June 21, 2005

Goodbye lovely Valdez we are on our way once again. The first part of our road the Richardson Highway was quite a nature show. The lovely horseshoe waterfall was just a few miles out of town, Thompson’s pass and the Worthington glacier were all quite breath taking. It was a hazy day, so most of my pictures came out a bit light and not really true to what we saw. Rest of the road was mostly woods and not too exciting. Still we enjoyed it with good music and conversation. Had our lunch after Cooper Town where I took a bunch of pictures of the hotel and the windows and a coke flower box. We shared the visit with quite a few black flies and mosquitoes.

In Tok we got the last of our “cheap gas” as in Canada gas is about twice as much as in the USA. We weren’t even stopped when leaving the US only when we entered into Canada were our passports checked and stamped at our requests. Took a bunch of pictures at the famous Yukon and Alaska border with great laughter and fun!!!

Next stop is the Beaver Creek Lodge! This is a very sentimental stop for me. Three years ago Colette and I stayed here with our bus tour. We were with the Holland America Cruises and this very place was one of our overnight stops. The reason I remember this out of the way middle of nowhere place with three buildings and a church is the “Rendezvous show” that we attended. Sylvan the main actor in the revue caught my attention with his pleasant singing voice and the song that he sang. The Anniversary song that went to the tune of “ kis csolnakom a dunan lengedez, az en szivem te erted ebredez” This is in Hungarian of course but that is where I learned this song as a child. I will never forget that.

So, naturally we checked out the show again and he was just as good but no particular song or event made it very memorable. He is still nice though three years older just like me.

Tonight is midsummer night. The sun will go off the horizon around midnight and come up around two. This is the longest day in Alaska and the northern hemisphere.

We celebrated by going to sleep around midnight. I looked out the window and the sun turned into this red ball before it departed. The sky turned a lovely orange pink and then I drew the curtains. In the morning around 4am the opposite side of the sky was bathed in pink but no sun yet.

June 22, 2005

Adios Beaver Creek Lodge, we are on our way to Haynes AK. Going south on the Alaska Highway. Something I forget to mention, the condition of the road is nothing that we have come across till now. Potholes, dips and bumps, resurfacing constructions, gravel and ravel, God-awful road! I certainly don’t remember any of this from my previous trip. But that’s the way it is now. So, we just have to bide with the speed limits and watch where we are going.

We stopped at Burwash Landing where I forgot my credit card on my previous visit. I once again took a bunch of pictures of the same old boat beached on the side of the Lake …We had a very windy but not buggy kind of picnic lunch by the side of the Kulane Lake. Well we had to eat fast before the food was blown out of our paper plates.

Later on I recognized one of my favorite places from three years ago, which name I just never even knew. It was Sheep Mountain at the south end of Kulane Lake. The place which in reality is just a parking lot, is still beautiful and just as desolate and lonely as I remembered it. The Canadian flag still flew and once again I just had to take a picture of it. We saw no sheep either this time. Well, I was not expecting for things not to change at all yet I still wanted things the way they were. Does this make sense??? No of course not. But there it is we are not rational beings, only sometime.

Crossed the border from the Yukon to British Colombia and then onto Alaska (southern). No hassle but no smiles either. Our day was mostly sunny and the drive once again very dramatic with the mountains and that wonderful light green color of the Kulane Lake. Only when we were two third of the way down on the Haines Highway we got into some cloudy weather and a bit of rain.

Haines also turned out to be cloudy but it did not rain. Our hotel is in the Fort Seward part of town, it was the old commission officers quarters and it is quite old and quaint. Not very well kept-up, but it will do for the night. Room no. 66 is on the second floor with steep stairs and it has great view of the harbor and the buildings in the fort.

We had dinner by the harbor with great views of the Lynne canal (Fiord) and the departing and arriving boats, ferries and cruise ships. We drove around a bit after diner and then up to our rooms, watching Sex in the City on the boob tube. As I am writing this journal it is now about 9pm and still light. I will read my new-found book, Clive Barker’s Everwille.

June 23, 2005

After a leisurely morning with coffee and muffins we checked out of our officers quarters room and boarded the Fast Ferry out of Haines to Skagway. This is my second time in this little tourist trap, and in the three years it has really got spiffied up. Lots of new stuff, new tour busses, new tours, and lots of new shops. They even had a star bucks coffee

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I wanted to go out to Dyea and the start of the Chilkoot trail, and to my most excellent luck I found the local tour guide who gave me a semi private tour. At first I almost went with the tour boats fare of Jeeps into the wilderness for an exorbitant amount. But just by luck I bumped into this good man and one vehicle service of: Dyea- David

Tours. He is a local of 40 years in Skagway and knows all the inns and outs of this town. I got quite an earful even of the local politics and gossips. He drove me around town a bit while we waited for his other two riders, two young men who started their hike at the Chilkoot trail.

The tour took us to Dyea what used to be a thriving town during the gold rush but now the woods over took it. There is nothing here that would even give a hint of a once thriving community, just trees and the receding bay. We spotted a trumpeter swan fishing in the shallows. At the trail had we took the compulsory pictures and the two young men went off on their big hike.

If I was younger, rather in better shape I would have loved to go with them. What an adventure to retrace the hike all those gold miner wannabees did over a hundred years ago. Of course these kids had it easy, with up to date gear, no snow, and lots of campsites to stay at. They are hiking up to Lake Benet and then taking the train back to Skagway. Dave kept me well entertained with the local lore and his most excellent humor till we got back to town.

Trude also had a great history sightseeing walking tour of the town and told me all kinds of stuff that she learned about.

Went to lunch at the local fish eatery by the boat docks and headed back to Haines on our ferry around 2pm. We had a naturalist on board who gave us a bit of background about the area. For example the Lynne canal is not a canal but a fjord. Well I knew that. Just look at the place, it is quite obvious. We saw quite a few eagles sitting on the trees waiting for dinner to swim by.

Once back in Haines we jumped in our van and off to Whitehorse. The drive was very pretty and we got to Haines Junction in good time. We pressed onto Whitehorse where we wanted to spend the night and have a delicious meal at the same restaurant as on our way up. But things did not work out that way. Whitehorse was fully booked. They did not have a bed in the whole town, due to a motorcyclist rally and some conferences. Bad luck for us, as we had no reservations. Checked quite a few hotels, smotels, inns but no luck. Finally after almost giving up and resigning ourselves to spend the night in the car either driving or sleeping, neither of which seemed a very viable or appetizing option to either of us, we found a place at the Family Hotel. Not very fancy, I would rather call it a bit funky or seedy, but it had a suite with two rooms, kitchen, bat etc. So, we were grateful, better than our other options would have been. Also, instead of dinning in style Trude picked up a Big Mac and I a KFC hot wings, which we ate in the car. Well, this should teach us that the tourist season is upon us and we should have reservations especially if we are getting into town late….

June 24, 2005

	We are on our way to Carrcross today. As we turned onto Highway 2 soon we came upon the most beautiful green lake I have ever seen. Actually I remembered the lake I just did not know where I saw it last time. It was quite a surprise when I saw it again. Last time it was over cast but now with the sunshine the color of the lake was unbelievable.
What I remember of Carrcross from three years ago it was a sleepy little native village with some interesting little churches and buildings and some mean looking skinny mongrels.

Driving a bit southwest from Whitehorse we arrived to a big to do with the train steaming and about a hundred bikers, native dancers and saloon girls celebrating the yearly “Yukon Bike Ride”. The sun was shinning and it felt like I was in an entirely different place from last time. Lots of improvements on the existing buildings, and new ones have popped up as well. The bikers got on the train and rode down to Skagway that left the town more peaceful and quiete. Trude and I took a walk around town and checked out Lake Benet. It was quite a site as the train steamed by on the opposite shore.

On our way back we met up with an elderly gentlemen who had the best time telling us stories from his life, girlfriends, and some risqué jokes. Nice man and we had some great laughs. Latter we stopped by the local native meeting hall where we were treated for free coffee and bought some native “fried bread”, which I would just call sugar doughnuts. Sent a card to Colette, as she kept coming to my mind during our little stay here.

We continued with our drive through Tagish where the Caribou had no intention of showing themselves. Our drive took us back to the Alcan with many potholes bumps and gravel. We passed by Jake’s Corner and had our usual picnic lunch behind Mukluk Annie’s restaurant. We had a great spot with trees, sunshine and a picnic table. Made it to Watson Lake in good time but our hotel was a bit disappointing. With a name like Belvedere we expected a bit more. We tried to find some other fare to eat dinner at but ended up back at the hotel dinning room. Fortunately to our surprise and dinner was delicious. As we learned the chef was Greek and a real good cook especially when it came to Greek specialties, which I had: chicken souvlaki.