Monday, July 31, 2006
Photos from the mountain
More photos from Mt Rainier...The trash bins are made to be bear proof...
...quite an exhausting day, I must say!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
We Welcome Comments!
A quick note to all our friends and family...Please feel free to post a comment whenever you'd like...just click on the links below any post.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Washington to Canada
Onward we go through Washington State and into Canada. The trip through Canada would wind up taking us about a week, going through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. You don't realize how big the continent is until you have to drive the whole thing! I would guess the entire mileage through Canada would be about 1500 miles, about the same length as a trip from New York to Florida. But even though you'd think you can drive that far in a couple of days...maybe 3 if you push it...You have to take into consideration the condition of the road and the terrain as well. Hence the week-long drive. For about 95 percent of the trip through Canada, there wasn't even any cell phone or internet service, which really slowed down the process of posting to the blog!! Easy to get behind when you can't even log on!
Well anyway,
The fourth of July fireworks were really nothing more than watching a few kids with stuff they lit up from the trunk of their cars. In Washington fireworks are legal, so it was not hard to find a burst of color anywhere in the evening sky. So there we sat with our folding chairs and side tables sipping cocktails (again!) and enjoying the show!
OK, now we're going to Mt. Rainier National Park, home of the highest peak in the lower 48 states. The weather started out warm but up in the mountains it turned chilly, even with the sunshine. But we had a great time up there anyway!
Well anyway,
The fourth of July fireworks were really nothing more than watching a few kids with stuff they lit up from the trunk of their cars. In Washington fireworks are legal, so it was not hard to find a burst of color anywhere in the evening sky. So there we sat with our folding chairs and side tables sipping cocktails (again!) and enjoying the show!
OK, now we're going to Mt. Rainier National Park, home of the highest peak in the lower 48 states. The weather started out warm but up in the mountains it turned chilly, even with the sunshine. But we had a great time up there anyway!
Taking a stretch break at the entrance
Getting to the top was a ride, but it was worth it to see this giant.
Of course, the camera man (Gary) was at it all afternoon...
Even when we weren't looking at the camera he was snapping away...now Joe gets his camera going too...boy, these guys never quit!
We girls finally decided enough was enough! Toss him over the side!!
Hmm...maybe we should just leave him there...
OK...so it was a good joke...we had a good time with it and it kept us laughing all afternoon!
But Joan's best time was laughing at ME when I was doing the bee - fly twitch!
The guys finally found something to keep them entertained...
The view from the top was just awesome.
Back to the old games again...here's Gary taking a photo of his own foot! As if we really needed to see this! (Good thing odors don't permeate the internet...!)
There's lots of snow up in these mountains, even in June and July. Sometimes the roads don't even get cleared out.
The weather board says it all...look at the snow just a couple of weeks before we got there!
OK, on we go...This is Seattle at Rush Hour...
And here is our first glimpse of the road to Canada.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
While Waiting...
Since I had no idea how this internet cafe thing would work, I only brought with me one day's worth of photos...they loaded so fast...so I have no more with me to post. To give a short synopsis of Alaska...
It is beautiful! (Short enough?) Really, the scenery is so magnificent that words and photos do not do it justice. The only way to understand Alaska is to be here. The state is one fifth the size of the entire lower 48 states. If you fit it inside the lower 48, the Aleutian Islands will go from the Mississippi River to California and more; the eastern panhandle, where Juneau is, stretches from the Mississippi to Florida. It is huge. Traveling from one spot to another actually requires a trip plan, as if you were taking a road trip from home to 3 states away. As we thought about returning home, (boo-hoo) we realized that the trip on the Alaska Highway alone is over 1500 miles! And we are at this moment about 450 miles from the Highway! The Alaska Highway goes from Delta Junction, AK to Dawson Creek in British Columbia. We didn't go that way on the way here but we are taking that way back. Everyone who travels by road to Alaska has to go to Dawson Creek, mile zero. There are then about 1500 miles through Canada to get to where we enter the states again.
The way back we're going into some national parks in Canada and then entering through Glacier national park in Montana. Going the North way back through the Great Lakes then into New York and Saranac Lake the end of August.
We have been in constant cool temperatures except for Fairbanks. The temperature now is in the high 50's (we actually got some sunshine today!) but the last few days it has been overcast, rainy and cool. We have to put the heat on at night, and we're wearing sweaters during the day. There is snow on many of the peaks (which are by the way awesome) and the weather can change from beautiful sun at sea level to cold and snowing just a few thousand feet up. Fairbanks, however, is in the interior where the summer temps can go into the 70's, but in the winter the temps are much more extreme, dropping well below zero most days.
Talk about days - they never end! The sun sets now, at the end of July, around 10:50 PM at this latitude. It rises again at about 4:45 AM. Joe and Joan went up to the Arctic Circle (they'll tell you about that trip!) where the sun set out their left windows and an hour or so later rose out their right windows. It's very hard to sleep with the daylight...it doesn't really get dark at all! When the sun sets it's like twilight all night until it rises again. We've had many fun evenings going out to the local pub and coming out at 11 PM and it's still light out...we get back to the trailer and bang the car doors closed, yell our good nights to each other - then wonder why no one is out, why is it quiet? DUH...because everyone is SLEEPING...!! Hard to get used to. But I can tell you it will be harder to get used to being dark at 7 PM when we get home!
More photos to come soon...my posts will pick up on July 5 and our trip to Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.
It is beautiful! (Short enough?) Really, the scenery is so magnificent that words and photos do not do it justice. The only way to understand Alaska is to be here. The state is one fifth the size of the entire lower 48 states. If you fit it inside the lower 48, the Aleutian Islands will go from the Mississippi River to California and more; the eastern panhandle, where Juneau is, stretches from the Mississippi to Florida. It is huge. Traveling from one spot to another actually requires a trip plan, as if you were taking a road trip from home to 3 states away. As we thought about returning home, (boo-hoo) we realized that the trip on the Alaska Highway alone is over 1500 miles! And we are at this moment about 450 miles from the Highway! The Alaska Highway goes from Delta Junction, AK to Dawson Creek in British Columbia. We didn't go that way on the way here but we are taking that way back. Everyone who travels by road to Alaska has to go to Dawson Creek, mile zero. There are then about 1500 miles through Canada to get to where we enter the states again.
The way back we're going into some national parks in Canada and then entering through Glacier national park in Montana. Going the North way back through the Great Lakes then into New York and Saranac Lake the end of August.
We have been in constant cool temperatures except for Fairbanks. The temperature now is in the high 50's (we actually got some sunshine today!) but the last few days it has been overcast, rainy and cool. We have to put the heat on at night, and we're wearing sweaters during the day. There is snow on many of the peaks (which are by the way awesome) and the weather can change from beautiful sun at sea level to cold and snowing just a few thousand feet up. Fairbanks, however, is in the interior where the summer temps can go into the 70's, but in the winter the temps are much more extreme, dropping well below zero most days.
Talk about days - they never end! The sun sets now, at the end of July, around 10:50 PM at this latitude. It rises again at about 4:45 AM. Joe and Joan went up to the Arctic Circle (they'll tell you about that trip!) where the sun set out their left windows and an hour or so later rose out their right windows. It's very hard to sleep with the daylight...it doesn't really get dark at all! When the sun sets it's like twilight all night until it rises again. We've had many fun evenings going out to the local pub and coming out at 11 PM and it's still light out...we get back to the trailer and bang the car doors closed, yell our good nights to each other - then wonder why no one is out, why is it quiet? DUH...because everyone is SLEEPING...!! Hard to get used to. But I can tell you it will be harder to get used to being dark at 7 PM when we get home!
More photos to come soon...my posts will pick up on July 5 and our trip to Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.
After we left Salem
The next bunch of photos are being uploaded from a computer at a tech center in Homer, Alaska. There is no order to them and no captions. It is a high speed connection so this is a good way to catch up with the photos. Text and explanations will follow later on, which can be done easily on the home base computer at the trailer.
Most of the pics are of our drive from Salem OR to Mt. St. Helen's in Washington.
Most of the pics are of our drive from Salem OR to Mt. St. Helen's in Washington.
More Mt. St. Helens
More of the trip to Mt. St. Helen's. The view was spectacular once we got to the top and the viewing center. The tree trunks were blown down by the blast, and some up on the mountain you can see where they were blown straight down, and now they are sticking out of the land that has overgrown. The "what to do in the event of ash fall" poster I've dubbed "Panic" because the first line says "do not panic!" Hmm...Let me see...Volcano...Ash Fall...Devastation coming...Do not panic??!! Ha.
The last photo (of the mountain and the valley) shows how much of the landscape was scarred by the eruption.
After we left there, we found a nice quiet Wal-Mart parking lot to cozy up and watch Fourth of July Fireworks. (It was a bit chilly...)
The last photo (of the mountain and the valley) shows how much of the landscape was scarred by the eruption.
After we left there, we found a nice quiet Wal-Mart parking lot to cozy up and watch Fourth of July Fireworks. (It was a bit chilly...)
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