S is for Sleeping, Smokey and South

The weather turned warm after leaving Mackinaw as we headed south east towards Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore. We made the mistake of taking the “tunnel of trees” road near Mackinaw. We had to find a way off quick – big mistake if you are in any type of RV! Very narrow twisty road with low branches. We had few close calls with a branch or two.

The shores of Lake Michigan are famous for their glorious beaches and sand dunes! Many a day of my youth was spent swimming in Lake Michigan and being thrown down those sand dunes by my older brothers. It is hard hiking up a large sand dune no matter what your age! We originally planned on staying in Sleeping Bear National Park but after driving through it and seeing how crowded it was even at this time year we opted out. We stayed a very pretty RV park near the town of Empire. The trees were glorious. This area is beautiful and has plenty of little towns and the larger Traverse City nearby. Summer is the high season here but even still there were plenty of leaf peepers on the weekend.

We headed towards South Haven after leaving Sleeping Bear to meet up with family from Chicago. I have lots of good memories of this area. It is close to Chicago and has been a weekend getaway for a long time in my family. We had great week visiting with family and enjoying the warm weather. Visited some old haunts and had a blast apple picking. Enjoyed my nephew Dan’s children greatly! South Haven was a little busy and crowded on the weekend but cleared out during the week. It sure has become quite the tourist area.

Next we headed toward South Carolina to visit more family via the Smokey Mountains. This area was way too crowded for me – I did not enjoy it very much. Driving through the park was a zoo! The crowds were a little better on the south side of the park and during the week but still too congested for my likes.

We spent the next week in South Carolina visiting with family. We had the joy of seeing Jack’s nephew and wife’s latest new baby named after Jack’s sister Emillia. She was brand new only a few days old. So sweet! Her older brothers were pretty darned adorable as well.

This will be my last post this time around. A little late, we have been home now for close to month. We did not rush driving home from South Carolina but we did not dilly dally too much either. The homestead held up well – no major disasters were waiting! Oh and the first taste of New Mexico chile was wonderful after four months – we stopped at Joseph’s Restaurant in Santa Rosa on the way home. It is a Jack and Janet tradition anytime we are traveling home via I40. Till next time Amigos!

M is for Muni, Mack and Mich

Ahh Michigan. It is beautiful on so many levels and very under appreciated by the rest of the country. Nobody ever says – "Hey lets go see the dunes of Lake Michigan or painted cliffs of Superior". But they should. Let’s face it the Great Lakes truly are great! Michigan has been blessed with bordering three – Superior, Michigan and Huron. Lake Superior has rugged cliffs and rich maritime history, Michigan is noted for its soft beaches and warmer temperatures. Huron I only got to see little bit so someday I will say more about it. The drive from Copper Harbor to Munising was very beautiful. The trees here were almost at their peak and the weather was glorious. Take the time to visit some of the Michigan rest areas - this state has done it right. They are often are on very scenic spots and are frequent and well maintained. Taking a walk can lead to a waterfall or lake vista. There are plenty of cozy little towns to meander as well so take the time to stop. Remember it’s the journey not the destination when RVing.

Munising is noted for its Pictured Rocks, Grand Island National Recreation areas, waterfalls and trees. Very pretty area. We stayed right on the shores of Lake Superior at the municipal park ( water and electric only). The weather took a turn for the worse for a few days. We were hoping to take a boat tour of the cliffs but the weather did not cooperate. Oh well – we still did some drives and a few hikes. The trees inland were much more colorful then the ones close to water. Very lush forests and waterfalls near the shores.

Next it was time to move on to Mackinaw and the shores of Lake Michigan and Huron. We originally were thinking about seeing the Tahquamenon Falls but needed to start heading south to meet up with family in two weeks. We went straight to the Mackinaw area.
Let me clear it up – something that has been a mystery to me. How exactly is it spelled and how do you say it? You will see the great Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island spelled one way and the town another. But rest assured they all are pronounced with a “naw” sound at the end. One is a French spelling “nac” and the other is the English “naw”.

We stayed at the KOA as opposed to one of the lake side RV parks in Mackinaw City because it had sewer and we planned on staying for few days. Glad we did, the trees were beautiful and there is a nice bike path and trail nearby. Mackinac Island is only accessible by ferry and they do not allow any motorized vehicles on the island. So you either have to walk, rent a bike or take horse drawn taxi. Very fun and it is filled with scenic Victorian era houses and more fudge shops than anywhere else per square mile. We waited for nice day weather wise and took the ferry over to the island. Jack and I had lunch on the island at the Grand Hotel and took carriage ride tour of the island. Very enjoyable but I suspect in midsummer the place would be a zoo! A little bit of a tourist trap but fun this time of year when the crowds weren’t too bad. I vaguely remember being in this area with my dad many many years ago when I was a little girl. It was fun to retrace some of my past.

Oh and how can one forget the famous bridge! Crossing it was a little tense with the Biff but we made it without falling off!

Copper and Gold

Copper, gold, orange and red! The trees have started showing their glory! The next week we spent exploring the Keweenaw Peninsula. It is an area filled with history, great views, and trees! And copper! Copper has been mined here by native and some say even pre-historic peoples. It is truly a beautiful and interesting area. We even purchased a few pieces of the raw mined copper - pieces of art in their own natural state.

We stayed a few days in Houghton at the municipal City RV Park. It was right on the canal with free wifi, cable, full hookups and a really good price. It has a good central location to explore the peninsula. There is a pretty circle drive you can take around the whole peninsula as well many interesting stopping points. This area has many old copper mines and lighthouses.

We drove all the way up to Copper Harbor which is at the very northern tip. We decided to come back and stayed three days up there as well. Very small town but it hosts a lot of hiking and biking trails and one of the best restaurants (Harbor Haus) of the whole trip. It was quite the surprise- it didn’t look much from the outside. Very nice at sunset with large windows that look over Lake Superior and all the wait staff runs out and performs a little dance when the sunset cruise returns. Very fun!

We stayed at the Fanny Hooe RV Park on beautiful Lake Fanny Hooe – they do have some full hookups but there is also a state park nearby as well. The state park also has a restored fort worth visiting. Jack and I were walking around the grounds and saw this very large black and white bird with a red head - yup it was the famed Woody wood pecker. He is much bigger in real life - I tried to get his autograph and a good picture but they all turned out too blurry.

This time of year the crowds are gone and it was beautiful and relaxing. Did I say I really enjoyed this area? Oh – and I also got one great massage while I was there at the Spirit of the North.

Greatest of the Great Lakes

We made it to the shores of the big lake Gitche Gummee. Wow – she always takes my breath away. Lake Superior is truly impressive. On a clear day her color is something to behold, a blue that is subtly different from the colors of the oceans and smaller lakes. Hard to explain but she is different even from her equally famous sister, Lake Michigan whose shores I grew up around.

We stayed at a municipal park on her shores in Two Harbors. The municipal parks in this area are a good deal often having free wifi and cable along with full hookups and for very reasonable prices. So to my fellow Rv’ers don’t be afraid of them – they have been great. This whole area around the shores of Lake Superior is choked full of interesting history, scenic views, romantic lighthouses and still has the feel of family owned restaurants and small motels. Very nice. The trees are starting to turn and fall fever is hitting me big time.

We continued down and around the shores to the Porcupine Mountains State Park in Michigan also located on Lake Superior’s shores. Don’t get excited these are not mountains by the western states standard but gentle rises full of hardwood trees and pines. I get excited just thinking about the reds and oranges the oaks and maples tree’s leaves turn this time of year. We tromped around a few days in the park and headed on to the Keweenaw Peninsula.

There is a rich history along the shores of Lake Superior. Iron and copper was first mined in this area in the middle 1800’s. The Great Lakes provided a way to move this ore which led to the industrial revolution. In some ways to see it now is sad because the glory days have ended. All we see are the old lighthouses and shipping harbors as reminders of the mining and shipping industry that once fueled this country’s greatness.

The Land of Lakes

We entered back into the lower 48 via Warroad, Minnesota. Yeah! Warroad was a pleasant surprise, pretty little municipal park on the shores of Lake of the Woods. They have a nice bike path around the town and along the shore. Part of the path runs through a high marshy area and there right in front of me was another bear. Holy smokes! I stopped dead on the bike. Really did not think I would be seeing any more bears and certainly not this close to a town. Good thing I was far enough away to slowly turn around and get the heck out of there. Turns out they have also had a few cougar sightings as well on this path. No more bike riding for me in Warroad! One morning I woke up early and got some great pictures of the sun coming up over the lake.

Next we headed to International Falls which has not had waterfalls since they dammed up the river for a humongous paper mill in the early part of the 20th century. Hmmm, maybe they should have changed the name? I was not overly impressed with the town itself but it is close to Voyageurs National Park. This national park is mostly water and is best seen from that perspective. After all, northern Minnesota is most notably known for its many lakes including the Boundary Waters which is the border between Canada and the US. Everyone has a boat, canoe or kayak except for us. We did not have the foresight to line up a boat and decided to head over to the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Turns out as we were heading to the coast we were on the southern edge of a wild fire that has been burning since August. It was kinda of scary when we first saw the smoke cloud on the horizon. We were not aware ( no tv or wifi at the last park) that the northern half of Minnesota was on fire with the Pagami Creek fire until we got to the Ely area and saw the smoke. Whew, we made it to the coast and landed in the Two Harbors area. Originally, we were planning on heading north to Grand Marias but opted out because of the fire.

I almost thought about naming this post "Land of Flies" instead of lakes. Somewhere in Warroad or International Falls we got an infestation of flies. Yuck! I guess along with all of those beautiful lakes comes a lot of black flies! We were able to get rid of them but never could figure out how they actually got inside the Biff.

Prairies

The landscape is changing from the majestic mountains to the endless prairies of the Great Plains. What would the world do without the vast amount of crops this area of Canada and US produces? The roads are better and driving much easier task for Jack even if the vistas are endless fields of grain. There is nothing like seeing a sunset or a storm on the vast prairie horizon. Something you do not get to see when circled by mountains or covered in clouds. Driving on these roads brings back memories of childhood for me with sights, smells and sounds very imprinted on my psyche – it feels like home. We certainly have finally hit sunny skies and warmer temperatures the further south and east we progressed. Summer at last and finally getting to wear warm weather clothing!

We spent a few nights in Saskatoon some place we did not think we would be seeing again. Last summer we spent more time that we would have liked at a less then desirable RV part. This time around was much more pleasant. There was a new RV park in town (Campland RV Resort )that just opened and made all the difference in the world. We spent one night in the city watching a Labor day weekend fireworks display and eating Saskatoon cherry pie. Yum!! Canadians don’t seem to get as excited about things and I was noticeably the only person oohing and ahhing. And I saw another bear in downtown Saskatoon!

We left Saskatoon on Labor Day and my birthday this year. We drove to Regina ( yes it does rhyme with female anatomy) and spent the night and next day in Regina. Jack took me out for a very fancy dinner in town. It is a fairly good size town with a defined town down area. I even spiffed myself up for the occasion! Next we did an over nighter in Brandon. Friendly town, they send a welcoming meeter/greeter to RV site with tourist information. However, we did not unhitch so we did not spend any time in the town. Next we drove through Manitoba and around Winnipeg and crossing the US border into Minnesota.

The Great Whitehorse Way

We were now back tracking on the famed Alaska Highway. Whitehorse is an area that we had done a drive by on the way to Alaska. We decided to take few days and hang around the town and see what we missed. The coastal areas of Alaska are incredibly beautiful but the rain is never ending. That can be hard for a New Mexico gal use to seeing those clear brilliant blue skies. The sun came out in Whitehorse and all was well with the world. We tromped around Miles Canyon one day and also just had to see the life size airplane weather vane.

We continued to follow the Alaska Highway to where we first met up with it at the junction with the Cassiar Highway. This time we stayed on it. We stopped at Watson Lake to take in the famed sign post highway. Dang, why didn’t we think to bring our own sign?

The drive is much prettier than I was led to believe between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson. This area is the very northern edge of the Rockies. Think about how large of mountain chain that really is starting all the way up in northern Canada and ending in New Mexico! We saw lots of wild life along the way including mountain goats and buffalo.

We spent a night at the very beautiful and natural Liard Hot Springs. Ahh – so relaxing. One thing I miss about the RV life is being able to take a long hot bath and this fit the bill nicely.

Muncho Lake area would have much prettier if they were not doing road construction – it was awful. Cough, Cough!

Next it was on to Fort Nelson for a night or two and then on to Dawson Creek. Most folks start their adventure in Dawson Creek but we decided to end our journey to Alaska at the historic milepost 0 site. So now it was done, we made it to Alaska and back on the Alaska Highway and without a chipped wind shield! Now don’t fret, our journey is not over we are just shifting gears a bit and heading east and south towards the upper Great Lakes. I want to see a proper Midwest autumn this year.

Haines Anything but Plain

We back tracked over Thompson Pass and started heading towards Tok via the Tok Cutoff. Haines being the final destination. Stayed the night in Tok at the Sourdough RV park. It was raining but it was a fun crowd. Every night they crank up the music and have live entertainment. They had a covered outdoor pavilion and had a roaring fire. Everyone seemed to be regulars or repeat rv goers that come back every year. Jack was feeling little under the weather and stayed back at the homestead. I ran into a British couple that we met on the road back in Valdez ( they had the same truck and Excel so we just had to say "hi"). They gave some tips on where to stay on the way back into Canada. We took their suggestion and stayed at the Cottonwood RV Park near Destruction Bay on the way to Haines.

We were glad to stop. The road from Tok to Destruction Bay was one of the worse we hit excluding the “Top of the World” route from the Canadian/Alaskan border to Chicken. We ended up staying three nights so Jack could rest up, he was feeling progressively worse. I spent one of the days by a fire on the shore and watched the rainbows all day on the Kluane Lake.

This is a really beautiful area and I really enjoyed the stay. Very relaxing. There was a grizzly bear in the area and I had close encounter with him while walking the dogs one morning. Luckily we decided to go our separate ways.

The ride to Haines Junction and on to Haines was another really beautiful drive. Again, the closer we got to the coastal town of Haines the rain started and stayed until we left five days later. Jack ended up seeing a doctor, he lost the battle and the cold turned into a sinus infection (antibiotics to the rescue!) Haines is not a touristy town and we enjoyed exploring the area. The Chilkoot river in Alaska connects the Chilkoot lake to the Lynn Canal. Bears and eagles like to hang around to eat the salmon and have the right of way.

From Haines

We found a little café and bakery (Chilkat) that had the best old fashion doughnuts I have ever had and really good soup too. We decided to take the Alaska Inland Marine Ferry to Skagway instead of back tracking to Haines Junction. That was a fun adventure! Pretty spiffy for a ferry! They have cabins, meals and a bar. You can take the ferry all the way up from Bellingham, WA with Haines to Skagway being the last leg of the trip.

They had a park rangers on board that gave a narrative of the area. He made a statement “you a really not seeing a rain forest unless it is raining”. So true for the South Eastern coast of Alaska. We did a drive by of Skagway which caters to the large cruise ships and tourists. The drive was very foggy over the pass and the landscape reminded me of parts of Nova Scotia, very eerily beautiful. I sure was missing the sun by the time we made it to Whitehorse!

It's Valdeez Please

I really enjoyed the drive from Anchorage towards Valdez along the Glenn Highway. The weather cleared a bit and seeing the sun sure makes everything prettier after spending the last week in the rain and fog. We stopped about halfway near the Matanuska Glacier. We stayed at a pretty little RV park called Grand View. It lived up to its name and we decided to stay an extra day. It was peaceful and relaxing after the tight quarters in Seward. We spent the next day exploring the area and taking a little hike with great views of the glacier.

Next we continued along the Glenn Highway towards Glennallen. The junction for Highway 4 south to Valdez is at Glennallen. The day was sunny and clear and the closer we got to Glennallen we started seeing the Wrangel Mountians on the horizon. Wow! We turned south and on to beautiful Valdez.

The drive was spectacular but the closer we got to the coastal mountains the cloudier the day. The clouds and the rain stayed for next few days. We had decided to stay in Valdez for a week to wait for our mail before heading back into Canada. Our plan was to take a tour of Prince William Sound and Meares Glacier. Very glad we waited until the weather cleared, it was spectacular! We saw all sorts of sea wild life including sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals and even a whale. Meares glacier itself was magnificent and we did get to see some calving.

It was a great day on the water! Jack also got to see an oil tanker being guided into port. This is where the Alaskan oil pipeline ends. Something for everyone! Prince William Sound is where the first really horrendous and infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred before anyone knew how to control and clean the damage. It still upsets me to think about it and the more recent Gulf Oil spill. But glad to say the area has recovered and most of the wild life has returned to healthy numbers. However, it totally wiped out the herring industry in the area and that has not returned. Valdez is a big fishing port for humans and wild life. There is always some type of salmon making a spawning run and consequently the bears and eagles like to hang around and gorge themselves. We even saw one mama bear with three cubs!

It really is something to see all the salmon flapping around in the streams. One day we also took a drive back through Thompson Pass to Worhtingham glacier.

From Valdez

This area is so beautiful please take the time to view all the pictures for this area. One could be lulled into wanting to stay here but be aware - they get more snow and annual precipitation than any other place in the US. A word about the pronunciation of the name “Valdez”. It is not pronounced like one from New Mexico and Wikipedia would think. The town around the time of the Spanish American War decided it was un-American to pronounce the name the Spanish way so the correct way is with a long “e” as in “Valdeez”. Next we’ll be calling French fries American fries.

Hankering down in Anchorage

We left Talkeetna on Wednesday heading towards Anchorage. We saw our first Target store since we left the lower 48. It felt good to be back in a hustling bustling city for a few days. But I have to say the noise factor was a bit of an adjustment. We stayed at the Golden Nugget RV park. Nice place but spaces a little tight but by far the best choice in Anchorage. Plenty to do in this area. We drove down the Turnagain Arm one day which is very scenic. Lots of trails and areas to stop. Be careful this stretch of road on the Seward highway can be busy and dangerous due to traffic. There was an accident with a fatality which closed it for nine hours the day we drove back from Seward on this stretch of road. We luckily just missed it by minutes but heard about it on the news.

Checked out the Portage Glacier area and Williwaw Campground ( dry camp) in the Chugach forest and decided to spend few days there as well. Unfortunately the rains started and did not stop for the next five days. I did take a walk with Zuzu in the rain to the Byron glacier. She was one soggy dog by the time I got back to the homestead. Even still the area is beautiful and right down the road is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We hit it at just the right time for the baby moose bottle feeding. They guzzled them down in about 30 seconds flat!

From Anchorage Area

We also took the drive to Whittier through the narrow and long famed Anton Anderson tunnel and had lunch at a really good unpretentious fish and chips sorta of place. Wish I could remember the name but it was quite yummy. All of this in the pouring rain. The café at Portage Glacier has very good food as well. Jack said it was one of the best burgers he ever had and the clam chowder was excellent too.
It rained all the way down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. We stayed on the water front in one of the municipal parks, they have water and electric but no sewer. I never did get to see the bay in all of its glory just too fogged in and rainy. I did get to see my first sea otter and that was very cool, sorry no camera. We took the drive to Exit Glacier one of the days but the road was flooded so we only saw it from a distance.

We drove around a bit and found Lost Lake Trail and took a hike when the rain calmed down to more of drizzle. It was a beautiful lush rain forest. We decided to leave when weather reports said another front was moving in (and our holding tanks were full) and no chance of sun for the next three or four days. Wish the weather was better, I would have loved to have seen more of this area. Next heading toward Valdez. Planning on staying there until the weather clears so we can do one the water glacier tours. I am not leaving Alaska until we do!

From Seward to Matanuska Glacier