8-20-2011 We Left Rubber in British Columbia, Canada

Started out a great travel day.   Roads were really good, no traffic whatsoever, and saw 7 bears, lots of mtn sheep, 5 buffalo, and one caribou.  This blog sure has mooned a lot of people…LOL…I always seem to get the hind end of the wildlife!!!

Sign Post Forest.  Started by an Engineer of the Alaska Highway in 1942.  Travelers are still adding signs (numbers more than 70,000 signs at this time)

Baby Blackie

It was so cute to see these little guys running after mama!

Mama and 3 babies

These guys were beautiful!

Kneeling stone sheep trying to lick the limestone.

Bison....only a mother could love...jk....different kind of beauty!! for sure...

Carrie....caribou....was just beautiful!

After seeing all these beauties, we heard an awful noise exiting a bridge.  Pulled over, and this is what we found.......

So apparently we left rubber someplace in Canada!!!  Not a shred of rubber left....  Pulled over and put the donut on, and made it to a campground for the night.

8-18-2011 to 8-19-2011 Skagway to BC

Skagway is always a busy town when the cruise ships are in (you can see one at the end of the street).  But once everyone heads to their ships/rigs, town is empty!!  Lots of neat little stores, but you can imagine the prices being up as it's a cruise port.

(For my son-in-law BriB) White Pass/Yukon Route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the Summit, in 20 miles with grades of 3.9%.  The curves required a narrow gauge railroad.  The rails were three feet apart on a 10-foot wide road bed.  We didn't ride it, but I have a neat little booklet for ya, and you can put it on your bucket list for when you guys get back here!

Went to a show about Soapy Smith, famous con man, and our friend Dick was picked for a bit part.  Dick and Carol, from Duluth, MN, were the couple we met on the Ferry.  I must say, Dick did a great job in hamming it up!!!

You can see the snow poles sticking out of the rocks on the left hand side.  That must have been quite a job getting them in there!!

Nice drive today, but scenery definitely different.  Not much traffic, either everyone's gone home already, or we are leaving early!  We did find out from one of the places we stayed at that:   this year, for one month, there were 1000 less vehicles as the same time last year, and last year was low also.  Scuze the English, but crappy economy everywhere.

Not like Alaska, but this is still beautiful in a different way.

8-17-2011 Last day in Haines, and Ferry to Skagway

Last day here was a leisurely day.  We've enjoyed this town very much.  Not much here, but had nice neighbors,  Al got to fish on our last day (interrupted by bear somewhat) and caught 6 salmon; I worked on the computer.  Some time to kill before the Ferry so we went bear hunting again.  Met some great people from Duluth, MN on the Ferry Ride to Skagway.

Tight squeeze!!  Our coach is 3rd down on the left, just before the big rig turning.

Ferry...Nice ride...it had a dining room, comfortable seats and a coffee pot LOL!!

I finally did a video of bears, but it won't let me upload it :(

8-16-2011 Al Fishing and Misc

Last full day in Haines.  Al went out fishing and got two pink salmon...he was happy about that.  Went to see the bears again, and came back to a campfire.  Our neighbors from Whitehorse, Yukon had a roaring campfire going so we joined them.   It was very enjoyable and they were really nice nice people.  A young couple in one rig, her dad in another and I think in-laws in another.  Lots of fun, and brought back many memories of around the campfire!!!!  Tomorrow the 17th we will take the evening ferry to Skagway.  350 miles to drive around, and only one hour by ferry!

Al trying for the big one (that got away LOL)... I guess catching the two salmon gave him a taste, so when we went to see the bears, he spent time throwing in a line again!!:)

This is the fishing and bear area....usually bear on the right, and fishermen on the left.

Town of Haines...we are camping close to the trees on the right.  Can't see us tho :(

I guess even the bears are getting body piercings LOL....jk

The is the cub with the fishing hook stuck in his nose.  Didn't bother him at all tho...he just keeps fishing and eating....

This is the entrance to the State Campground at the end of the road.  Guess they had seen these guys a few nights before in the campground.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

8-15-2011

Last night we saw two sets of bears, one mama with 2 cubs, and one with 3 cubs.  Neat to see the little ones play with each other...so friendly when young.  They were on different sides of the river, and at one point, the sow must have smelled the other bears, as she sat right up and looked over.   Thank goodness they both stuck to their own sides!

Checking out the other bears across the river.

8-14-2011 Second Set of Babies

This second set of babies were the cutest.  It is so cool to see them run and play with each other.  Poor mama didn't know where to go with her babies.  Even on the road, you could tell she was getting perplexed.

8-14-2011 Haines Evening Entertainment

Al still trying to recoup from his cold...slow!  Leisurely day, and met some neighbors in the campground from Yukon.  Great people!  Al had a chance to go out and get shrimp with them, but with the cold thought he'd better not.  He would have loved doing that!!!:(    One of the ladies deep fried halibut and gave us a taste.  It was delicious...got her recipe for the batter.  After dinner went to see the bears again....good thing we don't live here...we'd never get anything done in the evenings!!!

One of the cubs had a fish hook stuck in it's nose.

After the bears leave the fish wier, they travel downstream and go under this bridge.  There's enough time to go from the wier area to the bridge and get close up and personal.

You can see the fish hook hanging here :(

Mama keeping tabs on little ones!

The hook doesn't deter this guy from fishing/eating!!