A couple more pics

Elk in Banff Natl. Park, Alberta, CA:

Signposts at visitor center in Dawson Creek, BC - started during WW II and keeps growing!

Mile "0" monument in Dawson Creek - start/end of the Alaska Highway

Still talking!

July 24, 2001
Well, this may well be my last post.  Tonight we're in St. Cloud, MN and plan to drive the rest of the way home tomorrow.  So far we have driven 10,352 miles with about 500 to go.  We are grateful for the opportunity to take this trip, for the chance to be renewed in spirit by The Spirit, and for the fact that we saw the glory of God nearly every day in one way or another - sometimes in the smallest of flowers and sometimes in the grandeur of a mountain covered with snow.  I feel refreshed, re-energized, and ready to move into the next phase of life.  So, for those of you who have watched this, give thanks with us - our God is still good and his glory shows in so many ways.  May the peace of Christ be with you all.  Bruce

Nearly home

First of all - a couple recent pictures:

Sheep on the road in Kootenay Natl. Park, BC

More sheep - a little ways away from the road - in Glacier Natl. Park, Montana

Bear that was right near the car and then walked off slowly while i got my camera ready.  Marty took this shot right out of her window!

July 21, 2011

Yesterday we drove from Banff through Kootenay Natl. Park and down near West Glacier to a KOA campground that cost us $49.00 for the night!  However, after being there awhile we didn’t complain too much – we soaked in a warm outdoor whirlpool tub and then took a very hot shower.  We walked up and down all the rows of the campground and learned that they had an all-you-can-eat b’fast in the morning which we took full advantage of this AM.  We used our Sr. Pass to get into the Natl. Park free, drove up “Going to the Sun” road (which only opened the first week of July because of record snowfall and a terribly cold spring and summer).  When we got to the visitor center at the top of Logan pass there were still snow drifts over 5-6 ft. high and we couldn’t walk to see the brilliant tundra flowers because they were all buried.

Tonight we ended up having supper at a local restaurant in East Glacier – only the 2^nd time we ate dinner out this entire trip.  We are staying at the LazyR Campground which overlooks many of the mountains.

Our plan tomorrow is to leave here on time (8:30-9:00) and drive toward N. Dakota.  I don’t know if we can get all the way to Teddy Roosevelt Natl. Park or not, but we do plan on a couple nights there and then make a “beeline” toward home.  I think we’ve both had enough.

Marty has some absolute requirements for those considering this trip (camping):

1.       Don’t take kids unless they love trees and mountains

2.       You must:

a.       Enjoy driving long distances without having another car within miles of you

b.      Enjoy seeing occasional wild animals such as Wholly Marmots, Ground Squirrels, Black and Brown Bear, Moose, Deer, Antelope, Elk, Bison, Caribou, etc.

c.       Enjoy reading the Milepost write-ups about the nearest Taj-Mahal only to get there to find a bunch of rusty farm vehicles, some rusted out cars that don’t run and a person greeting you with a grunt (although most were extremely friendly).

d.      Enjoy “Parking lot camping” – on gravel lots that you back in to about 10 feet from the next vehicle….or, if that is not your cup of tea, and it was not ours, stay in Natl. Forest Campgrounds – most are beautiful and remote, but no flush toilets, showers, dump stations, etc.

e.      Enjoy driving thousands of miles without ever seeing a billboard….YES!!!

3.       Do this trip as soon as you possibly can – we are both healthy and enjoyed each other and the trip so much.

July 24, 2011

Today we are on the way home driving through N. Dakota.  We hope to get into MN tonight and then drive home tomorrow.  Today might be the first time we need our AC – we have had cold/cool weather this entire trip.  Last night was the first night we slept the entire night without the sleeping bag over us – just a sheet and thin blanket!

Friday night we stayed in an Army Corps of Engineers campground at Fort Peck Dam in Montana.  We got the last open site but could have stayed in several of the “tent” sites they had open.  On Saturday we drove to Teddy Roosevelt Natl. Park and stayed in the North unit of the park.  After picking our site and setting up our screened in porch, we went exploring driving the 14 mile park road.  It’s a beautiful spot to visit – similar to the badlands in N. Dakota, but prettier with much more green.

Marty just mentioned that we are on I-94 and the speed has been cut down to 65 through the construction zone!  She said she feels a little like she’s driving in AK because there is so little traffic.

USA Again

July 19, 2011

Well, tomorrow is my mom’s 90^th birthday!  We will celebrate as family and friends when we get home.  If I live that long I hope I keep my mind as well as she has.

Tonight we are camping in Banff Natl Park after a wonderful night up in Jasper at Honeymoon Lake campground where Marty and I and Jackie and Julie camped about 30+ years ago ( It was on that same trip that we had a bear walk into our campground and up on the picnic table while we hunkered down in the car).

On the way out of the park this morning we decided that we wanted to eat b’fast out – we went to a lodge and decided to have a muffin and cold cereal instead – two eggs and hash browns were 12.95 and if you wanted toast it was another $3.50.  Talk about highway robberyToday, while driving here I got a couple awesome pics of a bull elk eating alongside the road.  We also took a couple hikes today to waterfalls/canyons that were really quite beautiful. 

Another sight that is really awesome is the ice fields – some of the glaciers and the surrounding mountains are gorgeous.

Yesterday we got a couple good pics of a large black bear that Marty took right out the truck window. 

It rained all night last night and again much of the late afternoon into the early evening today.  We sat inside our “big” camper and read for awhile, but the lights got too dim.  We also made a very awesome supper – one of our canned beef meals/mashed potatoes and fried zucchini.  This was quite a feat considering that you go from the kitchen to the bathroom by turning around and you go from the kitchen to the dining room by leaning a bit and to the living room by plunking your butt on the small bench fully trapping one person behind the table.

Well the rain ended now and we did our dishes from two days.  Now it’s time for a game or two of rummy cube – Marty usually beats, but I do lead by 30 points out of over 800.  Ok, that’s not a huge margin, but I AM AHEAD.

7/20/11

Ok, back in the good ole USA - staying at a KOA just north and west of Glacier Natl. Park.  Gotta run now.

WE ARE IN A PLACE WITH SUCH POOR WI/FI THAT I CAN'T UPLOAD ANY PICTURES.  I'LL TRY AT A LATER TIME AND PLACE.

Last of Alaska Highway

July 16, 2011

Two nights ago when I mentioned all the rain, I must also add that the evening was beautiful.  We were able to cook outside, eat dinner, played Rummy Cube and read for awhile.  It was after we went to bed that the rain started.  Last night we stayed at a provincial campground at Muncho Lake – beautiful place all surrounded by mountains with the lake a deep green/blue color.  Again, we grilled sausage for dinner, read outside for awhile by a nice campfire, and then the rain started around 8 pm so we went inside to play Rummy Cube.  Believe it or not, we were in bed by nine and didn’t get up till 8 am.

While driving yesterday we saw 20-30 Stone Sheep (on the road), 6 Bison, 3 black bear and 3 brown bear. 

It’s now 9 AM and we’re back on the road with 429 miles to Dawson Creek which is mile 0 on the Alaska Highway.  We are still about 3,000 miles from Chicago today. Our total driving distance so far is 7726 miles!

7:30 pm same day:  Had a good day of riding again.  Some rain but not too bad.  Tonight we’re at Charlie Lake Provincial Park – still in BC but soon to head into Alberta.  We did see another black bear along with one elk and one deer, but otherwise didn’t see much wildlife.  Oh, I also saw a dead moose alongside the road with lots of ravens sitting astride the carcass. 

We drove through the remainder of what they call the Northern Rocky Mtn area and are getting closer to Jasper Natl. Park in Alberta.

Tonight the sky seems to be finally clearing a bit and it’s quite pretty out.  It seems like each evening lately has been like this and then the rain sets in much of the night.

I must say, finally, that we are both getting ready to be home and figure out what life will be like for us now that I am no longer regularly working.  For all of you out there who are still working, keep it up so that my SS checks can arrive on time J.

7/17/11

This morning we are in Dawson Creek and just took pics of the "Mile 0" monument for the start of the Al-Can Hwy.  We'll leave here soon, pick up some groceries and head down toward Jasper Natl Park.  Wow, I see and hear an ambulance - have not heard one of those in weeks!

Time to get going.

Yukon

July 13, 2011

Well, yesterday we drove up the “Tok cutoff” road toward Tok, AK.  It rained all day!  We had road construction in two places where we had to wait…didn’t make good time at all.  We had 27 miles of gravel road.  Now today we crossed over into the Yukon and have more road construction.  They only have 4 months a year to do it in so that’s the deal.  Marty is driving about 35 mph as are most of the cars meeting us.  There is nothing immediately behind us.  It’s not raining, but it is quite cloudy and in places the clouds are real low hanging.

We hope to stay somewhere near Whitehorse tonight, but that will depend on whether or not we can make some time on the roads later on.  Part of the problem here is the permafrost and the severe winters which leaves gobs of frost heaves in the road. 

Yesterday we didn’t see any wildlife other than ravens – today so far we only saw a fox.  I have also spotted a couple beaver houses.

While the small camper meets our needs pretty well, it’s not charging properly (the battery in the camper) and so that frustrates me.  It won’t charge up till we get to a place with electricity.  Oh well, we camped like that with our pop-ups for years.

7/14/11

Got to see another Grizzly Bear along the road today.  Rain, Rain and more rain.  Didn''t see any mountains...low clouds, ugly.  Sitting in MickyD's in Whitehorse to send this.  We'll head down toward Watson Lake which is still 271 miles from here.  We'll let you know if anything interesting happens as we drive through the rain :).  Did I say it is raining???

Kenai Fjord Natl. Park

7/11/11

What a day we had today!  WOW!!  We arrived at the boat dock around 9:30 for our on-time 10 AM departure.  We sailed through Resurrection Bay out of Seward, through part of the Gulf of Alaska and up into a fjord leading to Aialik Glacier.  It was quite cloudy, but the ceiling was pretty high when we left so it seemed like it was going to be fine.  Along the way we saw:

1.       A pod of Orcas (“Killer whales”) – actually not really a whale, but the largest member of the dolphin family.

2.       Mother humpback whale and her baby

3.       Several Sea Lions

4.       Harbor Seals

5.       Harbor Porpoises

6.       Sea Otters

7.       A Fin Whale

8.       Tufted Puffins

 9
.       Horned Puffins

10.   Common Murres

11.   Cormorants

12.   Two Black Oyster Catchers

13.   Many Glaucous Winged Gulls

14.   A Black Legged Kittiwake nesting colony

15.   Marbled Murrelets

16.   Thick billed Murres

17.   Common Mergansers

18.   Several Mountain Goats up high – two kids and their moms

I took over 150 pictures – quite a few of a glacier “calving” – we sat with the engine turned off ¼ of a mile out from the Aialik glacier and listened to the cracking and thunderous roar as huge semi-truck sized pieces of ice fell into the sea.

I nearly wept several times listening to nature like I have never heard it before in my life.  The puffins were nesting in several places, gulls; murres, etc. were all nesting.  We learned that puffin chicks spend 3 years at sea before coming in to nest for just a month or two.  We learned that puffins can dive using their wings up to 300 feet but that murres can dive 600 feet!   We learned that the Fin Whale we saw was probably 65 feet long and was larger than the humpback – in fact is the second largest animal in the ocean (Blue whale is the largest).

Need I say more?  Oh yes, the day was capped off with a prime rib, salmon and king crab dinner at Fox Island, a remote island on the Eastern side of Resurrection bay.  Several times in the morning I have

 prayed with Marty that God would “show us His glory today.”  We saw it in all of its wonder and beauty today…to the point of nearly shouting to the crowd, “Can’t you see the glory of God in all of this?”  But I was refined and just smiled to myself.

Couple more pics

Dall Sheep

Exit Glacier up close



Kenai Penn

July 7, 2011

We are now camped on the Kenai Peninsula at Skilak Lake in the Upper campground.  There are just 16 sites here with 10 more tent sites the other side of the camp.  A man told Marty earlier that there was a bear nearby because he smelled him/her.  I guess they really stink this time of the year, but we have not seen nor smelled a bear ourselves J.  Behind our campsite is a stream about 6 ft wide and maybe 8-10 in deep that tumbles over rocks on the way down to the lake.  It is a sound that will put us to sleep tonight.

We drove from just North of Whittier this morning to come here – the last 8.5 miles was decent gravel road.  Now I just lit a campfire – one of very few we have had.  While we have our screened in porch set up, we are able to sit out here by the fire without being bothered by bugs.   Tomorrow we’re going to make our way down the peninsula to Homer and find a place to camp somewhere near there.  By staying in National Forest campgrounds like tonight, we stay for anywhere from $Free to $8.00/night because I have the old geezer passcard.

Today we also booked an 8.5 hour cruise on Monday which will take us up into Kenai Fjords Natl. Park where I really do hope to spot and photograph a puffin.  I will also keep the camera handy in case we see some whales or sea lions playing around.  Then on Tuesday we’ll begin the trek back East.  We will take the Alaska highway to Dawson Creek and then head down toward Jasper and Banff Provincial Parks.  If we have time we’ll also stop in Glacier National Park.  We’ve been there twice before, but it’s always good to be back there.  I could go to these places at least once a year!

July 8, 2011

Well, we did a lot of driving today, bought groceries, ate lunch in the town of Kenai, then drove through 3 campgrounds before selecting the one we’re in tonight.  We are on the beach (very course gravel with ice cold water) in one of the AK State parks – it’s a parking lot of gravel along the Cook Inlet about 40 miles North of Homer.  A small river runs through the campground and along it this afternoon there were maybe 25 or more bald eagles watching for salmon to run upstream. 

We got to talking to two couples who had been out fishing for Halibut in their 20 ft. boat (they use tractors to put the boats in and out of the water because the “beach” is difficult to even drive a 4-wheel drive truck on).  The couples had 6 or 7 Halibut all about 25 lbs or so.  They had just completed cleaning the last one and cutting it into nice meal size pieces when they asked if we’d like a bag of it.  That was so nice!  So now we have an Alaskan Halibut meal in the freezer – got to buy some Uncle Bucks or something similar to be able to cook it up for a meal in the next day or two.

Out on the mudflats when the tide was totally out, there were also two golden eagles sitting.  It’s a little chilly to sit outside tonight but being in the truck looking out the front window I see a huge mountain range that is all snow covered.  I would guess it’s about 40-50 miles across the water to the mountains.

Our weather remains very cool and we’re glad to have a sheet, blanket and sleeping bag to put over us each night.  On this entire trip there was only one night that we didn’t use the sleeping bag!  When we hear of temperatures in the 90s in Chicago and Grand Rapids, we’re not sorry to be missing out J.

A few pics:

Marty keeps playing with bears:

Lake near where we camped just North of Whittier:



Denali

July 4, 2011

Well, we’re in rainy Denali Park now.  It has not really stopped raining since we arrived two days ago.  We got here on Saturday and were invited by H and N for supper – we had wonderful grilled peppercorn pork tenderloin for supper and ate inside their nice motor home.  We didn’t do much other than talk and talk…we had so many years to catch up on (25+).  We talked about our faith journey and how certain events in our lives have shaped us.  We caught up on children, on grief and loss, as well as on joys along life’s way.  The discussion challenged me to think again about some things I have learned about the Christian faith, but which may not be Biblically accurate.

Yesterday we left the campground at 6:15 AM for the “Tundra Wilderness Tour” – a 7.5 hour bus tour up the Park Road deep into Denali park.  The primary goal of the tour was to see and possibly photograph wildlife.  Although we did not see a large brown bear (we had already seen two small ones which I’ve already posted about), we did see quite a few Caribou and Dall Sheep.  Below I will post a pic of one of the Caribou:

The sheep were really too far away.  I did take one photo and we’ll see what it looks like on the screen before saying I’ll post it.  Some folks also claim they saw a wolf but we didn’t observe that.  All in all, the narration was interesting most of the time and the ride very worthwhile.  I think we went into the park nearly 60 miles. 

Dall Sheep:

Yep, those white specks you see are sheep :)

Having run out of propane on Saturday night, we left the park after our tour and found a place just 5 miles south of the park.  I kicked myself for not filling it in Fairbanks, but oh well, first mistake.  We were so glad to have found propane because on Saturday we had also tried locally and didn’t find any.  Our refrigerator depends on it so it’s pretty important.

Today we intend to take a 4 or 5 mile hike on a trail about 15 miles into the park.  H and N will pick us up so that we only take one vehicle.  We’ll wear our rain gear, skip the camera and enjoy the tundra and the rain.  [On our hike we did see several animals – wish it had not been raining and then I would have had pictures of: Marmot (4 of them), many ground squirrels, 3 adult ptarmigan and numerous chicks.  We will have not seen a bear in the park.]

Now it’s time to cook bfast – bacon and French toast along with camp coffee.  I think we’ll figure out how to eat in the camper since it’s chilly outside (50?).

July 5, 2011

Hooray!  The sun is out today!  Still lots of clouds, but it’s beautiful.  Had our coffee and b’fast then headed down the mtn to watch a demonstration of dog sledding used a lot by the rangers at the park. 

After the “dog show” we said “Bye” to Harry and Nancy.  We had a really nice visit – there are some people you can talk easily with about your family and others just don’t “get it.”  Both of us have experienced similar challenges and can quickly relate.

I took a few more flower pics and we headed south toward Anchorage.  It was along the Parks Hwy that we got a partial glimpse of Denali through the clouds mostly covering it.  Beautiful and massive!  We ate lunch at a pull off looking over the Alaska Range of mtns – put our chairs out and enjoyed the view.  We have not seen any wildlife today but we’ve sure had a great day of riding so far.

Tonight we’re planning to stop in a private campground in Anchorage so that we can get showers and do laundry.  Then tomorrow we may just decide to skip Anchorage and head down to the Kenai Penn.  We also want to go to Seward and take a boat tour into Kenai Fjords Natl. Park.

Fairbanks area again

July 1, 2011

Today was sort of a lazy day.  We got up around 8:45, had our coffee, cooked b’fast of bacon and eggs, then left the campground in Fairbanks for the U of Alaska botanical gardens.  They are actually doing research to determine which strains of various plants would grow best in AK.  As a result of some studies they are now able to sell cut flowers in other parts of the world.  We also went to a bird refuge that was once to be a dairy farm – saw maybe 25 Sandhill cranes feeding in the field, but the mosquitoes drove us back into the truck after a short ¾ of a mile walk.

We also observed panning for gold, went to an old mining camp, decided we will stay married even though we are living in close quarters where you can turn around and go from the kitchen to the bathroom and take one step forward and be in the livingroom via the kitchen.  Then you take one giant leap for mankind and you’re in the bedroom.

We are staying tonight along a river about 40 miles Northeast of Fairbanks.  The river is flowing fast right outside our campsite.  The sun is out and shining brightly – if you have not seen it much for a few days you’ll know how invigorating it can be to finally see it again. 

Tomorrow we’ll drive the 170 miles down to Denali, check in to our campsite and then spend 3 days with Harry and Nancy Olthoff whom we knew in Virginia back in the early ‘80s.