Sunday, June 15, 2003

Happy Father's Day!

We got up to solid clouds and rain this morning. Donna and I had decided last nite to take the wildlife / glacier tour today, but with the harbor socked in, we figured it would be a waste of time.

Once we crossed the mountains surrounding Valdez it started to clear up, and we could even see the mountains around Glennallen. After passing through Glennallen and taking the Tok Cut-Off highway, the road really got a lot worse. Lots of places where there was only gravel, and lots of dips and bumps.

We arrived in Tok a little before 3pm and then got fuel right across from the park where we wanted to stay. We had fueled here on the 31st of May for $1.499, but it had gone up to $1.519 since our last time here. We had really stretched it to get here because in the areas we have been in the last few days prices have been from $1.849 to $1.949.

There is a Foretravel Motorcade group of 22 coaches here in the park, on their way to the places we have been. Just as we arrived, Jo Dean Neel and her husband, Merlyn, who are leading the group came over and invited us to a pot-luck supper. We agreed we would attend and really enjoyed meeting a lot of really nice folks. Many were interested in hearing about what we had seen and what we had done. Donna even pulled out some of the pictures of Mt. McKinley.

The folks were from all over the US, and had met in Dawson Creek a few days ago for their 42 day trip through Canada and Alaska. They will end their official tour at Skagway on the 42nd day.

While we were having dinner, a large Rig pulling a long 5th wheel trailer came into the park and when turning down his assigned aisle, the tail swing from the long trailer clipped a truck that was parked in one of the sites. It actually ripped most of the end cap from the trailer. An RV repair place came over, the used rope to hold the end cap together until repairs can be made. It seems there was no structural damage, both slides still worked and his electrical hook-up was intact.

Ladies won at 42 tonite - 3-0 and Lena got the Widow (AGAIN)!!!

After the pot-luck dinner, we visited some more of the folks, and then had a re-match on the 42 game, which was unofficial and no score will be reported. LOL

Monday, June 16, 2003

We left the Tok RV park about the same time as usual, headed south on the Alaskan Highway. Only the first 10 miles of the highway had we been on before, since on the way up we had gone through Dawson City from Whitehorse, and rejoined the Alaskan Highway by way of the Top of the World Highway. From there to Haines Junction, we were in un-charted territory.

About 90 miles later we crossed the Alaskan/ Yukon border, with the Customs station about 20 miles inside the Yukon. Couple of questions at Customs and we were on our way... for about 2 miles when we had to stop at 'Buckshot Betty's", a huge parking lot with a tiny cafe. Donna bought a huge cinnamon roll which we shared on the way down the highway.

The rest of the trip was through lots of construction, several pilot cars, and some, but not much, of re-constructed highway. For about 50 miles we ran along side Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon. This is really a beautiful lake, and totally undeveloped. Only a few little settlements, a few homes, and a few fishing charters. If this lake were in Texas, it would be surrounded by beautiful homes, and covered by hundreds, if not thousands, of boats.

We arrived at Kluane RV Park about 3 pm after about 8 hours on the road, and covering about 300 miles. Not very good time, but was lots of bad roads.

The Kluane RV park is a big disappointment. They claim to have 30amp service, but have only 20 amp. They claim to have Modem hook-up, which is a pay phone. The view is, however, quite nice. Beautiful mountains across the entire horizon in front of us.

Oh, yeah. the men redeemed themselves tonite, 3-0, BUT, yours truly got the Widow. I think its only my second time.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Two Provinces, One State, Two Time Zones, only 1 highway, and only 150 miles. That's what our day was like. We left Haines Junction, which is in Yukon province, then went through a tiny part of British Columbia before going through U. S. Customs again to enter Alaska, where the time zone changed back to Alaska Time, rather the Pacific Time.

Even though it was cloudy and drizzling rain again, it was a beautiful drive through the forest and mountains into Haines, a port town. As we neared Haines, it was almost tropical in nature, with lots of trees, ferns, and a plant called Cow Parsnip, which looks a little like the East Texas Elephant Ears. Compared to other port towns we have been in, this one seems to have a lot more in the way of permanent employment, and not dependent on oil or fishing.

A good portion of the trip was through an area known to be Grizzly country, but unfortunately (for the bears, and us) we didn't see any. Guess they heard we were coming.

As we neared Haines, we passed through a part of the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. Although the eagles are here in numbers in the fall, we were able to observe several large nest and a few of the eagles. Thousands of years ago the eagles chose Chilkat Valley as their winter home. Drawn by the warm open water and plenty of Salmon, up to 3500 eagles are here during the peak time.

We did a bit of sight-seeing this afternoon, visiting a few shops, driving one of the back roads, and driving through Fort William H. Seward, the first U. S. Fort in Alaska, established in 1902, after a border dispute with Canada .

After considering the cost and time involved in traveling by road from here to Skagway, we made reservations for the Ferry on Saturday, the 21st. We would be ready to go on Friday, but one of the ships is in for repair, and they were booked for Friday.

We also tried to get tickets to go to Juneau on the Fjord Express to Juneau, but they were full for Wednesday, so we will go on Thursday. I will give a full report with my Thursday report. We are on standby for Wednesday.

Right now its about 7pm, still drizzling rain, and we are about to have one of Donna's real "Coach-Cooked" dinners. "Coach-Cooked"? That's a "On The Road Home-Cooked Dinner".

Opps, about the 42 game tonite - Ladies won 2-1 (they really got lucky) and Mac caught the widow.

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

Since we were on standby for the cruise to Juneau for today, we went to the office and checked to see if there were any cancellations. As it turned out, there was space available, so we were on the boat. This boat is an enclosed catamaran about 65 feet long with twin 600 hp diesel engines. The boat has a cruise speed of about 28 knots.

The weather today was pretty rough to be on a boat, with head winds of about 20 miles an hour, as well as an incoming tide. It was also raining most of the time, and a really rough ride going over. The Owner-Captain did find a somewhat smoother route for a part of the trip, and was constantly pointing out certain interesting sights.

During the roughest part, a few folks got a little queasy, but no one was sick that I noticed. About 20 minutes before arrival in Juneau, we saw a number of boats on a whale watching cruise. They had spotted some whales and we joined in for a while. There appeared to be 5 whales on a feeding expedition. They would dive under for about 5 to 7 minutes, then come crashing up out of the water, feed for a few minutes, before repeating the process.

As we arrived at the small boat harbor in Juneau, about 30 or so eagles were feeding in the harbor. We first noticed a lot of herring in the water, and that was apparently the source of the eagles' food. We boarded a bus for the trip to downtown Juneau, and were dropped right by the docks where the big cruise ships dock. There were 4 ships in port, and lots of folks downtown. After lunch at the Harbor restaurant overlooking the harbor, we browsed around the downtown area.

Because of the well healed passengers on the ships that visit Juneau, many of the shops were very high-end, branded shops, with lots of Alaskan Arts and Crafts. We treated ourselves to some fudge from the Alaskan Fudge Co., where they make the fudge right there in the shop.

About 3:15, the bus picked us up at the designated stop, and delivered us to the Mendenhall Glacier, located just outside Juneau. This glacier is a very popular stop for all the cruise ship folks, and was extremely crowded. The Visitor Center was a very elaborate building, with an observation area, a movie theater, a model of the glacier, and some very interesting displays about the Mendenhall glacier. There were trails to really up close, and lots of 'icebergs' in the lake at the bottom of the glacier. One particularly large iceberg was very close to the glacier, and had 'calved' just this morning.

Back on the bus for the trip to the boat, and the return to Haines. The trip back was some degree better, although the seas were still running at about 4 to 5 feet. But, since we were traveling 'with' the wind and the waves, we 'surfed' our way back to Haines.

On the way back, the captain pointed out a couple of Lighthouses, one of which was for sale by the Coast Guard. We also saw some sea lions lounging on a buoy out in the bay.

Thursday, June 19, 2003

Today was a rather slow and relaxing day. We didn't really get started until after 9am, when we headed downtown to visit some of the shops and museums. We first went to the American Bald Eagle Foundation, a wonderful wildlife museum focusing on The Eagle. The founder of the museum was there and took a lot of time explaining the exhibits to everyone. There were literally a hundred or so examples of the various wildlife in this area on display with painted scenes as background. There was also a very interesting video about the Eagles and the Preserve located here.

Then to the Hammer Museum, which Mac and Lena decided to also view. This guy had probably several hundred hammers of all sorts, all displayed and described on the various wall of the little house he was located in.

Then after a few shops, we all had lunch at The Wild Strawberry, a neat little restaurant downtown. Nice young lady waited on us, and the food was very good. ( I bet its the first time Mac ever had a $12.95 sandwich.. LOL)

Donna & I dropped Mac and Lena back at the park, then went to a couple of other museums. The first was the Sheldon Museum, which displayed a lot on information on the native Indians in this area, as well as a lot of photos and displays about the Fort Seward located here.

Then we went to the Tsirku Canning Company, a really interesting display of a restored canning line that had been in use from the early 1900's through the early 1970's. This was really quite remarkable equipment, considering its date of origin and the extreme amount of use they endured. The guy that restored and demostrates the equipment is himself a commercial fisherman, now retired.

After returning to the coach for a couple of hours (my nap time), we all loaded up and went out to the ferry office to check on leaving on Friday, rather than Saturday. As it turned out, a replacement ferry is now operating for the one that is out of service for repair, and we were able to get reservations for 3:15 on Friday. Our departure will also be during a rising tide, so the ramp should not be steep enough to cause a problem loading the coach.

We then drove on further out the same road toward the Chilkoot Lake and State Park. This was some beautiful country, with homes all along the coast and on the side of the mountain along the highway. We went to the end of the road, where the homes had no electricity, but apparently had water service. Most of the homes had solar panels and apparently had diesel powered generators, located in smaller buildings away from the main house.

We stopped at a little rustic, no-service campground that was located right on the water. The lady there was not the owner, but explained the owner lived across the road and leased the spots (about 15 of them) for just $300 per year. She also pointed out a Father Eagle sitting in a tree across the road, guarding his nest, and family and the Mama Eagle sitting in another tree slightly above their nest. Totally Awesome!! We saw quite a few eagles at various locations, but no pictures since we had left the cameras at the coach.

We also took a side road up to the lake and campground, a no service state park campground. As we drove up the road along the river going into the bay, we spotted a grave monument out in the woods. Mac walked out into the woods, the person had died in 1926!

After returning to the campground, Donna and I decided to go out to dinner, and chose the Bamboo Room, and nice little Restaurant/Bar located downtown. At one time it was a hotel, bar and bordello.

I know this is a rather long report today, just seems we had a lot to tell about.

Oh, by the way, there has been no 42 game the last couple of days. We were tired after the trip to Juneau yesterday, and its drizzling again today.

Friday, June 20, 2003

We had plenty time this morning so we mostly sat around the park. Donna did go to the grocery store for a few items. We got the coach ready to travel, and returned the wireless router to the office. Check out time was at 11 and we were gone by then.

We drove to the Ferry, and of course we were first in line, since departure time was 3:15. We had to get measured and pay the fare. Donna loaded with the pickup pretty quickly and was able to get pictures of me and mac as we were loading.

It was a nice ride over, very smooth, the wind was at our back, so it was calm on deck. There was lots of nice scenery and it was fun watching the crew line up the ship with the dock and get it tied up.

Mac was the first of the 3 of us to unload, had to back up the fifth wheel under the direction of one of the crew. He almost jackknifed it to get lined up with the exit door. There was a passenger bus parked in from of me, and an Air Stream hit the bus mirror as it left. I don't think the driver pulling the Air Stream even knew it.

I also had to back up, but had no problem getting lined up with the door.

We went directly to the RV park, which is right next to the docks and got checked in, then went 'tooling' around time. By the time we got downtown, few shops were open, since most of the cruise ships were gone by this time.

We came home, and Donna and I went to dinner at Skagway Fish Company. . Since the only smoking area was at the bar, we ate at the bar. The bartender was a nice guy named Don and we met the owners, Dan and Ilene, originally from Chicago. We also me a young writer named Chris, from New York, and a couple of his friends named Liz and Hannah , both from Washington. It was Liz's birthday, and they were having a grand time, and were lots of fun. They told us about a 'Soltice Party" planned for Saturday evening at a city park to celebrate the 'longest day of the year'. And in Skagway, that's about 19 hours of daylight, with the rest being twilight.

After dinner Donna and I drove around town some more, then back to the coach.
We plan to go to some of the shops in the morning, but most will be closed since there will be no cruise ships in town tomorrow.

Saturday, June 21, 2003

Happy Solstice, everybody. I know that's really not a big thing back in Texas, just more time for it to be hot. But here, it is really a noteworthy day.

I go up at 5:30 this morning, full daylight, then took a nap on the couch until 7:30. we had no urgent plans today, so Donna didn't get up until 9:00 ( She's on vacation, remember!)

We all loaded up and went to Dyea, a town that was established at the head of the Chilkoot Trail. They even built a 1 1/2 mile long dock to accommodate the boats and barges bringing the Gold Rush people. Dyea was one of the two starting places for the trek over the mountains to Lake Bennett, where the rushers built boats to travel the Yukon River to Dawson City. On April 4th 1899, a snow slide occurred and killed about 70 people, which basically was the end of the town. The cemetery where those 70 are buried is referred to as Slide Cemetery.

When we got back to town Donna and I had lunch at Bonanza Bar and Grill. Mac and Lena ate breakfast kinda late, so they didn't join us. We all then went to the Shirt Factory where I bought a jacket. Then we went to the ticket office to get our tickets for the train tomorrow.

We dropped Mac and Lena off at the park, and Donna and I went to the Jewell Garden. The Gardens were just beginning to take shape, but the place was extremely nice, although it was small. The grounds are laid out with a board walk that formed the stem of a flower with various gardens forming the leaves and flowers. Of course, my main interest was the Garden Gauge Train that was operating, although the were expanding it. We then came home and I took a nap from about 4:30 to 6:30, while Donna cooked supper.

About the time I got up I spotted Mac talking to 2 couples on parking lot, as we all know is Mac's favorite thing to do.

After Dinner, Donna and I drove out to Solstice party at the city park They had a pretty good band playing, a bon-fire, food and refreshment, and a group doing fire twirling. One young lady was a fire-eater, too. After driving around a little more, we were back home about 11.