June 2006 Alaska

June 2006 Alaska

We spent a few days in the Portland, OR area before we began our northern trip. Trudie and Ray drove down to Clackamas and we drove up and met for lunch. We had a nice long visit. They look great!! Shelly and her family came up to Hillsboro from CA to spend time with Doug’s sisters, Cindy and Laura. On Sunday, Shelly brought the kids over and we visited. Shelly, Jessica and Sue did take a little time out to go shopping. Cindy and Steve had a BBQ for the Memorial Day weekend and invited us over. We took a cake from Rose’s Deli that was to die for!! It was great to spend some time with the kids. Shelly & family headed south on Memorial Day and we headed north. We drove all the way up to Marysville, Washington and spent the night in a casino parking lot. The next day found us in Lynden, Washington where we visited with Skip’s lifelong friend Louise and her husband Darryl. They own a blueberry and raspberry farm on the Washington/Canadian border. We had a great time visiting with them. We spent the night in their driveway and on Tuesday morning after a wonderful breakfast of blueberry pancakes we began our trip north. We drove across the border at Sumas, Washington where we filled the gas tank at Costco. Gas price was $1.08…that’s per liter of course. The speed signs are a little hard to get use to. The first one was 100km/h…that’s 62 miles per hour. We are learning how to calculate mileage in our heads because the distances are in kilometers and meters. The first night in Canada was spent at a bare bones RV park in Clinton, British Columbia (BC). This was about as close as to camping that we have done in years. Lots of bugs…even in the restrooms and showers. We aren’t using our cell phones in Canada because it would cost 69 cents a minute plus roaming charges. The satellite dish doesn’t work here either.

Night two was a stop over in Prince George, BC. This was a little nicer park and they even had cable TV. We stopped around 1 pm so that made for a relaxing day. It rained hard during the afternoon. The park staff advised us to keep Lucas on a leash and not take him out after dark because there has been a bear in the park for a few weeks. We never saw the bear.

Day three was a long day. We saw a black bear along the road. Going to fast to take a picture. Besides when they see cars they head back into the woods. We were going to stop after about 250 miles but Skip met another couple at a gas station who were headed for Stewart, BC. He decided it wasn’t that long of a drive so we were off on another trek. We got on the Cassiar highway and headed towards Stewart. This was our original destination but it was originally to be the next day. It was a beautiful drive. During this stretch we saw a grizzly bear on the side of the road. It was a beautiful golden color. Again no picture. At junction 37 and 37A we turned left and headed 38 miles to Stewart. The drive was similar to the drive into Yosemite. We came across Bear Glacier which was just beautiful. The colors in the snow were awesome. Stopped and took some pictures. There were three RV parks to choose from and we drove through town and checked them all out. We did go into Hyder, Alaska to check out one park. We opted for the first park we had seen. This meant we had to cross back over the border into Canada. Once we had our papers checked we were off. We saw the couple we had met at the gas station coming into the town as we were heading back to register. They were easy to recognize because they have a Safari motorhome too. They went to check out the parks and we went to register at the one we had chosen. Once we got settled in we unhooked the car and decided to do some sightseeing.

The drive through Stewart, BC was quick since it is extremely small. One gas station, a couple restaurants and a few liquor stores. We headed across the boarder to Hyder, Alaska. Hyder has 100 residents; up from 7 a few years back. We drove out to Fish Creek and checked out the bear watching area. There is an area where you can watch the bears in the river as they fish for salmon. Only thing is we were a little early. A month or so that is. The park district built a huge viewing deck and during peak season they can get 40,000 people here viewing the bears. We took a couple pictures and then drove out on the pier and checked out Portland Channel. We stopped at a quaint little store in Hyder, Alaska where we bought some fudge. Most of the people who live in Hyder remind us of the hippies of the 60’s. Took some pictures and then back to Stewart, BC. Back through customs again. We selected one restaurant for the seafood and when we went into the restaurant we saw the Safari couple. They were just finishing dinner. The dinner prices were pretty high so we didn’t eat what we had originally wanted. While we ordered and ate we talked for quiet a while to Don & Irma from Arizona.

Skip at bear viewing deck outside Hyder, AK

Portland Canal boat harbor

Saturday, June 3, 2006 We left in the early morning and headed out of the Stewart/Hyder area. It was overcast and misting. I did take a picture of the many waterfalls created by the melting snow. We saw a black bear along the road. Tried to get a picture but mostly all the picture shows is something black in the bushs as it was retreating. The Cassair Highway was a normal road for a while but soon became the nightmare roads you hear about. The road was gravel, dirt, and asphalt full of pot holes and many, many times wash boards. There was road construction to add to the fun. At times the scenery was beautiful and other times just boring trees and more trees. Most of the time you couldn’t enjoy the scenery because of the horrible road conditions. We had things fly out of the cupboards and the dog food container slid down the hall turned over and emptied some of it’s contents on the carpet. Lucas’ toy basket emptied out and there were toys everywhere. As we drove tennis balls rolled up and down the hallway. The coffee pot slid into the sink. Cupboards flew open and things fell out. Luckily, the things that went flying were towels and a tablecloth. Well, you get the picture. Lucas had a hard time finding a safe place to lie down. He tried to hide under the driver’s seat but that didn’t work so he settled for getting under the passenger seat. He doesn’t sleep when we travel so it’s hard on him to be awake for such a long time. It was a terribly long stressful day but we are still talking to each other. Once we got out of BC and into the Yukon we noticed a big jump in prices. Gas is $1.27 a liter…calculate that into price per gallon. There are 3.78 liters per gallon. RV park prices went from $19 up to $30. We did find a place for $20. Don’t know what the exchange rate is now. We got $50 Canadian money when we first entered. It cost us $48.05 US dollars.