Friday September 14, 2007 Frank has cousins in St. Paul and we were pleased to be able to see them. The last time we were together was about 15 years ago at a family reunion. We had a great visit and we were even able to see the area where some of the old family farms once stood, the high school Frank’s father graduated from and made a visit to several family gravesites. It was a special day and we really enjoyed the home cooked meal! [View Full Entry]

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September 13, 2007 We were pleasantly surprised with TRNP. We didn’t want to take a long time, but we did go about 15 miles on the loop road to view the scenery first thing in the morning. Since we started early we had the road to ourselves. It was cloudy, cold and very windy (later we found out wind gusts were up to 35 mph). Frank enjoyed the geology and I liked the earth colors. The trees were turning, but not quite in peak color. It was an interesting place, pretty in its starkness. We would go back again and spend [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday September 12, 2007 Since we plan to stop in St. Paul, MN to visit some of Frank’s relatives we are taking a more northerly route initially. We’re going through North Dakota this time. Most of today we drove through Montana. The eastern part of the state has lots of ranches and grain fields. This time of year the fields are shades of gold and even purple and there are hay bales everywhere. Ranches dot the land and horses and cattle graze in the fields. The wind gusted strongly over the land. Closer to North Dakota rolling hills filled the horizon [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday September 11, 2007 There are some advantages to walking the dogs in the morning; you see things! I was excited to get the glow on the mountain peaks as the sun came over the mountains in the glacier parking lot. We made one other stop on the Parkway to see Peyto Lake. When we were there in June it was cloudy and the color was drab. This time the sun was out and it didn’t disappoint. We traveled through Banff and Calgary (glad to get out of that traffic) by early afternoon. South of Calgary is prairie with lots of [View Full Entry]

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Monday, September 10, 2007 We were on the road early. There was fog in the valleys and river bottoms which made the farmland picturesque. The fall colors were just barely starting to turn. We suffered some “reentry” getting used to a seeing a number of cars on the highway rather than one or 2 every few hours which was the case in the Yukon and northern B. C. The weather was good, the scenery was pleasant and the driving wasn’t difficult. We got to Jasper National Park around 4:00 and it was warm. We were amazed to see the number of [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, September 9, 2007 First thing in the morning we headed to Fish Creek Bear Viewing area. No bears had visited the area so we decided to go on to Salmon Glacier about 21 miles up the road from Fish Creek. This glacier is actually in British Columbia. It runs along an old mining road. We were told it was a “must see” no matter how many other glaciers we’d seen because you can look down on this glacier (as opposed to viewing from the front or side). So we traversed yet another pot holed gravel road. Frank said it wasn’t [View Full Entry]

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Saturday September 8, 2007 Dease Lake is about 4.5 hours from Hyder. We planned to reach Hyder by afternoon. The road was even better today so we made good time. The highway turned toward the southeast and the scenery started to change. Mist draped the blue mountains and moss hung on the douglas fir trees. Waterfalls streamed down rocky mountain crevices and there were glaciers. Fall was just beginning to show itself. Hyder is part of Southeast Alaska in British Columbia, kind of funny. The mountains separate Hyder from Wragell and Ketchican. It’s a quirky place, known for bear v [View Full Entry]

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Friday September 7, 2007 It was a cold night! We were on the road again by 8:00 am. At Haines Junction the road turned west and the condition was much better. We traveled through Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon and it’s a good sized town. It was mid-morning and since we found a McDonald’s we stopped for a sausage biscuit. They didn’t have biscuits - - everything’s on an English muffin. After Whitehorse the autumn colors were not as vivid or as far along. Traffic was light and we noticed that a lot of RV parks and services along the road [View Full Entry]

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Thursday September 6, 2007 In the morning it was pouring rain, reminiscent of our early summer days in Southeast Alaska. We were on the road before 8:00 am, which was pretty good considering we had been up until 2:45 am watching the aurora. The forecast was good and the sky was clear so we decided to try to get another glimpse of the northern lights. We were watching the sky from inside CT and were about to give up when I spotted a faint green streak in the sky. It was 1:20 am. (Those of you who know Frank may be [View Full Entry]

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September 5, 2007 The trip out of Denali was interesting because the clouds would separate and let the sun peak through then cloud up again. Colors are always deeper when it’s cloudy so the tundra colors popped on the mountainsides. It took us 2 hours to reach the main entrance. I wanted to get all the photos I could before we left Denali. The foliage is just starting to turn on the road to Fairbanks. We ran into some rain showers, but the sun was shining by the afternoon and the temperature reached the low 70’s. In Fairbanks we made preparations [View Full Entry]

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