Best RV Travels-Billy & Pat's Best RV Adventures

Trip across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi Aug 27th - 29th 2009

Best RV Travels.com — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:24:00 GMT

Aug 27, 2009

Arizona and New Mexico have some very interesting rock formations as you travel along but also alot of desolate places that I don't bother taking pictures of. I chose a few of the best to share with you.

Erosion leaves behind some interesting formations. Punkinhead in his normal position while traveling! He sleeps most of the time unless we slow down where he can look out without getting dizzy!

Cloud formations always intrigue me as you have seen by my other blogs. We stopped for dinner at this Route 66 Casino and walked out the door without pulling a handle, I'm so proud of us! This Casino is just to the west of Albuquerque New Mexico. It is a nice one with a really good buffet. We stayed at High Desert RV Park on the outskirts of Albuquerque. Nice park and reasonable prices. They were very nice there too. We parked for the night and settled up in the morning. We traveled on across New Mexico and across the Panhandle of Texas on Interstate 40 taking highway 287 just east of Amarillo down to Decatur then west on 380 to our Thousand Trails RV park at Bay Landing near Bridgeport. Spent 1 night there in a very quiet spot that was where the maintenance workers park in the old section. Went to the clubhouse for breakfast the next morning for a very reasonably priced breakfast and enjoyed a very nice visit with some other RVers. After leaving there we went through Dallas Ft Worth area and got on Interstate 20 on across Texas into Louisiana. We made it to Monroe and found a place called Shiloh RV park that was an RPI park for us. Cost us $9 to stay there is all and again we parked for the night and settled up in the morning. We didn't want to arrive in Mississippi late as we had tree limbs to trim to get into our place so we spent the night in Monroe. The next day ,Aug 29, we got to our place at 12:30 in the afternoon and got settled after a lunch (dinner according to Mississippi folks). We will be here for an undetermined length of time. Have some work to do on our place and also on Billy's Mother's place, sowe will be here awhile.

Once we start to travel again I will be back on here to share with you again. May find some interesting things to share from here as well. We went and picked Okra last night from someone who didn't need any more from their garden. Made 5 gallons to put in the freezer. I didn't take any pictures though. I will be taking time here to go back and re-enter my deleted pictures from the first half of my blogs so each time I do one and repost it those who have subscribed will be getting a notice of an updated entry. So you may ignore it if you wish or just re-read them and go back to Alaska with us again. Until next time. Happy travels to you.

Oregon, Nevada, Utah Aug 24-26 2009

Best RV Travels.com — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:17:00 GMT

Talk about big trees in Oregon take a look at those logs! In Eastern Oregon we stayed at Junipers Reservoir RV Resort, our first night out, that we just happened upon as we drove. It turned out to be very quiet, off the road a couple of miles with its own little lake. Beautiful sunflowers and a nice bathroom and club house. Punkin head had a great time there!

Gravel for the parking areas but a beautiful large lawn in the middle. Another barn to show you we are in farming country. Hey we even ran into a cattle drive right down the highway. We were going up hill so were traveling pretty slow anyway. They were strung out for several miles. Evan had real live cowboys hearding them.

Eventually we get into Nevada and visit a friend in Battle Mountain. Here is the sign, Billy and the 5th wheel parked quite a ways away.
That is copper in that stone and some mining equipment. We walked across the road to have lunch before leaving town, at the Owl Club, and we didn't even stay to gamble.

Nevada stretches for miles with not much to look at. I read Barb Rees's book "RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van" out loud to Billy so he could enjoy it too. What a nice book, you feel like you are on the trip with them! We had traveled across Canada once before so have been to some of the places she mentions. She also wrote "RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream" a few years before. If you have been reading our blog you will remember we met her and her husband in British Columbia at Williams Lake at the visitors center and again on the way to Stewart BC and Hyder AK. We get her blog and stay up with their travels and she reads mine to keep up with us, I hope. We do emails once in a while anyway as well. They are from Powell River BC. Anyway I got off track there for a minute. We get into Utah and go through Cedar City and through the mountains to Kanab. We had been through there before only it was dark so we certainly enjoyed seeing the sights this time. It was so beautiful the different colors of rock and the different formations and types of rock cliffs too. My camera ran out of battery power about midways through so I didn't get pictures of all of it. So I will share a little of what I do have. If you ever get the opportunity to go that route take it as it is very scenic. We stayed in Kanab for the night and said we want to come back and spend a week there sometime. It is close to Zion Nat'l Park and Brice Canyon as well.

More of our trip in the next blog as I'm way late getting to bed as it is!!!

Travel in Oregon Aug 19-24 2009

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:40:00 GMT

Aug 19-23

While in Salem we stayed at our friends Ron and Sally's place since they were not there. You can see Punkin head made himself at home! He slept in the truck at night and was outside most of the day staked out in the back yard but at this moment he's loving this chair. Thank goodness we had time to go to dinner with my cousin Clayton and his wife Lan. We went to our favorite Chinese Buffet. Flowers are in our friends, Loretta and John's, yard they were so pretty they just begged me to come take their picture.

On our way out of town we stopped by their house to say goodbye. They were kind to us and fed us scrumptous bacon and tomato sandwiches, what a treat. The tomatos were home grown and so delicious, they even sent some with us. Yum! Billy woke me up from a sound nap to see this cute car as we were driving down the freeway, it was cute and worth it. A long shot at a favorite house in Drain that I have taken pictures before of.

A cute church in Scottsburg and the Conde McCullough Memorial Bridge near Coos Bay. The yellow house is just a neat house in North Bend, guess I like that little porch upstairs. The next house has a very interesting roof on it the way they did the shingles is different, it also is in North Bend.

And this house might sell for more money if it had a nice paint job! The Paridise Cafe is our favorite place to eat in Port Orford and these little baby birds were just about to leave the nest. There were 4 of them. They were under the eave and we could see them from our table in the cafe. We had to make a trip down to Gold Beach about 27miles away so I snapped a few pictures on the way. I just love the ocean and enjoy the coastline.

These 4 are all as we were coming into Gold Beach, looks like the fishing was good or there was a turnament that day. The last was taken upstream from the bridge.

That is Port Orford in the distance. We just had to go over to the beach and take Punkin head with us. He was so daring he walked right along the edge and peared over and would jumped right over had I not pulled him back!

He acts like he ready to go somewhere or something. Saying our goodbyes to Jeff, owner of the Camp Blanco RV park, and his daughter and to our friend Susan who is a writer and painter. We will miss her and someday we will go back to that park in our travels and perhaps she will still be there. And lastly Billy is pulling our 5th wheel out and we left that day the 24th headed for Mississippi. More on that trip later.

This Post was originally published on 8/29/2009 01:29 am

Travel in Oregon Aug 17 2009

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:32:00 GMT

Aug 17th

The beautiful Columbia River that separates Washington and Oregon. We love to stop in these little old towns along the way. Moro, Grass Valley and Kent. This one is Kent I believe. Didn't see much life in it! First is grain elevators looks like both old style and new. Then what looks like an old store with a red door no longer in use and another store no longer in use. More and more towns are having this problem where some businesses open last year when we came through and this year they are closed and for sale. Click on the Moro link and look at the picture, the red building just past where it says "CAFE" was another cafe, with the Pepsi sign next to the cafe sign, we have stopped in several times but now is closed. We were sorry to see that had happened.

Couldn't resist this old abandoned farm near Kent with the windmill we saw from afar. Just had to turn down that road to get a closer look. The General Store is in Shaniko. Now this little town is old but is still partly in working order and some places are open for business. Don't let the people at the General Store set the tone for the rest of the town as the owner was pretty rude and down in the mouth toward us, she lightened up a bit once we bought something. I suspect she is that way about life in general. Others in town don't much like her and don't shop there either. Next is an old mower I believe. The white building is not in use and I'm not sure what it was. Do click on the link as I found a site more informative than I am. Also this link for Shaniko for a story about the town.

This is the Shaniko Bank or was? The blue building on the left used to be the Gold Nugget Saloon but now appears to be a dress shop. Next door I don't know what is in there. Ahh behind the motorcycle is the ICE CREAM SHOP!

Inside brings you back in time to the good old days. Welcomed by Goldie Roberts, also the Mayor of the town, this is where the locals hang out and the tourists stop to get the local flavor of the place and the ice cream. Yummy! This Ole House was closed maybe permanantly?

This is the Hotel don't know if it was open or closed but doesn't look busy. Another little store look at the old cars alongside of it! Then you see what looks like a long barn at the edge of town to the east.

The old Jail Wagon sits in an open lot across from the hotel. And a really old fire truck! A little church completes the town. This is a neat place to stop and drink in the history of the area and to see the town that is a museum in itself.

Further along the way to Terrebonne we see a nice barn and some horses in the field happily eating. Finally we arrive at Crooked River Ranch where our friends Randy and Pat live.

Along the way I snap this picture of a favorite house I see is rented out for people who want to vacation there. It has a spactacular view of the 3 Sisters mountains. I borrowed from another time of the year to show you their view which was taken outside the subdivision on the way to Sisters. The deer is a common sight throughout the subdivision as they have no fear there and walk through everyones yards unless they have fenced them out. This is high desert country. Smith rocks is nearby where climbers love to go and try out their expertise of climbing clifts.

Family Visits

Best RV Travels.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:03:00 GMT

Aug 16th and 17th

We took the river scenic route to Selah Wa. This is the Yakima River that the road follows for several miles. It was a treat to see along the dry grass along the hill sides. We would have liked to stop in Ellensburg to see friends on the way but too many things to do and not enough time to do them so will catch them on the next time through when we have time for a descent visit. Second picture is my nephew Robert, myself and niece Theresa. Next we have Austin, Vickie's son, Billy, Brendon, Vickie and Roberts son,and Kristin, Vickie's daughter. Great kids. Brendon had just had his 6th birthday the day before.

Theresa and their mother Judy then Vickie and Robert. The kids wanted to take punkin head to the park across the street and then wanted to have their picture taken with him so we went and had some fun. Of course punkin head took the opportunity to climb a tree!

Couldn't resist the beautiful sunflowers in their front yard. Robert in front of their swimming pool that sits in front of their garage.

Kids playing with their games on the floor, Theresa feeding her Mom as she is invalid. Punkin head getting acquainted with their kitty, never did get too close.

Yours truly for a together shot, poor Billy's lap! We stayed until afternoon then had to get on to Richland where we got a motel room and met up with our friend Sally and her daughter Honey to visit for the evening as they were on their way to Alberta Canada and we were there to visit Billys cousin, didn't get their picture this time. We would have missed seeing them in Salem if we hadn't met there in Richland. Next morning we all had breakfast together then they went on their way and we went to visit Billys' cousin Ondean and her husband Dale. After a nice visit and some watermelon and cantaloupe we headed out for Terrebonne Oregon and a visit with our friends Randy and Pat. Spent the night there and then went on to Salem where we had some things to do before going on to Port Orford to pick up our 5th wheel. More later about the rest of the trip.

Wedding Reception in Seattle

Best RV Travels.com — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:32:00 GMT

Aug 15th 2009

We got into heavy traffic in Seattle so what is new? Visited Dan and Rebecca at the Studio/Store where I took a picture of some of her pictures. They have started something new in printing on canvas and stretching it over a frame. They turned out beautiful. These are
just a few that they had made larger and put on the walls. She does sell them in the store if you are ever in Georgetown at 6012 12th Ave So. We hung out mostly at where they were to have the reception as we got there in the late afternoon.

Here is the happy couple Rebecca and Dan at the reception. It was held in their landlord's place where he hold's different functions. It has a lot of antique things like the jukeboxes and some of the furniture and kitchen appliances etc. there. This is the cake made by a friend pictured below. Turned out real pretty I would say and tasted oh so good! This is Skip Rebecca's Uncle and wife Julie from California.

This is Rebecca's cousin Erin, his son, Skip and Erin's wife they live not too awfully far from them near Seattle. Next is their little girl, in the old car ride, and someone else's little child. The young man with the camera is Jordon their photographer who loved to take pictures. Seated is another of the nice couples they know that I don't recall their names. A lot of their friends showed up after we had to leave so we didn't meet them all. We wanted to meet Rebecca's Mom from St. Louis Mo but she didn't get there until after we left so we will have to wait until another time. Perhaps we can go see her if we ever get up where she lives.

First is the couple who made the cake then Dan and a friend of his. The beautiful old Jukeboxes and one of their cats that reminds me of the kitty I had as a child that was the same color. They had bought 15 Pizza's 7 of which were left over. I think most had eaten before coming there. They were Vegan and very good. So there you have it a little fun along the way and you got to meet friends and family of the Bride and Groom.

Travel Through Washington

Best RV Travels.com — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:36:00 GMT

Aug 14th and 15th

Seen just after we crossed the Canadian/American border in Sumas, Washington. There are a lot of farms in Washington many of which we passed as we drove through. Hadn't seen a windmill for a long time either. This looks like a house but is really a barn.

Some kind of farm equipment, I'd say it was a truck but there is no seat in it so I think it was adapted for another purpose. I love to see churches in little, or big for that matter, towns this was a nice well kept one that caught my eye. This white barn had an advertisement for the Blue Mountain Grill on it no doubt a way to make a little extra money renting that space. The barn, silo and other buildings just caught my eye as having been and probably still is a nice farm.

This one is too funny, this is punkin heads toy hairy animal we call it his baby. It appears that he thought he needed a drink of water! We have found it at his food dish before as well. Do you think he is taking care of his baby? Guess what city we were passing through in the next 3 pictures? Yes you are right, Seattle! Hated to pass through and not stop to see our son and his new wife but we were to be back the next evening for their reception party so we went on down to Ashford and Mt Rainier National Park to spend the day and night.

We stopped at the Tall Timber Restaurant in Eatonville on our way for breakfast. This is one of our favorite places as they serve really good food and are friendly. Oh no another barn! Shaped a little different and found just outside of Eatonville. Another lake as well this one is Alder Lake between Alder and Elbe on hwy 7. We passed it a lot when we worked at Mt. Rainier for 3 seasons on our way to Puyallup or Eatonville. Upon arrival in Elbe you will see train cars that have been made into businesses, here you have Hobo Inn.

Just past there is the Side Track Room which is a bar and eating place. We have never stopped to eat there so I'm not sure how good it is. And past there at the train station is this little chapel, I don't know if they actually use it or not. Elbe is a cute little town, they also have train rides to Mineral during the summer or at least they used to, don't know about now. Between Elbe and Ashford is a place where the guy makes these large animals and machinery etc out of scrap metal. It is really neat how they have them sitting all around their place and yes they are for sale. We got a room at the Rainier Overland Restaurant Lodge for that night and went on up to Guest Services offices to see our friends. One of them, Don Haye Billy's boss when we worked there, had just passed away suddenly a few days before that. He had worked there a long time so everyone knew him. The lady , Sandy, that owns the Overland had worked at Guest Services a few years ago so we knew her and her son Jeff.

These are some pictures of buildings at the Overland we stayed in the cabin with the truck in front of it. The first one is over 100 years old and was moved there by the owners of the Overland some years ago. The 3 middle cabins are used for storage right now but may be fixed up to be rented some day. We enjoyed the friendliness of this family and enjoyed our dinner and breakfast there. Our friends Bob and April had dinner with us Fri night so that was nice. The next picture is of National Park Inn at Longmier in Mt. Rainier Nat'l Park where I used to work as a waitress. We enjoyed stopping and seeing a few people we still knew from last summer having worked there then.

We stopped in Eatonville at the grocery store and saw this old car across the street and the owner was sitting at the table eating his lunch and he looked equally as old. Next is a beautiful blossom from a weed in the area. And the last is a shot behind us as we entered Graham which is just before getting to Puyallup. There was construction in this area when we had left last year and it is all finished and looks great now. Enough for now I don't know when I'll get back to the blogs. I need to catch up to the present some time as it is now the 23rd of Aug and we leave for Mississippi tomorrow. So I have about 9 days in between that I need to write on.

OurTrip Home from Alaska #5

Best RV Travels.com — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Aug 13, 2009

Here is one of the log homes probably built from the local log house builders from the area. This is the beautiful Lac Des Roches on the road to Little Fort. The trees are riddled with the spruce beetle or I should say were as they are dead now and the beetle has left them already.

This was a cute house with the white picket fence around it in Little Fort close to the Hwy 5 and 24 Jct. Nice barn in the same area and a beautiful farm complete with lake and horses, my childhood dream! An old barn but not too old to still use, perhaps I should say it is an old style and not so old in age.

Behold a sawmill! We didn't see many of those. This is North Thompson River, three minutes down the road is another shot of the river through the burnt trees. A sign nearby said "Overlanders of 1962 It had been an epic struggle against the wilderness for the gold seekers of Eastern Canada. They had crossed the Rockies, trekked through pathless forests, and won the swift rapids of the North Thompson River. The open country now offered hope and safe passage. Ragged and starved, they reached Kamloops where many became pioneer farmers."

This was a beautiful home between Little Fort and Kamloops, close to what my dream home would look like! I wonder if it can be moved to somewhere in the lower 48? Lol Next we have the city of Kamloops and beyond is the camp where they housed the firefighters when the forests in the area were burning. And then the rugged rock clifts on the way to Hope. We didn't stop in Hope and passed on by Minter Gardens on our way to Sumas, where we were anxious to cross the border into the USA.

This was a cute barn and house in Sumas, BC. Last stop before entering the good ol' USA.

OurTrip Home from Alaska #4

Best RV Travels.com — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:36:00 GMT

Aug 11th-12th

Little Punkin Head sleeping like a baby, I cover him after he goes to sleep and he likes it if it is cool in the truck. We stopped at this place called Tetsa River Services and had the best Cinnamon roll there. We split it and it was yummy, we try not to do that very often but this one was irresistible! The wildlife displays were in the dining room area which wasn't very big. We were glad to see this place still open as a lot of them are not any more. They have an RV park and cabins there as well as fuel. Read more about it and see more pictures by clicking the link.

Pretty yellow wild flowers. Punkin Head loves to climb up in the window and lay down there. When we get to moving he gets down. Today we saw a Cariboo the only one the whole trip! He was pretty but I couldn't reset my camera fast enough to get a good picture.
We spent the night at the Blue Belle Motel in Fort St. John. It was a nice room with a small fridge and microwave. The owners were very hospitable and helpful as well. These 2 bucks were actually 3 of them but this was the best picture so you get to see 2. Sure were pretty and healthy looking. They were seen soon after we got on the Hudson's Hope Loop road. We had to go back north of Fort St. John to catch Hwy 29 to Hudson's Hope.

While at

Hudson's Hope we visited their Museum which was the Hudson's Bay Store of 1942 and operated as such until 1954. We started at the outside exhibits then went inside. The link to this is an excellant one to read more about the area's history. This is St. Peters Church which you can also view but we didn't.

This is a Trapper's Cabin alongside the Peace River. They have found actual dinosaur tracks and bones in the area.This is what the sign in the museum says "In the summer of 2000, two Tumbler Ridge boys, Mark Turner and Daniel Helms, made a chance discovery of dinosaur tracks while tubing on the creek. Community adults immediately contacted Phil Currie at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta. He referred them to his PHD student Rich McCrea at the University of Alberta. The prints were authenticated by Rich and field work began in the summer of 2001. The trackway was produced by anckylosaurs and is the first in situ trackway from the Dunvegan Formation. An even more momentous Tumbler Ridge Discovery was made by Chetwynd resident Wayne Sawchuck. The site contains British Columbias first dinosaur bone beds with upwards of twenty bones exposed. Identification of the 95 - 97 million year old bones has determined that they represent a species of Ornithopod, which would match the tracks found on the site. Scientific work with researcher Rich McCrea continues on the site."

This is a great collection of Indian arrowheads and things from the "Peck House" giving you an idea of the kind of utensils and machines that were in use in that time period.

When we traveled on to Chetwynd we found all these chainsaw carvings that are on display near the visitors center that are part of a contest in the area.

Of course I share the pretty wildflowers and weeds that I find on the way. If they are something we see all along the way I like to show them here. Then we come to a must see falls called Bijoux Falls. The word Bijoux is French for "jewel". The provincial Park is home to British Columbia's provincial bird the Steller's Jay.

Not too far from McLeod Lake we happened to see this mother and baby moose. They were hiding behind the trees and we had to back up to get this shot of them. Again the sky was loaded with these beautiful clouds that would drop rain in various places. We buzzed right through Prince George and didn't take any pictures this time. Quesnel was the next town to go through with any interesting things to photograph.

By now we are back in farming country and old homes. This is Williams Lake again and further south is the log home manufacturers place, we saw several of these in our travels usually in the bigger tree country.
.

I love these little lakes south of Williams Lake they were calm on this day and made a perfect reflection of the surrounding trees. We decided to take a small detour via Kamloops just past 100 Mile House on Hwy 24 to Little Fort then south on Canada 5 through Kamloops and Merritt to Hope. I will continue with that trip next blog.

Our Trip Home from Alaska #3

Best RV Travels.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:36:00 GMT

Aug 11th, what a day for wildlife!

Interesting rock mountain with the Liard River flowing nearby, view from Allen's Lookout at Historical Mile 570. Here is the heard of Buffalo they kept telling us to watch out for we finally came upon them.

This was a beautiful view of the river coming through Whirlpool Canyon or Mountain Portage Rapids or Liard River Rapids according to whoever you ask. It is a real pretty spot so I took the pictures to share it with you.

This is as close to Liard Hot Springs as we got as they now charge to go in there. Too many people tell too many people and it gets too busy and there is too much upkeep I'm sure so they need to charge. It just put a damper on us wanting to go there is all. We were so fortunate to get to see the Stone Sheep, Punkin Head thought so too! They were so healthy looking and are licking the salt alongthe road that was put there in the winter time to melt the ice.

Beautiful Muncho Lake, it is so green. The sign says:"The striking color of Muncho Lake is created by tiny rock fragments scraped from the valley walls by glaciers and carried by meltwater downstream to the lake. This silt flows into the icy water where most of it sinks to the bottom. Fine particles ground to the texture of flour remain suspended in the lake water giving it a milky appearance. The "milk flour"reflects and scatters sunlight, returning mainly the bluegreen part of the spectrum to our eyes." Another moose I'll include as it was such a nice healthy looking one and I got a good shot, with my camera, at it.The rocky cliff is just interesting the way the rock has a wavy effect.I believe this is called Folded Mountain. The next is of new snow on the mountains reminding us we are glad to be coming home!

Two more stone sheep I included seen at a different spot and included because of the baby. They kept running back over the cliff and back to the roadside. I just prayed she wouldn't take the baby into the road. The third picture is of erosion pillers, or hoodoo's,

seen amidst the rock and gravel filled gorge.The last picture is of Summit Lake located in Summit Pass which is the highest summit on the Alaska Highway at 4,250 ft.

It is getting late and my eyes are about to shut so will close this and get it posted.

Our Trip Home from Alaska #2

Best RV Travels.com — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:24:00 GMT

Aug 10th and 11th.

I urge you to click on the link and read the 3 short pages that describe this whole account.I did tour the Old Log Cabin Church Museum, it was small but interesting as you can see by the above entry about the Bishop who ate his boots! I urge you to click on the link and read the 3 short pages that describe this whole account.

The USS Klondike is on permanent display next to the Yukon River we didn't go on a tour as we were headed out of town and couldn't wait. The next is the Yukon River! I borrowed this picture from the Milepost as we didn't get to stop here. They describe it as Inn on the Lake, where Martha Stewart stayed and filmed "Martha Stewart Living" The lake we are talking about is Marsh Lake.

We stopped again at Jake's Corner again and ate lunch it is at the Junction of the Yukon Hwy 8 or Tagish Road to Carcross and Hwy 7 or Atlin Road. In 1942 the Army Corps of Engineers set up a construction camp here under the command of Captain Jacobson, therefore it was called Jake's Corner. A Teslin Indian named Jack Jackson used to camp in the area so some think that is why it was named Jake's Corner. A Jake Chaykowsky operated it for several years and it was known as the Crystal Palace then. This is an impressive Polar Bear they have near the entrance and a carved out antler, can you see the Eagle? The building is for the Teslin Tlingit Council, I just appreciated the artwork on the front of it.

This was just a pretty little wild flower and some wild raspberry bushes at one of the rest stops. Next is just a pretty picture of the ruggedness of the country against a backdrop of beautiful clouds and blue sky.

This is a beautiful carving of a bald eagle on the door of The Northern Beaver Post, carved by Roger Latondress a local carver, is my guess by what the links say. This is next to the Baby Nugget RV park that we stayed at on the way up the Alcan Hwy. Accomodations there for motels was very expensive for what you got so we ended up staying at the Upper Liard Lodge which we found not to be very comfortable for the price we paid. We would not stay there again. When you are up in this country you don't have many choices.
We went on in to Watson Lake after we had rented the room and checked it out the place we used to stay at was all boarded up and had been closed for several years. The signpost forest had expanded in fact it grows by about 2000 signs a year! It was started by Carl Lindley of Danville IL. He was an Army soldier working on the construction of the Alaska Hwy in 1942. I can't resist a beautiful sunset and love to share them. You will never find another one just like it again. The blue building isn't much from the outside but once you enter you feel like part of the local family. We were honored to have the owner Brenda Leach wait on us, perhaps a waitress didn't show up, she was very nice and hospitable and the food was very good. There is a sign in the restaurant that says: "You Are Not Just Our Customer... You're Our Neighbor! Thanks! ...for Shopping Locally" Next Post will have lots of wildlife in it so stay tuned!

Our trip Home from Alaska #1

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:14:00 GMT

Aug 9th and 10th 2009

Ahh Fireweed ! They say once the blossoms reach the top there is 6 weeks left until winter! Not what I wanted to be around for. A nice surprise this mama and baby moose on our first day out from Wasilla AK. I love it if we see some kind of wildlife each day. Nice sign for the entry to Yukon Territory. One of our good memories of there is the beautiful mountains and of course the wildlife. These two swans were 2 of quite a few we had seen along the way in the many little lakes beside the road.

At Beaver Creek , 20 miles southeast of the Alaska-Canadian border, is this historic Our Lady of Grace mission building built in 1961 from a salvaged Quonset hut left over from highway construction days, is 1 of 3 Catholic missions on the north Alaska Highway. Cute shot of Punkin Head with his little tongue stuck out while he was dead asleep. The clouds were hanging unusually low and some hanging on to the mountain by this beautiful lake I believe named Pickhandle Lake. Next just a shot of the new road by Kluane Lake which is the largest lake in Yukon Territory. It is a beautiful lake Billy has always wanted to fish in but never has.

I forget the name of this restaurant/resort on Kluane Lake, we used to stop by there all the time in years past, but it has been closed now for awhile and is all boarded up like so many places along the Alcan Hwy. This mountain looks like a volcanic crater but is where snow and ice push out parts of it eroding the sides. The next one looks to have a glacier on the side facing us. This monument is a favorite photo op for people passing through Haines Junction I know I take another picture every time we pass through! It is a small place so it is no wonder we couldn't find a room to stay in so we drove on the Whitehorse. Almost didn't find a room there as well as it was almost 11 PM but were directed by a motel clerk to the downtown Stop In Family Motel which actually had some very nice and comfortable rooms at a more reasonable price and the owners, the Dhillons, were very hospitable.

I had the priviledge of visiting the Macbride Museum of Yukon History once we got to Whitehorse. Not enough room to show you all the pictures as it was one of the best museums I've seen. Try clicking on the link if you are interested in seeing more of their items.

The cabin is Sam Magees original cabin built in 1899. Read more by clicking on the link.

They had a lot of different kinds of rocks in the museum and again if you are interested click on the link and view their online collection. The building is called the log cabin skyscraper for a better picture click on the link. The next and last for this entry is a quick shot of a few buildings there in Whitehorse. Next blog will finish up with Whitehorse and on down the way.

Anchorage Area #2

Best RV Travels.com — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:22:00 GMT

Here are a few more pictures of the Anchorage area. We lucked out and were down town on the day of a street fair. Rhonda, Dan and Cathie together with us at the street fair, Rebecca was somewhere else for the moment. The Tundra Comics booth is owned

by Chad Carpenter, the husband of a friend of our daughter Cathie. The 4th Avenue Theater has been there forever and is a landmark. It is all boarded up and for sale perhaps now.

Cute little streetcar for tourists. Visitors center in downtown Anchorage is unique and the mileage sign in front of it telling the mileage from Anchorage to all sorts of places around the earth.

An interesting arch behind the visitors center and in front of the new visitors information office with the Hilton Hotel in the background.
Billy's birthday was Sat but we celebrated on Sun, we got him this cute shirt and a book of the Tundra Comics at the street fair. The shirt says "When Rednecks relocate to the Artic"...."Next heavy snowfall we're gonna make it a double-wide" From Alaska... The Last Frontier. It is a picture of a mobile home style Igloo.
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This is called "The Sleeping Lady" mountain range across the inlet from Anchorage. Seen the mountain sheep on the way to the wedding on Monday. They are typically on these rocks if they are to be seen, sometimes closer to the road than this.

The bear is fuzzy because I couldn't get my camera adjusted fast enough, it was in the driveway of where we were staying. The sunset is the last sunset of our stay at the home where we were all at for the wedding week. Last but not least is the folks who bought our camper. It is sitting on the truck they just bought that morning. Steve and Jennefer from Kodiak our new friends! We left Wasilla on Aug 9th at 6:45 am and at this posting (Aug 10 Monday) are in Whitehorse Yukon Territory, we got in about 11 PM last night. I won't post again for a few days as I need to gather enough pictures to post about.

Our Son's Wedding

Best RV Travels.com — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:48:00 GMT

Father Don walking his daughter down the isle (or lawn). Such a beautiful setting for a wedding.

Rebecca and Dan (Rex to his friends) saying their vows. The wedding was held at Turnagain View Bed and Breakfast.

They had a cupcake wedding cake! I had never seen this done but really enjoyed it. She got the paper wrappers from a shop on Etsy. They didn't have a cake topper so Dan's sister Rhonda made them one! It was soooo cute. Dan and Rebecca feeding each other the traditional cake, or cupcakes in this instance.

This was such a cute picture of Dan and Rebecca I couldn't resist. Don and Kath Bolte and Bill Clark. A few of them gathering for a bit of food in the evening. The bride and groom are Vegan so the caterers made a completely Vegan meal. It was very good indeed.

Rebecca was such a pretty bride I couldn't resist taking this of her on the couch outside. Beside her in the second picture is the best man Danny and the matron of honor Victoria, both good friends from Anchorage. Beautiful view of the inlet from the upstairs bedroom.

Rhonda Tryon and Cathie Strand stand with their brother Dan, I don't get them all together very often and all dressed up to boot.

And last but not least are the parents of the bride Don and Kath Bolte and Bill and Pat Clark.

Anchorage Area #1

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:56:00 GMT

This blog will be about the Anchorage area and our stay here.

Above part of the city of Anchorage, second picture is the Captain Cook Hotel that I worked at for a short time back in the 60's. Then the Lucky Wishbone restaurant that had some of the best chicken around I worked there also in the 60's. George and Peg Brown still own the restaurant but I didn't get to see them. The hillside out Rabbit Creek Road that has built up a lot since we were here about 8 years ago. It is up this road that we will be staying during the family reunion week of the wedding of our son and his girlfriend. The house is the residence that we will be staying at for that week. Just 2 blocks from where we will be staying we saw this black bear come off someones porch and go along the road up on the bank I took a bunch of pictures but this was the best one. This makes 14 bear and 14 moose that we have seen so far. Seen a moose on the way in to Anchorage this morning.

After that we stopped at Potters Marsh where you can view birds, fish, moose or bear when they are present. These mountains are near Palmer before we cross the flats to go back to Wasilla, they are quite jagged but that is what makes them pretty. And the clouds are so pretty up here at times.

We took the time to visit the West Coast Tsunami Warning Center while in Palmer on Sat which was very interesting to say the least. This nice lady took time to give us a tour of the place and showed several films then gave me a couple of T shirts for our grandkids to boot! The last picture is one I want to find out what is under this big blown up looking building before I leave here! Next blog will probably be about our sons wedding and the time surrounding it. Before my computer messes up I believe I will get this one out there as I am now in a good cell area.

Kenai-Hope

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:38:00 GMT

After leaving Homer we headed North (only way to go if you are leaving Homer) to Kenai . We were on Kalifornsky Beach Rd. I wonder if someone from California thought of that one? We drove through town then went to eat lunch at Arby's, as we didn't know

where better to go. After lunch we went to the Visitors center where they also have a museum. I find it interesting to take a look at local history. They directed us to the old town area of Kenai. It wasn't very big so I took a few pictures and we left. The old stove was in the visitors center. The church is St. Nicholas Memorial Chapel and I just couldn't resist the pretty flowers. I don't know what the next building was but it has just about had it! The log chapel, built in 1906, honors Father Igumen Nikolai, who started the first permanent parish in Kenai in 1845. On the way to Hope we crossed over this river and I noticed these fishermen in a boat, looks like fun. And of course it is hard for me to pass up a picture of the beautiful mountains here.

We spent the night at Alaska Dacha RV Park in Hope and the next morning we toured the old part of town. I joined a group that were being taken around to the different buildings by Fayrene Sherritt so I lucked out. The first 2 buildings weren't part of the tour, the first is a Cafe and Mercantile Store, the second I don't know about. The brown and green building is the school house and the one with flowers hanging in front is the Sherritt Fine Art Gallery.

I've included only one of Scott's paintings, he does excellent work but I don't have room for it all here. Please click on the link for the Gallery to see more of his works. These beautiful flowers were in front of the gallery. Next we visited the museum with the barrel wood stove, I bet that keeps it nice and warm in the winter. I bought a couple of raffle tickets for a quilt or one of 31 other items, we will see by tomorrow if we won anything. I got to meet and visit with Scott Sherritt along with Fayrene after the gallery tour.

In the museum we enjoyed talking with the gentleman behind the desk for some time very interesting person. The old barrel stove looks like it would keep you warm in the winter! In the back of the museum there is a picture of Carl Clark and Emma Clark early pioneers of the area. My husbands cousin was named Carl Clark, he passed away several years ago. You never know could be a long lost relative of ours! Bill Miller was kind enough to help with the tour of the buildings that had been moved there, this is his truck. I don't believe it runs any more! It was a pleasure to make the acquaintance of Gold Rush Peck a well known figure around town. He has an interesting mode of transportation just had to have a picture of him along side his 4 wheeler. We spent quite a bit of time talking to Gold Digga Dallas who was running the gold panning operation there, she was very interesting to visit with. She also makes Burl Bowls and does Woodburning Art that we didn't get to see this time. Last stop in Hope was the Discovery Cafe where we split a yummy hamburger for lunch.

By about 1:30 we were on our way again toward Anchorage stopping to take a picture of Fireweed and the inlet. We got a great opportunity to see a moose up close. I probably took a dozen pictures but will share this one with you. This is combat fishing something we wouldn't like to do. In Indian we stopped at Indian Valley Mine and gift shop. It is like a museum with all the "old things" around. The old wringer washer reminded me of one my mother used to wash clothes with when I was growing up. I had night mares thinking about catching my hand in that wringer. Peter Strongs log cabin home is here as well built in 1901. To the side they have several big troughs with water in them and they teach gold panning to the tourists. I stood and watched for a bit and sure enough there was gold in them pans! Next to this place is a long road up a steep hill which I climbed that leads to the Turnagain View B&B where our son and his girlfriend will be getting married on Aug 3rd. I didn't go on up to it as I had a time just getting up the hill so I took the picture from a distance. It looks like it will be a nice place for a small wedding. We are really looking forward to this event!
After this stop we needed to get on to Anchorage as we were to meet with the lady who had came from Kodiak Island to see our camper that we had listed on Craigs List for sale. She decided to buy it, it was advertised with the condition we could stay in it until we leave Alaska. So we will deliver it to a place in Anchorage on the 8th of Aug then will leave on the 9th without our little home. Anyway as luck would have it just before we got back into Anchorage here was a Mother Moose and her 2 babies. I don't know why I get excited at seeing a moose they are kind of ugly but they are a powerful animal that I sure wouldn't want to tangle with. We have seen 13 Moose now and 13 Bears. Some were too far away to take a picture of.

That will do it for our little visit with Kenai and our second visit with Hope. I hope you are enjoying the pictures and narratives of my blog as I do enjoy sharing our travels with you. Until the next adventure I say good night another time.

Homer

Best RV Travels.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:08:00 GMT

Above was a scenic overlook/rest stop as we approached Homer, it was decorated up with several beds of flowers. You can see the famous "Homer Spit" from here and normally the mountains across the inlet when it isn't so hazy from smoke or fog.

First on our agenda was lunch and it had to be clam chowder in a bread bowl on the Spit that had been recommended to us by a friend. It was good for sure but full of carbs! Oh well it is just something you "have to do" when you are somewhere that is famous for it. As you can see there were a lot of boats in the harbor. Below is a fancy motorhome someone was sitting in I don't know if it was someones shop or what. There are little shops all over on both sides of the road. It is definitely geared for the tourist. The gray building is the Salty Dog Saloon, mind you we did not go in it but it is a landmark on the Spit.

Next is the trading post with a tower of signs showing the mileage from Homer to wherever. Some more shops and some old boats as we left the Spit. The house is just a nice home on the hillside as you go out East End Rd which is typical of the homes in the area.

The highlight of the day was our trip to the Norman Lowell Gallery out of town a ways. I'm only showing one corner of a room and there are several rooms, more than I can show here. Gorgeous paintings throughout! I'll include a couple for you to see. I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with both Mr. and Mrs. Lowell, very nice people indeed. After seeing the gallery I visited their first home on the property, the stove looks similar to the one my folks had when I was a child. Their currant home is a log home there on the property which you can't go into. They have some nice flower gardens too that you can walk through. I enjoyed my visit.

After that we went back into town, looked around a bit then went grocery shopping. They are a lot more expensive here in Alaska so we didn't get very many. Later on we took a walk and took a few pictures in town of a couple of shops etc. A Cafe with cups and plates and a bunch of other stuff on the exterior. An Espresso Shop with a VW bus painted on it, I liked the license plate on it. And lastly a fairly good picture of the mountains across the inlet. It finally cleared up enough that you could see them. Thats all for Homer, we probably won't ever go back unless we get one more fishing trip in with our friend Darrell before we go home.

Notice

Best RV Travels.com — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:46:00 GMT

I inadvertantly deleted all my photos from the Gallery thinking I would make the system go faster if it wasn't clogged up with a lot of pictures since my blogs had already been posted with the pictures in them. We are working on finding out if those can be retrieved from the blog site if not then I will have to go back and re-enter about 450 pictures and hope I get the right ones. Not sure if that will be the thing to do so stay tuned and I would say stay current on the blogs as they may not be there if you want to go back to the start! At least the pictures won't be. From here on I won't delete any pictures out of the Gallery. Sorry for the inconvenience it pains me more than it will you I am sure.

P.S. I got word today that I will indeed have to repost the pictures for all prior blogs so bare with me and I will get it done someday. Just keeping up with every part of our trip has been a job. I enjoy doing it but it is time consuming, I try doing it in the evenings after hubby has gone to bed! Lol I'll start with the one that is the latest blog with deleted pictures and go backwards. So you will receive a notice each time I get one redone if you have subscribed to my blog.

Seward to Homer

Best RV Travels.com — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:59:00 GMT

Just a footnote on Seward a few pictures I hadn't included last time. The first one shows where we went to get our fish. We were in front of Bear Glacier (northwest portion of picture) around the point from Resurrection Bay. I love this picture of a sail boat as our son owns one and I am looking forward to going out in it with him some day. And I love the sight of the water churning behind the boat motor. Then a few more around town shots with our friends little blue house last.

Then a train as we left town. We turned up the road to Exit Glacier as it wasn't too far from Seward. You can see it in the top just to the right of the middle of this topographical map. I walked down a long path to take the picture of the glacier, as close as I wanted to go to it as there had been bear sighted on the path that morning!

The lilly pads on the pond were a first see on this trip, there were several ponds like this in the area. As useful as an A frame is we didn't see very many of them up here. I guess they would rather build a log cabin instead as there are many of them. We spent 3 nights in Soldotna just catching up on the necessary washing clothes etc. We were at an RPI park and only had to pay $10 a night as opposed to $35 most places so it was nice to relax there for awhile. This is the Keni River that a lot of people fish in, it was right behind the RV park. It runs pretty swiftly so it would be fun to drift down it in a raft!

The Visitor's Center in Soldotna was right across the street so we walked over there to see what they had. The following are a few of the stuffed animals they had on display. We've seen several Eagles, the Loon and a mountain sheep but not a Rainbow Trout. We also took a walk up to the Mall for the fun of it. There were a lot of the stores out of business so not much to see there.

As you can see Punkin Head is having a great time!

The shore was lined with people fishing. There are the cleaning areas and the birds that take care of the waste.
Then it was on to Homer on Sunday. On the way, there were a lot of the beautiful Lupin flowers and the awful Devils Club weed that has the white flower on it. You don't want to touch it as when you do there are tiny needles that stick in you and burn, it is hard to get them out! I know I touched one way back at the first of our trip!

That will wrap it up for this post next will be our stay in Homer.

Wasilla-Hope-Seward

Best RV Travels.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:31:00 GMT

On July 4th our friend Anita invited us to go to the parade in downtown Wasilla. I took a ton of pictures but chose these 4 to share with you. Alaska is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and we are glad to be part of it. The last picture of this little girl is because she was next to us on the sidewalk and was sooooo cute I just had to take her picture. What a doll!! We hadn't been to a parade in many years so it was a fun thing to do.

After the parade and a bite of lunch we took a trip up through Hatcher's Pass and on up to Montana Creek area to see a friend of Billy's that he had worked with many years ago up here in Alaska at the fire dept. The river is the Little Susitna River on the way up to the turn off for Hatcher Pass. Independance Mine is up this road too but we didn't go there this trip. The red cabins are part of the Hatcher Pass Lodge. There is an active gold mine just over the top of the pass which I took a picture of the sign! This is not a picture of a black bear but his name is Bear! We stopped for the fun of it at a garage sale on the way and this was the most interesting thing there. Next is a beaver dam which made 2 ponds. Then our visit with Billy's friends Joe and Darrell and their families near Montana Creek which is almost to Talkeetna.

On Tuesday we left for Seward since the weather was so good and stood a chance of staying that way. There are fires in the area and the skies are hazy with the smoke so it doesn't make for real good picture taking but I still take them and hope for the best. We had the good luck to see 2 Dall Sheep on the way by Cook Inlet below Anchorage. They were right where they usually are, near Beluga Point, where there is a nice pull out to view them. Then on down the road along the inlet is a real pretty view. Next is the remnant of a building that used to be part of the town of Portage near Portage Glacier that was ruined during the 1964 earthquake (which I happened to experience). Then we have the welcome to Alaska's Keni Penisula sign on the way. We took the time to drive the extra 17 miles down to the little old town of Hope. They have an RV park there too but we didn't stay there. Just took some pictures and left but it was a pretty drive. Punkin Head sure enjoyed sticking his head out of the winow for fresh air and a good look at things.

Then on to our destination of Seward and anticipation of a fishing trip as Darrell was to come down the next day to take us out in his boat. In the meantime we got set up in the City RV park and then took a nice walk. Went by to see our friend Patricia's mother who lives in Seward for the summers. She used to have a boat of her own and has fished here for many years. Then we walked down town to get our fishing licenses for the next day. It was a pretty good walk for us anyway which we needed. Punkin Head had fun taking his daddy for a walk, the crow's were pestering him all the time until I let him chase up the tree after them then they flew away for awhile. He found a mouse hole that interested him for quite a while though as he seen the mouse go in to it so of course he didn't want to give up trying to get it out and didn't want to go home either.

Wednesday was fishing day so to make a long story short I will tell it in pictures.

Billy caught the first fish of the day a nice halibut maybe 20-25 lbs. Darrell caught some nice Pacific Cod and I caught the biggest fish of the day a halibut about 60 lbs worth. Pays to take a lady fishing!!! I couldn't have landed it without Darrell and Billy's help for sure. We started to fish in shallow waters with no luck then hit the deeper 450 ft. hole where Darrell had caught fish before and that is where we caught our fish. Anyway I will continue our Seward story in the next blog. (Be sure to check out the Beluga Point link it gives you many more pictures of our drive)