May, 2001
MAY 5,
2001 It's been an interesting
week. We left Lethbridge on Sunday, April 29 and drove into Calgary.
At Kinko's we discovered that the only internet connections available were on
their computers with a hefty minute by minute charge. So, we walked across
the street and, at Radio Shack, found a compassionate clerk who let us get
e-mail using their phone line. All we had to do was put up with all the kids
operating the remote-control cars around our ankles. Then it was on
to Banff National Park. The scenery was breath-taking. The campsites
there are all parallel to the road, allowing mountain views on all sides.
Because of the ever moving clouds the views change every few minutes. On
Monday morning we walked the streets in the town of Banff going in and out of
all the shops. In the afternoon we drove the car to Lake Louise along the scenic
route, managing to see a group of elk along the way. Lake Louise itself is
still snow and ice covered, but still quite beautiful. The large hotel
looks very elegant and there were many busloads of Japanese tourists loading and
unloading.
We had
planned to leave Banff on Tuesday, but our friend Jacques had a medical problem
which he wanted checked out at the hospital. It was decided that he needed
to see a specialist in Calgary on Wednesday, so Tom and I stayed with the
Bounders at the park while Sandee and Jacques went to their appointment.
They returned around 4pm with the report that all was well, except for the chip
they picked up in their car windshield. If we had to be stuck someplace,
we sure had a beautiful spot!
On Thursday, we left Banff and went to the Jasper
area. We stopped to take photos at the Columbia Icefields among other
scenic spots. Everhart's Bounder, in the lead, chased a moose off the road
at one point. Staying in the National Park is expensive as you pay to just
drive through the park and then pay to camp. (People who live there buy a
yearly pass and only lease their property.) We spent the night at a small
campground owned by a young couple in Tate Jaune Cache. They have great
plans to recreate the small town that was once there in the early
1900s.
Friday we drove on to Prince George and spotted at
least a dozen bears along the way. We also saw some sheep, deer and
coyotes. In Prince George we had our leveling jacks repaired, a relatively
expensive 3 hour job done by some very friendly folks at Cariboo Chrome and
Hydraulics. (We'd had to disconnect the alarm and not use the jacks several days
before when the alarm wouldn't turn off when the jacks were up.)
Afterwards we found our way to the Blue Spruce Campground where the owners were
just getting started with the rehearsal dinner B-B-Q for their son's
wedding...but they didn't invite us.
We're looking forward to getting to Prince Rupert by
the end of the week without any more problems. (We've already had a phone
call from the travel agency with ferry schedule changes.)
The
Bounder at Banff National Park
Mary,
Tom, Sandee and Jacques with a RCMP Mountie
They
look oh, so cuddly!
The
April page was updated on May 5, 2001.
MAY 9,
2001 We arrived in Prince Rupert on Monday afternoon. We
had spent the previous night at a campground on a golf course in Smithers,
BC. Quite a combination of businesses, but a very pretty place. The
drive from there into Prince Rupert followed the Skeena River in canyons between
snow covered mountains. Our current camground is just over a hill from the
ferry docks. We went down and watched them load on Monday so we'll be
prepared for our trip on Friday. There are also lots of fishing boats tied
up at the docks and the people we talked to said they don't go out very often
any more as the fisherman can't make enough money to support their
efforts. In the meantime, before we sail, we're catching up on "chores"
and doing a little sightseeing. We visited an old fish cannery that is
being restored as a tourist attraction....an entire village of homes and
businesses all built in small buildings on stilts over the water on both sides
of a long boardwalk. We haven't seen any more exciting wildlife,
although we are camped facing a stream and thick woods. Our next stop will
be on the island of Ketchikan, population 8300, late Friday the 11th, and
we'll be there till late Wed., the 16. At this point we're a little
aprehensive about getting the RV onto the ferry without any problems...hopefully
it will all go smoothly. We watched them measure each vehicle getting on
the ferry the other day, and hope they understand how to deal with us
all.
Click on "forward" and "back" above to get to the
rest of the May page.
MAY
31, 2001 It's been a while since we
had an Internet connection good enough to update this page. Since our last
report we've been on several ferries and have enjoyed the Southeast Alaska
Islands and the inside passage. Our adventures loading and unloading
vehicles on the ferries have been fairly uineventful, but we have learned to
read the tide tables and respect them.
Click on "forward" and "back" above to get to the
rest of the May page.
The M/V Kennicott of the Alaska Marine Highway
System
Loading the Bounders onto the "vehicle
deck" of the Kennicott
Our
trip on the M/V Kennicott from Price Rupert, B.C. to Ketchikan, Alaska on
Friday, May 11, was an enjoyable experience with little concerns about the
vehicles. Luckily, the ferry was not crowded and the crew had time and
space to get us all aboard easily. Once aboard, we found seats in the
observation lounge and saw whales and logging barges as well as the water and
forests along the shore as we sailed along. We passed time playing cards
and watching videos about Alaska for a while. We docked in Ketchikan
around 9:30pm and made our way to the parking lot of a new Wal-Mart. On
Saturday we drove the car to the various campgrounds around Ketchikan only to
discover that most of them are not yet open for the season and the ones that
are, did not have sites big enough for our vehicles. So, with the friendly
permission of the Wal-Mart managers, we stayed 5 nights in the Wal-Mart parking
lot. The entire staff of the store knew us by the time we left.
(It's a small town and we made LOTS of trips into the store!) What we
disliked the most about Ketchikan was the weather. It rained the entire
five days we were there, with hardly a let-up. According to tourist
information, Ketchikan is the wettest place in North America with 165" of rain
per year. It seemed like they got 100" while we were there! But, we
did drive the entire length of the island (about 45 miles) and enjoyed seeing
waterfalls, beautiful forests, intricate totem poles, groups of eagles, the
"Creek Street" settlement of old buildings on pilings in the center of town, and
Tom and Jacques made their first fishing trip to Ward Creek (not very
successful, however!) We battled the cruise ship crowds in the stores and
internet cafes downtown. On our last day in Ketchikan we discovered that
our refrigerator was not working while propane powered, and the kind repairman
who made a "house call" to the Wal-Mart lot was unable to fix it. We were able
to get a new supply of propane and dump and get free fresh water at the city
facility before boarding the M/V Taku for the trip to Wrangell on Wednesday, May
16.
Getting aboard the Taku at 7pm was a little more
difficult than the Kennicott had been. It is a smaller ship and we used a
side, rather than the rear, entrance meaning that we had to back up the
vehicles. We ate dinner and played cards in the dining room for a while,
then went to a stateroom to take a nap before our 1:30am arrival in
Wrangell. We ended up with only two bunks
for four people and I think we laughed more than we slept.Unloading in Wrangell
was a little more stressful, but we made it and drove about 5 miles south of
town to the city operated Shoemaker Bay RV Park. A policeman helped us
find some sites with electricty and we "crashed" till about 10am on
Thursday. In daylight we realized that we had a beautiful view overlooking
the water and the mountains and islands beyond. It was still overcast, but
the rain stopped most of the time and the sun even came out periodically. Tom
took the Bounder into town to a repairman recommended by the man in Ketchikan
and Tim was able to fix the refrigerator by taking a part from another camper
that he had for sale there. We had to go see him again on Friday to find
out what his bill would be since he had to call his supplier to find out how
much the part would be. We were pleasantly surprised to find that he
charged us only $77 for his time(an hour or more) and materials. We also
discovered that Wrangell is a much smaller town than any we've been to so
far. By the time we got to the library to get e-mail an hour after our
repair, the librarian already knew who we were and that we were camped in the RV
park and had our fridge fixed! We got the same response at a diner where
we stopped for coffee. We also had a gentleman stop at the RV and knock on
Jacques' door to say he'd seen us in Prince Rupert and was glad we'd stopped
here...he was from Van Wert, OH. On Saturday afternoon we climbed to
Rainbow Falls up a mountain near the RV park.
Eagle Roost Park, Petersburg
MAY
31, 2001
We left Wrangell on Sunday evening, May 20 on the M/V
Matanuska. Prior to loading we visited some of the art galleries and
talked with the young people selling garnets at the dock. The garnets are
imbedded in a rock ledge on a nearby island and the only children of the town
are allowed to dig them out and sell them. Our ride to Petersburg was only
3 hours. Petersburg is called "Little Norway" and the influence of the
country is visible all over town. We enjoyed visiting the town's museum
and having several meals at the Northern Lights Restaurant overlooking the small
boat harbor. We stayed at the Twin Creek RV Park about 7 miles from
town. Tom and Jacques did some fishing in the area and were more
successful than in Ketchikan. We saw many eagles on this island which is
mostly a swampy area called "muskeg."
Our
trip from Petersburg to Sitka began early on Thursday, May 24. We'd spent
the night at the ferry terminal lot anticipating a 5am departure on the M/V
LeConte The ferry was delayed and when it arrived they loaded all the vehicles
quickly and set sail immediately because of a low tide. When we arrived at
the village of Kake several hours later, all the vehicles had to unloaded and
loaded on again to make better use of space and allow for more vehicles.
We did not tour the village. The ferry trips have been very enjoyable and
comfortable and the scenery along the Inside Passage has been spectacular.
The ferries can go in channels that the cruise shiops are too large to travel
in. The waters were calm and lined with spruce covered islands.
There were many places where we could almost reach out and touch the
shore. During our various ferry trips we have seen bears, orca whales and
some porpoises. We arrived in Sitka around 9pm and parked the Bounders in
the Sitka Sportsmen's RV Park right next to the terminal.
One of the few sunsets we've seen on our rainy trip - over Sitka Sound,
around 9:30pm.
Click
on "forward" above to get to page 3 of May.
Click on "forward" and "back" above to get to the
rest of the May page.
In
Sitka we visited the National Historic Park which has many Tlinget totem
poles, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, and Castle Hill where the Russians,
Tlinget, and Americans all had their headquarters at various times. We
hiked to Thimbleberry Falls and Lake and drove to the end of the island road
once again and saw Blue Lake. In Sitka, the Russian influence was quite
evident. It doesn't take much to see just about the whole town on these
islands. What we didn't care for in Sitka was the fact that the cruise
ships can get here, and when they do, the town is really crowded with tourists -
up to 5000 in one day! But the best thing here was that the weather
finally was sunny. It was about 60 and the locals headed to the beach for
picnics and swimming. To them it was hot! At any rate, it was a
beautiful Memorial Day Weekend!!
On
Memorial Day afternoon, Monday, May 28 we boarded the M/V Taku once again.
The men loading the ship recognized the "twin Bounders with the twin
cars." It was nice enough that we could sit in the chaise lounges in the
sun on the top deck. Our trip to Juneau was the longest leg of our ferry
trip. Luckily for us, it is not high tourist season yet, and there are not
many passengers on the ships. We are also finding that we are with the
same people each time. Some are backpackers and tenters, some bikers, some
staying in Bed & Breakfasts and 3 other couples in RVs. We haven't
been staying together on the islands, but when on the ferries we share our
adventures. We occasionally see them in town and say hi. The food on
the ferries is quite good with a wide menu. At night, many of the
backpackers and bikers spread their gear out on the top deck of the
ferries. Some passengers just camp out on the floor of the lounges.
On this leg, we got a cabin of our own, as did Everharts. It was quite
comfortable and relatively quiet. We stopped at the island of Hoonah
around 11pm where Everharts walked Aly and explored a little, while we went to
bed. We were awakened around 4am for our arrival in Juneau. By 8am
we had eaten breakfast, explored the campgrounds on the island by car, returned
to the ferry terminal to get the Bounders and set up camp in the US Forest
Servce Campground at the Mendenhall Glacier. Later in the day we visited
the downtown area, where we met all the crusie ship people again, ate lunch at
the Red Dog Saloon, checked out some of the galleries and shops, and checked
e-mail. The town of Juneau is built up the side of a steep hill with very
narrow streets. It was hard to see the Capitol, Governor's House, etc.
because you are so close to everything. While in Juneau we also walked out
on the Mendenhall Glacier, toured the State Museum and took a day trip by boat
to the "Tracy Arm Fjord" to see the Sawyer glaciers. On the boat trip we
saw lots of eagles, black bears, humpback whales, sea lions, otters, as well as
calving and crashing glacier ice. It was a fantastic trip. The
Mendenhall Campground was the nicest we've stayed in so far, although we missed
the bear wandering through while we were gone on our boat trip. The weather,
however, was back to rain.
A
Tlinget totem pole at the National Historic Park, Sitka
The Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau
A Black Bear on the rocks along the shore of Tracy Arm,
Juneau
South Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm, Juneau
We'll be leaving Juneau on Saturday, June 2 heading
to Skagway, Haines and then to tour the mainland Alaska. It will be
strange to be driving in the Bounder again, but we are looking forward to being
on the road and seeing what the rest of the state has to offer. (We've
seen plenty of the "rainforest!")
Internet connections have been very sporadic, but we
will try to answer all e-mail and update the webpage as often as we can.
Check back again, soon!
Tom
and Mary aboard the M/V Keet at the South Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm,
Juneau. May 31, 2001
