What a wonderful trip, but I am extremely ready to go home. I have a theory that no matter how long I travel, I am done and ready to go home 1 to 2 days before actually going home. Once again, this theory has turned out to be true. This is great because it also means I live in the right place, a place I look forward to going home to. I have a husband and furry kids I look forward to going home to. I had help packing this morning from Hannah’s furry kids, but I miss mine. Now, I also have a new career to go home to. I left an engineer and I go home an artist.
There is only one commercial airline that flies to and from Valdez. Yesterday, my tour guide said there is one flight a day and a 50/50 chance it flies. Mild panic. I tried not to think about it. It will fly because I’m on it. Her comment did ruin my sleep last night. As much as I knew I could manifest a timely flight, my dreams were frantic with me losing things or getting lost.
I learned you could buy salmon in a jar in a vending machine.
The flight took off fine. Only one person on the incoming flight and 6 of us on the outgoing flight. They gave us a drink and cookies. The attendant was so cheerful and all the staff at the airport was delightful.
I was not on the harbor side of the plane. I would have liked to see the harbor, Prince William Sound, and whatever else could be seen in that direction. But, I did get to see a glacier, then another and another. Glacier after glacier and steep white capped mountains. It was breathtaking. I got my glacier flight after all. The view was through the distorted tiny window while peering under the wing, but it was still amazing. I sat for half the flight with my head pressed up against the window, crying at the wild beauty of it while shoving cookies in my mouth. Then we flew into a cloud, and all the mountains disappeared in the blanket of white.
Got to Anchorage, had some lunch, and borded a less delightful but good enough flight to Seattle.
Froze but butt off from Anchorage to Seattle. Got to Seattle and exhaustion set in, but multiple gate changes helped me pass the time before my next flight.
Got into Denver around midnight. So good to see my husband! After one more hotel room tonight, I’ll be home tomorrow.
Today, I was supposed to go to Columbia glacier to kayak around the icebergs. It was a 10 hour tour, but there was also the chance of seeing whales, sea lions, and seals. After the Aurora tour when I felt so exhausted, I called the company I was kayaking with and asked if I could change to the shorter kayak tour that went to a nearby lake and kayaked around the icebergs in the lake.
It would have been nice to see Columbia glacier, but it was also nice to have a shorter day. There were no whales in the lake. Although the lake is 600+/- feet deep. There were only 5 of us plus the guide. That was a nice sized group. We paddled around the lake. Made a shore stop for lunch and then paddled some more.
The clouds finally lifted. It’s nothing but steep mountains everywhere. It’s impossible to tell that this is a port town as every finger of land has mountains on it. It looks like you are in a mountain-locked bowl. The mountains rise straight up from sea level – nothing gradual here. It really is so stunning.
Our tour guide raved about some of the food trucks in town, so I had some ginger chicken from the Thai food truck after we got back. Later, I went for a walk around the neighborhood with Hannah and Colin and the dogs. Saw a mamma and baby moose in their backyard.
I am so in love with ice. I’m completely drawn in by it. I’ve seen glaciers and ice before, and it still feels like my first encounter with it. I love the shades of blue, black, white, and clear. It has so many textures. Some ice is smooth, clear, and glistening, like ice cubes in your glass. Some of the clear ice has beautiful patterns of cracks and bubbles trapped below the smooth surface. Other ice is dimpled, opaque, and looks fuzzy like a stuffed animal from afar. There are black streaks where the glacier wore down rocke into a fine black dust. Some icebergs still have rocks in them, or the ice above the rocks melted, leaving a roof of black rocks. These icebergs look like the shoreline, but they aren’t. There are holes, caverns, ice bridges, and mini waterfalls. We kayaked through open water and mini canyons of ice.
Days 11 and 12 of my roadtrip were mostly driving. I left Whitehorse and got to drive past Kluane National Park again. It was just as beautiful. The road was quite bad most of the way. There were giant potholes and undulations in the pavement that almost threw you into the air, or maybe they did. So there was quite a bit of speeding up, cussing and slowing down.
I got to the Alaska US border. The border guy was way less enjoyable than the guy when I entered Canada. He started off with an accusatory tone like how dare I try to come into the US and just kept going.
Border Dude: “Where are you going”?
Me: “Valdez”.
BD: “Why”?
Me: “To visit my friends that just moved there and bring them their truck”. [In my head: To see Alaska, duh]
BD: “Why are you driving it”?
Me: “Because they just moved there”. [As I just told you]
BD: “Why didn’t they drive it”?
Me: “Because 2 people can’t drive 3 vehicles. [in my head: haven’t you ever moved?]
BD: “What are their names”?
Me: “Hannah and Colin” [You know them?]
BD: “How are you getting home”?
Me: “Flying” [This is not the job for you].
He did let me through, but I still don’t understand why he had such a chip on his shoulder. The rest of the drive to Tok was beautiful as was the next day to Valdez. The leaves were even more yellow than the Yukon. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of the mountains in Valdez because it was cloudy and raining. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The clouds were stunning. They engulfed everything around them or they outlined other things. It was a quiet, heavy, and beautiful. Also so fun to see Hannah and Colin’s new home!
I wanted to a helicopter or plane flight over the glaciers. I called a ton of companies before I left home to see if I could join an existing tour. None of them had existing tours. I didn’t want to pay for the whole plane/helicopter. So I booked an atv tour with a different company. I won’t get to see glaciers, but it should still be fun.
I woke up feeling miserable. I felt like I had a hangover even though I didn’t drink the night before. I didn’t get back from the Aurora tour until 4am. Some people on the Aurora tour bought packages of more than one night. They are doing this every night. That might kill me. The tour was great, but mother nature didn’t cooperate. They take you about 45 minutes outside of town to the “Aurora Center”. They have a cabin, several huge yurts, and some tepees. They had games, books, snacks and a wood stove in the cabin. They set a fire in one of the tepees. You could hang out outside or in while you waited.
The tour was 15 people, but the center could handle 50+. I mostly hung out with the three ladies from Australia. The rest of the people were from Asia, Japan mostly. It was cloudy and the clouds never lifted. If you took a picture with a camera, you could see green and pink clouds. Some cell phones took ok pictures. Mine got nothing but a grey sky or just all black. The lights were happening, just not for us.
I almost canceled the atv tour. I almost called to see if I could do the half day instead of the full day. Instead, I sucked it up and went. I didn’t read the driving directions until I was on my way. After reading the directions: “turn into the driveway of the blue house, drive past the blue house and we’ll be the next cabin.”, I thought this might be some dude’s house, not an ATV facility.
I got to the cabin. It was a tiny cabin where Fabian, his wife Raphaelle and their young daughter live. Two ATVs sat out front. A sled dog greeted me. It was definately a private tour. I’m so glad I didn’t cancel. He outfitted me with a helmet and gave me an overview of what the day would be like.
We rode to a couple different lakes. We rode through the river. The fresh air was exactly what I needed to feel better. We could go as fast or slow as I wanted. We went up to the top of one of the hills with great views over the whole area and stunning views of the mountains all around. The hills appeared to be lit from the inside with reds, oranges, and every hue of yellow. At the top, we had lunch, which Raphaelle had made – an omelet sandwich with cheese and kale from their garden. There was also tea made from plants in the area. This was the best part – the attention to detail and the personal touch.
We went back down to another lake. We accessed it from the property of a friend of his. It was another cabin. This was a whole neighborhood of small spaced out cabins. All of them were pretty simple. All of them had outhouses. I find it funny that I can’t get the idea of living with an outhouse out of my mind. If I had to go out into the Yukon cold several times a night…… brrrr…. Maybe an outhouse is easier than plumbing, I don’t know. Maybe it’s a factor of what you are used to.
As we sat by the lake, I learned more about Fabian and Raphaelle. They came out from France for dog sledding (they had 12 dogs then) and loved it so they stayed. He works as ski patrol in the winter and bike patrol in the summer. He also leads people on tours – atv, BC ski, dog sled (he has 5 dogs now), and snowmobile. He is hoping to make a good business of this so he doesn’t have to do patrol anymore. I love this and hope he does. As we sat, he pulled out berry muffins made from berries they picked. I’m very glad I found this company and didn’t cancel.
On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at Miles Canyon in Whitehorse for a couple of pictures.
Today, I did a day tour of Kluane National Park. The tour description mentioned going to the visitor’s center, a lake, and a small park. How can that take 8 hours?
There were only 5 of us on the tour. We went to the visitor’s center, two lakes, two hikes to overlooks, an old bridge, and multiple roadway overlooks. We saw dall sheep, although you needed binoculars to know they were sheep.The mountains are stunning, rugged, snow-capped, and wild. There are no roads into the park. The only way in is to hike or fly. The whole area is a UNESCO world heritage site and contains Kluane National Park, Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, Glacier Bay National Park, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
I’m glad the hikes were short. My ankle did real well for only having surgery a month ago.
We learned a little about the history of the area, the First Nation’s tribes, the gold rush and the construction of the Alaska Highway.
It was a 10 hour day. I went straight to dinner after we got back. I iced my ankle after dinner and fought hard to stay awake. Now it’s 11:30pm and I’m back on the tour bus heading out of town in hopes of seeing Aurora Boreals. There’s 15 people on this tour. We get back around 4:00am. I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Another “short” drive – only 4.5 hours. I checked out the sign post forest on the way out of town. It was far more impressive than pictures online showed. I stopped in another town for breakfast. No animal sightings today. It was a pretty drive, but not spectacular. The leaves started changing to brilliant yellow and orange.
On my way into Whitehorse, I saw a race. There were people running along the highway with race bibs on. People and motor homes lined the highway, cheering them on. It was not as unique as chatting with a bear, but it was interesting.
After I checked into my hotel, I did laundry. The dryer worked and dried things in one go. That’s a new experience in travel for me. Laundry made my day!
I had dinner at a packed restaurant downtown. There were hardly any cars in town, but all restaurants seemed packed.
I had an 8:00pm reservation for Eclipse hot springs, which was about a half hour outside town. Again, hardly and cars, but packed with people. They have at least 4 warm pools, maybe more. And there is a cold pool nearby each warm pool. They have steam rooms and saunas also. It was a bit of a process: take shoes off, check in and get your locker key, get a blue bin, take a shower using your blue bin as a shower door lock and way to hold your stuff, put everything in locker, choose a hot pool and sit and relax, then get in a cool pool, repeat pools. The first warm pool I chose was covered in people. As I sat, they all seemed to know each other. Was this the party place of Whitehorse? It was adults only – fan of that! With some time, I realized it was many large groups of people. They were the racers I’d seen earlier. It was a relay race or team race. I tried the cold pool. I remember trying it in Norway and thinking it was ok. Now, it was not ok. It stung my feet and legs. I gave up after 30 seconds and went back eavesdropping on the race. Every other pool I tried was also filled with runners. I only counted 4 other people who didn’t seem to be racers. It was a beautiful place. It would have been awesome if it had only been 5 of us.
I looked it up online later. I think it was the Klondike Road Relay Race, which is a 175-kilometer race from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon. Running over mountain passes is not on my bucket list, but I can appreciate the skill, coordination, and training that goes into this.
Yesterday’s drive was great. I only had a 4 hour drive, so I had looked up various places along the way to stop for beautiful views. I was sure other stops would present themselves as well.
Because I wasn’t sure how often I would stop, I decided not to listen to the audio book. It would be distracting to keep turning it on and off. For the beginning of the ride, I was driving next to the Toad River. It was that beautiful light arctic blue. So, as I often do, I sang about it. I can say it was one of my best songs.
I do this all the time, especially at home. I just make up songs about things going on around me. At home, it’s mostly about our pets. But there is also the Hot Tub Time song which hasn’t been heard all summer. I predict it’s making a come back soon. And the cheerful song I sing about how much I love grocery shopping. I do not love grocery shopping, so the song helps me motivate. I actually wonder how Richard is surviving without my daily songs. I’m sure my pets are suffering.
All along the trip today were wildlife warning signs – Bison, Caribou, Sheep, Moose….. Caribou? I forgot Canada has caribou. I want to see caribou. The first sign was for sheep. I saw no sheep. I sang about it. The next was for caribou. No caribou. I sang about that, too. Bison – no bison – song.
A truck flashed it’s lights at me 4 times. Warning! Something is coming. There was no sign to tell me what it might be. It was a mamma and baby moose on the road. I just stopped in the middle of the highway until the baby decided to cross the road. Then I drove slowly by mamma so I wouldn’t spook her. She was not concerned. No other cars came by or behind me while I was there. A private audience with the moose.
I drove by rivers and lakes and lakes that looked like rivers and rivers that looked like lakes. I sang about them all. After I passed the 5th or 6th bison sign, I thought, yea, no, there will be no bison. By now, I decided the bison song would be best sung by a barber shop quartet. Then…..bison……everywhere! There was a huge herd flanking the highway. Again, I sang. Again, I stopped in the middle of the highway. I rolled down the windows and had a chat with the bison. I was probably there for 20 minutes and never saw another car.
Around lunchtime, I got to Liard River Hot Springs. This was one of my planned stops as it got a thumbs up from my friend, Tim. I drove up to what looked like a military grade electric gate, and it opened. I paid $5 and heard the “rules”. The area is fenced and gated with an electric fence. I assume this is to protect us from bears. Still, hot springs and electric fences seem at odds with each other. I guess a run in with a bear and hot springs do too. I’m not complaining, though, because you had to walk about 5 minutes down a forest boardwalk to get from the parking to the hot springs. The boardwalk turned out to be my favorite part of the hot springs. The hot springs were lovely, warm, relaxing, and exactly what I expected. The boardwalk surprised me. It was quiet and looked like something you might see in a tropical place. It was lush with water all around. I saw a ton of dragon flies. You could hear the trickle and drip of water as you walked. I could hear little animals in the trees and the soft sound of leaves and pine needles dropping slowly through the trees.
Later, I stopped at a waterfall and a place in the river called whirlpool canyon. Both were better than what I expected. I took the obligatory photo and moved on.
As I started pulling out of the mountains and entered more of a hilly area, I saw a bear silhouette. It looked like a metal sculpture you often see in Colorado. It wasn’t a sculpture. It was a real baby bear. This time I pulled off the highway onto the shoulder. I saw no mother. Maybe this was a yearling newly on his own? I rolled down the windows again and we had a chat. It was a one way chat. I told him how magnificent he was and kept eating flowers. I was so close I could hear his munching. He was enthusiastic about eating. I hope he now knows how magnificent he is. He probably already knew.
I got to Watson Lake and checked into “A Nicer Motel”. That was the name of my hotel. From the look of the outside, I cried a little. It looked worse than the Travelodge. The inside was cute, clean and very very nice. Relief. Funny thing was the sign on the hotel next door. It read “A Nice Hotel”. I wonder if there was some neighbor rivalry going on here.
So far, this was my favorite day on the trip. I am absolutely in love with myself. I am funny and entertaining. I sang, laughed, saw beautiful places, and talked to wild animals. And I think I created an entire album of new hits:
For a limited time only, for only $9.99, you too could own The Songs of British Columbia. With old-time favorites such as “The Bear Chant”, “Dude on a Bike”, and “Cheers Mother Nature”. Sure to become future hits are “Buffalo”, “Sheep no Sheep”, and “What the Fuck, Pebble”. And what album would be complete without “Blue Blue Toad River” and “Caribou, Where are You?”?
I was awake at 6:30 this morning. For anyone that knows me, that is “roll over and go back to sleep” time. I am not a morning person. But, I had the thought that if I wanted to see animals, this might be a good time to get out of bed. I peered out the window and instantly saw 4 moose on the other side of the lake. They were standing in chest deep water just munching on water plants.
One of the smaller moose started running (swimming fast?) creating a small white v of water around it as it picked up speed. The moose behind him suddenly perked it’s head up and watched this with great interest. I assumed this was the mother, thinking “Oh dear god, why is he running, where is he going now?” He just kept going so soon the mother was running after him to close the gap between them. They created ripples on the lake. It wasn’t so much a wave or a change in the lake’s surface. I was more like a subtle color change just below the lake’s surface. The color change radiated out from them and swept across the lake toward me in the low morning light.
After they got closer to the other two moose, they slowed down. But, wait, now I only see 3 moose. Where did the fourth one go? The trees come right down to the edge of the lake. There doesn’t appear to be a shore. The trees appear to be growing in the water and then continue up the hillside densely packed in. It doesn’t look like anyone could walk in between the trees especially something as large as a moose. But, he was gone. I watched as one of the other moose walked closer to the trees. In front of my eyes, his front legs and head went invisible. Then the rest of him flickered out as well. I strained to see if what I thought was a tree was indeed a moose leg. No, just trees.
I was so enthralled watching the moose disappear that I never saw the third moose go invisible, but he was now gone. Only one moose remained. Right on cue, he flickered and disappeared as well.
What a show! I went back in my room for coffee. After pouring a cup of coffee, I looked out the window and saw something else thrashing about in the water. Ooooohhhh, maybe this was a bear swimming in the water? I rushed outside again. It was hard to tell what it was. I used my phone zoom to help me see, but that wasn’t helpful either. The zoom just made it closer, but blurrier. I know bear eat fish out of rivers. Do they catch fish in lakes? It looked like a bear with a fish in it’s mouth. Does it count as having seen a bear if you can’t actually identify it as a bear? Then I think, if that looked like a fish when I can’t tell if it’s being held by a bear, then that would be the largest lake fish known to man. My mind is playing tricks on me. After watching it some more, I think it was a moose swimming in deeper water. As it swam closer to the invisibility trees, it of course, disappeared.
I went in and out of the room several times to warm up. Each time I would look at the lake, the moose would be in a different location. Sometimes there was just one, other times two. Sometime it would look like a log, other times a moose. The two white swans were still on the lake, but very calm this morning – nothing to honk about this morning. Quite a few other water birds were floating about.
Yes, the pictures are blurry. I have just my phone with me. The moose were way over there. That is often the case with moose. They are usually way over there. This is both good and not. It is good because way over there is safer for me. But, that means you get blurry pictures.
I slept hard and was awake at 6:00am. No need to stay here any more. I packed up quickly. Since I slept in my clothes from the day before, I figured what’s the harm in one more day in the car in the same clothes? I put on my shoes and went to the restaurant to get my free made-to-order breakfast. Maybe that would be the silver lining of the Travelodge. It wasn’t. It was made to order, just not to my order. Oh well, better get on the road.
Today’s drive I start on a section of highway that is quite remote and uninhabited. I’d read about it on line. There is much written about this section of road and the lack of services. There is at least one gas station, maybe two on this stretch of road. There are a couple of campgrounds and 4 or 5 lodges. The truck will not make the stretch of road without stopping at the one gas station, Toad River Lodge. That gas station also has a restaurant, lodge, campground and cabins. I booked a cabin on a lake. It looked like a lot of campground cabins, very basic. But, the view of the lake looked awesome. It is only a 7 hour drive today.
Most of the drive was in the foothills, lots of trees and rolling hills. Only the last 2 hours was on the lonely stretch of road. I filled up the gas tank in Fort Nelson. I also filled up a gas can in the back of the truck just in case. As I left Fort Nelson, it started to get more mountainous. This is more the terrain I was hoping for. The road was fairly empty at this point also which was nice – no more needing to pass cars. I was so excited to just sit by the lake. Along the drive I saw quite a few Moose crossing signs, but no moose. At one point I saw a sheep crossing sign and it was flashing. I came around a tight corner and they were just jumping off the highway mere feet from being hit by a truck coming the other way. They jumped vertically in the air and cleared the guardrail with very little effort. I would have loved to watch them longer, but this was not an area to stop.
My cabin is very basic, no frills. But it has a bathroom, is clean and doesn’t smell bad. First thing I did was take a shower and put on clean clothes! Something so simple yet it successfully erased last night and and put me back where I should be. I’m on a solo adventure to see beautiful things. Clean clothes and a burger in belly does the soul good. I am so fortunate in life. I let a hotel room fog that knowing. Now, I’m back in that knowing. After an early dinner, I sat on the porch of my cabin. The wooden chair is not comfortable, but I don’t care. It’s almost 8:00pm and the sun is dipping away. It’s getting quite chilly, but I don’t care. The air is fresh. The lake is glassy. The huge puffy clouds over the mountain are backed by orange glow. There are elk in the grassy meadow on the other side of the river. Earlier there was a large log in the river and I marveled on how I often look for moose and only find logs. Now, there is no log and everyone that walks by asks if I saw the moose earlier. There are two white swans that keep floating around and then getting all excited. When they get excited, they honk and fly back the way they came with their wings slapping the water loudly. I’m just sitting here listening to their honking as it echoes off the hills around me.
Day 2 of driving to Alaska was almost the same as Day 1. Very little trees, mostly wide open spaces. There were mountains from time to time, way off in the distance – so far off that they were just shadows, suggestions. There were more small towns and farms than the first day which helped break up the vast grasslands. There were more cars on the road which actually was not a plus. I hate passing on 2 lane highways, but had to often.
Both days I saw an alarming number of dead dear on the side of the highway. I know deer or elk crossing the road at dusk or night is a concern where I live. Still, I’m not use to seeing this many. There must be so much wildlife roaming these plains. Today, many porcupines were added to the death toll. I’ve never seen a live porcupine and after today I’ve seen way too many not alive.
Of the live animals, there were many many cows. Still quite a few baby cows – I like seeing those the best. I also saw a sheep farm. It went by too fast for me to get a picture of. But I rolled down the window and Baaa’d at them. I saw antelope – one actually on the pavement. So glad he didn’t try to cross in front of me. I saw a bald eagle on top of an electrical pole. I saw many other suicide birds. I didn’t hit any, but they tempted fate hopping across the road or flying low in front of me. There were also prairie dogs. I saw at least 10 of them sitting upright with their little arms up in front of their chest just watching me drive by. They didn’t move – almost looked like statues.
I got to the Canadian border in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve driven through once before and only remember that it wasn’t much. I should have stopped at the rest stop I saw just before the border. I hoped it wouldn’t take long and that there would be another rest stop on the other side. I only had to wait for one car in front of me. The immigration officer was nice, asked the usual questions plus the “are you bringing _____ in” questions, looked at my passport and sent me on my way. I stopped for the obligatory photo of the “Welcome to Alberta” sign. I wish I had taken a picture of the Wyoming and Montana signs also when I passed them, just for completeness. Oh well, not going back for those.
Shortly after the Alberta sign, I saw a dinosaur. Well, if there is a dinosaur, I’m sure there is a restroom in the building next to it. That was one animal I was not expecting to see on the journey. There was a restroom and just in time! There was also a small museum and a tourist information center. I walked through the museum quickly and saw a bunch of taxidermy animals. The list of dead animals is now way longer than the list of live ones for the day. I have no idea what my animal count is now up to for the day.
I finally get to Calgary. I use to own a truck for many years. I am quickly reminded how much fun it is to drive and park a truck in a city. I will be in Calgary for 3 nights. Since I managed to wedge the truck in a parking space in the garage, I think I will leave it there until I leave Calgary.
After checking in to the hotel, I wandered around Calgary for a bit. I was surprised how warm it is. Isn’t is supposed to get colder the farther north you go? I found the river walk, a nice bike/walking path along the river. There were people just floating down the river in pool rafts, paddle boards and kayaks. There were people everywhere enjoying bikes, scooters or just walking. I went by Olympic Park where there was a Pilipino festival going on. I saw multi colored ground hogs here. I also saw Jolliebee. I’ve never heard of Jolliebee before and had no idea Jolliebee was such a celebrity, but when he was announced, the crowd went wild. He danced to some hip hop music and the crowd lost it. I didn’t get any pictures of Jolliebee because my jaw was on the ground as I stared in amazement.
After leaving the festival, I heard live music somewhere else so I followed it. It was a busker right near my hotel. I found myself on a walking street (no vehicles). I walked several blocks looking at all the restaurants and bars with street side seating. They were all packed with people. The city was alive with energy and people out and about. I always love the energy of a city. The energy of all the people, the excitement, the love, the joy and even the sadness grows and becomes more than the sum of the parts, becomes something different, something all it’s own.
After a bit I decided I had walked more than enough. It’s been only a little over 3 weeks since I had ankle surgery so maybe I should have walked a little less, but it was difficult not to keep going around the next corner to see the thing over there. I found a steak restaurant (duh) for dinner and then went back to my room to ice my ankle.
Rraine Drops 