Monday, June 30, 2014

North Pole & Fairbanks, 6/30/2014

On the road again Monday June 30
 We stopped at the Knotty Shop.


Interesting how the burls grow.
 Beautiful flowers always call....take my picture!!!!!
 My souvenirs are the photos.

 Santa Claus House, North Pole, near Fairbanks.




At the Visitor Center in Fairbanks we saw this traveling European RV.  It carries and has sleeping for 28 people.  We saw them at our campground in Dawson City.
 100 antlers form this arch.
The teens put on an excellent dance program.

We stayed overnight at Walmart.  And guess who we talked with there.  Yes, our Pennsylvania friends.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Tok, 6/29/2014

On the road again Sunday June 29.  Three family Happy Birthday wishes go out today:  our granddaughter, Nicole, my sister, Claudia and her daughter, (our niece) Megan.  Best wishes to each of you.

There's a knock on our RV and lo, and behold it's Amos, Irma, Lorraine and Leon.  They were getting gas and saw us.  They looked for us last night cuz they knew we were coming to Tok.  They found us this morning.
We attended Mass at a log cabin built by the parishioners in 1949.   The message seemed to be God is  always with us but present when we need Him the most.  Amen, like our driving and protecting us and our RV.  Thank you, God.
 We bought raffle tickets for the quilt of the Flowers in the bible made by the Ladies Quilt Group.

 Yesterday Hugh Neff invited us to come for a tour of his dogs.
 
 He has three batches of puppies.
 These are the youngest.  9 weeks old.  Their eyes just opened last week.
When put down they all cuddled together.  But Hugh said they need people interaction.  He was glad we could interact with them.  And what a treat for us.
 Outside of Delta Junction we bought some reindeer sausage and buffalo meat from a family run farm.  The lady gave us a map so we could drive through their farmland.  Here's the hay raked and ready to be baled.   Can't tie the farmer out of me!
 Milepost reminded us to watch out for moose.
 Ah, the majestic mountain range is the VERY, VERY distance.


We stayed at Harding Lake State Recreation Area (campground).  

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Dawson City & Top of the World Hwy 6/28/2014

On the road again Saturday June 28
 Irma, Amos, Lorraine & Leon:  Our dear "new" friends from Pennsylvania found us.  So good to visit again.  Actually saw Lorraine yesterday.  We really enjoy visiting with them.
An endurance canoe/kayak race was ending in Dawson City.  65 teams started on Wed. in Whitehorse.  Some finished on Friday but we missed them coming in.  Glad to see a team finish.  Whew.
 Dawson City Museum was excellent.  A great film by a son of the original prospectors.



 Memorabilia of the mining equipment.

First pan for sifting the larger rocks.  Then 2nd pan for finer sifting.

Interesting doorstop.
 
 First bank was opened in 1898.
 Excellent demonstration of sifting the gold.  Step one.
 Step 2 to wash.  Gold heavier so will settle to bottom.
 Still working to find it, swirling & washing.  Water was a premium so they kept using it over & over.
 They put the flakes in a machine that heated it.  It was poured in a form and here is a piece of gold!!!
 Heading out of town.

 For our ferry ride across the Yukon River.
 Bulldozer leveling the land zone.  Mmmh!
 Tom and Linda's vehicle off the ferry.
 Driving the Top of the World Highway.  The valleys are immense.  Photos just can't portray it all.
 A truck traveling the road in front of the snow.
Back in the U.S.A.

 One lane road!!!!  And I think this was the spot where there were BIG puddles.  We talked to people who drove this road when it was raining.  Very hard to see and the ground gets slick.  So grateful we had a beautiful day to travel.
It's getting very dusty.  We are happy to be behind a caravan.  Just take our time.  Got to 9 mph at one point. We have to be far enough behind to not drive in their dust or rocks they would kick up.
 And then the truckers come barreling by!  Cringe.  But all's ok.
 I really don't know if it was harder to be the driver or passenger.  I offered to drive but Phil wanted to drive.....or not be the passenger.  Actually the hardest part of the road was in the U.S.  The first 8 miles were huge gravel pieces.  We saw someone stopped cuz they had a flat tire.
 We arrived at the famous town of Chicken.  The early settlers wanted to call it Ptarmigan but didn't know how to spell it.


 At the Visitors Center in Tok we heard about a Dog Musher giving a talk so hurried over.
 Hugh Neff was the speaker.  Excellent presentation.  Walter is his best dog.  Hugh's from Chicago.
Then we went to the free concert at Fast Eddy's.  

What a HUGE day,:  Museum, traveling the Top of the World, then 2 entertainment venues.  

We dry camped for free at the gas station in Tok.