Wednesday, August 1, 2012

We Have Finally Made It!

After a month and a half away from home we finally have made it to Alaska!





In the past few days we have seen moose, black bears, and bison in the road or along the edges of the road. Unfortunately you'll have to trust me on the moose sighting as no one got pictures! I'm certain there will be plenty more photo ops.












We have seen aquamarine hued lakes and rushing streams with tall mountain peaks in the background.


















We have occasionally seen some strange sights like the Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake, BC.






In the Yukon we drove past the Kluane Ice Fields where you can see icy glaciers nestling in the folds of the mountains and the peaks are permanently topped with snow and often clouds.
















The road (Alaskan Highway) has certainly lived up to its reputation. Everything inside and outside of the motorhome is covered in dust and new rattles seem to appear every day. Our windshield now sports a chip and tiny crack. In one place the road had actually washed out from recent storms. 








I have been amazed by the miles and miles of nothing but trees, water, and mountains with no signs of civilization but the road itself and the vehicles we met. One of the campgrounds we stayed in had no actual electric service. All of their power was provided by a very large generator. You also had to take all your garbage with you because the nearest landfill was 70 miles away! I also liked the sign posted by the door of the office and the owner was very serious about that.








But you know what the scariest thing is? The only way out is the same way we came in! But we have a lot more to see and do before we are ready to leave so we'll worry about that later.






Friday, July 27, 2012

Into the Wilds of Canada

Today we pushed steadily north and west and are now settled in for the night in Toad River, British Columbia.






We have gone from flat grasslands to low tree covered rolling hills to tall bare rock mountains all in one day.









We saw and photographed caribou and stone sheep.















We also saw a dead elk but I didn't think I needed to photograph that!

We should crossover into the Yukon tomorrow. H-m-m! What do you suppose we'll see next?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Getting Closer to Alaska

It's beginning to feel like we may actually get to Alaska! Tuesday morning we left Shelby MT and crossed the border into Alberta, Canada at the Sweetgrass crossing. They didn't ask about fresh fruits and veggies, they didn't ask about proof of Canadian insurance, they asked about alcohol, tobacco, and firearms! Go figure!

It took us a bit to get accustomed to the metric way of thinking - kilometers instead of miles, buying gas by the liter instead of the gallon, and seeing the gas price listed as 112.9. That's cents not dollars so it's actually $1.129 a liter or about $4.36 a gallon. A bit pricier than in the states. Be grateful!

We spent the night in Gunn, AB at a mediocre campground. About 2:00 this afternoon we arrived at Dawson Creek, BC and the famous Alaskan Highway. Yay!


You do see some strange sights at times!


We were hoping for a moose crossing but no such luck.


Tomorrow we will continue traveling through British Columbia. Who knows what we'll see?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Glacier National Park

Today we visited Glacier National Park. This is an awesome park and well worth the time. Of course the fact that we had a cloudless deep blue sky might have prejudiced us a bit! Enjoy the photos.






Grizzly up close and personal:


Goose Island in Saint Mary Lake:








Jackson Glacier:


Falls near Logan Pass:








Lake Shelburn - Many Glaciers entrance:


Tomorrow is an errand day and then on to Canada! I will be posting using the text feature of my phone so we will see how that goes. Can't use data connection - way to expensive.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Moving On...


Good internet is sporadic so my posts may not be consistent. Since I last posted we have moved on to White Sulphur Springs, MT which is east of Helena. We left Rapid City on Sunday, spent a night in Billings, MT and arrived here on Monday. There is not much to do or see in the immediate area but Yellowstone is about one and a half hours away so Tuesday we made a day trip into the park. It was a long day!! The last time I was in Yellowstone we only did the lower loop. Tuesday we did the entire loop, lower and upper, so I got to see some things that I had not seen before. But it was exhausting! It was after midnight when we got back to the motorhome.






Liberty Cap - a dormant hot spring cone.





Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces

















Emerald Spring





Steamboat Geyser





Gibbon River





Spasm Geysers





Elk cow





Old Faithful





Male elk





Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone - Lower Falls





Grizzly bear!!

Yesterday, Wed, was an R and R day.

Today we rode around looking at local scenery.












At about 8000 feet











We ran into a herd of horses.





Wild turkeys.