Day 52 - Skagway, Alaska

Friday, July 30, 2010

 The Atteburys, Adventure #3  


This is our time to do the blog and guess what we did today? Laundry!!! I guess one has to do it sometime.


Before we did the chores Carole and Ken and Madi and Spence put on breakfast. We had camper’s omelets and toast. Yum. The camper’s omelets are beaten eggs in a plastic bag into which a person puts whatever they want into it. I put peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese in mine. Ken popped at least six plastic bags (sans air) into boiling water for 12 minutes and they’re ready to eat. Hot, but ready to eat. After we ate our delicious breakfast we had our travel meeting. We leave for Canada tomorrow.

We did our duty and then it was time to play. We headed for town and shopped for a while. As we pulled by the post office to mail some post cards we could see the Soapy Smith floosies sitting up in their windows trying to lure people into their show. It was funny because people were looking up with mouths agape trying to figure out what these girls were doing dangling their legs out of their window and what could they be saying. We went into the Skagway Mining Co. where the prices are good, and we bought ourselves a few mementoes to remember our trip to Alaska. Like I have to have something to remember this trip. For one thing I have tons of photos and there is dust all over everything to help us remember. We went into the Sarah Palin Store for laughs. They have everything Sarah in there. Good luck people. We went into several jewelry stores just to look at the glittering stones. We even went into the hardware store to see what they carry. Well they carry a little bit of everything like the required hardware, toys, camping gear, house wares, and souvenirs. The ocean liners must keep their stores going for the summer. We have seen at least three huge liners every day that we’ve been here. That’s at least 6,000 shoppers per day, (not counting us RVers). The sidewalks are boardwalks, and the store fronts are old Victorian with gingerbread and everything. It’s a cute little place. Quaint and not a bit modern like Juneau.

We had an early dinner tonight at the Stowaway Restaurant. It is right down on the dock where the ferries and ocean liners tie up. The food is great, and of course we had halibut. You just have to eat halibut here in Alaska. But the topper was the dessert Trecia had. It was peach bread pudding. It has coconut, raisins, and pecans in it. Fantastic.

The day is ending with everyone getting ready to hook up their towed and hit the hay for the long drive to Northern Beaver Post, YT. At least it gets dark now; we are getting only 17.5 hours of daylight now. With only six days left of our tour, I for one can’t believe that it’s almost over. We’ve made some lifelong friends in this eclectic group. It’s great to know if you need any help there is someone that can do it. These people even help strangers. Case in point Jim Northup helped another couple who were stranded with brakes that didn’t work on their car trailer. He spent his morning rebuilding said brakes out of the goodness of his heart; it’s a big one to boot. The bad part is we all split up and go our separate ways, while the good part is we have a whole bunch of new places to visit where we have good friends. We’re homeward bound.

Day 51 - Skagway, Alaska (cruise to Juneau)

Gary and Sally Johnson #17                                                 Thursday, July 29, 2010

Today was our last cruise of the caravan, and we again were blessed with good weather. Our trip took us from Skagway to Juneau and back again on the catamaran Fjordland.

We left early, probably about 8 am, and were immediately captivated by the beautiful scenery of Lynn Canal where Skagway is located. Lynn Canal is the longest and deepest glacial fjord in North America. Soon we were seeing humpback whales, eagles, harbor seals, and orcas. Our captain pointed out rushing waterfalls, like Long Falls and Sawmill Falls, and hanging glaciers as well as Davis Glacier that extends down to the water. We passed Haines and picturesque Eldred Rock lighthouse, the site of several disastrous shipwrecks.

On our arrival in Yankee Cove some 20 or so miles from downtown Juneau, we were picked up by bus and driven into town. There we had about 2 ½ hours to fuel the economy by having lunch and shopping. Next, our bus took us to Mendenhall Glacier to see the most visited glacier in the world up close and personal. This is by no means the largest or most beautiful glacier, but it is spectacular. It is receding like many glaciers, this one about 60 feet per year.

Soon we were back on our catamaran and headed to Skagway. We saw all the sights we’d seen on the way to Juneau, but this time in different lighting. We stopped in Haines to let off a few passengers, then cruised into Skagway. A lovely day in a perfect setting.

Day 50 - Skagway, Alaska

Wolf & Barbara Schlichting Rig #18
Wednesday, July 28
The first day after 2 members of our Caravan left

After a restful night Tuesday still dreaming about the road condition coming from Tok, we found Marvin rig #5 trying to fix the lights on his tow car with the help of Spence and Ken. A bad fuse was the main problem. I tried to take a picture of him in action but he was hiding behind the engine door. About noon all his problems were solved with a spare fuse.

The afternoon started with the Soapy Smith Vaudeville Show at 2.30 pm carpooling to town. The saga of Soapy Smith happened in 1898 with his death and the law came to Skagway in a big way. To reach the gold rush fields of Dawson in the Yukon, Skagway became the starting point to the Klondike trail once the ships docked from Seattle.

The show lasted one hour. The highlight came with Paris Bobbitt dancing the CAN CAN. It would have been nicer if she had worn the proper costume to see her legs swing to the tune. We all yelled higher higher with her legs, but no go.

After wards we rushed to the White Pass Yukon train station for the trip up to the summit of the White Pass elevation 3292 feet. Crossing over into British Columbia for about 500 feet we stopped to reverse the train engines and down we went to the Skagway rail station. To actually see the Klondike trail along the mountain range to the White Pass made me realize the difficulty to carry the supplies up this steep mountain pass in the winter, to get to the top and being stopped by the NWMP at the border for not having the required supplies with you to go on.

 




























Once arriving in town walked to a fish food restaurant in the harbour for dinner…..a day to remember.

Barb and Wolf

Day 49 - Destruction Bay, Yukon to Skagway, Alaska

Monique & Barry Zander, No. 13


As usual, we were about the last to leave the Destruction Bay campground heading to Skagway, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 27. At just under 270 miles, we were expecting an arduous journey through the Yukon and British Columbia and back into Alaska.

It was a day that brought three major surprises.

Surprise #1 -- Things got interesting at Slim’s River Bridge (Mile 23). There we saw a bridge that the legendary Sam McGee helped build. And, the surprise: Madi was there to ask us to do the caravan’s blog for the day. A long, dull day ahead … and we had to find things to write about.

It got a bit interesting when we arrived at Canada’s Kluane National Park, but viewing another film and seeing some high mountains didn’t seem like this would be a blog worth reading.

Surprise #2 – The road was laced with road heaves and construction delays. That’s not unusual, and it was a welcomed relief when we finally got to a smooth section of highway, and then came the surprise … or surprises. Major bumps in the road, some with signs and flags but a few with nothing but skid marks and wavy white lines on the roadside. We took it down a notch from our usual 58 mph.

Surprise #3 -- One of the most glorious, awe-inspiring highways in of our entire trip. It may have started at Emerald Lake (Mile 198.3), where the blending of green and aqua waters was memorable. We stopped at Spirit Lake and others over the next 100 miles or so, drawn to the viewing areas by the vistas.

The “World’s Smallest Desert,” which is actually a glacial silt dune, was a hop, skip & jump away, was our next stop. Then, not far down the road we visited Caribou Crossing, a tourist-trap village featuring a 3,000-pound slab of jade, a dogsled team behind whom visitors can ride for $50, and several other ways to spend unneeded money. The ice cream was good (our purchase for $3.50).

We drove into Carcross, a very interesting, historic town being restored by the Canadian government, which serves currently as the end of the narrow-gauge railroad from Skagway. We wish we could have stayed there another few hours, but we could almost feel Spence and Madi breathing down our necks.

A short time later, we were part of a two-vehicle bear jam. A black bear crossed in front of us, posed for pictures and went on his way.

Next stop: Yukon Suspension Bridge Visitors Center, where we cajoled the guard into allowing us to take a photo of the bridge by putting the camera up over a fence. At $17 a person to cross the bridge, we decided to forego the opportunity to walk across a gorge and back. We got a free sample of a maple cookie in the gift shop.

A few more stops at roadside pull-outs to contemplate the varied scenery, and soon it was time to take off the sunglasses to enter Alaska again. Our passage was delayed by a group of about 25 bicyclists in front of us, but we made it through in about 20 minutes.

Down the steepest grade of the tour with more beautiful scenery all around us, and suddenly we were in Skagway, greeted with a rousing or rowdy group of caravan members having an unscheduled social. But the day wasn’t over for us.

After getting settled a bit, we took off for town, hoping to see cruise ships while they were in port. Turns out, there are always cruise ships in port – very impressive. We ended our adventurous day by watching a van carrying girls screech up to the dock in time to see their cruise ship pulling out of sight into the fjord. The implications of their distress kept our interest until we got to sleep.

One other note. By the time most of us awoke Tuesday morning, Jenks & Nancy Jenkins and Nelson and Marlene Cahill had departed the caravan, on to other adventures. It was good having them as part of the group for the past five weeks.

Everyday on this trek to the Land of the Midnight Sun is wonderful!

Day 48 - Tok, Alaska to Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory

Ivan & Shirley Yurtin

Destruction Bay, YT Rig # 12 
Monday, July 26, 2010

We headed out this morning leaving Tok, AK for a long and rigorous drive to Destruction Bay, YT. So back on went the Pro Tec to protect our Jeep from the rocks. It was not raining, which was a nice change from what we had in Valdez, AK.

The departure procedure was a little different due to the fact that the Fantasy Tours schedule landed them in Tok along with Adventure Caravans. Naturally, that meant two caravans would be departing at the same time, but it worked out fine. Seventy-seven miles into the trip we came upon construction. As a result, we had a ten minute wait which resulted in 20 rigs lined up waiting for the construction workers. It was quite a sight to see that many rigs lined up on the highway. That was the only area that we had to actually stop and wait.

The major part of our journey was loose gravel, pot holes and frost heaves. . . . . . one right after the other. For the rig drivers it was a very long day of driving plus very challenging. Ivan started calling the highway to Destruction Bay the “Destruction Highway”. The road was rough on the rigs and created damage to Marvin’s tow hitch, bending the steel bar!

A good part of the scenery was trees on both sides of the road, ponds and lakes interspersed among the trees and shrubs. We kept watching for wildlife, but did not see much in the morning other than a cow moose standing in a lake. Later in the afternoon we stopped in a wonderful bakery and lodge called, “Pine Valley” located in Beaver Creek, YT. Jim and Evelyn stopped at the bakery also, and we left at the same time. A few miles down the road we noticed their rig was pulled off the road and we saw Evelyn walking down the highway pointing towards the trees. We stopped and sure enough a huge bull Moose. What a site!!

We had other sites we wanted to stop at but it was getting late and we wanted to stop at the Kluane Museum and still make it into the campground in order to check out the walking sticks that Doubie was selling. On the outside of the museum is the World’s largest Gold Pan. The Kluane Museum of Natural History had wildlife exhibits displayed in their natural habitat that were extremely realistic. Also displayed were Native clothing, tools, weapons and Yukon minerals. The museum was well worth the stop.

Once we arrived at Destruction Bay Lodge, we readily set up our RV and made our way to the travel briefing. Dinner was being served by Loren, the owner of the lodge. The dinner was excellent and he introduced himself and gave us some background as to how he developed this lodge into what it is today. The food was homemade from the preparation of the roast beef, potato salad, salad, salad dressing, homemade rolls, etc. Dessert was also homemade and Loren served the berry/rhubarb with whipped cream to each of us.

After dinner we were entertained by a wonderful band called “Loose Gravel” led by Tim Naylor. There were only a small handful of us that took advantage of the wonderful entertainment, in spite of being tired. Sorry so many of our fellow travelers missed a great performance. Loren played the drums in the band and later recited a poem that depicted his move and love of the area. He then sang a song that he wrote about the Kluane area. Loren is a very versatile person that Built the Destruction Bay Lodge, makes repairs as needed, cooks the food, composes music, plays drums and sings……quite a guy! We had him autograph a CD of his before we left.