Alaska Summer 08

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September 23rd 2008

Published: September 25th 2008

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Kathy Bernie

Eagles

Taken by Leanna Telliard in Southeast Alaska

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From Arizona to Alaska and Back - June 26 - September 11, 2008

The end of June found us loading our VW pop-up camper and heading out - first stop Newark, California to visit daughter Christina and family. They were the first stop in our 3 month summer trek to Alaska and back: California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Yukon Territory; those states/provinces in reverse, then to Nevada and Utah before returning to Arizona. Eleven thousand five hundred miles (18,360 kilometers) traveled, and you remember the price of gas this summer, yikes!

After California, we visited my aunt in Port Angeles, Washington, and Nora & Harry in Sequim. Tried to get together with my brother, Cliff who lives in Sequim too, but he had the flu. Then to friends Stuart and Susan in Seattle, and my sister Mary Jean and husband Buzz in Gig Harbor.

From Bernard: For those of you familiar with the areas, northbound we camped at Potteau Cove Provincial Park, south of Squamish, BC; Crooked River PP

Our Home on Wheels

VW Westfalia, Euro Van

north of Prince George; Toad River and Destruction Bay, Yukon. Southbound we camped in Beaver Creek, Yukon; Boya Lake, Telkwa, and Goldpan, all Provincial Parks - south of Cache Creek - all in British Columbia.

ALASKA

In Alaska good friend Pat Heller was a saint to let us use her in-town condo. She owns an island in nearby Big Lake where she prefers to spend her summers, so she and boyfriend John were in and out, but mostly out. THANK YOU PAT!!

We had such a great time visiting so many wonderful friends. Be sure to see all the photos at the end of this blog - where I grouped all the people. I didn’t get photos of all our dear friends, so for those of you I neglected, please forgive me; particularly Nancy & Jerry Wertzbaugher, Pamela Dupuis & William Saupe, and Jerry & Doris DesJariais, all three couples had us to their homes for marvelous dinners; Bill & Barbara Pargeter who took us to Indian House (one of our all-time favorite restaurants); Mabel & Jim Morgan who took us for Vietnamese food, and Tom Dewhirst who join us at How How. The rest of you,

AK Railroad

Taken by Sally Carter - husband Richard works for the railroad. Tourist take the train throughout Alaska, some popular routes are between Anchorge and Denali Nat'l Park and Fairbanks and Anchorage

see your photos and comments at the end of the blog.

Daughter Jannay (formerly JJ) is still living in Anchorage. She has a new girlfriend, Laura, a dental hygienist, who has two children, Eric 11 and Stephanie 14 - really nice kids. Theirs seems a nice relationship.

The weather in Alaska was TERRIBLE - we had to go to Value Village (a second-hand clothing store) and buy some sweaters as we hadn’t planned on one of the coldest, wettest summers on record.

That didn’t stop us from enjoying all of our friends, the many new restaurants in Anchorage, and the amazing scenery. We ate a LOT - yeah, we are dieting now to lose all the pounds we put on. Of course folks socialize over food, and since we were often doing lunch and dinner (a few days of breakfast, lunch AND dinner) with friends, well, it didn’t take long before I couldn’t zip my pants.

We visited my sisters and their families in Fairbanks where it was also cold and wet. They had flooding right after we left - the Alaska Railroad didn’t run between Anchorage and Denali National Park for several days because of

Whale Pod

Leanne Telliard took this photo from a sightseeing boat in southeastern AK

high water. You can imagine how that threw all the tour companies into a tizzy as Denali is packed all summer.

Just how lousy was the summer you ask, well my sister in Fairbanks who usually had vegetables from her garden out the wazoo had two tiny tomatoes on a sad looking plant. There were several bear maulings right in Anchorage, grabbed people off the coastal trail - several walking, one on a bike! It was being theorized that perhaps because of the cool weather there were fewer berries and the bears were hungry. We have always loved walking and biking on the many paved trails that run all through Anchorage - it is one of the features that makes Anchorage the very livable city it is.

While in Alaska Bernie flew to Germany to teach in a seminar in Berlin. He was gone only six days - don’t think he had time to be jet-lagged at either end. After he returned he got an email from the coordinator of the seminar who told him the students gave him the highest evaluation marks of all the instructors (16). He was quite pleased. UPDATE: He has been asked to

Bison, Yukon Terr., Canada

In British Columbia and the Yukon Territory we saw lots of wildlife - moose, sheep, bear, fox, deer and this large bison herd

teach in Ecuador and Bolivia in October!

Heading South

CANADA

August 16th found us heading south. We’d planned to stay longer, but the gloom had just gotten to us. On the way north I had a pinched sciatic nerve, so we didn’t take our time camping and hiking as we’d planned. We were hoping the way south would be our chance to explore the Yukon and British Columbia more - NOT. It rained the entire five days it took to drive to Seattle. Our timing, however, was good regarding preparing meals. Every evening we managed to set up camp, cook a meal and get things cleaned up and be snug in our van before the downpour started - and I do mean torrential rains, all day and all night. Several mornings we had to forego even making coffee because it was raining so hard. Fortunately there are lots of roadhouses along the way.

We did notice that the economy and cost of fuel had impacted the businesses along the Alaska Highway - many were closed down. In one RV/camping area the owner told us that business was down 50%!w(MISSING)hile fuel costs were up 50%!,(MISSING) so

Bellingham, WA Waterfall

This is in a park in the middle of the city

it was a dire situation. The up side was that we could always find a place to camp and usually had the pick of some very nice sites.

WASHINGTON

Back in Washington our first stop was to visit friends, Pat & Mick, in Bellingham. Then to my sister in Gig Harbor again. Friends Stuart and Susan were at their beach house in Southworth, so we joined them there for a lovely, sunny weekend.

We’d never been to Centralia, WA, so took the opportunity to visit a friend, Bev, there. Cute town!

OREGON

Next stop was Hood River, Oregon where mutual friends of ours and Bev’s, Pauline and Toni, live. We’d been to Hood River before and always enjoyed it, but this time with Toni & Pauline, we got to see it through locals’ eyes. Pauline and her late husband owned orchards (her children run them now), as did Toni and her ex. They arranged a tour of a fruit packing plant for us - VERY interesting, Toni took us to a lunch spot overlooking the river, and that evening we had dinner at Pauline’s - her house is in the middle of pear trees with

Hood River, Oregon-Water Sports Heaven

Mt. Hood visible in one direction and Mt. Adams in the other - too beautiful. Unfortunately my camera batteries had run out, so I didn’t get photos of Bev, Toni or Pauline - sorry ladies.

CALIFORNIA

From Hood River, OR we drove to my cousin Phyllis in Eureka, California (still hadn’t recharged my camera batteries) for one night, then on to Christina’s near San Francisco, through the giant redwoods of northern California.

Christina and family had moved to a much bigger house in Fremont, CA while we’d been in Alaska. It is gorgeous and they are much happier there. Their other place had been an apartment - 3rd floor walk-up with no yard. This new place has a lovely patio and yard area, and is much bigger.

After leaving Christina we went to visit friends in Truckee, CA. We'd met Leslie and Bill when we were all living in the Netherlands. We LOVED Truckee, but nearby Reno, NV was a bust, although we stayed overnight in a big, firstclass casino hotel for $50. Yeah, they want you to stay, eat, gamble, but they sure didn't make a profit on us non-gamblers.

NEVADA

Great Basin

Great Basin National Park, Nevada

National Park in Nevada was our next stop. This is high desert country - stark and yet beautiful. We camped at 8,000 feet and hiked to 10,000 feet. At those high altitudes bristle-cone pines live. They are the oldest living things on earth - some 4,500 to 5,000 years old. They are gnarly and twisted, and even when they look dead, you likely see parts still alive.

Camping in Great Basin was great - clear, warm days and freezing (literally) nights - I had on a hooded robe plus my fleece in bed.

UTAH

Next stop Zion National Park in Utah, but only for one night - it was 92 F. (33 C.), and we hadn’t acclimated yet. Bryce Canyon National Park was only 72 F. (22 C.), so we decided we’d prefer hiking in the cooler temps. And hike we did - spent three days there and hiked every day - fabulous hikes, really cannot recommend it highly enough.

Natural Bridges National Monument, still in Utah, was our next stop. It was fun to hike to the bridges. Sipapou Bridge is the second largest land bridge in the world - first is Rainbow Arch in

Bryce Canyon, Utah

Bernie on Fairyland Trail

Lake Powell, AZ. We had to maneuver on ladders up and down, but it was a fun experience.

Capital Reef National Park was our last stop in Utah. The mormons settled this area and had acres and acres of fruit orchards. Now the Park Service is running them! Visitors can pick and eat as much fruit as they want, but if they carry it out, there is a nominal fee. The camping area was among mature trees that provided lovely shade - one of the nicest camp sites we had on the whole trip. The hiking there is in slot (very narrow) canyons, which was great because it was hot and the canyon walls provided great shade.

In all the national parks we noticed how many Europeans there were - lots of Germans, but France, Austria and Switzerland were well represented. Actually I wouldn’t have been surprised to see more because of the Euro being so strong against the dollar - the whole USA must seem to be on sale to the Europeans!

ARIZONA

From Utah we dropped down into the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona to Canyon De Chelly which is a very special place

Canyon De Chelly, Arizona

Ancient Cliff Dwellings of the Anazazi, who were in the canyon before the Navajo

to the Navajos. The bottom is farmed in the summers (40 to 50 families) who live outside the canyon in the winter. The only tours you can take are through the Navajo Nation, which makes it special - they are sharing their home and culture with you. NOTE: Arizona does not go on Daylight Savings Time, but the Navajo do, but on the Hopi Reservation, which is surrounded by the Navajo Nation, they do not. So, you can drive for a couple of hours through Arizona and have to change your clock three times, or ignore the whole thing as we did.

Next to Pinetop to visit dear friend Mary Cawley (oops, no camera at the ready here either), who has a summer home in this high, cool northern part of Arizona. It is always a joy to spend time with Mary at her little piece of paradise - we try to get up there at least once each summer.

Then home again, home again, jiggedy jig jig. We got to Tucson on 9/11 and it has taken us almost 2 weeks to get everything sorted out, caught up, and/or cleaned up.

October in Tucson is the

Pat's Island in Big Lake, Alaska

Pat's island and house and John's plane

beginning of the cooler weather - remember all of you, this is a great destination for a winter vacation. I’ll give you a private tour of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum where I work as a docent. Come on down!!

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