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 :(