Tok

June 30, 2012     TOK, AK

It was cold and rainy in Tok today, so we stayed in and used the time for planning our travels for the next 7 days---Fairbanks and Denali.  After lunch we piled in the Jeep and headed into town to explore the Visitor's Center and do a little shopping.  We gathered lots of literature and information and talked to some nice folks at the Visitor's Center, and shopped at the All Alaska Shop and the Burnt Paw, which has a sod roof.   They actually mow it!   A quick stop at the Three Bears Grocery Store completed our shopping trip.

Dog sled.

Sod roof and lawnmowers.

Waiting at the grocery store.  

Even the dogs drive in Tok!

Tonight Gary and Steve went with us to listen to Alaska Sweetgrass again.   Mark my words, one day these kids will be famous.   They are that good.  ...and we saw them when!

Kluane YT to Tok AK

June 29, 2012    KLUANE, YT TO TOK, AK

We left our beautiful campsite early today and set out on the most difficult part of the trip so far....the "bad" section of the highway.  There were gravel patches, bumps, washboard sections, road work, and potholes galore.  We only traveled about 230 miles, but it seemed much longer.  We stopped at Buckshot Betty's for lunch and cinnamon buns and that was a nice break.  We spent some time at the border crossing celebrating our arrival in the USA where we will be for the next several weeks.

Buckshot Betty's

One foot in Canada/one foot in Alaska

Along the way we had great animal viewing.   We saw a grizzly with 2 cubs, a black bear, several nesting swans, and a moose!

Swans

We are in Tok, AK at last.  Our campground is the Tok Village RV Park which has an RV/car wash much to Steve's delight!  We washed some of the road dust off before we even set up our campsite.

RV/car wash

This evening Barb and I went to see some local talent here at the campground.   A 17 year old girl plays a mean fiddle while her younger brother sings and plays the banjo and guitar.  They were very entertaining with their music and telling local color stories.

Skagway to Kluane Lake

June 28, 2012     SKAGWAY TO KLUANE LAKE

We set out bright and early today and had a relatively easy drive to Whitehorse where we   shopped til we dropped at Wal-mart.   We bought a new camera for me since my Panasonic is very sick.  I got a Sony--not as nice as the Panasonic, but it will suffice for the rest of this trip, I hope.

We traveled northwest through the Yukon through Haines Junction and on to Kluane Lake where we dry camped in a very nice turnout beside the lake.  The view was spectacular.

The best thing about today's trip was seeing a beaver and several bears along the way.  

Kluane Lake

Corky and Daisy in the lupine.

Nice campsite

Gary and Barb's RV

White Pass & Yukon Railway

June 27, 2012      WHITE PASS RAILROAD

Today was Barb's birthday and we started the day off right by going shopping in Skagway.  After returning to the RV's and having lunch, we headed back to town for the 3 1/2 hour train ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.  What a great trip!  The weather was great, the ride was very interesting, and we saw 2 bears beside the tracks--a grizzly and a black bear.

Trestle bridge

View from the train

Our train coming to of the tunnel

Black bear beside the tracks

The trail of '98

Grizzly beside the track

Flags at the border

Suspension bridge

Skagway from the train

Skagway-Gary and Steve

June 26 part 2      GARY AND STEVE'S DAY

While Barb and I were visiting Juneau, Gary and Steve took off in the Jeep to explore the area between Skagway and the Canadian border.   They took a side trip to the old Dyea Townsite where the Chilkoot Trail begins. They saw many views of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway tracks, bridges, and trains and stopped at the Goat Lake  turnout to take pictures of Pitchfork Falls.  They saw many other waterfalls along the way.

The William Moore Bridge is a unique suspension bridge which spans a 110 foot wide gorge over Moore Creek.  At the White Pass Summit they paused to think of the thousands of gold seekers who poured into this area seeking their fortunes in the late 1800's.

Tormented Valley, a rocky desolate "moonscape" of stunted trees and small lakes offered another great photo op.  They also saw the foundation of the old Venus Mines mill site which was built in the 1960's and used until 1981.

The guys had a great day of exploring this historic area while we were off to the state capital.

Pitchfork Falls

Falls

William Moore Bridge

Tormented Valley

White Pass & Yukon Train

Red Mountain

On the way to Dyea

The road less traveled...to Dyea 

Venus Mines mill

Skagway-Juneau

June 26 Part 1     BARB AND SARAH GO TO JUNEAU

Ready to go!

Fjordline Express 

Barb and I were up early on this cold (56 degrees) rainy morning for our day long trip to Juneau.  We boarded the catamaran "Fjordland Express" at the pier and settled in with warm coffee for the 3 hour ride.  The captain, Glenn Jacobson, and his deckhand daughter, Libby, gave us an amazing trip.

Leaving Skagway

Our first stop was at Haines to pick up a few more passengers, then we headed south to see the sights.  The cabin was warm and cozy, but I kept running outside to take pictures so I stayed cold and wet for much of the trip. Coffee and a continental breakfast  helped warm me up.

Long Falls

Glenn made a point of cruising close to shore or turning around and going back so that we had the best view of the beautiful waterfalls and glaciers along our way.  

The most fun was seeing the sea lion colony!   There were hundreds of them lounging on the rocks, swimming in the water, barking at us, and generally making us laugh.   We spent quite a bit of time watching them.

Sea lions on their rock. 

Sea lions in the water.  

Then came the whales!  We saw quite a few of them feeding and some had babies with them.  We had several really good sightings of the tail flukes as they sounded.  Unfortunately the telephoto lens on my camera was acting up, so I didn't get good pictures of the whales.


Salmon season has just started and as we got closer to Juneau we saw many commercial fishing boats with their nets out and their "tenders" standing by.  When the fishing boat is full, the tenders offload the catch and take it to the processing plants so that the fishermen can keep on fishing.

A Grey Line bus picked us up at a pier outside Juneau, and our driver was none other than Gary Jacobson, our captain's brother.  We had a nice narrated tour around and through Juneau before leaving the bus for three hours of lunch and free time.   We had lunch at a El Sombrero where I had my first ever fish taco.  It was full of grilled halibut and it was wonderful.

After some shopping and sightseeing, we returned to the bus for our trip to the Mendenhall Glacier where we spent an interesting hour before returning to the boat for the trip home.

Mendenhall Glacier

Glenn pulled the boat along side a fishing boat that was reeling in its nets full of fish.  We also saw several more whales, the Bernard Glacier, and the Eldred Rock Lighthouse.  We were served a light supper of smoked salmon chowder, which was delicious (much to my surprise since I am not usually fond of salmon.)  We arrived back in Skagway about 8:15, tired and happy.   

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

Skagway

June 25, 2012    SKAGWAY

The temperature dropped again this morning....it was about 57 degrees when we left Teslin and it didn't get any better.   We are back to jeans, sweaters, and jackets!   It was a relatively short and very scenic journey from Teslin in the Yukon to Skagway in the USA!   We are in Alaska at last!   We left the Alaska Highway at Jake's Corner and took the Tagish Highway to Carcross where we turned south to get to Skagway.  We went through rain and clouds for part of the way, but the road was good and the scenery was spectacular.

We checked out the 3 RV Parks in Skagway and decided on the Garden City RV Park which is in town and has full hookups.  The park isn't very pretty, but the surrounding scenery is great!

View from the Garden City RV Park

We went to town to make some reservations for tours and do some sightseeing.  The Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park was very interesting, and we also got to see the White Pass Train come into town pulled by a steam engine.  There were 3 cruise ships so downtown was bustling.   We did some shopping on the main drag and bought dinner from a street stand specializing in "Fresh Alaskan Catch."  The halibut was superb.

Man with totem pole

Gary and the bear

Cruise ship in Skagway

The Mascot Saloon 

White Pass steam engine

Waiting for dinner.  

Seeing Skagway

Two Sarahs!