Fishing at Ninilchik

The fellows went fishing today and Larry caught the big one. The biggest one the boat ever caught.

Animals from Denali Nat Park

Bears at Denali and a repeat picture of Ninilchek

Misty wants to be a Moose

Foxes in Denali. One climbing up the rocks while the others play on the road.

Sterling to Ninilchek

Short trip down the Kenie peninsula in the Rain. John and Larry and Alex are going halibut fishing today and it looks like we might see sun!! The high will be in the
60's and they are calling it a heat wave. Drove around the town yesteday. Still having fun

Soldotna

While john was Salmon Fishing. I checked out Soldotna.

More Hiking in Anchorage

Last 2 days in Anchorage

On the 23rd and the 24th, our last two days in Anchorage John went hiking with doc and his frien doug. It was going to be an overnight but turned into 2 day hikes. The first challanged there ability to go up and down including comming down a steep rocky grade in search of the trail. They said even the mountain goats gave up on it. The second day was easier but longer. They did encounter a few moose along the trail causing them to detour around them.

Anchorage -Portage Glacier& Whittier

Portage Lake where we would have taken the boat tour of 7 glaciers flowing towards the Lake, had the weather been better.

It is cold, windy, and rainy but you can still see the blue ice of the glacier.

Inside the ranger station at Portage Lake keeping Smoky company.

Denali National Park Dogs

Misty tried to be a sled dog oops pony. John got the feel of a musher

Denali Park Road

What you see is the road we traveled into Denali National Park

Moose #1

We did see a 2nd Moose but he did not want to lift his/her head out of the water long enough for us to get a good picture. Neither had a set of antlers.

Denali Park

As we traveled in our bus in Denali National Park we were abe to see and photograph several different animals. Foxes on the road playing and a

Reindeer taking a drink. Misty even tried on some antlers.

Fairbanks Catch-up

In Anchorage now and have only posted a few pictures of Fairbanks. Raining today and yesterday.

Gold Panning

We did some gold panning at the Eldorado Mine. Very interesting train ride to get there but also very touristy . We all had a bag of dirt to pan. After we found our "flecks" we had them wieghed. The two of us had a grand total of &14.13. See the pieces in the pan. We are still on the lookout for some public lands where we can try it on our own.

Two Rivers Meet

On Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River we get to see the color difference of a glacier fed river (top) and a spring fed River we are on.

Misty checks location

Still tring to upload pictures. Visited the Alaskan Pipeline while in Fairbanks

John viewing the ice sculptures at the Ice Museum

Catching up on photos

We have been hard pressed to have good internet service. So, I am spending time
in the camp laundry to upoad some pictures and catch up.

Fairbanks to Denali

Arrived by 11;15 Alaska time. It was short and rather a smooth ride compared to some of the others. The only drawback was that it was overcast and rainy. Thankfully it seemed to be more clouds than smoke. Tomorrow we tour Denali if we are lucky and the weather clears we will be able to see Mt Mc.Kinley. So far we are 0 for 3 of the 10 best viewing spots.

Fairbanks ( July 11, 12, 13)

Fairbanks has been unseasonably hot! -- in the 80's these three days. the first day we drove around hitting the Visitor Center, Large Animal Research Center, and the Ice museum, which proved more interesting then we had anticipated. Day 2 we went with Larry and Linda to the " North Pole to visit Santa. On the way we stopped to see the Alaskan Pipeline and Gold Dredge #8 which was closed. Took pictures of both. Misty was disappointed that Santa was on vacation when we stopped in his town. In the afternoon we took a short boat ride up the Chena River and visited a Chena Indian Village, Watched an exibition of Susan Butchers sled dogs and learned how the native Alaskans prepared their Salmon in the fish camp. On Monday we took the Eldorado Train into a permafrost mining tunnel and listen to the history of how mining was. At the end of the ride we all had a chance to try our hand at gold panning. John and I managed to get a whopping $17. but it was fun! In the evenings, we all sit in the campground and watch the people floating, paddeling, motoring or jet sking down th river. Since the sun is till up at 10pm. this activity can continue long after I am ready for bed.

Tok to Fairbanks ( July 10 )

This was a plesant but uneventful ride. The road was good and for the most part just slightly rolly. We made one stop in Delta Junction at the end of the Alaskan Highway. We did it the top of the world and most of the Alaskan highway. And for as bad as it was at times it was a great deal worse when it was first opened. River, s Edge RV park was easy to get into. slightly shaded and a peaceful view of the Chena River.

Dawson City to Tok

Set off on a cloudy Day from Dawson City at 8;30. we needed to take the Ferry across the Yukon River to continue our trip on the Top of the World Highway. There was no line for the Ferry when we arrived, however only one RV and towed vehicle would fit at one time and construction vehicles and tour buses had priority. It took 4 crossings before we were all across and ready to tackle the next adventure. It was our turn to lead. About 10 miles from the landing we hit the gravel/washboard roads. They went up, they went down, they went round and a. round. There was no guard rails and as John says they were wide enough for 2 Model T's to pass. Going slow 5-10mph I thought the coach would shake apart. When we increased the speed to 35mph we seemed to skim the top of the bumps but then the curves became more treacherous. we had 100+ miles to go. Sorry but my camera broke the day before (it bounced off the dash during a bumpy stretch) and I was having a hard time working John/s. By the time we hit the boarder it was not only cloudy but a haze was settling in. The farther we went the thicker it got. It was the smoke from the forest fires. Visibility was diminishing. Soon it was so bad that we could not see the sides of the road and when we hit the gravel again there was NO line down the center. If we could see 5 ft in front of us we were lucky. I was almost ready to go and walk in front of the coach. Thankfully it started to disperse and at least we could now see the road. We stopped in Chicken. We were more than half way. Shortly after we met up with the Alaskan Highway and smooth roads. What a relief. We reached Tok and the Sourdough Campground. Before entering the Campground we stopped for fuel. John had taken some on in Chicken but at 4.35/gal. --not a full tank. Alex arrived on fumes. Glad we did not have to worry about that on the trip. We had a relaxing evening at the campground. Chilie in sourdough bread bowls and then a pancake toss to see if we could win breakfast in the morning. We all need more practice in tossing those pancakes.
Would we do it again? Probably not. The weather was so bad we can't even say that the view was great. But it was an experience.

Whitehorse to Dawson City

Carol and Doc left us here and went ahead to Ancorage. We headed out around 830 towards Dawson City. We were to take the "Top of the World' Highway the next day. About an hour into the trip we stopped in Brayborne to buy cinnamon buns the size of a dinner plate. It was a nice break. The host was not very friendly --he must have been having a bad day. When we left the sun looked like a bright red dime and it was almost 11am. The color was from the smoke carried there from the fires in the interior. The scenery was not as spectacular as before but it was pleasant except for the long patches of gravel we kept comming upon. Glad we had our stone guard on. We did pass Lake Labarge the place they cremated Sam MaGee. As we got closer to Dawson it was evident that a great deal of mining had been don because everywhere you looked you could see piles and piles of rocks "trailings" left by the dredges searching for gold.We arrived early enough to visit the town. Sadly it reminded me of a dying town. Many buildings in need of repair and many closed or for sale.

Whitehorse

In Whitehorse we staed at the High Country RV Park. Very nice with trees and level and a cute little store. the first night we went to see the Frantic Follies. It was a mixture of can-can , poetry, opera, and lots of fun. We all enjoyed it.

the next day we visited the fish ladder but the salmon are still two weeks away and were not utilizing it. In the afternoon we took the boat along 2 mile canyon on the Youkon River. In the evening we went to explore the hanging bridge that went over te canyon and walk along the paths. John and Doc were a littlel more adventurous than I on there hiking paths. The following day we toured the Mutluk Kennels. Such a fascinating place. Both Frank Turner, a musher in both the Idierdod and more recently the Yukon Quest and his wife, are two of the most facinatng people we have ever met. We stayed for there dinner feast of buffalo caribo and elk.. What a great day and evening.

Whithorse, Yukon Territory

Happy Birthday Justin

Happy Birthday Justin
For Justin's Birthday Happy 1yr old!!!!

Skagway to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

We drive along Tagish Lake.

Still driving along the Lake

Emerald Lake see the color change

With less than 200mi to drive we had a later departure. We had all fueled and hitched our tow cars and were ready to leave by 10:00. We retraced our path back over the White Pass, through customs and into the Yukon Territory. This time as we passed through Carcross we stopped at the "Smallest Desert" Large area of sand, most likly the bottom of a lake during the Ice Age. Unique. then on to Whitehorse.

4th of July Skagway

Northwest Mounties help celebrate

Steam engine comes to celebrate also.

Doxy dog sled 1st Place in the Parade

Ducks float for first place

We attended the fireworks the night before. It was at 11pm --just about dusk. No pictures, but we will never forget the daylight fireworks ovrt the harbor with snow covered mountains in the background. The sound even the whinning echoed through the streets. Next day we attended the parade and ducky race (we had an entry but did not win) and went to eat at the old gold dredge for dinner, another fun day.

Jueno

Before we started our boat ride Misty found a friend. On the way we saw over a 100 seals on the rocks

After eating lunch and walking around the town we headed out to Mendenhall Glacier. You can see it and the icebergs she created behind me. The Waterfall was to the left. We didn,t have enough time to walk over to it.

On the way back we past an old light house that was manned up until a few years ago. Now it is empty and for sale. I thought it might be nice to paint. We had a few passengers to drop off in the town of Haines. It takes 15 minutes by boat or 7hrs by road to reach this town. The sun came out on the way home it was beautiful.

Skagway Day1 and 2 (read bottom to top)

(4) This is the same railway they used back in the goldrush days

(3) Misty liked the train so much she came with us the next day on the train ride.

(2) We hiked past the train yard to see the cemetary and Ried Falls.

(1) John, walking the Chilcoot trail. The one used by the stampeders to get to the gold fields. Although the trail is mostly oringinal, they did put in a few bridges in the beginning to keep hikers from getting wet in the beginning.