Talkeetna, Alaska June 24th & 25th 2010

Tucked away in the trees! Summer Snow!! This fluffy cotton was everywhere!!

We had closer pictures of "the mountain" but I like the contrast of water, clouds, trees and white mountain... Mt McKinley Our "wide" spot next to the road. Not bad, huh?

Our visitors. Mama and baby! What looks like steam from the baby breathing is unfortunately a reflection in the glass. We had to take this through the window.

Safe and sound after our evening walk. We didn't get eaten by bears. hehehehe

When we left Denali our destination was Montana Creek State Campground just off the highway. When we arrived there it was .......... well............. not to our liking. So we made the decision to back track a little and drive 14 miles out of the way to Talkeetna. We didn't know much about it except what we had heard in passing conversations, which wasn't much. Our little detour turned out to be a great one. When we arrived in Talkeetna there were 2 campgrounds to choose from. The first was very rustic and "camp' like with a river that ran by it, lots of trees, that shed what we have come to affectionately call summer snow, (a cotton like material that is falling to the ground giving the look of snow not only on the ground but also in the air) and no hookups. The second was a full service campground with all the amenities, power, water, and wifi. We chose the rustic over the amenities (plus is was $20 instead of $40). There are 2 main streets in town, the Talkeetna Spur Road that leads from the main highway 14 miles to the center of town. The second turns left from the end of the spur road and is about 3/10's of a mile long. At the intersection where these two roads meet is the city park. This park looks like something out of Little House On The Prairie. In the center of the park stands a gazebo surrounded by well worn grass that you can just picture family picnics and sack races. Across the street from the park is a General Store that sells everything from nuts to bolts, and has been doing so forever. We took a short walk down the street and found ourselves feeling like we just stepped off a bus back in the 60's. There were couples sharing an ice cream Sunday and store keepers greeting any visitor who is willing to take a look around their store. We stopped at the Denali Brewery and immediately felt comfortable. The guy that helped us had dreads and was very "mellow". He sure knew a lot about beer. After sampling several types of beer including one made of agave (yes, I liked that one!!~) we decided on one called Purple Haze. It seemed to fit the feeling of the town and it was very tasty.. We bought a "growler" of Purple Haze, a tie dyed t-shirt and were on our way. After dinner we decided to walk back into town (the walk took us all of 10 minutes) and head to the end of the road. Here the road ends at a short walk to the edge of where 3 rivers meet, the Talkeetna, the Susitna and the Chulitna Rivers. From the bank of the river, on a clear day you can see Mt. McKinley. We were fortunate enough on this particular day to be able to see "The Mountain" (that is what the locals call it). Because it is not visible very often it is a big deal when it is. We enjoyed the evening watching the clouds move over "The Mountain" then disappear, dogs playing on the combination of rock and sand beach, gulls bathing in the shallows of the river and swallows zipping to and fro plucking bugs out of the air. Hopefully they were all mosquitoes. We slowly walked back to our camp, this time it took us 20 minutes because we were at the river's edge, stopping at a local bakery to pick up some cranberry/nut bread that was freshly baked that afternoon. Chip has gotten to be quite the pastry eater! ;-) The night we spent in the "campground" it rained and rained. Because we were tucked into the trees what we heard was not so much the rain itself but the water falling off the trees. At one point I woke up thinking we had birds running all over the roof of the motorhome. When I realized it was the water dripping out of the trees I put in my earplugs and went back to sleep. Rather than go through that again the second night we moved to a "wide" spot in the road about 1.5 miles from town. Here in Alaska you can stay overnight in any "wide" spot on the road if it does not say you can't. We looked around and there were no signs indicating we could not stay so we stayed! I am so glad we did. Not only was it free but not long after we got settled a Mama Moose and her baby walked right by our motorhome. That was so cool! While we were in town we stopped in a shop where the shop owner, a woman, was very friendly and willing to give us tips on some of the local places to go. One was a hiking trail not far from where we were parked. At that point we got on the subject of bears and heard some interesting stories. (Not a good thing when you are planning a hike in bear country). We has a few laughs, thanked her for the information and were on our way out when she turned and told Chip "If you come back from the hike single, come back in tomorrow", we all laughed and she said "I have to try"!!! We did go on the hike and luckily neither of us came back single. Actually we didn't even see anything except a few people jogging. That evening another lone female moose also walked right by us eating as she went by. We watched her for quite a while and were amazed when she got to the edge of the road, as cars honked and stopped she wasn't the least bit fazed. I have read that Moose have no traffic sense so you have to be very careful when you see them. We were sure glad we moved out to this "wide" spot in the highway because we would not have had the experience of seeing the Moose. So far this is probably one of, if not OUR favorite stop so far and it was a detour!!!

Denali National Park 6-22-2010

Wolf on the hunt.

Mama Grizzly looking back for her babies.

The little one on the right was always doing it's own thing. We could never get a pictures with all 3 close together.

Dall Sheep. Don't you think they look like a Mountain Goat?

This little guy is the squirrel that hibernates and his body temp. falls below freezing.

Denali National Park was one of those "you just have to do it" stops. As with all National Parks it was very "touristy" with lots of people from around the world. I think all National Parks in the US use a bus systems to transport humans into the interior of the parks in order to keep the Eco system as natural as possible. This park was no different. We signed up for the 8 hour bus tour. There were 10 and 12 hour tours but we thought 8 hours would be our limit. We didn't know what to expect. Would the bus be jammed stem to stern and everyone would have to clamber over each other when and if we spotted one of the many animals we were all there hoping to see? Each bus held about 60 passengers. Because we were staying in a campground 12 miles inside the park the bus would pick us up 30 minutes after everyone else. We wondered if the bus would be fill up at the visitors center. We were pleasantly surprised when the bus showed up with more than 2 empty seats. Upon entering the bus I told everyone "It was nice of you to join us today", no response, except from the bus driver, he chuckled a little. So. I just smiled and we got on took our seats. Hehehehe The first 45 minutes were uneventful. We did not see anything except human animals working along the roadway. There were actually some young people walking along the road concentrating on the shoulder of the road. The driver said it was their job to look for unnatural plants that had been brought in to the park as seeds in the wheels of vehicles. How would you like that job? At our first stop, made so we could get out stretch our legs and use the outhouses, we saw our first animal. It was a Dall Sheep. These look like a mountain goat but are snow white. That is the only reason it was spotted. And Chip was the one who did. It was really far away on a mountain side but stood out because of its white coat against the dark chocolate brown of the mountain. Yay, we are off to a nice start. Did you know the Dall Sheep is the reason Denali became a national park? It would be another 30 minutes or so before we would see our first Caribou. Did you know a Caribou and a Reindeer are the same animal? These were spotted on patches of snow way up on the hillside. I am sure the people on the bus without binoculars were kicking themselves for not buying some or bringing theirs. As we continued there were several times, as you can imagine where buses have to pass each other going opposite directions. I was praying that we would not be in that situation on one stretch of the road where it appeared there was just enough room for one bus, no guard rail and a 1500 foot drop off. Before the day was over we were blessed with the sightings of 6 Grizzly bears (1 lone male sleeping in the grass, a Mama with 1 teenage cub, a Mama with 2 spring cubs), 3 wolves (we actually saw one pounce on some small animal, probably a rodent and eat it), a magpie (that was following the wolf for scraps), a couple of immature bald eagles, snowshoe rabbits and a couple harrier hawks. Oh and a little squirrel that we learned hibernates every winter and its body temperature falls below freezing. How is that possible? Nature, isn't it a wonderful and amazing thing! For all our fretting over sitting on a bus for 8 hours, the day went by too fast and it was amazing.

Before leaving Fairbanks we were tourist's. 6-21-2010

This was our site in Fairbanks.. You would never know there was a main road right through the trees behind us!

Can you believe this house? I would take it!

On second thought I would rather have this one..

I was able to actually touch a Grizzly Bear....... pelt! :-D

The Riverboat Discovery

Before leaving Fairbanks and heading to Denali National Park we were tourist's and bought into one of the "don't miss" attractions. We went on a 3.5 hr stern wheel paddle boat, The Riverboat Discovery. We traveled approximately 4 miles one way on the Chena (Ch-ee-na) River before we turned around. The river moved pretty fast but as far as looks, because it is glacier fed it has the look of chocolate milk. Don't get me wrong you all know I love chocolate but not in a river. I am partial to the crystal clear waters of the rivers that are fed by snow melt. Anyway, back to the boat ride. The most surprising aspect of this trip for me was the size of the houses that lined the river. They were huge! Some were beautiful log style homes, the kind you imagine in Alaska while others looked like they could have been anywhere. Along the way little kids kept coming out to the edge of their yards and waving like crazy. One little girl kept yelling HI...... HI.....HI This boat makes this trip twice a day you would think the residence would get to the point where they didn't even pay attention to it any longer. I guess not! Our first of 2 stops was at the home of a famous dog musher, Susan Butcher. Susan Butcher won several Iditarod's before died of leukemia somewhere around age 45. Opening doors for other women in this field where it was dominated mostly by men. We could not get off the boat here but were able to see the dogs and listen to the husband of Susan Butcher. He still raises and trains the dogs, in fact he had a team hitched up to a quad. He had removed the engine so the dogs could pull it during the summer months when there was no snow to run on. As soon as the dogs realized it was time to run they started going crazy, jumping, pulling against the harness and yipping. You could tell they love it. He took them for a run and it was amazing how fast they could pull that quad. When they got back to where they started the dogs were unhitched and headed straight for the river where they frolicked and drank. I am going to have to watch the Iditarod next time it is being televised. Did you know they don't actually use husky's, I didn't! After we got to see the dogs run and they teased us with some cute little puppies, that we could not touch (that was not fair, :-D ), we were on our way to our second and last stop, an old Chena Indian Village. Here we were able to disembark for a guided tour. There were 3 Alaskan Natives kids there to share their culture with us. The 3 young adults were all college bound students that had actually been raised in the type of buildings we were seeing. (At least that's what they told us). We were able to see some of the traditional clothes that were made by the early Indians and touch the pelts of the animals used for those clothes. After the tour we had 20 minutes to walk around and experience the village at our own pace or go behind the village where Mr. Butcher's daughter had some of their dogs. That is where we headed. The dogs would meander by the fence stopping at an outstretched hand. It is no surprise that was the best part of the trip for me, other than seeing the puppies....

Midnight Sun in Fairbanks

This is the start of the Midnight Sun Run race with over 4000 runners. AWESOME!!! We are in there somewhere!!!

This is before the race, you can tell by the smiles..

We created yet another first for our Alaskan Adventure. Saturday night, June 19, 2010 we participated in the 28th Annual Midnight Sun Run in Fairbanks. The race is a 10K (6.2 miles) race that takes place every year for the summer solstice (the longest day of the year). The race left the University of Alaska at 10pm and wound its way through the streets of Fairbanks ending at a Pioneer Park, a local amusement park. We had not trained for this race so we were unsure how we would do. As it turned out we did very well. Chip finished in 1hr 3 min and I did it in 1hr 6 min. We felt good about that time since the last 10K either of us had run was probably 20 years ago. The race itself was amazing. When we started the race along with about 4000 other runners and walkers it was like you would imagine the start of the Boston Marathon to be. Everyone was packed onto a 2 lane road supposedly with the fastest runners in the front of the pack and the walkers in the rear. We were someplace in the first middle of the pack. When the gun went off the wave of people moving forward was like being in slow motion. You start out walking, then pick it up to a slow jog, then get in stride for what will prove to be your cadence for race (hopefully). We had just stared the slow jogging after weaving around walkers who should have been towards the back when we looked down the street and for probably 1/10 of a mile or further, there was a sea of bobbing runners. Some in costume, most not! The energy was amazing! Before the race started our plan was to run a little then walk a little, then start over again, hoping to finish within 1 hr 30 minutes. We have not been doing much running at all. Chip has been doing a walk/jog type work out once or twice a week but not for any distance, just time. But we both felt so good (I'm sure it was all the excitement of the event) that we ran the first mile in a little over 10 minutes and could not believe the fist mile was behind us. We walked for a minute and started running again trying to keep this pace throughout the race. It really helped that all along the route the locals were set up on the sides of the roads cheering the participants on. At one corner there was a band playing music, in front of quite a few houses there were people spraying the crowds with water (the night was pretty warm), there were little kids with outstretched hands giving high 5's to anyone paying enough attention to reciprocate, there was a man playing what looked like turntables and a group of guys trying to temp runners to stop and have beer. I wish I could have paid more attention to the crowds but I was trying to stay focused on putting one foot in front of the other. At the 4 mile point I had to start walking for longer periods of time, but Chip was able to keep going. Even though he didn't want to leave me, I insisted. So he continued at his pace and I went at my own pace from that point on. When I crossed the finish line at a little over an hour I was so happy. It felt so good and hurt so bad!! We could not believe we actually did it, and had a better time than we could have imagined! AND the most amazing part of this story is that we could actaully walk the next day without much discomfort. Maybe we didn't push hard enough.......

Haines, Alaska

This majestic eagle was just sitting in this tree off to the side of the road when we drove by. It sat there the entire time we were taking pictures. Not that it would have been bad if it had taken flight because we might have gotten a full body shot. But this is perfect!!!

This should have been the first picture in the line but I haven't gotten that down yet... :-D We arrived in Alaska on the 13th. It took us about 2 weeks to get through British Columbia and the Yukon and that was pretty much stopping every night at a different spot. We did star in a couple places 2 nights.

This picture was taken just before we crossed the border from the Yukon to the US. I took it because if you blow it up (double click on it) you can hopefully see the exposed area is green. I thought the contrast was pretty!

This picture was taken at the summit of the Haines Highway. I was wondering if the snow in the middle of the valley (close to the top) was hiding a glacier. Maybe, maybe not but can't you just imagine being the first to walk/ski/snowboard on that virgin snow. WOW.......

We have had an amazing time in Haines these past 2 1/2 days watching all the Eagles. This morning we actually saw 7 of them flying in circles the way you see the buzzards do in the US. It was awe inspiring. Once in a great while we see one in the US someplace but NEVER do you see a group like that.

This is a sleepy little town where everyone knows everyone. There are quite a few young people here and it is reminiscent of the hippie days. They dress like the 60's and as you drive down the road towards the State Park 10 miles outside of town you can see old buses that are now being used as homes. (I bet that is not comfortable in the dead of winter, brr) We found the locals watering hole. Literally, water! There are 2 pipes coming out of the mountain with water running from them and that is where the locals get their drinking water. Yummy, could the water be any purer? Last night after we filled up one of our jugs and were driving back towards town and picked up a young girl (25 ish) that was hitchhiking. She reminded me of the girls you see in the Woodstock pictures. She had her hair in pigtails under a stocking hat, wore a down vest over a long sleeved thermal type top, with a hippie style skirt over a type of sweatpants. She said she had been walking about 4 miles when we picked her up. She was born in Haines and moved to the bay area for a while to go to college in Oakland or SF I am not sure which but she lived in Oakland. Can you imagine going from Haines, AK to Oakland, Ca. WHAT a culture shock!!

The town is only about 8 blocks square and if you don't get what you want in town by 6 you don't get it until the next day. By 7 this little town is down for the night. We really like it here and would like to come back some day and spend more time!

Today is a moving day and we are going to be without cell or wifi so until next time.......... I hope everyone reading this has enjoyed our adventures so far. I am hoping that they continue to get even better... Take Care, God Bless you all. Love always, Chip and Karen

Pictures from Whitehorse, YT and Whitewater Rafting

This is what the mountains around us looked like the morning we were going rafting. Beautiful!


Dont we look cute in our shrink wrapped suites? I just noticed with the knee decorations we look like we belong in Star Wars. We didn't get many photos because our camera is not water proof and we were busy the entire time we were on the water. This was when we stopped.





Pretty Flowers seen on the River Trail in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Bald Eagle that flew right over our heads in Whitehorse, YT

Whitewater Rafting in the Yukon

On Saturday, June 12th we went on a Whitewater Rafting trip down the Tatshenshini River, or TAT as the guides refer to it.

Let me back up just a little................

We made reservations to go on this Whitewater Rafting trip on Thursday, June 10th while we were in Whitehorse, which is the capitol city of the Yukon Territory. The day was sunny, warm (about 70) and the sky was that deep blue northern sky with huge white puffy clouds. We were having an awesome day, and had walked for over an hour on the river trail marveling at the beauty of the swiftly running Yukon River and wondering how the salmon can actually swim upstream against that current. There were beautiful wild flowers blooming all along the trail in many different colors, a tangerine orange, Easter egg purple and of course bright yellow (my favorite) just to name a few. Groups of women were walking on their lunch hour just chatting away as they did, Mom's were walking with other Mom's pushing children in strollers, pointing out all the different sights they didn't want the children to miss and butterflies and honey bees were flitting from flower to flower. The day was stunning. Oh, did I mention the birds? There were gulls of different varieties and a Bald Eagle. When we got in our car to head into town to have lunch I noticed a huge flock of gulls flying erratically in circles. As I continued to watch I noticed the Eagle in the center of the flock. It appeared the Eagle was where it should not have been and the gulls were letting it know. Because we had been driving Chip pulled over so we could watch and see what transpired. As luck would have it the Eagle flew right over our heads. I got some awesome pictures this time!! So you can imagine the euphoria we were feeling from such a beautiful day in its entirety. We had not had such a beautiful day since we were in Redding, Ca. in May.
We made the reservations and then started the preparation. Because the river is a glacier fed, the trip required we wear wet suits. The instructions for the trip were to wear something under the wet suit that was NOT in any way cotton. So we went shopping, looking for some under garments (thermal) that were not cotton and wool socks. We found what we were looking and now were ready for our trip.
The put in site was about 160 miles from where we were in Whitehorse and a little off the path we had planned to take on our way to Alaska but that didn't matter we just changed our plans. I love this being retired!!! We left Whitehorse on Friday and drove 130 miles to Dezadeash Lake Government Campground. Dezadeash (dez-dee-ash) translated from Indian means "windy lake". That was no exaggeration! When we went to bed Friday night it was windy, cold, cloudy, raining and when we woke up on Saturday morning my prayers had been answered and the sun was shining. But the mountain tops all around us had gotten a dusting of snow over night. By the time we left to go to the put in site it was cloudy, cold and drizzly again. Our first thought was "will they still go out in this weather?" and "DO WE WANT TO GO OUT IN THIS WEATHER?"....... Yes, was the answer to both questions! We got to the put in site right on time and were given wet suits to put on. We should have realized at that point this was going to be a day of WORK!!!!! Putting the wet suit on was in itself exhausting. Once I got mine on I felt like I had been put in one of those food savers that sucks all the air out of a plastic bag. I not only could barely move but, breath.... hardly! AND there was one girl and Chip that were both having trouble getting into their suits and no one was around to help. So I did the running back and forth from the wet suit bus to the changing huts giving them different sizes hoping one would fit. I finally got the right size for the girl I was helping and Chip settled on one that was not perfect but do-able, even though he now is a soprano! We were the first ones to the put in site and now the last ones to the safety talk (we missed it). Oh well! We were ready to get wet! Well our rafts anyway! Chip and I were on the raft that carried the lunch because (I will be honest) I didn't want to be in one of the rafts that could and probably would get flipped over or someone thrown out. THAT WATER IS COLD, wet suit or not !!! I felt bad for Chip that maybe I was holding him back but he didn't mind. In fact the decision turned out to be the best one. We did everything the other rafts did (rapids wise) but didn't go in the water and we were not having to fight for space to paddle or try to keep rhythm with someone who had none. We were in control of our raft. The rapids were rated between 2 and 4 but the river was flowing very swiftly the entire way. At one point we were stuck on a rock but as it turned out it was a great vantage point to watch the other 2 rafts do one of the tricks I had seen pictures of and didn't want to do. The trick was where the paddlers go full speed ahead and ram an exposed rock causing the raft to shoot straight up in the air and become horizontal with the paddlers hanging on to keep from going in. Sounds fun but not in 40 degree water. Both rafts did the "trick" but not to the extent where anyone fell out. The big dunking came about 40 minutes before we were to take out. One of the rafts with 6 French speaking 30 something's and Jim, a 65 year old lawyer from Denver, Colo. bumped a rock that we found out after, has a reputation for bumping passengers out into the water. Well, this time everyone in the raft went swimming including the guide. The 30 something's loved it but Jim was scared half to death. By the time he actually made it to shore he was exhausted. I am sure part of the exhaustion was caused by his panicking while in the water. It was his very first whitewater rafting trip and according to him, will be his last. We were asked if one of us would be willing to change places with him so he could catch his breath and get his pulse back down to normal. Chip said he would change. By this time the trip was within 20 minutes of being over so the ride for Chip was no different than what we had been through already. As excited as we were to get on the water by now we were ready to get off and get out of the vacuum packaging we had been in for 5 hours and into some warm comfortable clothes. We didn't see any wildlife on the trip like the brochure says is common. But we did see was a porcupine from the bus on our way back to where our cars were parked. That was pretty interesting, I have never seen a porcupine before. What an awesome day!!!

Muncho Lake and Lair River Hotsprings - Pictures

Doesn't the sky look bluer????

Cairn ---Place a rock for good luck after wading through H O T water. Maybe they meant good luck doing it! hahahaha

Laird River Hotsprings (Alpha Pool)

Muncho Lake --- OMGoodness isn't this BEAUTIFUL

Highway 97 North - Life is rough having to look at this while driving!

AAAAh..... Muncho Lake For those of you who are familiar with Lake Powell don't you get than *SIGH* in your heart?

A perfect day!

In the last 6 days we have driven 1116 miles. We have seen Black Bears, a Grizzly Bear, Moose, Eagles, Bison, Wild Horses, a Deer, Coyote, a Red Fox. And that was all before we left British Columbia and started our trek through the Yukon Territory. AND to think once we get to Alaska it should be even better! Since we have been in the Yukon the only thing we have seen is an Osprey. I have to admit I am very surprised since everything I have read says the Yukon has more Moose than people and a lot of Caribou. We will be in the Yukon another couple days so I am holding out hope that we see some kind of wildlife.
If you were to look at a map of British Columbia and the Yukon.. We started this leg of our journey in Fort Nelson, British Columbia and are currently in the capitol of the Yukon Territory, White Horse. Population 33,000. By far the largest city we have seen since leaving Washington on the 1st.
Of the last 6 days, Monday was absolutely the highlight. The drive took us through the Northern Rockies'. With the snow capped mountains of the Rockies", the swiftly flowing rivers (some crystal clear, some not so much) and the multi colored forest trees we were in awe. That was until we reached Muncho Lake. OH MY GOSH........ This lake was so pretty it took our breath away. Depending on how we looked, it was either green (reflecting the tree's colors) or blue (reflecting the sky). At the shore, the water was so clear you could count the rocks on the bottom. At one of the turnouts we could see a snow capped mountain against blue sky that was a perfect reflection in the water. It was like looking at a picture you didn't know if it were upside down or right side up. Like Lake Powell early in the morning or down a canyon that has not been explored yet. Makes me smile just thinking about it. We spent about an hour driving along the shoreline, stopping to take pictures and take in the beauty. I don't know if it is because the sky here is cleaner than in the states but the blue is bluer. The contrast between the white billowy clouds and the sky is so remarkable. I catch myself just staring at it! Our stop for the night was a Laird River Hotsprings. Yes, there is a natural hot spring there. We barely got into our campsite and were on our way to go soak. The walk to the spring was on a boardwalk about .3 of a mile long that was built over a marsh. I understand that at times there are Moose out there. Not this time, but no matter we were there for the hot water. AND it was H O T...... There were 3 pools. The Beta pool was 3 meters deep (a little over 9 ft) and had a muddy bottom with no way to get out of the water except on log and the stairs used to get in. We didn't go in that pool so I don't know how hot it was. The Alpha pool was only 4 ft. deep with a rocky bottom and had 2 benches in the center so you could sit and soak in the relaxing warmth of the water. The last pool was a wading pool for kids. It was warm but not hot at all and about 3 ft. deep. Something for every member of the family! We went in the Alpha pool and loved it! At the end of the pool where the water comes right out of the ground it was the hottest. There was a cairn (pile of rocks) that we were told if you were able to stand the heat of the water long enough to place a rock on the pile you would have good luck. Of course we had to do it! That water was so HOT...... We did kind of cheat though, a lady that did it before us gave us a hint to swirl the water in front of us while moving toward the end and it helps make it feel cooler. It helped but it was still very hot. With the beauty of Muncho Lake and the soothing hot water of the springs, that day was incredible!

Pictures --- 6/3 Whisker Point Provincial Park

View of our campsite from the water level

View from our campsite.

Sunset from Whiskers Point Provincial Park over Mcleod Lake.

June 3, 2010 First Bear Sighting!

We got a late start this morning because we went down to the River Trail and did a walk/jog. I felt pretty good for the 1st 20 minutes then I went to the dogs. It was after 11 before we were driving through Quesnel on our way to..... here! Because of the last experience we had with the Provincial Park we decided to stop on the road into the park and walk in to check it out. This park is so nice and wide open so there was no problem getting in. We picked a site right on the lake with an open view of the water. There are several sites on the water but most of them have somewhat of a limited lake view. The site we took is a double site but the park is so empty we are hoping it will not matter. As soon as we were settled in we took our camera's and binoculars and off we went to hopefully see something! Since we have been in Canada we have seen 1 fox. We have not seen any bears, deer, moose or eagles. I am sure we will see a lot of those when we get to Alaska but we thought we would see them here in Canada also. On our walk we didn't see anything but could hear birds. We actually caught glimpses of them as they flit from tree to tree but they never sat still long enough for us to get a good look at them. Those little birds are like that, very elusive! We went for a drive after dinner to see if the "evening" held any more hope of seeing some wild life. We came upon another Provincial Park so we turned in to check it out and low and behold about 200 yards into the park a black bear ran across the road in front of our car. We were both so excited. I had the camera sitting on my lap so it wasn't very hard to get it and take a picture. As I would find out later it was blurry! I am sure because I was so excited and could not get the darn thing to focus. It didn't take long for the bear to be in the trees and out of sight. That was ok at least we got to see a bear, finally!!! As we continued along the route we were taking, to check out this park, a lady came up to our car to let us know there was a Mama bear and her cubs in the park. We told her we had seen the cub but didn't see the Mama. We headed back to our camp so excited to finally have seen SOMETHING and it was a bear! I can remember going to Yellowstone with Josh and Skye and all I wanted to see was a bear, and we never did. Well, I think we did see one but it was a dot on the horizon. When we got back we went out to the shore of the lake to get our first BC sunset. This is the first sunset we have actually see in weeks. We kind of saw one in Bellingham, across the campground, over the trees and just a reflection in the clouds, but I am not sure you could call that a sunset. This one was spectacular.

June 2 - Pictures

Top Left: Quesnel Character

Top Right: BC Desert

Center: River Trail with Ped. Bridge

Lower Left: Goose Chasing Fox

Still don't have the hang of this picture placement. I WILL get better!

June 2 - Trans-Canada Highway 1 & BC Highway 97 North

Well, the trains didn't keep us awake. That was great!
When we went to bed last night at 10pm it was still a light outside, like the twilight of evening, so when I woke up at 3am and it was SO dark that I could not see my hand in front of my face, in my sleepy state I thought I was blind. That was scary!!!! (but funny now that I think about it) I reached over and pushed the button on the clock and was relieved to see the time light up. :-D
Just as we thought, the getting out of our little piece of BC paradise was harder than it was getting in. Chip backed out of the site perfectly. The problem came when we got to the end of the road where we had to turn around that is when it got tricky. Chip made an initial try but was a little short and was going to hit the boulders that were in the middle of the loop. So he backed up to where he started and this time pulled forward as far as possible, then cut the wheel. He had to make one small adjustment but we were on our way without any scratches or dents. WHEW!!! That is the one thing we will have to be more careful to check when we get to the next Provincial Park. We actually did check that but Chip thought it would be fine and as it turned out it was!
The next little "big" town listed in the Milepost (the reference book for driving to Alaska) was Spences Bridge. The Milepost mentions that Bighorn Sheep frequent the area. So, as we drove through we kept our eyes open but never did see any sheep. Darn! This part of the drive is not a pretty as the drive yesterday. But just like with all "deserts" it has its own beauty. Unfortunately the bark beetle has taken their toll here also and there is evidence everywhere you look. From a distance the dead or dying trees have a red hue which mixed in the green healthy trees is pretty but as you get close you can see the devastation. We made one stop today at Cariboo Wood Shop. According to the write up in the Milepost this is a business not to be missed. We did stop and there were lots of "touristy trinkets" but very little woodworks. If we have learned anything over the last 36 hrs it is that the Milepost is an awesome reference book but the writer also has to sell these books and pay for the printing. We have found some things in it have been embellished. Most of the stops we have made have been quite a bit smaller or less dramatic than what we read about in the Milepost! It wasn't until after we stopped at the Cariboo Wood Shop that I noticed in tiny little print under the section for the stop that it says "advertisement". I will now pay more attention to those little notes. We decided to stay at Roberts Roost RV Park because a couple at the Bellingham RV Park happy hour recommended it. It is a nice park. On our way into town to walk along the river trail we did get to see a fox. The Fox was approaching a Canadian Goose, but the goose turned and went right after the it. The fox eventually just turned and ran away. We did get a couple pictures but we were too far away to really see it. We continued towards the river trail for our after dinner stroll. On our way there we took a slight little detour. There are fire hydrants around town that have been painted to look like different characters that have had some significance to the area. I am not sure what the significance is or who they were but they were cute.Im sure if we had gone to the visitors center in town we would have found out. As we walked across the pedestrian bridge it started to sprinkle. The sky was so dark and the clouds looked more like billows of smoke rather than clouds. After 20 minutes of walkig we left to go back to the motorhome and walk around the campground because of the impending rain but by the time we got there it was really pouring so we didn't get to go back out. Throughout the evening there was thunder, lightning, wind and pouring down rain! All that was missing was a fireplace.

Our first day in British Columbia

We crossed the Canadian Border at 10:30am. It was not as difficult as we thought it could have been. The border agent looked at our passports, asked some generic questions (where are you going, how long are you staying, what do you do for work, etc.) then we were on our way. I was surprised that the opening we had to drive through was such a tight fit. I was holding my breath! We were finally on our way! The weather was on the verge of stormy but held for an hour or so before it started raining and then once it did start it didn't last very long. It didn't matter what the weather was because the scenery was so pretty. On our drive we saw several waterfalls but most we could not stop to get pictures of. I am sure I did see a Bald Eagle next to a pond but it was far enough away and Chip didn't see it so we are not counting that as a sighting. There was another almost sighting of possibly a fox but I didn't see it and Chip didn't see it well enough so we are not counting that either. The majority of our drive today was alongside the Fraser River. I kept expecting to see salmon jumping through the white water but never did. We did stop at a place called Hell's Gate. There you could ride a Airtram 500ft down and across the river to where there was a Museum, Cafe, Gift Shop and walking bridge that you were able to walk out on over the raging river. It is amazing to think that salmon can actually swim upstream in that swift water. It was worth the $19 each for the Airtram. We chose to stay in a Provincial Park. That is Canada's State Parks. They are a lot smaller than the state parks we are used to but then we learned today that everything is smaller than we expect. The park, Gold Pan Provincial Park is right on the Fraser River just to the south of Spences Bridge, in fact all the sites backed up to the water. We were lucky that a couple men were in one of the last sites we could fit in, but were not spending the night. They were just having a picnic. So when they left we pulled in (literally). It may be a little tricky to get out but for now we are enjoying the view of the river, the railway with 3 tunnels and plenty of trains. I hope they don't bother us tonight when we are sleeping. Because we are getting further and further north the days are getting longer and longer. It is now 8:45pm and it is still light outside. The sun has set but the sky is bright. This area is considered the desert of BC and it is warmer outside than it has been for a while. Probably since we were in Indio in April. It was a perfect day to start our trip through uncharted territory!