Campgrounds are full!

During our drive down to Anchorage, everyone must have left the city and come north for the holiday weekend. Every campground we passed was packed to capacity, and everyone in Alaska must own a quad, a boat and/or a motor home. There was stopped traffic heading north of Anchorage that would rival a San Ramon rush hour on Bollinger Canyon Road. We actually have campground reservations for the 5th and 6th in Homer, but none for the 4th (duh!). So we really had to rough it!

Phil's extensive work travels have finally paid off in Hilton points. We didn't just get a room, but we were upgraded to a suite, including breakfast buffet. I have truly appreciated my long, hot shower, and the kids have really enjoyed our 2 large flat screen TVs. After our clean-up, we went out a local favorite, Uncle Joe's Pizzeria. Everyone that worked there was from California.

Anchorage did have fireworks, but they were at midnight following a double header baseball game at the local park (I think there are a couple of minor league teams up here). It's not dark, but they have them anyway. The picture above was taken at 10:30 p.m. It's interesting to note that many of the tourist shops downtown are open until 11:30 every night.

Denali - Happy Independence Day!

We had the best of luck! Blue sky and warm weather for our 3 days in Denali National Park. We saw all of Mt. McKinley during our bus tour on the 2nd, and again during our "Polychrome" hike on the 3rd (picture at left was taken at Eielson visitor center). We saw several bears, caribou, a couple of foxes, ptarmigans, Dall sheep, and an abundance of snowshoe hares. No moose, though. We had hoped to see a wolf, but they're hard to find. Our campsite was great at Teklanika. Tyler had a blast playing in the wide rock riverbed and the late-thawing ice/snow. On the 3rd we again took the bus up the the Polychrome region and hiked the riverbed for about 8 miles. We saw lots of wolf tracks, but only saw 1 caribou. We had a forge the river at one point (painfully cold water), and were very happy to have our boots on again.

Unfortunately, the bears we saw were quite a distance from the road. The pictures are a little fuzzy due the the zoom lens and unsteady camera-person (the bus was usually moving a little from all the people diving to one side to see the wildlife). Need a bigger lens with a tripod.

Now it's on to Anchorage and Homer/Seward. We found out today that our bear expedition on Sunday was cancelled due to a mechanical issue with the float plane! So bummed out about this! We hope to find something else equally as fun on a holiday weekend at short notice... :-)

Alaska, Finally!

We entered Alaska at the uppermost boarder crossing via the Top of the World Highway; a very lonely spot, but awesome views. We made it into beautiful downtown Chicken (they have totally capitalized on the name) and have turned this small community into a tourist mecca. However, they had great panini (sp?) sandwiches and the little cafe! Camped to the south of Chicken, and Phil and Tyler finally spotted a Moose cow and her calf. Yesterday we travelled the Taylor Hwy, Alaska Hwy (where the picture was taken - Phil decided to take a little nap while the kids were out rock-hopping in the river), then the Richardson Hwy. Spectacular Views on the Richardson. We stayed above the tree line (burr...) at Fielding Lake. Lots of Fly-fisherman/women. Very cold this morning (39 degrees) and rain. Today we traversed the Denali Hwy, and saw Mt Hayes, Mt. Deborah and Mt Hess, then we glimpsed the peak of Mt. McKinley. Tonight we are staying just outside Denali Park, at an RV resort - showers, laundry, water, power - living the high life! Tomorrow we go into the park for 3 days, so no cell coverage.

Yukon, Ho!

Evidentally we cannot get cell service in Canada, so we've been unable to post for a week. We finally found an Internet Cafe this afternoon in Dawson City, YT. We entered Yukon Territory on Tuesday. Our stop at Watson Lake included the signpost forest seen at left. Tuesday night was spent awake dealing with an intruder, a mouse! Not good to have a mouse in your van full of food. At 3:00 a.m. we were repacking all of our food into the storage bins, and making all sorts of noise (the kids did not wake up at all). Wednesday we entered Whitehorse (Yukon's capital), did laundry, food shopping, and trip to Wal-Mart for mouse traps. By this time Tyler had named the mouse Freddie, and was hoping he would escape, unharmed. Phil, however, wanted vengence for his night of sleeplessness. He caught the mouse within an hour. Life is good.

We've seen several bears along the roadside, eating grubs and grass. Pictures will be under the British Columbia album. Yesterday we spent the day in Keno City (population 20), an old mining town. We drove up to Keno hill and explored a couple of old mine sites. Everyone we've met has been super friendly, and we get lots of comments on the van (sa-weet, wicked, rad, etc.), but as we get closer to Alaska we're seeing a lot of German travelers in their Unimogs (don't know if I spelled that right). These people ship their vehicles over from Europe and travel North America for several years at a time.

Next stop, Tok, Alaska.