Bears, Bears

We arrived in Stewart, British Columbia on Friday afternoon and check into Bear Creek RV Park.  We were tired and had been rained on for so long that we decided to stay in and get some rest. 

Saturday morning we ventured out and had breakfast in Stewart at the King Edward Hotel.  This is where we had our first bear sightings.

Stewart is a town of about 700 people.  The reason most people come to Stewart is because they have to in order to be able to get to Hyder, AK.  Hyder is 3.5 miles from Steward on the canal.  The population of Hyder is 100.  They don’t even have an American customs office at the border.  I guess they figure you can’t go anywhere from Hyder. 

Hyder is a rather sad little community.  The paved road ends at the border and Hyder’s streets are gravel and mud.  We haven’t seen the sun in quite a few days but this weather is typical for this region. 

Did you notice how high the buildings are from the ground?  I think this is because they get so much snow in the winter.  Here is a picture I took of a picture taken one winter.

As I said, people come to Hyder to see the bears…they have grizzly and black bear.  We spotted this big guy on our way to the viewing area.  He was grazing on the side of the road and was no more than 20 feet from us.

There is a boardwalk area maintained by Fish & Game, National Forest that is used for viewing.  Fish Creek is where salmon come to spawn so it great eating for the bears.  The water is so clear but it is sad to see the fish dying after they have deposited their eggs.  Bob keeps reminding me that this is a life cycle for them.  

Photographers come with their fancy cameras set up and wait all day hoping the bears will come to feed…and they do this for days and days at a time.  They have more patience than me.

This is on the other side of the viewing area from the creek.  The water is so blue because it is glacier water.

We drove another 20 miles up to see Salmon Glacier.  It was magnificient.  The road was something else but we made it.  

And I got my puppy fix along the way.    And we finally made it to the glacier.      

The surrounding area.

On our way back to the RV park we stopped in Hyder and ate at The Bus.

Oh yes, this is the other bear we saw on Saturday.

Moving On.

Headed South..boo hoo!

Valdez – Glenallen – Tok – Haines Junction – Haines – Whitehorse – to Hwy 37 – to Stewart/Hyder.

Upon leaving Valdez we headed to Tok going through Destruction Bay.  …this begins our trek to the lower 48 states.  We caught up with Bob and JoAnn Strutka at the Tok RV Park where we spent 2 nights and got to eat at Fast Eddie’s 3 times.  We were so excited because their food is wonderful. 

We left Tok, again picking up Highway 1, and made our way to Haines Junction.  Aftekr walking around HJ for a bit with Bob Struka, JoAnn and Bob pulled out for Haines and we hung around waiting for Mark and Sue to catch up with us.  Haines Junction is in the Yukon and Haines is in Alaska.  Mark & Sue, Robin and Paul (another Phaeton owner couple) pulled in and we all stayed one night in HJ.  The next morning Bob and I drove our car down to Haines for the day and the others rolled into Haines a bit later with their rigs.  We all got together at Mosey’s Cantina for lunch and to celebrate Mark and Sue’s 36th wedding anniversary

Sarah was cooking at Moosey’s.  Here are some shots from the cantina.

I visited the quilt shop and got lots of help in choosing some fabric from Dianne and Rhona.  The shop is called Material Girls and they have beautiful fabrics for such a small town.

Haines has a center where the Native Americans do beautiful work in different mediums.  We were able to see a man doing some silver engraving.

Some gentlemen had been working on a totem pole that was started in 2007…it was finished just last month so we did not get to see any work being done but their plans for the project were still up.

This little guy was the official greeter for the center.

And this is his helper.  Good help is hard to find these days.

A couple of random shots around Haines.  It is part of the Alaska Water Highway System.

Late that afternoon Bob and I headed back to Haines Junction where we had left our rig and our little guys.   We were to spend one more night in HJ before moving south to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK.

Moving On.

Catching Up…August 17, 2009 #2

As stated earlier, Valdez is a port and everything is geared to fishing.  We visited the area out of town where there is a fish hatchery and saw thousands of salmon.  The pictures are dark because our first day in Valdez was pretty and all the rest were wet and cool…highs in the 50s.

Notice the dark areas in the water…those are salmon…there were so many they made the water look dark.

There was a very shallow area where the sea gulls were having a field day with the salmon.  The first day we came to this area there was a black bear right in the middle of the gulls having his dinner…wouldn’t you know it, my camera battery had gone dead minutes before.  We went back the next day and spent and hour or so watching but the bear did not return. This is one of the ferries that is part of the marine highway.  View from our RV space in Valdez.  This, whatever it is, is actually sitting in the water…the fog was so bad and the cloud cover so low you could not see it.

Upon leaving Valdez, Mark and Sue headed by to Anchorage to get Vic to the airport for his flight back to Lake Charles and Bob and I struck out for Tok.

Moving On.

Catching Up…August 17, 2009 #1

It has been so long since my last post I hardly know where to start…I probably can’t even remember all we have done. 

While in Palmer we did a day trip, actually several, into Anchorage to do some shopping.  One evening we splurged and ordered king crab legs at a restaurant.  My plate is one on the left and Bob’s is on the right.  Guess who did most of the cleaning and the least of the eating.  I am no expert at getting the meat out so my hands were bleeding in places by the time I was done.  But I had better luck than Bob did…hmmmm, maybe he was just smarter…I was getting all the meat out for him.  Our waiter even felt sorry for me.

Mark and Sue’s friend, Victor, flew into Anchorage to join them for a week.  We all visited the Wrangell-St. Elias Nation Park.  That’s Vic on the left.

Vic is a professional photographer…I caught him while he was in action.

The next morning we headed for Valdez.  It was very cool, wet and foggy…and then also clear!   

We stopped at this cute place for lunch. Notice the fog in the background.

There is not much to Valdez…of course it is know for the Exxon Valdez oil spill…except for fishing.  This is the winning catch for the Halibut derby that was in progress.

Shots around town.

I will post further pictures of Valdez on my next entry…too many for this one.

Moving on.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

We pulled up stakes at our nice little turnout at Portage and headed for Palmer which is about 30 miles northwest of Anchorage.  We had to stop and get fuel and propane so Bob and I decided to have breakfast at a small cafe near the station.  Met the most delightful lady working there…she is from Yugoslavia.  She works the front part of the cafe and her daughter does the cooking.  Sorry I did not take any pictures. 

It was a rainy morning but we pushed on.  As you come into Anchorage from the south you will see Turnagain Arm…this is part of Cooks Inlet.  The tide was out and evidently this boat got caught.  Notice the people walking around it.  I suppose it had to wait for the tide to come back in to be able to move.

We are now staying at Fox Run RV park with a Palmer, AK address.  We are less than 4 miles from Wasilla.  Hello Sarah!  After getting settled Bob and I backtracked to Anchorage…the babies were out of dog food.  We splurged and went to Outback for a steak for us.  The cities are my least favorite part of the trip but that steak was goooood! 

When we got back to the park, Jag and Bev had arrived…another Tiffin motor home couple…so we spent some time visiting with them. 

Not much to report for today.

Moving on.