7/23 Another long day in the car; 9 1/2 hours to Medford; my in-laws prepared a great spaghetti feast for us, complete with chocolate cake and ice cream. Nice to sleep in a king size bed again! So we will head home today, two days early, and we're all pretty excited about it.
I've gotten a few comments about Phil's Grizzly Adams look... While we have gotten used to it, it's driving him a little crazy, so all comes off on Sunday before he goes back to work.
I polled the family about their favorite sights on this trip, and received the following:
Favorite campsite: Phil and Tyler: Childs Glacier in Cordova, AK; Joan: Denali Ntl. Park; Chris: shrugs his shoulders.
Favorite activity or sightseeing attraction: Phil, Joan and Tyler: Childs Glacier; Chris: Shrugs his shoulders.
Favorite animal sighting: Phil, Joan and Tyler: Black bear and cub crossing our path during Exit Glacier Hike; Chris: Shrugs his shoulders
Favorite book read on the trip: Phil - "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer (the only book he completed), Joan - "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey (thanks Kim M. for the book!); Tyler - "Sahara" by Clive Cussler, Chris - shrugs his shoulders ("all of them" he says, I think he's read over 15 books, again thanks to Kim and Randy M. for all the Cussler books!).
Can't wait to converse with my fellow bunkettes on Friday and catch up!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Headin' Home
7/19 Rain, Rain, Rain. We left Prince of Wales Island and endured a very rough crossing over to Ketchikan. Chris and I spent most of the 3 hours on the back of the boat (forgot the Dramamine in the van – Doh!). More rain in Ketchikan. We went downtown to play tourist with the 2 cruise ships in port. Ate some great salmon chowder at an ale house, and Chris is getting his fill of fish ‘n chips – he has had some really good halibut. We were hoping that the rain would let up while we ate, but it only got worse. Really, nothing is worse that planning to camp in the rain, so we got a room at the Best Western instead (again, this was Phil’s idea – really!).
7/20 Another Ferry, this time to Prince Rupert. Took our Dramamine, but the cruise was smooth sailing. This time we actually got to see a couple of orca pods. None jumped out of the water for us, but at least we got to see them swim by. Rained most of the 6 hours on the boat, but had stopped by the time we pulled into Prince Rupert. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get through customs, then we were off. Stopped at Kleanza River campground, BC. Surrounded by blueberries, I thought for sure we would see a bear at some point. The campground host told us to pick as many as we want (“Great for blueberry pancakes”) but they were very tart. I didn’t think my pancakes should be sour, so we left the berries for the bears.
7/21 Big driving day. Phil has likened himself to a horse going back to the barn, hurry up at get home! We drove to Quesnel, BC and stayed at Ten Mile Lake campground. Unlike our trip up through BC, when the campgrounds were virtually empty, now they are quite full. The weather is warming up too! Can’t wait to put on some shorts and ditch the fleece.
7/22 Big driving day II. 10 ½ hours, and we’re back in the lower 48. We did stop at a tourist mecca in the Fraser Canyon called Hell’s Gate. We saw this on the way up, but Phil was driving too fast and missed the turnoff. We had said we would stop on the way back. A tram takes you down into the Canyon so you can see the churning water as it goes through this small gorge. You walk out onto a suspension bridge with metal grates, so you can see through to the river below. Phil was glad for the high guard rails (slight fear of bridges). We crossed the border about 4:30, exchanged our Canadian currency before the banks closed, and ended up west of Burlington, WA at Bay View St. Park. Awesome sunny day today. The picture above is at Bay View Park.
7/20 Another Ferry, this time to Prince Rupert. Took our Dramamine, but the cruise was smooth sailing. This time we actually got to see a couple of orca pods. None jumped out of the water for us, but at least we got to see them swim by. Rained most of the 6 hours on the boat, but had stopped by the time we pulled into Prince Rupert. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get through customs, then we were off. Stopped at Kleanza River campground, BC. Surrounded by blueberries, I thought for sure we would see a bear at some point. The campground host told us to pick as many as we want (“Great for blueberry pancakes”) but they were very tart. I didn’t think my pancakes should be sour, so we left the berries for the bears.
7/21 Big driving day. Phil has likened himself to a horse going back to the barn, hurry up at get home! We drove to Quesnel, BC and stayed at Ten Mile Lake campground. Unlike our trip up through BC, when the campgrounds were virtually empty, now they are quite full. The weather is warming up too! Can’t wait to put on some shorts and ditch the fleece.
7/22 Big driving day II. 10 ½ hours, and we’re back in the lower 48. We did stop at a tourist mecca in the Fraser Canyon called Hell’s Gate. We saw this on the way up, but Phil was driving too fast and missed the turnoff. We had said we would stop on the way back. A tram takes you down into the Canyon so you can see the churning water as it goes through this small gorge. You walk out onto a suspension bridge with metal grates, so you can see through to the river below. Phil was glad for the high guard rails (slight fear of bridges). We crossed the border about 4:30, exchanged our Canadian currency before the banks closed, and ended up west of Burlington, WA at Bay View St. Park. Awesome sunny day today. The picture above is at Bay View Park.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Prince of Wales Island
We got into Prince of Wales Island about 6:30 p.m. and drove to our campsite in the middle of the island, Eagle Nest Campground. No Eagles. Weather was really gray, and it began to rain in the middle of the night. It rained off and on all day, but by 3:00 it was fairly steady. We spent the day driving around the island, hoping to find something interesting to see, or do. Since the island had been heavily logged and re-forested, there are lots of roads and logging trails to explore. However, many parts the forest are so thick you cannot see anything past a couple of feet. Kind of eerie. We saw many of the native sitka black-tailed deer and one black bear. The picture here of the fawns was taken after we scared the mother into the forest, and left the fawns by themselves. She was so brave to protect her young! They stood there for quite some time not knowing what to do.
We drove to Sandy Beach on the northeast side of the island, and found the beach full of driftwood logs. It was very windy here. We also stopped at Ratz Cove and were able to see spouting whales off in the distance in the Clarence Straight. One of the whales breeched; Phil says it was a humpback. (Still have not seen an Orca, by the way). After driving in the rain for a couple of hours, and not looking forward to camping and cooking in the rain, we happened upon a few cabins… and the best thing was that it was Phil’s idea, not mine! So, we moved into a small bungalow cabin with bunks, took showers, cooked up dinner and played Texas Hold ‘Em for a couple of hours. When we checked in, the man told us that simple rain was a good day on Prince of Wales Island… then he gave us a few fresh shrimp to eat. Phil did not behead them in front of Tyler since a couple of them were still alive (our animal lover would have probably grabbed them and tossed them into the creek, saying “be free”). They were good shrimp.
We drove to Sandy Beach on the northeast side of the island, and found the beach full of driftwood logs. It was very windy here. We also stopped at Ratz Cove and were able to see spouting whales off in the distance in the Clarence Straight. One of the whales breeched; Phil says it was a humpback. (Still have not seen an Orca, by the way). After driving in the rain for a couple of hours, and not looking forward to camping and cooking in the rain, we happened upon a few cabins… and the best thing was that it was Phil’s idea, not mine! So, we moved into a small bungalow cabin with bunks, took showers, cooked up dinner and played Texas Hold ‘Em for a couple of hours. When we checked in, the man told us that simple rain was a good day on Prince of Wales Island… then he gave us a few fresh shrimp to eat. Phil did not behead them in front of Tyler since a couple of them were still alive (our animal lover would have probably grabbed them and tossed them into the creek, saying “be free”). They were good shrimp.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Ferry ride
Tyler is in heaven! He loves the ferry system in Alaska because they show movies every 3-4 hours, he has snack machines at his disposal and he can roam the ship to his heart’s content. Our 23 hour ferry ride was long, but uneventful. I managed to read a book, Chris and I played Scrabble and cards, and Phil even finished his book. We all liked the break from the rough and tumble van; in fact, we liked it so much that we checked into taking the ferry all the way to Bellingham, WA instead of backtracking our way through British Columbia. While there were berths available for the four of us, there was no room for the Van. It would have saved us a day in time and over 1000 miles… We’re sensing the end, and starting to feel the urge to go home.
7/17 We spent the night at Settler's Cove State Park just north of Ketchican. The park was really pretty, and had wild raspberry bushes growing all over the place. We had raspberry pancakes for breakfast. Our site overlooked the water, and we saw a couple of eagles this morning. The eagles are becoming so "common" that the kids don't even look up anymore when we spot them. We did a short hike today in another "hobbit-like" forest, with Sitka Spruce, hemlock and red cedar trees. Ketchikan is noted for it's totem poles, so we stoped at the Totel Bight totem park. Some are very interesting. I'll have to post those pictures in a couple of days.
7/17 We spent the night at Settler's Cove State Park just north of Ketchican. The park was really pretty, and had wild raspberry bushes growing all over the place. We had raspberry pancakes for breakfast. Our site overlooked the water, and we saw a couple of eagles this morning. The eagles are becoming so "common" that the kids don't even look up anymore when we spot them. We did a short hike today in another "hobbit-like" forest, with Sitka Spruce, hemlock and red cedar trees. Ketchikan is noted for it's totem poles, so we stoped at the Totel Bight totem park. Some are very interesting. I'll have to post those pictures in a couple of days.
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