Gunalcheesh ax xooni (Thank You, My Friends)

Days 49 to 51 – July 14 - 16, 2015

North from the 38^th to the 64^th  parallel latitude … 51 days on the road, 6,400 miles … driving, hiking, sightseeing, sailing the inside passage ... learning about native Alaskan Tribes ... and experiencing life … and each other.     

     Wildlife is always miraculous. It’s not like you can call “here bear” or “here elk” and expect them to come on command. Each visit is a blessing.

 It’s said that expectation is just a set-up for disappointment. Did we find what we were looking for or did what we found surprise and amaze us? In any case, this trip was remarkable in that our experiences were unexpected and unusual … new and startling … and in some cases unbelievable. 

Did we see it all? … no! Alaska and northern Canada take years to experience. We did not go to the Arctic Circle or sail Glacier Bay. This is our 21^st blog for this trip and we shared only a portion of what we experienced. Some of it has no words except “I didn’t know that” and “Wow”. 

Did things go awry? … of course. A tire went bad and had to be replaced; the alignment is not good … but can’t find a place that can lift our Coyote; the ferry lost 4 ½ hours turning back to Juneau for a medical emergency (which made it a 30 hour trip ... glad we got a cabin); smoke from wildfires; rain (but mostly only when driving) ... and we missed connecting with people we would have liked to meet up with.

We’ve been focusing on small churches when we photograph them … this Usk Chapel is tiny … seats only 12 people. Found in British Columbia between Terrace and Jasper on Hwy 16.

 
This is our last blog for this trip … but we’re still on the road. We sailed from Juneau to Prince Rupert … arriving in Canada once again. 

Our plans are to drive east for about 2,000 miles to visit with our grandchildren in Minnesota. We are traveling on Highway 16 across the middle of Canada. After that we are going to Dan’s side of the family reunion in Kentucky. After that we might even go home to Colorado. Although we’ve found that home is wherever we are … with each other.

We’ve found phenomena tiny and big and alive and new in the northern county … and spectacular! AND ... All of you are a blessing for enjoying our blog. Thank you for allowing us to share our trip!

So as the Tlingit say, Gunalcheesh ax xooni!

Dan and Vicki Rector
Colorado
08 Roadtrek 210 Popular      

Saints and Devils

Days 46 to 48 – July 11 - 13, 2015

As mentioned in the last blog … we did not spend much time in the touristy parts of Juneau. We did go up the tram … bought a couple gifts … but headed out of that area soon.

There is a 41 mile road on the island going north called the Glacier Highway. A wonderful drive with many pullouts to discover unique and lovely places. 

     
     

Along this road there is a small chapel called St. Therese Shrine. Built in 1938 of natural stone, it is located on a tiny island 400 feet from the mainland shore. Accessed by a man-made causeway, it is a genuine discovery. And it is Sunday … and the Bishop is presiding. Dan and he visited and upon learning that Dan is Raiders fan, the bishop promised to pray for his conversion. The island also has other beautiful features … a truly lovely setting. Trust Vicki to find a labyrinth!

Hemlock Forest, Islands, Devils, Skunks and Waterfalls

We’ve partial to ranger talks and walks and have learned much about what we are encountering. 

The trees at the end of the Glacier Highway are hemlocks; the plants at the bottom edge of the picture are called Devil’s Club; you can see how thickly it grows … very spiny branches and nasty … produces painful rashes if touched; you can see why you cannot walk in this forest.





The large green plant huge ... 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide; called a skunk cabbage, it is very poisonous.




The gnarled tree is actually being traumatized by growths called Witch’s broomsticks … a cousin to mistletoe.

 

… and tiny islands everywhere ... and waterfalls … and fishing. Such a charming setting (Echo Cove) … makes us wish we were fishermen.

Passing to the Inside

Inside Passage

Days 44 & 45 – July 9 - 10, 2015

Now driving for 43 days does provide surprises around every corner and vistas never before seen as well as the opportunity to stop on a whim and a chance. However, for a change of pace we decided to take our Coyote on the Alaskan Marine Highway. Leaving Haines on the ferry we traveled to Juneau (to which there are no car roads at all) and stayed there for four days.

     Besides being the state capital of Alaska, Juneau is a popular visit for the monster cruise ships. So the port of Juneau can see up to eight cruise ships that are immense, enormous, colossal (ok, you get it … it makes our ferry look like a tugboat) that disgorge thousands of tourists every day into the city. The population is doubled and the residents are preoccupied with entertaining those tourists and visualize Honolulu or a small version of Vegas. So … we left the downtown to its business and ventured to other more verdant vistas and entertainment by the local fauna.

     
     The flowers in the picture are found in Glacier Gardens … a neat place created by a local gardener who capitalized on 400+ acres destroyed by an avalanche and rendered commercially useless. He rearranged the hillside with detention ponds and drainage and roads all intended to deter future avalanches and then planted daisies and begonias and thousands of other floral wonders. Including upside down dead trees planted with flowers … flower towers! A tour through these gardens is incredible. Our tour guide is a microbiology student from Nevada.

Ice Everywhere

Beyond Juneau in the mountains are thousands of acres of glaciers a icefield. The Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska and continues north through the border with British Columbia and is the fifth-largest ice field in the Western Hemisphere, extending through an area of 1,500 sq mi. in the Coast Range ranging 87 mi north to south and 47 mi east to west. The icefield is the source of many glaciers including the Mendenhall Glacier and the Taku Glacier. The ice field is home to over 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones.

      They pour out into the channels and inlets. OK … ‘pour’ may be a poor choice of words … they are receding which means they are melting and calving and filling the lakes and channels and rivers below them that eventually run into the ocean. A ranger says that by 2050 these glaciers will no longer be visible as they are now. 

These first two pictures are of glaciers taken from the ferry before we docked. The first picture is Taku Glacier; the second is Mendenhall Glacier.

The third picture is the Mendenhall Glacier up close. There is a visitor center there with all kinds of ranger talks and fascinating information. Trails lead out for closer looks of the glacier 
and to an adjacent water fall.

Camping

The best sites to overnight or stay a few days we have found are the state, federal (Forest Service, Nat’l Parks and campgrounds) or provincial parks. Inexpensive (1/2 price if you have a USA senior pass). They are cheap, safe and large. Some of them have sites so large you can’t see the next camper in any direction. For example, In Juneau at the Mendenhall Forest Service campground, we bet the sites were a minimum of ½ acre each or more, and were only $21 a night with full hookups. In Haines, the state campground, Chilkoot Lake, was at the end of a beautiful river road and the sites were on or near the lake… boondocking for $15.

Flowers and Ravens in Juneau roadsides. 

    

More about Juneau in the next blog……………..

Happy Anniversary in Alaska

Happy Anniversary

Days 41 to 43, July 6 - 8, 2015

We’ve decided to gift each other on our 53^rd Anniversary with a trip to Alaska. Easy … on July 6 we are in Canada … on July 7 we are in Alaska. The only way to

Haines from Anchorage is east to Canada and then back south to Alaska. Alaska has the most convoluted border lines and shape. Haines is our State Ferry port to Juneau. And Juneau is down in the long stretch of the state at the southeast in the Inside Passage.



But more than just a way to get from here to there we found the highway from Haines Junction to Haines (with a US customs gate halfway) is an Alaskan Scenic Byway, has Alaska Eagle Preserve stretch of highway AND an UNESCO World Heritage Site … the largest internationally protected landmass on earth (includes parts of Canada and Alaska and four national and provincial parks)

Glaciers on every mountain top, bears, lakes, wildflowers, eagles, historical buildings are found all along the Haines Highway. We stayed at two different lake campgrounds (Kathleen Lake provincial CG in Canada, Chilkoot Lake state CG in Alaska.)

Our favorite in Haines is the Alaska Bald Eagle Foundation Natural History Museum and Life Raptor Center. This center has many large rooms with the walls covered in well drawn murals … a natural background mural for the eagle room, a Tlingit history mural and awesome murals on all walls for the natural history museum filled with dozens of taxidermy animals native to the North Country. A must to see!

 The eagle is alive (mural in the background.) The Coyote is stuffed.

 

These falls and rapids are a short hike off the Haines Highway.

 Camped at two different lakes … Kathleen Lake in Canada and Chilkoot Lake in Haines, AK. This picture is Kathleen Lake. (Hi Katie).  

This is our steak and lake camp at Chilkoot Lake … see the lake through the trees.

And …. Finally, it seems the early priests were quite creative, using quanset huts to build their pioneer churches. The red one is in Beaver Creek, Yukon; and the white one is in Haines Junction.

4th of July in the 49th State

Days 38 – 41, July 2 - 5, 2015

The 4^th of July in Anchorage is also the occasion of Anchorage’s 100^th birthday! Lots of celebrations. But what struck us was their humor, beauty, friendly people and artistry. Anchorage celebrates the three compressed months of ‘spring/summer/fall’ with flowers everywhere, a great sense of humor and murals and landscaping splashes of color... and music.

 

Anchorage sense of humor

Music

This WP couple knows that the 4^th of July is never complete without a live Symphony Orchestra performance … and Anchorage came through … Thank you Anchorage Symphony Orchestra and conductor Randall Fleischer! (get a look at his face ...  he loves his work!) The expected patriotic tunes along with some music distinctively Alaskan … (Sorry no fireworks … fires still are burning in Alaska.)

 

A Salute to America’s Military

This sculpture salutes soldiers from all America's conflicts from the  revolutionary war through the civil war until today's efforts to protect our freedom and independence. This is found at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church

... and this is our favorite soldier, Specialist Medic Megan … she jumps out of airplanes while her puppy Athena protects her at home. We were so glad to be able to visit with her as we’ve known her since she was six years old.

Few Highways in Alaska

There are only 5 major highways in this vast state. Numbered 1 through 5. Our drive on the 5^th of July is an advance to the sea … east through Alaska to Canada then south back to Alaska to Haines ... 775 miles to catch a ferry to sail the Inside Passage and visit Juneau.  Along the way we popped in on the Matanuska Glacier. Glaciers are everywhere in Alaska.

Boondocking 

A word on boondocking … free! 
And because Alaska offers extensive vistas of gorgeous terrain and spring time flowers are everywhere, we always find wonderful places to stay … however, there are some places that are just, well, free.

This is our second pass through Tok. This Northern Energy Tesoro Gas station offers free water, free car wash, free dump station and free overnight parking (and they sell gas and propane) … perfect for a quick overnight stop on our trip to Haines. Coyote is licking his fingers in anticipation of barbecue chicken and grilled zucchini!

Wow … our best day ever!

Days 36 & 37 – June 30 & July 1, 2015

Our dilemma started at the junction that offers the choice between going to Seward or Homer.Seward had much to offer including possibly connecting with Wendell. Homer also offers plenty including an all day natural history tour (which we had reservations for) … both good choices … both tantalizing and beckoning to us.        So … we read the travel brochures and the Milepost and selected Homer. And unfortunately we did miss Bijou and his friends by 78 miles; we ended up with our best days ever!

     The center of this picture reveals (in the water) a land spit that sticks out into the bay about four miles ... Homer Spit. That is our goal.  We camped right on the water! The next pictures actually are the view from our Coyote at our campsite on the Spit. Also what Raffi sees from inside the RV.

   

The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies

The Center hires marine biology students from around the world to research and share the fascinating world of the marine coastal waters. It isn’t widely publicized, but we found a paragraph that mentioned it and called. They have all-day (and part-day) natural history tours leaving from Homer Spit. So we signed on for the all-day. 
      
At 7:30 a.m. we sailed from Cook Inlet to Paradise Bay. The tide was at its lowest – negative 2.5 – so he ran into the beach of the island, literally, where the Coastal Studies Center is and we jumped off from the bow onto the wet sand. The dock was unavailable at that time of day. There we met Ashley, a marine biologist from Kentucky. We had Ashley to ourselves as our special guide for the entire day.

     As the tide was unusually low we spent the next few hours exploring an area usually 20 feet underwater. YES, the tide drops and rises 20 to 28 feet every day. The picture with Dan and Ashley by Otter Rock is low tide at 9:00 a.m. … the next two 
pictures with Otter Rock sticking out of the water is the SAME SPOT at high tide at 3:00 p.m. (view from the island with Otter Rock in distance and then a view from the boat on the other side as we left the island.)

  

Our New Marine Friends

After lunch we hiked into the island … a rain forest experience in Alaska… to a small lake.

All in all … in all … it was a marvelous day! Ashley and her friend Tahia (from Australia) were wellsprings of information and education and hospitality that never ended!