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Everybody Smile The Staff: Deano, Shirl, Spike & Jen Hi - Everyone made it to 'Ksan Native RV Park safe and sound; all rigs are inspected and ready to go. We visited Kispiox Village to view the Totem Poles and next visited the 'Ksan Museum and Clan houses. Everyone learned the history and background of the Gitsan People. Below are some photos of the group and our exploits.
We see Bears along the road all the time Building our "Moose Catchers" Is that how Spike wants it?
Here are some of the Caravaners who would stand still for the photographer
We stopped to see Bear Glacier on our way down to Hyder, Alaska
The Caravan at Bear Glacier Not too close to the edge, Spike We visited and learned about Native life
A ten minute break for a snack of Salmon Dip Julie & Chuck made it to the Chilcoot Trail We all climbed up ....a bit
El Dorado Del steals the show Our two Can Can girls The street party and some wild dancing
Twinky-winky & Caramella take Ron for a walk. Mom shows a teenager bear how to fish at Fish Creek
There is a big one over there. The ladies Can Can on the road to Jade City but the men kicked higher
City walking tour with a Ranger Gambling night at "Trail of 98" Jen teaches us the Electric Slide
Waiting for the 4th of July Parade There goes old number "73" The RCMP (Canadian Mounties) save the day
Friends from Germany we see all the time. Only one phone call allowed. A new recruit
A rare visit from Klondike Spike The Mounties in front of the S.S. Klondike LeRoy "Pookie" is hooked on the Yukon
Even Shirl gets some needed attention We're off to Miles Canyon on the Yukon River Who has found some Gold?
Paning Gold on Bonanza Creek, Yukon Klondike Another Gold Digger on the Creek This is "Gold Fever" We are in Hyder now and about to go to a Halibut dinner at Sealaska Inn. Tomorrow we head up the Cassier Hwy towards Dease Lake, BC and Watson Lake, Yukon. Next we arrive in Skagway, Alaska for the 4th of July and will have more photos and stories. 7/4 The trip out of Hyder was magnificent, plenty of bears and one Moose. Two driving days then Skagway, Alaska Yea! A beautiful drive down through the Coastal Range past White pass and Chilcoot Pass and then we arrive to Skagway. We are here for the 4th of July and have seen the Chilcoot Pass and even climbed up it a bit. We saw the Dance Follies and El Dorado Del was pulled up on stage for a portion of the show. Joe Meyer won the bid to remove the garter belt from a Can Can Dancer. 7/5 We just arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon stay tuned for more photos on the 7th Hey everyone this is Jen, the official hostess of the 2004 tours. We have a great group with us this time, we are making lots of new friends and trying every adventure possible. Like Spike had previously mentioned Hyder was more than we ever expected, the bears were in full effect . Everyone walked out on the platform to watch the bears catch the early run of salmon from the stream, while others took a short car ride up to Salmon Glacier. After Hyder we were on our way to Skagway. Two short overnight stays and down into Skagway we went. The drive into Skagway was beautiful although most of the snow had melted since our last visit the temperatures were still cool. It is amazing how the temperatures vary, when we left Hazelton we were all in shorts and tanktops but as we moved along we began to bring out light jackets. We spent three days in Skagway one of which was the fourth of July. On the night of July third we attended the local block party and realized that there were a few party animal among us, later that night we watched the fireworks over the bay. On the fourth there were a lot of events to attend. The parade in the morning featured a division of the Yukon RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and Santa. The RCMP marched to the tune of the Bagpipes and impressed us all with their superior formations. Later that night we all rested for our charge into Whitehorse. While in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, we visited one of the three remaining sternwheelers the SS Klondike, we were taken back in time at the Beringia Museum, and knocked off our feet, with laughter, at the Frantic Follies. There is a lot to do here in Whitehorse and today several members of the group were honored to attended the Change of Command Ceremony, that takes place every twelve years. This ceremony is to replace the Assistant Commissioner of the Yukon. The RCMP "M" Division all attended, showing their pride dressed in the ceremonial red coats. There were several other distinguished guest whom attended this ceremony, among them were the Commissioner of the Yukon, representatives from the First Nations People, and the commissioner of the RCMP. As the ceremony took place we were all learned a little about how Parliament works. The ceremony resembled our changing of the guards that takes place at Buckingham Palace. Lot of fun and very educational. 7/11 There's gold in them there hills!!!! We all got to see Robert Service's and Jack London's Cabins and now we are panning for gold under the midnight sun. Tomorrow to Chicken, Alaska and then to Fairbanks. 7-16 We had to dance around some fires and were the last to evacuate Chicken. Chicken was saved by the fire crews but we now affectionately refer to the little town as BBQ Chicken. In Fairbanks we went to the Salmon and Prime Rib dinner, Palace Theater, El Dorado Gold Mine and even saw Susan Butcher (Iditarod Champ) on the Riverboat Discovery. Tomorrow we are off to Deneli Park and some new adventures. Below are some new photos. Stay tuned.
Jim & Linda do "As the Wheels Turn" The friendly Mountain Jays come to pay us a visit. Me Next!
Our timely evacuation out of BBQ Chicken The wild Survivors Party Crossing the Yukon River in style
Look for the baby Moose in the background A lighting strike made another fire. But we still had Gold Fever 7-24 Let see, where to begin, so much has happened since my last entry. After our adventures in Whitehorse we were ready to try our luck in the hills of Dawson City. As Spike had mentioned before Dawson City is known for its gold discovery and there are several places that adventurers like us can try our luck at panning. Every one tried panning for gold and after realizing the work involved decided it was not their career of choice. See, there is a lot involved in the panning process that begins with a shovel and a bucket and ends with a back ache. However everyone has lots of fun and some even developed what we call gold fever. See that is where you think about gold 24/7 and even start wondering or panning every creek in sight looking for shiny specks in the bottom of your pan. Panning was not the only thing we accomplished in Dawson. There is so much history that surrounds the town that we did not know where to start; first off, there is Gold Dredge #4 where we learn how to find gold in style, next we visited the homes of Jack London and Robert Service, finally we visited the Commissioners Residence where Martha Black and her husband resided during the gold rush. Dawson is neat, the town still looks like it did in 1898 granted there has been some slight remodeling but the sidewalks are made of wood and the streets of dirt. It reminds me of an old western town. After Dawson City we were off to Alaska, Dawson was out last adventure in the Yukon and Canada. On our way out of Dawson we caught the ferry across the Yukon River and we were off. The road to Tok was interesting and we were unable to make our usual stop in Chicken but that was ok. Tok was only an overnight stay for our arrival into Fairbanks. Fairbanks was fun for it was the first big town we had seen since Whitehorse and some of us had forgotten how to drive in city traffic. Our first stop in Fairbanks was a little town right outside known as North Pole. We visited one place in hopes of seeing Santa and when he was unavailable we settled for Spike. Our next stop in town was El Dorado Gold Mine where we saw mining done in the present with a sluice. We were even given the chance to pan again. We also took a ride down the Chena River to the Tanana River to see how the Athabaskan natives live. Along the way we had a visit with Susan Butcher, three four time winner of the Iditarod. It was really a treat to see Susan and have her explain her kennel to us. That was Fairbanks and then off to Denali. Denali was awesome!!!! We were able to see the mountain and on the bus tour through the park the wild life was amazing. The group saw a few grizzly and Dall sheep and even had a caribou run along side the bus. While in Anchorage we visited the Iditarod Museum and rode a sled pulled by a team of dogs. Again we were in a big town and had so much to accomplish. During the city tour Spike explained about the Earthquake that almost devoured Anchorage and then pointed out the highlights of the city. We were all dazzled by the Aurora Borealis Museum and awed at all the flowers throughout the city. A few of those with gold fever ventured to Crow Creek Mine to try out luck one last time at panning but were home in time for dinner. That night we all boarded a bus and went to the Dusty Sourdough Show for dinner, boy was it great. But the best part was the chocolate factory across the street with the ten foot water fall and the creek next to the restaurant with red salmon in it. The red salmon are beginning to make their run up the creeks to spawn and put on a great show of color along the way. We also had the chance to try several different meats such as Caribou, Ox, or even pickled salmon. That same day we all car-pulled to the wildlife refuge and fed Seymore the Moose a banana, also during our car-poll we saw Portage Glacier. On our way out of Anchorage we viewed Turnagain Arm and searched for Beluga Whales. So here we are in Seward sitting on the bank of Resurrection Bay watching for sea otters and other marine live. Some are even trying their luck at Salmon fishing. Tomorrow we are taking a Cruise out to watch for wildlife and see an actual glacier in the water. Hopefully it will put on a show for us.
Susan Butcher talks about her dogs A black bear up a tree right next to the road We don't want to go back home, sell out stuff.
On you Huskys, Mush We ate all the food there was, now what do we do? A Ranger takes Chuck away for not buying Julie gifts on the Glacier Cruise. Jim won't bail him out. |
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The Glacier Cruise was a success. On the way to the glacier the group was greeted by all kinds of Sea Life. Dahl Porpoise and Pacific Porpoises danced in the wake of the boat while Killer whales danced in the distance. The Porpoise seemed to play with the boat swimming in front and under as we moved a long. Puffins who were to heavy to fly showed their strength as the hurried below the surface. Once at the glacier the air grew cold and we could see small icebergs created from the glacier. As we had hoped the glacier calved several times and put on a great show. Our next destination is Homer where we are all anxious to go fishing for halibut. The mighty fisherpersons were all up and ready to go at 5 am, because we were told the boat waits for no one. We were all excited and had dreamed all night of the fish that were waiting for us to catch them. As we boarded the boat we were given the rules and regulations of the boat and on in particular caught our attention, "You will not get sick in my cabin". As we headed out to sea the crew explained procedures for fishing and how the boat operated. The day was gloomy but we were not scared and when we finally found the fishing hole we were all ready to go. We tossed and rolled with the boat but all caught out limit. This was a challenging day for many but most of us agreed that it was a good day and had fun. Thanks to Richard Pepper and Spike Walker we had enough fish for our ending potluck. On the way back to shore the deckhands cleaned and bagged our fish for processing. The rest of our time in Homer was spent resting or shopping on the Homer Spit.
Our Catch AL the Mariner How we fish from the bank "Combat Fishing" Our final destination was Kenai and as the end grew near we all grew sad. We first went to visit the Russian Church located near the park and spent a large part of the day watching the dip netters catch fish. It was a real sight to see, there were probably 1000 people squeezed into a little area using huge nets to catch their salmon limit for their family. The next day we spent preparing for our final potluck, we ate early rested and gathered in the evening for our good-byes. The night was spent sharing memories and poems. It was an emotional time for most because the end meant leaving friends behind. In the beginning we were all just a group but by now we had all bonded and became friends, good friends.
The "Gathering of the Nuts" Finely Mt. Redoubt shows itself And Mt Spurr Erupts catching all off guard Early morning after the potluck almost every one was safely on their way home. Spike and I would like to thank everyone for all their participation and help throughout last month. It was a lot of fun and we hope you enjoyed it as well. Remember, keep in touch. | ||
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