Valdez: Chugach Mountains. 

    Now we were ready to hit the road. For the next few hours, our heads would be on a gimble as we took in the landscape.
    At Copper Center, 20 miles south of Glennallen, we stopped at Wrangell-St Elias National Park Visitors Center. At 13.2 million acres, Wrangell-St Elias is the largest national park in the US. In fact, 7 of the top 10 are in Alaska. In the lower 48, only Death Valley, Yellowstone, and the Everglades break the top 10. More on Wrangell-St Elias in our upcoming McCarthy-Kennicott post.
    
Ahtna Cultural Center Legacy House.

    Also on the visitors center grounds is the Ahtna Cultural Center. The Ahtna are one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations established by Congress under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Their mission is to preserve their cultural heritage and to provide opportunities for shareholders. For thousands of years, the Copper River Basin has been the traditional homeland of the Ahtna people. Most of the corporation's 2,000 shareholders are of Ahtna Athabascan descent. 

Traditional fishwheel at Ahtna Cultural Center.

    The center includes a fishwheel. Originally used by Alaska Natives for subsistence living--using only as much of natural resources as is necessary for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, handcrafts, and trade--today, any Alaska resident can use a fishwheel during the state-regulated salmon season.
    It was chilly, and we were soon back in the van warming up.

Richardson Hwy connects Valdez, Mile 0, to Fairbanks, Mile 364.

    We saw the Trans-Alaska Pipeline  several times, as it nears the end of its journey from Prudhoe Bay. 

Alaska Pipeline viewed form Richardson Hwy.

Over the 800 miles, the pipeline passes through tunnels, crosses rivers, runs across permafrost, and goes up and down 3 mountain ranges. 

The Trans Alaska Pipeline has 12 pumping stations along its 800-mile route from Prudhoe Bay on the Beaufort Sea to Valdez on the Gulf of Alaska.

    As we passed the turnoff to McCarthy Road, we continued to ponder whether we wanted to drive the 30 miles of pavement followed by 60 miles of dirt road to McCarthy-Kennincott.

The park boundary is 33 miles, but McCarthy-Kennicott is 90 miles, the last 60 on a dirt road.

    For now, we continued on to Valdez. We called ahead to Valdez RV Park, where we'd stayed in 2017. It was our introduction to Wendy, one of the employees, who assured us there were plenty of dry campsites available, and they'd save one for us, whenever we arrived. 

Heading south to Valdez.

    Starting up 2,678-foot Thompson Pass, we were congratulating ourselves that though it was cold, the weather was nothing like 2017, when the visibility was about zero. And then...

Thompson Pass obscured by fog & rain. Note the "L" snow plow poles along the shoulder.

Fog and rain quickly reduced visibility. So there was a bit of white-knuckling as we navigated the pass, but the fog, if not the rain, relented as we came down off it. Thompson Pass is known as the Snowiest Place in Alaska--it averages 42 feet of snow a year! The record was set in the winter of 1952-53: 81 feet! 
    It cleared enough that we were able to see Worthington Glacier. In 2017, we didn't even know it existed until we left Valdez. As we came over Thompson Pass going north, Doug said, "Look in the rearview mirror." My jaw dropped at the enormous swath of ice behind us. We returned to walk up to the glacier. 

Worthington Glacier. Driving to Valdez in 2017, it was invisible.

    You might say the "dry" campsites--meaning no hook-ups-- at Valdez RV Park weren't exactly dry, for it was rainy and wet when we arrived.

Valdez RV Park dry campsites.

But sunshine in a place that averages 70 inches of rain annually is a bit on the rare side. Valdez is also known as the Snowiest Town in the US: it averages 25 feet of snow per year.
    We fell in love with the family who had bought Valdez RV Park since our previous visit. 

There was an electric panel behind our dry campsite--the owner generously told us to plug in!

We felt as though the owners and employees adopted us--and we certainly wanted to adopt all of them! Their kindness and generosity began immediately when Kate, the owner, walking us to dry-camping-no-hookups Site 1, said, "You know, there's an electric panel right next to you--why don't you just plug into it?"

Doug, toasty inside the van.

We gladly took the chill off the inside of the van with our portable electric heater and gladly offered more than the going rate for our site each day to cover the electricity. And we were still away from the RVs crowded into the hook-ups area of the campground.

View from our campsite

    Around 8:30 the first night, we looked out and saw Kate and her 3 kids digging a trench in an attempt to drain the huge puddle in the campground. Doug headed out to help--and soon took over directing and trenching.

Doug (in maroon) with owner and kids trenching to drain the huge puddle in the campground.

    Valdez was magical. We even talked about spending a summer there. 

Valdez Harbor.

    Valdez sits on Port Valdez Fjord, an arm of Prince William Sound, and is surrounded by the glaciated Chugach Mountains. 

Valdez is small & easy to walk.

Valdez is small, and we enjoyed heading out from the campground each day to explore the town--and eat.

Valdez Harbor

In 2017, we'd done the Civic Center Overlook Trail and visited the museums and the wonderful library. Once again we visited the town library and enjoyed their book exchange selection.

Walking from the campground down Chitina Rd to downtown.

    Kate recommended the Nat Shack for dinner. It was just down the road from the campground, across from the harbor.

The Nat Shack, home of unique tacos.

The amazing enclosed tacos were so delicious we went there another evening for dinner, as well. We loved the Crunchwrap--beef, tostado, lettuce, nachos, sour cream, pico de gallo, chipotle--and the Banh Mi--chicken, cilantro lime rice, pickled carrot, tostada, jalapeno, spicy mayo, cilantro. Yum!

Doug getting out of the rain at the Nat Shack.

    We went to Trada's Breakfast Diner one morning, were lucky there was a free table, and waited...and waited.... There was one server for the tour bus group that had just left and the crowd that was now filling both dining rooms. She eventually took our order, though not before sitting down and telling us her life story...but the pancakes were phenomenal. We made the mistake of having breakfast at another restaurant the next morning, and had rubber pancakes. Our last day, we returned to Trada's. There was no wait, and the pancakes were again delicious. We begged the chef for his recipe, but he simply said it's just all in the heat of the griddle.
    Of course we justified all the wonderful meals by all the walking we did, both in Valdez and at nearby spots we visited.


Short drives from Valdez are Old Valdez, Solomon Gulch Fish Hathery, Valdez Gladier Lake, & Homestead Trail.

Old Valdez
    The Ahtna, Sugpiaq, and Eyak  Native Peoples used the Prince William Sound-Copper River Basin as their hunting and fishing grounds for thousands of years.
    The English explored Prince William Sound, but it was the Spanish who ventured up the 11-mile fjord to the area of Valdez. In 1790, Spaniard Salvador Fidalgo dubbed the area Valdes. He has a street named after him in Valdez. 
    In the 1800s, the Russians had trading posts in the Prince William Sound area for trading with the Native Peoples.
    Klondike
    In 1897, the discovery of gold in the Klondike and the promise of an "All-American Trail" lured 4,000 or so prospectors to the area of Old Valdez, about 4 miles west of today's town. The trail would avoid the strict requirements imposed by the Canadian government on those who traveled the Chilkoot Trail out of Dyea. However, Captain Abercrombie, who had touted the trail, had never actually been on it. 

Gold in the Klondike & around Copper Center. Copper at Kennicott.

    The "trail" turned out to be an arduous climb over Valdez Glacier and up the Klutina River to Klutina Lake. There, just as at Lake Bennett at the end of the Chilkoot Trail, prospectors had to build boats to cross the lake and go on to Copper Center. Some continued to the Klondike, but others stayed in the area as gold had been discovered there as well. Some prospectors didn't even leave Valdez, instead setting up shop to prosper from their fellow prospectors. 
    In 1898, the Army, led by the same Captain Abercrombie who had claimed the existence of a trail to Eagle, began to actually build the trail. Rather than going over Valdez Glacier, it followed a trail that Native Peoples had traveled for thousands of years along the Lowe River through Keystone Canyon.

Lowe River in Keystone Canyon

Bit of a difference that, climbing a glacier vs following a river. Abercrombie named the canyon Keystone after his home state of Pennsylvania, the Keystone State. 
    Kennicott
    In 1900, one of the richest copper deposits ever found anywhere was discovered on the edge of Kennicott Glacier in the Wrangell Mountains. Mining began in anticipation of loading the copper onto a train that would reach the Gulf of Alaska.

Unfinished railroad tunnel hand-drilled in Keystone Canyon.

    Railroad routes were proposed to both Valdez and Cordova. One company began to hand-drill a tunnel through the cliffs of Keystone Canyon, 12 miles east of Valdez. But the discovery of coal along the Cordova route put the kabosh on the Valdez route. 
    A scalawag remained determined to bring the train to Valdez, especially as he had convinced many Valdez residents to invest with him. When he showed up with his crew to continue drilling the tunnel through Keystone Canyon, US Marshalls met him and forbade any work to be done. He fled the area, taking with him the money from the citizens of Valdez.
    Alaska Railroad
    In the 1920s, Valdez again lost its bid for a railroad, when the Alaska Railroad chose Seward as its terminus. Not only did Valdez not get the railroad, it now had competition as a port of entry into the interior of Alaska. By 1920, the population of Valdez was less than 500, where it remained for the next few decades.
    Good Friday Earthquake & Tsunami

Old Valdez, 1955.

   On March 27, 1964, Good Friday, a 9.2 earthquake, to this day still the largest earthquake ever in North America, struck at 5:36 PM, 15 miles beneath the surface of Prince William Sound. It lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds. 
    If you've ever felt an earthquake, you know 4 minutes and 38 seconds is an unimaginably long time. I will never forget standing in a doorway holding my infant son during the 1983 Coalinga earthquake, which was a 6.7, was 62 miles away, and lasted "only" 45 interminable seconds. 
    In Valdez, since it was Good Friday school was out, and many children and adults were at the docks, excitedly waiting for the unloading of the supply ship Chena from Seattle that had just arrived. Crew members were tossing candy and oranges to the adults and kids when the earthquake hit. The land where the town had been built was all sand and gravel. At the waterfront, the earthquake caused the land to liquify. Most of those at the docks had no chance to escape as the land slid away and the water swallowed them. In all, 26 adults and 6 children ages 2 to 15 died. The Chena survived, but 3 crewmen died. This was followed by a tsunami that surged into Valdez, causing great damage but no further loss of life. 
    Figures vary, but the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis killed about 131 Alaskans around Prince William Sound. About 17 people also died in the tsunamis that hit the Oregon and California coasts.

Good Friday 1964 Alaska Earthquake. Valdez was 56 miles from the epicenter. 

    A memorial to the Valdez residents who died in the Good Friday earthquake was built on the foundation of the Old Town Post Office. It was sobering to see the names of families who perished. 
   After the destruction, the Valdez townsite was condemned. Not only was the land unstable, it now flooded at high tide. In 1967, relocation to the new town, 4 miles west, was completed. Dozens of bulidings from the old townsite were moved to the new Valdez. Valdez Museum has a wonderful site with pictures of the original town.
   We enjoyed quiet views from Old Valdez and nearby Pioneer Cemetery. 

Old Valdez townsite today: offshore is the Valdez Container Terminal, a floating concrete dock for loading & offloading shipping containers, & a 9-silo grain terminal.




There was one sign we decided not to venture beyond.

We thought better of wandering beyond this sign...

A Campground Story
    On our 2017 visit to Valdez, we'd bought salmon at Peter Pan Seafoods on the harbor. 

Reminder of our 2017 visit to Valdez--bag for salmon.

This time, Doug just walked a short way down the street from the campground and bought some. He cooked it up outside on our camp stove. 

Nothing like Chef Doug's fresh salmon for dinner.

    Later that evening, we joined the staff to roast marshmallows around the barbecue pit. We got to meet Wendy's daughters, who were home from college "Outside"--in the Lower 48. 

9:00 PM: Marshmallow roast.

    Doug also took a typical meander through the campground. What wasn't typical was that he returned wearing a gorgeous wool sweater!

Doug modeling his new favorite sweater. It was brisk enough to enjoy it.

He'd noticed a Retired Navy Nurse license plate holder and being a Retired Navy Pilot introduced himself to the owner. During their conversation she held out the sweater and asked Doug if he'd like to have it--the person she'd made it for had declined! We still can't get over her generosity!

Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery
    Silver salmon start running in Valdez toward the end of July, so one afternoon, we drove out to Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery. It was too early in the day for the grizzlies to come down to feed on the spawning salmon, but the seals provided entertainment. 

Beginning of fish ladder is on left. Spectators & seagulls  watch seals. The gulls eat whatever the seals discard.

    Since 1982, the fish hatchery has grown and released pink and coho salmon fish fry. Like all salmon, the fish return to where they were spawned--in this case, the hatchery--to spawn the next generation. Those that aren't used by the hatchery for new stock are harvested by commercial purse seine fishermen.

Seals & grizzlies pretty much just open their mouths & let the salmon that didn't make it up the fish ladder flop in.

Seals taking a break from gorging on salmon. Hatchery fish ladder is on the right.

Time for a break!

We watched this guy lumber laboriously up on the rocks (see video above)--he really needed a break from all that salmon!

    Further out Dayville Rd from the fish hatchery is the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline. 

All rested & ready for more salmon!

Aleyska Pipeline Valdez Marine Terminal.

Valdez Glacier Lake
    Valdez Glacier Lake with its year-round icebergs is just a few miles out of town. 

Icebergs--in July!

Folks kayak on the lake and upstream into the canyon, either with a tour or on their. Once out on the water, Valdez Glacier becomes visible. 

Iceberg floating in Valdez Glacier Lake.

Dad & son ready to kayak upstream.

    Kayaking on the lake looked very attractive, but also rather cold. Though we had our inflatable kayaks packed in their suitcases in the van garage, we did not have the gear to support the cold weather, so we opted to stay on shore. It seems to happen that when we take our kayaks on a trip we don't use them, and when we leave them at home we could have used them daily!

Two families, parents & young children, were well outfitted for kayaking in the glacier-fed lake. They headed upstream into the canyon on the right of the photo.

    Valdez Glacier Stream flows from the lake past the Old Valdez townsite and into Port Valdez Fjord.

How Far Has Doug Traveled???
    As we returned to Valdez, the trip odometer hit 6,000 miles. That is, in the 6-plus weeks since leaving home, Doug had driven 6,000 miles (only 6,200 to go)! Marilyn had been with him 4-plus weeks and a little over 2,000 miles. 

Odometer hit 6,000 miles returning from Valdez Glacier Lake--Doug had been on the road 6-plus weeks

Homestead Trail
    Wendy told us about Homestead Trail along Mineral Creek out where near she lived, so we drove out there one day to walk it.

Homestead Trail follows Mineral Creek out to Port Valdez.

The glaciated Chugach Mountains surround Valdez.

It's a flat easy trail, with stunning views of Port Valdez and the Chugach Mountains.

Pink fireweed painted the landscape everywhere we went on our trip.

Almost to Port Valdez Fjord.

Fishing boats plied the waters of Port Valdez on this beautiful day.

Salmon spawn in Mineral Creek, but we didn't see any.

Perhaps this bald eagle was waiting for a few salmon to come by.

More Campground Stories
    One morning, Marilyn walked over to the shower rooms and found them all occupied. She went next door to the office to chat with Kate, the owner, and Wendy, their amazing employee. Kate's daughter was also there. After a bit, Marilyn returned to the van.

View out the back of hte van.

    Awhile later, Marilyn returned to the bathhouse and found an open shower. While she was there, Kate's daughter ran to the van and told Doug she had a shower for Marilyn! Kate later told us her daughter had practically guarded that shower with her life, not letting anyone near it! See why we felt adopted and never wanted to leave?
    Kate's youngest was always practicing casting in the parking lot. When Doug asked what he was catching, he said, "Rock Fish." Yet another reason why we like this family.

Kate's youngest casting for Rock Fish.

Another Tale of Mushrooms
    If you've been following our blog for awhile, you probably know that mushrooms fascinate Marilyn. So herewith, mushrooms from Pioneer Cemetery in Old Valdez.

Various stages of emerging.

Time to see what life's like above ground.

Patterns.

All decked out for the emerging party.

Above ground welcoming committee.

Fascinating undersides.

Adieu, Valdez
        We left Valdez reluctantly after saying our good-byes to our amazing hosts. After a couple of perfect days of sunshine, it was raining again, and we'd decided, sort of, that we thought we might go to McCarthy-Kennicott.

A last view from our site at Valdez RV Park.

Driving along Richardson Hwy from Valdez.

Keystone Canyon: Bridalveil Falls.

Keystone Canyon: Horsetail Falls.

Turnoff at Tonsina. Off on our next adventure--and our holiday card that we posted. 
]]> Sat, 31 Dec 2022 02:04:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lncv593KTJUwX50KYzL9tX <![CDATA[Alaska 2022: Lazy Mountain, Hatcher Pass, & Matanuska Glacier]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lBUgEMIzazOQSngkwrdsok July 18-21, 2022

    After 3 grand days in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, we returned to family camp at JBER, the military base on the north side of Anchorage, to do laundry. The next morning, we drove the short 43 miles northeast to Palmer, where Marilyn's brother-in-law David spent much of his youth. We were going to visit his sister, Mary Nan, and her husband, John, who now live in the family home.

Downtown Palmer with Lazy Mountain behind.

    Mary Nan had recommended we drive up Hatcher Pass, but folks in town said driving the steep, 1-lane, curvy road that day, what with the fog and rain, would be too dangerous.

Hatcher Pass Rd.

So Marilyn whiled away the time in the local quilt shop (hm, wonder if she spent any money...) while Doug walked about town in the rain and found a used book store.

Some of the fabric Marilyn was obliged to buy in quilt shops in Canada & Alaska; laying out for a quilt at home.

    Palmer is in the rich Matanuska-Susitna, or Mat-Su, Valley. Those gigantic Alaska cabbages we've all seen in pictures? They're from the Mat-Su Valley. Take fertile soil, add nearly 24-hour-a-day sunshine for a few months, and voila! The world record for largest cabbage, set in 2012 at the Alaska State Fair, which takes place in Palmer each fall, still stands: 138.25 pounds.


At the 2022 state fair, the winner weighed in at a mere 84.05 lb.
    Palmer has about 6,000 residents, making it a pretty large town by Alaska standards. Remember, Alaska is huge--it's as wide as the entire lower 48. Texas, California, and Montana fit inside it, with room to spare. But the state has only 750,000 residents. Half of them live in Anchorage.


    Under the 1930s New Deal, the federal government moved 200-plus farming families from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to the Mat-Su Valley. They were provided a home, a barn, 40 acres, and a $3,000 loan.
    David and Mary Nan's parents arrived in Palmer much later, moving from Minnesota in 1963--just in time for the 1964 earthquake. It was Good Friday, 5:30 PM, when the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America, a 9.2, struck Alaska.


The earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused destruction from Alaska to Los Angeles and led to the establishment of the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer. We'll write a little more about the earthquake in our post on Valdez.


    In late afternoon, we left Palmer, crossed the Matanuska River, which empties into the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, and drove up to Lazy Mountain. It was here that David, Mary Nan, and two more brothers grew up, their dad the town’s GP, and their mom an occupational therapist.

Across the Matanuska River from Palmer headed for Lazy Mountain.

The spacious home and yard were built by their parents for Alaska's long days of summer and long nights of winter.

What an idyllic location!

As kids, they watched moose come into the yard.

Mary Nan has an amazing green thumb.

Flowers & whimsical sculptures abound in the gardens & pots. 

Patio off deck with huge pots of gorgeous flowers.

Everywhere you look there are pots spilling over with flowers & garden art.

Northern Monkshood?

Marilyn loved the Japanese lantern near the hollyhocks.

All the rain was encouraging wonderful mushrooms out of the ground, another of Marilyn's favorites.

    After an amazing wild salmon dinner and hours of wonderful conversation and stories of Mary Nan and John's experiences growing up, living, and working in Alaska, we headed to bed in the van. We were parked in their driveway turnaround, a wonderful flat spot...


...surrounded by gardens...


...with the sound of the stream trickling muscially behind us all night long.

Stream running through the back yard.

    Morning brought blue skies and puffy white clouds, so we headed for Hatcher Pass. After crossing back over the Matanuska River, we were soon in the famed farmland of the Mat-Su Valley.

Rolling green fields dotted with rolled bales of hay.

The little Susitna River raged alongside the road.

Little Susitna River swollen by rain.

We began to climb toward Hatcher Pass.

Heading up to Hatcher Pass.

    At the beginning of the 20th century, Robert Lee Hatcher discovered gold here in the Talkeetna Mountains at about 3,500 feet and made a lode claim.

Little Susitna River, pink fireweed, white yarrow.

Lode mining is not an individual operation, as it requires miles of tunnels and heavy equipment. Two mining companies were formed, the Alaska Free Gold Mine and the Independence Mine. Pre-WWI, the mines were combined into the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company. "Boomtown" housed the 200 mine workers, including 22 families, and 8 children attended the Territorial School in the bunkhouse.

Buildings of former Independence Gold Mine; note piles of tailings.

After WWII, during which all gold mining in the US was shut down, the mine reopened and operated until 1951.

Former mine housing. Looking toward Palmer & Chugach Mountains.

    Today the area is the Independence Mine State Historic Park, offering a self-guided tour of the mine camp, hiking, winter sports, a Visitors Center, a snack shop, and a gift shop.
    The park sits on a hairpin turn, and as we pulled out, this sign greeted us:

A sign that Doug likes--another adventure! 
Leaving the gold mine park to head to the pass.

It was only another 330 feet to the top, but it was a steep 330 feet.

The climb from Independence Mine to Hatcher Pass isn't far, but it's steep & the road turns to gravel. Note the ice on the side of the road.

Summitt Lake is off to the left.

We made it!

It was cold at Hatcher Pass!

A pond-size puddle & snow alongside the road.

It was steep going down the other side of Hatcher Pass, too.

Just a little hairpin curve.

And it was beautiful.

Fireweed & green hills.

    We exited Hatcher Pass Road at Willow, had the pleasure of passing through Wasilla again, and turned east on the Glennallen Hwy at Anchorage.

Back on the Parks Hwy, looking south toward Anchorage.

    It was only 11 AM. We knew we wanted to go to Valdez, at least a 5.5-hour, 300-mile drive, But we weren't really inclined to push it. So we decided to just play it by ear. What else is new?

Matanuska River & Chugach Mountains.

    We were soon gaping at views of the Matanuska River and Valley, with the Chugach Mountains to the south and the Talkeetna Mountains to the north.

Matanuska River along Glennallen Hwy.

A couple of hours later, Doug, as he so's great at, caught something out of the corner of his eye. We found a pullout high above the river, got out and looked at the awesome landscape, and decided to backtrack.

Chugach Mountains.

Sure enough, Doug had seen folks camped along the river. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a private campground. Undeterred, Doug backtracked some more, and we discovered Matanuska Rd.

We couldn't get to the spot where the white RVs are in the picture, but Matanuska Rd took us to great spots on this side of the stream that cut through the riverbank.

Soon, we were boondocking right on the river, though it took Doug some maneuvering to get the van angled so the wind wouldn't pound it. Unfurling the awning was out of the question.

Boondocking on the Matanuska River.

    Alaska is the best for free camping spots. You can park almost anywhere, as long as you aren't in the road. Doug uses pullouts when he's alone, because he takes off as soon as he wakes up. But when traveling together, we prefer to be in a scenic spot and take a little more time in the morning.
    Cold as it was, Marilyn did some scouting for a spot to dip her bucket in the river for water to pour over her head.

Marilyn scouting a bucket-dipping spot.

She succeeded, against her better judgment, then spilled the water climbing back up the short slippery bank. She thought better of trying again.

Marilyn's bucket dipping spot. Would you take a short but steep, rocky, & slippery path to a raging, glacier-fed river to prove you could get some water out of it to pour over your head on a cold, windy day???

Doug exploring the river.

    Late that evening, we watched as a rafting party turned into the stream, loaded their gear and themselves into a van and trailer, and headed to warmer surroundings.

Stream separating us from private camping. Rafters pulled out of the river into the stream late in the evening.

Van viewed from the highway.

    Doug took this amazing photo at 2:00 AM.

2:00 AM on the Matanuska River.

    We got an early start the next morning. For miles we had views of the sprawling Matanuska Glacier: 27 miles long and, at its terminus, 4 miles wide.

Matanuska Glacier.

Unfortunately, access to walk to the glacier is somehow on private land, but there are great views from Glennallen Hwy and Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site.

4-mile-wide terminus of Matanuska Glacier seen from Glennallen Hwy.

    We still weren't sure if we wanted to make the 180-mile roundtrip drive to McCarthy-Kennicott, 120 of it on a 1-lane dirt road, but we knew we wanted to go to Valdez again. So we continued northeast toward Glennallen, where we'd turn south on the Richardson Hwy.
]]> Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:52:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lBUgEMIzazOQSngkwrdsok <![CDATA[Merry Holidays!]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nPgODvg_Oo9kZPHFZJLI3I

15 December 2022

Wishing all our followers Merry Holidays 
& 
All the best for 2023! 



Thank you for reading about & 
commenting on our travels. 
We look forward to sharing more with you in 2023.

 

]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2022 22:25:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nPgODvg_Oo9kZPHFZJLI3I <![CDATA[Canada-Alaska 2022: Kenai Peninsula - Seward]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mM-nmXA3P3QnKSkciKEY1s July 15-18, 2022  

    We wanted to return to Seward, which we'd visited in 2017, so off we went, driving south from Anchorage along Turnagain Arm. 

Chugach Mountains are backdrop as we head south from Anchorage.

The drive from Anchorage to Seward is under 3 hours--if it's not a big holiday.

    Following the road along Turnagain Arm, we passed Bird Creek Campground. It was our first campground in Alaska in 2017.  We had taken Mz Agnes, our Ford poptop, on the Alaska Ferry, 5 amazing days from Bellingham, WA, including the Inside Passage, finally disembarking in Whittier, AK. Ask Doug about driving the 2.5-mile-long, 1-lane, 1-way-at-a-time tunnel. 

Looking across Turnagain Arm to the Kenai Peninsula. 

    We stopped in Girdwood for coffee at the Alpine Cafe and Bakery.

The notch on the bottom right is approximately where Hope is. 

    At the top of the Kenai Peninsula, we were tempted to continue around the north end to the sleepy town of Hope. But though we enjoyed it on our last trip, it didn't take long to remember the grizzly bears in the campground, so we decided to head on. 

Recent rains created a patchwork of greens. More importantly, they helped clear the air & extinguish the wild fires that had plagued Alaska in May & June.

    At the junction with Hwy 9 to Seward, Hwy 1 continues on around the west side of the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. We elected not to go to Homer as we'd found it a bit too "touristy" on our previous trip. 
    Soon we were crossing Moose Pass, which figured in the "last full-scale, old-fashioned, frontier-style gold rush in the United States...in 1909 at Iditarod" ("Iditarod: Gold Rush to Ghost Town"). Iditarod is roughly halfway, about 500 miles, between Nome and Seward. Upon arriving at Moose Pass in the early 20th century, two enterprising men built a small inn and supply house to serve the prospectors arriving by boat in Seward. Since the gold in Seward and Nome had petered out, prospectors headed inland, from both Nome and Seward, to the latest gold strike: at Iditarod.

Dogsled typical of original Iditarod Trail days.

That was all well and good in summer, but in winter Nome's harbor was iced in, while Seward's harbor on Resurrection Bay remained ice free. The only way to get gold out of Iditarod and nearby goldfields in winter was through Seward, and the only way to get to Seward was by sled dog team.  

The original Iditarod Trail ran about 1,000 miles from Seward to Nome, with Iditarod, now a ghost town except during the annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race, about halfway in between.

Dogsleds were soon carrying mail and supplies from Seward to Iditarod and gold from Iditarod to Seward. The original people who created and traveled using sled dogs on all of Alaska's interior trails were of course Alaska's Natives. They had bred dogs for centuries to meet particular needs ("Booms and Busts: Iditarod Trail History").

Sign on Resurrection Bay in downtown Seward commemorates original Iditarod Trail.

    The inaugural run of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in 1973, ran not from Seward but from Anchorage to Nome. The section from Seward to Anchorage had long since been overlaid with rail tracks and roads. 

Carving of sled dogs & sled near Seward Harbor.

    A bit of trivia: How did Nome get its name? Some say a cartographer mistoopk the note "? name" by a cape on a nautical chart as "C. Nome," so thought the name to be "Cape Nome."  
    Once again, Seward did not disappoint. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska, it is surrounded by glaciated peaks.

Fishing boat on Resurrection Bay.

    The municipal campgrounds were no longer first-come-first-serve, now requiring an online reservation, and prices had increased. Luckily, we found a tent site with a view of Resurrection Bay. 

Resurrection Bay is lined with 100s of municipal camp sites.

At 17-1/2 feet & not requiring hook-ups, we're small enough to usually be permitted in tent sites. An additional bonus: tent sites are definitely cheaper & more spacious. 

    Have we said how much we like our garage set-up (the back of the van under the bed)? Marilyn made the shoe and tool bags on the doors. Cameron, of Heritage Custom Carpentry, made the 2 drawers, each extending the 3-foot length of the garage. Rolef of Montreal made the amazing curtain/no see-um screens on the back and side doors, and our friend David installed them. 

Our "garage." We love that our van is a group effort. The bed is visible through the screen in the top half.

    Our campsite came with artwork:

Painted rocks set against a piece of wood on a picnic table...

...& tucked in at the base of a tree.

View across Resurrection Bay from near our campsite. Each time we looked the view was different, thanks to the clouds, fog, & rain. 


Drenched bald eagle perched on a rock, probably futilely hoping to dry off, while a seal paddled by behind with a fish it had caught.

    A path runs along Resurrection Bay between downtown Seward and the harbor. On his walk the first morning, Doug discovered campsites downtown. We were in luck as one was available. It was just a flat spot with no services--but since it was right on Resurrection Bay with views all around of the mountains and glaciers, it was perfect. 

Our downtown campsite, did we say right on the water?

View across Resurrection Bay from downtown campsite.

    The rain came and went, clouds and fog lifted and lowered, making for amazing vistas throughout our 3-day stay in Seward. It was another place where we found ourselves waking in the morning, taking a look at the view outside and saying, "Let's stay another day." As we had no itinerary aside from enjoying Alaska, it worked. 

Doug capturing another of myriad vistas the clouds, rain, & fog created.

    Boats in harbors always call to Doug. He walked to the Seward Harbor twice. 

Seward Harbor.

Marilyn accompanied Doug on his second visit to the harbor. We checked out all the various campsites along the bay, noting sites we'd love to be in. While at the harbor, we watched the weighing of a particularly large halibut.

Halibut was caught by a woman out on a fishing trip.

    When we first arrived in Seward, a cruise ship loomed over the harbor, it's 8 stories (at least) dwarfing all the other craft.

Cruise ships arrive in the morning, disgorge passengers, & leave at night.

Carved bears near the harbor.

    Tour boats and fishing boats went to and fro in the bay. 

Two fishing boats returning to harbor as a tour boat heads out.

    Along the bay path, Marilyn was glad to revisit the large stone Japanese lantern, a gift to Seward from Obijiro, Japan, and Brotherly Love Park and Memorial Garden.

Obihiro, Japan, is a sister city of Seward. 




The memorial garden is planted in poppies.

Poppies symbolize remembrance...

...sleep...

...dreams...

...imagination... 

...peace.

    Deciding we needed a treat, we went out to dinner in downtown Seward one night.

Downtown Seward from 2nd floor of restaurant.

    Our routine is usually to find a coffee shop in the morning and relax. We were not disappointed by the Sea Bean: pleasant staff, good coffee, and though the rain and fog made for great views, it was nice to get out of the cold and relax in a warm place.

Our morning hangout.

Looking out 18-mile-long Resurrection Bay from our downtown campsite. 

Resurrection Bay is 18 miles long; its maximum width is 5 miles

Another amazing view from our downtown campsite on the water.

The fog continually dropped & lifted.

    As with everywhere on our 2022 trip, we left Seward reluctantly and head back north to Anchorage.

Fireweed & fog along Upper Trail Lake, north of Moose Pass.

Rain flooded the land along the roads, here near the south end of Turnagain Arm, with the Chugach Mountains as backdrop.

Driving north along Turnagain Arm toward Anchorage.

    After a night back at the military base family camp north of Anchorage to do laundry, we'd head to Lazy Mountain, near Palmer. It's where Marilyn's brother-in-law David grew up and where his sister and her husband now live. They were great hosts: gave us a flat spot to park near their house, cooked an amazing salmon meal, and shared many stories of living and working in Alaska. 
]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2022 03:56:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mM-nmXA3P3QnKSkciKEY1s <![CDATA[More Fall Happenings]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-ljz70dAySIIXtuT6pSmY81
December 2, 2022 - Bravo Lake Redux

    Remember our outing to Bravo Lake Botanical Garden? In the mail today we received a thank you gift from Linda, our Montana friend who accompanied us on the outing: our very own Lady Bug Crossing, just like the one in Peter Rabbit's Garden!

Lady Bug Crossing in our garden. 

Lady Bug Crossing in Peter Rabbit's Garden.

November Birthday Celebration in Monterey

It's about a 3-1/2 drive from home to Monterey. We took the scenic route coming home. 
 
   For the past several years, our granddaughter in Davis has celebrated her birthday in Monterey. Her dad has a conference, so they make it a family weekend. This year we joined in!
    On the drive over from the Central Valley, after we left I-5, we were in the coastal agricultural area. Fall harvest was in full swing.

Farmworkers picking lettuce.

Farmworker bus & portapotties.

Field of Brussels sprouts after picking.

Melon field after picking.

New row crops being irrigated.

Rich soil readied for planting as far as the eye can see.

Fennel.

Classic barn. Note white farmworker bus.

Agriculture mosaic.

    We arrived in Monterey in time for lunch with the Davis crew: Marilyn's older son, Andrew, wife Emily, and children, Leah and Hudson.

The kids stayed near the wharf & we stayed in a hotel on the Presidio, a working Army base & home to the Defense Language School.

    We spent both afternoons at the beach in Carmel.

The weather was spectacular!

Carmel Beach City Park: Andrew, Hudson (7), Leah (9), Em, & Marilyn (in pink fleece). Where is she going???

We walked the beach, waded in the water, looked for shells, skipped stones in the ocean, built slides in the sand, and played lots of football.

Hudson charges Andrew as he hands the ball off to Leah.

Going out for the pass from Dad.

Even Grandma Moo (Marilyn) got in on the action, teaming up with Hudson & Emily against Andrew & Leah. I don't think we succeeded in blocking the pass from Leah to her dad.

Us.

    It was an easy walk to eating spots: Mexican, followed by ice cream, for Leah's birthday, deli and Italian on Saturday, crepes Sunday morning. 

Leah & Emily.

The grace of pelicans in flight.

    Before heading home, we checked out Cannery Row. It'd been years since we'd been to Monterey, and we had to pay homage to Steinbeck and his wonderful characters.

Pacific Biological Laboratories, owned by Ed Ricketts, on whom Steinbeck based Doc in Cannery Row.

The back of the lab opened onto Monterey Bay--the tide was out when this picture was taken. Concrete holding tanks were for specimens.

The Bear Flag was where Mac & the Boys congregated.

    Cannery Row got its name from the sardine canning factories that cropped up at start of the 20th century. In 1948, the industry crashed because, as Ed Ricketts said, all the sardines were in cans.  

Fish hopper for transferring sardines from boats to canneries.

Pilings from former piers.

    Native Americans were the original inhabitants of Monterey. It became a port in the early 1800s and began to draw immigrants from around the world.

Each immigrant community had its own area of town, with housing such as these shacks on Cannery Row.


Monterey Bay Aquarium, opened in 1984, occupies a former cannery at one end of Cannery Row.

    A monument to Cannery Row's history was installed in 2014. Along with Steinbeck and Ricketts, it honors Native Americans,  and Monterey's generations of immigrants, among them Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Filipino, Norwegian, Scottish, and Japanese. 

John Steinbeck, top. Ed Ricketts, bottom.

    Before the sardine canneries, in the 1850s, shore whaling bases were established at numerous locations along the California coast, including at Monterey Bay. Many were operated by Portuguese immigrants, most of whom were natives of the Azores.

Mural depicting Portuguese shore whalers.

    From Cannery Row we drove the coastline around Pacific Grove.

Pacific Grove.

Then we headed home through Carmel Valley and Priest Valley.

Fall vineyard colors.

Clouds, hills, vineyards, iconic live oak.

Ranch in the brown landscape of California's ongoing drought.

Beehives will be moved to fields & orchards come spring. We were now in the area of California's infamous San Andreas Fault. 

Herd of buffalo near Coalinga.

Numerous pumpjacks dot the landscape around Coalinga.


Cotton being harvested.

A cotton picker dumps its load into a press which will compress & shape the cotton into a giant rectangle before it is taken to the cotton gin, where the cotton seeds are removed.  

Doug, Monterey.

Thanksgiving
    We had a Friendsgiving on Thanksgiving Day. A neighbor's 6-year-old brought energy to share.

Our backyard mandarin tree (or tangelo, not sure which) produced a real crop after many years, which we enjoyed for breakfast & snacks.

  The next day we drove the van to Davis, where we met the newest member of the Davis family, Olive.

Grandson Hudson & Olive.

Granddaughter Leah & Olive.

    Twenty of us gathered at Andrew and Emily's home, including Marilyn's younger son Stephen and wife Jessie and Emily's family. The 7 cousins, ranging in age from 5 to 14, had a ball. 
 
Stephen & Andrew solving the world's problems while Hudson kicks a soccer ball around & awaits the arrival of his only male cousin.

Nothing like good conversation--especially outside.

Heading through the back yard gate to Davis's city-wide Green Belt, of paths, playing fields, & playgrounds.

Stephen & Doug discuss over Andrew's famous Old Fashioneds.

Jessie chatting with Emily.

    Everyone packed up to head home. But first...

...we had to wait for the local wild turkeys to vacate the street.

]]> Sun, 04 Dec 2022 05:27:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-ljz70dAySIIXtuT6pSmY81 <![CDATA[A Fall Outing]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n6GD2RVhltPN6jHbRcHw3s October 29, 2022

    Doug had heard that the roses were in bloom at Bravo Lake, so being a beautiful fall day, it seemed a good time to get out and tour the countryside. 

Bravo Lake in Woodlake, a lovely location with the Sierra Nevada foothills as backdrop.

    Plus, our friend Linda was visiting. Doug and Linda have been friends since high school, and he'd visited her in Montana in September. We agreed that Bravo Lake would be a perfect outing, so soon we were heading to nearby Woodlake, about 30 minutes from home.
    But first was a stop at Lowe's to splurge on a new pot for the re-landscaped area around our new hot tub (to read about that go here).

New pot for our back yard.

    Like many, we enjoy the 3.3-mile walk around Bravo Lake. 

Bravo Lake & Botanical Garden Trails. 

The lake has been full when we've walked it in the past, but it was quite low when Doug and a friend walked around it in June. 

Ducks on the lake in June. The trail is the white line on the levee.
    
Now, the lake consisted of only a couple puddles. The years-long drought has taken a toll on all of California's lakes and reservoirs. 

Bravo Lake Botanical Garden entrance.

    The parking lot at Bravo Lake was bordered by hundreds of blooming roses. The trail through Bravo Lake Botanical Garden begins just inside the gate. Along the trail, thousands more roses bloomed.

Roses of all colors were in bloom.


  Olga and Manuel Jimenez, residents of Woodlake, have the philosophy that you can grow kids by planting gardens. In 1972, the couple began creating beautification projects and community gardens around Woodlake, with the help of youth volunteers.  


    In 1999, the City of Woodlake used a Rails-to-Trails Grant to purchase the former Visalia Electric Railroad right-of-way on the north side of Bravo Lake. They asked the Jimenezes if they'd apply their knowledge and skills to beautifying the barren strip of land. 


Manuel and Olga put their expertise and creativity to work. With the help of youth volunteers and donations of plants, money, and the skills and labor of local professionals, in just four years, they created Bravo Lake Botanical Garden. 

Just inside entrance gate. Note that all watering is done with drip irrigation.



    The 2.4-mile roundtrip trail through the garden allows visitors to experience up-close flowers, row crops, and fruit and citrus trees, along with whimsical sculptures.

Bucket waterfall sculpture.

   There were hundreds of sunflowers in bloom in varying heights, sizes, and colors.





In some areas, sunflowers play backdrop to other plants.

Cosmos & sunflowers, many of which are turned toward the sun. Hence the French name, tourne-sol--turned to the sun. 

Linda (blue shirt) getting close-up photos.

Doug waiting while Linda & Marilyn take photos.
    
    As with the majority of the San Joaquin Valley, the area around Bravo Lake was once home to Yokut and Wutchumna Indians, as well as elk and antelope.

"My house is your house." Linda & Doug. 

    Once called Wood Lake, lore has it that the name Bravo came about when two local men were arguing, as was their habit, near the lake. Another local passing by told them to settle their dispute once and for all, making his point with a six shooter. The dispute devolved into a fight. As it went on, a crowd gathered, yelling, "Bravo!" each time a punch was landed. A victor was eventually declared, the two men cleaned up in the lake and became friends ever after, and the lake received a new name. 

Unknown sprouted leafy greens & artichokes (middle right of photo) in vegetable plot behind some roses.

Closeup of above plant.

    Side paths branch off from the trail, good for examining plants up close (and if you are too far from the bathroom).

One of several varieties of eggplant.

Peppers.

We sampled apples & citrus, both familiar & unfamiliar varieties.

Typical wind machine with 20'-long propeller blades used to move the air in citrus groves when temperatures fall too low.

Marigolds.

Farm cart with display of old equipment.

Don't know what it is, but it's sure pretty.

The disks were spinning like crazy!

   Marilyn stooped to enter Peter Rabbit's Garden through the vine-covered child-size arch.




Jemima Puddle Duck.

Peter having a siesta under the tractor-seat bench.

Gaillardia, aka Blanket Flower.

Windmill above zinnias.

Cockscomb, we think.


    Near the end of the trail is a park area. At trail's end is a California native plant garden.  


Zinnia & windmill shadows.

Drip irrigation allows farming on hillsides, such as those on the other side of Woodlake.

"Leave the earth better than when you arrived."

    We meandered about a bit on the way home. South of Woodlake, we crossed the St John's River, a tributary of the Kaweah River. Both used to flow into Tulare Lake, but that's another entire story. 

Our route going took us to Lowe's, through Ivanhoe, to Woodlake. We meandered our way home.

We headed west to show Linda the huge Monrovia Nursery north of Visalia.

Monrovia Nursery, just north of Visalia. 

Continuing west, we crossed the St. John's again to go to the site of the Charter Oak/Election Tree. 

1942 photo of Charter/Election Tree. 
Copyright Tulare County Library.

A plaque marks where the huge oak once stood.

Plaque at site of Charter Oak. 

It was under the tree in 1852 that Tulare County was organized. 
    From the Charter Oak, we crossed the St John's one last time on our way south to 198, which took us home. 
    Ahhh...another splendid day in our wonderful region.
]]> Fri, 11 Nov 2022 02:19:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n6GD2RVhltPN6jHbRcHw3s <![CDATA[A Lovely Addition]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nI6EOHwuVXYBhSCv31NykC

    After talking about it for years, this September we bit the bullet and ordered a hot tub. We could even imagine using it since the heat was finally dissipating. But before it looked like the photo below, there was a bit of work to do.

New hot tub & walkway.

    First was pulling up the the 4' x 4' raised bed frame and digging up the dirt.

Raised bed frame leaning against fence. 

    Doug hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt to the front yard, where it would become a mound.

Mound in the making in the front yard.

But the more he took out the more there was!

So much dirt hauled out & so much still to remove!
Red trowel handle marks sprinkler line to cap off.

A sprinkler line had to be moved--eventually we moved it at least three times--The walkway of pavers had to be dug up.

Pavers from walkway piled up.

    Doug dug a trench for the electrical, but it needed to be further back, so he dug another trench. Did I say the dirt was not only hard packed but full of roots? 

1st ditch for electrical had to be filled in. 2nd soaking in water so it can be dug.

    David, the electrician, sawed out a section of concrete to lay the electrical across to the tub.

Concrete section removed & ditch dug for electrical.

David crawled through the attic with wiring from the breaker box to the other end of the house, where he installed a new breaker box dedicated to the hot tub.

New breaker box for hot tub.

    Then we waited for the city permit and inspector. Since the inspector loved David's electrical work, we passed and smiled. 
    Now for the concrete! Robert and and his amazing crew put in the framing.

Left: raised beds awaiting new plants. Right: framing in place for concrete pad. 

The next day, they poured the concrete.

Robert & his crew kept Doug in stitches the entire time they were working.

They even stamped a pattern into the concrete.

Stamped pattern keeps concrete from being slippery.

    The electrical in and concrete set, it was time for the hot tub! When the delivery truck arrived, the jovial driver unexpectedly offered to help us move the hot tub from the street to the backyard pad. Since David also happened to be there, together with Doug, they maneuvered the tub in to place.


Doug watches as the driver & David roll the hot tub down the narrow walkway.

Driver, Doug, David. A main criteria for the hot tub was a lounge seat, which is on the side by the driver.

Preparing to lower the hot tub.

Voila!

    By a couple of days later, the tub was wired and the pump primed. Marilyn was ready to cool off! 

Marilyn performs first float in the new hot tub, cooling off before the water gets hot.

    But there was more work to do, starting with a new walkway. We bought new pavers that blended with the old.

New pavers & 300 lbs of decomposed granite (DG) & sand in the trusty VW Westy. In all, we made 5 trips.

Buckets of sand for installing new pavers.

    Doug began to solve the Tetrus puzzle--leveling, adding sand, organizing pavers, filling in with DG.

Starting to solve the Tetrus puzzle of pavers.

Once the pavers were in they were not right, so why not just remove them and start over? 

Maybe the last rearrangement?

When Doug got the pavers perfect, he extended the walkway to run across the front of the raised beds.

Ta-da! New walkway, complete with DG. Note new plants in DG beyond end of walkway & pavers in front of raised bed.

    Next was hanging "Big Red," Doug's old longboard.

Big Red hung. Sun moved to the right.

Next came the kayak paddle and canoe oar.

Kayak paddle, canoe oar, & Big Red.

    Marilyn planted our garden in the raised beds: onions, brussels sprouts, and greens. In the upper bed we planted a Matilija Poppy, aka Fried Egg Poppy, Winifred Gilman Blue Sage, and Agastache, aka Hummingbird Mint. And the final touch, Marilyn reinstalled the drip irrigation.

Our new look.

    Doug just got home from an overnight trip to the coast. Guess who is enjoying the tub in a mild rainstorm?

]]> Thu, 03 Nov 2022 06:17:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nI6EOHwuVXYBhSCv31NykC <![CDATA[Canada-Alaska 2022: Anchorage]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-m2VKeRg86AluGkz6RCC25z July 13-15, 18-19, 2022

    On our 2017 trip we had just driven through Anchorage, so we wanted to spend time there this time. In an attempt to get to know the city we took a bus tour from the visitors center in downtown Anchorage. It wasn't terribly informative, but it gave us the lay of the land.

Alaska's growing season is short, but the days are so long, the plants are huge and the colors intense.

    Anchorage is large, bigger than the state of Rhode Island, not surprising as Alaska is bigger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. Less than 1% of Alaska is inhabited, with about 50% of 737,000 Alaskans living in the Anchorage metropolitan area. Another 33,000 (5%) each live in Fairbanks and Juneau. 



    After our bus tour, we nixed the popular cafe with a line down the street, then stumbled on Cafe 817, at 817 6th Avenue. It was so good--and came with such entertaining chefs--that we had to have breakfast there again the next day.

Watering the lawn, Alaska Style.

    Our wanderings took us to Kincaid Park Outdoor Center, which offers lessons in Nordic Ski, paddleboard, and archery, and has hosted national-level Nordic ski competitions.

Kincaid Park "chalet" also serves as an event center.

Near the chalet, we saw a sign for Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, so off we went. Soon we encountered many other walkers as well as bicyclists. And then we looked to the left of the trail and saw....

...a pair of moose near the trail.

At the end of the trail we found ourself above the beach at Turnagain Arm.

 Along Turnagain Arm, looking south toward the Kenai Peninsula.

We walked and slid down to the rocky beach, where a group of children who'd biked there played and explored.

Looking North.

The rocky beach, just up from the famous tidal bore. 

    Turnagain Arm is famous for its tidal bore. Since surfers can ride it for miles, it can be viewed all along Turnagain Arm.


Turnagain Arm's bore tide can be viewed all along Hwy 1 to Seward, as well as from Hope, although the latter is a bit of a drive.

All the grays of the sky, water, sand, and rocks fascinated Marilyn.

Not Ansel Adams, but I do love this photo.

When not sneaking pictures of Marilyn, Doug relaxed. We found there was a lot more cell coverage this year than on previous trips.

    If there's an REI around you must need something from it. The Anchorage REI is the IKEA of REIs.

The Anchorage REI is gigantic!

    Air museums and boat harbors are also required visits on our trips. The Alaska Aviation Museum is located on Lake Hood next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, advertised to be the busiest seaplane base in the world. 

It was rather enjoyable seeing all of the float planes that were used in the Alaska Frontier. Yes, I was a bit envious. 

In the restoration hanger was this amazing bird. 


For those who remember the TV series Sky King, here is a similar bird on floats. 


Only in aviation: a sign over the toilet in the men's restroom.



Not all birds are flyable. Above a 1943 PBY 5A Catalina. Sign near said it was on the schedule to be restored. We can only hope. 

The engine from the first airplane to circumnavigate earth. In 1924, 4 Douglas World Cruisers and 8 pilots left Seattle. 174 days later, 2 returned.


Helo used for search and rescue in the '50s.


Curious what this is? I was. Finally asked and was told that for birds that do not have wheels on their floats, the long boom in front of the truck goes under the floats of the bird and picks it up. 

    From the museum, we headed around Lake Hood to check out the plethora of private planes. In Alaska, you get the harbor and planes all in one, since so many planes are adapted with pontoons for takes-offs and landings on water. Some are changed out to skis when winter comes. 

So many small birds we saw looked like this: no pontoons but really large wheels so they could land on gravel bars. 

The harbor is circled with boats at their dock. Was told there is a 7 year wait to get a dock. Imagine the joy: park your car on the grass, get in your bird, and fly to another lake. 

Each time I've seen a float plane on our trips to Alaska, I've asked myself why I did not move to Alaska when I got home from SE Asia in '72. Guess the lure of living on the beach in San Diego was just too strong. 


    On both trips to Alaska, we've stayed at the family camp just north of Anchorage at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Doug's 20 years in the Navy allows us access to these military campgrounds.

Jet at Elmendorf AFB.

This old helo, also seen at the Air Museum, was used for Search And Rescue in the 50's. 

The Family Camp is comfortable, quiet, and comes with showers and laundry facilities. As we do not require hookups, we were able to camp in a tent site--same size as the others and about a third of the price. 

Previously we'd seen bears wander through the campground. Doug caught sight of a moose down the street on this trip.

    From Anchorage, we headed south to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. We'd visited in 2017, and wanted to experience it again.

Heading from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula, with the Chugach Mountains as backdrop.

The tide was in on Turnagain Arm as we were off to Seward and another experience.
]]> Wed, 19 Oct 2022 19:07:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-m2VKeRg86AluGkz6RCC25z <![CDATA[Canada-Alaska 2022: Boondocking on the Top of the World Highway]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lny7SAO68cKUGb1Jh49AJn July 2, 2022

    We left Tombstone Mountain Campground after three days, showered in Dawson City, took the free ferry across the Yukon River, and were headed up the Top of the World Highway. We'd driven it the opposite direction in 2017.
    The views are breathtaking. It truly feels like being on top of the world. Hopefully the pictures will convey a sense of that feeling.

The road is well groomed dirt.


A bit dusty but we kept away unless they were going slow.

Like the Dempster Highway, we could see the road far into the distance.


Cloud formations & the shadows they cast made for ever-changing sky and scenery.




Depending on the weather, the Top of the World Hwy is open from mid-May to mid-October.

Top of the World Hwy rises to 4,515 feet.

90 minutes after disembarking the ferry, we were at the Yukon-Alaska border.


You have to time your arrival at the border, as it is open 9 to 9 Yukon time, which is 8 to 8 Alaska time.

    Doug had heard of a great boondocking spot in Alaska shortly after the border crossing. We rejected a couple of pull-outs, then came to a large gravel pit hidden from the road. 

The surroundings were awing, silent, expansive.

Looking out from our boondocking spot in a gravel pit along the Top of the World Highway.


    At the other end of the gravel pit a group with ATVs was already camped. So many activities are possible at all hours when daylight is nearly 24 hours!

10:45 PM

11:40 PM

11:55 PM

3:00 AM


    The next morning we'd continue on Alaska's Taylor Hwy to Eagle then Chicken.


]]> Sun, 04 Sep 2022 02:30:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lny7SAO68cKUGb1Jh49AJn <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike Loop 6 - Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-k8E3L1pwcRoO4DA87rvhPr

June 30-July 2, 2022

    As we drove through Tombstone Territorial Park four hours after leaving the Arctic Circle, we realized this was the most spectacular scenery we'd seen on the Dempster Highway.

The Dempster Highway runs through Tombstone Territorial Park beginning 153 miles south of the Arctic Circle. 

    We'd opted not to drive the 300 miles from the Arctic Circle to the Arctic Ocean. It'd be at least 7 hours of additional driving, and the threat of a tire problem was ever present. Dancing with mosquitoes while changing a flat? No, thank you.

We drove to the Arctic Circle on the Dempster Hwy. Returning south, we stopped at Tombstone Campground.

    How many times would I say breathtaking on this trip? I now have a complete understanding of the word, the feeling of having my breath literally pulled from my lungs as I gaze in awe.

Despite the haze from wildfires to the west, Tombstone was breathtaking. 

Tombtone Mountains

    It was a no brainer to check out Tombstone Campground, set on the North Klondike River, at 3,400 feet. Our site was right on the banks of the river.

Is there anything like the sound of rushing water?

You might say we were relaxed. 

    As Doug says, on our first trip to Alaska, in 2017, we felt the need to get from place to place, because we had no idea what we'd encounter or how long it would take. This time, if we liked a place, we stayed longer. 

Tombstone Mountains

Tombstone one such place. We'd wake up, look outside, look at each other, and say, "Let's stay another day."

Backdrop to campground.

  Since the river was too fast-moving to go into, several times a day I dipped a bucket into it and poured the water over my head. So invigorating!

Doug applying Deet lotion. An intermittent breeze swept mosquitoes away, but when it died down, they'd return to feast on us. 

    Coming down the Dempster, Doug stopped multiple times for me to take wildflower pictures. How was I to know we'd find them growing all over the campground?


Prickly Rose.

Dwarf Raspberry. Northern Goldenrod.


Northern Monkshood. Shrubby Cinquefoil.


Fireweed.     Labrador Tea.


Tall Lungwort/Bluebells. Mountain Avens. 

    While I happily traipsed about taking pictures, Doug was hard at work attempting to cut the layers of dirt the Dempster had thrown at the van. 

At least we hoped less dirt would end up inside the van.

    The rangers at Tombstone Interpretive Center confirmed from our pictures that it was in fact musk ox we'd seen crossing the Dempster south of the Arctic Circle.

Tombstone Interpretive Center

The musk ox skull made us glad we hadn't had an in-person encounter.

    The ptarmigan was interesting, in part because we'd be going to Chicken, Alaska, so named because no one could spell the intended name of ptarmigan.

Does a ptarmigan look like a chicken?

    We picked up free activity books at the interpretive center for our grandchildren and gave some to two young girls we'd met in the campground along with their mom. They  were driving to the Arctic Ocean in a rental camper. 

Mom and daughters were just delightful. They were headed to the Arctic Ocean in a rental RV. The people we meet so enhance our travels!

    With the wildfire smoke somewhat dissipated on the second day, we drove back to the Tombstone Range Viewpoint. 

With less smoke, we could see much further into the distance of the Tombstone Range.

    The Tombstone Range rises to 7,200 feet, with sharp peaks, glaciers, mountain meadows, icy lakes. It's easy to see why the Hän and Gwich'in call the area Among Ragged-Peaked Mountains.
    We finally decided we should head back to Dawson City. Remember we decided not to go to the Arctic Ocean partly due to the ongoing possibility of a tire problem? Well, there's also always the potential for a damaged windshield, and sure enough, in the last 44-mile stretch of our 554-mile round trip on the dirt Dempster Highway, a big rig barreling toward us going north threw up a rock that hit the windshield.

It's a nice spider, don't you think?

As Doug said, now we had a real Yukon-Alaska vehicle!
    Back in Dawson, we'd shower, then take the free ferry across the Yukon to the Top of the World Highway.

]]> Wed, 24 Aug 2022 19:20:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-k8E3L1pwcRoO4DA87rvhPr <![CDATA[Canada-Alaska 2022: Oh, the Places We've Been!]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n8FvDfCy218Ww5Ur-z5Bww     By the end of July, we'd been on the road six weeks in the Yukon Territory and Alaska. Doug had driven 6,200 miles, and we'd driven 3,100 miles together. It seemed it'd be good to post a map of our route. 
    But our posts always lag behind our travels, and though we started to create the maps, relaxing and exploring always take precedence. 
    Finally, here are the maps and related posts. As we add posts, we'll link them to this maps in this post.
   
2022 Trip through Canada & Alaska 


Part 1: Visalia, CA. Seattle & Bellingham, WA. 
Whistler & Dawson Creek, British Columbia. 
Whitehorse, Yukon Teritory.

Posts:
• California-Whitehorse via Washington & British Columbia
• Millions of Critters

Part 2: Whitehorse, Dawson City, & Dempster Highway, YT. 
Top of the World Highway. Eagle & Chicken, AK

Posts:
• Klondike Loop 1: Whitehorse to Dawson City
• Klondike Loop 2: Dawson City
• Klondike Loop 3: Dawson City Museum
• Klondike Loop 4: The Bard of the North
• Klondike Loop 5: Dempster Hwy to the Arctic Circle
• Dirt, Mosquitoes, Spiders, & the Arctic Circle

Part 3: Alaska: North Pole, Fairbanks, Nenana, Talkeetna, Anchorage, Seward, Palmer, Matanuska Glacier.

Part 4: Valdez & McCarthy-Kennicott, AK. 
Whitehorse, YT. Skagway, AK.

Posts:

    Check back here for more posts linked to the maps. Thanks, as always, for following us!
]]> Sat, 20 Aug 2022 18:14:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n8FvDfCy218Ww5Ur-z5Bww <![CDATA[Canada 2022: What's In A Name?]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nyYg3Mjp3Ooqbel3Iu4GjH     A few thoughts from Doug, on the road in Canada's Saskatchewan Province.

Suppose Maverick is a maverick? Wonder what party s/he represents and what the election is.

 
Wild Lily, a dirt road about 80 miles south of Saskatoon. Wish I had met her and heard her story.

    We have Buena Vista, so guess Bonnie View is not too much of a stretch.

Elbow...perhaps because the river makes a bend?

But Eyebrow--another thought provoking name.

    And just one of so many: A house with the roof falling in. What a story it could tell.... 

        More thoughts as I drive....
]]> Wed, 17 Aug 2022 02:09:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-nyYg3Mjp3Ooqbel3Iu4GjH <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike Loop 5 - Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lS6uh1PKGpSS1Ly282xAAw June 29-July 2, 2022

    Dilemma #1: The Dempster Highway. 
    When we visited Dawson City in 2017, we read of a dirt road called the Dempster Highway that ran from near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, but we did not have enough time to consider whether to do it.
    In 2019, the road was extended 94 miles from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk) on the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. 

The Dempster Highway.

    Imagine driving to the Arctic Ocean, a 1,151-mile round trip, on an all-dirt road, including small ferries across two rivers. It sounds enticing, yet did we really wish to bounce our van that far? Add, the last half after the Arctic Circle has the tendency to puncture tires, due to the jagged rock, often called shrapnel, that was used as a road bed. 
    We went back and forth. Did we want the experience or the checkmark? Maybe we'd just go to Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park, only 44 miles of dirt road, to at least experience the Dempster. Did we need a second spare tire? We attempted to get a spare tire carrier before we left so we'd have two spares, but they were all on back order. Yes, we were in a dilemma. 

Northwest Territories Visitor Center, Dawson City

    Once in Dawson city we each spoke with the ranger, a First Nations native of Inuvik, at the Northwest Territories Visitor Center. She counseled checking the weather/road condition report posted outside daily and said the road had been good. 

Weather/Road Conditions, Dempster Highway

    Doug bought Wild Peak tires in 2021, and added a matching spare before the trip. In Whitehorse and Dawson City, we talked to folks who had made the trek to the Arctic Circle, or Inuvik, or Tuktoyaktuk. Travelers ranged from the truly awesome bicyclists to the wannabe explorers in giant box vehicles originally designed as support vehicles for desert driving in the Paris-Dakar road race.

Expedition RV that had completed the Dempster Hwy. Note we are to the right. Can't fathom needing anything so huge. 

A bicyclist on the Dempster. In 2017, Doug met a young couple in BC who had bicycled the Dempster to Inuvik, then scored a trip back in a pickup.

     Lastly we spoke with a couple of drivers who had just returned. One in a RV experienced one flat on the road and awoke the morning after his return to two flats. Another gent, who was driving a van like ours, had done the roundtrip up the Dempster—after having a tire shredded just past the Arctic Circle, returning 560 miles to Whitehorse for a complete set of new tires, then starting over. Other than the tires and extra time, he'd had no problems—and no dust inside the van. 

This Promaster in our Dawson campground gave us pause as it had dust inside and out from the Dempster. We concluded something had been left ajar or was not well-sealed.

    We decided we were in...whatever "in" was.

By the time we crossed the Klondike River to begin the Dempster, it was already 11:30 AM.

Passing the sign at the start of the Dempster we still weren't certain what we'd do.

Dempster Hwy: 252 miles to the Arctic Circle, 456 miles to Inuvik, 547 miles to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean.

When we reached Tombstone Mountain Campground at 44 miles up the Dempster, we didn't turn in...

...so we were off to the Arctic Circle, 274 miles from Dawson City, 249 of it dirt. As the sun did not set until after midnight, we were in no hurry.

The road looked endless. 

Sadly, it was smoky from fires near Fairbanks, AK, but the scenery was still awesome.

    We would realize on our return trip that the views around Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park were the most beautiful of the entire run. 

Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park

It was clear enough to see the dirt highway far in the distance.

    As the trees grew sparser, Marilyn thought we were getting close! Not quite...we'd only been on the Dempster 35 minutes of about 5 hours.

So green!

Ice on the banks of the Blackstone River.

The colors of the hillsides change with the light.

    With distances between outposts of "civilization" so vast in Canada and Alaska, mileposts and kilometer posts are very helpful.

 106 km down. 399 to go.

Blackstone River again.

Losing the road in the distance.

    Alert to any unusual sounds, about two hours into the trip we stopped to check out a rear end noise.

The side trim and running boards were black when we started.

Unlike the totally brown sides, the front and rear still had some black.

    No problem uncovered, we continued on. 

Green meadows & wildflowers.

    On the way back, Doug would patiently stop so Marilyn could take pictures of wildflowers—only to find they were everywhere in Tombstone Campground.

It's so exciting to see the road disappear around the turn and over the edge. 

Mineral deposits make Engineer Creek red and yellow.

Crossing the Olgivie River where Engineer Creek flows into it.

    Road maintenance is constant due to permafrost and wear and tear. 

The scraper's first pass created windrows...

...which Doug had to maneuver...

...but at least they were gravel, not snow.

Sections of the Dempster were built 8 to 12 feet above the surrounding tundra, which helps prevent the cracks, dips, and bumps permafrost can cause. 

Roadbed 8-12' above tundra to help counteract the effects of permafrost.

 The highway is at times comfortable to drive at about 40 mph.

Dirt roads in the far north are often better than paved roads, which acquire cracks, bumps, dips, and potholes due to permafrost.

Other times a combination of washboard and potholes found Doug going much slower and seeking a route around the obstacles. 

Doug is expert at maneuvering on rough roads, but sometimes, the road wins. 

    There wasn't a lot of traffic, but encountering oncoming vehicles, especially semi-trucks and the dust they kicked up, could be interesting.

Basically whiteout in wake of passing semi.

Fortunately we did not have to follow a vehicle but can say our cabin air filter was rather black when we changed it. 

We left our own long plume of dust behind.

    The Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in were the original inhabitants of the region. They regained ownership of their land from Canada in 1988.


Permission to hunt must be granted by the First Nation.


Caribou have since ancient times been integral to the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in way of life and culture.

"Please hunt only the caribou that you need."

    Like the Western US, forest fires have devastated millions of acres in Canada. Weakened surviving trees have been prey in the US to the bark beetle and in Canada the spruce beetle.

Devastation from wildfire...

...and the spruce beetle.

Despite the smoky haze, we could see the faint line of the highway far in the distance. 


    Fiber optic cable was being laid along the Dempster to the towns that until the 20th century were isolated, reachable only on foot or by dog sled.

Machines simultaneously cut and mulched grass, brush, and small trees along the roadside...

...clearing a path for the cable...

...which was undergrounded by a machine.

More devastated forest.

    Eagle Plains is the first town on the Dempster Highway, about midway between the beginning of the highway and Inuvik. 

Nearly to the night's camp at Eagle Plains. 

Arriving at Eagle Plains about 5:00 PM.

    Like everywhere in the Yukon and Alaska, whenever gas and water are available, you get them, irrespective of the cost. And if your larders aren't full, you get food, too.

Eagle Plains: 229 miles from beginning of Dempster Highway.  22 miles south of Arctic Circle.

    Many motorcyclists travel the Dempster. At Eagle Plains, we met Henry on his return from the Arctic Ocean. Unfortunately, his bike later broke down and was being  shipped to Vancouver for repairs. 

We hope someday to take Henry up on his offer that we will "always have a friend in Spain." 

Three motorcyclists arrived at the campground around 11:00 PM. Night is not much more than dusk this far north.

    We left early the next morning to drive the last 22 miles to the Arctic Circle.

6:30 AM, the sun all but concealed by smoke.

22 miles to the Arctic Circle.

Driving on the long, dirt Dempster takes concentration.

Crossing the Eagle River.

Would we ever get there?

Or would we drop off the edge of the world?

   When construction of the Dempster Highway reached the Arctic Circle in 1977, a sign was erected.


Workers added this marker.


    For a few summers, Henry Waldron greeted travelers who ventured to the Arctic Circle on the Dempster. A former highway worker, he wore a tuxedo and recited Robert Service poetry.


      We arrived at the Arctic Circle 6/30/22, 8:56 AM! It was both exciting and a bit sad, as smoke concealed the grand vistas. We were greeted by swarms of mosquitoes.

TaDa! The Arctic Circle, 6/30/22, 8:56 AM.

Marilyn got out to take pictures but quickly returned to the van, along with a myriad of her new BFFs. Doug swatted while Marilyn donned a long sleeve shirt and mosquito net headgear, ventured out again, got a few pictures, and escaped back to the van.

Marilyn's shadow at the Arctic Circle. 

Doug at the Arctic Circle.

Doug realized his mistake and offered to take her picture by the sign, but somehow she rejected going outside a third time. So there's no WE ARE HERE pic of us at the Arctic Circle, but Doug did present us with a certificate!

Our official Arctic Circle certificate.

    And now dilemma #2: did we wish to drive an additional 300 miles to Tuktoyaktuk to say we had dipped our toe in the Arctic Ocean? Besides the time, miles, and further rattling of the van, there was the potential for a flat, and changing a tire while dancing with mosquitoes did not sound particularly charming. That sealed the deal, so we did a 180 and headed back to Eagle Plains. We topped off with gas and smiled. Now Doug only had to drive 230 miles back down the Dempster.

   Heading back down the Dempster

    Not far south of the Arctic Circle, a long straightaway section of the Dempster serves as an emergency airstrip. It's a bit wider and has landing markers and a wind sock. 

It's mildly disconcerting when you see this sign along a road.

Now we were looking for bumps, dips, oncoming vehicles, animals, and airplanes!

A windsock and cones mark the emergency airstrip on the Dempster.

No kidding!

Unfortunately for Doug, not one landed during our trek.

    We were rewarded for not going on to the Arctic Ocean when  just before Eagle Plains, we saw what we thought were two musk oxen crossing the road from Marilyn's side. Upon seeing us, they did an abrupt 180 and headed back into the bush. To my amazement Marilyn was able to snap two blurry pictures of them. 

1st musk ox was down in the bush when Marilyn's camera found it.

2nd musk ox was hurrying off the road. Considering their size, it was amazing how fast they moved, with quite a swish of the hips, made more pronounced by their long hair.

    At the Tombstone Nature Center we shared our sighting with the rangers. Guess we were blessed, for none of the rangers had seen a musk ox in the wild. They promptly recorded the sighting and copied the pictures. Likewise, when we told the ranger at the NW Territories Visitor Center in Dawson, she called the Inuvik ranger to report it.

215 more miles back to Dawson.

The road...

...the landscape...

...the sky.

Nearing Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park Campground.  

    When we got to the turnoff for Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park Campground, we decided why not stay the night. It was so gorgeous, we stayed two. More on that in our next post. 

Our site on the North Klondike River at Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park Campground.

    The Yukon.ca Dempster Highway Travelogue is a great mile-by-mile description, with many maps and lots of additional information on the geography, flora, fauna, and the like.
]]> Sun, 31 Jul 2022 18:27:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-lS6uh1PKGpSS1Ly282xAAw <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike Loop 4 - The Bard of the North]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-kyuvyYB78cUm7fhEn5oRuR     A major attraction for Doug in Dawson City is a visit to the two-room cabin of the "Bard of the North," Robert Service.

Robert Service Cabin, 8th Ave, Dawson City, Yukon Territory

    On our 2017 visit to the cabin, the docent recited "Goodbye, Little Cabin." On this trip, as we waited for the docent's arrival,
Doug recited it to me. The first verse:

O dear little cabin, I've loved you so long,
And now I must bid you good-bye!
I've filled you with laughter, I've thrilled you with song,
And sometimes I've wished I could cry.
Your walls they have witnessed a weariful fight,
And rung to a won Waterloo:
But oh, in my triumph I'm dreary to-night --
Good-bye, little cabin, to you!

Robert Service on the steps of his Dawson City cabin.

    Born in England in 1874 of Scottish heritage, Service lived in Glasgow from childhood. As a young man, he became a banking apprentice. He loved to read, and was influenced by Stevenson, Kipling, Thoreau, and other wanderers.

Another wanderer enjoying the Robert Service cabin.

    In his early twenties, Service traveled to Canada, San Francisco, the Southwest. In 1903, he became a bank clerk in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In 1904, he was transferred to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

Front room, Robert Service cabin.

    Soon after arriving in Whitehorse, Service traveled to the two entry points to the Yukon for the Klondike Gold Rush, Skagway and Dyea, Alaska. Once bustling towns of thousands, by the time Service arrived, the gold rush had waned, and the two towns were dying.

"Rebuffs are only rungs in the ladder of success."

    Service's first book of poems, Songs of a Sourdough, was published in 1906, before he had ever set foot in Dawson City. In 1908 he was finally transferred there.

Front room opposite end.

    Service met veterans of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush who had stayed on in Dawson City, and was enthralled by their stories of the Chilkoot Trail, of traveling the Yukon in homemade boats, of the perils of Five Finger Rapids. He listened to their tales of mining camps, gold strikes, tragedy, and financial losses.
    When the bank wanted Service to return to Whitehorse in 1909, he resigned. Then he rented a two-room log cabin in Dawson Cit. For the next two years, he wrote full time.

33-mile long Chilkoot Trail from Dyea, AK to Lake Bennett, YT. There, Klondikers built boats from any available materials and atempted to travel the 500 miles up the Yukon River to Dawson City.

    In 1911, with the income from his first novel, The Trail of '98, Service left Dawson City and began to travel widely. But as recounted in Alaska History Magazine, something gnawed at him: he felt like a fraud. His livelihood came from writing about the Klondike Gold Rush, but he had not experienced any of the hardships of the Klondikers. He had not climbed the Chilkoot Trail. He had not built a makeshift boat to brave the mighty Yukon River. He had not suffered cold, hunger, fatigue, and illness in the hopes of striking gold.

Robert Service in his birch bark canoe, Coquette.

    That same year, Service determined to take the 2,000-mile Edmonton Trail to Dawson City. He bought a birch bark canoe, which he named Coquette (Flirtatious), and set out.


Robert Service's 2000-mile trip from Manville, Alberta, to Dawson City YT on the Edmonton Trail.

    In On the Trail of Robert Service, G. W. Lockhart recounts Service's journey. He canoed the Mackenzie, Rat, Porcupine, and Yukon Rivers; hitched a ride on a scow; portaged his canoe; and finally loaded his canoe onto a sternwheeler he encountered on the Yukon River for the final leg back to Dawson City. Now he felt he had earned his sourdough stripes.

Front room looking through bedroom door. The large circular contraption on the stove is an oven. The docent took glee in calling it an early microwave.

Bedroom.

Bedroom, opposite end.

    Back in Dawson City again, Service returned to his cabin. There he wrote a third book of poetry, Rhymes of a Rolling Stone. 

Robert Service at desk in front of wood stove.

    Robert Service left Dawson City for good in 1912. 

Service's typewriter (or a replica).

    In Europe, Service became a Toronto Star war correspondent during the Balkan Wars and subsequently an ambulance driver during WWI. In Paris, he met his wife, Germaine. The couple had twin girls, one of whom died in infancy. 

Docent reading Robert Service poetry.

    One of Service's most famous poems, "The Cremation of Sam McGee," begins:

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."

Robert Service in chair by front steps of cottage.

    By that time money was no issue. Service and his family later lived in California and finally in the Monte Carlo section of Monaco. Service died there in 1958 and Germaine in 1988.

Doug in chair on front porch of Robert Service cabin.

Excerpt from "The Spell of the Yukon" on side of a building in Dawson City.
]]> Wed, 27 Jul 2022 22:57:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-kyuvyYB78cUm7fhEn5oRuR <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike 3 - Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, Klondikers, Luminaries, and Miners of Miners]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mbSjqEpQ-nZASngkwrdsok     Our first day in Dawson City, we meandered about town, eventually coming upon the Dawson City Museum, built in 1901 as the Territorial Administration Building.

A shady respite from the heat on Dawson City Museum front steps.

    The museum's exhibits cover Dawson City's history, beginning with the original First Nations inhabitants of the region.

First Nation artifacts.

    Long before it referred to a gold rush, "Klondike" referred to the vast territory of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, and is in fact a mispronunciation of Tr'ondëk. As was typical, from the 1800s to 1960s, Indian children were sent to mission and boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language or engage in any of their cultural activities.     
    Ownership of the land was not restored to the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in until 1988.
    Town luminaries are showcased in the museum and on the grounds of the nearby former Commissioner's Residence.
    Joseph Ladue had long been a miner and trader in the Yukon and was there when gold was discovered on the Klondike. He quickly laid out a 160-acre townsite and later built the first log cabin in Dawson City.


    Ladue showed his plot to government surveyor William Olgivie, who had come to the Yukon along with George Dawson to map out the international boundary between Alaska and Canada and was there when gold was struck on the Klondike.


William Olgivie surveyed Dawson City. He also regulated the miners' staking process and registered their claims. 

    At Olgivie's suggestion, Ladue named the town for Dawson, Director of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada.


Dawson also studied and recorded the Yukon's geology, geogrpahy, botany, native languages, and legends.
    Jack McQuesten arrived in the Yukon in the 1870s and was there to supply Klondikers. He partnered with Arthur Harper and Albert Mayo in the Alaska Commercial Company, captained the first steamer on the Upper Yukon River, established forts, married a native woman with whom he had 11 children, and retired in Berkeley, CA.


    There are many exhibits about the many ways people sought gold in the Klondike—even by diving to the river bottom.


    Industrious people came to Dawson to mine the miners: fur traders, roadhouse and hotels owners, grocers, sawmills owners, and eventually tourism.
    Among those industrious people were many women. They played a prominent role in Dawson's history. 

The Chilkoot Trail started in Dyea, AK, near Skagway, and was the first leg of the Klondikers harrowing journey to the Yukon. 

    Martha Purdy of Chicago joined the Klondike Stampede in 1898, climbing the extremely arduous Chilkoot Trail from Dyea, AK, then on to Dawson. She later operated a sawmill, married Commissioner of the Yukon George Black, volunteered in Britain during WWI, was awarded for her research on Yukon flora, and replaced her ill husband as an MP.
    At 55, Anna Degraf carried her sewing machine north in search of her son. She didn't find her son but did become a successful dressmaker. 

Anna Degraf, Dressmaker

    Among Degraf's dance hall girl clients was Kathleen "Klondike Kate" Rockwell, who was showered with up $750 a night in miners' gold nuggets.

Dancehall Girl Klondike Kate certainly knew how to mine the miners.

    Belinda Mulrooney turned the hot water bottles and cloth she arrived with into a cafe, construction company, and hotels.

Entrepreneur Belinda Mulrooney

    And of course there were the Madams: "Bombay Peggy" Duval, "Madame Zoom" Corbett, and Mathilde "Ruby" Scott. Frenchwoman Ruby was well-respected in the community and gave generously to charities. After running her house for 27 years, in 1961, she was charged and fined for her operation.

  Madam Mathilde "Ruby" Scott

    There were other entertainers, as well. Gédéon Pépin, also French, arrived as organist for St Mary's Church but also performed concerts on piano, violin, and cornet; founded and directed Dawson City's first brass band; composed such titles as the "Arctic Brotherhood Two-Step"; and accompanied Robert Service in a poetry recital.


Virtuoso musician Gédéon Pépin

        Some came to serve. Georgia Powell arrived with a team of the Victorian Order of Nurses to treat sick and injured miners.

Georgia Powell & her team of nurses.

    On the second floor of the museum is the courtroom of the Yukon Supreme Court, still in use today.

Yukon Territory Supreme Court 

Next up: The Bard of the North
]]> Sat, 23 Jul 2022 20:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mbSjqEpQ-nZASngkwrdsok <![CDATA[Alaska 2022: More Spectacular Boondocking]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mBn6X4YhQ6mLmyhX6zo8SW

Another boondocking find: last night’s site at a gravel bar on the Matanuska River, flowing from the glacier about 25 miles away.  


Today we drove by the glacier. Now on our way to Valdez. 



]]> Thu, 21 Jul 2022 20:19:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mBn6X4YhQ6mLmyhX6zo8SW <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike Loop 2 - Dawson City]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-kmTkBg4IkqLpONpYks2fGs     A few miles before Dawson City driving the Klondike Loop, you cross the Klondike River where it flows into the Yukon.

Bridge over Klondike River a few miles from Dawson City.

    The next half dozen miles are lined on both sides of the road with huge piles of tailings from dredging the Klondike and Yukon Rivers for gold.

River dredging tailings along Canada Rte 2 along the few miles into Dawson City, Yukon.

The Dawson City dancehall girl sign interrupts the tailings.

Tailings and pool left from dredging the rivers for gold.

    A large levee has been recently built along the Yukon in Dawson City. This year with the high water it definitely seemed worth it, but it blocks the view of the river from the city. 

Yukon River flowing past Dawson City.
 
    We'd called from Pelly Crossing and were able to reserve a dry site at Gold Rush Campground on the north edge of Dawson City, where we'd also stayed in 2017.

Bright blue Gold Rush Campground office/showers/laundry.

    We were squeezed into a corner site, the advantage being a bit of shade.

Our shady corner campsite.

Dry sites are often the best spots in a campground. Many of those with hook-ups were in the middle of the campground with no shade and slide-out to slide-out for a view.

Sites with hookups in the middle of the campground with no shade. The Scar behind on the hillside.

    On our 2017 Alaska/Yukon trip, we had little idea how long it would take to drive from place to place and realized only later we could have lingered longer in Dawson City. 

Doug ambling along Dawson City's streets.

    Even when crowded, the town just has an allure. 
    It's dirt streets:




Its colorful building: old...



...and new.



Its false-fronted buildings...



...some in better repair than others.


Many buildings have a metal roof:


Some, like Klondike Kate's Cabins, are sided in metal, as well.


The colorful buildings of the Westmark Hotel now occupy both sides of Fifth Ave:


The variety of other old buildings:

St Andrew's Church has seen better days...

... as have the "Kissing Buildings." Built directly on permafrost, when the buildings were heated, they sank & leaned into each other.

Dawson City's wood plank sidewalks with their dips and nicks add to the charm:


    "Weathered Moosehide Hanging" is the native Han name for the scar on the hillside at the north end the town. It was caused by geologic events at least 1,700 years ago.

The Scar on the hillside, caused by geologic events.

According to the Han legend, the Han, who lived at the mouth of the Klondike, believed a tribe to the south was stealing their people. A fight ensued, during which the Han at the top of the hill cut down a tree, which began a landslide that killed the tribe at the bottom. The Scar seems visible from everywhere in town.

Alleys run between the rear of buildings.

Cloud formations have added to the sheer beauty of our surroundings throughout the trip.

    There's a Curling Center next to the Rec Center. A young ranger at Tombstone Territorial Park, a Quebec transplant, told us that Dawson City makes a huge effort with frequent activities to keep folks' spirits up during the 24-hour darkness of winter days.

Curling Center & Rec Center

    Summer activities abound for locals and tourists. There are races: running, motorcycle, outhouse. There are tournaments: golf, poker, softball. There's a music fest, Aboriginal Day June 21, and Canada Day July 1.
    Dawson has a Harper Street, named for Irishman Arthur "Hard Luck" Harper, the "Father of the Yukon." Along with Joseph Ladue, he formed the Dawson City Town Site Company in 1896. He and his Athabaskan wife, Sophie, had a son, Walter, who was the first perosn to summit Denali, in 1913.

Perhaps a distant relative?

    We frequented Riverwest Bistro, whose baristas came to accept my request for ice for their delicious coffee. 

Doug at Riverview Bistro. Of course the Yukon is not visible unless you are walking on the levee.  

Along with the visitors centers, grocery store, trading post, and emporium, the cafe is located on Front St, the only paved street in town.

We thought the van was really dirty after the miles of construction. Little did we know how relatively clean it was—its black trim was still visible!

Next up: Dawson City Museum & Robert Service Cabin
]]> Mon, 18 Jul 2022 21:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-kmTkBg4IkqLpONpYks2fGs <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Dirt, Mosquitoes, Spiders, and the Arctic Circle]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-leUZG230kCrYvmyuk5fxzE
      June 29-July 1, we drove from Dawson City about 45 miles then 250 interesting miles up the dirt/gravel Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle. 

No We Are Here! Arctic Circle picture for us. While Marilyn swatted the hordes of mosquito greeters while 
getting a couple pics…

…Doug attempted to diminish the numbers that occupied the van when Marilyn got out.

 

Arctic Circle Greeters

     Driving back south we decided to camp at Tombstone Territorial Park along the Dempster. Our campsite was one of the most beautiful spots we have ever camped, right on the North Klondike River, so we decided to stay a second night before heading back to Dawson City.
 
Video of our campsite on North Klondike River.

     The van is now officially a Yukon/Alaska car as just 20 miles from the end of the Dempster—after 530 miles of dirt and gravel—a truck threw up a stone that made a nice spider in the windshield.

Dempster Hwy Rock Art

Overall the 550+ miles of dirt was grand, with wonderful scenery.  

]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2022 01:25:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-leUZG230kCrYvmyuk5fxzE <![CDATA[Canada 2022: Klondike Loop 1 - Whitehorse to Dawson City, Yukon]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n2CPT3UIEX-ntuT6pSmY81     July 25 we left Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway, aka the AlCan, headed northwest to Dawson City.

The Alaska Highway, aka the Alcan.

On this leg of our trip, we drove the Klondike Loop from Whitehorse to Dawson City. The next leg would take us from Dawson City to Tetlin Junction. Later, we'll drive from Tok to Haines Junction, where we may turn south to Haines. Even if we go to Haines, we'll have to return to Haines Junction to  continue on to Whitehorse. 

We'd thought to stroll the 1-1/4-mile-long boardwalk along the Yukon River in Carmacks, but it was flooded.

    It is an interesting year, the rivers are flowing at flood stage while the land is dry due to a lack of spring rainfall. Unfortunately this will produce many fires this summer. In fact, they've already begun.

Wildflowers and flowers in pots and hanging baskets are everywhere in the Yukon. The growing season is short, about May 1 to September 30, and its color is evidenced in yards, businesses, and city streets.

Crossing the Yukon River from Carmacks.

   Upriver from Carmacks is Five Finger Rapids, where Klondikers in their handmade craft met not just rapids on the immense Yukon but 5 rock formations as well. One has been removed to facilitate navigation for modern vessels.

Five Fingers Rapids was the demise of many a Klondiker's dreams, if not of the Klondiker himself.

    We investigated a small independent campground on Tatchun Creek a little further down the road, but given the mosquitoes, opted to boondock in a large gravel pit we'd passed a few miles back.

The mosquitoes weren't quite as bad in the gravel pit.

11:30 PM. The sun barely sets this far north.

    Just past Pelly Crossing the next morning, we came to the first of many stops to wait for a pilot car. Aside from the usual maintenance required by upheavals caused by permafrost, this was a huge reconstruction project.

Waiting for the pilot car.

New bridge under construction.

Who isn't awed and entertained by gigantic road machines?

Women drove numerous of the pilot cars and heavy equipment.

And that's why everyone's vehicle turns brown. But looking back, we realized our van was quite clean when we reached Dawson City.

You know you're almost to Dawson City when you see the bridge over the Klondike River.

The Klondike flows into the Yukon just south of Dawson City.
    Next up: Dawson City.
]]> Fri, 15 Jul 2022 06:49:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-n2CPT3UIEX-ntuT6pSmY81 <![CDATA[Canada 2022: California to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory via Washington & British Columbia]]> https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mnOnvIJOMCfDHgrmwRGUK6
Doug & Grandson, Diego

    At some point during planning for our Canada-Alaska road trip, Doug suggested and I agreed that it'd be better for my partially fused spine if I flew into Whitehorse and met him there. Doug left home June 8, with our neighbor's mother riding shotgun. After a 17-hour/943-mile run, he dropped her at home in Long Beach, WA, spent the night in their driveway, and the next day drove on to Seattle.

Doug's route from home to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

    Unfortunately, our son-in-law, Javier, had contracted Hepatitis A, so rather than several days with daughter, Katie, Javier, and grandson, Diego, Doug made the most of an afternoon walk with Katie and Diego and a wave to Javier.

Katie & Diego check out the roses.

    Further north in Bellingham, he enjoyed several days with son, Andrew, and daughter-in-law, Devon.

You might say Drew and Devon love to read. Drew of course also loves to be the mover and hanger while doing a major living room rearrangement under Devon's direction.

Drew & Devon's cat Auggie decided Doug's down vest was the perfect bed. 

Guen peaked around the corner briefly.

    Doug also got in visits with a couple of friends. June 15, with ArriveCan paperwork in hand, he headed to the Peace Arch border crossing at Blaine WA.

Crossing the border from Washington into British Columbia.

    Just across the border, in White Rock, British Columbia, he stopped for breakfast with friends Gail and Alan.

Alan & Doug

Gail & Doug, friends since San Diego days in the '70s.

    Then Doug drove a bit and found spots near Whistler for the next two nights.

Cal-Cheak Recreation Site, Whistler, BC.

Gott Creek Recreation Site near Whistler.

TRX Straps attach to back door hinge for daily workouts.

Near Gott Creek.

Cayoosh CreekCampground

Near Cayoosh Creek, BC.

Near Seton Lake south of Lilloet.

Driving Hwy 99 from border to near Cache Creek, BC.

North of 99/97, aka Caribou Highway, junction.

Dawson Creek, BC, Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway (AlCan), 1,350 miles from Bellingham, WA.

    In Dawson Creek Doug stocked up on food and found the perfect used book store, Faking Sanity, which also made an amazing latte. Small pleasures.

Dawson Creek, BC, Alaska Highway Mile 0.

As in the US, wildfires have taken a toll in Canada. Trees not killed by fire have been weakened by bark beetle.

Boondocking for the night northwest of Dawson Creek along the Tetsa River in Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park 

Following the Tetsa River.

Muncho Lake. We stopped here in 2019 to dry everything out. We boondocked just up the road, which Marilyn remembers well, as Happy Birthday was spray painted on the concrete barriers & it was her younger son's birthday.

With our longer twin at Watson Lake.

Near Teslin, Yukon Territory.

Flooded Teslin Lake Campground. We camped here previously. 

    Doug arrived in Whitehorse June 21 and checked in with Pioneer Campground south of town to make sure they had the last-minute reservation Marilyn had made. As they couldn't fit him in that night, he did what he liked most of all, boondocking, north of town.  

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, east end of the Klondike Loop.

    Meanwhile, back at base camp in Visalia, CA, I worked on a few projects. I machine-hemmed cotton-linen fabric I’d ordered to make dish towels:

Cat name ABCs for Drew & Devon.

Herb ABCs for my son Stephen & wife, Jessie.

An AlphaCactus for us.

Seattle ABCs for Katie & Javi.

And a soft book for the one who will actually be learning his ABCs.

I hung the new shades over the new living room windows, & loved the shadows.

cleaned my work room (!), 

& did some of this at friends'.

    June 23, a friend drove me the 45 minutes to the Fresno airport. I grew nostalgic as we flew into SFO (San Francisco Airport), remembering my childhood years in San Jose, post-college years in Palo Alto, and visiting Stephen and Jessie during their San Francisco years. It’s been too long since we've spent time in the Bay Area.
    I walked 2 miles to the international terminal. I think the shuttle was outside, but the exercise was good, and I had a 5-hour layover. Eventually, I boarded Air Canada for Vancouver, British Columbia. 

Descent into Vancouver, BC, in bright blue skies with mountains as backdrop. 

Landing in Vancouver, BC.

    I walked another mile through the Vancouver terminal to customs. By the time I finished telling the customs agent about our trip, I think he wanted to come with me. I was so tired by the time I reached the last agent that when she asked where I was coming from I told her Vancouver.…

View from Vancouver Terminal, where I enjoyed an authentic baguette sandwich.

    Two hours later, we boarded AirCan for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Descending into Whitehorse was breathtaking. It was hard to get a good picture, especially from an aisle seat (always my choice). 

The Yukon has had a lot of snow this year. Oh, that it could send some to California! 

Yukon River is the light gray T at bottom. Even from several thousand feet it is huge!

    By the time I exited baggage, found Doug in the van, and we arrived at Pioneer Campground, it was 1:00 AM. But who would know? It was still light out. Our usual spot, Robert Service Campground, was closed for construction, but Doug had assured me we had a great site.

Our site, in the trees, no one around.

The rest of the campground: wall-to-wall RVs.

    There was a group of Germans traveling by bus and sleeping in a unique trailered bunkhouse, which was referred to as the Chicken Coop.

Each window of the 3-tiered bunkhouse opened. 

    The only problem with our campsite was the mosquitoes. Thank goodness for our side and rear door screens from Rolef Solutions in Montreal! And we hadn't even got to the helicopter-size mosquitoes of Alaska yet!

Side door with mosquito screen down.

Rear door mosquito screen.    

    The next day, we walked the town and the Yukon River 

Doug at a wonderful cafe.


Across from the cafe was a small park where music groups played. Daycare kids, each school in a different color tee, made a colorful audience.


Whitehorse mural.

     

    As in the the US, for decades, Indian children in Canada were removed from their homes and sent to mission or boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native languages or practice any of their customs. On the banks of the Yukon, 9 burls represent the 9 First Nations languages of students at the Whitehorse Mission School. Commissioned by the Whitehorse Aboriginal Women's Circle, the momument's purpose is to encourage communication, healing, and awareness. 



Monument to Indian children removed from their homes and sent to mission schools.

The nearby  Healing Totem, carved by Tlingit Master Carver Wayne Price, represents the reunion of families separated by the residential school system. In 2019 in Carcross, Yukon, we'd watched Mr Price and apprentices carving a canoe from a log.


Healing Totem.

    By the time we returned to the campground, pourinr rain had flooded our campsite. Doug manoeuvered the van onto the narrow dry spot, which allowed us access via the passenger side.Then he noticed the folks at a neighboring site, which was above water, were packing up. They had paid for the night, so we moved to the dry site. Soon a truck approached our old site, with a choice of it or the one next to it. When we told them we'd just vacated it, they asked if we had any life jackets.

    In the morning, we'd head northwest to Dawson City.

]]> Thu, 14 Jul 2022 08:45:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/Lg-WRugW0-mnOnvIJOMCfDHgrmwRGUK6