Haines, Alaska

What a beautiful drive into Haines.  There is quite a bit more snow on the mountains than there was the end of July two years ago.  We drove out to Chilkot Lake to see if the bears were out, but no bears.  We were able to watch two bald eagles for a while.  What a majestic bird they are.  Monday we take at tour to Juneau for the day.  Hope to see whales on the way.  Juneau is the capital of Alaska and will be a whole new adventure.  Also a new yarn shop to visit.
Salmon will be mailed Monday.  Ya'll know the routine when it arrives by USPS priority mail.   I am back on my Internet service, so will try to get some pictures sent later.

Love to all............

Whitehorse, Yukon

We are here in Whitehorse until Saturday morning.  We will have our coach serviced tomorrow since there is a Freightliner here.  We also know from experience that there is a good window repair shop here as we have used them before.  Yep! A passing truck threw a large rock into our windshield, so we will have it repaired tomorrow before we leave for Haines, Alaska.  The good thing about coming into Whitehorse is we have not had to visit the Canadian Tire to repair our tires.  Our last trip we had tires repaired three times in Whitehorse.  Finally got our vehicles washed, but not sure all the caked on mud came off of the tracker.  Looking forward to getting down to Haines and being able to use my secured Internet service.  We at least now have cell service after two days.  Hope all are well.....

Watson Lake, Yukon

 We Are at the Baby Nugget RV park for the night.  No cellphone service and Internet only for a while.  Will be going to Whitehorse tomorrow so are hoping we will have cell phone service.  Hope everything is well with everyone.   If anyone every wondered about the mosquito thing that hooks to you by off.....it really does works....just turn on the little fan and hook it to you and the squiters stay away!!!
We finally have sun today......YEA!  Saw lots ofbuffalotoday,but not the large herds we saw two years ago.  They are huge!  Love ya'll.......

Muncho Lake, BC

We are liked drown rats!!!!  It rained and rained and rained all day.  The dirt roads got muddier and muddier and muddier.  Thank goodness we did not have to drive on those muddy roads until we pulled off to the RV Park.  Now that in itself is another story. 
We left Fort St John at 9 am this morning with the intention on staying at Ft Nelson....but we got to Ft Nelson at noon along with a 16 coach caravan.  We quickly decided that there would not be enough space for us so we drove on to an RV park further up the road.  It was for sale and in bad disrepair so diecided to go to Toad River so we could watch the bull moose in the Toad River.  Well,  we did see a bull moose along the side of the road, but Toad River RV park was full up.  We had no choice but to drive another 25 miles to Norther Rockies Lodge.  Thank goodness it was not full.  The main lodge is a beautiful log structure.  There are log guest cabins scattered around Muncho Lake.  I will say that the mosquitos here are well feed ---- they are huge.  I do not remember these pesty little bugs the last time we were here!!!!!
Tomorrow we will travel to Baby Nugget RV Park in Watson Lake.  We need to be aware that Canada Day (July 1) is coming up and there will be parades at every little berg we travel through, so we are trying to jockey position to reserve a spot.  Hopefully my cell phone will have service tomorrow. 
Love to all......

Fort St John, British Columbia

Well,  we decided to start down the ALCAN today into some familiar territory.  We are staying at MacLean Rotary RV Park.  Pretty much a gravel parking lot, but has all the necessaties of home.  Tomorrow we will travel to Fort Nelson.  The weather has eld and the sun was out all day, but the temp was cool. 
I have messages on my cell phone, but I cannot retrieve those msgs from voice mail until I hit the USA or Alaska.  Text messages do work though.  SOOOO  if you really need to get me, hang up and txt me or email me.  Internet has been better than it was two years ago, but we have not hit the Yukon Territory yet!
Hope all is well with everyone,  love...........

Icefields Parkway

The Icefields Parkway did not disappoint us.  It was spectacular!!!!!!!!  TheCanadian Rockies are just very impressive gray granite and dark green pine trees.  We saw a herd of big horn sheep on the major parkway stopping traffic both ways.  At the same time we finally saw our first mountain goat on the hill above where the big horn sheep were.  We leave here tomorrow for either the states or north to the Alcan.  Love to all............

Still in Jasper

We are still in Jasper and will be until at least Monday.  Did some cleaning of the tow car and coach as they were both quite dirty from chip and seal road work in BC.  We are considering our options as to how we want to travel around the flooding in Calgary and Canmore area.  Which ever way we travel we will add approximately 500 miles to get to our destination.  At least we are not in a hurry and do not have to be anywhere at a specific time.
Pray for those in Calgary and Canmore.  The entire city is under water.  The government officials really seem to be be very concerned about the people in these two areas.  I have never seen rivers running so swiftly as the Bow River is through Calgary.

My oldest daughter begins her track on the Appalachian Trail from Winding Stair to Hot Springs.  Please keep her, her husband, and friend in your prayers for safety.
Love and miss ya'll................

Jasper/Hinton, Alberta

We made it to Hinton KOA outside of Jasper.  Terrible flooding in Calgary, Canmore and Baniff.  Roads are closed --- no one is allowed in Calgary.  The pictures we are seeing on the news shows Calgary totally under water.  The Calgary Stampede area is completely underwater.  We are watching road closing a to see how we can leave from this area ----- we are staying until Monday in hopes that we can leave here through the ice fields -as the road is closed I to Lake Louise.  Never thought we would have any of these problems, but we are very flexible and believe it or not enjoying the adventure.  Chatterbox---be safe on the trail---can't wait to hear about your adventures.  Love ya'll....

Prince George BC

Well, we were ready to head up the Cassier Highway this morning, BUT we had over 3 inches of rain and parts of the Cassier washed out.  SOOOOO again we are not able to travel up this road again.  So we decided to go to Plan B.  We traveled to Prince George today and almost had to stay in the Walmart parking lot because the three RV parks were full.  Tomorrow we will travel to Jasper, Alberta for a few days.  Hey Chatterbox----  take care on your hiking journey for the next two weeks.  Hope the rain won't dampen your trip.  Love ya'll..........

North Pacific Cannery

The North Pacific Cannery is the oldest intact salmon cannery on the west coast.  It was built in 1889 and ran continuously for almost 100 years.  It employed hundreds of Chinese, Japanese, First Nation and Europeons as fishers, cannery workers and support staff during the salmon runs up the Skeena River.  These people each had a specific job to do and area within the cannery to live.  The buildings are all well preserved and in great shape.  We learned anbout the beginnings of the cannery when the salmon was all hand cleaned, cut and packed into tins.  The fishermen went to sea and brought their catch back to off load into tug boats that took the salmon up the Skeena to the cannery.  The salmon were then off loaded onto the docks and then directly onto the cannery floor.  The salmon were then prepared by removing the head, tail, fins and innerds, some say with just 8 knife cuts, cleaned, cut into pieces, placed in tins, sealed with lids, presure cooked, labeled and then ready to be shipped off to mostly WWII soldiers.  Then we saw the automated line that replaced hand packing in the 1920's.  The plant was in operation until 1969 when the salmon numbers declined and also fresh salmon was prefered to canned salmon.  I sure am glad that I was not eating canned salmon at that time!!  After the cannery we went to the artsy district of Prince Rupert called Cow Bay.  This bay got it's name from when cows arrived on ships and the ships could not dock, so they opened the gates and let the cows swim for shore in the bay.  There were very different boutiques along the bay. 

Thanks Meg for your answer on the cows lying in the dirt.  What a great answer.  Hope all are well and you chillins are enjoying your summer vacation.  Love ya'll,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Prince Rupert

Well, we made it to Prince Rupert.  the drive in was amazing as we followed the Skeena (river of mist)River with all the snow covered mountains around us.  What a drive.  Then we hit the construction.  They are chip and sealing the roads!!!!  Our vehicles look like there is 6 inches of dust and dirt accumulated  on them.  We went to the Museum of Biritish Columbia this afternoon.  It gave us the history of Prince Rupert and the beginning of the First Nation People to settle here.  The carvings were amazing.  Tomorrow we go to Prince Edward to tour a historic cannery.  Salmon canneries were big here in British Columbia, but only a few of them are operational.  Wednesday we will leave Prince Rupert and travel to the Cassier Highway where we will begin our treck north to Alaska.  Miss ya'll.........

Ksan First Nation Historical Site

We drove from Vanderhoof to Hazelton today.  We toured the Ksan First Nation Village and learned a lot about the First Nation People who settled here before the Europeons.  On our way here we stopped to take a picture of the largest fly rod in the world and lo and behold there was an electric car charging station.  When I get a more powerful Internet connection I will post it along with the amazing bobbin lace we saw yesterday at Ft. St. James.
Meg-----I have a job for you----  We have been passing fields of cows and in each field the cows are all lying on a hill of mud!?  What I want you to research is--- are all those cows lying in the mud to cool their milk system? OR is there another reason?

We are off to Prince Rupert tomorrow for a few days.  Hopefully they will have a decent Internet signal and I can send a few pictures.  Love ya'll........

Barkerville and Fort St. James

Yesterday we were in Barkerville, BC with no Internet service or cell service.  We stayed at Caribou Joy's rv park.  She is an Aussie here to strike it rich on her claims.  Barkerville was a booming gold town in the 1800's.  it is said that when the gold was good some of the miners panned over $2000 a day.  What an interesting old town.  There were docents giving the tour and informing us of the history of this town.  We ate a late lunch at the Wake Up Jake restaurant.  It was good to see school children learning the history of BC.

Today we drove to Vanderhoof, BC and are staying at Dave's RV Park.  We then drove to Fort St. James to tour this outpost of the Hudson Bay Trading Company located on Stewart Lake.  What an informative tour.  When the forest service took over this historic site, they accomplished restoring each building to it's original condition right down to the contents that would have been in each building.  The furs that were stored in the warehouse were amazingly in very good condition.  The trappers would bring their furs to the fort and trade them for supplies.  The furs would be packaged into 100 pound bundles.  They were then placed on. Boat and sailed down Stewart lake, pot aged over land to another boat on lake bow big, port aged over land and boarded onto another boat and taken to Prince Rupert on the Pacific Ocean.  The furs were then place on a steamer and sailed around South America to Europe.  This process took at least one year.  The reverse was taken from Europe and brought flour, sugar, pots and pans, etc. to the fort.
All in all we have had two wonderful history learning days.  Tomorrow we travel to Prince Rupert which is on the Pacific Coast.  Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there.

Love ya'll.........

Lac La Hache, BC

We are at Big Country Camp ground for the night.  It is a small, very quaint and natural campground.  The drive up Canada 1 was very beautiful, through the mountains.  We are actually on the Carabou Waggon Road route that the gold miners took from Seattle to the gold fields in the Yukon.  We had our first rainy day today within and off rain showers.  Tomorrow we go to Barkerville, an old mining town.  Don't know what we will find in the way of an RV park, but we certainly are going to find out.
Hope everyone is doing well.  Love each and every one of ya'll.  till tomorrow............

Lynden, Washington

First of all---  Happy Birthday to GJ925---  He is 10 years old today. 

We are about 10 miles from the Canadian Border in Lynden, Washington.  It's a beautiful Dutch influenced town.  We could not get over the look of all the lawns, they look like everyone mowed on the same day. I did wash today to make sure that all clothes are clean and went to Walmart to get what we needed before we hit Canada.  Now I have to convert money and I do not do a good job of that. 
Ya'll know the drill with Canada --  You can call our home # or my cell phone and internet service is at the discression of the Canadian RV parks we stay at (I cannot use my hotspot in Canada). 

Love ya'll

Mt Rainier and Seattle

Yesterday we drove from Pendleton to Seattle, passing Mt Rainier.  What an impressive mountain.  We decided that we would not go into the park as if you have seen one snow covered mountain you have seen them all.  We are staying at the Seattle/Tacoma KOA, mainly because they have tour busses that come to the camp ground plus they are on a public transportation line.  Seattle is HUGE!!!  The traffic is crazy!!!!  We decided to take the City Tour instead of driving into this big city and getting lost.  We got to see the Public Market (huge), the space needle, the locks and salmon stairs(where the salmon travel up stream), the stadiums and the largest floating home neighborhood in the world.  It is a very diverse city, but I personally am glad to visit and not live here.  TOO MUCH TRAFFIC!!!!  I will be very happy to be north of the city tomorrow.  We should be in Bellingham, Washington tomorrow evening and close to crossing the Canadian Border. 

Mt Hood and Pendleton, Oregon

Yesterday we spent the day touring Mt Hood.  There were people skiing and snow boarding.  I tried to get Paw Paw to rent a board, but no luck.  The Timberline lodge was amazing.  The timbers were at least 24 " wide - I guess it was needed to keep the roof and walls from collapsing from the weight of the snow.  On the way back the coach we stopped to watch the wind surfers on the Columbia River.  Thought maybe Paw Paw might give it a try, but no way!!!! 

Today we traveled to Pendleton to go to the mill.  Awh!!!!  Pendleton wool - the only wool you wear.  The blankets are beautiful and in any design you would want.  Tomorrow we will break into Washington State heading up to Bellingham and the Canadian Border.  We will stop at Mt Rainier on the way. 
Hope all are doing well--miss ya' and love ya'll

Columbia River Gorge

We drove from Astoria on the coast of the Pacific where the Columbia River exits into the ocean to Cascade Locks, Oregon located on theColumbia River Gorge.  After checking in at the KOA we had lunch and traveled Historic Route 30 to view 6 waterfalls that flow down the gorge.  The most spectacular one is the Multnomah Falls.  This is the one you have seen on TV advertising the gorge.  The upper falls is a 600 foot drop and the lower falls is 60 foot drop.  How spectacular!!!  I must say that I did not expect this spectacular Falls to be right beside I-84.  To say the least is  was beautiful.  Tomorrow we will travel to Mt Hood.  We won't leave Cascade Locks  until Sunday or possibly Monday for Pendelton and the Pendleton Outlet Store.  Let me know if I am to look for anything in particular for anyone?!  Enjoy the picture of the Multnomah Falls.

Astoria, Oregon

Went to Fort Clapsop this morning to tour the fort built by Lewis and Clark expedition.  Really interesting for history buffs.  Then we went to Astoria, Oregon to tour the city.  We went through the Maritime Museum.  We were able to learn about the Coast Guard that works the Columbia River Bar and how dangerous it is in the winter time for ships approaching the Columbia from the Pacific Ocean.   There were many canneries here in Astoria that processed Salmon until the salmon runs became very slim.  Some of the canneries dried and smoked the salmon and shipped them to the soldiers during WWII.  The USS Astoria also had an important role during the war.  During the tour of the museum we came accross a scrimshaw display of how whale bones were used.  Lo and behold there was a yarn swift made entirely from whale bones.  I can't even imagine how long it took to carve each piece and fit them together.  There was also a net bobbin winder that I would have liked to see how it worked.  The trolley ride was very interesting as it traveled along the Columbia River and the two volunteers gave a informative history of Astoria.  All in all it was a great day.  Tomorrow we leave the Astoria area and travel to Cascade Locks for a few days to marvel at the Columbia River Gorge.  Talked to my Bro and glad that everyone in Amellia Island Florida are OK after Hurrican Andrea passed through.  Hope the Concord people don't float away with the floods they are predicting.  Stay safe everyone.

Love ya'll

Crater Lake to Oregon Coast

What an awesome lake.  Crater Lake was formed from a volcano that blew out the sides and the top collapsed into the center of the volcano.  In years it filled with the most beautiful bright blue water.  We traveled the west rim of the lake and saw snow that was 6 to 8 feet deep.  The east rim drive is closed due to snow.  We stayed in the Mazama Village at the camp ground.  The campground looked like a disaster area.  There were piles of snow that had not melted yet and pine trees that had fallen during the winter.  .  We left Crater Lake and drove through pine forests that took your breath away.  We pulled into Florence, Oregon and saw the Pacific Ocean.  We drove Hwy 101 up the coast to Waldport KOA.  This KOA is right on the Alsea Bay and the Pacific Ocean.  Tomorrow we will travel to Astoria, Oregon and then on to The Dalles, and Pendelton, Oregon.  Until the next time..........

On our way to Crater Lake

Today we leave Mt. Shasta and travel to Crater Lake.  It's a short day trip, but will stay in their primitive campground for the night.  We will take the afternoon to explore the area.

Until tomorrow.............

Reno, Nevada

Reno is a huge and sprawling city.  We are at the KOA in Verdi, NV.  The park is located in Boomtown which has a casino, restaurants, gas station and of all things a Cabela's store.  It was a bit warm here yesterday at 86 with nine percent humidity.  To say the least my sinuses are quite dry.  We are off today to Mt. Shasta, California on our way to Oregon.  We will stop at Crater Lake, Mt. Rainier,  the coast line of Oregon, some Lewis and Clark historical sites, The Dalles, Columbia river gorge, and Pendleton before heading into Washington state.   We don't seem to have very much traffic except around the big cities.  Gas and diesel are $5.20 a gallon.  We thought British Columbia was bad two years ago at $5.75 a gallon.