May 31, 2010

After our last update from Thorne Bay we headed back out of town and spent the night at Eagles Nest U.S.F.S. campground. Very wooded and wonderfully isolated sites.There were only 3 campers there. We decided to take the hike around Ball Lake. It was suppose to be an easy walk over a boardwalk. WRONG. The boardwalk only went as far as a viewing platform  a short way around the lake. The rest of the trail was wilderness with an occasional bridge over a steam. A tree had fallen over one of the bridges and we had to crawl under it to get over the river. I feel like I am usually pretty ladylike when I walk however on that hike through the mud bogs, etc. I felt like an elephant galumphing through the woods. 2 and a half miles and 2 hours later we were exhausted.

 The next day we drove over to the crossroads at Hollis. The town ? consisted of 2 houses, a school and a library there. There were several other houses in the environs. There was also a small marina and a launch ramp. It was another beautiful, 80 degree day and people were swimming in the water. BRRRRR!  We found another beautiful spot to park by the water. In the  late afternoon 2 guys came into the boat launch and hauled their boat out. They had been fishing. Garry was jealous. We started talking to them and learned that one of them (Tom) owned the cafeteria concession on the Inter-Island Ferry and that we would be seeing him on the ferry the next day. The other guy was his brother Stanley. He was going out later in his own boat to check his Shrimp pots and asked if we would like some shrimp if he got a lot. I am no dummy so of course I said yes.  About 2 hours later Stanley comes back towing his boat and off he goes with a cousin (Terry) to check his pots. As the first picture attests he got some shrimp! These were the biggest shrimp I have every seem and they said they were kind of small because it is early in the season! They had filled an entire bucket with shrimp. They gave us about 4 pounds and even pulled the heads off for us.  We are having shrimp for dinner tonight! 

This morning we reluctantly  caught the 0800 ferry leaving Prince of wales Island  and have arrived back in Ketchakan.  We went shopping at Safeway and got gas at Safeway. By shopping for groceries there and spending over $50.00 we get 10 cents off per gallon. We still  need to refill the propane as it has been almost four weeks since our last fill up but since it is Memorial Day they aren't open. We will spend they night in our favorite spot along the Breakwall at the Safeway.  Tomorrow  Carol has her zip line experience (Yippee!) and Garry plans on doing some fishing, as the King Salmon  and  Steel head are suppose to be starting to run.. We think we will  spend the night at Ward Lake and take the 1 1/2 mile walk around that  lake tomorrow evening. On Wed there are Wed night sail boat races in the harbor, so we hope to return to our favorite (free) spot along the breakwall at Safeway again so we can watch them.

As we update this we are sitting in the laundromat by the Thomas Basin Marina. We have met a delightful couple who have a 39 foot sailboat. They live in Anchorage and are making their way back to their home port in Seward, Alaska after a 5 year cruise to the South pacific. So as I write this Garry is telling sea stories with them.  And yes, they would love to have us visit them in anchorage as they will be home before we get there and yes we can park in front of their house. So our adventures continue. Hopefully I will have some pictures from my Zipline through the Rainfrorest when we next update this. We are back with cell service but still no beaconing for the We Are Here site.

Prince of Wales - Luck Lake May 28

On Friday we left Klawock (reluctantly) and headed toward the North part of the Island. Garry had been told there was good fishing for steelhead at Luck Lake. There was also the possibility of seeing Bear! The road was paved for about 40 miles and then it became gravel. When we hit the turn off to the Lake it became about 20 miles of logging road. Rough! We saw lots of black tailed deer and still lots of eagles. The lake was gorgeous!  Garry didn't have any luck fishing but the Lake was so pretty we decided to just stay there for the night. We were very isolated. we were 9 miles from the nearest town of a few people, no cell phone, ony ham radio of which Garry used to chek in the the Alaska nets during our stay in Alaska. Several locals came by to fish or drink a beer or to take a swimming dip (Cold water 50 degrees) or to smoke some pot. However they all eventually left and we had the place to ourselves last night. We had hoped to see a bear but no luck. There are bear hunters all over the island right now. The deer are having their fawns and the bear love to eat fawns. Boo Hoo!  We had a Halibut dinner last night and then had a campfire on the  beach to watch the sun lower. I would have said sunset but while the sun eventually gets lower about 10:30 PM it never totally gets dark. 

Prince Of wales Island - Craig/Klawock May 26

We went into the library at Craig to use the library to post out last blog. While there Garry started  talking to one of residents who turned out  to be a Ham Radio buff like Garry. He invited us to stop by later that evening when he would be on a Ham radio net. 

After we finished at the library we headed back to Klawock to have Happy Hour with Jess the man we met on the ferry. He has a trailer camper that he keeps permanently parked at an eclectic RV park. There are 18 sites with permanent summer residents. Had a nice time at the Happy Hour.  We then headed back into town to meet back with John the Ham radio operator. He fixed dinner for us ( Venison hamburgers) and invited us to stay parked in his driveway for the night. He even offered us hot showers. Everyone we meet here is so generous and kind!!! We had a wonderful visit with John. He even makes his own beer so after having a beer at the Happy Hour with Jess and then beer with John we both had a bit of a buzz. The next morning we were up early and back to Klawock to meet Jess at 8 to go out with him fishing. I went along to see the scenery. It was a beautiful sunny day in the 80's. I was happy! It was beautiful out on the water. Garry and Jess caught a lot of fish. Most were either Cod or Quill fish all of which Jess threw back. We would have been very happy with the Cod but Jess was determined to have Garry get some halibut and Salmon.  They never did get a Salmon but Garry did get a wonderful Halibut which  we had for dinner last night and I still have another dinner of Halibut in the freezer. While we were out on the water we saw 3 Humpback whales!!! The last whale broached almost under the boat and scared all 3 of us! By the time I grabbed the camera he had surfaced just 75 feet from the boat and as I watched  his tail came up and  I snapped  pictures as fast as I could. Unfortunately I had the wrong lens on (Telephoto Zoom) so the pictures were fuzzy but I got the pictures nevertheless. We also saw many, many eagles.  On the way back in Jess stopped  to check the 2 crab pots he had put down. (Dungeness Crabs). He had 6 in the first pot of which we kept the  3 largest. The second pot had 9 of which we then kept 3 and the rest were smaller and were thrown back. We were allowed to keep 3 per licensed fisherman. Jess wasn't in the mood for crab that night so we kept for and gave 2 to a couple also staying at the RV park. So we had crab that night and had crab omelet the next morning. We spent the night at the RV park that night and really had a ball at the Happy Hour there that night. It was a fantastic day!!!!!

May 26, 2010

Prince of wales Island

We had a wonderful ferry ride over to Prince Of Wales Island yesterday  afternoon. This is the third largest island in the U.S. with only @ 3000 residents on the entire island. Long stretches with no inhabitants at all. We followed 2 large cruise ships out of the harbor for the first hour. The sun came out and it was so pretty. The water is a beautiful shade of blue. It was very placid and calm so that the trees reflection could be seen in the water. We are amazed at how lush and dense the forests are here. The trees grow right down to the waters edge. The ferry landing is at the head of a small creek and the quonset hut terminal is the only building there. It was drop dead gorgeous coming up the river. I had my ususal front row seat in the observation area on this ferry ride too.

We went into Harris River campground last night. It is a USFS unserviced campground. We have been pleased to find that our National Park Service Golden Age Pass (for us retired people) is also accepted by the USFS so we are able to camp for half price. It was only $4.00 last night. There were only 3 campers there and we were spread out enough  that we thought we had the place to ourselves. The sites were very private and wooded. We could hear the River running behind us. So peaceful. Garry actually slept in until 9:30 this morning. I kept checking to make sure he was breathing because he is usually up at 6! We ate our breakfast out in the SUN sitting at a picnic table. So quiet. We then headed across the island and stopped at a fish  hatchery to take a tour. Delightful people there. We were the first tourists of the season and as I was my usual asking lots of questions self we were there almost 2 hours. It is a 501 coorperation so after the tour I donated some money to them. I am still fascinated by the concept of "fish ladders". We then drove on to Klawock. It is basically a few stores at a crossroads. We looked up one of the men we met on the ferry from Bellingham who has a camper and a boat in Klawock. We will probably head back there for Happy Hour this afternoon and stay the night as he has promised to take Garry fishing in the morning. 

May 25, Ketchikan, AK

We are now in Ketchikan, Alaska. The one  main street in town is only 30 miles long. We have been from one end to the other. It is neat to see the totem poles everywhere. We hiked in an old forest at the North end up to a waterfall. At the South end is a fish hatchery and a supposed good place to fish although Garry didn't have any luck. The salmon are just beginning to come in so hopefully things will improve for him. There have been 3 - 4   cruise ships in port every day. All the stores are open and there is a  lot of hustle and bustle. We waited until the last one left and then walked around town. Of course by then most of the shops are closed which is much better on our wallets. The funny thing is there is a Tram that goes up the side of a hill to a hotel on top. That costs $ 2.00 each way when the ships are in port. I went up that evening for no cost. They really try to entice cruise passengers with stuff. One shop was selling Carribbean gems.  Why come to Alaska to buy something from the carribbean? The town was really more attractive when it was quieter. The weather has been a mix of sun and rain with the temps in the mid to high 50's. A little warmer when the sun is out. We have been overnighting in the Safeway parking lot every night. The parking lot is uninteresting but we are right along the water and the view out our front window  is fabulous. We are looking right out on the landing area for the sea planes! There are several eagles that have been flying around. We saw our first Orca Whales. We also see lots of ravens (GO RAVENS!!! Sorry, not that kind of Ravens.)The airport is across the inlet and on the island across from where we are parked. We are just in the outskirts of the old down town so we can watch the ferries, the cruise ships, barges and the local fishermen come and go. It is staying light until after 10 so we are getting to bed really late as we are so entranced with all the activity. A private 80 foot sailboat/yacht came in last nigt.

I am at a laundromat doing laundry now in preparation of our ferry trip over to the more isolated Prince of Wales Island tthis afternoon.. It is $ 3.50 a load and I have 2. Yikes!!!! Cell andd Internet will be a little scarce over there so I don't know when we can update again.

Ketchikan, Alaska-We are here at 0730 local time Sunday May 23, 2010

We boarded the ferry in Bellingham, WA on Friday at 6:00  PM. It was a 37 hour passage here with the trip being made mostly through Canadian waters with the exception of the first 3 hours and the last hour and a half. We crossed into Alaska @ 4:30 this  AM.We were off loaded at 8:00 AM this morning.
We had an absolute ball on the ferry!!! While we were waiting in line to board one of the ferry staff was talking with us. He looked a lot  like Henry Winkler. (The Fonz) Turned out he was the first mate and since Garry was wearing his Coast Guard cap he and Garry got to talking about the Coast Guard. the upshot of all this was that Garry asked about the possibility of getting a tour of the bridge. So on Saturday morning we heard our name over the intercom and "The Fonz" (Mike) met us up on the bridge for a tour.
We met some great people on the ferry.  Many of them were Alaskans and gave us all kinds of hints and suggestions. Several of them have invited  us to come visit, park our camper in front, etc. One gentleman has offered to take Garry fishing! We met a couple traveling in a Roadtrek who we have become very friendly with. They live in Pittsburgh and we will be doing some touring along with them. This morning we actually met a man who lives in Whiteford, Md. Only @ 10 miles from us. His daughter was with him and she lives in Fairbanks. So now we have a place to leave the camper while we are on our trip to the  Oil Fields.
We booked a cabin for the 2 nights we were on the ferry. Very small with bunk beds (guess who had to take the TOP bunk - it's a height thing!) but we had a private bathroom and someplace SAFE to leave the camera, etc. when we were doing other things. We took our binoculars up to the cabin and I am glad we did as we used them a lot. We also packed breakfast and lunches but we ate  dinner with some friends in the dining room every night. We were impressed by how good the food was onboard. A lot of people traveled without vehicles. Many of them went to the aft upper deck and pitched tents for the length of the trip. There was also an aft solarium that was covered and many people spent the  nights sleeping on lounge chairs there. The ship showed a lot of  movies in the theater but I don't know why you would coop yourself up in a dark theater with all of that magnificent scenery right outside. We were blessed with sunny days and moderate temperatures. It would be a little cool at times when the wind would blow.

I could spend the rest of my life sitting in the front seats in the forward upstair lounge just watching the magnificent scenery pass by! We haven't seen any whales yet but did see dolphin, bald eagles  and lots of waterfalls. The sunset the first night was glorious. We have set our watches back another hour and we are now far enough North that the sun sets around 9:30 at night and is up at 4 AM.

We had to turn off the propane for the refrigertor while we were on the ferry so our first stop this morning was to Safeway for groceries. We are sitting outside a Super 8  motel to post this update. We are going touring and exploring and will try to sort through the 100+ pictures we have taken the last few days  so we can then post some of the best on the blog.

Alaska Bound- ferry terminal

We are here and the adventure begins. Boarding at 1500  and leaving at 1800. See us and hear from us in Alaska.

May 21

We left the Naval Support Center in Marysville on Wednesday and headed back to LaConner so I could see the Quilt Museum. The museum is located in a beauiful Victorian building. I was overwhelmed by the quilting. I am such an amatur. As it was still fairly early in the day we decided to drive the last part of the Cascade loop. That took us to Mt. Vernon, Burlington and Sedro-Wooley. We weren'y impresed with any of those towns. LaConner spoiled us I guess. We weren't able to find a suitabke place to stop for the night and as the weather was rainy (Again) we decided to check into the Larrabee State park a day early. We had planned to stay there Thursday night anyway. What a lovely park. These pictures are from our stay there. We hiked down to the beach and then up to an overlook several times in between rain drops. This gave us an opportunity to clean the camper, etc. in preparation for the ferry. We met several other campers who were also staging for the ferry there so we will know a couple of people on the ferry. My freezer is empty so that 1. we will have to turn the propane off for the 37 hour trip and 2. When ( I said when not if) Garry gets a BIG fish I will have room in the freezer.   

We are now in Bellingham.This is a very nice small city. We are sitting in a coffee bar writing this email. We have noticed coffee houses/bars are on almost every corner in Washington and they are NOT all Starbuck's. We have to arrive at the ferry dock around 1PM for the 6PM departure. We will have a cabin for this first leg of the trip. We have been told that a lot  of people will put up tents on the solarium deck or sleep in thhe lounge chairs but our bones are a little old for that. We will be out of email/cell range until Sunday May 23. Happy Birthday Michael! We also will have to turn the clocks back again so we will be 4 hours behind Maryland.
We are both really psyched for this next leg of the trip. I hope we see lots of whales, etc. while going through the islands. We will update again when able.

May 18 Your Comments

Thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts about what we are doing and seeing. We enjoy your input and responses to what we are able to show and tell of our daily travels and sightings. Please keep them coming and for those who have not commented, please do so, as we enjoy hearing from you.

May 18th

We left Marysville, WA this morning and visited La Conner, WA where we toured the town. A beautiful place and there are  many restaurant, shops and art gallerie. Garry took the photo at left because he wanted to show the tidal range (10-12) feet and the slough that runs through the town. We will go back on Wed, to visit the Quilt Museum, which is in the book of things you muts see before you die. On the way back, we visited the Deception Pass area between the mainland and Whidbey Island. Garry had gone through there years ago on his own boat and there were whirl pools 40 feet across and 15-20 feet deep. We did not see any today, but did see the formation of some. We also took a photo of a yacht passing through against the current which is a no no. The best time to go through is during slack water and that last but a short time between tide changes.

 

Check back tomorrow and we will have photos of the Quilt Museum and who knows what else. Our new Sony Viao laptop is wonderful and fast and makes Skype easier. So if anyone wants a video chat on Skype, call us and we can do video or non video chats with you.

May 17, 2010

We left the beautiful RV park in Bothell, WA after a weekend of recuperation and laundry.

We headed for the glass repair place and had new glass installed in the rear window and were on our way to Everett, WA for a tour of the Boeing Plant. The tour lasted an hour and forty five minutes and our guide was excellent. It is amazing to see three types of planes come together under the same roof. A 93 acre building with three shifts a day excluding Sat/Sun.   We toured the museum and found it a wonderful experience also.   Since they had a plane cockpit we could sit in and play around with the controls, we did that also. Carol said she could not see out the windows. Guess I do not want her to fly us around in the left (Pilot ) seat.

I took over the controls in the left seat  and  could see out.We are parked at the NAVSTA Everett/Smokey Point facility in Everett, WA and will have the front brakes checked in the morning then head for LA Conner and the Quilt museum. 

Seattle, Washington - May 15

We woke up to a beautiful morning. After storing our bikes inside the camper we drove over to Bainbridge Island and caught the 8:45 ferry to Seattle. The scenery was so pretty and we enjoyed watching the seagulls play in the updrafts of the ferry. I had hoped to see some Orca Whales but no luck. After we landed we drove over to the Seattle Center to park the camper. It is a huge area that boasts the Space Needle, the Sci-Fi museum, A theme park and has a Monorail that takes you into downtown Seattle. When we got there we discovered that there was also a Mothers Walk for Babies getting ready to take place. My first stop was to ride up to the top of the Space Needle. By myself of course as Garry doesn't do heights.

The views from 520 feet up where amazing. Unfortunately it was a little hazy so I wasn't able to see Mt. Ranier. After we left the Space Needle we took a ride on the Monorail into downtown Seattle. We got off and walked down the steepest hill I have ever been on to go to Pikes  Place Market. There was a cheese tasting festival going on and the place was mobbed. We browsed a bit and then got some lunch. Afterwards we took an elevator down to the lower street level and walked over to the Aquarium. I loved  the Puffins and the Otters. It was a great place. Then it was back to the market to get Garry a Dungenuss Crab for dinner. We rode the Monorail back having had a wonderful day. As we wrote  earlier, everything went crazy when we arrived back at the camper and saw that we had been burglarized.  Since the rear window had been busted out we didn't feel that we could leave the camper and do anymore sightseeing. Also there was glass EVERYWHERE which we needed to get cleaned up before we did anything else. We are staying at Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell waiting until Monday when we have an appointment to have the glass replaced. the campground nicely lent me a shopvac to clean up the glass and I then spent 2 hours washing and drying all the bed linens as we couldn't sleep on glass. So we hope to be back on pleasanter topics with our next post.

May 13

 After spending over a week with Jeff and Marnie they were probably glad to see us go. We headed North into Olympia, Washington to visit Peggy Jamerson. Garry and Peggy worked together years ago and she has remained a close friend.  She graciously drove us around  as we had a few errands to do. We wnet to the Cabala store in Olympia - we needed to pick up some ammunition that Jeff had purchased weeks earlier but which didn't make it home in his shopping bag. We also purchased some bear spray for the trip to Alaska. Then she gave us a tour of Olympia and took us out to a Marina owned by a friend of hers where we sat out in the SUN and had a beer. Then it was on to dinner downtown at the Oyster House as Garry had a yearning for some fresh Oysters. Wonderful dinner and then back to Peggy's for some after dinner conversation. we were unable to fit our camper under her carport so we moved over to an RV storage lot near her house where we spent the night. Her father had taken a fall several days earlier and Peggy had to take him to see a doctor the next day so we had to cut our visit with her short by a day.

We were able to see Peggy for breakfast the next morning and then we headed up to Tacoma where we had decided to visit the Glass Museum. We had been impressed with the Chahuly glass sculptures we had seen in Columbus, IN and at the Milwaukee Art Institute and wanted see more of his work. There is a "hot shop" there where you are able to watch glass makers make the most incredible glass objects. The most impressive thing for me was the "Bridge of Glass" that went over the freeway from the Glass Museum to the Museum of Art.  At the mid point of the bridge there was a huge display case with a wonderful, whimsical display of all kinds of Chahuly glass objects.  We then drove on to Poulsbo where we stopped at  the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort. We were planning on taking a ferry out of Bainbridge Island over to Seattle the next day and the Casino was only 11 miles from the ferry terminal. We checked with Security and they had no problems with us overnighting there. I am sure they were hoping we would leave a lot of money behind in the casino. I did - $ 1.25 at he nickel machines!

You can see the company we were keeping at the Casino!