June 20, 2013

We drove from Destruction Bay to Teslin Lake today.  These are the same roads that we were on when we were going into Alaska.  Although the look is a little different (since we are going the opposite direction) a lot of it is the same.  There is not near as much snow on the mountains or ice on the lakes as there was on the way in.  I guess we have been so overwhelmed by Alaska as the scenery that we thought was amazing on the way in is now just beautiful.  Our campsite tonight is on Teslin Lake and it is beautiful – I took a picture from inside the camper and will post it when I have internet again.  We did have some rain today; however, not enough to clean off the camper.  We went through some really nasty road construction yesterday and you can tell.  The roads today were much better and the speed limit went up to 100 (kilometers); the roads should continue to get better as we go south.  It is amazing to me that there is very little traffic on the Alaska Highway.  We do see lots of trailers/campers going the opposite direction so guess they were right about June and July being the busy season.  A couple things about Canada – everywhere you go you see signs that say they have the best cinnamon rolls (we plan to try some tomorrow just for research purposes).  Also, when you are in Canada and order ice tea it will be sweet tea – most places do not even have unsweet tea.

Well, that is it for today.  Not sure how far we will get tomorrow.  We saw lots of wildlife on the road we will be on tomorrow when we came in – hope it will be the same tomorrow.

Our view today as we were driving

The view from the camper

I took this from inside the camper this morning

 

June 18, 2013  (We have had no internet for a couple days)

We are spending tonight at the Cottonwood RV Park on Kluene Lake which is the biggest lake in the Yukon.  It was sad to say goodbye to Alaska but we both think that someday we will return.  We had tried to stay at this campground on our way out, however, the lake was still frozen and it was closed.  The owner told us that they were not able to open until June 4^th which was really late for them.  It has been just over 3 weeks since we went through here and what a difference there is.  The mountains that were all covered with snow are now green and the lake that was frozen is now beautiful.  Since we are now back in a “foreign” country we do not have phone service only text.

Not sure if I mentioned it but last night we went to a concert for a group called “Alaskan Sweetgrass”.  It was a brother (who played the guitar and banjo) and his sister (who played the violin/fiddle).  They were excellent and we picked up lots of information from them about Tok; the most interesting being that they have no tax (except federal), no laws, no zoning and no law officials.  There are 3 state troopers that cover Tok but they also cover an area about the size of Connecticut.  It was a great way to spend an hour.

 

We both think that the roads are worse now than they were when we went the other direction.  There also seems to be more road construction, which makes sense since they can only work on the roads from May – September.  Hopefully, the roads from  here on will only get better.  Not sure where we will stop tomorrow, somewhere south of Whitehorse is all I know.  I will have to post pictures later as this internet is very slow.

The view on our drive today

Kluane Lake, our view from the camper

Another view from the camper

Tonight we are back in Tok at the same campground we stayed at on the way out.  It is great and so far there are not any mosquitoes!!!!  This morning when we closed up the trailer to leave we were swarmed by mosquitoes.  We had long sleeves, long pants, and our head nets so the only part of our skin out was our hands.  It was crazy how many there were on our hands.  We spent today just driving and the roads were bad.  Lots of rough road and gravel and road construction and the wind was blowing very hard which made the driving even worse.  We had thought about going further today but after the weather and the roads we just decided to stop here.  We have a new game to play - kill the mosquito- and Wayne just got one in the camper.  Probably left over from last night.

We will cross the border tomorrow as it is only about 90 miles from here.  We have enjoyed Alaska so much and this is a trip we will never forget.  We still have a long way to go to get back home and are looking forward to what we will see on the way back.  Just took a couple pictures today - I will post one of them.

Mount Sanford - 16,370 ft.  Beautiful

June 17, 2013

Today started off on a little bit of a downer.  We got to the RV place to get the faucet replaced and discovered that they had been sent the wrong faucet and it would not work in the camper.  So we still have a leaky faucet and won’t be able to get it fixed until we get back to Phoenix.  However, after that it turned into a wonderful day.  Most of the roads that we were on today were narrow, no shoulder or guard rails and steep drop-offs.  Wayne did a much better job of driving that I did riding!!!  We stopped at the Matanuska Glacier which was about halfway on our trip so was a good place to have lunch.  It is a glacier that you can actually walk on and we did.  The road to get to the glacier was very bumpy and gravel but well worth the trip and the $15 each it cost us to get in.  Walking on a glacier is the most amazing thing.  It looks like gravel and snow and then you will see a spot that is crystal clear blue ice and you realize that you are walking on a huge piece of ice.  We walked in about a half-mile on the glacier, jumped over a couple streams of very cold water and spent a delightful couple of hours there.  I am now a lover of glaciers – they are just the greatest thing.

We got back on the road and saw some incredible scenery.  Alaska is an amazing place and the scenery is too magnificent for words.  We are spending tonight at a campground called Tolsona Wilderness Campground and it is appropriately named.  There is a creek right behind our site that is beautiful and it is relaxing to hear the water.  The mosquitoes are very bad – people told us today that this is one of the worst years they can remember for mosquitoes – also for the warm weather they are having.  We have no internet or phone service here so I will post this tomorrow when we have access.  Tomorrow will be our last full day in Alaska as we will cross into Canada the first thing on Wednesday morning.  No phone calls till we reach the lower 48!!

 

Matanuska Glacier

Us standing on the glacier

A closer view of the glacier



Our campground that we shared with the mosquitoes

The creek behind our campsite

 

We have now officially started the trek back.  Last night we did stay in a national forest campground.  There were no hookups and it was in the middle of the forest.  We got there, found a spot and walked over to register.  We then started a fire and we were ready to enjoy the outdoors when the mosquitoes came - we decided they won and we went in the camper and watched a movie.  It was pretty looking out through the windows!!!  Tonight we are in Wasilla just hanging out until we can get the faucet fixed tomorrow.  While we were sitting outside two vans pulled up filled with kids.  We found out that they are from Miami, Florida and are on a trek to Alaska for 3 weeks.  I think these kids are 5th to 7th graders.

Hopefully we will get the faucet fixed first thing in the morning and will get a good start.  There is a glacier not far from here that you can drive or hike to (I'm not sure which) so we are going to try to do that and then stay somewhere close by tomorrow night.  Right now it looks like we will be leaving Alaska by the end of the week :<(  It has been great.

Our campsite last night

Our campsite tonight

The ocean when we left yesterday

We have spent the last couple days just relaxing.  We have spent time on the beach and walking around Homer but mostly just being lazy.  We did clean the camper and do laundry but that is about it.  We are starting the trip back today.  We plan to take our time and make sure we didn't miss anything on the way out!!  We are planning to stay at a state campground (something we haven't done yet) tonight somewhere between here and Wasilla.  We have to be in Wasilla on Monday to get the faucet replaced.  Anyway, we are doing great.  I will post a couple pictures of the beach - it has been a little foggy the last couple of days, however, it is beautiful today.

The foggy beach

Me cleaning a seashell

Today we decided to drive to Ninilchik Village and an old Russian Orthodox Church we heard was there.  Ninilchik is only about 35 miles from here so we decided it would be a nice drive - it was.  Unfortunately, the church was closed so we could not see the inside, however, there was an old Russian cemetery there and it was really interesting to walk around and read the gravestones.  It is like a little bit of history.  On the way back we also stopped at another Russian village Nikolvask.  It was about 10 miles off the road but there was also another Orthodox church there.  We have noticed that the crosses at both churches and the cemetery have 3 cross bars with the bottom one tilted.  I am going to have to do some research and figure that one out.

We went up in elevation when we went for our drive and when we came back we looked out at the ocean and it looked like a heated swimming pool on a cold morning - all steamy.  It was the craziest thing - looked like a huge hot tub!  As we went down in elevation the fog got thicker but stayed mainly over the water.  It is now 7:20 and the fog is gone and the sun is out.  We took a couple pictures that I will post.

That was about it for our day.  We did go out for dinner at the Cosmic Kitchen and the food was great - expensive as all restaurants here seem to be.  I just don't understand how come halibut fish and chips is so expensive when this is the halibut capital - you would think it would be cheap since they can catch it out the back door.  Anyway, here are some pictures from today.

The Russian Cemetery
 

The first Russian Orthodox Church

The second Russian Orthodox Church

Fog over the ocean

Another picture of the fog