Home at Last

We decided to spend our last night in Iowa, just north of Sioux City.  That made for a short drive of 343 miles the next day.  

Of course we had to stop at the Missouri line to get a photo.  

We rolled into 2512 Doniphan Street at 12:40 PM on Thursday.  After 32 days away, it was great to see Daniel....who took this homecoming photo.  He even had the house cleaned up!!!

Thanks for visiting this blog. We had a great time and being able to share with our friends made it even more enjoyable.  

Tim and Tami  

We thought it would be fun to have a "Trip by the Numbers" section.  This is what we came up with:

10,670                   Total number of miles
3                            Number of free campsites
13                          Number of bears (10 black, 2 grizzlies, and 1 brown)
2                            Number of oil changes....by the same guy in Tok, AK.
1/2 quart               Amount of oil added between oil changes 
7                            Number of U - Turns
10                          Fewest number of miles driven in one day
717                        Most number of miles driven in one day
12                          Number of meals we didn't prepare ourselves 
6                            Total number of fish we caught
3                            Number of Missouri license plates we saw in Canada and Alaska
2,272                     Number of pictures we took
1                            Number of car washes for the van
48 F                       Temperature of the coolest night we had
3                            Number of car ferries we took
6                            Number of times we went back and forth through Customs
1                            Number of apples confiscated at Customs
10                          Number of days without using air-conditioning
2                            Number of detours...one was very short....one was very long
26                          Number of bags of ice
5                            Number of nights we had to use a flashlight due to the extra daylight in the north
15                          Number of days without any radio reception...thank goodness for MP3 players                                 and CDs!
6.15 seconds        Time it takes the passenger side window to roll up.....it's getting slower and                                         slower
1                            Number of times we got the last available campsite (out of 189 at this camp                                       ground)
31                          Number of nights slept in van (It was very comfortable!)
0                            Number of nights in hotels 
 

Almost Home

After 30-plus days, we're back in the Lower 48.....feels pretty good.

We drove through northern Montana and found it to be a lot like South Dakota and the Badlands.  Here is a shot of the Missouri River Valley.  We camped at the Louis and Clark State Park.

We were surprised to find the north central part of Montana to be in the middle of a oil boom.  There were oil rigs, pumps, and trucks everywhere.  We talked to a local and he said that a nearby town of 12,000 has grown to over 55,000 in just three years. He talked about the infrastructure not being able to handle the increase.  A true boom town!

We are planning on rolling into Chillicothe sometime tomorrow afternoon.  We just need that 95 Econoline to give us one more day.

Sights along the way ...and free ice cream

Twin Falls in the Smithers, BC area....we like waterfalls.

Near Smithers, BC, the First Nation peoples have the exclusive right to net fish for salmon in the same spot as they have for generations.  Note the rope that the guy has on.  Crazy dangerous way to fish.  He caught a bunch of Sockeye salmon with his twenty foot pole.

This bear was one of many in Prince George, BC.

Prince George met us as we came into town.

Deer.

A view in Jasper National Forest.

After we ate lunch in Jasper, Alberta, we decided to get an ice cream treat at Cold Stone Creamery.  We just stepped in the door and a worker gave us two passes for free ice cream.  Little did we know that it was National Ice Cream Day and she was giving out 200 free ice cream passes.  We were numbers 4 & 5 out of 200!!!!!  Sometimes, we just get lucky.

Athabaskan Falls in Jasper National Park.

Athabaskan Glacier that is like my hair line.....receding.  Pretty cool getting this close to a glacier.  

This little guy was begging for food.

At Lake Louise, we took a 4 km hike up to a little mountain tea house. I had the blue mango green tea and Tami had a yummy Chai tea latte.  It was worth the 1300 feet of gained elevation.

Another animal looking for a handout.

Lake Louise and the Freemont Chateau.......where we didn't stay.

Another view of Lake Louise.

Another view of the Chateau.  We heard William and Kate spent some vacation time here....about nine months ago.

We are still heading south and should make the lower 48 soon.

Still Having Fun in the North

Highlights of Haines, AK

We spent some quality time at the Haines Library which was voted the best small library in America.  We bought several used books there and used the Wi-fi.

At Haines, we found a free campsite with a great view of the port and town.  We love to spend time cooking our own meals.....great hamburgers. 

Here Tami is playing in the ocean just feet from our campsite.


We walked around Fort Seward one morning.  The views were awesome.  This row of houses were the homes of the officers and their families back when the fort was an active military site.  

We never get tired of taking self portraits.  This was on a hike near Haines.

We left Haines by way of another ferry.  Destination.....Skagway, AK.  The one hour ferry saved us over 300 km of driving.  (Like the metric reference?)

On the ferry, we hung out on the upper deck.  There were people there that had been "camping" on the ferry for days.

Skagway had lots of history including how they cleared the railroad tracks when the snow piled up.  This monster was huge!  Skagway also had lots and lots and lots of shops .......half of which were jewelry shops.  We didn't buy anything except a t-shirt, hat, and an ice cream cone.

The road out of Skagway, AK was like the rest of the North.....breathtaking.

Yesterday, we saw a record number of bears on the Cassiar Highway....This is one of five that we saw.

We took a side road down to Stewert, BC to see another glacier.  "Cool"

We'll be in Canada for the next couple of days and then back in the good old USA!

Back in Alaska!

Yesterday we took a rock to the windshield and it left a chip.  We called this guy this morning and he came to our campsite to fix it.  Gotta be able to see what's down the road.   

If you look closely, you'll see a brown bear cub in the ditch.  When he saw us he took off for the woods. Never did see his mama.

For those of you that watch "Gold Rush", here is a shot of the bridge that crosses Porcupine Creek.

While driving into Haines, AK, there was a fish wheel just waiting for the salmon run......which should start soon.....or so we've been told.   It was just like watching the Discovery Channel.

We never tire of the beautiful scenery.

Here is another "Gold Rush" reference:  Who do you think went to school here?  (see below)

This is the area that we will be camping tonight before we catch a ferry to Skagway, AK.

What visit to Haines, AK would be complete without a tour of the Hammer Museum?  They had thousands of different kinds of hammers there.

Here is a question from the Hammer Museum:  Why were these small tacks sterilized?  (see below)

Answers:   * Haines school district is the school of Parker Schnabel, star of "Gold Rush".  He was on the varsity basketball team.
                 
                  *The reason the tacks were sterilized was because the carpenters would hold them in their mouths when they worked. I wonder how long it took people to figure that out?

Back in Canada

Monday, we left Tok, AK and headed toward Canada.  On the way we passed through a little town called Chicken, AK.  They didn't have plumbing, but they had these nifty restrooms.  (Look closely at the sign.)

We wanted to take a tour of an old school house that was the setting for the book "Tisha", but a mama moose had lost her calf in the area (she was mad!)  and had kept the previous tour group barricaded in the school for an hour.  There were no more tours that day.   

We drove on the "Top of the World Highway" to get to the US-Canada border.  The vehicle in front of us had some illegal firewood so they had to unload it!  You can see the pile of wood on the left.  We got through customs without any incident.  What a relief!

 

Here is a shot of the "Top of the World Highway".  Tami kept singing the Helen Redy song, "I'm on the... top of the world.."

 To get to Dawson City, you must cross the mighty Yukon on a ferry.  There was no cost and the trip took less than two minutes.  

Just outside of Dawson City is a mini-mountain called, Midnight Dome.  Great view of the city and river. Even though I didn't get to see some Dawson City can-can dancers, I did find this babe on a big bench.  

A 30 minute hike got us to this vantage point of the Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon.  It was worth it.

I'm not tipping my hat, just hanging on to it.....very windy.

Still heading south.....caught a rock in the windshield and getting it repaired in Whitehorse.

Fun Times at Fairbanks

One thing that we noticed in Fairbanks was that most vehicles had plug-ins to keep the vehicle warm in the cold winters.  I tried telling Tami that they were all electric cars, but she knew better.

 

Years ago, Tim's parents became friends with this couple from Fairbanks. When we contacted them to let them know we would be in Fairbanks, they invited us to their BIG salmon neighborhood/family BBQ. Amy and Mick Van Hatten have been hosting this party for 38 years.  There were over 75 people there and it was a hoot!

 

There were musicians at this party and these guys were actually very good. I swear I over heard the guy in the hat tell a story about playing with Joe Cocker back in the day. 

 Twenty-five salmon were prepared for the party. It reminded me of a Missouri whole hog roast, but with salmon.  Very tasty.

 People of all ages enjoyed the garage music.  The sax player just had triple bypass surgery less than a year ago, but he could still play a mean sax.

One traditional act Amy did when she heard that my parents passed away was to make a bouquet of Alaskan flowers and release them into the Chena River which flows near their home.  She helped us make another bouquet and Tami and I released them into the same river.  I'm glad my parents had such good Alaskan friends.  

After the party, we were still wound up....and it was very hot in the van.....so we decided to go for a little drive around Fairbanks to cool down our bedroom.  Here I am wearing sunglasses at 11:00 PM!

The next day, we headed south and actually found the North Pole (real town in Alaska) and visited the Santa Claus House. Santa was busy, so Tami sat on my lap.

We're still heading south and will soon be in Canada.