Steve & Dawn's Journeys

2009-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Took a tour of the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery and the Capital.

2009-08-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood bear!

2009-08-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Viewed Juneau from the Mt. Roberts Tramway, saw a movie on Tlingit life, heritage and history.

2009-08-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Inside the Red Dog Cafe

Monday morning we are on our way to Juneau, the capital of Alaska. It was a 4 1/2 hour trip. Again we saw many glaciers, and sealife including hump back whales. We had dinner in at the Red Dog Cafe in downtown Juneau. Busy, busy place with all the tourists as there were 6 cruise ships at the docks.

2009-08-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Haines,AK Friday evening and parked next to Jack and Margaret whom we have met throught out our trip at different campgrounds. The drive into Haines was beautiful with many glaciers and bald eagles. There is the Alaskan Chilkart Bald Eagle Preserve which is the gathering site of more than 3,500 bald eagles from October through December.

We camped at the Oceanside RV park, overlooking the port of Haines and the Lynn Canal. This is where we will take the Alaskan Marine Ferry to the inside passage.

Saturday night the campground owner provided a Crab and Salmon feast. Fresh dungress crab and salmom that was caught just 2 hours prior. Delicious!! Beautiful evening and had a campfire with Jack and Margaret.

Sunday we took in a film at the Bald Eagle Foundation, a drive out Mud bay Road to see Rainbow and Davidson Glaciers. Checked in at the ferry terminal and got out iternary for the inside passage trip. Continued to the Chilkoot Lake area where there is a fish weir on the Chilkat River

counting the returning salmon and at 9PM we viewed a bear feeding on the salmom!! Just amazing.

2009-08-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

We left Tok the next morning heading to Destruction Bay in the YT. The road was very rough with lots of loose gravel patches, constucton, frost heaves, holes in the road, etc. It was a very long drive to Cottonwood RV campground. We arrived about 6PM and visited with 2 Escapee couples and did the Escapee hug!!

We did make one side trip for lunch to the Northway Airport, the last town before US Customs. Populaton 82. This is an Athabascan Village. The airport is currently undergoing a 20 million dollar renovaton as it is the first aviation entry point into Alaska for most private planes.

2009-08-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sourdough Campground in Tok. We arrived in time to take part in the pancake toss!! The object is to toss day old pancakes into a bucket and win a free breakfast the next morning. We didn't win, but a lot of fun. The camp host was from the Sebago,Me. area.

2009-08-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here in Valdez we are parked at the Sea Otter RV park overlooking the port of Valdez. There is something always going on here in the port; large oil tankers are in and out as well as sightseeing boats and ferries, fishing and tug boats. We have a front row seat and the weather couldn't be better for watching all the going ons.

The Alaska Oil Pipeline ends across the bay at a terminal where the hugh tankers take on the oil.

We also saw a two movies; one on the pipelne and the 1964 earthquake and how it affected Valdez. Valdez was actually rebuilt 4 miles from its original location.

2009-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Monday we took a cruise to the Columba Ice Fields and Glacier in the Prince Willam Sound. Just stunning. This glacier was the last of the tidewater glaciers to go into retreat. In 2002 it had retreated a distance of 7.5 miles. The colors were just beautiful. We saw much sea life.

The recovery process from the Exxon Valdez oil spill still continues. Locals feel that the areas affected are almost back to normal but compelte recovery is a natural process and will take years.

2009-08-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Wothington Glacier. One of the many we saw entering Valdez. We hiked to the base of it today, Tuesday August 4th. This glacier has large crevasses on the front of it which showed up as deep tourquoise caves -just beautiful.

2009-08-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday we left for Valdez traveling thru Glennallen where we turned south on to the Richardson Highway.

Mary, this is the vew we were looking at while talking with you on Sunday. This is
Sheep Mountain. We could see mountain goats with our binos.

You could also view the Alaskan Pipeline many times enroute to Valdez. I

Beautiful scenery on the Richardson Highway and arriving in Valdez was breath taking with the moutains and all the glaciers.

2009-08-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday we camped in Palmer, AK at Mountain View RV Park about 43 miles north of Anchorage and took a motorcycle rode to Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine State Historical Park. A beautiful ride. This is between the Glenn Highway and the Parks Highway.

A nice winding road with lots pf pull outs to see the Little Sustina River and beautiful wildflowers. Recreational mining is allowed within the public use area. And there was a wedding taking place on the rocks! We enjoyed our afternoon coffee at the Hatcher Pass Lodge watching paragliding.

2009-08-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Friday Steve and I took a float plane ride over Anchorage. The flight was great and since Steve and I were the only ones on the plane he did some extra touch & gos. Awesome!

2009-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we met my cousin Laurie Jean and husband Mike at the Alaska Heritage Center. They were in Anchorage visiting their son who is stationed at Elmendorf Air Force base. It was great seeing family!!

This center is where we learned about the various Alaskan natives and their customs. We toured the museum, saw native dancing and then took a walking tour that depicted the many different style homes the clans constructed. There were authentic native Alaskans of different clans presenting informative programs. Very interesting .

2009-08-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ship Creek is an urban salmon viewing area and fishing area for king and silver salmon within walking distance from downtown Anchorage.
We also visited Earthquake Park and viewed a movie on the destructive 1964 Alaskan Earthquake.

2009-08-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Over looking Anchorage from Glen Apls in Chugach State Park.

Anchorage is the largest city we have been in since we started our trip. The downtown area is beautiful with hugh hanging baskets everywhere. They love the extended daylight hours and grow profusely.

2009-07-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

Picnic with Sara on Saturday in Anchorage. Even got her autograph!

2009-07-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

We vsited the Alaskan SeaLife Center in Seward. This is Alaska's only public acquarium and was built with money from the settlement with Exxon from the Valdez oil spill. It is awesome.

Movies, live animal presentations and hands on exhibits.

2009-07-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Monday we arrived in Seward to rainy weather. We camped at Millers Landing on the Resurrection Bay. We dressed in our rain gear and headed to Exit Glacier.

2009-07-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

We tried out hand at fishing again in Soldotna. No luck. but this a site we saw!

2009-07-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

The salmom were running in Kenai and at the mouth of the Kenai River and Cook Inlet. Here were hundreds of residents camping and dipnetting for salmom.

We also toured the Russian Orthodox Church in Old Town.

2009-07-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

We left Homer on Friday morning headed to Cooper Landing on the Kenai River. We stopped here to try our hand at salmom fishing. If you look close you can see the salmom, but they weren't hungry for what we had!

2009-07-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, we took a bike ride from Homer to Anchor Point to Ninilchik Village.

This was taken at 11PM- Homer Spit and the Dixon Glacier looking across the Kachemak Bay.

2009-07-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here I am with my 9lb. salmon. Captain in the background cleaning the fish that was caught.
We were in a little town called Seldovia which can only be reached by boat or air. A beautiful harbor with about 300 residence. We had the opportunity to go into town and Steve and I had our afternoon cup of coffee!

2009-07-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

This is Captain Wally and Misty, the fishing boat we took out for our full day of halibut fishing in the Cook Inlet. We left at 5:30am. There were 3 fishermen and 1 fisherwomen !! plus the captain and his mate. It was a beautiful day.

As we went out the 40 miles for fishing we saw otters and puffins and 2 volcanos; Mt. Iliamna and Mt. Redoubt which last erupted in 1990 and is still puffing smoke. It was just awesome.

We all caught our limit on halibut by 11AM. No small feat for me! With a 4 pound weight and 200 feet down it was a lot of work bring up the catch, so I had help from the fishermen!!

So off we went in search of salmom. By 3:30 we had caught our limit and the Captain took us to Seldovia.

2009-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Homer at the Driftwood Inn and RV park. This is the view from our RV. We are looking at Kachemak Bay and 2 glaciers, Greningh and Portlock Glaciers. Homer is known as the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World."

2009-07-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday on our way to Homer on the Kenai Peninsula we stopped at Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage. There are over 800 take off and lands on a busy summer afternoon. We enjoyed watching for about 3 hours before heading south. We will tour Anchorage later in the month.

2009-07-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

Brent, What's this?

Saturday we arrived in Wasilla and visited the Transportation Museum. This is the Don Sheldon Building which had restored vintage cars, Alaska Historical Memorabilia, gold mining exhibits and the Bush Pilot Hall of Fame. There we also many outside exhibits.

2009-07-12T10:16:00.003-07:00

Friday in Talkeetna we took a flight in an Havilland Otter ski-plane thru the Alaska Range and landed on Ruth Glacier. Mt. Mckinley is in the background- about 10 miles away. This was totally awesome!

It was about 60 degrees.

2009-07-12T10:06:00.001-07:00

The rains cleared the skies and as we headed to Talkeetna,AK Friday Am we were able to view Mt. McKinkey for about 100 miles.

Stunning!

2009-07-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Polychrome Pass in Denali.

Off to Denali National Park on Thursday. We took the 8 hour bus tour. 4 hours into the park and back. We went as far as the Eielson Visitor Center, mile 66. There are great exhibits and on a clear day you can see Mt. McKinley. You can only drive the 1st 13 miles and then you have to take a bus. It was a rainy day and hard to see any of the Alaskan Range but we did see lots of wildlife including these bears which crossed in front of our bus.

2009-07-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

University of Alaska has The Museum of the North, and should not be missed - fascinatng stories about Alaska's cultures, places and wildlife. We also viewed two excellent movies, the Aurora (Northern Lghts) and Winter's in Alaska.

2009-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken at Flat Creek enroute to the hot springs.

On Monday July 6th we took another motorcycle ride to the Chena Hot Springs about 60 miles north of Fairbanks. This is a natural outdoor hot springs. Been around for more than 100 years.

We soaked for about 15 minutes as it was very hot- over 104 degrees!

2009-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

We rode on the Tanana Valley Railroad in Fox, AK to the El Dorado Gold Mine on July 5th, riding thru a permafrost tunnel, panned for gold and this time Dawn got enough for a locket!

Another beautiful day.

On our way back to Fairbanks, we viewed the Alaskan pipeline.

2009-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Fairbanks Internatonal Airport we saw the float plane section and this is corrision corner where planes are robbed of parts to keep others flying!! Interesting mix of aircraft.

There is also an airport campground for fly-ins.

7/4/09

2009-07-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July we are in Fairbanks and took a cruise on the sternwheeler Riverboat Discovery on the Chena and Thames Rivers. We took a walking tour of the Chena Indian Village, saw Susan Butcher's Iditarod sled dogs and viewed a bush pilot landing and taking off on the Chena River.

It was a beautiful day. We also went to Pioneer Park which offers the history of interior Alaska.

Steve found the Pioneer Air Museum most interesting.

7/1/09

2009-07-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Alaskan Mosquito is the state bird!!

Delta Junction, AK the official end of the Alaskan Highway. We drove the 1,442 miles!

2009-07-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Chicken, AK post office!!

Tuesday we took a motorcycle ride to Chicken AK., about 120 miles round trip from Tok.

Dawn is panning for gold!! Should have saved the $. There'a a hugh river dredge on display which was used at the height of the gold mining days. "Beautiful downtown Chicken" consists of 3 0r 4 shacks strung together in a dirt parking lot!! We did have lunch at one of the cafes and I just had to mail a postcard from the post office!

2009-07-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Tok, Alaska staying at the Tundra RV Park.

6/29/09

2009-07-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

International marker at border crossing

2009-07-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

From KluneLake we drove thru Destruction Bay, Beaver andon to Tok, Alaska.
A long day as we travelled 35MPH the last 100 miles due to permafrost.

6/28/09

2009-07-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

From Whitehorse, YT we drove to Klune Lake. the largest lake in the YT, and stayed at the Cottonwood RV Campground. There was bridge construction en-route.. car and rv need another wash!!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

2009-07-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Whitehorse, YT

Miles Caynon in the Yukon River

June 27, 2009

2009-06-28T00:00:00.001-07:00

Today as we left the campground in Tagish, we saw a grizzly bear with her two cubs.

We arrived in Whitehorse,YT after a two hour trip and went to the airport to see this DC-3 weathervane. Tonight we went to the Frantic Follies variety show.

Off to bed now, it is midnight and it is still light out!!!

2009-06-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

We took a side trip off the Alaskan Highway to Tagish in the YT and camped for two nights. We took a 200 mile ride on the Klondike Highway to Skagway, Alaska. It was a cold ride over the mountain, and so beautiful.

We had chilie and coffee at the Red Onion to warm up!!, viewed a movie on the Gold Rush at the National Park Center, went to the Harley dealer of course!! and had Alaskan King Crab for dinner before we headed back to Tagish.

2009-06-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Next stop was Watson Lake in Yukon Territory at the famous Sign Post Forest. Look close and you can see our NH license plate "IPUSHRV"

June 23,2009

2009-06-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we camped at the Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake which means Big Lake in the Kaskan dialect. This is located on Mile 437 of the Alaskan Highway in BC.

Two float planes were located at this lodge and did charter trips.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

2009-06-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

Dawson Creek, BC Mile Marker Zero, the beginning of the Alaskan Highway.

We are staying at the Mile Zero Campground.

6/19/09

2009-06-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday we left Lake Louise in the RV driving thru Jasper National Park. We had to come to a complete stop as the Mountain Goats had taken over the road!!

Tuesday thru Thursday

2009-06-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

We left Great Falls,MT and crossed into Canada at Sweetgrass. We were pulled into the inspection station and the RV was searched as we didn't know how much liquor we had on board!! 1/2 hour later we were on our way and stayed at Grandview Campground right next to a golf course. So, we get set up and decided to play 9 holes. Little did we know we would have to watch out for gophers and gopher holes!! Oh well what do you want for $5.00.

Wednesday we arrived in Lake Loiuse in Bannf National Park and spent 2 days. The Canadian Rockies are beautiful. We took a 200 mile Harley ride. This photo was taken at Crowfoot Glacier, North of Lake Louise.

June 15,2009

2009-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Great Falls, MT this afternoon from Billings, MT. Stopped at Pierce RV in Billings to have our hot water tank repaired. Would highly recommend Pierce RV if you need to have repair work done. Friendly, helpful and very professional.

We took Rt 3 from Billings to Great Falls. We live in a very beautiful country. Lots and lots of open space.

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Calgary.

2009-06-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

There we go... north to Alaska. Leaving Greeley, Colorado on Saturday morning.

June 12, 2009

2009-06-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

We are here at Steve's sister's in Hudson, CO.
Spent the day getting Candian currency !!!, had lunch with my sister and sister-in-law at Sam's in downtown Denver, food shopping and will end the day with a cookout tonight.
Steve has been busy with installing the break buddy and rock shield on the HHR and installing converter box for the tvs.

Heading to Casper,Wyoming on Saturday and into Montana on Sunday.