A few of my favorite pictures.

Dunes, not where you would expect them. This is a picture of a sand dune near Carcross in the Yukon. It was formed about 10,000 years ago when an ice dam created a glacial lake. The sand and silt that had been trapped in the glacier, settled to the bottom of the lake leaving behind these huge dunes after the ice melted.

This is taken at our campsite on the Top of the World Highway, we watched rain storms come and go, and then this rainbow showed up when the sun finally got below the layer of clouds.

Also taken on the Top of the World, this is the Canadian border crossing. This road is closed from beginning of October until the beginning of May, but is was a really nice gravel road to travel on at this time of year.

Downtown Dawson City.... most buildings are original and all the roads (except the main road that is the highway) are dirt and the sidewalks are wooden. Very interesting history here, an amazing amount of gold was found in the creeks but the people who got rich were the ones that "mined the miners".

Dawson City buildings again.

Monday June 28, 2010
We are home again, unpacked and getting caught up on stuff from the last 3 weeks.... the phone calls, the mail, etc. Over the next couple days, I will post some of my better photos from our trip. It was truly a memorable excursion, one that we are not likely to take again, at least not for a long time. Although I still think it would be fun to go that far north for the winter solstice! Maybe someday.

Almost home

Saturday June 26, 2010

Downtown Anchorage tourist information center...... a sod-roofed log cabin in the middle of town.

We are on our last leg home, just leaving Burns Lake right now, and we should be home tomorrow afternoon. If we have a good internet connection later today, I will post some about what we have been up to the last 5 days, we have seen some fantastic scenery.

Can't remember the name of this glacier, having a senior moment. It was on the highway between Anchorage and Tok Alaska.

Tuesday June 22 Anchorage to Top of the World camp, our best camp so far. The border crossing closes at 9:00 pm Yukon time, so after clearing customs we drove another couple clicks and then stopped for dinner and decided we couldn't do better for a camping spot. It really was beautiful, we could see forever in every direction and watched as rain came towards us, then over us and then moved on. Best of all, it was soooo quite, we really were the only ones around.

Red Fox looking for some handouts.... check out the beautiful tail.

Wednesday June 23 Top of the World camp to Dawson City then Skagway. Driving from the Top of the World to Dawson City was great! We were concerned the road might not be so good, but it was actually better than the highway from Whitehorse to the US border. In Dawson City we went on a guided historic tour of the town and learned lots about the gold rush in 1896.... all I can say is I am glad we live now and not 100 years ago! On to Skagway. We were going to stop in Whitehorse but then decided to check out Skagway instead. The drive from Whitehorse to Skagway was stunning! I would recommend it to everyone who makes this trip.

The effects of a glacier... this landscape is over 10,000 years old. Located on the highway into Skagway.

Thursday June 24 Skagway to mosquito camp (just north of Dease Lake BC). Yikkes!!! The mosquitoes were really truly huge! And they were very hungry. Jerry sprayed all over the outside of the car with DEET 40% while I tried to set up our mattress and organize the car. That stuff really works, but I would never spray it on my skin. Jerry was worried it might take the paint off the car! We won't make that mistake again... first check the mosquito meter before deciding on camp location!
Friday June 25 We left mosquito camp (before the little buggers got up) and drove about 8 hours to Smithers to stay with our friends Mary and Rob Boyce. Caught up on about 7 or 8 years worth of happenings between our families, polished off two bottles of wine and lots of good food!
And today will be the last night on the road, we will probably end up somewhere on the Pemberton Highway tonight.

Some of what we have seen everyday....

Turnagain Arm, just outside Anchorage, on the way to Seward.

On the highway a few minutes north of Seward.

On the beach in Seward... how would you like to live here?

Anchorage to Seward and back to Anchorage

Monday June 21, 2010
We left Faribanks early Sundy in the rain. The closer we got to Seward, the nicer the weather became. By the time we stopped for the night, it was pretty much a cloudless sky. Below is the picture I took from our "campsite" along a beautiful glacial river. This photo was taken just before midnight. The sun still had almost another two hours to go before setting. We usually go to bed at about 10 pm, but with these longer days, we are still not tired at midnight and are having to force ourselves to go to sleep. !!??!!

The town of Seward Alaska off in the distance.

We got a great nights sleep and then headed off to Seward, only a few kilometers away. A very beautiful setting but very touristy of course. It is amazing what happened to this town during the earthquake in 1964, it was almost completely destroyed. You would never know anything happened today. 

Headed back to Anchorage after lunch and now we are just takn' it easy, enjoying a little r & r.

Fairbanks AK

Saturday June 19, 2009
Friday night we slept in the car, sounds not that nice, but it was actually pretty comfortable. We found a side road off the main highway, very private and quiet. The only problem was we had to try to block out the light with towels and jackets because we couldn't get to sleep. Oh yes, and did I mention the mosquitoes? It never really got dark, even after the sun set it was still light enough that you could see everything without turning on a light.
We arrived in Fairbanks about noon, checked into a hotel, took a short nap and then headed up to the Univeristy of Alaska to their museum. Here we are sitting on a 4500 pound nugget of copper.

We spent nearly 3 hours at the museum, it was really well done. After dinner we went to the Aleyska Oil Pipeline viewing area just outside Fairbanks. Incredibly, there is about $1million worth of oil that goes through this pipeline each hour....

This picture was taken at almost 11:00 pm on June 19th
Tomorrow we are on the road again, off to Anchorage and we will spend a couple days there.

Whitehorse.... land of the mid-night sun

Friday June 18, 2009
Whitehorse, Yukon
I can't believe it! We are really in the Yukon! We drove almost 1000 kms yesterday, leaving Fort Nelson a little after 8:00 am, stopping at the Laird River Hot Springs for a relaxing dip with Amy, Dave, Ella and Sophia. It was one of the nicest hot springs I have ever visited, well worth the trip.

Our original plan was to stay overnight in Watson Lake, but then since it was still light out (surprise, surprise), we decided just to continue on to Whitehorse, got here at almost midnight. Now when I say midnight, you will probably imagine complete darkness, but the sun was just disappearing behind some mountains, there was quite a bit of traffic around, and I saw a couple walking their dog along the river. It was more like 7:00 pm in Ladysmith.
I am going to put some pictures up on the site, but don't have them off my camera yet, check back later today or tonight.

Goin' to Fort Nelson!

Day 6 Monday June 14, 2010
We left Edson this morning about 8:15 and are on our way to Fort Nelson, should be about a 12 hour drive. It is a really beautiful day for traveling, sunny and 14 degrees.

Wedding Day

Proud dad with his beautiful daughter.

Road trip to Alaska with stops along the way.

Day 3 Friday June 11, 2010
Coaldale Alberta
(Day 1 was Ladysmith to Kelowna, Day 2 Kelowna to Coaldale)
We arrived in Coaldale yesterday evening after leaving Kelowna about 8:00 am. Lots of construction is going on on the trans-Canada highway so it took us about an extra hour to get here. Today we are mostly just hanging out at Becky and Lance's house, this evening is the rehearsal for Abby's wedding tomorrow and tonight is dinner at Erik's parent's house. No pictures today, but I will have lots to post after the wedding.