Back down the Alaskan Highway

.As we departed Skagway we were retracing our earlier route between Whitehorse and Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. It was nice to get another look at the plants of the Boreal Forests as they to survive in the permafrost. We were reminded too of the highway department’s constant fight with the permafrost as we were back to frost heaves and loose gravel and the sound of all our possessions rattling about in the cabinets behind us.

This time through the Yukon the mother animals were out and about with their young teaching the art of fattening up before winter. The daily accounts of bear, moose and sheep sightings were high and we all got good pictures to share with family and friends back home, as you can see.

In Teslin we caught rumor of road closures and land slides along the Cassiar Highway, almost 400 miles of dirt and gravel, our intended route. Some in the group had friends traveling with caravans and independently along the same route a few days ahead of us and told of loss of life as the mountain side slid across the “highway”. Confirmation of the situation came the following day (we had access to the YT highway report page) and the caravans started to pile up in the Watson Lake area all looking for space to stop and reroute. A 30 day caravan traveling just ahead of us was forced to turn back after traveling just five miles short of their day’s destination at Iskut, two of their early birders, had made it through before the slide and were now stranded on the other side and would continue on alone. Fortunately, since the full closure of the highway, after another bridge wash out, there has been no more loss of life. A quick shuffle and lots of phone time by the wagon master had us out and moving by 5am the next morning to be ahead of the hoards. We headed down the Alcan the way we had come, spending one night in Fort Nelson and now we are back in Dawson Creek to finish out our days with the caravan group. Fare well dinners, and fare well breakfasts have taken place and many of our band of 18 have taken off for parts south and the lower 48. There are several of us who are taking advantage of the extra night here and will have our own farewell party and be on the road tomorrow, Aug.2

Carl and I plan to take advantage of some more time in BC investigating Vancouver and Victoria before crossing into Washington and enjoying more of the Seattle area.

Skagway, AK

We have been here in Skagway for several days, and in spite of the daily turn over of cruise ships it is a lovely place. It is nestled in at the end of the Lynn Channel, and the over land road is a beautiful drive over the south end of the St. Elias Mountains. We are now in the land of the cruise ships and the inside passage, so there are many day trips out to view glaciers and sea animals. We have naturally participated and have seen more than our share of Humpback Whale activity. Apparently, from what the veteran whale watchers have to tell us, we have had some unusual displays of “breaching” and “fluking” as well as the opportunity to watch a pod of no less than ten , participating in the practice of “bubble net feeding”.

The drive from Valdez, through Destruction Bay and over the US Boarder, back into AK was filled with vibrant green reflective lakes, and water falls in almost every crack and crevice, flowing off the glacial ice fields. It is all so “breath taking” and truly hard to describe. The photos never really do justice as they are unable to capture the vastness of it all. To add to the geology and landscape, the fauna have made themselves evident. Black and Brown bear seem to be in full force as the gobble up the vast quantity of salmon that are headed up river. The salmon are also providing nourishment to the bald Eagle that swoop around like pigeons, gathering up fish and small vermin. We have even seen great horned owl by the side of the road with bunnies in their clutch.

Tomorrow we move back into BC and down to our southern most point in South Eastern Alaska where we are promised the bear will be even more prevalent. There are also several social events, as the group will be separating on August 2. The Chile cook –off is scheduled for the 31st and I will be ready with the green which Charlie provided just before we left Las Cruces. I was able to find some lamb in Palmer, after we visited the Musk Ox farm, so it will be authentic. ( Note, Musk Ox photo, which end is which?)

It is not likely that I will be able to get another post up until we are back in the lower 48, unless we are able to find a park with a good inter-net connection wile we are in BC. We are still working out the return trip and the only thing set in stone is the windshield replacement scheduled in Salem, Oregon on Sept. 4th. I assume we will descend upon Chris sometime the week before so we can unload the coach before leaving it at the dealership for several days.

We will possibly head over to Banff and Lake Louise as the water and sewer situation is still a bit questionable in the Prince Rupert area after the spring floods. There is the possibility of Vancouver Island but getting the coach over and back may be an issue. We are still researching the possibilities. Eventually you will see where we have been, or maybe you have some suggestions which we would love to see in the comments section. FYI you can participate in the comments and just leave a hint as to who you are if you have not signed on as blog participants, just blog and be anonymous!

Boating from Seward, Flying from Homer

Boat trip out of Resurrection Bay around the Chiswell Islands and up Aialik Bay to the Aialik tidal glacier. Back to Seward with stops to see Puffins, Humpbacks and Sea Lions plus many other birds and critters.

Fly over the Homer Spit and across Kachamek Bay and up the Grewingk Glacier and around the volcanic cones and Iceworm Peak. The 1929 Travel Air was a wonder! http://www.alaskanseaplanes.com/

Loooong silence from the Vermonters, I know, so I thought I'd fill you in! Pete and I have been working a lot...a whole lot...which isn't surprising or without precedent in the family, but it does take its toll on my blogging.

I traveled to Oklahoma in early June and relished all the large and small wonders of such a familiar place, and of my hilarious, brilliant, and animated Oklahoma family. That's my big shout-out to you, Oklahoma Weinmeisters. I think that there was a lot of Santa Fe Weinmeister influence happening there too, what with the landmark Bubba Adventure of the recent past.

After returning to Vermont and working ceaselessly, I then left for Michigan to attend the wedding of Stephanie Pierce (known to the present company for being my maid of honor at my nuptials last summer) and Tim, who is a gem. It was beautiful- right on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was really unique, because Stephanie and Tim are both writers, so the ceremony was very specific to their philosophies, beliefs, and love. The picture of Camille and me is from the wedding. We were trying to look demure! haahahah!

After the wedding we went up north to Bear Lake and got to see our Neice #2 (Emma Theresa Rahn) for the first time!!!!! She is amazing. A very beautiful, impetuous, hungry and squirmy bundle of joy. She would be the baby pictured.

Then we spent some time in the airport before going back to working ceaselessly. hahaaahahh So!

Here we are. My major gallery opening of the summer is on July 21 and is going to be quite the bash. If any of you get a wild hare, this would be a fun place to turn up! Ok, but I'm up on my blogging enough to know that that's unlikely- you rovingest of the roving Weinmeisters being in the outer reaches of our fair country and all...

Pete is loving the brewery- examining mucoids and bacterias in ever-decreasing numbers as he hones the quality control at Magic Hat. He's also been playing music more- jamming with some guys he works with after hours in the brewery! Pete's playing guitar and, since I got him a blues harp at an antique store in Michigan, he's been looking VERY Bob Dylan with one of those things that loops around your neck so you can play guitar and harmonica at the same time. Pete's also been playing some pretty intense beer-league softball- thrilling the crowds with his green and yellow baseball socks and some sweet first-basemanship. They call him "Wheels" because he's not the fastest base runner, but I like to tell him that like Howlin' Wolf, he's built for comfort, not for speed. This makes him blush.

Hmmm....oh and we ended up not buying the house we had under contract. The foundation was shot and we balked at the cost of jacking the house and fixing the issue. Cue the sad Charlie Brown music, but we've recovered with the help of some combination harmonica/guiter playing and some minor car repairs we're happy to be able to afford as non-homeowners.

So that is the PS version of our life and times. Our garden is totally out of control, so the next order of business is some strategic pruning and comprehensive weeding. I'll post pictures of healthy plants as they begin fruiting!

Here's to summer! This last pic is a tribute to the rockstar-mobile-dwelling Weinmeisters. The yellow dino is missing you these days. Cheers, all!

Pictures from the Denali flight

I thought I would just post a few pictures from our Denali Flightseeing charter. Since the connection is slow and the frustration level high when trying to lay out this page I will give you a few hints but the labels may come out a bit disjointed. There is of course the Piper Navajo which took 8 of us, plus pilot, out over the National Park. We flew over the RV park which was situated on the banks of the Nenana River. Denali Outdoors Inc. runs river trips out of their boat house at the north end of the park. Hoover thought he was at home when he got the smell of manky booties and mildew PFDs.

What appears to be a highway up to the mountains is actually the outflow of the Muldrow Glacier. There is also Denali, north and south summits from the west and a formation called the Moose Tooth which is apparently a favorite face for European rock climbers.

We are now in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula after a spectacular drive down from Anchorage. The glaciers melting down into a never ending maze of rivers and ponds. Fields filled with wild Flowers in all shades of blue, yellow and red. I almost forgot the chocolate lillies.

What a way to celebrate July 4

After a lunch time Bar-B-Q and potluck we loaded up for the bus tour through Denali NP. Like most of the National Parks these days the only access is by foot or by bus, either in the form of a shuttle, or the 8-10 hour see it all ride. We had a good guide who stopped at every animal, or perceived animal sighting, and in the mean time was full of good guide stories. He even told John's favorite, how do you tell the difference between a Crow and a Raven? For those who don't know, ask John.

For several hours we bounced along the ever deteriorating road seeing moose cows, both flavor caribou, herds of Dahl sheep and more Snow Shoe rabbits than is probably healthy, other than they provide a good food source for many. Somewhere around hour six the large male Grizzly show up ambling across the tundra grazing on wild flowers. I have several photos of bear behind, as he was not the most cooperative. Shortly after the bear we rounded the corner, about two miles past where we were supposed to have turned around, to see the clouds part and Denali exposed for a matter of about 10 minutes. The attached photo Carl shot with our Cannon Power Shot SD600 set to 3x through the Nikon 10x42 glasses. We were a bout 45 miles from the mountain at that point. The trip out of the park brought sightings of more caribou, Dahl sheep and a Grizzly sow with cub. So we most likely saw Papa, Mama and Baby bear.

All in all a good way to have spent the holiday. Hopefully today we will get more good photos of Denali as we head out in a few hours for an air charter with some other couples from the group.

From N 63 46.204 W148 54.778

Mother and her twins feeding by the roadside about a mile from our camp site. The little guys are so cute but weigh about 200 lb. each at this point.

Spider Snack

Well, it's not a wild Alaska adventure or caribou or anything like that, but I was playing around in the yard with my new digital camera and saw something really cool I wanted to share.

I chose my camera (Canon SD800) because it was very small and compact, could be set to an automatic mode where it's as easy as a cardboard disposable camera to use, could be set to manual mode where I can tweak around with things and change settings (at the risk of getting either really great photos or blurred shadows and glare), and 'cause it has image stabilization, which is great when you're crouching sideways straddling a rock to get a close up of the underside of a leaf in a coastal forest on an overcast day. Or when you're just taking photos of a spider in the garden.

I had been taking pictures of the artichokes, when I noticed this cute little spider who had strung a web between a tree branch and the artichokes. It was a tiny little yellow thing about the size of a ladybug. He was cruising back and forth across the web and I was playing with the digital macro and zoom, trying to see how close I could get and whether or not I could actually capture the strands of the web on camera. It was kind of nauseating trying to keep the moving spider in the image while the web vibrated with the slightest breeze (like my breath). I was also trying to keep from doing a face plant into the web.


It took me a few tries before I could got the camera to focus in on the spider instead of the plants behind it. After a few minutes of moving around the web and the web vibrating like crazy the spider got pretty still and I tried to see how much magnification I could get on him. As I was looking at the images on the camera's screen I noticed that he was eating a bug (or just killing it and embalming it for later - I'm still not sure).



He looks huge here, but this spider was really tiny -- lady bug sized, including legs. He was small enough that I couldn't see he was holding an even smaller bug until after I'd already taken a few shots. Pretty amazing. If you click on this one to the right and look at the larger size you can see the hairs all over the body.



I snuck around to the other side (trying not to step on any plants or knock down the artichoke that was anchoring the web). A great view of the underside -- and whatever kind of newly mummified spider treat that is. Yeeatch!

So maybe it doesn't take much to excite me these days (in a family full of adrenaline junkies), but my biggest thrill this past Sunday afternoon was watching my own little "Wild Kingdom" in the backyard. It reminded me of John catching moths and tossing them in the fish tank to watch the fish eat them. By the time I was done shooting the spider, I was feeling a little remorseful that I had already bagged and tossed the dead opossum Pecos killed the night before. There was some great bug action on that thing. (yes, Mom -- the dogs got their Frontline this month)

Yukon Crossing and Top of the World Highway

While we are in line to cross the Yukon River by Ferry at Dawson City I thought I would get started on our next post.

We arrived here in line at 9:45 this morning. At that point we were about # 45 in line and only a few of the caravan are in front of us. It is now 1:15, we have all gone shopping, had lunch and Hoover and I have put in several miles on the riverfront. I think we are now about 20th in line, 9 behind the Wagon Master. The crossing takes about 15 minutes for the Ferry to do a round trip with a max of 3 RVs. The Freight trucks get first priority, and small cars and pedestrians go before RVs if there is at least 1 RV on board. We only have a 50 mile drive today, on gravel, after we get across the river and then we will do a dry camp on the “Top of the World Highway”. It may take until midnight for the rest of the caravan to catch up with us so there is a BBQ and party planned. We may get another midnight sun photo as the party goes on.

Dawson City, which really is at the end of the road (YT Highway 2), is quite interesting. Yesterday we took a tour of the largest floating wooden Dredge ever built in north America. It is four stories tall and was in operation until the late 1960s when it sank and froze. It has since been thawed and relocated, a whole story in itself. Most of the town is also a “Canadian Historical Site” and has many restored buildings. Of course, there are many replica buildings and lots of things designed for their second industry, tourism. Gold and silver mining are still the primary income for the region.

We made it across the river at 3:40 pm and the last of the Caravan arrived at the camp “on top of the world” at 9:33 pm. There was indeed another midnight sun photo. The road across the ridge line was unbelievable. Not only are you on the furthest north road which the coach, or any normal vehicle can travel, but we were able to look across the valleys and out to the Alaska Range for our first glimpse of Denali with the 10x 42 glasses. The wild flower display has only gotten more spectacular as we move along through Alaska.

After a night in Tok, and the opportunity to get all the items in the cabinets back into their places we headed out on somewhat better roads to Delta Junction, and the Mile Post at the end of the Alaska Highway for a photo opp., then on to Fairbanks. First order of business was to get the coach and jeep clean. After 200 +/- miles of dirt we had inches of dust packed into every orifice on both vehicles. It will be a long time before things really get clean.

Now we have seen the sights of Fairbanks including the very interesting Ice Museum, and the beautiful museum at the University of AK, Fairbanks. We were able to find the General Store in Fox where Charlie would get coffee every morning on his way to work back in the 1960, and we have taken a river boat trip to the confluence of the Tanana and Chena Rivers where there is very good display on early and post western contact, Athabascan life styles. What a hardy band of peoples. Hoover is enjoying the hiking and wearing his bear bells, and all the attention from the people in the caravan.

Tomorrow we are off to Denali NP for three days and what I know will be a wonderful adventure. We have chartered a flight with two other couples and are looking forward to several hours of flying around Mt. McKinley and the surrounding drainages, among other adventures on the schedule. Hopefully we will continue to see a good variety of wildlife so that we can get in all the creatures on the check list.