Mon June 30, 2008

This is Ila writing tonight but I know I will recruit other help as well. We left Teslin this am and heading on the way which will eventually lead us to home. But we have a lot of miles to travel to get there. We are, tonight, in Dease Lake BC. I am guessing we have traveled a total of somewhere around 7500 miles. Linda has had the van serviced two times so far. Today's travel was a combination of road types. We had blacktop, holes, big rocks (kind of like some they dumped on Iowa's gravel roads this spring), loose gravel (some fresh and some pretty well packed). To say the least, the roads are interesting and one has to take care and watch closely. I likened a part of today to being better than Africa roads and some reading this will know what I mean. Difference is there is no driving off the road because then you would either be in water or bushes. Road shoulders are non existent. We praise the Lord we have stayed safe. We did see our first accident yesterday. It appeared pretty severe in that an SUV had done a roll over and was laying on its top. We could not stop because law enforcement were there and also an ambulance but we heard farther down the road that no one was killed so we have prayed for those involved even though we don't know their actual condition.

Today was actually a lot of driving for Linda and a lot of riding for Phyllis and Ila. But again I will reiterate, we are safe. Our motel room was definitely an answer to prayer. Along this particular stretch of road, motels are scarce. We came into Dease Lake and both (2) motels had "no vacancy" signs posted. But we decided to stop at one and ask if they could recommend how far down the road we would have to travel to find other accomodations and/or call ahead for us since our cell phones do not work in Canada. It just so happened the man had one room he had not rented out because one of the pipes on the sink had broken and it was not usable. BUT, he has let us have the room at a discount as long as we do not use the sink. So we have to wash our hands in the tub. I told him -- I grew up with NO running water so washing my hands in the tub is certainly not a problem.

We did see some animals today. First off we came across a LARGE moose that had a huge set of antlers. But we did not manage to get a picture because just as we got stopped, the moose decided to vamoose. There were about five vehicles stopped and I guess it thought that was too many. Then we came upon a small black bear. It didn't look very old and was actually pretty close to the roadway. We did manage to get some pictures but the bear wandered off into the bushes too. The last animal(s) we found were a group of mountain goats that were right beside the road. We stopped but a couple of semis passed us in an area of loose gravel and that pretty much sent the group scattering. We did get a few pictures of a couple of them that didn't leave the scene.

Our choices for food here are a nice, very expensive restaurant or a pub, which our motel manager said served good food. BUT, being the godly women we are, we didn't go to the pub and probably should have because there was nothing on the menu at Mama Z's under $10 and the buffet was $21.95. I wasn't really hungry and neither was Phyllis and when Linda asked for a baked potato, you would have thought she ask for "gold." So we all had a salad, which they took from the buffet and we ended up paying a variety of prices for it. Stupid huh?! I think we will all be glad to see the US border of the lower 48 states. Those of you who have been on WW out of the country will smile when you read this because you will all remember the cheering that goes on in the airplane when we set down on US soil.

Well, I have managed to fill a lot of space with probably a lot of nothing but hope you enjoy reading. Linda is anxiously awaiting a new grandchild in Kansas City. Jodi went into the hospital this morning and they were starting her labor but when Linda talked with her at 9:30 pm (your time), the baby had not arrived yet. Obviously we do have internet tonight for which we are thankful and Linda was able to send the motel phone number to Melinda and Melinda had Jodi call. So we are hoping to hear of a new baby by morning.

Pics Sat June 28 & Sun June 29

This is the ferry we rode from Haines to Skagway. You can see it was a very nice one.
This was at a pullout along the highway from Skagway to the Canadian border. One of our last looks at the beautiful state of Alaska.
This area was described in Milepost as a "moonscape." The trees growth has been badly stunted by the various kinds of weather that is in the area during the seasons.
I shot this just out the car window as we were whizzing down the highway. There were so many places I kept seeing of the water through the trees and wanted to see what I could get. Camera may not do well getting close up shots but it sure does okay on this type of picture. ENJOY!!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

This is Linda dictating to Ila. We jumped off our beds at 8 am or so this morning at the B&B in Skagway. Just so you know, it was the White House. No, we didn't see President Bush. After dressing, we had a nice continental breakfast. While eating we visited with other guests. One couple was from Topeka, KS and the man had graduated from Drake University. She was originally from Missouri. They were talking about how impressed they were with the Drake BB team this past year. We went to church. We were three of the congregation of 19 at the Skagway Assembly of God church. Their pastor had previously preached in Missouri and Nebraska. We met a lady there from Ames who was quite friendly. Then after church, we proceeded to check out the city of Skagway. First we went to see about taking the train trip on Monday. It was not as we had anticipated so we skipped it. Since we weren't going to ride the train on Monday, we didn't really need our motel we had reserved in Skagway. I managed to get it cancelled. The man was not real nice so I lied when I left by thanking him for his kindness. Then we went to see the seals we had heard so much about but since we were there, they weren't. We decided we should work more on our Dale Carnegie course so we proceeded to enter a total of three eating establishments, look around and leave. You may be surprised to hear that one of these establishments specialized in hard pack ice cream and fudge. Even we have our price. Maybe we are getting a little picky. Then we decided it was time to leave town but first we needed gas so we looked for the gas station. This city that has thousands of tourists every year has one gas pump, which proved very hard to find but we finally found it after driving by it several times. Yes you heard that right. One gas pump. Keep in mind, Skagway is a major tourist trap complete with boardwalks and thousands of tourists who walk whenever and wherever they want to in the street. Then we decided it was time for us to get out of town and we literally headed for the hills/mountains as some might say. About an hour out of Skagway (about 2 pm), we left Alaska for the last time. It was a really pretty drive to Carcross. We took a driving tour of Carcross. We also stopped at Caribou Crossing but decided to not spend the money to go through it. We are staying tonight in Teslin, Yukon. We are heading down the Cassier Highway tomorrow. It will be a long day's drive. More than likely we will NOT have cell phone service until we reach Vancouver. We are pleasantly surprised to have the internet service tonight. We didn't even ask if it was available but when we turned on the computer, there it was, so are updating.

Sat, June 28, 2008

This is Phyllis dictating to Ila. This was a day to relax and get caught up with laundry, grocery shopping, bear hunting (animals). We didn't leave our motel until around 10 am. We drove out and got our tickets for the ferry ride which wasn't until 10 PM. We heard of a park where we might see bears and did see one grizzly bear, who we think might have been crippled. We saw an eagle catching fish and then we drove back to town, where we went grocery shopping, ate supper at Bamboo Restaurant. It sounds Chinese but actually not. Then we went back to the park hoping to see more bear but there wasn't anything. Couldn't even find any fishermen who were catching fish. We had three hours to kill before the ferry ride. So we sat and watched the water at a couple places and figured out the tide was coming in. The reason we figured this out wasn't because we were so smart but there was a little boat that had looked land-locked in the afternoon and was now floating. DUH! Drove back to the terminal where we sat -- some of us read and Linda was just "being" and trying to be warm. About 9 pm, we saw the ferry coming. Ila thought it looked like the Titanic and was relieved it wasn't a flat-bottomed raft since there were mega cars and campers waiting to be loaded. We drove into what looked like the "belly of the whale" but found it wasn't really all that scarey. We then went upstairs to the lounge. We climbed two flights of stairs before we found out there was an elevator. That helped a lot! We had front row seats in the lounge and could see the whole spectrum in front of us as the ship proceeded to Skagway. Oh, yes, it was still daylight when we arrived at 11 pm. When we docked and got our vehicle on dry land again, we had no trouble finding our bed and breakfast. It was very nice and they had left the light on and key out for us. We wasted no time climbing into bed. Climbing was an important word because the beds were so high off the floor and for short people, that presents a challenge. Now, imagine this -- a running jump took care of the problem. Good night.

Pics June 26

The "performer" who was young enough to not know he was really too close to the road for his own good. But he was sure having a good time eating the wildflowers etc right next to the road
This grizzly was a little farther away but we thought you would enjoy the wildflowers around him.
We stopped at a state or national park lookout place and thought you might enjoy this overlook shot.
This is the view from our motel window in Haines Junction. Really tough to go to sleep with this outside our window! HA! For the most part, we really aren't having too much difficulty with all the daylight. We take our turns in not sleeping well and doesn't seem to hit all of us on the same night.

Pics Day in Valdez

This was at the petroleum storage plant in Valdez. We got as close as it would allow so this is the best I could do for a picture.
This is the boat harbor in Valdez. Actually every "setting" is so beautiful. Hope you are enjoying via our best efforts.
This was taken from just along the highway. We spotted it going one way and then turned around and went back to get the picture.
There is a moose standing in the water. We were on our way into Tok and I think we wrote about all the moose sightings on this day.

Sun, June 29, 2008

This is Ila. I am posting our "already prepared" blog entries for Wed, Thurs, Fri. Saturday isn't done yet because our ferry ride from Haines to Skagway arrived at 11 pm so blogging wasn't high on our priority list. So hope you enjoy our updates. Not sure if I will do any pictures but "maybe." Hope you will enjoy. We are at beautiful bed & breakfast but someone will write about Sat and Sun later today.

Wed, June 25, 2008
This is Ila writing tonight. We began our day at Downtown Bed & Breakfast in Valdez. They served us a very nice continental breakfast. We visited the local museum, which involved us going to two separate buildings. They showed a video of the 1964 earthquake that struck Valdez and all the tragedy that was part of that. It also included how the town relocated after that earthquake. We found it quite interesting. Both buildings had quite a few historical pieces (as most museums do) but one thing that really struck me was a set of ornate bar furniture. It was complete with spittoons and mirror behind. You could almost imagine the miners and prospectors lining up at the bar and doing their bragging about staking their claims and all the gold they had panned that day.
In driving around Valdez, we found Peter Pan seafoods and they have many buildings including dorms and a mess hall. So evidently the people who work there, must live there as well or at least some of them. We also located Prince William Sound Community College. They, too, have a nice museum but we did not stop at it.
As we were on the highway out of Valdez, we came across several cars stopped along the roadway, which usually indicates someone has sighted an animal or something awesome. We looked and looked but did not see anything. So we pulled alongside the pickup in front of us and he pointed us toward a large grizzly bear who was rummaging in the bushes some distance off the highway. Phyllis got a pretty good picture but I knew my camera would never capture him. I did watch him through the binoculars.
We also came across an Aleutian village near the Valdez airport. One would conjure up in their minds that these people would live in huts but not true. They do, in fact, live in pretty old-looking mobile homes. Probably not anything that any of us would live in.
In going by the Valdez airport, I noticed there was a building there that was called a “man camp” and it had posted “room and board.” We also located the old Valdez town site and stopped where the post office stood where they have placed a plaque with the names of all those who lost their lives in the earthquake. We got pictures of a tanker on the bay and also the pipeline terminal. Couldn’t get very close because it was a restricted area. Along Port Valdez, we saw two bald eagles sitting in two separate places. We drove back through Keystone Canyon. There were places where it reminded me of Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado but the walls are not as high and ominous but beautiful nonetheless.
We stopped midafternoon for lunch/supper at Copper River Lodge. I think we “may” be learning to eat more conservatively. Linda & I shared a meal and she and Phyllis have also done that. Last night we succeeded in all of us getting baked potatoes. Maybe we will get this down yet so we aren’t overly full and miserable.
As we traveled on down the road to Tok, we had the beautiful Wrangell mountains in front of us for quite a distance. I decided to read along the way and next thing I know, Phyllis says “moose in the water on the right!” Well, I got a glimpse but by the time we found a spot to turn around, he was no longer anywhere to be found. Not far down the road we spotted another one far in the distance just grazing on grass and bushes but too far away for picture. And lo behold, just a little way further, there was another one standing in the water. It was such that we could stop immediately and he was close enough to get a picture though we had to look almost directly into the sun. We hope it will be good enough to post. Maybe the animals are getting acclimated to us and decided we are pretty harmless. We stopped at Mentasta Lodge for gas and as I was standing outside the van, a silly bird almost landed in my hair. I thought I felt it but when I looked, it was sitting on the gas pump. When I went in to pay for the gas, the two guys said it did indeed almost land on my head. All along the road today, it seemed there were just trees, trees, trees. On the final few miles before we got to Tok, Milepost book says there are paper birch, quaking aspens, balsam poplar, black spruce, white spruce and tamarack. Also in that same area, we spotted some rabbits and then we spotted a whole bunch of them. We couldn’t decide whether it was a pack, a covey, a herd, or just what you call a bunch rabbits that run together. Guess throughout the day, we saw a snowshoe hare, a mouse, a ground squirrel. But I’m sure you could care less about those. Well anyway, guess I am writing too much so I will quit. We are in Tok tonight and heading to Haines Junction tomorrow.

Thursday, June 26, 2008 - Day 30

This is Linda today. In fact it is actually Friday when I am doing this since we didn’t have any internet last night. Tonight we don’t have it in the motel either, but we are planning to paste it into the blog at the library later.

Yesterday we saw 4 grizzly bears at four different locations. One was right beside the road in the ditch when I first saw it. It wasn’t a very old one and didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to be near people. For at least 5 minutes it just ate flowers and watched us. In fact in some of the pictures we also have a lot of pretty wildflowers.

Later Phyllis and I saw a fox run across the road in front of us. I also got some pictures of wild flowers yesterday that I had wanted to get. So far I have almost 4 full rolls of film exposed on our trip and I don’t know how many pictures Phyllis and Ila have taken on their digital cameras. Each of my rolls has 24 or 25 pictures on it.

Much of the road we were on yesterday was terrible. In fact in almost all places 40 was the top speed. There were times when 15 was even too fast. We also had a pilot car twice and served as our own pilot car once or twice. One of the times we even had to wait for the equipment to make a path for the pilot car to lead us through. We’re not in Iowa anymore.

Toward the end of the day we came across 5 horses beside the road. We assume they must have been wild horses since there are signs here and there about wild horses and they had no fence to contain them nor did they have any bridles or anything on them.

Between US customs and Canadian customs we saw several trumpeter swans. They were too far away to get pictures of them.

We had lunch at Buckshot Betty’s and our waiter had been on a mission trip to Mexico last winter. Also at our table was an Iowa Methodist minister who was traveling alone to Alaska. She was camping some, sleeping in her van some, and getting a motel some nights.


Friday June 27, 2008 – Day 31

This is Ila writing again. I have a “bit of humor” story to tell. And some days, we all know that humor is a good thing! Our motel last evening was very nice. Probably one of the less expensive but what a wonderful view. We had beautiful mountains immediately in the distance. As Phyllis and I were sitting on the “bottom” end of the bed, we noticed when we got up (simultaneously) that it kind of came off the floor at the head. Consider all that weight on the end of the bed!!!! Now, we didn’t think too much about it at the time. A little while later, I was in the bathroom and heard a “little” scream. Upon returning to the room where the bed was, I found one of the wheels at the head of the bed had fallen out and one side of the head of the bed was on the floor. SO, we moved the nightstand and Phyllis and I put the wheel back in place. Now, you may read this and wonder where is the humor – but, it was one of those things that you had to be there and experience it!

Now to the beginning of this day! We started the day by going to breakfast at a bakery. It didn’t measure up to what we had prior. The quality of baked goods wasn’t so good and the service was less than friendly. Before we left Haines Junction, we stopped at Our Lady of the Catholic Church. The idea for this little building was resourcefully put together by the priest at the time it was built in 1954. They decided to use parts from an old Quonset hut that had been used by the American Army during construction of the Alaska highway.

The road to Haines was a beautiful drive and we stopped several times. Once we drove down a little road to an Indian fishing village. The log houses looked pretty well constructed but there seemed to be no sign of life. There was one house that had hanging baskets of beautiful flowers. We stopped coming through Chilkat Pass and took picture(s) of the mountains. We passed through US customs around noon. Along the road, there was a beautiful alpine valley. It is a bald eagle preserve but not a one did we see. It really is the wrong time of year for them to be there but we looked with the binoculars and still did not see any. We did spot a trumpeter swan and four young ones. As we got out of the van to take pictures, she quite smoothly moved into position putting herself between her young ones and us. But we did get a pretty good picture. Just outside of arriving at Haines, we stopped and watched a fish wheel at work on the river. While watching, they netted, measured, determined sex and tagged what we think was sockeye salmon (we aren’t certain).

We have checked into a motel for tonight early. We had planned to take a fjord tour from Haines to Juneau but the tour is full so we cannot get on. We plan to go to the library to get this posted to our blog. We will find a place to eat and enjoy our nice motel tonight. I’m not certain if I will get pictures loaded but will try. Cell phones and internet are somewhat a challenge and aren’t always available. We will travel on the 10 pm ferry tomorrow evening to Skagway. We plan to take the train from Skagway to Lake Bennett on Monday so will be staying somewhere in that area until Tuesday am. When we leave there, we will probably be on our way back down to the lower 48 (as they are called up here).

Friday, June 27,2008

This is Linda. We are having trouble with the library computer and will just get back when we have our own computer. Have a nice day!

Friday, June 27,2008

Pics Tues June 24

These are two mother musk ox. Up under the trees are some babies but they never came down close enough to get a good picture. If you enlarge the picture, you will see the ox are in the process of shedding their winter coats. At the farm, they do brush them (can't remember how often) and it takes from one to three hours for the brushing. People in the village use the hair to weave head bands, caps, scarf-like headpieces. But they were really expensive to purchase so we did not buy one.
This was taken at the musk ox farm. You can see the beautiful Chugach mountains in the background. A young man who had his family there offered to take the picture. Not much else to be said about this one!
This is Horsetail Falls in Keystone Canyon on the Richardson Highway from Glenallen to Valdez. We also saw Bridal Veil Falls but I thought this one was the prettiest. In this particular area, it seems all the mountain walls were "weeping" water. The wall beside us didn't have a falls but it was totally wet with water.
This is the Worthington Glacier also on the road from Glenallen to Valdez. We have so many pictures that are so beautiful but can only post four in a space and don't want to bore you. I know you will say you aren't bored but it all takes time and we are tired.

Tues, June 24, 2008

Hi, It's Phyllis tonight.
It has been a long day. We never seem to get up and going very early. Our day started with breakfast at Mc Donald's. First time on this trip that we have eaten there. We visited the musk ox farm, where we had a walking tour . We got a few pictures, but most of the animals were far enough way that they were hard to photograph. We did learn that while most people think they are related to the ox or buffalo, they actually are in the line of goats. Of course they date back to the days of the pre-historic animals, and have been saved from extinsion. As we traveled on we did a short loop around some farm ground. We headed for Glenallen to find a long area of road construction with a pilot car. It appeared that they are blasting and litterly tearing apart the mountain.
We saw the Mantuska Glacier, which was not far off the road, but did not drive down to pay the owner of the land a fee to walk up . When we finally got to Glenallen, we had another 117 miles to Valdez. It was probably one of the prettiest drives we have been on so far. There are mountains all around us, some green and other covered with snow. Driving thru Thompson Pass, we saw the Worthington Glacier, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horsetail Falls. These were the major ones, but there is water coming down the mountains everywhere. We decided that if we don't find much to do tomorrow in Valdez, the drive to get here was worth every minute. It rained on us today, which it does about everyday, but never lasts very long. The temperature is in the 50's and 60's. Before we left Palmer we visited the Family Christian Center. The ladies from Linda's missionary group sends money to this church for some missionaries from this church. The pastor, prayed for us as we left, and prayed for us to see animals on our way, but his prayers didn't work any better than ours. Tomorrow we will head north and travel the same highway we did today. This is not unusual in Alaska, as there is only one road in and out of a lot of places. Ila will put on some pictures from today, so hope you enjoy them as well as our adventures.

June 23 Day 27

Hello! This is Linda writing all about our day's activities today. It has been pretty busy. This morning I had the van serviced while Ila and Phyllis did laundry. This time the price for servicing the van was more realistic. I also ran the van through the car wash. Believe me, it needed it! Doing laundry at laundromats is pricier than it is at the motels, but usually the motels don't have very many washers, so it is quicker to go to a local laundromat. The laundry at the motel this time was a little scarry-looking. Those jobs took up the morning so we had lunch and breakfast combined and took a short ride to see some reindeer and a little of the Hatcher Pass that we hadn't seen yet. Then it was back to the motel to make future plans. Tomorrow we will be going to Valdez and then heading back toward the Alaska Highway the next day.

Since there isn't much to discuss for today, we have decided to tell you about the time we had the encounter with the Canadian Mountie. It was actually only a check of driver's license, seat belts, license plates, etc. We just thought we'd let you think about that for a while. Actually a couple of evenings ago we were attempting to see the beluga whales and were stopped, but not parked, and an officer told us we needed to move. Actually I think he was more interested in knowing if we had seen where a flare came up from than anything else. We hadn't seen it. It was the evening of the big summer solstice celebrations and I suspect it was a time that they have lots of work to do.

We also have spoken to several locals to find neat places to see. Most are quite interested in telling us about things to see. Some of them we hadn't heard about from other places so we were glad we talked to them.

One thing that will be nice about getting back into the lower 48 will be dirt, or lack thereof. There are many places where the ground has rock on it in parking lots, etc. The rock is usually large and extremely bumpy. Also, the holes are huge in it. Most of the roads here are also not very smooth. In fact the speed limit is usually 55 and it is only worthy of 50 or less. Most of the highways are blacktop and the permafrost really plays havoc with it.

We are still in Palmer and actually last night I talked to the Chief of Police. I could let you think about that for a while, but I'll just tell you that his son lives in Oskaloosa and told me to call him if we needed anything. Last night I needed to know where to get the van serviced and where to find a laundromat. He was very nice and told me to call him today if we needed anything else.

Last winter on television I was watching a program about Alaska and they were telling all about a potatoe chip factory here in Palmer. We decided we'd try to see it but had trouble finding out about it. While I was waiting for the van I talked to a man and asked him about it. It seems that he and his wife had been share holders in it and operated it during it's last three months of operation. They were trying to keep it from folding. Oh, the television program must have been quite new. The factory closed 15 years ago. Then someone said that some had been made here and the plant had moved to Anchorage so we tried to find some of those chips. It seems that Phyllis and Ila can't remember the name of them, The man I talked to told me that the potatoes grown here are quite sweet and turned brown when they tried to make chips from them and most people (unlike me) don't like brown chips.

Have a nice day. If there is anything else we need to tell you about, we can't remember it!

Pics June 19 & June 21

At the end of Homer AK spit, looking out on Kachemak Bay. There was almost a constant stream of boats going by. A mom, dad and little boy were trying to get a kite to fly. This was a 5-mile strip of land and a LOT of touristy trap sort of places (eating, gifts, etc). But looking at the bay, the mountains, boats was a beautiful sight.
This was a fishing boat at Ninilchek. They were unloading their catch of what looked like halibut. But we aren't certain because we have talked with people who say it costs $180 for a license to fish halibut and you are only allowed to catch ONE (1) halibut. Now if these were halibut, they were counting and measuring them at the cannery. Probably ranged from 3 to 4 feet long. They seemed to be huge. We are guessing commercial fishermen have different rules.
The morning we went on our cruise (Thurs 19th), we had only driven about one block or two when we spotted this mother moose and baby standing in the yard of this home in Seward. It is these unexpected spottings that seem to be so outstanding. One can look their eyeballs out along the roads and never spot anything. BUT, we certainly aren't complaining that they haven't dashed on the road in front of us.
This, too, was in Seward. As we walked down the dock area to board our boat for the cruise, this was the harbor scene of boats. You can see the big cruise liner in the background. Needless to say, there were a lot of people in town that day. The next day when we were leaving town, there were two cruise ships in the harbor and people and buses all over the place. So we aren't the only ones up here sight seeing. But we are seeing more and more people as time goes along.

Sun, June 22

This is Ila writing tonight. We were unable to add to our blog for two nights because the motel wireless simply would not let us on the internet. But Phyllis typed it into Word and we were able to drop it in tonight. We DID mention it this morning when we checked out along with the fact that when we called about the room, they said it was ground level but failed to mention there was 7 steps to get to that "ground" level and the water was brown. They said it had been tested and was safe but we DID NOT drink it. This motel was in Kenai. Tonight we are in Palmer. We kind of retraced some of our previous route but we had to do that in order to get here. It was raining this morning (as it was yesterday morning). It took it longer to clear up today than it did yesterday. (Phyllis probably mentioned that in her writing yesterday.) We had breakfast this morning at a bakery/breakfast place called "Moose on the Loose!" Then we located the Church of Nazarene in Soldotna and attended their church service. There were probably 50-75 people there. There were no children in the service so we don't really know how many there were. We stopped in Cooper's Landing at Gwins for a bite of lunch. We tried to be "smart" and just had soup. It was one busy place. I think all the Sunday people were out doing their fishing, sight seeing, etc. The roads were quite busy too. Coming into this place, we saw several people lining the river stream doing fly fishing. We visited with a young man who said he had been fishing for halibut. It is a busy fishing time. When I get pictures loaded, you will see one that we took yesterday of a fisherman unloading his catch at a cannery. We took a little 15-mile side trip to Hope. It was a beautiful scenic drive. The road was lined on both sides with trees, a stream run along not far from the road and on the other side and ahead was gorgeous mountains. All along the road, there was a lumber project and they were harvesting some of the dead trees. Along the Seward highway, we saw mountains with slopes of snow. It was like they were striped among the green grass and trees. The tops of the mountains were shrouded in clouds. In some cases, there were clouds in the middle of the mountain and clouds at the top. It made them look even more beautiful. In many places along the road, there was water gushing along little gullies down the mountains and others, it was like it was coming out of the rocks. It made for a beautiful drive. After arriving here in Palmer, we had supper at the Noisy Goose restaurant. I "think" maybe before we get home, we may get the eating thing down but the portions they serve are SO HUGE! Well, I've rambled enough and will add some pictures. Some of you are wondering about the size of the animals. If you double click on the picture that is posted, it will resize and make it much larger and it will fill your whole computer screen. At least I think it will -- it does for me.

Fri June 20 & Sat June 21

Friday, June 20, 2008

This is Phyllis. We didn’t have internet last night, even tho the motel said we did, so this is a day late, and will include Saturday also, since we are in the same room as last night. Before leaving Seward, we ate breakfast again at the Bakery. We learned, while in Seward that they had a major earthquake in 1964, which was followed within minutes with a tsunami, which destroyed a lot of the town and especially the coastal area. We learned all this information while visiting the local museum. It was a small place, but so many antiques. It was a step back in time for myself and Ila. We stopped at the Exit Glacier, but since it was a half mile walk, we decided to pass. It can be seen from the roadway. This was a day of mostly travel. We had a motel reserved and finally found it. It was at Kenai Landing, which is a work in progress. It is a fish cannery that part of it is being converted into a fish market, restaurant and motel rooms. After finding our room we went into Kenai, to explore. We found Veronica’s restaurant, which was recommended to us by the lady at the Museum. Once again we overate, which needs to change or we won’t fit into our clothes. In Kenai we saw a Russian Orthodox Church and some older buildings with it. We drove to the Cook Inlet hoping to see Buluga Whales, but they didn’t bother to show. So it was to the motel for the night.


Saturday, June 21,2008
The morning started out raining, so we just stayed in the room until it let up. Actually the day turned sunny and very nice after we go on the road. The road took us along Cook Inlet, which is a beautiful sight when we could see it for the trees. Breakfast was at the Kasilof Mercantile. We stopped in Nimilchik, where we saw another Russian Orthodox Church and Cemetery. There was also a war memorial cemetery in the same area which the American Legion maintained. We drove down to the beach where we saw a great number of people digging clams. We visited with a young man who had found several and he explained how to cook them. Also there was a fishing boat in and they were unloading a great number of halibut. They brought them from the boat in a large basket and deposited them in a long trough where they were weighed and then put in large containers filled with ice. There is a small cannery there but we don’t know if that was where they were being processed. These fish were very large, some looked to be over three feet long and very heavy.
We drove down to an old Russian Village, where there are three communities. Some doing everything the old way, another village where some things are improved, and in the third village where they operate modern. We arrived in Homer and we drove out on the Homer Spit. It is about 5 miles long and full of fishermen, and bunches of tourists. There were some brave souls wind surfing on the Kachenak Bay. Their sails were very pretty. We ate supper(or whatever we want to call it) in Homer before heading back to Kenai. We made one stop to see what is called the Erector Set Bridge, and then headed for the motel. Tomorrow we plan to attend the Nazarene Church in Soldotna, then on the road again. We really wish if anyone is reading these blogs, that you would comment. It is not that difficult and lets us know that you are out there.

Pics Thurs June 19, 2008

This set of pictures was taken while on our cruise today. Here a bald eagle sits perched up high.
Here are harbor seals sunning themselves on the rocks. We watched and listened to this glacier for quite a long time. Some of the ice actually did calve off while we were sitting but I never caught that on camera. You can see the pieces of ice in the water in front of the glacier.

I wasnt' quick enough to catch the beautiful tails of the humpback whales or the dall porpoises. But it was a beautiful day and we saw MORE beautiful things and scenes.

Pics Wed June 18, 2008

This was taken along the highway as we drove from Anchorage to Seward. Another beautiful scene. We made several stops along the way just to "look!"
If you zoom this up (by double clicking on the picture itself, you will see Dall sheep on the rocks.

We stopped at a conservation center which had the animals contained in large areas so they were somewhat free to roam. This grizzly decided to just sit down by the fence.
In Seward, we went to a sea world that was inside a building but so many neat fish, and water animals. This is a puffin. It was really putting on quite a show but my one p icture I tried to get just didn't turn out.

Hi! This is Linda today. Today was the day of our tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was an 8 hour cruise. No, it wasn't a three hour cruise that ended in a shipwreck on a deserted isle like Gilligan and friends. We saw a sea otter, several harbor seals on rocks, bald eagles, puffins, a humpback whale, 5 or 6 pods (families) of orcas, a humpback whale, and several Dahl's porpoises. They actually stayed with our boat and played for quite a while. We were told that it was a perfect day since we saw everything there was to see and the weather was good.

We also got to see and hear a glacier making it's sounds as well as calving. That is when a piece of it falls into the ocean.

Once again we got to eat. Our all-you-can-eat buffet included prime rib, salmon, rice pilaf, lettuce salad with mandarin oranges and sour dough bread. That was later than planned since we were busy watching animals at 2 when we were supposed to have it. Then later we had (once again) all-you-can-eat dessert. It included brownies, carrot cake, sugar-free jello, cheese cake and fruit. Of course there was coffee, tea, pop, and water to drink. Actually there were other things to drink, but we didn't know what they were, so we chose not to imbibe in them. They weren't our type of drinks.

The steller sea lions were in their rookery and it is calving season for them. Last night at the sea life center they had a live feed of them where we saw them today and it too was very interesting.

We also saw other birds and some of them were nesting literally in rocks on a cliff. There was a park ranger on our boat and she was very informative. She told us that only 1/4 of mountain goats reach adulthood. Their main predator is their habitat. In other words they just fall. Looking at them, it is no wonder! We also saw a family of them today. Some things were difficult to capture in pictures because they were so quick or far away.

Tomorrow it will be off to Kenai by way of Exit Glacier. We are told you can drive and walk to it. We'll be in Kenai two nights since we will go to Homer from there and return. A lot of places in Alaska have to be visited by going back and forth over the same road. Have a nice day and please do comment so that we know someone is actually reading this!

Wed, June 18, 2008 Day 22

This is Ila writing tonight! We are putting the finishing touches on our day #22 of this trip. We left Anchorage around 9 am this morning to head on our way to Seward. We are traversing to the south of Alaska now. We traveled along the Turnagain Arm down the coastline. We had all "studied" our Milepost books and made several stops along the way. The tide was out so we didn't get to see the beluga whales but we have hopes of seeing them tomorrow. We did spot some Dall sheep (a momma, baby and ((we think)) daddy(s)). We found an ice cream shop along the way too. We stopped at a salmon weir where they count and determine the sex of every salmon that is released to go up to the lake. The young lady said she is "an expert of sorts" in being able to do all that. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This was a 140-acre "contained" wildlife center. We saw a grizzly bear REALLY UP CLOSE but there was an electric fence between it and us. We also saw musk ox, wood bison, black bear, buffalo, moose, elk. It was the closest encounter we have had with most of the animals. After arriving in Seward, we went to the sea life center. It is inside and so much sea life. Very interesting place. It is actually a rehabilitation center for the sealife it contains. We had a good supper but then, that really isn't anything new. It seems the meals are always SO big/SO much! By the time I get home, I think I will be ready to cook for myself for a time! That probably won't last long! Tomorrow we are off on an 8-hour cruise and hope to see lots of things that we haven't seen yet but they make "no guarantees." Guess I'm not too exciting tonight!

Pics Sun Jun 15 & Tue Jun 17

This is part of the Memorial to Alaskan Veterans that we found along the road from Wasilla to Anchorage. There are five of these concrete markers -- one for each branch of the armed forces. Guess if you can't tell, I am a proponent for recognizing the men and women who have and are serving to preserve my (AND YOUR) freedom. The young man who led our tour at Eielson Air Force, when I thanked him for his service, he said something to the effect, "I serve so you can be free to enjoy this wonderful country of ours." What a message!
This picture is looking down one of the main streets in downtown Anchorage where we drove tonight. It just struck me the beauty of the building with the mountains on each side in the background.

Tomorrow we will move farther south and it appears we will have more beautiful scenes to look at. We feel so blessed to be healthy physically and financially able to do what we are doing. It seems our devotionals are tying right in to all the beauty that lies around us. God is good and we are certainly praising him for His continued protection and His love. We continue to pray for many of our friends and church family at home as well.

Tues, June 17, 2008

Hi, this is Phyllis tonight.
We are still in Anchorage tonight. It was really kind of an uneventful day if you count sightseeing. We spent a while this morning securing rooms for the next four nights. This took quite a lot of time. After knowing that we had a room in Seward for tomorrow evening, we booked an 8 hour marine tour for Thursday. Maybe we will see some whales, otters, etc., but if the word gets out among the CRITTERS that we are coming, we may not .
We knew that there were people here in Anchorage that we knew ,so this was our day to make contact. First we called Gavin and Alecia Gardner. Gavin is stationed here at the Elmendorf Air Force Base. Alecia and the children met us for lunch. What a special family. Nehemia will be in first grade, Evelyn will be in kindergarden, and Lilian is probably about 1 1/2. Alecia took us on a tour of the Base, where she always sees wild life, and the word got out and there were none. We got to see Gavin briefly, since he was busy with an inspection.
Later me met Melody Paynter. Her parents used to be the youth pastors at the Nazarene Church in Osky. Melody is a nanny for a family here in Anchorage and does some stage management at some of the local theaters. We had dairy (aka ice cream) at a neat place downtown. It was good to visit with Melody and get caught up on her life.
The scenery here in Anchorage is spectatular, with mountains all around. The only problem is that it NEVER gets dark, at least until we are fast asleep. They will celebrate the solstice this weekend, which is the longest day of sunlight. By winter, the sun barely rises about the horizon. This has been a really good day and was nice to spend some down time. I'm sure there will be lots of exciting things to see tomorrow on the way to Seward.
Thanks for you continued prayers and we love to read YOUR comments, so keep them coming.

Sat June 14

On Saturday, we took a bus tour into Denali National Park. We had barely driven out of the parking lot on the bus when here was the moose along side the road.
On the way back down from the top (Eielsen Visitor Center), this grizzly bear was walking along a creek bed just eating and meandering his way to where ever. We watched him for quite some time. Sure hope you can figure out how to zoom this up. Driver said he was young maybe 5-6 years old.
This too was on our way down. Was a group of dall sheep just laying on the hillside. Everything we saw on the way up was too far away and I didn't even try to get pictures. They certainly know they are protected. Were not the least bit disturbed by the presence of the bus.
This is the other side of the mountain from where we took the picture at the motel the night before. Again, it is hard to get all of it because the clouds keep it hidden most of the time. But it is a gorgeous sight even when partially covered. You will note there is still quite a bit of snow. They say that usually it is all gone by now. So unusual weather patterns all over the place.

Hope you are all enjoying the pictures. We are sure having fun taking them. Will try to post some from Sunday later. I didn't take any at all today (Mon, June 16)

Pics Fri June 13

If you can zoom this up, you will see the mother moose and baby who came from the timber on the Air Force base (near Fairbanks) and walked across the road as we were doing our tour.
This was also at Eielsen Air Force Base near Fairbanks. It is Heritage Park, a memorial they have established on the base to honor the veterans who have served there. There was much more to the park but I thought the flags were special. I believe there was one for each state of the union.
This was the view of Mt McKinley from the window of our motel on Friday night. Couldn't really see the top but was a beautiful scene anyway.

This is Ila doing the narrative on pictures. (Mon, June 16)

Monday, June 16 - Day 20 This is Linda writing. Last night we stayed in a very nice Bed and Breakfast. Our room was the Iditerod room so, of course, it was decorated with all sorts of memorabilia. We had a dogsled hanging on the wall, pictures, and even a stuffed sled dog on one of the beds.

Nothing seemed to work out for us very well today. We spent all morning planning for tomorrow and today and shopping for some necessities. This afternoon we tried to see the Hatcher Pass road and it wasn't open yet for the season. Then we tried to find a place to ride in a dogsled, but they just weren't what we had anticipated, so we gave up on that. Tonight we are in Ancorage and will probably still be here tomorrow night. We ate at Gwennie's tonight as it had been highly recommended and it was very good, but 2 to 3 times what we could eat.

We also had laundry to do tonight, so we are quite tired. Have a nice day.

Sun June 15

We went back to Rose's for breakfast and it was good. We spent some time trying to find a place to stay tonight and then discovered we were almost late for church. We had scoped out a little Assembly of God church Saturday night so didn't have far to go. It was a small congregation and at least five of us were visitors. Not like home church but God is everywhere if we only allow Him to be.

When we left there, we went back to Denali and checked out the sled dog training session but decided against it because it was outdoors and was threatening rain. Down the road we went. We made one stop and took some pictures of Mt McKinley. The mountain was "out" and we think we got some decent shots. We then stopped at the Alaskan Veterans Memorial. It has a concrete pillar for each branch of the armed forces with a memorial plaque for each one. It was a humbling place for me (Ila). Another good place for pictures of the mountain.

We went on to Talkeetna and shared a pizza at Mountain High Pizza Place. It was a real tourist place because of the trains that come in. There were lots of tour buses there to pick up people. It was interesting to watch the people come and go at the pizza place. We think we observed a touch of the "local flavor" there.

We are now in Wasilla and are staying at Pioneer Ridge Bed & Breakfast. We have the Iditerod room. We have two twin beds and one double/queen (?) so we will each have our own "space" tonight. This will spoil us once again but sometimes, that is nice.

Sat, June 14

Once again Ila, Phyllis & Linda are doing this as a joint effort. We got up early this day because we had a two-hour drive back to Denali to catch a 10 am tour into the park. Because we had no heat in the room, it was a little chilly. Cheap is as cheap does! As we drove back up to Denali, it seemed the mountains has just disappeared overnight. The clouds had settled in and simply covered them up. We arrived in plenty of time. The tour began around 10:15. We had a nice bus driver name Sam. He told us he was not going to talk all the time (for which I ((Ila)) said, "Thank Heavens.") But he did tell us he would answer all our questions because he had a lot information to tell us. And he did. Before we were hardly out of the parking lot, we saw a young moose. The tour took us up to the newly opened Eielsen Visitor Center, which was about 66 miles. Along the way up, we saw two sow grizzlies with two cubs each in different locations and quite far away. They were actually too far away to get pictures. We also saw some caribou and some dall sheep far away. When we got to the top, there was Mt McKinley, robed in a cloud. They stated it was only partially out. She had been "out" about 15 minutes during the morning according to the ranger. We ate our lunch there while sitting looking at the mountains all around us. A man who was on the tour with us said last year at this time, there was no snow on the mountains and this year there is quite a lot. Going down we saw a grizzly up close. We had a long time to view him. He was just moseying along, eating leaves and pretty much ignoring us. For those of you who might wonder, rules did NOT let us get off the bus OR put any body parts outside the windows. We saw several dall sheep much closer. We have a fairly decent picture of these too and will share when we can get our computer to work again. (We don't think we have a computer problem. It is just that everywhere we hook into a wireless system, it seems to be different and simply doesn't always work.) The road to the top was very narrow and very steep. There were many buses going to and fro. Many places the bus had to stop in order for another to pass and on some corners, he actually stopped in order to turn the corner and go on. Those in the outside seats say it appeared the nose of the bus was actually over the edge before he turned the corner. It was a LONG way down -- straight down. The driver said at that point, he was our "best friend."

Motel last night was Denali RV & Motel. They had spaces for all types of campers/RVs and some motel rooms as well. The room was pretty small but we made it work. Was supposed to have internet access but just would not work. We did find a really nice cafe for supper (Rose's Cafe) just down the road in Healy AK. Phyllis & I indulged in rabbit food, then fruit aka double cherry pie and Ila's was protein in the form of chocolate peanut butter pie. Linda was "good" and had a hamburger.

Fri June 13

This is Ila writing with Phyllis and Linda dictating. We haven't been able to blog since Thursday evening so are going to separate the days just so we can know what we have been doing. We are using computer at the bed & breakfast because can't get ours to work tonight either.

We went to Eielsen Air Force base and met up with about 10 other people for a tour of the base. The Air Force personnel guided the tour and it was somewhat limited because they had exercises going on so some places were "off limits." But Ila had wanted to see this base because her brother was stationed there during his tour of Army duty in the early 50's. We got some nice pictures and will have to share them another time. When we were just ready to board our bus at one stop point, a mother moose and her young calf came out of the timber and across the road. The Air Force guy said that sometimes they get out on the runway because there is no fence between the base and the timber.

Then we stopped at the North Pole to see Santa's workshop there. Mr and Mrs Santa were there along with some of the reindeer. One reindeer had an itch and was having a terrible time trying to scratch because it couldn't get around the huge antlers. We aren't sure how it was even able to hold its head up because those antlers were so large.

Then we went on down the road toward Denali National Park. We stopped for lunch at Nenana and there we met a lady originally from Ottumwa whose mother was Greg Comstock's sister. The lady's name was Marg Riley. She and her husband lived in Nenana and he had won the Iditerod in 1977. What a small world!

We got lunch supplies in Cantwell for the 8-hour trip into Denali the next day. We spent the night at Mary's Mt McKinley View Lodge -- no heat, no phone, no TV, no internet, small room, pinned the curtains closed to keep out the nighttime daylight. It wasn't the best place we have stayed but the price was right. At that point in time, we were looking for that. We COULD see Mt McKinley from our window but not the top because there were clouds.

This is Linda writing tonight and we really didn't do a lot today. That's probably because yesterday was so full. It was really special to go to the Arctic Circle, walk on the tundra and touch the pipeline. The driver was extremely well-informed and interesting. All the special things they had to do with the pipeline were especially interesting. It took a lot of engineering to take 185 degree product out of the ground and move it thousands of miles without disturbing the environment, especially the perma frost. The perma frost is extremely interesting also.

Well, this morning we got a late start since we got to bed late last night. We went to Wal-Mart and went to see where we were going to go on a river boat ride this afternoon. Then we decided we really didn't want to go on the riverboat ride so we canceled it and went to deliver the Sterzing's potatoe chips. Of course we had to visit while we were there. We had planned to spend the night there, but the accomodations weren't what we expected so we decided to return to Fairbanks for the night. Of course there is construction involved and Sally doesn't know about it, so she was a hindrance to us. We decided to forget her. By the way, Sally is Phyllis's GPS system. Sometimes she is quite helpful and at other times she is a hindrance.

So today has mostly been a day of rest. We have reservations for the next two nights, and tomorrow night we have no internet, so don't expect a blog again until Saturday. Also, Ila has contracted a cold, so feel free to pray for her. Have a nice day!

Pics Thurs June 12

This is a picture of the tundra which we walked on. It was pretty squishy sod-type stuff
We delivered a carton of Sterzing potato chips to the man that owns this lodge. He was originally from Ft Madison Iowa and has a brother who still lives in Eldon Iowa. He has lived here since 1967.
This is picture of the Alaskan pipeline. If you note the apparatus on the front (facing you) pole, they are rubber bumpers that are there because the pipeline fluctuates and moves back and forth.

Pics Tues 6-10, Wed 6-11, Thurs 6-12

Here we are at the Alaska border (Tues June 10). Couple from MO took the picture
We had lunch at Chicken Alaska. Guess what -- chicken soup, fruit & dairy (AGAIN!)
This is the Robertson River. If you look really close, there are several thick, solid pieces of ice. It would help if you can zoom it up. The thickness is probably 4-5 ft but hard to tell from the top.
I hope you can zoom this picture because just to the right of the pole is a mother moose and a baby. If I hadn't been so "tight," my pictures would be better. BUT, you have to understand that I am cleaning out pictures at home and throwing them away. So buying a new camera just didn't make any sense.

Here I am at the Arctic Circle. We all got individual pictures and mine are the only ones we can upload because no one else has their cable. So you are stuck looking at me.

Day #15 June 11, 2008

This is Ila writing Phyllis' thoughts. Wake up call 4:30 am. Arrived at tour place for 6:30 tour to the Arctic Circle. There were 20 plus in a mini bus but it was nice -- good ride and able to see well. First stop was at a little place called Joy where we discovered the owner was from Red Oak Iowa originally. We rode and rode and rode and rode -- some of the road was good and some nasty -- we rode and rode and rode. The driver was very informative but he never shut up. We stopped at various places ie the pipeline (several times), the tundra (where we got out and walked). We took sack lunch but ate at the Yukon River Lodge. Then on up the mountain. Finallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy we reached the Arctic Circle where the driver put out a red carpet for us to walk on, got our individual pictures taken and served us cake & topping, which he called something else but we can't remember what. Back down the mountain. Made several more stops. Supper was at the Yukon River Lodge -- Phyllis had some kind of chicken with noodles, Ila had salmon w/rice and veggies, Linda had salad, pie/w ice cream. Good but too expensive. Continue on and stopped again at Joy. Now this was a "pit" stop and the "pits" were wooden outhouses but OH SO WELCOME! Finally back to Fairbanks about 9:30 pm where we got our certificate. It was a long day. Every time the door of the bus was opened, there were hordes of mosquitos who migrated inside. They seem to be larger than Iowas' and a little sluggish so sometimes you can kill them.

Sun June 8, Mon June 9, Tues June 10

Well this is Ila and we will "together" try to cover days 12, 13, 14. Sunday am we got up in Whitehorse, dressed for church and went to Tim Horton's for breakfast. (Need to watch in US for this chain) To my friend, Margaret Ademeit, they are going to run real close to Dunkin Donuts in Branson!! HA! Jaarsma is safe! We also went to the visitor center and they helped us call ahead for room reservation in Dawson City. We knew we would not have phone service so were trying to cover all bases before we left "civilization." We were going to practice being "pioneers" w/o phones and internet!!!! As we sat eating breakfast, the snow began to come down heavier, so we decided God "might" forgive us if we just had our own church in the vehicle and started on down the road. Ila seems to have gotten the "preaching" responsiblity and believe it or not, we soon ran out of the snow and the day turned out to be a little rain, clouds, and a little sun. It took us a LONG time to get to Dawson City, where we stayed at Klondike Kates in a nice little cabin. We drove to the top of Dome Peak, which Linda says was the highlight of "her" whole trip. I think emphasis should be on the "high" part. Linda parked really close to the only wall she could find and did NOT get out of the van and then we "crept" carefully down the mountain only to arrive safely at the bottom. Phyllis offered to drive but Linda vehemently said NO! It seems she has been "down this road" before. That pretty much tells that days story.

Monday, Day#13 -- we went to grocery store and purchased some fruit and peanut butter. Oh Rusty, it is healthy --no salt, no sugar -- made by Kraft! Then we proceeded to the ferry, which took us across the river to the begin our trek on the Top of the World highway heading toward the Alaskan border. We saw our first and last animal of this day when a pretty fox run up the road a ways ahead of and then disappeared into the ditch. This road was a somewhat challenging, interesting, horrible, holey (big holes), dips, bumps, dust, loose gravel, no guardrails in some places, no shoulders. We arrived at customs about 11:45 am Alaska time (that is a 3-hour time difference from Iowa). We talked with a lady who had taught at Hong Kong University (phy ed) and her husband was from Holland. They now live in one of the Canadian provinces. His brother and wife had flown from Delph, Holland and met them to travel in Alaska. Then we stopped at the "welcome to Alaska" sign and a couple from Missouri took our pictures there. To be honest, the road on the Alaska side was worse looking than the Canadian side but Linda says it was easier to drive consistently on at 15 mph. There were times when we met someone that we simply stopped and let people go by because there were warning signs that the shoulders were extremely soft. Now if you wonder just how long it took us to traverse this road, we passed a couple who were brushing their teeth. We aren't sure how long they had been on the way, but nonetheless, there they stood brushing away. We arrived at Chicken, Alaska and stopped at the Chicken Creek Cafe for, guess what, chicken soup, sandwich (they were turkey & ham). But we found fruit and dairy again, in the form of apple, cherry and blueberry pie with ice cream. When we began the final leg of this road(?), from Chicken to Tok, it was declared that if we had to go 15 mph, someone was going to walk. Tok offered some challenges in finding a motel for the night but we did finally manage to get one. Not sure what was going on in town (except for a pancake throw, which we missed finding), but the motels were pretty much all full and we were lucky to get into the last one in town that had any rooms. It was called Tok Motel -- imagine that. We learned from that experience and called ahead for reservation for tonight in Fairbanks. That proved to be a bit of challenge because a cruise boat was in the area and many of the motels in FB were already full.

Day 14 -- We left Tok about 7:30 am (that was record for us) and thought surely there would be some animals out for breakfast but, we saw a couple of rabbits, a couple of ground squirrels and some birds. We saw deep ice on the Robertson River and got some pictures. (With maybe a little luck, we will send pictures.) Then closer to Fairbanks, we stopped at Delta Meats, that is run by a couple from near Ponca, NE in USA. They raise their own meat and we sampled and purchased some of their sausage (reindeer summer sausage). After leaving there, we then stopped at Rika's Roadhouse for lunch. We had delicious potato soup and didn't indulge in any more fruit and dairy here. Then we stopped at the Knotty Gift Shop and Lodge. They had a deal if you showed their ad in the Milepost book, you could have a free ice cream cone. Then we headed on into Fairbanks. At the very edge of the Eilsen Air Force Base, just before the sign that said No Stopping, No Pictures, No Parking, the car ahead of us stopped and Linda spotted a moose. So, since Phyllis has taught the van how to do a UTurn, we did two and also got some pictures. Once we got stopped, not only was there a moose, but also a baby. It seemed the baby was inside the air base fence and the adult was outside the fence. Not sure why or how that happened but we got some pictures. Then we traveled on into Fairbanks and found our motel (Super 8). We have reservations here for two nights. Our day tomorrow begins with a wake-up call at 4:30 am and we are leaving on an Arctic Circle tour at 6 am that is scheduled to return at 10:30-11 pm. We probably will no blog until the next morning.

This is Ila! Sunday AM frustration. I loaded pictures from yesterday and noted that we MAY not be where we can blog tonight. Now I seem to have "lost" what I tried to post and can't find it. I'm sure it will appear sometime but I'm not going to frustrate myself "on Sunday" trying to find it. Just wanted you to know so you wouldn't worry if we don't post tonight. We are not certain exactly where we will be nor whether they will have internet access nor indoor plumbing.

Pics Sat June 7

This is a 1942 building at the airport in Watson Lake. It reminds me of the some of the buildings I remember at the airport in Ottumwa that were built during WWII. Appears to still be used.
This was signpost conglomerate at Watson Lake. They are from ALL OVER the world. Even found some from Iowa. Someone has spent a lot of time putting this together and maintaining it. Phyllis says it probably covers a city block.
This was a "shot" out the front window of van going up (since we are going north) the road toward Whitehorse YT. We have seen similar scenes many times over and over BUT they are so beautiful.

This is Ila this morning. We have looked ahead and think we may not have access to blog tonight. Just don't want people worrying if they don't see anything. Some of the places we stop are kind of out in the middle of "nowhere!" We are hoping to find a motel before we reach Dawson City that has indoor plumbing. We are off to Tim Horton (chain) for breakfast (we think), maybe go to the visitor center to call ahead for a motel/cabin (?), and then to church before we leave Whitehorse. So will be after noon before we get on the road.

This is the post from Sunday am of pictures that I couldn't figure out how to post. Even though late, how you will enjoy.

Saturday, June 7 - Day 11

Good evening! This is Linda. We are in Whitehorse, Yukon and we arrived at 4:45 at our hotel. We will not be telephoning anyone until we get to Alaska, aka God's country, the USA. The Bell system seems to have everything locked up here so that no other phone systems are allowed to function. Once again today we have seen a lot of beautiful country that God has created. He did make it on the dusty side though in this area. Yesterday we started noticing sand and it is everywhere now.

Today at noon we made an astounding discovery. We ate at Muckaluck Annie's Salmon Bake and Ila and I had salmon. As I was eating mine and peering at it I remarked, "Now I see where the color 'salmon' gets it's name!" Imagine this, salmon is the color salmon! Aren't I brilliant?! Of course my children already knew that. (Right kids?) We've decided that dinner was the highlight of the day today so far at least. It was unique and tasty and, of course, pricey.

Generally speaking, we have had very good weather. We did wear our coats at the glacier, but of course then we were on a glacier and they have a tendency to be cold. It has rained on us a few times while we were driving and yesterday it poured a while so much that I pulled off for a while. I believe today is the first day that we haven't ran the air conditioner at all in the van.

Someone asked at one time about the driving. Generally speaking we started out each driving about a third each, but the past 3 or 4 days I have done most of the driving. Yesterday morning we got the van serviced to the tune of $69. They charged $25 labor in addition to the filter and oil itself. We find everything to be getting higher and higher as we go north. Gas yesterday was $5.80 when converted to gallons. The good thing is that our dollar is converting close to even with the Canadian dollar. Ours is just worth a little bit less than the Canadian.

Last night we visited with a couple at the Air Force Lodge from Switzerland and 6 people from Ohio. One of them had had a mastectomy on the 25th of May. Of course one of the people in their group was a retired doctor. I'm not the only one leaving on a large adventure soon after a minor medical problem.

We learned last Sunday at church that in Lethbridge, Alberta, like at home, they don't have cashiers at Wal-Mart when you need them.

DF in Texas, please email me at my home address, so that I can reply to you with a neat thing I have to tell you about.

Today we learned that the bikers went on to meet their wives in Alaska, so you needn't be concerned about that. Their wives were flying there to meet them instead of riding with them on their Harleys.

Once again, have a nice day, evening, or whatever time of day is ahead when you are reading this. Don't forget to go to church on Sunday.