Thursday, May 31, 2012

Trackers Catching Up

Well AK Bear Tracker Followers (AKBTF):

We have had a busy time. Let me bring you up to to date.
  • We left Lafayette on May 18, 2012. Stayed at the foot of Mt. Shasta in Weed, CA. It was beautiful and snow capped.
  • May 19  we went through OR and had a wonderful view of Mt. Hood. It almost looked dreamy.We passed on to WA and stated at our favorite hotel the "St. Walmart" in Wenatchee. The rivers were amazing with the flow of winter snow melts.
  • May 20 - we drove through Glacier National Park in Canada and stayed in the town of Golden.
  • May 21- The park had many wonderful sites. Glaciers were everywhere. As we came into the town of Baniff it started to lightly snow. The town reminded us of Vail, CO. It has that upscale ski effect. On the freeway they even have over ramps for animals to cross so they can't get on the freeways. No road kill for hi end folks. We drove on to Calgary. We found a great campground to park the "Hilton 4" (the RV's name per my dad). The campground was right next to the 1988 Olympic Park ski site. It was amazing to see just how high up those skiers really have to be to get there jumps right.
  • May 21-23 - Spend time in Calgary. Of course we had to find where the Calgary Stampede is held. It looks like a modern day Cow Palace with parking that cost 3 "steers". The parking in Calgary is as bad and costly as SF. We got a chance to go to Fort Calgary. So you know I was truely in my element. I leaned who settled the area and how it got built. We left there and went to the Glen Bow museum and to the base of the Calgary tower that reminds me of Seattle Space Needle. Calgary is as big as LA. We were caught in a "Canadian "rain". We were on our way back to the campground that sat on a hill. Well, Trackers, I can tell you that this is serious. The streets flooded and I thought the car was going to be swept away. We decided we needed to get to a better place so we turned around and went to a Spaghetti Factory we saw earlier. It was downtown and still raining but spaghetti always makes me feel better. LOL
  • May 23 - left Calgary and headed for Edmonton. It looked like Calgary and had similar history. We decided to drive on. We spent the night in Whitecount at our "favorite" hotel.
  • May 24 - We finally arrive in Dawson Creek, CN. It is a beautiful little city and the begining of the Great Alaska Highway. We stopped at the Visitors center and filled up on kind of maps and info. Went to the Alaka House. This museum had lots of info on how and why the highway was built. Here is a fact. What happend on May 14, 1942? Spend time and look up. Did you know there was a African American troop that helped build the highway??? I did not know this.  It was never in any of my history books. We journyed on to Fort St. John. Stayed at our "favorite" hotel for the night.
  • May 25- 27 - We visited the vistors center. Again we were given lots of info and history of the area. Each province has "Provincial Parks". These are like our state parks or like New Melones. We decided to check it out. It was on Charlie Lake. It was great and our site was right next to the water. Well Trackers, this was good and bad. Overlooking the lake was awesome. The gnats and the mosquitos was another story. We heard there was a bear in the area and decided we better become equipted. So we found the located hunting store and got bear spray that shoots 30 feet, 2 horns, smoke items for the gnats. Now we are really for anything. Let's just say we better pray these old knees hold out for running. The info center also had a list of the churhes in the area. We decided to check it out. We went by the church and there were members working on it. That reminds me of  home. As always only the 20% was working as usual. Of course Lo started asking questions and the next thing you know he is giving advice. Sound familar??? By the time we got back to the campsite it had started to fill up. These Canadians love to camp. Almost every house has a trailer, 5th wheel, ATV, boat or some kind of rv in their driveway. And I thought we Californians loved the outdoors. Boy are we rookies. We had a great time at church. There were only about 40 members. The one thing they could use is a parenting class. Some of the kids were totally out of control. Reminds me of home.!! They had an AY meeting in the afternoon. Now how did I get drafted to do a devotional??? Pathfinders to the rescue.!!!
  • May 27 - Left Fort St. John and headed northwest. The mountains and lakes are just to beautiful to describe. We stopped for the night in Toad River Campround. We met 2 widowers from Ventura, CA. Also met a couple on their way home to Whitehorse. That is our next major stop. They gave great things to do and see.
  • May 28- Heading toward Whitehorse. OMG. The rivers are like looking into mirrors. You cannot tell where the mountain stop and the waters start. We drove through many lake towns. On the way we had to stop for mountain goats, moose, biason and black bears. Boy this sure is not Cally. We arrived at Watson Lake Campground for the night. Talk about off the road. It reminded me of going to Leoni in the old days. Hold on to your seat cause the road is rough.
  • May 29 -It rain last night. But we were in the forest so to bad. Well we finally made it to Whitehorse late today. We are staying at our "favorite" hotel. We will move to the Wolf Creek Provicial Park in the morning. Can you believe that all the wood you need to burn at your camp site is provided by the government in these parks. All for your $12 a day. What a deal.
Well Trackers now you are caught to where we are. It is 12:20 AM and the sun has finally gone done. It is still bright outside that you don't really need the street lights. We I am turning in. See next time and we will have some pics.

Lo & Bren

2 comments:

  1. Can I tell you just how much I LOVE THIS?? You're a great travel writer.

    (And how hilarious I find it that you people cannot stop working EVEN WHEN NOT AT HOME??
    I know you cannot stop Brother B. from giving advice, but WHO does the devotional for AY WHILE ON VACATION??? I ask you...

    Glad you got the bear spray, look out for those helicopter sized mosquitoes, yo.

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  2. Of course we love people. That is what we do. It is so good to hear from you.

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