Star Date 06/08/22

 

Woke at hotel and spent the day putting the apartment together, got the Internet hooked up.  Dean’s 6th birthday today. Took popsicles to Dean’s day camp and watched him play.  Dinner with Amy and Terry (grandparents), opened gifts and ate cake.  Tomorrow, finishing up at the apartment and moving over finally.  Helping Brenna set up for the friend party tomorrow, another celebration.  Friday will be our first real day in the apartment.  Still haven’t had a chance to wash the dust and bugs off the car. 

Dean's Birthday Happenings

Star Date 06/07/22

 Felt good to sleep in and hotel room is very comfortable.  We go for groceries and other provisions.  Navigating Costco and local Fred Myers, four hours later, we schlep several packages into our tree top apt.  Still unpacking and yet to set up the beds.  Tomorrow we can spend more time in apt getting things done.  Dinner with the kids, Dean wants to play with Gramma and Quinn takes care of Papa.  Dean’s birthday is tomorrow and he has asked for a family party; the friend party is on Thursday.  So much partying and gramma and papa still jet lagged but trying to keep up.  We have decided to spend two more nights in the hotel to have everything ready in the apt.

Looking forward to a more settled schedule.  Chuck has his golf clubs and fishing tackle and wants to move on!  Cooler and overcast today but no rain.

Nighty night!

Star Date 06/06/22

Up with the sun (it never really set) around 6AM.  Cabin cute and well appointed but bed not great and the light shone through the windows all night.  The hot water tank is only 12 gallons, so used nearby bathhouse for unlimited hot water.  Beautiful facility all around, very clean, family business since 1970’s.  Rained late evening but sunny today around 50 degrees; need more rain.  Breakfast at Fast Eddies, still good.  Road south to Anchorage is a lot of heaves, etc.  This area suffered a 7.9 earthquake a few years ago, besides permafrost, it does damage.  Drainage area with numerous rivers and bog; fed by snow melt and numerous glaciers.  All of a sudden Mt. Sanford, dormant volcano comes into view, 16k+, glacier covered, sky clear which can be rare for views.  These high mountains make their own weather.  See the chain of big mountains in the Wrangell Range; Mt Wrangell is an active volcano. 

Leave Tok cutoff Road onto Glenn Highway, starting in Glenallen village.  Climb into Eureka Summit nearly above tree line.  Caribou country, no sightings.  Entering the Chugach Range with major Tazlina and Matanuska and other glaciers.  Chugach Range is what borders Anchorage.  It is a tight valley and some of the road is narrow, no guard rails and huge steep drop-offs.  Stop Matanuska Glacier photo op.  Follow Matanuska River onto the Parks Highway, pass the State Fair Grounds.  Knik Glacier River joins the Matanuska at this point and empties into the Knik Arm that surrounds Anchorage.  

Arrive Anchorage around 2PM (6 hours driving time) in heat and sun.  Big fines for any outside fires due to alert.   We drive to Wal Mart for some moving supplies and then drive to the apartment and were surprised by our moving committee, the Powell’s, Brenna and our friend Andrew (18-year-old).  Such a relief to unload the car for three flights up.  We oldsters really given Andrew a workout, it is very hot; Andrew earns some cash.  Powell’s drop ribs and mac salad for our welcome dinner at Brenna’s.  The roof rack took a lot of punishment.  There is a little damage to the cross bars but held tight.  At Brenna and Zach’s, we meet up with the kids.  So much excitement in our meeting and Huck the dog is part of the greeting!  Dean’s two top teeth are missing, he looks like jaunty pirate.  Quinn quickly warms up. After dinner, Gramma and Papa are tired and drive to the Marriott for a couple days of R and R, sleeping in.  Working at the apartment for a couple days to unpack all the mailed packages and car contents, put together the beds.  The apartment is large, with big living room, kitchen/dining room, bathroom and two bedrooms.  Lots of closet, cabinets and storage.  We just need a couple chairs for the LR and we will have all the basics.  With 20 hours of daylight and Cheryl’s R2D2 lanterns we have light until we need lamps.

Tomorrow, stock the apartment, laundry and set up beds.   Family Dean BD dinner Wednesday and kid party on Thursday.  Lots more excitement and lots of love coming from the Greats, Aunts Kathy and Margie and Uncle Brian and Uncle Seth.

Tired but loving not having to get up at 6AM after the last 10 days.  Fingers crossed, cooler temps.

Safe travels and gratitude for it and kindnesses all along the way.

Nighty, night.

Total Miles Driven Today:                        333
Total Miles Driven for Complete trip:    4458

Animals Seen Today

Other Sights From Today

Our Cabin at Tok RV Village

Matanuska Glacier

Mount Drum

Star Date 06/05/22

Woke at 5:30AM.  Beds were fine and air conditioning works, clean and lots of hot water.  Given the price and location central in the YT capital, it is kind of a dump.  A traffic light is outside our window. Some hotels are poured concrete floors but some are wood construction; this is wood construction.  At 1:30 AM room above occupant decided to walk around; don’t know where they were going, the rooms aren’t that big; went on for an hour.  Turned on Tony Robinson’s walking tour of the Roman roads/settlements in England Lake District.  He is so good (loved him as Baldrick in Blackadder).   We eat our microwaved oatmeal, yogurt and applesauce.  Coffee machine gives us our wake-up.  It is cloudy outside and initially 48 degrees.  Should not be too rainy as we pass the border and move on to Tok, Ak.

We pass free range horses and cattle grazing, horses beside the road.  Supposed to be elk herd crossing, didn’t see any; they were imported in the 50’s and flourished.  Areas of the road not cut back and have to watch carefully because the new sprouted browse brings moose.  As large as they are they can appear and disappear in seconds.  Moving north and west the road is not as good as leading to White Horse.  We pass a native settlement with a sign at the road with blinking lights that no one is allowed to enter their village as Covid precaution.  During the trip some wear masks but most don’t.  The remote area locals tend to wear masks, health care access is difficult.  We don’t stay in any crowded indoor areas and when we eat in restaurants we are seated far from others.  And though the salad bars look tempting we don’t.  In Canada much of signage is in French and English, less so in YT; more likely to see native language; but do have French speaking TV.

There are hot springs for bathing along the way but we don’t have time to stop.  There is definitely earthquake activity in the area and one river is milky white from volcanic ash.  We arrive in Kluane Park; the mountains in the background include Mt Logan, highest in Canada and second only to Denali.  We have flown over it, very different from Denali; Denali is massive with two summits while Logan is pinnacle shaped with deep glaciers all around; the high peaks in the Kluane area (St Elias range) are increasing glaciers not receding.  There is low cloud ceiling and spitting rain, appears new snow is falling in high altitudes in this St Elias range.  We drive into a campground on the Kluane Lake shore where we camped in the past.  The bear warnings are very clear and they are known to frequent.  We stayed here in the past.  They did not allow tent camping because they are bear tacos, but have since erected a high electric fence where tent campers can stay; the first in Canada.  We eat our picnic (40 degrees) in a shelter and then walk on the lake shore.  There is still a lot of ice on this massive lake and strong winds have blown ice walls onto the shore.  Then we notice the biggest pile of bear scat we have ever seen and it is fresh.  It can’t be coming from the small black bears we have seen, a grizzly must be casing the campground.

Animals today, bull moose, swans, hawks, black bear; and first mosquitos, small, voracious, relentless.  Finally see wild flowers, yellow, pink and purple, small cluster  bushes.  The road is a variation of the old AlCan built for WWII; some of the old road exists and can be taken as a side road.  We stop at an old Ak Highway bridge made out of local timber still intact.  The river running beneath it is fast and deep, warning not to stand on the bridge, very impressive how they made it and still standing.  A Wood Bison herd is in the area and they have found native hunting tools nearby and bison relics from 7000 years ago.

We pass over Jarvis Creek.  The Jarvis name is found throughout the north but does not appear in any tales about bandits, dance hall girls, etc.  LOL.  At a road stop we create D and Q initials in stone on the side of the hill and a mini inukshuk to say we were here.

The temperature climbs to the 70’s and sun is very hot, we are out of the rain.  Road after White Horse was pretty bad with pot holes, heaving and subsidence.  Global warming is melting the permafrost and that affects the base of the roads, so really have to be on our guard.  Lots of big burn areas; these areas are big water catchment for the many mountains/glaciers, so very boggy and used by many wildlife species especially migrating birds that journey as far as South America.  We get through US customs without any problems, nearing Tok our destination for the night.  We pass into our last time zone, we're now on Ak time, 4 hours change.  This area is surrounded by the furthest eastern Alaska Range mountains and very beautiful.  We stay at Tok RV Village; we have a small newly built log cabin.  About 20 x 15, two double beds, small shower commode room, a desk, micro and frig.  And a covered front porch with chairs and a picnic table for use.   What a nice way to end the trip.  We walk down the road to Fast Eddies;  looks a little divey from outside but very sophisticated in side with excellent menu and Alaska brews on tap. 

We talk to Brenna and they have taken all our ordered furniture and mailed goods into the apartment.  We arrive tomorrow and want to unload the car into apartment and they will help; top floor with stairs, so knees will get a workout.  We will likely spend the first night at the Marriott and then set up the apartment the next day.  It is very hot in Anchorage, predicted to cool and get some much needed rain.  But we will be buying a box fan!  Ak houses don't have AC.  We won’t end the blog for a few days after we get to Anchorage as there is still a story in how we get moved in! Dean's birthday #6 party this week, their main bathroom reno is nearing completion and they bought a property in Ninilnichik (sp?) on Kenai Peninsula to build a cabin,  So lots of excitement happening for them!  

It is cooling down and our little cabin is cozy and quiet.  A good night sleep before we start the 300+ miles into Anchorage.  Grateful for safe travels.  Nighty night.

Total miles driven today:       393
Total miles Driven so far:    4125

Animals seen today

Other Sights today

We made these

Star Date 06/04/22

Asleep before 9PM last night, nothing to do here after hours except get into trouble.  Lots of truckers passing through.  There is some native presence but in minority.  The hotel and room.  It makes me uneasy when the manager behind the desk refuses to make eye contact.  There are machines in the tiny lobby that accept Loonie Lizzie money (picture of Queen of E on the money even though they are independent nation but still part of Commonwealth).  Our only window opens to the side and that is the side of the breeze so it is blocked.  Our view is a solid wall of worn cement block that is so large we can’t see around it at any direction.  Décor is the heavy dark pine colonial style furniture of the 50’s in beautiful condition, heavy stuff and a feat to bring it here.  The room is very clean, the bed is hard but everything works, micro, coffee pot, shower, coffee maker, fans.  We don’t turn on the TV so don’t know about that, but the Internet has good connection once we got the correct password. The towels are nice and soft.  The last two hotels had towels/clothes that were so stiff they seemed to be designed for abrasion; head to toe mega loofa.  We eat our breakfast in the room, instant oatmeal, fruit and yogurt and Chuck bought himself chocolate donut holes and we have help from Cheryl’s gift of instant Starbucks and creamers.  Unlike our other hotels this one demanded our bill be prepaid.  Hmmm, think some people skip?  Sunny day, predicted to rain before we reach Whitehorse, YT.   We will be on the road by 8AM. 

The road is good with just a few areas of loose gravel, we eat a lot of dust.  A semi went off the road straight down a steep bank engine first.  Everyone looked relaxed so driver must not have been hurt.  Not a lot of guardrails and steep sides.  The semis come barreling at us on this two-lane road, high speeds and throwing dust and stones.  Fingers crossed no cracked windshield yet.  We are not likely to make it home without at least one incident, it has happened in Anchorage driving.  Very sparsely populated area as we weave in and out of British Columbia and Yukon.  10,000 Trumpeter Swans migrate through here in April and 4 species of migrating warblers are banded every year.   A beautiful red bushy fox with a white stripe on its tail crosses in front of us.  A young bull moose is browsing near the road and a dark brown black bear is munching by the road.  A dark brown porcupine waddles up the side of a hill.  We have not seen any big birds of prey, eagles, hawks, owls etc.  This area has many large rivers, streams and bog.

At a roadside stop we talk with a couple from Arizona, our age, both on one motorcycle with a little trailer attached.  And we thought traveling with a roof top carrier was daring.  We leave the Laird River, it winds north into the sea and we start following the Yukon River, status as one of the longest rivers in the world. It crosses YT and Ak to the Beaufort Sea on the west coast of Ak.  Chinook and Chum salmon swim that distance into the Yukon to spawn.  An amazing journey.  We cross the Continental Divide which influences which way these large rivers flow northward.  The sheer volume of water is hard to describe.  We cross a long bridge at Teslin Lake which is incredible in its size by length and depth.  The village of Teslin is Tlingit, one of the 14 tribes identified under the One Nation banner in YT; each with its own distinctive dialect and customs.  We see snow covered mountains and incredible vistas of mostly White and Lodge Pole pines with birch/aspen; amazing to think that in all that wilderness not one human exists.  Exposed rock shows the variety of geologic formations and mineral content; one area looked with lava.  People passing through stop and form messages using roadside rocks on the sides of the hills and occasionally there is an inukshuk, a column made of balanced stone, a kind of cairn that was used by natives as messaging in the past.  

We arrive in White Horse, capital of the Yukon Territory Province.  It is a university town that sits on the Yukon River; it is a very youthful population.  We visit Yukon Brewing for a tasting and then late lunch at the Woodcutters Blanket, an historic log cabin brew pub.  We stop off at the Klondike River boat that is dry docked and preserved from gold rush days.  We can’t board it due to repairs but have pictures of moms and kids on it in 1984.  Arrive at Quality Inn in downtown.  No matter how modern these towns try to be there is still a wild frontier atmosphere.  The exterior is drab but the room is fine, at least we have an elevator.  Crossing into US tomorrow.  We trust the agents won’t give us any trouble because unpacking would be a nightmare.  We will also pass by a favorite place, Kluane Lake. so looking forward to it.  One more night.  Anchorage here we come!  Nighty night.

Total Miles Driven Today      288
Total Miles Driven So Far    3732

Animals Seen Today

Other Sightings from Today

Teslin Bridge

Klondike River Boat

Star Date 06/03/22

Went to bed so early last night we are up around 4:30AM and the sun has risen.  Went to hotel restaurant for beautiful free breakfast of eggs, ham, hash browns, pancakes, etc. (all hotels have free breakfasts.  After packing we are on the road by 8AM.  After a couple hours TA DA!  Mountains!  But first the animals.

 Can’t believe all that we saw and right next to the road.  It’s springtime in the Rockies and the choicest grazing is near the road grass and it is the highest in minerals and salts. 

 Busy beavers are everywhere building dams and huge lodges.  Stone sheep have come down off the mountain to feed.  The rams’ horns are huge, they stay together as a herd, there are ewes but no lambs as yet.  A few deer run through the woods.  Caribou are right by the road feeding and let us take their pictures; no sign of calves but their antlers are starting to grow.  We pass by a young bull moose, beautiful rusty brown still shaggy from the winter and velvet covered antlers are sprouting.  Two young black bears eating dandelions by the road, sat still for a pic.  Two small herds of dark brown Wood Bison grazing right by the road.  Each has newborn calves, some with umbilical cords still attached.  They are shaggy from the winter but the calves are a golden red color.  We see bison bulls beyond the birthing cows, they are huge.  Besides the good grazing, birthing in the open area by the road may dissuade bear and wolf attacks.  This is an endangered species and a treat to see them wild.  And then a cinnamon-colored black bear is eating by the roadside.  What a day!   Our bucket list yet to see:  grizzly and wolf.  There are no elk this far north so have to catch them on the return.

 Note: yesterday we met a motorcyclist from Worthington, Ohio, his pack was full of decals from states he has visited.  We are passing through three Canadian provinces, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon Territory.  We were very near the Northwest Territories Border.  We see South Carolina, Texas and Florida license plates; we are not the furthest travelers.

 Beautiful snow-capped mountains and infinite acres of treed forest, dark green pines with spring green aspen and birch, and not a human anywhere.   We pass through the Summit at 4200+ feet, highest elevation on AlCan; the Summit Lake is still mostly frozen and snow is on the banks.  The Canadian Rockies are very distinctive with huge upward grooves and horizontal lines; they are young mountains and not yet eroded.  The rivers are huge and high from the melt.  We stop at Muncho Lake that looks like a fantasy; emerald green water that was still partially frozen, even the ice was beautiful green.  It comes from Copper Sulfate leaching into the water.  But when you look directly into the water it is so clear as to see the bottom.  The lake is deepest at 730 feet.  We are on two lane roads, few guardrails but well maintained and good quality given the weather and permafrost.  So, we had to put up with some road construction involving a lot of dust and pilot vehicles.  We pass through some burned out forest.  It is very dry here; dusty and fire alert is on high.

 We arrive at Watson Lake, YT, rough town, few services and Covid has hurt them with less tourists.  It serves all sporting activity i.e. hunting/fishing and the gold miners who still work in the area.  They are in early spring, and many bushes only buds and only dandelions blooming.   We visit the Sign Village where travelers from all over the world leave personal signs/messages as they pass through.  There is one from Lakewood Ohio Shakespeare Festival.  We were last here in 1984 with our moms, Brenna preschool and baby Seth.  (Our later trips took a different route).  Interesting Visitors Center, telling the story of WWII Army troops based here, commissioned to build the AlCan in record time to meet the needs of the war after Pearl Harbor and need to guard the north from Japan.  Our hotel is rough, no elevator so shlepping our gear up three flights; don’t leave valuables in the car.  Although a Royal Canadian Mounted Police station is located here.  The room is not the standard that we’ve had so far but we’re making it work.  We went to dinner at a hotel next door, very Yukon décor and eclectic menu but the food was good.  Stopped at local grocery to pick up breakfast items to fix in our room; no free breakfast or any breakfast here and no real options in town.  The prices would knock your socks off but it did offer a little of everything.  They even had bouquets of fresh flowers; now how did they get here, we are in the boons.  A young woman checking out in front of us had a store coupon and gave it to us.  We have found much kindness along the road.

 Finishing today’s blog.  We traveled 300+ miles today, a drop in the bucket from other days and only 7 hours (much added waiting in construction and taking cute animal pictures).  The car is covered in dust and smashed bugs.  The roof top carrier has been great and we have put it through a lot.  Just need a good car wash in Anchorage.  We have every fan on in the room, it is 80 degrees and the sun is especially hot. Very warm, sunny weather predicted up to Haines Junction. Early night and early rise.  We are at a Quality inn tomorrow so it’s a little more predictable.   Nighty night.  Don’t let the bed-bugs bite.  Fingers crossed. 

Total Miles Traveled Today     330

Total Miles Traveled so Far   3448

Animals Seen Today

Other Sights Seen Today

Muncho Lake

Star Date 06/02/22

Woke up at 6AM and northern sun has been up for a while.  We stayed at Fox Creek Best Western.  This stop is a center for construction and drilling workers.  Lots of trucks and dust; sign on the door is remove your muddy boots or put on surgical booties to cover them.  We have a boot tray in the room with cleaning cloths.  But the hotel is beautiful.  Best warm water, clean pool and sauna which we enjoyed.  No nearby restaurants so we eat from the food we packed.  The breakfast was fit for workers, eggs benedict, waffles, yogurt parfait and cheddar cheese sausage etc.  Breakfast has been included in all our hotel stays.  It is getting confusing keeping the hotel rooms straight.  A different place each day.  All beds have been comfortable.   We are definitely moving north, more black spruce, birch an aspen tree.  The road is two lane and good shape.  Sunny all day and temp is rising to 80 degrees, but no humidity. Signs for moose but don’t see any.   Some crop farming and cattle but petroleum and natural gas drilling and fracking are supreme.  The towns are small and very rare population in between.  Not much to see but here is more taiga with black spruce and signs of past forest fires.  Lots of bog and beavers.  Where are the mountains?  The Al Can was constructed for WWII and is the most direct route with less elevation changes.  But not the most scenic, it travels east of the Rockies.  We will take the western route home driving through mountains on way back in September.  We arrive Fort Nelson, Woodlands Hotel, a locally owned, which is rare.  FN had a boom with petroleum and logging but that has run out and population dropped.  They are back to tourism as mainstay.  Beautiful hotel, our suite has office area and compact kitchen.  No close dining that we can walk to, so stay at hotel dining which is upscale.  Although we eat pierogies and poutine.  We are asleep by 9PM, it was a long day of 9 hours (road did not allow high speed).  Staff promises tomorrow we will be in the mountains and drive over the summit, highest elevation on the Al Can. We are on AK time now, four hours difference from Hudson.  Nighty, night.

Total Miles Driven Today     493
Total Trip Miles                 3118

Animal seen today

Other Sights Today

Star Date 06/01/22

We are up early and are on the road before 8:00 AM. Today we are driving from Lethbridge to Fox Creek via Calgary and Edmonton, as we head North towards Calgary, we see endless fields of last years harvested wheat with a sprinkling of fresh new fields.  The Canadian Rockies are visible for a short while in the distance to our West, but they disappear after a short while never to reappear today. We take the bypass around Calgary which removes us from the crazy traffic we were encountering. After the bypass, as we head North towards Edmonton, the wheat fields disappear and are replaced with TREES, which gives a completely different perspective to the drive. When we near Edmonton, we decide to take the by-pass around Edmonton, what a mistake this was. Unlike the Calgary by-pass which was all super highway, this by-pass was all local roads, which many speed traps and speed cameras. After the by-pass we get onto the Yellow Knife Highway and head towards Fox Creek, which is the drilling capital of Alberta. The scenery changes again, as it reminds us of driving through Alaska with black spruce growing by the roadside. There are also multiple signs for moose crossings though we never saw one.  We arrive at our hotel in Fox Creek, check in and decide to go use the pool, before settling in for the night in our room. We learn about a bad storm that went through our hometown, call one of our neighbors, who tells us not to worry. Today marks the half way point in the day we are driving, though we have now traveled over ½ way to Anchorage mileage wise. So, nighty night, as we have another long day tomorrow.

Total Miles Drive today:        491
Total miles Driven so far:    2625

 Animals Seen today

Other Sightings

 

Star Date 05/31/22

We are on the road by 8:00 AM, as today we cross the Canadian Border, and our paperwork says we will cross the border at 3:00 PM. The weather is cool, with no rain but the 20-25 mph winds remain out of the North, the way we are heading. We travel through the Montana farm community, before reaching Great Falls where we head directly North towards Canada.  We see large farms with cattle and sheep and there are large herds of Prong Horn Antelope grazing with them. In the distance we can see the Rocky Mountains that all have fresh snow on them, from the storm we went through yesterday. There is also endless fields showing the remnants of last years wheat crop. We arrive at the border an hour early, and are able to process through without any issues, where we continue on to Lethbridge, our destination for the day. Chuck has to adjust the car speedometer settings, as Canada is on the metric system, and all speed limits are only shown in metric. We arrive at our hotel by 3:00 PM, check-in and decide to go to the pool. We relax for the night to recover from yesterday’s ordeal. Nighty night

Total miles driven today      408
Total miles driven so far    2134

 Animals Seen today

Other sighting