AUGUST 27, 2012-----TOK, ALASKA

Today is a travel day.  255 miles to cover.  We are going back through Tok to go onto the next leg of our journey.  Nothing much happening today.

AUGUST 28, 2012

Another travel day, 225 miles to Destruction Bay.  Roads weren't very good today.  Makes for a long driving day.  The campground is so-so, however the campground owner is a hoot.  He prepared this gourmet meal for all of us and served us.  An hour after we ate he entertained us with his guitar.  Has quite a nice voice too.  Gave us his life history of how he came to settle in Destruction Bay.  He is very happy in this desolate place.  The mountains outside our motorhome are beautiful but it sure isn't a place I'd want to live.

Looking forward to tomorrow.  We are leaving for Skagway.

AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2012-----SKAGWAY, ALASKA

Today Aug 29^th was a travel day to Skagway, Ak.  270 miles to travel.  After about 70 miles we made a stop at an excellent bakery.  All three units always agree to stop for bakeries.  We made another stop today at Carcross, YT.  We decided we would walk around the town for a while the other 2 motorhomes decided to go on.  It is the first time since the beginning of our caravan that we have split up.  They are tired of seeing things and walking, we on the other hand are not.  We spent a few hours just walking around and taking pictures.  Carcross is an old town with wooden sidewalks.  Carcross became a stopping place for gold stampeders on their way to the Klondike goldfields.  It was a major stop on the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad from 1900 until 1982, when the railroad stopped train service.  In the early days, passengers and freight transferred from rail to stern-wheelers at Carcross.  The White Pass & Yukon Route runs a popular trip down to Skagway from Carcross.  We will ride that train on Saturday. 

We arrived in Skagway in time for supper.  Weather is once again nice.

AUGUST 30, 2012

Today we took an all day boat cruise over to Juneau.  We were on a catamaran for about 3 ½ hrs and then about a 1 ½ hr bus tour to Juneau and through the town.  We had 2 hrs allotted on our own for lunch and to visit a few shops.  There was only 1 ship in port so it wasn’t too crowded.  Then we reboarded the bus to return to the catamaran for our return trip.  The day was beautiful, bright and sunny.  The captain told us that 2 days ago the seas were so rough that everyone got sick and that yesterday was just as bad so they had to cancel all trips.  But today, it is beautiful out…..seas are nice and calm.  Once we were back on board they took us out looking for whales.  Our captain said a few weeks ago was primetime for whale watching, but now, lots of whales have already started heading for Hawaii.  Well 15 minutes into our trip a whale was spotted in the distance.  As we approached the area where it was spotted a pod of whales appeared.  The captain said there were at least 12 of them.  All of a sudden a whole bunch of them came up out of the water at one time,,,,,right in front of the bow of the boat.  I have never seen anything so amazing.  They stayed around our boat for hours.  At one point, they were right on the side of the boat, all breaching at once.  Awesome sight.  We will put all the pictures up for you to see,,,,just click on the link below.

It sure was a full day. but it was an awesome day.

We left at 7:30 A.M. and returned at 9:30 P.M.

AUGUST 31, 2012

Today is a free day.  We headed into town for breakfast in one of the local Café’s and then off for some souvenir shopping.  This town has 4 cruise ships in port today but they will leave by evening and a few more will come in tomorrow.  The town has lots of jewelry stores.  We looked around all the shops and didn’t buy a thing. 

Tonight we had tickets to go to a Monte Carlo Night at Soapy Smiths.  Jefferson Randolph Smith, aka Soapy Smith reigned over Skagway in the 1897-1898.  He was quite a character.  You’ll have to google him to read about him.  When we got to the casino we were given paper money to play the casino games.  It was lots of fun and the person who won the most was presented with a prize during the Vaudeville show to follow.  The show was very entertaining.  It was called The Days of ‘98 Show with Soapy Smith.  It told of Soapy Smith and how he ran the town and ended up getting killed.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

This morning we got some errands done.  At noon we went over to the train depot for our White Pass & Yukon Train Ride.  The rain held out until our ride was done.  It was a great ride through the mountain passes. 

After the ride, we went back to souvenir shopping and found all our souvenirs.  Then we joined another couple at the Red Onion Saloon for pizza.  This saloon use to have a brothel upstairs and they have a museum and guided tour of the brothel.  We didn’t have time to get in on that….pizza was great though.  Got our last Alaskan Amber beer. 

Tomorrow we leave Alaska.  Sorry to be leaving but getting anxious to get back into the lower 48.  We will be in Yukon Territories and British Columbia for almost another whole week before the Caravan ends.  At that time we have another 3-4 days to get out of Canada.  The trip has been wonderful.  Only disappointment is not having seen the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).  They tell us we are about 2 weeks too early.  It isn’t cold enough yet or dark enough.  We are losing daylight at 6 minutes a day, so it is now dark by 9:30 or so.

Having a great time.  Life is good.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012----Northern Beaver Post, Yukon Territories

Today is another travel day…..we are headed back to the Yukon Territories over some of the same terrain that we came up on.  It is a long day with 308 miles to travel.  Roads aren’t too bad today.  Lots better than we have had.  Not much to stop and see as we’ve travelled this road before.  A stop to refuel and then for a quick lunch and off  to the campground.  We are all tired.  Had a travel briefing and social.  Another couple is leaving the group, they are tired and want to get back to the states.  We are now down to 16 units and the wagonmasters and tailgunners.  A few people decided to play cards but we decided to turn in early.  Weather is getting very cold.

At 1PM there is a loud knock on our door.  When we opened it everyone was outside with their pajamas on.  We walk outside too and up in the sky are the Northern Lights.  It was amazing.  We stayed outside for quite sometime watching the skies turning from reds to greens.  I can’t even explain how beautiful it was.  We are posting all the pictures for you to see but you really have to see it in person to appreciate how beautiful they are.  Our trip is complete……this was the only thing we hadn’t seen. 

Luckily tomorrow we only have 148 miles to travel and can sleep in. 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

Today is day 56 of our 60 day Caravan.  The time has flown by.

It is another travel day. We are headed  to Dease Lake, BC.  148 miles to drive.  Roads aren’t that great today.  We are travelling down the Cassiar Hwy heading towards Vanderhoof,  BC where our caravan will break up.  We have not been on this road before and it is up and down and very windy and narrow.  The sun is out though so that’s a good thing.  Different scenery than we have had too.  Lots of trees and the mountains are greener (no more snow coverings).  It is pretty but I miss the snow capped mountains. 

We stopped at  Jade store on our way.  Jade boulders are cut here and are from the Princess Jade Mine 82 miles east.  One of the largest jade claims in the world.  Jade is the Alaska gem.  They had beautiful but expensive jewelry and other items in this store.  Gave us time to stretch our legs.

Tonight is a travel briefing and social.  We are having a white elephant exchange.  We all have to put an item in a paperbag and staple it.  The Wagonmaster had us all stand in a circle with our bags and read us a story that had us passing the bags right, left and across for several times.  The bag you ended up with at the end of the story, was yours.  It was lots of fun.

At 7pm we are gathering to cook Smores.  

Haven’t had internet or cell service for several days now.  Not looking too promising for having it for the rest of the trip.  Will post as soon as I can. 

Having a blast.

to view pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/motorhome234