It's been almost 2 weeks since I got home from the trip and I'm still processing it all. When people ask me what I liked best, it's really hard to answer--I loved Homer and Denali was unbelievable, as was the Cassiar Highway and seeing bears and and the Frasar River Canyon and Hope and.......the list is endless. But I think what I liked the best were the little moments that make a road trip a road trip--and family, family. I had planned to give you a play-by-play, day-by-day update, but that's not going to happen. Instead, I'm going to share some of the on-the-road tidbits, maybe as they happened, maybe as I remember them. Ken will have to read this to defend himself---Ha!!!
At the junction for the Cassiar Highway, we decided we better gas up before heading down the road. Ken turned into the station and had to manuever a bit to get up to the pumps--and when he did, the diesel wasn't working. The attendant directed us to another set of pumps that the big trucks use--again it took a little manuevering. Okay, lined up and ready to go, except the nozzle was really big for our tank. Ken had to hold it very carefully to keep from missing the tank and going on the ground. And then it looked like it wasn't pumping very fast at all. When Patte looked at the pump, she thought he had only pumped 2.2 liters--and it had taken awhile. Patte went up to the attendant and he very nicely explained that there wasn't a decimal point and Ken had already put in 22 liters. He was probably thinking "crazy Americans", but he was very nice and we were able to fill up. I'll leave out the part about smelling like diesel and tromping through the diesel spilled on the ground--just use your imagination.
The Cassiar Highway is incredible, but not a highway you take for time. Lots of streams and lakes everywhere. We kept seeing signs to watch for moose, but they were just there for our entertainment. We never did see any moose in Canada. We also saw a lot of "bumpy" road signs--and those bumps in the road were there--if they were marked with a flag they were worse than those without--and those with 2 flags you really had to watch! We were still getting used to kilometers versus miles. At one point Ken said "we still have that many miles to go!" and Patte yelled out "Kilowatts not miles!" It had been a long day--or was going to be a long day, don't remember which. We also learned later, that Stewart, BC is "9 klicks" from Hyder Alaska. Who knew?
The side trip to Stewart and Hyder was one of the highlights of the trip. We saw 9 black bears along the road in about a 20 mile stretch--mom's and babies. Two of them were in the middle of the road, luckily Ken was able to avoid them. Patte was looking at the Milepost book, but looked up when she heard Ken say "Oh No", or something to that effect, and he was hitting the brakes. They moved. (Still not as entertaining has him honking at the Raven and making the bird startle and veer off his path). In Hyder, we were able to watch a sow grizzly and her cub feeding on the salmon in Fish Creek. We were close enough to hear them crunch the bones!! Magnificent animals. The little one was trying to get the hang of fishing, but didn't quite have it down yet--it was fun to watch him splash around in the creek. Mama was quite adept at it and very protective of her baby and kept a keen eye on their surroundings. We have lots of pictures.
We ended up driving the last part of the Cassiar Highway through Kitwanga in the dark (and rain), but that's whole 'nother story.....especially the part where we ended up sleeping in a parking lot in New Hazelton! (This was after we tried sleeping in the front of the truck in a pullout)
We followed the Yellowhead Highway towards Prince George, stopping at some of the historic sites and visitor's centers. We saw the "World's Largest Fly Rod" in Houston and also a stuffed version of a very big grizzly--the Hungry Hill Grizzly--who weighed in at 975 lbs and was 11 feet tall when he stood upright. He had caused a lot of problems in the area and now he's on display. Ken also found his dream house on this stretch of road (see previous blogs for pictures)
From Prince George, we headed south on highway 97, going past 150 Mile House, 100 Mile House, 70 Mile House, etc. Those were marking the distance from Lillooet, which had been one of the major gold mining areas years ago. We stopped at a museum in Clinton and Ken was talking to the guy working there, who also gold mines, and he told us about the legend of the stolen gold that was never found out by Scotty Creek--and provided directions! Ken opted not to stop there, but did do some panning along the Fraser River--actually in a couple of spots, mostly further south.
Which brings us to the Fraser River Canyon--WOW!!! The canyon is spectacular! We stopped and panned along the banks of the river and heard rocks move on the other side. We couldn't see anything initially, but then we spotted a ram moving across the mountainside--he kept looking back like something was following him, but we couldn't see anything. We did get pictures though. We were also across from some of train tunnels that were built into the mountainside in the 1800's and are still in use today. What an engineering feat!
The last night of the road trip, we camped between Yale and Hope, BC at Emory Creek Provincial Park--they had flush toilets!! No running water, but flush toilets. It seemed a little odd, but we didn't mind. Panned by the river in the morning and headed to Hope--another place I really liked! Ken panned in the Fraser River and I hunted for gold and jade on the banks-- just knew I could turn up a big nugget! No luck there, but we did find a little gold and some jade. Then it was on the road again--and to customs.
This was another highlight-- entering back into the US from Canada. We crossed at Suma, Washington. When it was our turn, we handed the custom agent our passports. "Husband and wife?" she inquired. No, brother and sister. "Do you live in Washington?" Ken says he lives in Oregon and Patte tells her she lives in Montana. "What brought you to Alaska?" Ken explains that he went to go gold-panning and was driving the truck back for a friend. "Is this friend in Oregon?" No,he's in Colorado--and we're driving a truck with Alaska plates. It was about this time that she looked at the rest of the paperwork and saw that we were carrying 2 shotguns. She thought for a moment, asked a couple of other questions and waved us through---who could have made up that story!
After crossing the border we weren't sure of the best route to take to Sarah's--the road signs said one thing, Gertie (the GPS navigator) said another, and the map was different than both of them. So Patte called Sarah and tried to explain the situation, with Ken asking in the background "Which way do I go?" and the first thing Sarah asked was "Who's Gertie?" We finally got it figured out and did manage to arrive safe and sound at Sarah's that night.
We covered about 3300 miles from Kasilof, Alaska to Oregon--and Ken didn't let me drive once!! I did have a set of keys, so I could unlock my own door, but that was about it. May be just as well--he never has been a good passenger. I even reminded him that he was the one that taught me how to drive a stick shift, in an old pick-up. Do you suppose that had anything to do with it?
It's impossible to capture the trip in words, or even in pictures. If I get any "ah ha" moments I will be sure to share them with you.
As with all outstanding productions, I would like to thank the "academy," aka my family, for making this trip possible, especially Sarah, for without frequent flier miles we would have been "grounded" (pun intended). And I think I speak for all of us when I say a BIG THANK YOU to Ken's friend Cliff, who so graciously let us use his cabin and vehicle--and to his family in Alaska who made all of us feel welcome. (And provided some tasty salmon treats!) This definitely was an incredible Alaska Expedition! Now I just have to figure out how to get back there!
No comments:
Post a Comment