Tuesday - July 28, 2009

We had a great day here in Valdez. We started out seeing the grizzly again. He walked right by my window and I got a great picture of him. I was in the RV of course. We stayed there most of the morning watching him play with the fish. It's so cute and interesting.

We also went to the fish ladder at the Hatchery. The fish struggle like crazy to get up the fish ladder. There are thousands of them.

The purpose of the hatchery is to take the eggs and incubate them. They have a far better chance of survival rather than being left in the stream for the grizzly, eagles, gulls, wolves etc. to eat them.

We found out there are actually mountains here today. In fact it's called the Switzerland of Alaska. Yesterday it was foggy and rainy and you wouldn't even have known there were mountains here. They are beautiful with 4 glaciers you can see from right here in town.

We went to dinner across the street from the RV park at the Best Western. We both had halibut and it was very good but very expensive. Then we went down to the harbor and saw them cutting up and fileting halibut right there on the pier. If it's so abundant here, why so expensive we wondered. We saw a 163 pound and a 118 pound halibut a couple from Salt Lake caught out on a charter boat.

Tomorrow we head for Anchorage. Love to all, Sharon

Monday - July 27, 2009

Please pray for my dad. He seems to be starting some dementia. Please continue to pray for our safety on the roads. The frost heaves on the roads are tough to put up with. It really wears us out. Today we're taking a break from that.Pray for Ashley's work this summer in Guatemala also. She was not able to go to Honduras as planned because of all the problems as you probably know. The Lord really worked it out for her to go to Guatemala at a wonderful orphanage there.
She just had a few days to change her plans and he really worked things out in a hurry. As for Alaska:We were on some terrible roads the last couple of days. If you've never driven on frost heaves you don't know what you're missing. We drove on lots of them the last two days and it really wears you out. We're resting in Valdez today. We saw a beautiful glacier yesterday, Worthington Glacier, that you could drive up to and walk to get even closer which we did. Alaska has more glaciers than anywhere else in the world and I believe it. We've seen so many. It seems like you see them at every turn. They are beautiful. They're are also many waterfalls. We saw two very pretty ones yesterday--Bridal Veil and Horsetail. When we were at the Hub of Alaska, which is an intersection for Hwy 1 and 4 I think, the information center told me to go to Dayville Road and we would see grizzlies. We did that last night and didn't see grizzlies but did see lots and lots of salmon spawning near a hatchery. We also saw harbor seals for the first time this trip. We were told that a grizzly (by the way they call them brown bears up here) comes out every morning about 10:00. We stayed at a campground near there and got up this morning at 8:00 and saw the bear playing around with the fish. It was so entertaining. Then he started roaming up to the road so we followed him in the RV along with some other people and we got some good pictures as he crossed the road. We also saw a brown bear in a creek right along side the road (on my side) so I was able to get a pretty good picture. We were so excited!!! To backtrack a few days, on Saturday, July 25, we met a man on the border between Canada and Alaska on a bicycle. That's not unusual because we've seen lots and lots of bicyclists. What was unusual was that he was traveling with his dog Star. He had a little cart he was pulling behind him with his gear and he put the dog on top. And it was a big dog. He said sometimes he runs alongside him. Can you imagine the extra weight. He had started in Fairbanks and was from Oregon. He was a pro lifer and was promoting a "Nationwide Car Wash" which was to raise money for pregnancy centers around the country. That's just one of the interesting people we've met along the way. By for now!

Friday - July 24, 2009

Dad called this morning and I got an update on what they are up to.

They are leaving Haines today and probably going to a Chilkat River Bald Eagle Preserve. Dad said that the Bald Eagles in Alaska are like pigeons in Colorado. I'm talking to him right now while I write this. He said that there are a bunch of ravens or crows outside the RV today. He's waiting for Mom to wake up before they leave.

They went to the Hammer Museum yesterday and said that they met a lady from Buffalo, New York who moved to Haines, Alaska. Dad thinks that she was having trouble with her parents. I said that she must have had a lot of trouble to move that far away. Dad said that he couldn't find his farm hammer. I was cracking up at this one. I thought that maybe the Hammer Museum was named Hammer for someone's last name but it was literally a museum of hammers. Dad said that they only paid a $3 entry fee. Of course, I think you'd need to pay me $3 to enter a hammer museum. This reminds me of Jill and I in Hawaii though, because we went to an Army Museum just because it was free and we were very poor, just graduated college students. We called ourselves the Cheapskate Tourists because we did about anything that was free or cheap.

They saw a Grizzley Bear in Chilcoot State Park a couple days ago getting salmon. This was his dream a few years ago to see a Grizzley and now he's seen one three times. Dad said that the Grizzley crossed the road just a little bit in front of Mom. Wow!

Dad talked to a fisherman who encountered a Grizzley and hustled out of there while fishing. I guess that you don't want to compete with a Grizzley for food. This guy caught a 10 pound salmon that day.

He also talked to a big fisherman who caught 9000 pounds of Salmon out in the Inside Passage and brought it to a cannery.

This is totally a Dad thing, but as we were discussing "The Poop Tank" Dad told me all kinds of disgusting facts and told me that the "poop tank" was so clear you could drink it the other day. The toiliet had run all night and so the tank was completely full of water. I told him that I was glad he hadn't chosen to do that to drink it though no matter how clean it looked. He is known to do gross things like "wash" his hands in the nasty water at the Lincoln Memorial relfection pool so I was a little concerned.

Dad saw their Island Princess ship this morning at 4:45. He was very excited and said that it was headed to Skagway. Sounds like his typical train talk to me.

He sees snow capped peaks and glaciers behind him as we speak.

It was a great talk and we got to talk for 1/2 hour. Dad is very informative and always makes the conversation fun.

Phone call update - Skagway and Haines

I talked to Dad and Mom last night, since they are in Alaska and not paying roaming fees. I got some new updates on what they've been up to. They have now been in Skagway (for the third time on this trip -since they were there with each of their cruises). They took a ferry from Skayway over to Haines, Alaska which is in the Inside Passage. Dad said that it was the only ferry they could afford and when I asked him how much it cost, he said it was $161! HOLY COW! $99 for the RV and $31 for each of them. Dad also told me that if they didn't take that ferry, they would have had to have driven 359 miles out of the way to get there, which would have been about 45 gallons of gas. Dad said that it only took an hour to get over there on the ferry. That fee was one way and from Haines they'll drive straight North. Dad said that in Skagway they saw four cruise ships docked there. They actually slept on the dock (in the Bellmobile) in Skagway. Dad said that one of the cruise ships was very "happy" and the people on it were very "happy." Dad mentioned a bunch of animals and said that a moose ran in front of the RV when they were driving. Only in Alaska!

Yukon Territory

We stayed in Dease Lake on the Cassier Hwy last night. Today we drove for several miles on the Cassier, some of it wasn't very nice driving. We had gravel, then blacktop, then gravel again for several miles and it was all very rough. It was beautiful with many lakes and mountains, but it was also very tiring. We were glad to get on the Alaskan Hwy, Hwy #1.

We saw a cow moose and her baby today along the roadside. As soon as we saw them the scampered back into the bush. We also saw a baby moose run in front of us on the highway. We get so excited when we see wildlife. This was all on the Cassier. We noticed that a lot of the scenery on both the Cassier and the Alaskan so far has been a lot like Colorado. We noticed a big increase in RV traffic since we got on the Alaskan Hwy.
We have also noticed that several businesses are closed--one big RV Park/gas station and most importantly Mukluk Annie's Salmon Bake that Dad was especially looking forward to.

It's near where we stopped for the evening at Teslin in the Yukon.

North to Alaska

Mom and Dad's latest email:

We went north to Alaska yesterday finally. We're in Hyder, AK which is just across the border from Stewart, B.C. This is a dump town with the main street made of gravel. We're staying in an RV camp here which is probably the nicest thing in town. the big attraction is the bears and glacier both of which we've seen, but we have to go back and see the bears this morning. It's 7:00 a.m.--not my time of day as you know, but it's Dad's and he's raring to go so I'd better get done. I always try the internet at night but it never works until morning in an RV camp for some reason. There is a river here where the salmon come to spawn and die. The bears are after the salmon of course. Yesterday we saw a grizzly in the water after a fish. It was really neat.

The salmon swim upstream you know. They look so tired. We also found out that they swim back to the stream they were spawned in. They actually can smell the water and know that;s the right place. They go to the ocean and spend a few years then come back. It's such a neat process.

We also saw this neat glacier last night. You drive to the top of it on gravel roads, of course. It was the longest 21 miles we ever driven so far. I understand the Alaskan highway has more of this. By the way Angie, we've been on Hwy. 16 and turned off onto Hwy 37 towards Alaska. Stewart, B.c is a little spur off Hwy 37 if you're looking We've got great shots of the glacier. We've seen a lot of glaciers but this is the best one yet.
Love, Mom(These are some images I got from the Internet based on what Mom talked about in her email.)

Mom mentioned that they are heading to Prince Rupert, so I thought I'd include a map. When she mentions a place that they are or have visited, I'll try to put it on the blog.

Mom and Dad's latest update - otherwise called the Diet Coke Incident

We have internet this morning. Last night it didn't work which always seems to be the case. We got gas yesterday and it seems someone ciphoned gas on us because we spent $90 and we only drove 165 miles. We're going to look into a gas cap that locks. Not good.

I have a big problem here with my Diet Coke. Maybe I'll be like Barb and give it up while I'm on my trip. There are no gas stations that you can get a fountain drink at. My that I mean ice and a drink you do yourself. They have a whole counter of coffee and slurpie but no regular drinks. We even went to an A&W and they gave me a drink with no ice. When I asked for ice they said they didn't have any. Instead they gave me a frosty mug. Dad also has a problem with his iced tea. He never orders it in Canada because he knows it will be sweetened.

We saw something interesting last night when we stopped yesterday. A couple (husband and wife) that were camping with us were on bicycles. They are going to Mexico. They started in Victoria Island. They expect to be in Mexico in November. Can you believe it??? We also saw a couple with a little boy riding a tandem bike. It looked like they were long distance. I can't believe that they were but who knows.

We had a couple of very interesting experiences yesterday. One was we saw a bear up close and personal. He was right along the roadside. That's the closest we've seen one yet.

The other experience we had was riding on the Usk Ferry. It's kind of hard to explain but I'll try. It's called a reaction ferry because it reacts to the currents of the river. It's on the Skeena river which has strong currents. It powers across on cables. We got there just in time to take it and got to find out all about it. There are only 4 left in British Columbia (BC). When the river is frozen they go across to the other side on cables. It goes from one side of the river to the other. We got to go for free.

this is the time of year the salmon are running and everyone along the Skeena is fishing. Right now wer're in the campgroung getting ready to go into Prince Rupert to look around. It's raining as it has been off and on all morning. We've had great weather up to now.

Love, Mom

Mom and Dad's update about their Canadian Train Trips

We got off the ship on Wed., July 8 and have been in Canada ever since. We spent the first day driving to Prince George, B.C. and we have spent the next four days riding the train back and forth from Prince George to Prince Rupert, and then Prince George to Jasper and back. Tonight we are finally done with our train trips. The first one was 14 hours long and when we got there our hotel wasn't anywhere near the train station like we thought it was. Since the train was 2 hours late there were no cabs. They said they only have one cab company. So as we're all standing there wondering what to do they called the cab company. We decided after waiting a while that we would walk like some other people were doing. Bad Idea!!! Our hotel was a long ways away. We walked for at least a half hour. :We got to our hotel at 11p.m. Then we got up the next morning early and started all over again for another trip back to Prince George. This time we got back early. Hallelejah!! Today we just got back from Jasper. It was a beautiful trip with great mountains in the background. Do my children remember going to Jasper as kids? Dad and I were trying to remember if we took Ashley and we think we did. We went to the Sawridge Inn today where we thought we stayed with you, Ashley. And I know we took Angie and Craig. Do you remember going up the gondola and seeing the Columbia Ice Fields?? We didn't have time to do any of those things this time. We tried to rent a car but they didn't have any to rent. It's still a very busy place. We stayed in a house that rents out rooms last night. Apparently a lot of people do that in Jasper. We only paid $75 compared to at least $175 at hotels here. The housing market is very inflated also. A house just like our neighbor, Jim and Diane, goes for $800,000. That was the house we stayed in. We got the best bedroom in the house I think. We got the master bedroom. We're the only ones who had our own bathroom with a jacuzzi. The jacuzzi didn't work, but it was really comfortable to lay in and relax. You know how I love a bathtub. By the way we took VIA trains and we don't recommend it. For instance they have classes-- first class and second class service. The first class people have to pay $200 more and they get the car with the big windows and get to go in the dome car. The rest of us have to stay in one car and can't move around the train at all except from seat to seat within that car. They bring your food which is microwaveable on a cart to your seat like an airplane. The food is awful. We figured out after the first day we had to get something else before we left or along the way. Today the train broke down right as we left Jasper and we had to wait for a mechanic to come and fix it. We were 2 hours late at one time so we had to make up time which meant we got no breaks. Yesterday we had a half hour break one place and 15 minutes another which was much nicer. We had a chance to stretch our legs and get some food. We also got very upset when they let 25 bicylists go on the train ahead of us. We were already in line but they let them go ahead of us and we were all crammed into one car. Fun! Fun! It was actually fun to hear all those Canadians talk. I love their "heh" or "aye" they say at the end of evey sentence. Sorry Brenda! Actually it was much better than the day before when we heard French most of the time. Practically everyone on the train spoke French and even the conductor had to say everything in English and French. We'll be in Canada several more days and I found out I have to pay $1 a minute for every phone call so I won't be calling anyone. Hopefully we can get internet service again soon.

Update on Mom and Dad's Princess Cruise

This is an update from Mom and Dad. They couldn't get the blog to work so they asked me to post this to their blog for them. It sounds like they're having a great time.
Angie

"We had a great cruise, but we're glad we'll get a break from it before we get back on Carnival. It will be interesting to compare the two. We saw absolutely spectacular scenery. Alaska has more glaciers than "Carter's has little liver pills." (I know all my children will love that analogy.) We've also seen tons of eagles. They are about as plentiful as magpies are in Colorado if you can believe it.

We've been blessed with great weather-no rain and we've seen the sun quite a bit, but I was not prepared for how cold it is on the ship near glaciers and in the towns we've stopped. Today in Anchorage has been the only day we've been able to go without a jacket. They said today in Whittier that it's always foggy, but we had great weather. I hope it keeps on on our next cruise.

We went to Juneau one day to see Sarah. We saw where her office is and she was supposedly in but that's about as far as that got. We also saw the mansion where she resides. It's high on a hill and very pretty, but not in a very nice area of town. We got a little way from there and we were in the slums.

Speaking of slums we saw the most poverty we've ever seen in Vancouver, B.C. if you can believe it. It looked like you were on the streets of India. It looked worse than Mexico. We were glad we were in a bus looking down on all this. We took every mode of public transportation available in Vancouver. The sky bus (which is kind of a monorail put in for Expo.) Angie, do you and Craig remember when we went to Vancouver for Expo and stayed in a home? We also took a Sea Bus which is an actual ferry that takes you from North Vancouver into town. That was neat and it didn't cost much.

Dad just came in and he thinks he could figure out the blog and he probably could, but I'm on a roll now so I think I just finish this way. We'll be back way too late tomorrow night from the Seward train to do anything probably. I don't think we get back until quite late.

Craig, today I asked at the Visitor's Center where the jade factory was and they showed me. I remember when we were here that\'s the only place we went. Today when we came from Whiittier we went along the same path on the bus that we had gone on to go to the factory 30 years or so ago. It was mud flats now. When we went I think it was winter and there was ice in it as I recall.

We had a unique experience today coming out of Whittier--one I've never had before and never expect to ever have again. We went on a bus through a railroad tunnel 2 1/2 miles long that cars can also go through. We had to wait about an hour to get clearance because the trains have priority. This was NOT a tunnel with a road beside it for cars, but instead you went ride town the track. It had been modified a few years ago so that cars could use it too. It was very strange! When we go back to Whittier we will take the train and go through the tunnel on the tracks--much more normal I would think. Alaska is wild country. I guess you can expect most anything here.

I'm not any more impressed with Anchorage this time than I was 30 years ago. It's still not much of a city in my opinion. They do have a few tall buildings now which they didn't before. Today I think we found out why they have no tall buildings. They had an earthquake that measured 9.2, apparently the worst in North America, in 1964 that quite devastationg and was even felt in California and caused some damage and deaths there.

So far we don't think the food on Princess is as good as Holland America. But I must say the lobster a couple of nights ago was great. I didn't want to order it because I didn't want to crack it, but when it came the waiters took the meat out for everyone, so I said if I would have known that I would have ordered it. Sure enough the waiter brought me some and I let Dad taste it. We both thought it was great. Next time maybe we'll take a chance and order it. We still ate too much even if it wasn't the best. They have ice cream cones about anytime you want them. One day I was in the hot tub and then sat in one on the deck chairs and they brought me a WARM cookie and milk. I was shocked. It sure was good. I was trying to figure out what time of the day they did that, but couldn't quite figure it out and never got one again. The one thing we didn't like about the cruise was the fact that they were also trying to sell us something. It was crazy. We'd sit down to dinner and they'd come around with wine that was very expensive. We were never at a table where anyone ordered it. I don't think they did very well of that promo. The final straw was last night when we had a little comedy show put on by the food staff and then we got a tour of the kitchen. When we came out of the kitchen they had a room full of things to sell from other cruises that they were apparently trying to unload. I did buy a nice Panama Princess sweatshirt. I thought it might be cool for everyone to think I'd been to Panama. Ha!

We did a really neat thing in Ketichan. When we were in Vancouver a lady who had just taken the cruise told us to go on the Bering Sea Crab deal as a shore excursion. It was expensive but we did it anyway and it was great. I guess they were on the Discovery Channel, the deadliest catch. They have bouys all around with traps down in the water and they bring up lots of differeent kind of crab and let you touch they and hold them. At first I didn't want anything to do with them, but I saw little kids doing it and I didn't want to be shown up by them, so I did it too. At the end he brought out an octopus and held it above his head. We didn't get to touch it. Probably the neatest thing was the eagles. We were near an Island inhabited by native Alaskans and they were able to feed the eagles small fish which they did by the hundreds. We got to see the eagles kind of divebomb down to pick up the eagles. We also saw huge nests of eagles in the trees along the shore. We even saw some baby eagles peeking out. Spectacular!!!

I guess that's about enough for now. It's time to relax and take it easy. 5:45 in the morning will come mighty early. Dad has to go pick up the tickets for our train then and I told him to wake me up then. Love you all, Mom"