Salmon Glacier

You would think we should be tired of glaciers but we are not! Salmon Glacier is a huge glacier at the end of the road past Hyder and we just had to go see it. So glad Roger is an explorer at heart – we saw so many wonderful out of the way places! It was about 22 miles up a gravel road and the clouds were so low we only got sporadic glimpses of the glacier. But, what an adventure!

We got almost to the top of the mountain for the best viewpoint and out of the fog we saw a sign advertising “Postcards – 3 for $2!” Sure enough there was a wildlife photographer living in his tent/car selling DVD’s and postcards! He was an interesting old guy and of course, we had to buy some of his stuff!

Stewart, Canada and Hyder, Alaska

We have been without phone and Internet service for several days so, I really have some catching up to do!

We drove from Fairbanks back to Tok where we met fellow Alfa Roadrunner members, Jim and Dorothy Collard for dinner. Dorothy has relatives near Tok and they are building a cabin on the family property where they will spend summers.

Gary & Ann and Dan & Pam split with us and headed south on a faster pace than what we had planned. So Tommy & Dorothy, Judy, Roger and I have been a “five some.

The road from Tok south on the Alaska Highway is the worst stretch of road we encountered. We missed it on the way north because we took the Top of the World Highway – a piece of cake compared to Destruction Bay! - glad we only had to drive it once! It was a horrible mess of gravel, pot holes and frost heaves! Oh, and add construction crews! Must be a never ending battle for them to keep the road navigable. The five of us stopped for the night at Kluane Lake to recuperate from all the jostling while the others drove on
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The drive down the Casiar Highway was great – a good road and beautiful scenery. There are several Canadian Provincial Parks on lakes along the way that are just gorgeous! We had two close encounters with wildlife. The first was a grizzly bear eating right along the left side of the road – so glad he turned back into the woods and did not run in front of us! The second was a mule deer with a big set of horns that ran across the road in front of us from right to left. There was only a small strip of land between the road and railway cars parked on our left – he was trapped and we thought he would run back out in front of us before Roger could stop but, he literally laid down, turned his head sideways and wiggled under the train!!

Waterfalls and glaciers were everywhere we looked on the way into Stewart – a small little town on the Canadian/Alaska border.

 Just about 2 miles away is another tiny town, Hyder, Alaska. Hyder is known for Fish Creek – a popular stream for salmon to spawn and bears to eat! It was fascinating to watch the hundreds of salmon struggle up stream. We saw two black bears but they were along the road eating berries not in the river catching fish. Guess they are vegetarians!

On the way out of Stewart we met a group of cyclists who had biked from Austin, Texas to Anchorage!! They had a great time and were sad to be on the way home! We were surprised by the huge number of cyclists all over Canada and Alaska – a hardy bunch pumping up hills even our motorhome was struggling to ascend!

Chena Hot Springs

We had a fun day today at Chena Hot Springs Resort. In addition to the hot springs they have an ice sculpture museum that serves "appletini's" in carved ice martini glasses!

The ice museum started out as an ice hotel with a bar, a wedding area and four bedrooms. But, it never was allowed to open as a hotel because it did not meet the building code - it didn't have a sprinkler system! So now they call it a "museum." They have a husband and wife team, professional ice carvers, that work full time to keep it maintained and carve all the martini glasses. They actually celebrate many weddings inside - obviously short ceremonies! They provide winter coats and suggest you wear gloves so you can hold your martini glass! What a unique experience!

A tiger

A xylophone

A polar bear

The "Aurora" bedroom

Cheers!

It really felt good to soak in the hot springs after time in the ice museum!

 Look what we saw on the way home! Mom and her calf!

Arctic Circle

Roger and all the other "girls" drove the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle yesterday. The other guys and I stayed behind - figured my broken pelvis would not tolerate a twelve hour drive!

Another adventure crossed off the bucket list!

Riverboat Tour in Fairbanks

We took a 3 hour tour down the Tanana River on the riverboat Discovery. Along the way we saw a demonstration of a float plane taking off and landing near us in the river; toured a replica of an Athabascan native village and visited the home and kennels of Susan Butcher.

Susan Butcher won the Iditarod sled dog race four times with her favorite dog, Granite. She died of leukemia in 2006 but her husband and two daughters continue to run the kennels and enter races. I bought Samantha and Emily a book about Granite and her daughter autographed it. Their school mascot is a Husky so I figured they could donate it to the school library when they outgrow it. We heard about how they train the dogs and then they gave us a demonstration using a special ATV instead of a snow sled. They get so excited to run and when they were done they ran to the river as soon as they were unharnessed!

Native Indian employees talked about their heritage at the Athabascan village. This winter coat is made of multiple types of animal pelts - beautiful and warm!

Good Bye Denali!

This was taken the morning we left Denali for Fairbanks!

North Pole, Alaska

                                          We put in a good word for everyone with Santa!