9-2-2011 Ham Lake

Arrived at Gwen (Al's cousin) and Dan's early afternoon.  Parked in their front yard and had time for a short visit before we all had places to go.  Gwen and Dan were going to the MN State Fair to see Garrison Keillor (sp ?), and Al and I headed out to see Aunt Lorraine and Ken, about 47 miles away.  Good to see them.  Had dinner at Lorraine and Ken's Assisted Living facility.  It was a really nice place, and the dinner was great.  Took a tour of the buidling with them....very nice with a lot to offer them.  Again, I didn't have my camera with :(   

Saturday we all went to Minneapolis to see a friend (Marilyn) of Al's Uncle Gordy.  After talking on the phone it was lovely to meet her.  Nice nice lady for sure!  Her place was in an area that had been hit by a tornado, some damage to her place, next door was a total loss.  Standing outside her place we could see several homes that had damage. 

Played a board game in the evening with Gwen and Dan.  Amongst all the comings and goings we managed to have a really great visit!  Great people, and so nice to spend time with them.  It had been many many years since seeing them. Time went by too quickly.  

Couldn't resist this, 3 little birdies in the nest!!

Dan, Gwen, and Penny

(Nice picture you guys!!)

Another pix taken by long armed Al LOL

8-30-2011 Deerwood, MN

Left Grand Rapids about 11:15 and arrived at Gary and Jane's at about 2:00.  Got settled in their yard, and spent the day getting caught up with each other, till 9:00.

8-31-2011 - Had a delicious lunch at Al's Aunt Pearl's with Cousin Linda, and Cousin Paul stopped by also.   Paul gave Al some venison, so he's looking forward to enjoying that.  I also got two little plates that say "Kitty" around the edges....so cute....and great for the rig cause they are unbreakable!  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, but I did acquire this pix....and I'm not telling from where either LOL....

Auntie Pearl

Also went to visit a friend of the family, Ruth, whose dealing with some medical issues.   If you pray, say a little prayer for her please.  Again, no pix......old age is really settin in for me!!!!  Also drove around Al's hometown of Crosby, and tried seeing his twin cousins, but they weren't home.

9-1-2011  Visited with friend GaryW in Aitkin...quick visit as he was working.  They had visited Alaska a few years ago, so we got into that somewhat LOL...

Kind of hard to get us all in this pix with no one else around, but Al managed it!!LOL

Gary and Jane

  

8-27-2011 Grand Rapids

No trouble at Customs and in MN by 9:15.  The drive was a peaceful one!

This is the start of visiting family and friends.  I've often said, and still do, this is the best part of living the motorhome lifestyle...being able to see those we love and are a part of us!

This was our home in MN, two doors down from our friends Maxine and Ralph.  This pix looks better than it actually is at this time.  Not much done to it, and not much done to the lawn either!!!  Some rotting on the sides, etc.   It was a beautiful home, and can't imagine what the inside looks like now.

Bruce and Deb came over first night for a great roast beef dinner.  Don't have pix of them....there are a few people I didn't get pix of, wish I had :(   Also visited with another neighbor, Sara, so good to see her.

8-28-2011  Went to town for errands.  Ralph and Al went to river, and Maxine and I to Deer River Casino.  Maxine brought a little extra home, but I didn't.

8-29-2011  Four of us out to lunch, washed the rig, and relaxed.  Was such a beautiful day, and we sat outside cabbitzing till after 10 PM.

Visit came to an end all to quickly.  We didn't allow enough time for visiting in MN for sure.  Maybe someday again, only with a car!!

Our home at Ralph and Maxine's!

Been friends since 1980....they are good people and we had lots of fun with them.

The rose among thorns LOL....

Two roses with a thorn......jk

8-21-2011 Ft Nelson, BC

(Trying to get caught up.....got a little behind as you can see)

Had to drive slower to Ft Nelson due to the donut being on the car.  Saw two caribou today.  No luck

finding tires here.   Too expensive for call-out for tire here (Sunday).  Found one at junk yard, but rim would not go on car.  Checked into campground, ate at campground restaurant.  Nice campground, good size lots, with satellite TV.  Went to a great small museum in Town.

Ft Nelson Campground

8-22-2011 Tire and rim shopping did not go well.  Left for Ft St John.

8-22-2011 To Ft St John, BC ...scenery definitely different than Alaska, but still beautiful!

Spent night in Wal-Mart.  No luck with tire yet, but Manager of Kal Tire found one for us, and more reasonable than at his own place even.  Nice nice guy for sure!!!

 8-23-2011 To Whitecourt

Spent the night in a truck stop :(

8-24-2011 Parked in a restaurant parking lot in Lanigan.  Actually a nice family diner that apparently some truckers park in overnight also.  The restaurant was very reasonable (for a change).

8-25-2011  Awoke to one other trucker in lot this morning.  Nice fresh coffee from rest. :)   The tale goes on about the same as above.  Drove through, and slept in, the parts of Canada we had not covered before.  Once we passed Yukon and BC, it was a lot like driving through the US Midwest....plains and more plains, wind and more wind.  Canada is beautiful tho and am glad we went through it.   

Our Border city was International Falls, MN, so we stopped short of that in Canada, at Fort Frances, which happens to be where Al's mom was born.  Stayed in City Campground, nice, open and with great water views.  It was really neat to be driving around where Al's mom was from!!!  Loved Fort Francis.

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!!!!