Day 9: We started the day with great sight-seeing plans for Whitehorse, but "stuff" got in the way. After Bob solved some plumbing issues and I did a little laundry, we headed out to find Walmart. We never found Walmart but something called Super-similar to a WinCo in California. You have to pay a loony (Canadian dollar) to use a grocery cart. A kind local showed us how to unlock a cart from the rest. Sadly, no one was around to show us how to replace the cart and get our loony back-so we blessed someone with free use of a cart! Plumbing fixed, laundry complete, all stocked up-ready for an evening of fun!
The Frantic Follies were great! It was an evening of humor and relaxation after a day of frustrations. Just simple humor, old west, vaudeville type acts. Great fun!
Very excited about heading to Skagway tomorrow and onto Haines the following day.
Day 10: We originally visited Skagway 25 years ago as a port-of-call on an Alaskan Cruise. A lot has changed! Skagway is a tourist spot full of shops and cruise ship passengers making purchases!
Our friends, John and Joyce, rode the train through the Whitehorse Pass to Skagway, while we drove and planned to picked them up at the train station. Trains came and went, but no John and Joyce! After discovering their particular train unloaded passengers in a different location, off we went, map in hand, to find our friends! Did I happen to mention, it was raining??!!! That map was destroyed in the rainy search and still no John and Joyce! I finally spoke to a ticket agent, who gave us excellent directions to a station 12 blocks away! We hopped in the truck and met them walking toward the original train station! Many of you are wondering why we didn't call or text each other...NO
PHONE SERVICE!!! We enjoyed a fun lunch at The Red Onion Saloon, an historic brothel! Our men enjoyed the "authentic" costumes of the waitresses...While a little wine and some beer helped us forget the drama!
Before heading back to camp for our final night in Whitehorse, we headed out to Whithorse Rapids Fish Ladder. It is the location of the longest wooden fish ladder in the world and the migration of Yukon River Chinook salmon. Those fish travel some 900 miles back to where they were born!
We keep passing in and out of Canada and the USA. It plays havoc with groceries since neither country allows fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs or chicken across the border. We leave Canada tomorrow but come back through in a couple of days on our way to a different section of Alaska. There are limited roads into the various parts of Alaska so this back and forth is to be expected until we hit Tok, Alaska. Then we will luxuriate in a full month of enjoying travel through the last frontier!
July 24: Arrived in beautiful Haines, Alaska early enough to explore. Bob is researching his fishing possibilities and we all went out to spot eagles and hoped for a grizzly sighting. This is what I expected Alaska to look like. It's a combination of Jurrasic Park and Land of the Dinosaurs! Beautiful mountains and green water. Haines is home to the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. During their migration, there may be 5000 bald eagles in the area. Many stick around and we are enjoying the sightings.
The Chilkoot River is also a prime spot to view bears feeding on salmon. The salmon run is not quite here yet, so no luck for us-as of this writing. I don't give up easily!
Sounds like a great adventure !
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures, keep'em coming.
Did you DRIVE over that BRIDGE?!?!