Well, we got up, this morning and packed up, with the intention of going to a couple of museums,

then leaving town. It was kind of rainy out. We tried to go on the Riverboat tour and it was sold out. So we decided to take a short tour of the S.S.Klondike. It was really interesting and while we were sitting in a short movie,....our friends from Ohio came in! What a hoot!
We decided to meet for dinner at Boston Pizza (again) and they would tell us the story of how one of their 5th wheel trailers broke an axle and they were waiting here for a new one to be shipped in. Anyway, dinner was good and we told them to come with us tomorrow on the cruise up Miles Canyon, if they felt like it....and we headed to our new camping spot....the Wal-Mart parking lot.
Well, as we are getting ready to run the dogs (we zoom around and they like to run alongside the roadhog).....Some people we met in North Pole,Ak. from New Mexico hollered at us...they were in the same parking lot! Anyway, we were out talking to them, and a bunch of other people came walking up...others friends that they had met and they were traveling with them. We ended up standing out in the parking lot, talking, until 10:45 at night. One of the people had something broken on his motorhome, so of course, Jimmy crawled under and diagnosed the problem.

The First thing we did, this morning, was watch the NASCAR race....of course. Then we went for a drive around town, grabbed lunch at "BostonPizza" (I think there's one at home, we'll have to try it....it was pretty good) ,went to Wal-Mart.....yes there was actually one here!
We drove around for awhile and found the airport (a real one) with a DC-3 (Gooney Bird) out front. Then we drove by the lake and saw a bunch of floatplanes. Then we went back to the bus to relax before we went to a local vaudeville show.

The "Frantic Follies" were really cute! The whole audience participated, we sang old songs, "Shine on Harvest Moon." They told some bad jokes, the story of Sam McGee and recited some Robert Service poetry...cute skits....afterward, I got the autographs of the cast and a group picture.
Tomorrow, we plan to take the tour of the S.S.Klondike and take a cruise up the Yukon River, through Miles Canyon.

Well, today was a traveling day. We woke up, had a nice little breakfast in the RV park restaurant, then took off for Whitehorse, YT. Along the way we were right beside the Yukon river. We stopped at Five Finger Rapids for a photo op, then pulled into Pioneer RV Park for a couple of days. Tomorrow is Sunday, so, of course, we'll watch the race...then go for a riverboat ride up the Yukon river, then, if we're not too tired...(ha!ha!) we'll go to the Vaudeville show, in town. more later....

Today, we actually slept until after 10. A luxury we haven't had, because of the light of this whole trip. Last night we closed the windows, turned on the a/c and closed the blackout curtains completely.

Jimmy ran over to the little cafe in the RV park and picked up a really good breakfast, before 11, and I had room service once again! (Cereal was getting a little old). Then we did some things around the bus and he went into town to exchange money, at the bank. He got $101.97 for his $100.00 of American money!

Then after checking the race schedules, (the truck race is this afternoon) we went in to town and had lunch at Klondike Kate's. No one in Canada has fresh brewed tea, it's either bottled or soda fountain tea. So I asked the waiter for some hot tea and a glass of ice! A little later, a lady came in and wanted some fresh brewed tea....so I told her my trick and she did the same thing! The waiter was one of the nicest, most accomodating waiters of the whole trip.....definitely in Canada... (they really don't like to be bothered, here.) Then, we drove around all the neighborhoods, saw Robert Service's cabin (Call of the Wild) and Jack London's place. Some of the houses look like shacks like down in New Orleans, but there are some that are pretty nice. Then, we had to stop at Diamond Tooth Gertie's... a really cute gambling hall that has dancehall shows each night.

After going back to the bus, to watch the race (which was rain delayed, anyway) Jimmy decided to take the bicycle off the back of the bus (poor thing) and it is really in bad shape. The back tire is somehow flat and it is so full of dust, that I don't think the gears would turn anyway. Anyway, better sign off, once again, a truck is broken down, back home, and he's on the phone, to take care of it. A storm is blowing up, so we need to batten down the hatches, too.

Well, we moved to the other RV park, bright and early, and Jimmy had another "Brickhouse" moment, since they had a wash rack.

After we got settled into our new spot....I started loads of laundry and we decided to go into town. Went to the bank to get our money exchanged, and, surprise! They were already closed. It seems that when you cross the border from Alaska, you lose an hour back to Pacific time! Drat! Then we decided to go to the Klondike Bar-B-Que, so Jimmy could have ribs...( He's been going through withdrawal for 2 months!) The food was pretty good, I had garlic-butter Prawns, then we stopped and the ice cream shop for a cone. Ice Cream is really big up here.....Alaska eats more ice cream annually, than any other state. ( I know, I know, we're in the Yukon, already) but it's big here too.

Then we stopped to watch some kids rock climbing a huge cliff, took pictures, then drove up the Dome of the Midnight Sun. It is this big hill/mountain where people can come on June 21st (the equinox) and watch the sun, never quite go down.......it supposedly dips just below the horizon, then comes back up. I have a time delayed picture that my Dad took from somewhere, up North in Alaska showing this.

We took pictures of the Klondike river (clear and dark) merging with the Yukon river, right around the curve of the town.....you can see it, if you look closely. Then Jimmy actually zoomed in with my camera, and found where we were parked!

Anyway, it is a cute little gold rush town, we're going to do some panning, tomorrow, then head down to Whitehorse on Saturday. More later......

I'm not sure where this was taken, probably somewhere around Point Barrow, Ak.

Well, after checking out beautiful, downtown Chicken....we stepped into the cafe....one of 3 buildings, and had a good lunch. The burgers were usual, but they had homemade cherry, blueberry and apple pies. Then, with caravans coming in town, by the dozens, we loaded up and left for Dawson City.

We took the Top of the World Highway....which, by the way, really felt like the top of the world. A gravel, slow, very dusty, narrow road. We have dust in the Hummer, 1/4 inch deep.....and the windows were rolled up! It took us about 6 hours to go a little over 100 miles......But, all in all, not awful.

When we finally made it to West Dawson... we had to take a small ferry across the river, to the main part of town.A LITTLE SCARY! When Jimmy drove on...then boat lowered about a foot! Then I followed in the Hummer, and 2 more pick ups with campers....then, we were full! The ferry pushes away from the shore and the river takes over pushing us downriver......then the ferry has to really power up the river, to the other side!

We drove through town to the RV park ( if you want to call it that) and passed some cute stores.....The Dog House....Jimmy's....., now, Jimmy is cooking some burgers and brats on the grill. Tomorrow, we move to a different RV, with 50 amp power, so I can do some laundry (yea!). We'll probably stay here a day or 2 before moving on to Whitehorse.

Well, after seeing fields of Fireweed, (the first flowers to grow after a big fire), We came to a wide spot in the road.....left was the Chicken post office and right was the main downtown Chicken area, with the Pedro Dredge and the Gold Camp. They have a cute little RV park here, pretty new, I think. $10 a night! So we pulled in right about bedtime.

Anyway, I woke up to Room Service, this morning! Check it out!!!

Leaving Valdez, this morning, was quite a sight....the clouds had settled in and it was really eerie and cool looking. By about 25 miles out of town, we were in sunshine again and treated to a beautiful sight of Mt. Sanford....16,000 and change feet tall! By the time we reached Tok (where we planned to eat at Fast Eddy's again) We were driving down the road and spotted a Hummer H1 coming at us! It was our friend Linda North the past president of the National Humer Club! She flipped around and met us in the parking lot of Fast Eddy's (where she had just eaten). She was on her way home (just North of Wasilla...Willow) She had just driven up from Washington (her other home) and had 300 miles to go.Anyway, it was a fun coincidence.

As we continued driving to Chicken, we passed an area that was the site of 1.3 million acres of fire damage in 2004. Really sad....but up from the ashes....grow the Fireweed. (A pretty fuscia colored spikey flower).

Today, we had to take care of some business, then we drove out toward the fish hatchery again, to see if we could spot some more bears. No luck....but everywhere we looked there were other creatures. There is "nature" everywhere you look, up here. Bald Eagles, eagles, eagles....in several trees. Then, precious little duck families in all the tidal pools...bunny rabbits all around the RV park, seagulls feasting on the salmon....just amazing. I even took pictures of bear tracks, in the mud....since we didn't catch a bear, today.

Today started with Jimmy making eggs,bacon and pancakes.....what fun! Then, with the clouds looming, we loaded up the dogs and went to the visitor center to get a book on the high and low tides. Then we drove to the site of Old Valdez, before the 4 minute earthquake of 1964. It was pretty gone! All that is left is the foundation for the post office (dedicated in 1962 by John F. Kennedy), a rusted out forklift, some broken off piers and maybe some old rusted out metal building, near shore.

On the way back, we drove out onto the pier, where the Peter Pan Seafoods buildings are, and took pictures of the harbor, then came into town and found the only Mexican Food restaurant for hundreds of miles and had lunch...mmmmm.....Flautas!(pretty good, too).

Anyway, a stop at the local tanning salon/ice cream shop, for an ice cream cone and back to the bus to watch some TV while it is misting out.

I forgot, Jimmy found some wild berries on the bushes in front of the bus!

Well, first thing this morning, we moved to the waterfront lot and Jimmy reserved the space on the other corner, so we have the entire corner of the edge of the RV park. The Hummer is parked there, so it can lock on to the internet. It is cloudy today, I guess it finally caught up to us...they say it will rain tomorrow. While we were in Fairbanks, the mosquitos were awful, so we bought a really cool mosquito netting tent. Anyway, we have not had any mosquito problems, but it is a great way to sit outside and have the dogs and watch the fishing boats go by.

We actually sat outside and watched the Busch race, today, then we had some excitement......therewas a BOOM! and then I smelled smoke. It seems that a fishing boat, out in the bay, blew up and was on fire! I didn't see it happen, but they said people jumped overboard ( in the freezing water). They, eventually, towed what was left of the boat in, but just as it got to our little inlet, the boat totally fell apart and sunk!

Chum(dog) salmon and Pink Salmon. King salmon shows up next.

Today was a busy day of wildlife viewing! First, we drove down some, unmarked road that Jimmy wanted to explore and we found a viewing area of the Valdez Glacier and a wild area with icebergs floating.Then we went to Allison Point, where the salmon swim upstream and jump over the gate into the fish hatcherie. The Stellar seals, or harbor seals (I'm not sure which) were feasting on the salmon, and then we saw a black bear wander across the road after he'd been doing some fishing, himself. Than Jimmy spotted and eagle in the tree and mama in her nest. On the way back into town, the catch of the day, was hanging out for all to see in one of the harbors.! Pretty cool, day!

We saw a a young Eagle today!

We stopped off at Worthington Glacier, another one that you can walk up to,and we got out the RoadHog and rode it to the base of the Glacier.
Really amazing! Then we drove past Bridal Veil Falls, then Horse Tail Falls, both
spectacular!

At mile 128 on the Glenn Highway is the first lodge that was ever built on the highway. The Eureka Lodge. We stopped there for lunch and had some wonderful homemade pie! (we hear it is famous in the area.) It was a great little place, quite the hangout I can imagine....and it has a terrific view! Jimmy fuelled up and the owner asked to shake his hand..... that was the biggest sale he had ever had!!(great,huh?)

Anyway, we continued along the narrow, winding road and arrived into Valdez. The Bear Paw RV park.....we wanted to be on the waterfront, but some caravan had gobbled tham all up. (the first one we have encountered) However, they will all be gone on Saturday, so we can move....yea!

Leaving a really cute little RV park, we started out for Valdez....a very narrow and winding road aht was being repaired, from being completely washed out in the spring. We had to stop and wait 15 to 20 mintues for a pilot car to come lead us. After that, we drove along until we saw a fabulous view and pulled over for a picture. Guess what.......? The people that we met in Wisconsin, pulled in right behind us! How cool is that?

After some hugs and visiting, we decided to get on down the road and eventually get something to eat.

Today....we did nothing! I did 5 loads of laundry and Jimmy cleaned the bus....then we drove to the mighty town of Chickaloon to the lodge (one of 2 buildings) and walked into a bar right out of Northern Exposure. A dog was sleeping in the back, it was empty, but the girl bartender was expecting several locals. Jimmy and I ordered some soft tacos (which were really good, by the way) and she went in the back to cook. (the cook hadn't show up). Then she asked if one of us knew anything about a stereo....naturally, Jimmy did....so, she said a drink was on her, if he could fix her stereo. After dinner, he looked at it and fixed it in about 5 minutes. We played some pool and some fooseball, watched some TV, then left. Came back to the campground, where the owner made us a couple of ice cream sundaes. Pretty lazy day, it was nice....tomorrow we head to Valdez.