Aug 25-28, 2009 Days 57-60

Well, it is almost over: our trip of a lifetime, our Alaskan Adventure. What an amazing 2 months on the road. Having the opportunity to see Alaska and Canada, and all the states in between, up close and personal, was spectacular and unforgettable! For those of you that tripped along with us via the blog, I’d like to thank you for being there with us “in spirit”, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it, too.

The last 3 days of our adventure were spent in familiar territory: Munising, MI. We like to think of Munising as our “home away from home” in the UP. We’ve been doing yearly vacations in this neck of the woods for the last 10 years. Every time we come up here, we discover new and beautiful things. This year we visited a beautiful river, the Hurricane River, which flows into Lake Superior near Grand Marais, MI. We also discovered some gorgeous uninhabited inland lakes with water as nearly clear as tap water: Little Beaver, Big Beaver, and Kingston Lakes.

We arrived in Munising on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning, Len’s friend, Raoul Revord (and his significant other, Catherine), invited us over to their beautiful log cabin on Upper Twin Lake (about 15 minutes outside of Munising). They cooked a delicious breakfast of sausages, fresh peaches, and Raoul’s famous French pancakes. Before I could even ask for the recipe (which I was just about to do), I was informed that it is a secret family recipe that is passed down from generation to generation. (Darn!) At any rate, it was a wonderful breakfast and a warm and hospitable “welcome home” from friends. Thank you again, Raoul and Catherine! (pic attached)

Thursday night, our last night in Munising, Len and I had a campfire on the beach of Lake Superior and watched the sunset. We relived the highs and the lows of our trip and drank a toast of thanks for our safety and well-being. It was a perfect ending to a once in a lifetime journey! (pic attached)

As I type, we are once again inside the truck on our final leg. We are just about to cross the Mighty Mackinac Bridge. (pic attached) Only a few hours from HOME!! My heart is pounding with anticipation of seeing my family, my friends, my dog, and, yes, my memory foam bed!

Alaska or Bust 2009: June 29 – August 28, 2009. 12,837 miles. Been there done that. :-)

The End

Lake of the Clouds - unadulterated

Lake of the Clouds is over a mile long, yet only 15 feet deep.

Aug 22-24, 2009 Days 54-56

Woo Hoo!! We’re in Michigan!!! We entered the UP about 3 p.m. on Saturday. What a great feeling!

As expected, the Porcupine Mountains don’t even come close to the purple mountain majesties of the Rockies or the glacier-capped mountain ranges in Alaska. That’s not to say that the Porkies are not beautiful in their own right. Indeed, they are uniquely beautiful, and I’m glad I finally got to see Michigan’s very own “mountains”.

We camped in the Union Bay Campground of the Porcupine Mountains State Park. It is one of two campgrounds in this state park; Presque Isle is the other campground. Union Bay is a modern campground (camping lingo for “every site has an electrical outlet”), and it sits right on the Lake Superior shoreline. But, the sites are too close together, in my opinion. If I go back there, I would opt for the Presque Isle campground, which has half the number of camping sites that Union Bay does, but the sites are considerably more spacious. Presque Isle is a rustic campground, meaning there is no electricity, but you can use generators. It sits high on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior.

There are miles and miles of hiking trails in the Porkies. We hiked the East and West River Trails, the Summit Peak Tower Trail, and we went for a short walk to the viewing deck overlooking the Lake of the Clouds. It’s the first hike in the woods we’ve taken since we left Alaska and Canada where I haven’t turned around mid-hike and said to Len, “Did you remember the bear mace?” Yes, I know the UP has a bear population, but there’s something safe and secure about being within the confines of one’s own home state.

Attached are pics of Presque Isle Falls, Presque Isle River, and Lake of the Clouds. The UP certainly has its gems!

Happy Birthday Brady-boy!! Can’t wait to see you! And, to my gorgeous nieces, too: Chelsea and Charissa!

Aug 19-21, 2009 Days 51-53

We left Devils Lake, North Dakota on Wednesday morning and set our sails for Minnesota. Now that we’re closing in on home, and we still have a good 10 days left in our allotted time schedule, we’ve decided to ease up on the reins a bit, and even go so far as to venture off course a little. We’ve been traveling US Hwy 2 on our way home, but, when we got into Minnesota we decided to stray north a bit and go up the coast of Lake Superior a short ways. We found a campground right on the shores of Lake Superior in Two Harbors, MN and planted ourselves for two days. I couldn’t believe the size of some of the barges that we watched come into the harbor from our campsite. (pic attached)

The walking/bike trails along the western shores of Lake Superior are extensive in this area and we took advantage of them. We had the added bonus of wild raspberry and thimbleberry bushes being plentiful along the pathways and being ripe for the picking. Yum!

Thursday we took a drive northwards up the coast and checked out Gooseberry Falls State Park and Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, both Minnesota state parks. Even though it was a rainy, overcast day, it did not dampen our enthusiasm or our appreciation for this “superior” area. As you head north, there are even more state parks along the coastline, but, we ran out of time. We may have to put this area on our “check back later” list. (pics attached)

On Friday we left Minnesota, but, stuck close to the Lake Superior shoreline. We found a beautiful state park campground in Superior, Wisconsin, just across the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, called Amnicon Falls State Park, only 50 miles down the road from our last campsite. The ranger at Amnicon Falls told us to be sure to check out the Big Manitou Falls in Pattison State Park just 15 miles down the road. Big Manitou Falls (a 165 foot drop) are the largest falls in the state of Wisconsin. Being in Minnesota and Wisconsin really gives us a feel for “home”. I think it’s all the trees and water, minus the mountains.

Speaking of mountains, tomorrow we have reservations at Porcupine Mountains State Park in the UP of Michigan. I realize that the Porkies will be somewhat anti-climatic after having just left the Rockies, but, oh well. I’ve never been there and it’s someplace I’ve always wanted to check out. Ready or not, here we come Porkies!

Aug 16-18, 2009 Days 48-50

Having reached the Lower 48, it was like beginning a new journey: the journey HOME! We figured we still have 2 weeks of our “adventure” left. So, we set out Sunday morning, bright and early, ready to explore some new places/states. Montana being first on the list.

The roads in north eastern Montana were long and seemingly endless. The scenery was quite boring at first, but then it became very interesting. Very strange looking land masses and stone formations. Later, I read that the area we traveled through was called the Hell Creek Formation, where they have been able to extract evidence that a gigantic meteorite or asteroid struck the earth 65 million years ago. Many dinosaur fossils, including triceratops and tyrannosaurus rex have been found in this area. (pics attached)

We found a campground on Fort Peck Lake in Fort Peck, MT on Sunday night and decided to take a break from the road and unwind a little. We stayed there Sunday and Monday nights.

On Tuesday, the 18th, we hit the road again. We finished Montana and started with North Dakota. Not a lot to gawk at along the North Dakota highways. Pretty flat country with a lot of grain fields. And the road construction….arggghhh!! There were stretches 13 miles long where the road was under repair. We asked one road construction worker how they could get away with such long stretches. She said, “I don’t know, but, I get asked that a LOT!” (Thank god for books on compact discs or I could die of boredom out here on the road!)

We stayed in a campground on Devils Lake in North Dakota Tuesday night – the largest natural lake in ND. Another long, 9 hour day on the road! We were able to unwind at our campsite with a beautiful sunset, tho’. (pic attached)

Happy Birthday brotha’ Dave!!

Aug 15, 2009 Day 47

Banner Day: BACK IN THE US OF A!!!

The day started out with sunshine and blue skies, just as we had hoped! We decided to take advantage of our beautiful campground location and went for a hike along the Jonas Creek. As the trail proceeded up and up, the creek became louder, bigger, and faster. There were gorges and waterfalls and an ever constant background of the snowcapped Rockies. It was an invigorating hike (to say the least), and gave us the boost we needed to get back in the truck.

The remainder of the Icefields Parkway drive was as beautiful as the first time we drove it. When the vista is that breathtaking, the miles seem to go by faster, too. (pics attached)

From there it was on to Calgary, Alberta. It was a bit of an adjustment having to deal with big city highways again, but, we breezed thru’ it, all the while marveling at the surrounding Rocky Mts. It’s easy to see how Calgary was picked as an Olympic City. It is a gorgeous location.

We pushed on, and even tho’ we had promised ourselves we were going to make our days on the road shorter, we were like horses drawn to the barn. We crossed the border in Sweetgrass, Montana at 9 p.m. A half an hour later we were bedding down on US soil, ready for some sweet apple pie dreams!

Aug 13 & 14, 2009 Days 45 & 46

Thursday was a fairly uneventful day. We continued to barrel our way thru’ Canada. We spent 11 hours on the road and traveled 482 miles. We’re becoming a little road weary. Did I say a “little” weary? Correct that: VERY road weary! It’s not that Canada doesn’t make for a very scenic drive; it’s just that it’s such a BIG country, with a LOT of miles to cover.

On Friday, we ventured into Alberta, Canada. We decided we wanted to take the Icefields Parkway again on the home stretch. We never “ooo-ed and ahhh-ed” on this trip as much as we did on the Icefields Parkway on our way to Alaska. It was/is by far the prettiest stretch of road we have traveled. It takes you right thru’ the Canadian Rockies and two national parks: Jasper and Banff. They charge you $20 to take this route (park entrance fee), but it is 200 miles of divine beauty.

About 30 miles into our drive on the Icefields Parkway, the rain clouds moved in and the mountain tops and the icefields became obscured. There are several gorgeous campgrounds along the Parkway, so we picked one (Jonas Creek Campground) and camped for the night, hoping that the morning would bring back the sun and the blue skies.

Happy Birthday Greg, Sara, and Chris!! We miss you!!

Aug 11 & 12, 2009 Days 43 & 44

Tuesday, Aug 11, we left the trailer in Whitehorse, Yukon and did a day trip into Skagway, AK. The drive along the South Klondike Highway was like no other! Mountains, rivers, lakes, sand dunes, “moonscapes” (as the topography is referred to), and thru’ the White Pass. (pics attached) All in a 2 ½ hour span, one way. Well worth the drive! Skagway is a little coastal town on the Inner Passage. There were 3 cruise ships docked there and the town was packed with “cruisers”. We did a little shopping, had lunch, and then headed out of town. Too many people!! We took a side trip into (the former town of) Dyea, just outside Skagway. Dyea had a population of 8,000 people back in the early 1900’s, during the gold rush. Now, it’s a forest. Even the river that once ran thru’ Dyea is gone. We took a self-guided walking tour thru’ the forest and there were landmarks along the way which told you what was what and where back in its heyday. (pics attached) Kind of eerie. Not to mention all the bear scat in the woods, and beware of bear signs posted just outside of the woods!

On Wednesday, Aug 12, we began our homeward bound trip! I’m sad and I’m glad. I really like this “life on the road”: seeing and experiencing new things every day. But, it will be good to be home with family and friends again.

The return trip promises to be as breathtakingly beautiful as it was going north. As we travel thru’ Canada (which is a 4 day trip in itself!), much of our route will be the same. However, the scenery takes on a different perspective when heading in the opposite direction. Also, we seem to be seeing more wildlife alongside the road as we head south. We saw 4 herds of buffalo along the road on Wednesday, and 4 or 5 more that were just walking alone on the shoulder of the road. Several young caribou as well. (pics attached)

It will seem good to get back on U.S. soil. The Canadians are very friendly and helpful, but they do some strange things. For instance, Len and I were in the grocery store the other day and they wanted a loonie (Canadian dollar) for the use of a shopping cart. (The hand baskets are free.) Plastic grocery bags cost a nickel. I can understand a nickel for a plastic bag – it helps to promote recycling. But, a dollar for a shopping cart?? Doesn’t that sort of discourage people from buying more??? If you ask me, that’s just plain “LOONIE!”

Aug 8-10, 2009 Days 40-42

Saturday, Aug 8, we SHOPPED!! In the morning, we went to the Fairbanks Farmer’s Market to buy fresh produce. Alaska really lacks for fresh produce in the grocery stores. But, at the farmers market we were able to score some homegrown tomatoes, spinach, and cauliflower. ($6/lb for tomatoes!) I asked one lady if any of the stands were selling sweet corn. Her reply was, “Honey, this is Alaska.” I took that for a ‘no’.

From there we went downtown Fairbanks to shop. Things were pretty desolate downtown on a Saturday. But, we did find some unique little shops. We also found a handwritten note on the windshield of our truck when we were ready to leave. Some guy had hit our back bumper and dented it. He was nice enough to leave his name and location. We walked over to where he was and he apologized profusely. (What d’ya do?) We’ll deal with the dent when we get home, I guess.

Then, we went to Pioneer Park on the outskirts of Fairbanks. It is a 44 acre park that has just about everything. It has an air museum, a railroad museum, a square dance pavilion, a renovated, dry-docked stern-wheeler (the SS Nenana – the largest stern-wheeler ever built west of the Mississippi), an antique carousel, miniature golf, a replica mining camp, a theater that does a live variety show (about Fairbanks history), and several blocks of little log cabins that house craft and gift shops. Several of these log cabins are original buildings that have been moved into this park. There is a picnic area near the Chena River, where they rent canoes, kayaks, and bicycles. There is even a little, old church there that was built in 1904. There was a wedding going on inside the church while we were there.

Sunday, we left Fairbanks about 11 a.m. and headed south. We had one more city in Alaska that we wanted to see: Skagway. But, in order to get to Skagway, you have to go south on the Alaskan Highway, cross the border back into Yukon, Canada, drive south for a day inside Canada, and then head west on the South Klondike Highway and cross the border again to get back into Alaska. It just goes to show you how few roads there really are in Alaska.

Now, the Alaskan Highway is one of the most BEAUTIFUL drives you will ever experience as far as scenery goes. (pics attached) But, it is one of the WORST roads any vehicle will ever endure! The permafrost causes it to be extremely bumpy. Then there are numerous stretches of gravel road where they are continuously trying to fix the problems that the permafrost causes. And, the stretch of road between Tok, Alaska (just south of Fairbanks) and Whitehorse, Yukon is documented as being the WORST stretch. It was on this stretch where we took a stone to the windshield on our way up to Alaska. Anyway, we crossed into Yukon, Canada about 6:30 Sunday evening. We decided to put a few more miles of this god-awful road behind us, and kept driving for another 2 ½ hours. At 9 p.m. we pulled into a gravel pull-off alongside the road, near a very scenic lake, to camp for the night. (It stays light out till 10:30 p.m. here.) As soon as Len stepped out of the truck he said, “We are missing a tire on the trailer!” Sure enough, one of the 2 tires on the driver’s side was completely gone! Just the wheel remained. We assumed that we had blown a tire. But, no, it couldn’t be that simple, I’m afraid. All 3 of the other tires were almost completely worn. Len looked underneath the trailer and saw the underlying problem. A suspension hanger on the opposite side of the axle had broken off, due to all the road abuse. Here we are in the middle of NO MAN’S LAND, no cell coverage, no On-Star coverage, and no clue as to where the nearest town is or if that town will have the means to fix the problem. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well that night.

In the morning, Len put on his McGyver hat again. He put the spare tire on, cobbled up the axle, and we limped down the road doing 25 miles an hour. It was 35 miles to the nearest little town, Burwash Landing. They didn’t have a welder there, so we had to go another 15 miles down the road to Destruction Bay. Three hours, four new trailer tires, and a repaired suspension hanger on the axle, and we were back on the road again. After hearing the horror stories from the welder in Destruction Bay, we considered ourselves one of the lucky ones!

We drove another 5 hours after that; a little slower, perhaps, but with renewed confidence in our rig. We landed in Whitehorse, Yukon that night and slept like logs (dreaming about the next episode in our Alaskan Adventure). :-{

Aug 6 & 7, 2009 Days 38 & 39

Thursday, Aug 6, we went to a dogsled demonstration in Denali Nat’l Park. In the winter, the park rangers utilize dog-power to travel and to haul things within the park. The roads that go deep into the park are not plowed out. The rangers are unable to rely upon snowmobiles or other engine powered vehicles in -30 to -40 degree temps, so, the Alaskan Huskies are the answer. They only use Alaskan Huskies, which are basically a mixed breed or mutts, as the ranger explained to me. It is not a breed that is recognized by any official kennel associations. The dogs are raised and trained by the rangers and they put in about 8 or 9 years of service. They then get adopted out to families or individuals that reside in colder climates and that will maintain a continued active lifestyle for the dog. Denali is the only national park that trains and employs the use of dogs for dogsledding.

I, (and several other women I talked to), went to the dogsled demo for more than one reason. We also went because we needed a dog fix. Before the actual demonstration, we were allowed to walk among the dogs and pet them. One lady and I were talking about our dogs that we had left at home, and she got so emotional she had to walk away (in tears). I (Len, too) miss my Dude (the dog)! We know he’s in capable, loving hands with his Grandma Betty (even if she does call him by another name, Rover, when we’re not around).

We left Denali Thursday afternoon and headed for smoky Fairbanks, a 125 mile drive. We had another slight problem with the trailer lights not working as we left Denali. This had to be addressed immediately because the visibility (we had heard), as you got closer to Fairbanks, was less than 100 feet in some spots. After some troubleshooting, and with the aid of a fellow traveler, Len discovered a fuse box underneath the hood of the new truck with a blown fuse. Back on the road to Fairbanks again with all our lights working, we encountered two separate intersections with fire trucks at the ready. We also saw many burnt up trees along the road. And, the closer we got to Fairbanks the denser the smoke got. We debated whether to stay in Fairbanks, but, it had rained all day there, so the air quality was better than it had been the day before. We decided to stay and set up camp on the Chena River. (Pic attached was taken at 6 p.m. on the road to Fairbanks. This was the worst stretch. It got better.)

Friday we went on a tour of an old gold mine that dated back to the early 1900’s. We even got to pan for gold. Granted, it wasn’t panning like the miners of old panned. We sat on benches and the water in the troughs was probably 80 degrees; whereas typical Alaskan streams run somewhere in the 30 degree range, even in the summer. (pic attached)

Friday afternoon we took a riverboat cruise up and down the Chena River. At one point the boat stopped at the home and kennels of the former Iditarod champion, Susan Butcher (the only woman to have won the Iditarod 4 times). Susan passed away a few years ago from leukemia, but her husband and her 2 daughters continue to train and race dogsled teams. The emcee on the boat chatted (via wireless microphones) with one of Susan’s daughters and then she did a dogsled demo with a team of their dogs. The dogs pulled a 4-wheeler (with the engine pulled out), rather than a sled. (pics attached)

The boat continued on down the river and made another stop at an “authentic native Indian/Eskimo fish camp”. Here everyone got off the boat and took a guided walking tour of an authentic Athabascan Indian village. They had live caribou here, an Alaskan Husky dog kennel, many authentic log cabins, a huge stuffed moose, and pelts of many wild animals: fox, grizzly bear, lynx, mink, wolf, and wolverine. The tour guide told us a story that we Michiganders appreciated hearing: the legend goes that when a grizzly bear and a wolverine meet up along the same path, the grizzly steps aside and lets the wolverine pass through. Go Blue!! :-) (pics attached)

After absorbing all this Alaskan culture, there was only one thing left to do: go have another delicious, Alaskan salmon dinner (which we did, of course)!

Aug 4 & 5, 2009 Days 36 & 37

On Tuesday we packed up and headed north out of Anchorage up to Denali National Park. It was a leisurely drive which took us about 6 1/2 hours altogether. It would have been a fairly uneventful drive except for, (about an hour before our arrival), this jaw-dropping, imposing mass of snow covered land suddenly appeared before us! Mt. McKinley, in all it's glory! The highest mountain in all of North America at 20, 320 feet. It was a sunshiny day with a lot of clouds in the sky on Tuesday, but, we could see both the North and South peaks of Mt. McKinley. (pics attached) As we got closer, it started to become more obscured by clouds. But even with just a partial view of the mountain, it was a glorious sight to behold.

On Wednesday we took a sightseeing bus tour into Denali Nat'l Park. The bus took off from the visitor's center at 9:30 a.m. and we didn't get back until 5:30 p.m. We drove 66 miles into the park on the "green bus". Once you get past mile marker 15, the only way to travel further into the park is either on a "green bus" or on a "history tour bus". It's their way of preserving the park and ensuring that the animals don't get spooked by an influx of traffic and noise.

In addition to being a very overcast day on Wednesday, there was a lot of smoke in the air that had blown down from Fairbanks. Fairbanks has 1,000 acres of forestland that is currently in flames. We were not able to see Mt. McKinley at all on Wednesday! Thank God we saw it the day before. Inside the park, at mile marker 66, there is another visitor center with a lot of info regarding the park, the animals, and Mt. McKinley. We read there that on an average there are only 3 days in the month of August that one can acutally see both the North and the South Peaks of the mountain. We did, however, see a lot of wild animals/birds: ptarmigan (the state bird of AK), caribou, wolf, fox, and grizzly bears. (pics attached)

Fairbanks is next on our "places to see" list. However, on Wednesday, a health advisory warning had been issued in Fairbanks due to all the smoke and ash in the air. We will check out the weather and the conditions tomorrow (Thurs) and go from there. Keeping our fingers crossed....