Day 15 Homer Alaska

How many days can you start by running like a madman through shoulder deep snow under blinding sunlight and clear blue skies, and end your day running like a madman chasing shore birds? I had a day like that today! We started our drive onto the Kenai peninsula, and the first hour or so we drove through snowy peaks. Awesome scenery. As we got closer to Homer (our destination for the day on the east side of the peninsula) the topography changed and by the time we stopped, we were at the waters edge. We camped on the beach on the Homer spit ( a 4.5 mile road that juts out into the bay). As we drove in, we saw two bears playing in the water: it was pretty amazing.The Homer Spit is surrounded by a moutain ringed bay on three sides. A pair of bald eagles were playing and snacking on the beach as we set up our tent. Caitlin made an excellent fire, and was happy Marty wasn't here to take over!

We roasted hotdogs and made smores, some of us drank beer, and some of us chased birds and played with a gordon setter. The sand stretched far and was good for the tender footed. I admired my reflection in a tide pool.

And I posed for some pictures ;-)

On our way to our next destination, we stopped to see an old church and graveyard, and found a town that needs Ray Greeley:

There was one other amazing site here on our way to Seward--a river the color of which is unlike any we have seen. I am not sure a picutre can do it justice but here goes:

Sorry for all the pictures but everything is so beautiful. We're in a hotel tonight to rest up--Beth and Clare are taking a cruise tomorrow while Caitlin hangs out with me. Don't feel sorry for her though--she and Beth are taking another cruise the next day up in Whittier. Good to be Beth!

That's all for now--we're off for some seafood.

Anchorage

I took this picture of Clare at Beluga Point here in lovely Anchorage. We have spent a couple days over the holiday weekend here in Anchorage in a hotel--I have a little bit of a gimp, so I am happy for the comfort and chance to rest up. I think they are a little worried. Anchorage is very nice--a lot of good coffee, sea food, microbrews and good scenery. Yesterday we went on a hike to a waterfall, visited the oldest chucrch in Anchorage, drove up into the mountains to see the artic valley--everywhere we are surrounded by mountains.

After a lovely dinner and a stop at Starbucks, we went up to Buluga Point to view whales and some kind of sheep on the rocks nearby. I caught a wiff of them but they were very high up and I was in no condition to scale the mountain in persuit. Next time! On the way back to town, we stopped at a wetlands known for birds. It was very frustrating not to be able to run through the wetlands as I love to stalk and chase.

Today, after a leisurly m0rning we are heading out to the Kenai peninsula. I have heard talk of rafting, glacier cruises and wildlife viewing, although I am not sure what I will be included in. I wonder how I would like rafting, or even if they would let me go. Things seems pretty dog friendly here. There is some consternation about cruising the Kenai fjords or Prince William Sound. Maybe they'll do both. We are expecting the weather to be not unlike Clare's home of Ireland (so I've heard, having yet to see it myself--and I hear they have sheep and cows!), but it's hard to imagine with all this endless sunlight.

That's it for your roving reporter here in Anchorage. All the humans send greetings to their friends and family. Next stop, glaciers and sea otters!

Fairbanks

After a missed flight, 24 hours of travel and 4 additional stops added to a one stop flight, Caitlin finally arrived and was waiting for us when we returned from the hot springs. I was shocked at how hot the water was, having put my foot in thinking it would be as refreshing as every other lake, stream and inlet I have been in. It wasn't! I was happy to sit this one out while Beth and Clare had a soak. We stopped on the way home from the springs for a look at the pipeline. It wasn't that exciting even if it stretches the entire length of Alaska and was built to withstand extreme temperatures and earthquakes. More interesting to me was, yes, you guessed it, the stream nearby. Seems like there is always a stream nearby. Gotta love that.

After a good night's sleep, we set out for the famed Denali. It was nice to have a companion in the back seat, although for good viewing, there is still nothing that beats the lap of the front seat passenger, with your head hanging out the window. Denali had a lot of rules--no dogs off leash or on the paths. I heard something about snacks and wolves, but I didn't catch it all. There is one raod running along the east side of the park, and one road into the vast park that runs for a mere 85 miles. However, you can drive only 17 of those 85; to see the other 67 you have to take a bus tour and no dogs allowed! No doubt the scenery was beautiful, but it is all pretty spectacular. We camped just south of the park entrance and had a lovely view. Fell asleep to the sound of the rushing river, woke to frost (okay I exaggerate ;-) And of course we saw mountains--all I kept hearing about was the mountains. They were everywhere. I'm not sure what's up with Catlin's nature karma, but since she has joined us, I've been lucky to see a hare and a few birds.

Well, it's off to Anchorage and the penisula (I've added a map link for those that want to take a look). I hear plans for camping, wild life viewing and more mountains and rivers. Was there ever a luckier dog?

Day 9 Fort Nelson to Fairbanks via Whitehorse and Dawson City

Hello! We have been out of touch for a few days and it is hard to know where to begin to catch you up! We stopped at Watson Lake on our way north to the famous sign post city where travelers from everywhere leave town signs, license plates and signs of various shapes and sizes. We saw a couple from Illinois. The road dipped into British Columbia where Clare shot our best bear photo yet. Here there were mountains and snow, and we saw Muncho Lake which was a brilliant shade of blue.






We spent the night in Whitehorse, the capitol of the Yukon where two thirds of the 33,000 Yukon population live with no Walmart. We saw no one speaking on cell phones. Clare paid $18 for a six pack of Corona. Gas is routinely 4.50+ a gallon. On to Dawson City, our last stop in the Yukon. This far north, there is no darkness at night at all. Dawson City is an old mining town where Jack London wrote The Call of the Wild. At night we could hear wolves howling from the surrounding hills. The town seemed to have a lot of young people, and the man at the Jack London house told us you can still stake claims and pan for gold. Cool cemetaries. Heading out of Dawson ( we had to take a ferry to pick up the highway), we continued on a road called the top of the world highway. The name should have been a clue--here we drove along the tops of mountains--some gravel, all narrow. It was harrowing! At one point a section was closed becasue of sliding snow, but not seeing the detour road, we pressed on. I was the only one not afraid! It was beautiful being up with the mountain peaks.

The border crossing was uneventful, and I wasn't in Alaska long before I saw my first moose! This photo was taken at midnight! The view on Mount McKinley on the drive in was awesome! So much to smell, so little time. We are off for a day in Fairbanks.....

Cheers!

Day 6 High Level, AB to Fort Nelson, BC via NWT

We drove the lovely Waterfalls drive through the northwest territories yesterday. It was overcast and a little cooler than it has been, and spit rain on and off all day although never when we were hiking to a falls! There were quite a few waterfalls, almost all of which we could walk right up to. Every time I would get close to an edge, I could feel Beth and Clare getting nervous. What do they think, I'm going to fall in? They were a little scary, but not too much for me.

The driving road through much of the northwest territories was slow going as it was mostly unpaved. They had had a lot of rain there, so in spots it was muddy and slippery. Clare did a fabulous job driving through it all, and we even used the 4WD on the spacious Explorer. This was our second time on the unpaved roads and nature didn't disappoint us--we saw MORE BEARS. They were always by themselves this time, and not too big to be scary--the man pumping our gas in Checkpoint told us after they turn 1 they leave home, and don't really get too big until they are three or four. As navigator and photographer of random wild life, Beth attemped a picture, but give her a break, it was moving, we were moving, I was having a seizure, barking and trying to get out of the car. We also drove through bison ranges, and although we were skeptical, we did see some and I could not stop barking. They smelled suspiciously like my lovely, warm dinners I use to have, back in the old days, before I lived on the road and ate food out of bags and cans.

I don't know what the plan is for today--it is another kind of cold, wet day here in the high country. But wherever we go, I know every time I get out of the car, something beautiful awaits!

Hope you're all doing well. As you can see, I'm a small dog on a big adventure.

Day 5 Edmonton, AB to High Level, AB

Kudos to Hertz! When we took our car in becasue of the ominous noise it was making, the Hertz people were happy to give us a new one, no questions asked. It took a little longer than just the asking as they had to find a car plated for the US as that is where we would be returning it and they found one at the airport. After a drive over there and unpacking and repacking we were on our way. And what a ride! All our qualms about extra gas costs flew out the window. We had worried about where to put Caitlin when we picked her up in Fairbanks, but no more. I was especially pleased to have the entire back seat to stretch out between the times of romping through rivers, lakes and woods. As we drove north out of Edmonton, we saw smoke billowing ahead--a forest fire. We had seen many burnt trees but no actual fires. The helicopters were flying overhead with their bags of water--all very dramatic. We stopped for the night in High Level which is at the northern edge of Alberta and are poised to enter the Northwest territories and begin driving the waterfalls route. Sadly, this is our first day of cold and light rain, but the weather has been fabulous so I don't think we can complain. It was indeed still light at midnight last night. Very weird. I wanted to camp tonight but with the weather, who knows. Hard to believe it is still 1000+ miles to Alaska.

'Til next time....over and out.

Days 2-4 St. Cloud, MN to Edmonton, AB

We're motoring! Day 2 we had a big driving day and made it all the way from St. Cloud to The Pas, Manitoba. We visited the convent before we left town. It had a great church and cemetary. The border crossing was quick and painless...all our worrying and they didn't even ask for my rabies certificate! Just a few prefunctory questions (Clare lied about how many cigarettes we were carrying) and away we went. Manitoba was not much different from Minnesota--alot of farms. Hard to believe there is anyone in the world without enough food! Winnipeg was okay, not a big city by our standards but big enough for a Starbucks. Beth could barely contain herself and was sucking on that cup of coffee well into the night. The interesting thing about Winnipeg was the cameras at every stop light--it was a little disconcerting even for me, who loves a good photo op. It stayed light until aroung 11PM and then the stars came out. It was incredible--not just overhead, but stretching from one horizon to the next. We have lost something valuable by living in a big city - not being able to see this wonder every night. We finally stopped at a motel in The Pas in the wee hours and went right to bed. When we woke up on day 3, Clare and I went for a walk to scope out a good breakfast joint and let Beth sleep in. It was a town of mostly First Peoples, the Canadian version of Native Americans. After breakfast it was on to Saskatchewan. The minute we crossed the border, the road turned to gravel. Can you believe it? It went on like this for miles, but you know what they say about the road not taken. WE SAW BEARS lunching on the grass beside the road, a mother and three cubs. They could hardly keep me in the car. Beth and Clare seemed happy that they ran into the woods (sadly, before the photo).

To compensate, we stopped for my dinner beside a, yes, you guessed it, a farm and I got to see some cows close up. I was a little freaked when they started walking towards me, but I stood my ground! Now whenever we pass a field with cows I jump up to bark and let them know who's boss. After dinner, it was on to Prince Albert Provincial Park for camping. On the way in we stopped for, yes, coffee, and the woman running the cafe gave us great camping advice along with the coffee and delicious baked goods. We got a camp ground right on the lake, and although it was a primative campsite (no running water etc.), you couldn't beat the view! They started me off on the long cord spiked into the ground as they set up the tent and blew up the air mattresses, but then it was off leash and down to the waters edge. It was great. During the evening there was a brief thunderstorm, and the lightening seemed as if it was going right into the lake. Very cool. I wasn't too sure about the whole tent thing--even with Clare calling it a little house, but eventually I warmed to it.

We woke to weird bird sounds and a beautiful day. I was prancing around camp leashless and mighty proud. After breakfast it was another romp on the beach--kind of like my own dog beach, but sadly, without my friends. Shout out to Leo and Mona! And a hello to Barley, Allie, Monkey, Daisy, Bear and Stella.

Here we are now in another lovely Holiday Inn in Edmonton. The car is making a strange noise (could it have been the rutted mud road in our search for Shoal Lake) and I think we are going to get it checked before heading north up to the northwest territories and another gravel road I fear, this one with 157 water falls or something.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to update you--Beth is always on the look out for the WiFi connections but who knows. I'm hoping for more camping.

Day 1 Oak Park, IL to St. Cloud, MN

I won the coin toss and got the front seat!

I thought we would never leave. It took forever to pack the car--there is barely enough room for a little dog to have a nap. I had a moment of panic when visitors stopped by to wish us well--I was afraid I was going to be left behind with one of them, so I prudently waited in the car.

Notable nature moments:
A beautiful rainbow south of Madison, a sunset that wouldn't end in Eau Clare and more stars than I've seen in a long time in Minnesota. Oh, and did I mention the cows? Very cool. Friendly looking.

Tomorrow we are planning to visit St. Benidict's Convent here in St. Cloud, and then onto Fargo. How could we not stop in Fargo? We are hoping to make it north of Winnipeg by day's end and camp somewhere between the two lakes (see Manitoba map link).


Since camping is on the agenda, I am taking full advantage of the deluxe accomodations here at the dog friendly Holiday Inn. But where are all the other dogs?

Cheers.
Henry

Greetings!
Preparations are well underway for the vacation of a lifetime--Alaska! As you can see, I am busy doing my part. I was a little alarmed when I saw the tent being dragged out and dusted off as I prefer a high thread count cotten sheet over a pillowtop mattress, but sacrifices must be made. I have even pretended not to notice as they (my drivers, Beth and Clare) have begun replacing my delicious boiled meat and sweet potatoes with some hard, crunchy stuff.

I think we must be leaving soon as the stuff to go in the car piled in the dining room is assuming mountainous proportions (where am I sitting??). I thought I would start this page for people who wanted to follow my progress. For those betting I will be lost or eaten by a bear, shame on you! Next stop, north.