June 1, 2016 Heading into Skagway, AK

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Heading into Skagway, AK

We only had a 110 mile trip into Skagway today and the sun  did manage to make it out a couple of times but it rained pretty much all day but not downpours.  You could walk in it without getting soaked.  The road was paved except for one section of gravel but even that wasn’t bad.  It was pretty smooth and they had watered it to keep the dust down and were sweeping it by a machine of course to get loose rocks off of the road.  We stopped at Emerald Lake which was exactly what it was.  The green color was created by minerals and by some kind of algae growing in the water.  Whatever the reason it was beautiful.  The mountain ranges were covered in quite a bit of snow which made for a beautiful view.  It was a great ride into Skagway.  This is where cruise ships visit when you take an Alaskan cruise.  It sees 800,000 people a year just from cruise ships.  We walked into town and the ladies did some jewelry shopping.  We picked up some pieces and the men were very accommodating.  Tomorrow we are going to venture out and maybe take a hike to a waterfall.   

                        HERE ARE SOME SHOTS MAKING OUR WAY INTO SKAGWAY

EMERALD LAKE

OUR SITES IN DOWNTOWN SKAGWAY

May 31, 2016 Last day in Whitehorse, YT

Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Last day in Whitehorse, YT

Today the sun came out and it was a beautiful day to be outside and we planned to go to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.  In this park you can walk the 3.5 miles figure eight or take a tour bus.  We walked and just enjoyed the outdoors.   Here the animals were in their Yukon habitat and we saw them all.  Mike wanted to see the moose and I wanted to see the Mountain Goat.  Here is the list of animals that we did see, Elk, Moose (male & female), Mountain Goats, Muskox, Buffalo, Mule deer, Caribou, Lynx, Artic  Fox, a porcupine that was really wild and not part of the preserve he just wander in, eagle, thinned horned sheep, ground squirrels, ducks and birds that fly in for a rest.    It was a great day without the rain.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM LOUISE WHO TURNS 89 TODAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GREG

FEMALE MOOSE- SHE EVEN LET PAT TOUCH HER

ARTIC GROUND SQUIRREL

ELK

BISON

RUDDY DUCKS

A GORGEOUS BLUEBIRD

HORNED GREBE CHECK OUT HIS RED EYE

TREE SWALLOW

MOUNTAIN GOAT- HE JUST KEPT TALKING TO PAT

ARTIC FOX

LYNX IN THE TREES

A PORCUPINE SNEAKED INTO THE PARK

MUSKOX

THIN HORNED SHEEP

CARIBOU OR REINDEER

RED WINGED BLACKBIRD

May 30, 2016 Another day of sightseeing in Whitehorse, YT

Monday, May 30, 2016 Another day of sightseeing in Whitehorse, YT

Today was the day for museums.  The first one was Beringia Interpretive Center.  This dealt with the Ice Age and the Yukon.  It showed how the people lived and the animals that also lived in the upper region of the Yukon.  Next was the First Nation cultural Center.  Here we learned a lot about the tribes from this area.  This was a fairly new building so they were getting more and more information out to the visitors about their culture.  This was a total learning experience.  Following this museum we went to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History.  We followed the history trail from the gold rush to the birth of Whitehorse.  This museum tells fascinating stories of the people and events that built Canada’s Yukon.  The last thing on our list today was going back to the Fish Ladder.  Yes it was opened but there wasn’t any salmon running up the ladder yet.  The salmon tracker says that they are still in the Bering Sea and in order for them to get to this ladder they have to travel over 1700 miles so we will probably get to see them when we head out of Alaska.  They should be showing up around August & September.  We really did a lot today but we thought that it was going to rain again but we only got sprinkled on.  We only have one more day here then we head to Skagway, AK. This will be our second stop in Alaska but we still haven’t made it into the heart of Alaska yet.

MAMMOTH

SCIMITAR AND SABRE TOOTHED CAT

HAND MADE CANOE

THESE ARE TOPS OF MOCASSINS DECORATED BY HAND IN THE SKIRT OF DRESS

A PICTURE OF KILLER WHALE IN HEADRESS

THE RED LINE IS THE ROUTE  THE CHINOOK TRAVEL

FISH LADDER

SALMON PLAQUES DONE BY ADULTS

SALMON PLAQUES DONE BY CHILDREN

March 29, 2016 Sightseeing in Whitehorse, YT

Sunday, March 29, 2016 Sightseeing in Whitehorse, YT

Our day started at 10 am.  The sun was out but they were again calling for rain and a cold front in the afternoon.  We made the decision to see as much as we could outside today.  So we started with Miles Canyon then headed to see the fish ladder by the dam which turned out to be closed until tomorrow.  We will go back when it is open.  We walked through the S.S. Klondike and got some true information on its part that it played in the making of Whitehorse.  For those of you that don’t know Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon.   Then we wanted to see the biggest weather vane which was a DC3 airplane that actually moved with the changing of the winds.  While there we went into the transportation museum.  We did have a full day of adventure and history today.

COMMOM MERGANSER

JUVENILE EAGLE


THE YUKON RIVER GOING INTO MILES CANYON

HERRING GULL

March 28, 2016 Travel day to Whitehorse, YT

Saturday, March 28, 2016 Travel day to Whitehorse, YT

Let me just say that the road heading to Whitehorse started out good.  It was a paved road that you just had to watch out for holes in the road.  To the people from Hampton Roads these were better than our roads.  We did hit one patch of gravel road for about 10 miles, then a couple more that only lasted for a mile or two.  All in all the rating for today was probably a 4.5-4.75 out of 5.  Still it wasn’t bad.  It again rained most of the day but as soon as we crossed the continental divide the sun came out.  I was so glad to finally see it.  It has been 5 days of rain.  This is the most rain that we have had since we left last April.  We didn’t see any wildlife till we were a few miles from our campground.  It was just a deer.  We arrived at our next destination Hi Country RV Park.  We have pull thru sites and they were just a tad tight.  We are going to take in some of the sights tomorrow.  Don’t know which ones yet that will be a discussion tonight at dinner.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES ALONG THE WAY