Our Next Chapter!: a few highlights

The thing about staying in Alaska for 82 days is that you forget the drive up! It was just about as bad road-wise on the way down, however we did take a bit of a different way down so we would end up in Bellingham Washington.

The night before we left we boiled all our eggs, potatoes and carrots as we were told no fresh fruit or vegetables would cross the border. And just to be safe we also boiled our chicken. Well as it turned out this was not necessary but one never knows. Sometimes they take your eggs and chicken and sometimes they just want to know how many t-shirts you bought! One never knows....

Our first day was bumpy and rainy which made the construction outside of Destruction Bay a lot of fun. We spoke to the flagger woman who though we should un-hook the truck but there was no way we were doing that. She was a "tough old broad" by our standards and all she did the half hour we waited for the pilot car to come back was bad mouth her fellow employee. She was a life time smoker and probably a bit of a drinker too! It was the highlight of the afternoon! We pulled into the same campground (loose term) nothing more than an old roadhouse with a gravel lot on a huge slant. BUT they gave us the last spot available and we were grateful for the spot.

The next morning we left for Teslin in the Yukon Territory and stopped for a quick lake dip for Sophie. This time the waves on Kluane lake scared her a bit and she only got her feet wet. It really is a beautiful lake. Again we decided to stay at a campground we knew from driving up and we were lucky enough to get a great site by the lake in Teslin. No TV but you have to sacrifice!

The next day we decided we would take the Cassiar Highway south instead of continuing the way we had come up. We stopped in Watson Lake to look for T Shirts with YUKON TERRITORY on them but no luck on that venture, We turned south on the Cassiar and almost immediately regretted our decision due to the poor quality of the road...but then the Al Can was pretty bad too. You have to hope for the best. This was all new for us and we did enjoy the ride. Saw a lot of black bear on the way and stopped at a pretty campground near Dease Lake in BC. It was that night that we decided we should take a detour and go to Hyder Alaska to see the bears feeding on the spawning salmon. The next day we drove down that road and we were so happy we did. We got to see a lot of black bears and a beautiful glacier. We stayed 1 night and did go over to the salmon spawning to see that. It was really cool how they had it set up. A long boardwalk with railings looked out over a shallow river in which we could see thousands of salmon! YES thousands! Some had already died and some were still swimming up to spawn and die. It was quite interesting although the smell was a bit foul. We did see one young black bear practically dive in and catch a salmon then take it into a secluded spot to eat it! It was natural on so many levels ...except for us humans watching! The ranger did say that the bears were still coming but that it was at the end of the time that they usually come out to catch the fish. Very interesting. If you ever get there go a bit earlier than Mid August! We saw several eagles on our way back to the campground It was at this campground that we started having issues with the automatic steps. Sometimes they just will not go out! Dave had to figure out something for Sophie and me as it was a GIANT step down.

We continued our way down through British Columbia. Our stairs worked off and on. We would pray every time we stopped that they would work. It really has become an issue. Again we were on the road pretty much every day but finally on Monday August 24 we arrived in Bellingham Washington after a long 350 mile drive! The lower 48 YAY! I missed Alaska almost immediately due to heavy traffic in BC going toward Vancouver and then in the Bellingham area but we were back in the lower 48 and happy to be there! AND our stairs worked that night. But again it was sometimes they worked sometimes they did not, so Dave bought a plastic step in Portland!

In Centralia Washingtom we headed over to visit a friend of Dave's who he hasn't seen in about 40 years! With Steve and Linda they gave us a tour of Tenino Washington, the farmers market Wolf Haven ( they had actually founded Wolf Haven in the 80s) . We spent a few days in the area and then headed to Portland!

In Portland we met up with Carrie Weikel-Delplane and Allison from Coventry CT! Carrie lives there and Allison was visiting from COVENTRY! These gals graduated with Korin but I knew them from the time the kids were in middle school! FUN TIMES. Only sorry that Krista had to work because I would have loved to meet her. The steps worked most of the time! Portland was very pretty. We had been there and Seattle in previous vacations so didn't feel the need to do any big sightseeing! The drive from Portland to Baker City Oregon was one of the nicest rides we have had. The Columbia River Gorge terrains change mile by mile. We did start smelling some smoke along the way and we ended up in Baker City where the STAIRS would not work, UGH

We stayed in Baker City a couple of days and went to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Site . It was so interesting to see the actual ruts made by stagecoaches that had gone west from Missouri in hopes of a better life! The USA has such a rich history and sometimes I feel as if I do not know enough about it!

This is a great place to stop for today. I pledge to write more often so I am not so wordy! ( is wordy a word?)