Sep 26, 2016 - Week 24 9/19-9/25 YEA! Porksteaks

Week 24 9/19-9/25 I forgot about the coin pickup with the forklift. My son, Jason, brags about being able to pick up a quarter with a forklift. So, of course this first time I get to use a forklift I had to try it. I didn’t have a quarter so I used a nickel. I tried to upload a video of it to this site but it’s too large so you’ll just have to take my word for it. I do have video of it that I was able to upload to Facebook. I think I also forgot to mention that the Klondike Doughboy was selling used pants. Their post on Facebook said for...

Sep 19, 2016 - Week 23 9/12-18 White Castles in Alaska

Monday I don’t really have anything for today. So, I’ll just share this. I thought of an idea for a new cartoon character today, based on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her statement about Trump supporters being in a basket of deplorables. I thought about it when I connected it with the movie “The Despicables” and the minion characters in it. Then there would be Despicables and Deplorables. I don’t know what despicables live in but I know that my deplorables will live in a basket. Watch for my characters soon, and don’t forget it was my...

Sep 16, 2016 - The Kindness of Strangers

The Kindness of Strangers One of my favorite things about travel is the intersection of people's lives. I love the seemingly random mix of being in the right place at the right time to meet someone you otherwise would have never known. It's not that these chance meetings need to be the start of a life long friendship, but for a moment in time, you have an opportunity to have an interaction that in some small way, defines your experience on that trip or maybe even informs your view of life. And so it happened for us in Anchorage, Alaska. We...

Sep 14, 2016 - 10 Things I Learned About Hiking in Alaska

10 Things I Learned About Hiking in Alaska John and I are in Anchorage, Alaska, for just a few days for a work meeting he's attending. Before we got here, a couple of his colleagues expressed an interest in doing a hike up Flat Top Mountain, one of the most popular sights in Anchorage. The concept sounded OK to me so I checked out the web listing and watched a video that showed families of all ages taking a leisurely walk in the park, if you will. There were lots of well-established paths that looked more like sidewalks and everyone looked...

Sep 13, 2016 - Week 22 9/5-9/11 Fish Eggs!! or What Goes Around Comes Around

Monday I saw a guy across the street pushing a wheel chair with someone in it either wearing a poncho or just wrapped in plastic. I thought it looked like a little old lady and I thought about the Chevy Chase movie “Vacation.” I could just imagine someone on a cruise with their elderly grandmother who dies like Imogene Coca did in “National Lampoons, Vacation.” The grandson decides he is not about to let this ruin their cruise that the grandmother probably paid for. So, at every port he wraps her up and puts her in the wheel chair and...

Sep 5, 2016 - Week 21- 8/29-9/4 Well, it's been a quiet week in Skagway

On the way to the Outpost open house we met my co-worker that was going with us out at Dyea. He showed us where the Slide Cemetery was and we walked around it. I just realized why it might be called the Slide Cemetery. A lot of the people buried there were killed in a big avalanche/snow slide on the trail in 1898. The Chilkoot Outpost Open House was nice yesterday evening. The Salmon was very good along with the baked potato and coleslaw. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any s’mores around a campfire like was mentioned in the...

Sep 5, 2016 - Hyder & Sewart

On our way to Hyder we stopped at Jade City. They are doing a reality show here and you had to sign off that it was OK that they took your picture. We were thinking what in the world would they make a reality show of. This place has nothing else around it and it’s off a dusty road. You had to be very careful driving on the road and watch for all kinds of animals. We stayed one night at a very small RV camp that overlooked the fall mountains and had a nice fishing lake. We stopped on the road and turned off the RV to watch a mother...

Sep 1, 2016 - Back in Anchorage to rest up and get Elgs to airport

I was under the weather so Gail, Ron and Marsha went to see the Earthquake park at edge of Anchorage and Cook Inlet. Of course rain is moving in this evening and for 4-5 days. Right when we have to drive into Canada past Destruction Bay, where the name is appropriate!

Aug 31, 2016 - Side trip to Whittier for glacier cruise

Drove over thru the tunnel in to Whittier. On the hour exit Whittier and on half hour enter. I think train goes when ever it wants! :_) The train tracks go right down the middle of a one lane tunnel so we all share. We got to see a humpback(?) spouting and diving along the way and a couple of seals.

Aug 29, 2016 - Fairbanks Alaska

Went to Visitors information when we first got here. They have a great museum with informative information about the area. We learned a lot about the local Alaska Indian art, music, stories and dance. It was interesting to learn how the Indians even to this day, strictly live off the land. They eat what they catch or kill and make all their clothing from these products. They gather berries, mushrooms and grow all their own vegetables. The visitors Information was well worth the stop We went to Pike’s Landing for dinner where Graham and I...

Aug 29, 2016 - Cooper Landing at The Princess Lodge (rv park)

We stayed at the lodge/rv park where Princess Cruise lines lodges people when they pass thru this area. Very nice view down to the river from the dining room. These pics from afternoon of day 1 and walk to river is on day 2 - couldn't co-ordinate cruise and float trip very well. Next day on this blog at Whittier, we actually were still staying at this RV park. I have a picture of the balcony dining room but can't find it at the moment!

Aug 29, 2016 - good bye Ketchikan

Lazy, rainy morning. Went to the Saxman Native Village to see more totem poles. Busloads of cruise ship passengers were on tours here. We walked around, looked at the poles, glanced in the workshop and eavesdropped on some of the tours. Would have liked to go into the clan house but that was for tour groups only. We then went back to the Alaska Fish House for lunch, wandered around the tourist shops ( there were several cruise ships in today) and went to pick up the fish we were going to take with us. Tried to get a little rest in as we had...