Trip to Alaska and West Coast

August 5, 2013 – We woke today to rain and 55 F. Today, we plan to sight see in Skagway and do a few chores.  The train starts running at 7 am next to our trailer site. The train horns blow and crossing guard bells sound off. There is both a steam engine and new diesels that run here. All day you have large ships, steam engines and diesel horns blowing. Its make for quite a melody on sounds. I checked all the tire pressures and lug nuts on trailer and pressures on truck. The weather cleared off and we went to downtown Skagway to the Laundromat, purchased gas and got on the Internet at the Skagway library. Gas here is about $.50 cheaper than in Canada. There are five cruise ships here today. The town was full of cruise tourist and RV tourist everywhere. Tomorrow, we have to get up a 6 am to catch the Fjord Express to Juneau at 7:45 am and return about 8:30 pm. It will be a long day.

Skagway Museum - Sad when a beautiful church becomes a museum

Downtown Skagway, AK

see around

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

August 4, 2013 – We departed Whitehorse about 11:00 am and arrived in Skagway, AK. (pop 968) We plan to stay until Wednesday. We are back in the USA. Tuesday, we will take a fast ferry to Juneau. Along the way we will do some whale watching, view Mendenhall Glacier, and tour the city of Juneau. We went to the IGA for groceries. You better make a good living here if you want to eat. We had dinner at Skagway Brewing Co. Jo Ann had a hamburger, fries and an ultra light beer and Carl a salmon sandwich with fries and water. ($37.00) There are 2 cruise ships here today. It is rainy and 59 F at 7:17 pm Alaskan time. The Princes cruise ship left about 8 pm and blew its horn. The horn sounded great here in the bay surrounded by mountains. We watched a DVD movie (The Accidental Husband). Jo Ann had found it in the swap library at our Whitehorse campground. It was fun but I can see why it was in the swap library. It took us 30 minute to figure out how to use the DVD player. There is a first time for everything.

Skagway Brewing Company

Customs crossing from YT, Canada, to Skagway, AK, USA

Cruise Ships in Skagway Harbor

Main street Skagway, AK

Main Street Skagway, AK

Klondike Rib and Salmon; Whitehorse, YT

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

August 3, 2013 – We slept in to 10:00 am today. It is a little warmer here only 63 F outside now at 10:36 am. We washed the truck and got ready for town. We are having time zone problems. We got dressed and went to downtown Whitehorse to attend the Frantic Follies. We were only an hour early. Oh, well we got to set and watch the tourist off the cruise ships come in by the bus load. Whitehorse has a great water front that is along the Yukon River. We listened to live music on the river and walked around town. There are several tot um poles in town. The Follies finally started. They were great. They had banjo playing to can-can girls. I would recommend that everyone attend if they get a chance. Prissy is having trouble keeping up with when she is supposed to eat dinner. It gets dark about 11:30 pm and light at 5:00 am but the time zone has changed on her again today to an hour later. Oh! dear what time is it to eat???

Band on Yukon iver walk

ukon River walk

Tot um Pole in park near river walk

Looking up the Yukon River on river walk

Large copper nugget by museum Whitehorse, YT

 Frantic Follies

 Frantic Follies

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

August 2, 2013 – We plan to do a little housework and shopping today. Have had several naps and worked a little. Prissy is even tried. She has been in her penthouse all day. We completely cleaned the trailer, but we still need to wash outside. We went to Whitehorse and had pizza and salad at Boston Pizza ($57.00). All the food was excellent, however it was pricey. We decide to stay another night and go to the Frantic Follies.

Boston Pizza

View of Paddle wheeler Klondike

Wal-Mart Plaza

Jo Ann with Whitehorse in background

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

August 1, 2013 – Watson City is known for its sign forest. We did not post a sign. There must be thousands of signs. Whitehorse, YT here we come. We arrived about 3:00 pm. Whitehorse is a town of 25,000 and where many people started their 1896 rush for Klondike gold.  We stopped at the Caribou RV Park about 10 miles out of town. It is a nice park with trees and all the things most park have had. Some of the parks here are just parking lot with the spaces as close as they can get them.  We ate dinner outside and Prissy got to walk in the woods. We went into downtown and rode around. The town sits on the Yukon River and looks much like an old gold rush town. We stopped a MacDonald’s and had ice cream

Sign Forest Walton Lake, YT

Sign Forest Watson Lake, YT

Clouds on mountains Alaska Highway near Whitehorse, YT

Downtown Whitehorse, YT

View of Whitehorse, YT across Yukon River

Paddlewheeler used on Yukon to take people to gold rush

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

July 31, 2013 – We are off today on another 200 mile trip to Watson Lake, BC. The ride was mostly in the mountains. We passed Mucho Lake which is a green color from cooper oxide. We, also, saw Mountain Goats, Caribou and Bison. The Downtown RV Park at Watson Lake is a parking lot with power and other service. It almost looks like an old drive in with power. The parking lot does not have trees or a view. I am about over my cold but Jo Ann still has the cough. Hopefully, in a few days hers will be gone too. Thank you for all your prayers. They have helped us stay safe and start to heal. It is great to know all of you are out there traveling along with us. Today was our daughter’s (Gina) 50th birthday and by the magic of the internet we were able to send her a birthday card. We have not had phone service since Toad River, BC.

Behind our RV campsite at Toad River

Beautiful Mucho lake and mountains along the way

Lake Worth RV Park

I'm going as fast as I can ( young Caribou) 

Great place for lunch

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

July 30, 2013 – We are now in Toad River, BC at mile marker 422 on the Alaskan Highway. It took us about 4 hours to go 100 miles today. There was road construction, mud, gravel, and mountains. We are now back in the mountains camped by a lake at Toad River Lodge. It is just a wide place in the road. However, it does have electric, water, Internet. wifi, cable, gasoline and dump. Today, we purchased a cinnamon roll at Tetsa River Outfitters. This is one of the have too’s that several of the Canadian’s told to do in Dawson Creek. It is another RV site along the road. Gasoline there was $1.79.9 a liter or $6.62 US gallon. Lucky! We did not need any gasoline.  Someone has a fire. It smells great coming in our trailer window. 

Mountain Goat had to sleep somewhere

Cinnamon Bun

Campsite on lake at Toad River

Restaurant, lodge, campground, store, gas station

Toad River, British Columbia, Canada