Day 77

We sure got our wildlife fix today!!

The road improved tremendously along beautiful Kluane Lake, so we moved on pretty quickly, until, right on a long straight section where I could stop without causing any wrecks, ( there was no other traffic anyway) I saw two sheep. Well, I thought they were sheep from a distance, ( Bette) and then as I got closer I realized two things. One, there are no sheep in the Yukon, and two, sheep don’t have humped backs and six inch long claws.

They were grizzly bears!!

Marlipops was in the back of the coach, thought I was having a seizure or something as I screamed “Get the camera! Bears !!!”

So, after she picked herself off the floor, coz I had hit the brakes a bit harder than normal, she threw me one camera, picked up the other and we started pic taking like crazy.

Yes, our first really wild sighting of grizzlies. This is the time of year when berries ripen in the bushes, so out come the bears. These two, mother and cub, were foraging for roots and shoots on the opposite side of the road, looked at us once, and carried on doing whatever it was they were doing. They did not run away at the sight of the yellow peril, and at one point looked as if they were going to cross the road and come over. I was busy taking pix and I realized my window was wide open, so I stopped taking pix pretty quickly, just to keep an eye on them!!

Off they went, down the road, who knows where, absolutely fantastic.

One of the highlights of our trip, making it so much more perfecter than it already was.

The rest of the traveling today was done with poised cameras.

The scenery here really is stunning, and virtually unspoiled by humans. Just miles and miles of tundra, and forests and mountains and stuff.

Then we got into Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon.

We needed to do some laundry, and use the internet, Verizon being useless, more of that later, so we found a combo Laundromat/WiFi place, proceeded to load 3 machines, ( we really are dirty!), fired up the ‘puter, and whammo, off went the power.

Not just the Laundromat, but the whole town lost power, the banks, traffic lights, stores, everything was out for about an hour.

Great watching people scurrying around trying to find a shop with power, like headless chickens!!

So, we sat and Marlipops got on the pay phone to Verizon.

We had signed up for cell phone service, paid an extra premium for service while in Canada, and the phone has no service. In addition, we had signed up for their broadband internet service, which we were assured by the store in Montana we bought it from, would work in Canada and Alaska.

Well, as you all know, we haven’t had any service to speak of on either phone or internet, and we got a $ 600.00 bill for this “no service”! So, we disputed it, and Marlipops spent a frustrating hour on the phone to the Verizon people, to finally find out that to get phone service in Canada we should have called a special number, when we were in Alaska, to get it activated!! Only problem was that no one told us, so although we have a Canada plan, and we are in Canada, it don’t work!!

We are still arguing about the internet service, so we will just keep on using Wi Fi wherever we can get it.

We finally got all our washing done, did some grocery shopping, and went to get some beer, at 8 o’clock.

All the liquor stores are closed!!

The “off sales” places wanted $ 19.00 for a six pack!!

So, Captain Cautious is drinking water tonight!!

Wildlife watch today was grizzlies, some guard squirrels and lots of birds.

Day 76

For once we managed to get up and leave as planned, by 8 this morning.

Whitehorse is over 600 miles away, let’s see if we can get there today. Whitehorse is the biggest town in the Yukon Territory and we need to get some provisions ( notice how I smoothly slip right back into the local language!), and there is not much between our overnight rest stop and there, so there we headed, down the famous Alaska Highway.

We have been in Alaska for 6 ½ weeks, and we thought by now the roads that were badly bumpy on the way in would be repaired, and smooth and just wonderful. Not a chance. From Tok, about 100 miles from the border, to Destruction Bay, about 200 miles into Canada, we were shaken, rattled, rolled, bounced, and any other adjectived all over the place. It seems that the frost heaves which cause all the problems are a permanent feature of the Yukon. No wonder nobody lives here.

Still, we have discovered a new land, unclaimed by anyone. Heading out of Alaska, you go past the US customs post, and there are then 20 miles of nothing until you get to the Canadian customs, and enter Canada. So, we thought, who owns the 20 mile stretch in between?

We think it should be ours, and as we all know, to claim land you must have a flag. The only flag we carry, apart from the obligatory US and English ones, has a wolf logo and Gold and Black Army written all over it, so we claim the land in the name of The Wolves!!!

And, just as luck would have it, the only things living here appear to be wolves, and a few mooses.

We did see a coyote today, so it’s all coming together nicely.

Anyway, we stopped at several places along the highway today.

There is a viewing point of the Alaska oil pipeline where it crosses the Tanana River, though why anyone wants to stare at a pipeline is beyond me, it doesn’t do a lot, just sits there.

Then we stopped for lunch at Rika’s Roadhouse, an original inn from 19 something, which served truckers using the river ferry way back in the twenties and thirties, and then soldiers who built the Alaska Highway.

We pulled over in Delta Junction, and saw the best “animal” of the day, check the pix.

This beast was once a missile carrier, the owner is from Switzerland, lives in L.A., and the thing has Florida plates. It is converted into an RV, has four wheel steering, eight wheel drive and gets four miles to the gallon.

As the old joke goes, “ Where do you park it?”

“Anywhere you like!!”

Off down the road, through Tok, and into the Yukon. This country/province is stunningly empty and exceedingly beautiful. There are lakes galore, mountains and glaciers all over the place.

We saw the most gorgeous of sunsets, and yet, although the sun was down behind us, in front, the sky was still blue, there were pink clouds and the tops of the snow covered mountains to the west were still sparkling with sunlight. Very pretty.

We actually traveled 391 miles today, which given the road conditions, was pretty good, even though we were on the road for fourteen hours.

Wildlife watch today was a moose early, a coyote, lots of ravens and the “beast”!

Day 75

We wanted to get an early start, and 11.06 am wasn’t too bad!!

At least there was no bear this morning.

It rained all night, and the day started off drizzly, but soon improved to just “All My Children” weather………….dull and overcast.

We headed to Fairbanks and beyond, along Chena Hot Springs Road to ……Chena Hot Springs.

One thing we have forgotten to mention is that all roads in Alaska seem to have a “feeder” road, just for ATVs and other off road vehicles. We can be driving merrily along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden there is a cloud of dust, and a helmeted person appears, on top of some bouncing contraption, sometimes with a gun attached.

Keeping on the traffic theme for a minute, it has to be reported that although Alaskans are some of the most friendly people on the planet, they are lousy and inconsiderate drivers.

We were on the main Fairbanks road, going so slowly over the gravel construction area it felt like we were moving backwards, when not one, but several impatient trucks overtook us. The gravel road repair areas are very tricky, no lines, all loose gravel, construction equipment monster things everywhere, and strictly no passing zones. So, I hope they got where they were going 20 seconds quicker than if they had stayed behind us, must have made all the difference in the world to their day.

Enough complaining, we had a great day!

We went to an Ice Museum.

20 degrees F inside this huge igloo type building, full of wonderful and original ice carvings. There were bedrooms, a toilet, a huge chess set, knights in armor on horses, a fireplace and a bar, amongst other things.

The bar was curved and huge, with stools covered in fur so your bum didn’t get too cold.

We were served with an appletini, in an ice martini glass, which we got to take with us!!

It is now in the freezer, taking up space.

A really neat place.

On the way back down the 50 mile road to Fairbanks, it was Moosetime!!

We saw one moose in a pond, eating happily, and even when I blew the coach air horns to get her attention, it took a long while before she bothered to raise her head.

Then, about 3 miles further down the road, we saw not one, not two, but three mooses all in a big pond busily stocking up on vitamins and calories and nutrients to sustain them through the long Alaska winter months ahead. We spent a very pleasant half hour taking pix and just watching them enjoy life.

Afterwards, we drove to The North Pole!

Actually it is the town of North Pole, about twelve miles outside Fairbanks, and has a huge Santa Claus store, on St. Nicholas Drive, complete with live reindeer at the back, with the biggest antlers we have ever seen.

Of course, we went in and did the touristy thing, and took the obligatory touristy pix outside. All very much over the top, but when in Rome…………

We stopped at a rest area/pull off about 30 miles further down the road, and will get away early, again, tomorrow for the long haul towards Whitehorse, B.C.

As you can probably tell, we are heading out of Alaska in the next day or so, but we will leave very reluctantly.

Wildlife watch today was some kamikaze squirrels, lotsa mooses and some Sandhill Cranes.

Unusual, we thought, to find these beautious birds up here, they are common in Florida, and there are not many palm trees in Alaska.

Day 74

“There’s a bear outside the coach!!”

“Mmmmmm???”

“There’s a bear in the campsite, right by the coach!!”

“What? You idiot, that’s a tree limb, it’s been making that noise all night.”

“Oh”

No clues as to who was the idiot, but he has a beard.

Thus started our day.

We departed the campsite and headed north, with more wonderful weather, towards Fairbanks.

Several scenic views took our fancy, with excellent panoramic vistas, so it was after 12 when we rolled into town.

Our first port of call was the Tanana Valley State Fair, last day of which was today, so we wandered around eating leg of turkey and reindeer sausage crepe and cake of funnel. Your usual fair fodder, overpriced and over carbed, but it’s a summer fair, what else can you do?

I got a free T shirt from “Defenders of Wildlife” people, coz I told the tale of mooselet saving, so that was nice.

Just down the road was the farmer’s market, where we sampled and bought some delish mustard, of the “Moosetard” brand. One is Fairbanks smoked lager flavor, and the other is curried apricot. All the samples were yummy, and we had to try several, a few times, until we had decided!

Next stop was University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where we first visited their large animal rescue and research establishment. They breed muskox, reindeer and caribou, for biological studies, to help understand better what makes them tick, and also help construction projects be determined, whether there will be any serious impact on certain wildlife if certain projects go ahead, etc, etc.

After, we wandered around the University’s botanical gardens, where Marlipops spent a happy hour taking pix, and your fearless captain fell asleep under the runner bean plant, listening to the quite hum of the bumbly bees!

Marlipops has taken hundreds of close up flower pix, some with bugs of various sizes, and will be putting together an album in due course.

Finally, we went to the ultra modern museum, where we wandered around the various exhibits and art, the most interesting being the History of Alaska. We saw a painting of a polar bear, which we swore was a photo, until we got very close. One of the best paintings I have ever seen in my life for realism, excluding of course, the oil portraits done by Wilda, mom in law extraordinaire!!

Then, on to Gulliver’s Bookstore for free coffee, free WiFi, and second hand paperbacks for 75 cents. I was in heaven.

The drive to and from Fairbanks, approx 75 miles was not brilliant, no wildlife except a couple of rabbits, and a lot of frost heave and construction. Welcome back, Alaska dust!!

Day 73

We left our overnight rest area, Michele’s front yard, at 8.05 in the a.m. and headed out into the Anchorage rush hour in search of coffee and other breakfastly items. We saw both cars of the rush hour, and by 8.15 were already outside the city, heading north.

The town of Wasilla, where a lot of people live who commute to Anchorage, is a dump, so we didn’t stop there. The little city of Houston was closed, and we trogged up the Parks Highway without incident, except to exchange waves with some of the passengers on the Alaskan Railroad heading north, like wot we were, towards Fairbanks.

Now we found the first major scam worked in this wonderful state.

All the brochures, sales literature and other blurb designed to get you to Alaska wax lyrical about Denali National Park. We had heard various tales from fellow campers over the few weeks (months?) we’ve been here, and they all said pretty much the same thing, it is not worth the money. What you are tempted with is wonderful views of Mount McKinley and lots of wildlife.

Well, we’ve seen wildlife all over the place, and the real scam was revealed when we rounded a corner on the highway, and there in all its majesty, was Mount McKinley, and all it’s fellow mountains, and not a cloud in sight.

We pulled over on the side road to Talkeetna, and took some fabby “brochure” pix, and didn’t pay a penny.

When they get you in Denali Park, you have to pay millions of dollars, and then you are their prisoner! You are herded onto a bus with thousands of other sheep and shepherded around, mindless and clueless, going where they tell you, doing what they tell you, all the while they are milking your wallet for all they can get!!

Your Captain and the Pops saw through this as we were picture taking, so did not take the road into the park. We are wise, but not wise enough it seems. Read on.

The little town of Talkeetna is very rustic, very touristy, and we had rip off # 2 today with lunch. For the first time, a bad fish and chips. The chips were accompanied by batter blobs containing essence of fish, but no actual fish was detected, and Marlipops had a halibut taco, which consisted of two pieces of the aforementioned blobs, a bit of shredded cheese and a taco shell. For this gourmet delight we were charged $ 26.00.

The saving grace about this café was the waitress, who was about our age, and totally scatterbrained. It was her second day on the job and we could not work out how she would survive until day three. She sat down with us while we ordered, got our order wrong, gave food to us that should have been for someone else and forgot our drinks. Still, she tried.

After wandering around for a while we went back to the coach to find some ignorant Princess Tours bus driver had parked his bus right in front of us, blocking our way out. I went along to their office, politely enquired as to the kind person responsible, and would he move his bus. The driver was an arrogant S.O.B., and said he might not. I politely, again, told him he could please himself, if he didn’t move it within the next two minutes, I would just contact the nearest State Trooper. He moved, and as we drove off into the sunset, I acknowledged his help with the Alaska one fingered wave!

We kept stopping along the way north to admire the wonderful views of Mount McKinley, which is nearly four miles high, and permanently covered with snow, as well as all the other nearby mountain ranges.

We picked wild blueberries!

Despite the imminent danger of becoming bear food, we pulled over and picked a lot of fresh berries. Marlipops says she is going to make a pie……….. yeah, right.

We are overnighting at Tatlanika landing, at mile marker 276 on the Parks Highway, about 70 miles south of Fairbanks.

Wildlife watch today was pathetic, again, just a few scrawny squirrels.

Day 72

Happy birthday to “The Son” (Mike) today.

We have left Scenic View RV park.

We spent 17 very happy days there, and it really was a wrench to depart, but leave we must. So, with fond memories, of the views, the wonderful, wonderful owners/hosts/friends, Brenda and Bob, and the dogs, River and Max, we left at noon.

We drove to Anchorage, along the Sterling Highway, finally off the Kenai Peninsular. Once again, we had glorious, cloudless weather, and the mountains seemed to have changed colors, the greens somehow different fro m when we came down here. Whether the trees and bushes have grown, or it is a sign of autumn, who knows, but still fantastic to see them towering over the roads, lakes and rivers.

We have said this several times, but the Kenai is a magical, mystical place which has changed us forever, it is so perfect. We are both very sad to leave it, but we will definitely be back.

We got into Anchorage around 6.30, having first stopped for a while at Potters Marsh bird sanctuary, where we watched red salmon spawning in the creek below the boardwalk we were on. Very interesting, they swim around a bit, then turn on one side, give a little wiggle, out come the eggs, then they swim around a bit more….and die.

We saw some pretty birds, took a few pix of them for looking up in the bird book later, and left.

We met up with our friend Michele, who took us to Sullivans, and we pigged out on steak and horseradish taters and garlic spinach and big shrimp and for the first time in my life, escargot, which were very pleasant.

That reminds me, Helen P. another postcard is on the way.

The meal was followed by an early bedtime coz the last few late nights were catching up with us.

Wildlife watch today was a few birds.

Day 71

Happy Birthday Stephknee.

Another glorious day in the travels of Marlipops and The Captain.

Up and away at the crack of dawn. Well, 8.06 to be precisely exact.

After a very pleasant drive of 127 miles to Seward, which is on the other side of the Kenai Peninsular, we parked the peril and embarked aboard the good ship Greatland. The weather was “Brochure Fine”, meaning it was so good, beautious blue sky, no clouds and bright sunshine, that all the locals could be out photo-ing and filming for next years sales brochures.

As we left the harbor, we passed 20 million gulls all swarming at one particular spot on the ocean, about ¼ mile from the harbor entrance. This is where a pipeline from the local fish processing plant discharges it’s waste, for recycling. Happy gulls, and happy citizens of Seward, coz the gulls don’t crap in the city!!

We sailed past a snoozing sea otter, who looked at us disdainfully, as if complaining that we had woken him.

We were whisked across Resurrection Bay to the delightful Fox Island. This place has a lodge, a few cabins, a small dock and nothing else, except trees, streams, mountains and wildlife. Some people kayak, others overnight in the cabins and some just hike and laze all day. We had booked kayaking.

After a reasonable lunch of baked salmon, rice, corn and salad we were given our instructions for kayaking, and fitted out with all the gear. We had wellies, (rubber wading boots) skirts and life jacket/floatation devices, and looked pretty nerdy walking across the pebbles to the water.

Luckily for us, we were the only ones kayaking so we had the obligatory guide to ourselves, and he was pretty good.

Off into the wild blue yonder we went, in our tandem kayak, Marlipops in front and me at the back, in the engine and steering department, around Halibut Cove, which was actually very calm, but to Captain Nervous, was very choppy!!

So, we got into the rhythm of paddling, finally, and watched for wildlife. We moved out of the cove, into the full force of an Alaska storm. Actually the waves were very slightly bigger, but down there, literally at sea level, with them humungous mountains all around, it felt like a mega storm! Of course, first mate Marlipops the Calm, who had stopped paddling to take pix, told me to calm down and relax. Her actual words got lost in the howling wind, so I think that’s what she said!

We paddled around the island, and went into Sunny Cove, where we saw lots of puffins, guillemots and other assorted flying creatures. Then, onwards, to the very southern tip of the island, where there were rocky outcrops covered with cormorants, gulls and their droppings.

At this point, the open ocean was facing us, the very tip of the Pacific, at least that’s what our guide said, and the waves started coming at us from several angles at once. So we started back, and as we had the wind and tide with us, the journey back was shorter and easier on the arms.

One interesting phenomenon was dense white clouds started rolling into the Bay from the open sea, but mainly on the opposite side, so all the mountains were shrouded in mist and fog, and as various boats and ships came out of this cloud they looked ghostly and scary.

We arrived back, just as the passengers from another visiting boat, about 100 or so, were boarding to leave. I feared the worst, imagining myself falling out of the kayak as I attempted to get out, or tipping over into the water, or some other mishap to embarrass Marlipops. But, you guessed, Captain Cautious took no chances, and both he and the Pops disembarked without so much as a ripple or a stumble. A perfect landing.

We then sat on the beach, got slightly warm coz the weather was still perfect, and waited for our ship to come in.

Dinner was reasonable, baked salmon, rice, corn and salad!

On the way back, we toured the entrance to Resurrection Bay, went past Barwell Island, a tiny dot of an islet which had a garrison of soldiers during the second world war. There is no harbor here so everything had to be hauled onshore via a great big cable. My thought was how did the cable get there in the first place.

Then on around Resurrection Point, where there were millions of screaming gulls, kittiwakes and cormorants all nesting on the rocks, right down at the water’s edge. There were also millions of flies, all attracted by the bird’s leavings. Every winter, the storms, with their 30 to 50 foot waves, wash all the nests off, thus sanitizing the area, providing a germ free nursery ready for next years crop of birds.

We also saw lots of puffins, birds which can dive to depths of 600 feet, but fly like winged potatoes.

On the rocks we caught a glimpse of some mountain goats, who fall prey to bears in the spring, but whose main enemy is gravity!

The journey back up the bay was just awesome, watching as mountain after mountain went by, interspersed with glaciers, waterfalls and all types of trees.

We went past a rock which had a solar powered camera monitoring some very endangered sealions. They are under threat of extinction coz they are not eating herring any more, herring being scarce, so they are not getting enough fats and oils and stuff.

The powers that be are hoping to get them to eat other types of fish, to survive, otherwise by the year 2040 they will be defunct.

Bald eagles soaring overhead, gulls following the boat, salmon jumping out of the water, and at one point, several Dall Porpoises racing across the bow, leaping all over the place, chasing the salmon.

On the drive back to camp Scenic View we saw a total of 5 mooses, of various sizes.

All in all, a 10 day.

Day 70

Sunbathing!

That’s what we were doing at 9.30 in the evening!

We had a very relaxing, lazy day ( again), reading magazines, doing not much at all, and in the afternoon we drove the 30 miles into Soldotna.

Marlipops took care of business on the computer, while I read more magazines, in the library.

After grocery shopping we got back to Camp Scenic View around 6, the sky was totally cloudless, so we sat outside, had a couple of drinks and some nibbles of halibut dip and frog eye salad, and fell asleep in the sun!

We have new campsite neighbors today, a very nice family of 5 from Germany.

We very quickly got round to the subject of football, (the real football, not American throwball,) and our English audience will be pleased to know that I quickly brought up England 4 Germany 2, Bayern Munich 1, Man United 2, and Germany 1 England 5.

These are scores etched into the hearts of all English football fans, but will mean absolutely nothing to our American readers, sorry.

And they bombed our chip shop!

I promise not to digress as much again!

Happy Birthday Melinda.

Despite the glorious weather, we only saw one young eagle today.

We have booked an extra day here because tomorrow we are going to Seward, to sea kayak, and we’ll be back late.

Hopefully we will have something interesting to report tomorrow!!

Day 69

We finally arose at around 9 this morning, having slept like the proverbial logs.

It was about 3 before we had gotten to bed, coz we stayed up a while, looking at the stars. In particular, we were looking at the Big Dipper. Firstly because this is the emblem on the Alaska state flag, and secondly it was the first time we had seen stars since being up here! Having very little actual darkness, and quite a lot of cloud a lot of the time, stars were indeed a rare sight.

The state flag was designed by a 13 year old boy, who entered it into a design competition, when Alaska became a state back in nineteen something.

We spent some of the morning figuring out the new camera. Even though it is almost identical to our other one, there are some changes in operation, but being your dynamic super hero duo, we sussed it. (To suss is an English term, dating back to the middle ages, meaning to work out how to use digital cameras)

Although it was a bit breezy today, the view over the Inlet was stupendous, the whole Chigmit Mountain range clearly visible, all the peaks still virtually covered with snow, and finally a clear view of Kalgin Island. Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna, our resident volcanoes, were resplendent in their mantles of snow and shadows from what few clouds were around.

At the top of the driveway into the campsite, by the main road, is a “scenic view” turnout for tourists to stop and “Ooh and Aah” at the vista of the mountains. Today, there must have been a million vehicles stop for picture taking. Bob the Owner told the tale of a woman who came into the campsite for better picture taking, despite the big sign which forbids anyone except camp residents from setting foot on the property on pain of dismemberment. River and Max, the camp guard dogs immediately set upon the woman, nearly licked her to death, and she was panicking so much Bob almost wet himself with laughter. She thought the dogs were vicious, and she was gonna get maimed. These two dogs are big, see pix, but soft as brushes. The most harm they do is step on your feet, or smack you in the face with their wildly swishing tails. We are now more determined than ever to dognap River, we just haven’t worked out how to get off the Kenai safely.

It is a bit difficult to avoid the cops when there is only one road off the peninsular.

After a lunch of cheese, Cheddar, Vermont and English Stilton, and crackers, we trogged off down to the Buzz, our local friendly espresso place, where we spent a happy hour interneting and chatting to the owner.

We lazed about the rest of the day, met new campers around the evening campfire, had a wonderful dinner of grilled halibut, scalloped taters and garlic spinach.

The sunset tonight was gorgeous, and Marlipops took 10 million pix with her new toy, trying, as she puts it, for the perfect picture.

We only saw a couple of eagles today, Karen, so nothing exciting to report.