Colorado..November, 2009

Well, here we are in Colorado…Craig to be exact…the Elk Capital of America! We have seen lots of deer…antelope….buffalo……but no wild elk! Deer everywhere…in the campground, along the streets in town, in everyone’s yard…they are a way of life. ..they are always beautiful to watch!


We have taken trips to Steamboat Springs, Utah and Wyoming. Steamboat Springs is a unique town that caters to skiers in the winter and hiking, kayaking and rafting in the summer months…lots to do for everyone. Steamboat is only 40 miles east of Craig and about the only sizable town nearby.

One of the best trips we have been on is to Sand Wash Basin…northwest of Craig. You can wander around there for hours. But the best part is the wild horses! They are absolutely beautiful! The horses can be found everywhere in small groups…a stallion and up to four or five mares. You can’t approach them but you can view them from your car. They will stand and watch you for a while and then take off…tails in the air. They stop, turn to see if you are still there, watch you for a while and then take off again. If your horse lover as I am, you could watch them for hours! However, the battery in my camera went dead….no pictures! Oh well, guess we’ll have to go back!

Our trip to Wyoming was uneventful until we got to Baggs. Butch Cassidy built a cabin there when he was living there. Come to find out that he and his outlaws rode this area of Colorado and Wyoming…can almost picture them coming over the hills…even robbing a train or two! From there we went east on Rt 70 to Medicine Bow National Forest. There was about 18” of snow but the road was plowed for about 20 miles into the area…then we had to turn around and come back…but we took another road south and ended up in the Routt National Forest…picture postcard beautiful! Ended up north of Steamboat Springs.

Today we took a ride to Flaming Gorge Recreational Area north of Vernal, Utah…breathtaking!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Leaving Alaska

My apologies for taking so long topost a new blog. The season came to an early end in Alaska and we have been traveling back to Connecticut for a short visit! We are now on our way to Colorado for the winter and are due there on October 15th. We had to take a break for a few days in Kansas for Dick to finish some necessary paperwork...then we'll be off again....

First picture is the last mile marker on the Alaskan Highway. It was at the Delta Junction Visitor Center along with some equipment used on the Alaskan Highway. Very interesting if you happen to like old trucks (guess it's a "guy" thing!). I did enjoy the life size mosquitoes that someone had created!

There are a few pictures of the original Alaskan Highway that found not too farm from Tok. The photo of the pond has two swans at the far end. At a turn off along the road I took the photo of a sunset over the Tanana River.



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Dawson City, Yukon

One of our recent trips was to Dawson City in the Yukon. Dawson City is northet of where we are staying in Tok. It is 184 miles and takes you about 5 hours with a regular vehicle and about 6 to 7 hours with a motor home. Needless to say, we just took the truck and spent a night in a cabin……Buster came too!

Now, to really understand this road you have to realize that there are only two roads into interior Alaska. One road comes from the south through Haines Junction in the Yukon….120 miles of potholes, gravel, dips, sways and no services! The average speed is about 20 mph. The second road is north through Dawson City. The road to Dawson City is fine….the road from Dawson City to the boarder is OK….(high mountain roads with drop offs, no shoulders and no guard rails)….the road from the boarder to Chicken is HORRIBLE!!!! Dirt, gravel, rocks, pot holes, switch back turns, no guard rails, soft shoulders and cliffs…..not quite as bad as the ride to Eagle…but close! Now, travel that road in dense smoke from forest fires from who knows where…..not that was fun!

The first two pictures were taken overlooking the Yukon and Klondike Rivers with Dawson City below. They were taken the day after we arrived and the smoke had let up so you could at least see the sun. The day before when we came over “Top of the World” was dense with smoke…couldn’t even see the lines in the road!

Dawson City was great! An old gold rush town at the turn of the century. They are restoring the buildings and trying to keep it as it was in 1900. The streets are dirt, sidewalks are wooden and some of the buildings have not been restored. We found an old cemetery with headstones going back to the original miners that came in 1895. Oh, what stories then could tell. Also did a walking tour of the town and some old buildings. The next day we went out to Dredge #4 – Dick’s choice – it was really very interesting!

So, here are some pics…..tghe gray comes from the smoke in the air!

Lots of Pictures of Alaska

If you like pictures ... get set!

Chitina, Alaska: This is a very remote town where local people provide almost all of the basic services. This means that emergency care, firefighting and cleanup are all volunteer jobs. A;though it is a very small town, thousands of people from Anchorage and Fairbanks descend every summer to catch salmon in the Copper River. The day we drove there, Fish Netting Season had just opened and fisherman were in the river trying to catch salmon with huge nets! Think that's simple? Try it sometime! The town is in a place known as the Copper Valley - copper mining was done here during the fist part of the 20th century - the river even has a green tinge to it!

Below are pictures of "Spirit Houses - As you know, Alaska was once owned by Russia, and the Russian Orthodox Church had a strong hold on the coast of Alaska. Natives joined the church and a blend of Russian and Native cultures yielded a unique art form : the spirit house. A spirit house is a brightly colored grave site. The cemetery I found had small fences around them and had traditional crosses. Some are brightly colored with Russian crosses.

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THE ROAD TO EAGLE....

The town of Eagle is 177 miles north of Tok. It has a lot of historic Gold Rush buildings in a beautiful setting along the Yukon River. In Alaska they call it "the mighty" Yukon. Villages along the rivers like slow springs, so the ice can melt away. This May, an unseasonably hot week of spring weather caused a fast breakup, hurtling house-sized chunks of ice onto the shore, crashing into businesses and homes.

The ride to Eagle was spectacular! The fireweed turned the hillsides pink!

7. Fireweed

8. On the road to Eagle

9. Along the road to Eagle - cache (to keep food away from animals

10.Gardenin Eagle

11.Yukon River in Eagle

12. Downtown Eagle


13. Fireweed on the hillside

14.Brook along Taylor Highway (road to Chicken and Eagle)

15.Last beer before Eagle - it's For Sale

16. Road to Eagle

17. Power and Phone Company in Eagle



Elliot and Dalton Highway on our way to the Artic Circle


The Elliot Highway goes north out of Fairbanks. We couldn't see too much - smoke from fires filled the valleies....but 60 miles later we reached the Dalton Highway. Yes, that is the highway of the "Ice Road Truckers" - but no snow!

18. Tors - out croppings of granite in the hills.

18a. The tor on the top of Finger Mountain - don't think that's a finer...I have a better name for it!


19. Yukon River along the Dalton Highway

20. Dick's truck after the Dalton - new color? Nice..........


21.We reached the Artic Circle!