Jun 18, 2013 - HELLO ALASKA!!!

Friday June 14 – FLAG DAY We left Dawson City, Yukon this morning, crossed the Yukon River on the free public ferry and headed up the Top of the World Highway. Quoting Ginger, “OH MY GOD”! The scenery is outstanding – of the Ogilvie and other distant snow-capped mountains, huge ravines and valleys. The road is aptly named! Not much for wildlife though – we saw a small critter run across the road which I am pretty sure was a large marten. We did a lot of climbing and a lot of descending today. At times the road was very dusty (almost all of...

Jun 18, 2013 - Eagle

Sat June 15, 2013 We left the campground early this morning to head back up the Taylor Highway 30 miles to the junction of Boundary Road, then north another 65 miles to the little village of Eagle on the Yukon River. It took 3-1/2 hours to cover the 95 miles of gravel road and we didn’t see any wildlife! But we did enjoy our visit in Eagle. It is a town of about 140 and fluctuates by 20 or so one way or the other. The only way to access Eagle until the 1950s when the road was built was by foot, dogsled (still a popular means of travel),...

Jun 18, 2013 - Arrival in Tok

Mon June 17, 2013 Sunny and it got to 83 again today. Today was a work/kick back day. We met Dave and his wife, Susan, this morning at Fast Eddy’s for breakfast. Then it was a trip to the visitor center, fuel up, fill a propane cylinder, wash and clean the inside of the truck, laundry. Hmmm – I guess there wasn’t much kick back involved! Well, at least we got a few things done. There are red flag warnings in much of Alaska. It has been warm, windy and dry. Campfires and burning have been banned. Not to worry – we’ll stay out of the paths of...

Jun 17, 2013 - Stayed over in Fairbanks

Today we went to Pioneer Park which has an old paddle wheel boat, an old train car from way back in the day, and has some old cabins that had been turned into little shops, however there was only one thing opened, I don’t know why nothing was opened as it was around 10:30, oh well we just walked around saw some old equipment and then headed out to find an RV dealer for a piece of drainage hose Buddy needed for the trailer, did not find it there so we tried Home Depot and Lowes which is where he bought one, but when he got back to the...

Jun 17, 2013 - Day trip by boat to Seldovia

Date: June 18, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Homer, AK Weather: brilliant sunshine, almost no wind Temperature: start 51º High 75º Wildlife count: Sea Otters Year List: 256 Birds: Song Sparrow, Common Murre, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Common Raven, Northwestern Crows, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Tufted Puffin, Pigeon Guillemot, Black-billed Magpie, Steller Jay, Tree Swallows, Violet-green Swallows This was an absolutely stunning day for a boat ride. The skies were bright blue and there was very little day breeze. We left Homer Harbor on...

Jun 17, 2013 - Fairbanks - River Boat Ride, Day 17

June 17, 2013…Fairbanks, Alaska. John cleaned the bugs off the windshield (again!!) and the front of the Roadtrek. Now that’s a job! Traveling creates quite a bug collection. At 1:15 pm, we boarded the shuttle bus from the campground to the Chena River dock. After obtaining our boarding passes, we boarded the riverboat for the three-hour cruise. We chose the top deck (4th level). The Discovery III Riverboat left the dock at 2:00 pm. The Binkley family began the riverboat cruises in the 1950s. A bush pilot flew his float plane off the river,...

Jun 17, 2013 - Wedding Crashers

We decided on our day off to take a Flight seeing tour over the park. (one of those perks for us as companies want to fill their space available.) Those of you who know me well, know that I don't fly well any more. But... on the bucket list was the desire to cram myself in one of those tiny planes to witness the splendor of Denali National Park from the air. Upon arriving at the airstrip, a couple somewhat our age stepped out of a car in wedding regalia. They were to be married on Ruth Glacier where the airplane would make a 30 minute...

Jun 16, 2013 - Tok to Fairbanks - Day 16

June 16, 2013…Fairbanks, Alaska. Father’s Day. All three of our children contacted their father to wish him a happy Father’s Day. We decided to stay in Tok for the morning to catch up the journal while we had good signal. A local man with his sled and team of sled dogs came to the Tok RV Village to demonstrate dog mushing and take visitors for a ride in the sled. This is another warm, sunny, dry day. We got the journal caught up and left the park about 11:45 am Alaska Time (four hours different from home). It’s 82 degrees. We stopped at the...

Jun 16, 2013 - On to Valdez

This morning Judi said since it was only going to be a short drive today she wouldn't have too many photos to deal with this evening. Boy was she wrong! These last 3 days the scenery has just gone from great to wow! While having breakfast, we heard & then saw Trumpeter Swans taking off from Willow Lake. We now know why they're named "trumpeter" - they really do trumpet as they take off. We were able to get photos right from the breakfast table. Does it get any better than this? We, almost reluctantly, left Willow Lake & headed to Valdez. We...

Jun 16, 2013 - Porcupine Creek to Skagway, ALASKA - 240 miles

Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful blue clear sky. It is going be another nice day. We had a beautiful day yesterday even if we did pass through some rain. For the most part was a nice day. We saw one black bear is all today. We stopped to check out a provincial park around Teslin and walked by a site with a one of a kind conversion RV. It was owned by a young European couple who were on their way to Alaska. We asked about the very unique vehicle. It is a 40 or 50 year old army ambulance conversion. It has six wheels and huge ground...

Jun 16, 2013 - One Crazy Mixed-up Sunday!

Date: June 16, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Homer, AK Weather: sunshine Temperature: start 48º High 68º Wildlife count: Sea Otter, Year List: 255 Birds: Black-billed Magpie, Sooty Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Bald Eagle, Common Raven, Northwestern Crow, Dark-eyed Junco, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Alder Flycatcher, Savannah Sparrow, Sandhill Cranes, Trumpeter Swan, Lesser Scaup, Red-necked Grebe, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Common Murre, Tufted & Horned Puffins, Pelagic...

Jun 16, 2013 - In and Around Anchorage

We spent three full days in the Anchorage area ... taking in the sites, sounds and festivals. Downtown festival on Saturday featured a ColorRun ... and had a craft fair set up. Ran into former parishioners from Black Hawk in the 80's ... for the second time in three days ... saw them in Talkeenta earlier in the week ... small world. Checked out the harbor area, visited a park commemorating the 1964 earthquake, attended a great, active United Methodist Church, ate some delicious halibut at "Humpy's" (a local favorite), visited Anchorage's...