Valdez, Alaska, Some More

Saturday and Sunday in Valdez, our last two days, turned out to be pretty busy for us. Saturday was Pink Salmon Festival Day in Valdez. They had an all day series of events going on at the Civic Center. The weather was not great, although it was not an entire wash out. They had several different things going on for the kids. I think it is hard to keep kids occupied during the summer here. They had fish throwing games and fish carrying games, and fish printing (putting paint on a fish and then putting paper over it to transfer the colors). They had a cook off event that we went up to check out and got some samples after the judging was done. Then we went inside the Civic Center to check out the auto show. Ken made a joke about seeing “all 3 cars” and then when we got inside, that is exactly what we saw. The person watching over them said the other eleven cars did not show because of the rain.

Then they had a free dinner featuring pink salmon. This is the third free meal we have gotten in Alaska, the second in Valdez. Apparently these things are sponsored y the city due to the large amount of money that comes into the city from the pipeline. After the dinner, they had free entertainment. A comedian who did a lot of physical humor, geared towards the kids in the audience put on his show in the Civic Center Theater.

After all the free entertainment, we headed back to the hatchery, hoping for some bear viewing. However, no such luck. We hung around for about an hour but there was nothing going on. So we headed back to the RVs for the night.

On Sunday, the commercial fishing was opened up in the Port of Valdez. Also, the sun came out for the second time since we got here more than a week ago. Most of the fishing was going on near the hatchery, so we headed over there yet again. This time, rather than photographing eagles or bears fishing, we were going to watch the professionals. The fishing they do here is called “purse seine” fishing, where they put down a net that is pulled around in a circle, and then is closed at the bottom before it is pulled in. Our goal was to be able to see fish in the net as it is pulled onto the fishing boat. It seemed most of the time, the boat would swing around so the net was on the far side just when they were about to pull it up. We did get some good pictures though, and it was well worth the time we spent watching. It was a great finish to our week plus in Valdez, Alaska.

 

Valdez, Alaska

We pulled into Valdez, AK, on the last day of the first half of 2012. Sadly, the weather was not so good then, and was not predicted to get much better for a while. The mountains rise sharply up out of the water all around the Port of Valdez, but they are difficult to see with the clouds hanging so low over them. We were going to make the best of it though and settled in for 5 nights, staying just through the 4th of July. However, we found out later that the pink salmon were due to start running up the inlet to the hatchery on the other side of the bay. Currently, the hatchery is using local fisherman to do “cost recovery” fishing, and are monitoring the fish being caught coming into the bay. Once they have caught enough to recover their cost of running the hatchery, they will open the bay up to commercial fishing.

Our first night in, we got tips on things to see and do around the area. At 6:00 PM the sports fisher boats usually come in with their catches and bring them up to the cleaning stations on the dock. We went down there and the very first boat we saw come in had a lot of big Halibuts and Rockfish. At least four of the biggest were over 100 pounds each. We watched them cut four big filets off each of them and put them into coolers. They also would cut the cheeks off the halibuts. Ellyn said she had seen halibut cheeks on the menus for inflated prices. They must be a delicacy.

The second full day in Valdez, we took a day-long wildlife and glacier cruise. The cruise left from the docks within walking distance of our RV park at 10:00 AM. We immediately got a close up look at a sea otter “raft” right in the harbor as soon as we got outside the sea wall. From there we went out of the harbor and stopped for a while to watch a fishing vessel. It was doing purse-seine fishing for salmon for the hatchery as I described before. We sailed into the inlet leading to the Columbia Glacier, but were unable to get very close because of many ice flows coming off of the glacier. Next we cruised past Glacier Island and they served us a nice lunch. After viewing sea lions and our first view of a whale tail, we reached the Meares Glacier. This one we were able to get a lot closer to. We saw some minor calving, but nothing spectacular. Soon we moved off and back into the main part of Prince William Sound. We did see some more sea lions and a group of three whales, which gave us more opportunities to see the tails (something on Ellyn’s bucket list), and even a few puffins. The cruise returned to port about 8:00 PM.

We have been waiting patiently for the salmon run, which we have been told can be quite something to see at the hatchery. We have gone there several times and, have seen a few salmon in the ladder at the hatchery, but nothing too spectacular yet. The activity around the hatchery by bears and eagles is supposed to be something to see. In order to increase our chances, we decided to stay on for four more days. On July 4th, the commercial fishing was opened up, although not in the port area. They are still doing some cost recovery fishing and will be reassessing things by the weekend. We are hoping to be able to see some fishing up close before we leave.

The July 4th weekend is jam-packed with events here in Valdez, mostly for kids and families, but also for the tourists. On the 4th, they had a small parade a few blocks from our RV park (almost everything that happens here is close to where we are parked) and, although it was drab and rainy, a surprisingly large number of people showed up for it. Even Valdez’s favorite mascot, Uncle Salmon, showed up for the parade, being stalked all the way by a brown bear. There were food and craft vendors and we watched the parade and walked around a little before making our way back to the RVs. In the evening, there was a free BBQ at the city pier, which we were happy to take in.

We were noticing that there are no movie theaters here, which it seems would be a problem when trying to fight cabin fever here in the depths of the winter. But then we saw a poster in one of the stores indicating they would be showing MIB 3 in the Civic Center, a large building on a hill overlooking, of course, our RV Park. So on Thursday, we walked up there and saw the movie, in digital 3D. Not too bad for this little town. Of course, not many tourists would be doing this, as they would probably only be in town for a couple of days, whereas we are still holding on for some better weather and the salmon run.

Now when the salmon do begin running in large numbers, this will bring the eagles and bears to the streams to feed. At the hatchery, there are signs telling you to beware of bears, because they will come right into the hatchery and try to get salmon out of the ladder. On our first visit to the hatchery, we saw lots of eagles, bald and golden, hanging out on the edges of the water, but no salmon, and no bears. We have discovered that the best times for viewing the eagles so far is as the tide is going out. As the rocks are uncovered on the shore, fish will get stranded and the eagles will have easy pickings.

On Friday we finally got rewarded for our patients when the salmon showed up in large quantities (to us) at the hatchery. Although they had not yet opened up the gates at the top of the ladder, the ladder was jam-packed with salmon trying to get through. The eagles, seals, sea gulls, and sea lions were feasting on the fish they could get ahold of. Although the weather continued to be cloudy and rainy, we were able to get some good pictures of the eagles feeding, fighting, and flying over the sound. Still no bears yet but maybe tomorrow after they get the word from the eagles.

Friday also marked the first sunshine and blue skies we have seen since arriving here. They were brief and you had to look quickly, but they were there. Geoff was up early with Jordy and was able to capture some of it with the camera before it disappeared again. The rest of our stay in Valdez will be covered in our next blog entry. Hopefully it will be filled with better weather, fishing reports, and some good wildlife sightings.

At the Intersection of Nowhere and Nothing

Kenny Lake. It is described online as “a census-designated place (CDP) in Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska”. To us. it is a store, a gas pump, a diner/motel combination, and some camping spots at the intersection on Alaska-10 and Old Edgerton Highway. The latter is graveled. Our GPS tried to bring us down the graveled road but we took a lightly longer route to come in on highway 10.

Almost as soon as we opened our door and scooted Jordy out for a walk, little Harley walked up and was ready to take over. She has been really sweet with Jordy and he doesn’t even bark at her now when she comes to walk him. She says her motorcycle name is “Davidson” (her Dad really likes his motorcycle).

After dumping and taking on water (electric only at the sites here), we piled into one of the cars to take a ride down to Chitina (chit-nah) to check out the water wheels on the Copper River. The water is really high in the river right now and most of the wheels are out about 25 ft. from shore although they are supposed to be right on the banks of the river. Only one was running when we got there and the weather was kind of crappy so there was no one dip-netting either. We stopped into the ranger station for info on the road to McCarthy, which is on an old railroad bed and just gravel. The 60 mile trip is supposed to take 3 hours by car and make sure you have a good spare. Ken and Martha are going on the second day to do some rafting and tour the copper mines in Kennecott near by. We may go up just for a day.

On day 2, the weather was rainy in the morning and Ken and Martha headed out as planned but we just stuck around and did some clean up and maintenance on the RV. In the afternoon the weather improved and by evening the sun was out enough for us to be able to see the mountains. So we took a ride back the way we had come in to see the views and take some pictures on Willow Lake.

Day 3, the weather was even clearer in the morning so this was the day we went to McCarthy and Kennecott. We could take a van from Chitina or drive ourselves. We decided on the latter. The road was quite rough in some places and surprisingly smooth in others. On the smooth sections, you could get up to about 40 MPH but you had to be vigilant because the bumps could come up pretty quickly and could be quite deep. Some of the bumps would require you to just creep through them.

The view was quit nice and we stopped several times to get out and take pictures. We had brought Jordy along, so we stopped to walk him sometimes as well. We knew it would be a long drive and no food stops, so we brought a lunch with us. No picnic areas either so a blanket on the side of the road was our lunch stop. The road ends at the Kennecott River which runs out of the end of the Kennecott Glacier and cannot be crossed by car. We paid $5 to park and crossed the foot bridge to McCarthy. The distance to McCarthy from the foot bridge was further than we had expected, so we hopped into a passing shuttle and paid the fee, which would also cover riding to Kennecott. first we wandered around “downtown” McCarthy, which was described by one of the shuttle drivers as “rugged”. We went to the grocery store and got some ice cream, then hopped a shuttle to Kennecott to see the copper mine.

Kennecott has a little more to it than McCarthy, but only because it has the Kennecott Glacier Lodge and is more of a tourist stop. The mine buildings are either still standing or nearly falling over but they are working quite hard to keep them up on the side of the hill. Stabilizing them is quite a job. Kennecott is right on the side of the outflow of the Kennecott Glacier, with a “sea'” of glacier moraine lapping up onto the shore of the settlement.

We did not do any of the tours but just walked around the mine buildings and then up onto the side of the moraines to see the mountains. Jordy was getting pretty worn out at this point and slept most of the way home. We got tired as well and Geoff was exhausted and went to bed quite early that night. The weather stayed nice the whole trip and we were really lucky to get such a great day for this trip. We are glad we did it. To come all this way and not visit this historic place in Alaska would have been a shame.

Our last day in Kenny Lake was pretty quiet. We slept in a bit, did some chores around the RV. Ellyn was getting a cold so didn’t feel like doing much, but Geoff put new strings on her dulcimer and she did some practicing. Geoff wrote an entry for the blog, put the screen back up near the driver’s seat (which has fallen twice now on our journey, while we were driving, but did not do any damage), and put some things from the inside of the RV back in the basement. In the afternoon our friends called from McCarthy that they were leaving there and would we like to drive down to Chitina and meet them for dinner at the hotel there. We did and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the dining room is and how good the food was. As we were finishing up a big tour group arrived. We were glad to eat and get out hen we did because the cook was probably going to be busy for a while getting their meals ready.

On the way back, we stopped at Liberty Falls. It was a very small campground right on Liberty Creek at the base of the falls. A very noisy camping site and too cramped to get our motorhomes into. But the falls were quite spectacular and surprising to be that close to the road but not viewable from it. A nice little treat at the end of our stay.

Tomorrow morning we take a short little drive to Valdez, Alaska, at the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline.

Southward to Copper Country

Before I start on our travels after Fairbanks, I want to mention that we finally put our kayaks to use. We had debated whether or not to bring them on this trip and now we have actually used them, so we are glad we did. The Chena River runs through Fairbanks and has several little boat launches along it. We watched a lot of people floating past the RV park while we were there and we almost missed our chance. Finally, our resolve, the weather, and our schedule all came together to get us out on the water. We even put Jordy in his PFD and put him in Ellyn’s kayak with her. He seemed to have a great time. Geoff had to stay back though because, if he got too close in his kayak, Jordy would want to jump in. The weather was a little windy, but the river winds back and forth and, as we turned corners, the wind would come and go. All in all, it was a fun time.

From Fairbanks, we traveled southeast, backtracking to Delta Junction, where the Richardson Highway and the Alaska Highway meet. From there we followed the Richardson Highway south along the Delta River towards the Tangle River Valley. On the road to Delta Junction, we stopped at the Knotty Shop, a stop we missed on the way to Fairbanks, where we could get a free scoop of ice cream if we presented our copy of the Milepost. It was a quirky little store which had several animal figures out front made from the burl wood found in this area. The weather was not too pleasant but the ice cream was excellent.

As we continued along the Delta River, the weather started to clear and the sun and blue sky shone through the clouds. We stopped of for a few view points and pictures. Unfortunately, some of the areas to pull over have many tall trees between us and the scenery. Sometimes there is a short walk to an overlook, but often we have found the trees blocking the view of the mountains.

South of Paxson, AK, we turned onto the Denali Highway (unlike many “highways” in the lower 48, some of the ones in Alaska may not even be paved. This one was for most of the length we drove on it). Just after we reached the end of the paved portion of the road, we turned off to the Tangle River Valley and a little state campground. It had no services other than a few porta-potties, trash bins, and a hand pump for water. We had been prepared for this, but the campground was also nicer than we expected, as it appears to have been recently refurbished. We had to pay a $12 fee to camp there overnight but it was a nice place to stay.

They had fire rings and we had gotten some salmon at the Fred Meyers supermarket back in Fairbanks, so we decided to get into the real camping spirit and cook the fish over a real campfire. (It was only real in the fact it had real fire. The “wood” we used was some eco-logs made with waxed cardboard that we had been carrying around for several months. It was safe for cooking.) The salmon was excellent and the weather was even nice enough to eat outside on the nice picnic table provided at our pull-through site.

The next morning was rainy and we headed out under wet, cloudy skies for a short, but bumpy ride to Kenny Lake and the Copper Country of Alaska. First we had to back-track on the Denali highway back to the Richardson Highway. Then we continued south. This area of Alaska has a lot of perma-frost in the ground and this makes the frost heaves quite prevalent long the roads. We could only do about 45 MPH over most of the trip, slowing to 30 MPH in areas of a lot of road damage and even getting held at one point because we had to wait for a pilot vehicle to arrive from the other directions to guide us through the extensive construction they were doing on that section. We have our stone shield we put under the tow bar to keep most of the rocks off the toad but our car came out of that part of our trip quite dirty. The campgrounds do not want you to use their water supply to wash your car.

Northern Florida

So the weather here in Fairbanks for the past few days has reminded me of winter in Sarasota, FL. Sunny every day, temps in the upper 70s and lower 80s. In the morning, after the Midnight Sun Game, we had to get up and take Jordy for a groomer appointment at 10 AM. Not very good planning. After we dropped him off, we went by the Visitor’s Center here to collect info on some local things to see over the next two days we have left. We also had to find a bike shop to get a new front tire for Ellyn’s bike.

In the afternoon we went to Pioneer Park, which is a recreation of a pioneer town with some old buildings moved from other places, a train that runs around the perimeter, and they hold a big salmon bake. All you can eat salmon, haddock, steak, crab legs, salad, desserts. Kind of pricy but worth it. After dinner, they had a show in their Palace Theater. We had a good time and there was still quite a bit of light left when we came out at 9:30. It can be exhausting here because you feel like you are wasting usable time when you go to bed and the sun is still up.

The next morning Geoff installed the repaired mud flap on the RV and the new tire on Ellyn’s bike. Then we went out for lunch and then to the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska campus. Very nice displays of the local history, some items about Beringia (which we learned about in White Horse, YT), some Alaskan art exhibits, all in a very modern looking building.

We had a plan to go kayaking on the Chena River that afternoon but clouds started building up in an ominous way and it looked like we might get a storm. However, it blew over with just a light sprinkling. We could still have a chance for our kayaking adventure on Sunday.

On Sunday was the conclusion of the Midnight Sun Festival around Fairbanks with a downtown party. There was music and food and vendors, your typical street fair, and it ran from noon to, guess when…right…midnight. They also had a canoe race on the Chena River, which was supposed to involve two people in a canoe with one or more dogs. Kind of a warm weather dog sled race, which usually also occurs on the river when it is frozen over.

We finally got out on the water of the Chena River in our kayaks. Even Jordy took to the water. We put in about 3.2 miles upstream of the RV park and our friend, Ken, drove the car back. Then we pulled out right at the park. It was a nice paddle, although we had a bit of a head wind in a few places. The Chens River winds back and forth many times as it winds its way through Fairbanks.

Tomorrow morning we get back on the road heading south toward Copper Country.

Gold Panning and Baseball in the Midnight Sun

We are here for the longest days of the year and because of the latitude, they are really long. The average number of hours and minutes of daylight, that is, between sunrise and sunset, are 21 hours, 49 minutes. That only leaves 2 hours and 11 minutes for the sun to be below the horizon. This does not leave enough time for the sky to even get dark. And, the Land of the Midnight Sun is real here, since the sun does not set until 12:48 AM. I have probably gone over this before, but I find it fascinating that we are here. The only thing better would be for us to be on or above the Arctic Circle, where the sun does not set at all. It would be possible to go there, but it is hard traveling and we don’t want to risk our car on that road, and we would not be able to overnight there so we could not be there for the whole event.

On our first full day here, we went to the local Farmer’s Market and Geoff went off to find a welder who could fix our mud flap for the RV. A couple days ago we turned into a wayside whose entry was too steep and the mud flap dragged on the pavement and its frame was bent to the point it was dragging on the ground after that. When we got into the next campground, Geoff saw that it could not be repaired easily, so he removed it and we carried it to Fairbanks where he could get a welder to repair or replace it. Now, we are getting a new frame built for it and then the mud flap can be reattached and it will be good as new.

In the afternoon we went on a river boat cruise on the Chena River. This cruise retraced routes used by lots of river boats during the age of the gold rush. It was very well done with a continuous narration going on pointing out historic buildings along the river as well as talking about how people survive in this area in the extreme conditions which exist here in the winter. During that season, the river freezes to the point where people can drive their vehicles over it to get to the store and dog teams run their sleds up and down it. We stopped along the way to see a recreation of a First Nation village and a real dog sled team kennel.

Our second day took us to gold rush country. After the initial claims in this area had been mined as much as they could by individuals, the big companies came in and brought the dredges. These huge machines were built in shipyards, sent to Alaska in pieces, assembled on site, and put to work chewing up and spitting out massive amount of material. If it worked correctly, it also yielded massive amounts of gold for the owners. After they did their jobs, it was not worth the cost of disassembling and taking them away, and usually these machines were designed specifically for the site where they were used, so, most of them are still sitting where they were last used. One of them has been turned into a historical site here in Fairbanks. We got a train ride through the area and learned about the methods used to prepare the land for the dredge. Then we got to do our own gold panning and tour the dredge. We also got to spend a lot of time in their gift shop.

On our way back from the gold dredge, we stopped at a section of the Alaska Pipeline. It is funny that it has already been around since the 70s. We can al remember when it was being built and now we have been able to walk right up to it and touch it.

In the evening it was the Midnight Sun Baseball Game featuring the Alaska Gold Panners vs. the Everett Merchants from Washington State. We were warned to get to the park early as there is not sufficient seating for all the tickets they sell. There were people on lawn chairs behind the outfield fence and in front of the bleachers. We were able to get some inside scoop earlier in the day from the marketing guy that we could sit in a section reserved for friends and family, because it was not fully sold out. The game started at 10:30 PM and went until 1:40 AM. At midnight, they sang the Alaska State Flag Song and the sun finally set at 1:45 AM. When the game was over, there was still an hour left before sun rise and the sky was barely twilight. The Panners won 7-5 in a hard fought game. It was a bit marred by errors but its not Major League ball. The Merchants had a Center Fielder who had a great arm and threw at least two strikes from deep center field to home plate, one that prevented a run scoring.

We’re still here for two more days but I am going to post this to the blog now.

Fairbanks and Fair Weather Ahead!

We left Tok this morning and drove 4 hours to Fairbanks, Alaska, our northern-most stop on our journey. At 64 degrees, 50 minutes north latitude, we are only about 118 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The sun will be up for 21 hours and 50 minutes tomorrow. We have blackout shades for our bedroom, which have already been necessary on this trip since Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Although our trip has been fraught lately with cloudy, cool weather and rain, our 5 days here in Fairbanks are predicted to be sunny, mostly clear, and very warm (upper 70s to lower 80s).

Our first stop was just before Delta Junction at the Delta Meat and Sausage Company where they package some wild meats, such as buffalo, elk, and reindeer, as well as pork and beef. We tried various samples and bought some for later dinners.

Our second stop was in Delta Junction, the end of the Alaska highway. We traveled almost all of it. With our side trip to Skagway and then the ferry ride to Haines, we missed the section from White Horse, YT to Haines Junction, YT. At the visitor’s center, Geoff was able to complete his collection of two Alaska highway pins.

When we drove through North Pole, AK, we were going to stop and see the World’s Largest Santa, but when we got off the highway, we spotted a little espresso shack which also sold ice cream (indicated by the ice cream cone on its top). That one out and we opted for milk shakes and skipped the (scary looking, as far as we could tell from the highway) Santa.

When we pulled into the camp grounds, there appeared to be a problem with our reservation. We thought ours was piggy-backed on our friends’ reservation but it turned out not to be the case. We thought we had fallen through the cracks somehow until Ellyn found our reservation email and got things straightened out. As it is, we are here a day early. Day after tomorrow we attend the Midnight Sun Baseball Game here, which starts at 10:30 PM and is played without field lights. We are truly now in the Land of the Midnight Sun, since sunset is not until 12:45 PM!

The internet here at the park seems to be working pretty well, as I was able to upload our blog entries dating back to Haines, AK (3 days ago). Our phone internet also seems to be in pretty good shape, although only at 3G speed. We will survive. At least voice communications have only been interrupted when there was no signal at all and our phone bill seems to reflect the correct charges for our usages and agreement with Verizon. We have cable TV here in our RV park so at least we will be able to get some outside world news. But we are not going to be tied to the TV as there is a lot to see and do here in Fairbanks, Alaska.

A Bumpy Ride Indeed

Today was as exhausting a drive as we have had so far. It wasn’t so much a long one, but over some of the bumpiest road we have encountered so far, even worse than the Ohio Turnpike. Frost heaves and patches and even sections which had been torn up for repaving were the order of the day. From Beaver Creek, Yukon all the way to the US border, we were braking and bumping and accelerating and then braking again. When Geoff finally climbed from the driver’s seat, he felt like he had been run through a ringer, backwards (one of his Mother’s favorite sayings). After entering the US, things got better, although there was still an occasional good reason to be on the binders. I guess the frost heaves are not just relegated to the Yukon.

The weather was a mixed bag. It started out cloudy and rainy, then cleared a bit before turning down-right black and pouring rain on us just before reaching Tok, Alaska, our stop for the night. We are definitely getting up into the northern reaches of our travels. Tonight the sun will not set until 11:45 PM and then it will be right back up again at 3:15 AM. We have our bedroom outfitted with blackout shades on the windows and Jordy’s crate gets covered with a heavy fleece blanket, so we can all get a good night’s sleep. It’s just hard to recognize when it is time to go to bed when the sun is up so late.

Into the Sunshine

Today we headed northwest out of Haines on the Haines Highway on our last leg to Fairbanks and the Summer Solstice. It felt like anything but summer as we left Haines on that cold and rainy morning. The extra day in Haines did not buys us much but a $5.00 salmon dinner. The salmon was very good but the grilling was slow and we were there early. When we left there was still a long line of people waiting to get their food. The feed was at the Southeast State Fairgrounds, a little cluster of buildings within walking distance of our RV park. Earlier in the day a relay bike race had made its way down from Haines Junction into Haines. The bikes rode by near our park and we drove into town to see the finish line. It was a bit anti-climactic and the riders looked all but frozen to their bikes.

Another border crossing today back into Canada. It was not too difficult. They asked mostly about where we had been and how we had gotten into Canada and Alaska and where we were off to next. As we went through the mountain passes, the clouds clung tight to the tops and rain drizzled on us off and on. However, as we approached Haines Junction, and a rejoining to the Alaska Highway, some spots of blue sky started showing through and sunlight shown on some of the flanks of the mountains ahead of us. When we stopped in Haines Junction for lunch, the sun was warm on our backs and the heavy jackets had been left in the rigs.

From Haines Junction we drove about 50 miles to Kluane Lake (clue-ah’-nee). There we stopped at a primitive campground right on the lake side and found a couple of nice campsites with views of the lake. It looked like the start of a nice evening and we even planned for a campfire, but rain moved in from the northwest shortly after dinner.

Haines, Alaska = Cloudy, Rain

Our trip here from Skagway was the easiest so far. Although it would have taken us all day and 350 miles to get here by road, we loaded the RVs and cars onto the ferry in Skagway about 4:00 PM and were in Haines by 5:30. Only about 6 miles of driving was involved. The RV Park knew we were coming because when we pulled in, there was someone there to direct us right to our parking spots. Our rig had a problem right away; the leveling system would not work. It came on but would not start dumping the air bags or lowering the jacks. Geoff started taking it apart to see what the problem was and it magically started working again. That one will probably come back to haunt us again.

After we got plugged in and set up, we jumped in our car and drove to a restaurant down by the harbor. Nice place, good food, but there was only one waitress and the cook there, so the food was kind of slow coming out. This place is “Eagle Central”. You can usually see a bald eagle just about everywhere you look near the water. They are either flying over the water looking for fish, in a tree near the water, looking for fish, or eating a fish.

Ken had to move to another spot so he could try to get his satellite dish aligned properly. He was able to get a TV signal but the dish looks funny because it is nearly straight up and down. Internet access is pretty good in the park here, although I am still having problems uploading stuff. I hope this blog entry goes ok. Perhaps if I do not attach too many photos it will.

Our first full day here we went to the Chilkat State Park and Chilkoot State Recreation Area. In the first, there was a great overlook of Chilkat Inlet, which is west of the peninsula where Haines is. There was one eagle out there fishing and a big flock of Surf Scooters, which would all dive under at once in search of food. From our distance it would appear the flock would get smaller and then suddenly larger again when they would all surface. With our spotting scope it was much easier to see what was going on. Across the inlet, there were a couple of big glaciers we could see. The crevasses of the glaciers were very noticeably blue colored.

In Chilkoot State Recreation Area, we were right on the Lukat River which flows out of Chilkoot Lake, and there are many eagles along that river which fish it. We also saw human fishers there and a fish counting station, which indicated there had been thousands if fish passing up that river this year, but recently very few, probably because it is quite cool out now. We are waiting for summer to catch up with us. Later in the evening we came back and were able to also see bears in this area. These were our first Grizzly Bear spottings. Previously, in the Yukon, we only saw Black Bears.

So far in Alaska, the weather has not been conducive to taking scenic photos. Too bad because the scenery here is probably spectacular. On our third day here we were in touch with a flight sight seeing pilot who Ken had contacted and had told that we were interested in a flight if we could be assured of some clear weather to be able to see glaciers, mountains, etc. He had a flight in the early PM but said, if the weather looked like we would have good viewing, he would call us and we would go out around 5:00 PM. Well, no such luck, so we went out and drowned our sorrows in dinner. We are writing this on Saturday morning and things do not look much better for today.

We extended our stay here for an extra day because there is a bicycle race into town this afternoon and then a free salmon bake and entertainment in the evening. Also, we have 4 extra days before we are due in Fairbanks and only about 640 miles to go to get there. So using an extra day here to be able to get some free salmon and entertainment sounded like a good deal. It looks like much better weather in Fairbanks, but about the same as we have been seeing here until then.

Three Windy Days and Three Windy Nights in Skagway

Did I mention it was windy in Skagway yet? Yes, very windy. It made the 50 degree temps feel like 43. Ouch. Is it June yet? The first evening in Skagway we walked into town. It was pretty much closed. The cruise ships had left and it was Sunday night so most everything had closed. It was very quiet.

The next day, we went into town with two cruise ships in town, it was a bit busier. We went to the Nation Historic Site and took the tour of downtown Skagway. It was fun but would have been more enjoyable if it had not been drizzling and cold out.

We were planning on going back up the White Pass following the steam locomotive pulling the passenger train, which we could not get tickets on because it was sold out. However, the weather was so bad on the way back from downtown, Ellyn and I decided to opt out. Of course, right after that the sun came out for a while.

Our last day in Skagway, we drove up to Dyea and the head of the Chilkoot Trail. this was where the miners in the gold rush of 1898 started their trek to the gold fields by climbing a treacherous trail up over the mountains with 2000 pounds of supplies, making as many as 50 trips up this trail, before they could continue to the gold fields. It seems like there should have been an easier way.

In the evening we went to Lairsville, a historic camp where rushers were able to rest up before hitting the Chilkoot Trail. The site is now used to re-enact the gold rush feel by having you pan for gold and it is topped of with a grilled salmon meal. Very good food, at least.

One of the cool things about being parked right out on the harbor was being able to watch the cruise ships come and go. In preparation for recording the day sky on the solstice in Fairbanks, I used the app on my phone to capture the cruise ships arriving in a time lapsed video, but have been having trouble trying to upload it, even with internet access.

On the last day, we took Jordy into town for a while to walk him around and do a little last minute shopping. Later in the afternoon we got onto the ferry to Haines, Alaska. This saved us about 350 miles of driving and the required fuel to do that drive. The cost was just about a wash.