August 22, 2009 - Email from Mom and Dad

We are now at Mile "0" of the Alaskan Highway. That's the good news. We've gone on it the entire way except for one little stretch when we took the Cassier Highway. The bad news is we are 2700 miles from Harrisburg, PA. where the RV goes and another 3000 or so to get to Denver. We hope to be in Harrisburg by next weekend, Aug. 29. At least I hope to. Bill isn't committing. I think he's not ready to end the trip and I'm more than ready. I feel like I've seen and done it all.

Here's what we've done since I've last updated you:
We've been a a little town named Chicken, Alaska to Top of the World Highway, to Dawson City, Yukon; to Eagle, Alaska; to Whitehorse, Yukon; to Teslin, Yukon; to Liard Springs, B. C.; and now to Dawson Creek, the end of the Alaskan Highway or the beginning depending upon which way your'e going.

We've been on a tour of a gold dredge in Dawson City where the gold rush began at Bonanza Creek; we took a boat trip down the Yukon River to Eagle, Alaska; we also took a train trip through the Yukon; and a dip in Liard Hot Springs which is very hot.

We have seen wild animals stuffed (everyone up here seems to think it's great to have a museum full of stuffed moose, grizzly bears, black bears etc., etc.), fenced in (Yukon Wildlife Preserve in Whitehorse) and in the wild along the highway. We have seen grizzly bears, black bears, moose, bald eagles, golden eagles, ravens, trumpeteer swans, ptmarigans, puffins, surf scoters, blue heron, common murre, salmon (lots of different varities), porcupines, beavers, dall sheep and stone sheep, whales, stellar sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, musk ox, snowshoe hares, caribou, and wood bison to name only a few.

We have been to two live performances, one was Diamond Tooth Lil's, the other was Frantic Follies, both were good. I liked Frantic Follies in Whitehorse the best though.

We've noticed the fireweed are turning to seed now, the aspen are turning to gold, and the days are getting shorter. It was actually dark before 9:00 p.m. tonight. We haven't seen that in a long time. That must mean fall is coming and winter can't be far behind. It's time to come home. Hope to see you all soon. Love, Sharon

Friday - August 7, 2009

Yesterday we got to go to Denali National Park. We weren't very smart though because we took the road to the end thinking it was a better value. Big Mistake!! We were in a school bus on most gravel roads sometimes only one lane around twisty, curvy, mountainess terrain. I thought of my friend Mary Carolyn who would have literally peed her pants. I wasn't very comfortable myself!!!

Actually the topography changed a lot through the park. We started out in a forest, then meadows, lakes and rivers, then mountains, etc. Bill was really surprised. I think he thought it would be all forests. Oh, did I mention that this trip took 12 hours!!! We were pretty tired by the time we were done at 8:00 p.m.

We were able to see caribou, red fox, beaver, and a golden eagle for the first time. I was so proud of myself, I'm the one who actually spotted the golden eagle. It was really neat to see all the caribou roaming around near the rivers and in the meadows. The red fox actually had something in his mouth he was eating so that was kind of neat too. It was much bigger than the fox we see in our yards all the time in King's Point We also saw several snowshoe hares and ptmarigans along the roadside. A great treat was a grizzly and her two cubs. One of them performed for us. He stood up and it was so cute. We also saw dall sheep which we had seen before in Whittier.

Today we got to see the dog sled team that patrols the park in the winter. There are 32 of them and they take turns. There were only 5 in one team. The park ranger actually hitched up 5 and took them around in a circle for us.

We also saw the train come and go two times today. This is a passenger train that brings people from the Princess and Holland America Cruises to take them on their land cruise of Denali. There are also Alaskan train passengers, but the majority is the Cruises, who have their own busses and train cars. It is quite a thing to see. It's thousand of people. It looks like it was the 1940's.

We also went to a dinner theatre last night that was all about the early days in Denaili. We're having a great time but haven't seen Mt. McKinley yet. Bill is getting me up very early tomorrow to try to see it. Yuk!

Friday - Juy 31, 2009

Wow! I wish you could all see our beautiful view tonight.
We are on the Cook Inlet which is an inlet that leads to the ocean . It is just gorgeous. The park is called Scenic View RV Park. There is a beautiful sunset on the water tonight. We haven't seen the sun in several days so it's a very welcome sight--too much rain. We seem to keep gravitating towards the ocean. Today we were in Seward and tonight we are close to Homer. We are now on the Kenai Penisula.
On Wednesday we saw two trumpeter swans and the most exciting thing was a mama moose and her twins. Usually we see a moose one minute and the next minute she's disapppeared in the woods. This time though they stuck around a long time and we got some nice shots of them. It was so neat!

We stopped in Anchorage yesterday to see Bill's old school bus driver whom Bill hadn't seen in 40 years. It was kind of neat. He lives with one of his daughter's up here 6 months and then moves to Joplin, MO and lives with

another daughter. He's a real neat guy and is a walking miracle. He's had one thing after another and should have been dead more than once.
We also went to Girdwood yesterday which is where Craig and I had been 30 years ago when we were in Anchorage. We went to Aleyska Ski Resort which is very fancy and gorgeous. I also saw the Jade Company where we had gone. It wasn't open though. I recognize the area as soon as we started up the hill to it. Do you remember doing this, Craig?