Home

Safely home again and doing laundry, unpacking, cleaning the Trek, sorting through piles of mail! Good to be here. Stayed tuned to the January-February Texas to Florida adventure. 

Altoona, PA

Another great train viewing site in Altoona, PA but much more secret than the famous Horseshoe Curve.  This is the Brickyard, where bricks used to be made and where there are bits of brick around; still an active train crossing, the same trains that go up and around the Curve.  We spent some time there before church.  Bob waited for trains and I walked about to get more steps on my pedometer.  More John Deere travelling east. Yesterday, we saw a very long train carrying exclusively John Deere equipment.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Altoona. This is a church that is facing many problems.  They are seeking an interim having had one who caused a lot of divisiveness in the parish. This morning they had Morning Prayer led by a lay reader as they only have a supply priest twice a month.  Beautiful building and welcoming people but only a handful in attendance.  This handful are committed to moving forward with success. 

Getting Closer to Home

 

(1) Nan and hiking pal Mary on Mt Pleasant, Lancaster, Ohio.  I met Mary and Lisa on my very first AT hike in 1998.  They have not been able to shake me loose yet. 

 

(2,3)  The most fabulous glass made by the Youghiogheny Glass factory in Connellsville, PA.  The first photo is just a very few of the product in the factory outlet store.  Really overwhelming.  The second is a gorgeous piece place on a light board to show colors. I only spent $47, too many choices, but I have their number and can find them on-line also. 

 

(4) Happy, happy Bob at the Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, PA.  There seemed to be more trains than usual.  One long train had freight flat bed cars with huge John Deere equipment on them, many cars with John Deere.  We do come here every couple of years, and, Oh happy discovery, it's only a few hours from the glass factory. 

Bob and Eddy and Freddy

The KOA in Indianapolis has a couple of horse, Eddy and Freddy.  The owners have $1 baggies of treats in the office so we bought two.  We were warned that Eddy, with Bob, is a bully.  So I went down the fence a bit with Freddy and my baggie of my treats.  Talk about horse lips! but how could we resist those sweet faces. Well worth the two dollars.

South Dakota Images

St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Deadwood, SD.  It's considered historic having been built in 1876.  Friendly greetings from Fr. Mike and parishioners.

Badlands stark scenery.  Not so stark when you spend a few extra minutes looking for subtle colors and unusual shapes. The reds were more vivid in real life. The prairie dog town was an enjoyable roadside stop in a grassy flat area.  Love the antics and the pop up, run away, stand up behaviors (None in the photo).

Nan and Bob and buffalo at Wall Drug, Wall, SD thanks to the 10 second timer on the camera.

Mt Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore was worth the trip to see.  With binocs, you can see the marks from carving and the shiny new caulk being put into weaker cracks.  Unlike the poor old Man in the Mountain, these are not in danger of falling at this time.  There is a large, I assume new, visitor center with 50 state flags, cafeteria, gift shop, parking garage, and an eleven dollar parking fee (!*!*##*).  So much for National Parks being free for seniors with the Golden Age card. The parking fee is collected by a concessionaire.  Today we go to St John's Episcopal Church in Deadwood, then stroll about Sturgis and on to Badlands. 

Thanks for all the great comments and sharing bits of your own adventures. 

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower is a wonderful place to experience and it only takes a day as it's all right there.  There is a paved path around the base of DT which is 1.3 miles long with a few hilly places.  With the heat and altitude, I was huffing and puffing a bit.  Climbers love DT as it is a challenge but can be completed in one long day. The photo was with my zoom as these two were just little specks from the ground. We could see DT from our site at the KOA Devil's Tower Campground. I looked up just after dark and saw two little lights almost at the top!  Night climbers.  The complication was that there was a severe weather watch in the area.  The lightning behind DT was stunning and a bit alarming. Fortunately. the storms went parallel to our location.  I kept checking with binocs on the climbers and said prayers for their safety, but adventurers like to push limits, and they got a up close and personal view of the storm. By the way, the KOA Kampground shows Close Encounters of a Third Kind every evening!

More Geology

Shoshone River Gorge looking down from the walkway along the top of the Buffalo Bill Dam in Cody, WY.  Finished in 1910 it was the highest at the time, 350 feet high.  It was also expensive in terms of cost in funds, injuries, lives.  I still can get the buzzy legs just thinking about looking down over the edge.  The workers had to mix batches of cement with no modern machinery and dump the contents into the base. The dam provides irrigation, flood control and electricity.

OMG (Oh Marvelous Geysers)

Obligatory photo of the amazing, the wonderful, the entertaining Old Faithful Geyser.  Years ago it erupted every 45 minutes.  Then there was an earthquake in Yellowstone and now it erupts every 90 minutes. Hundreds of people gather along the outer perimeter on benches to watch, and "Oooh" with satisfaction rather like a particularly lovely fireworks.

 

Steamboat Geyser. It is very unpredictable but last erupted in July 2013.  It was spouting and hissing more vigorously than when Bob and I were here in the 90's.  I hung around for a bit ever hopeful. When it erupts, it shoots 200 feet in the air.

Roaring Mountain.  The whole side of this mountain hisses and steams with vents, hence the name. It is white with deposits.  There is so much to see and learn at this park. There is amazing bacteria which can survive in boiling and acid water color some of the cauldrons and bubbling pools with orange, turquoise, green and brown. One very large spring of boiling water pours 4000 gallons per minute into the Firehole River.  

In Old Faithful Lodge, there is an etched glass window with Old Faithful and a clock.  After each eruption, someone resets the clock for the predicted next eruption.  The one we saw was at 1:29PM.  The next will be around 3PM give or take a few minutes.  The geyser is illuminated at night, love to be there but didn't fit our schedule.  If you have a BIT of extra cash (LOL) you can book a lodge room overlooking the geyser.

We are now in Cody, WY heading for Custer State Park, Badlands, Rushmore, and other wonders. 

Yellowstone

(1) Big bull buffalo.  It is the beginning of the rut season and we suspect that the lone bulls might be grumpy younger members of the herd that are forced out by the ruling bulls.  No wonder they are grumpy.  Lamar Valley is the Yellowstone area that has the largest herds of buffalo and pronghorns, etc.  There is a wide flat plain along the Lamar River.  Sandhill cranes, buffalo, pronghorns, coyote, eagle. 

(2) Canyon Falls.  Spectacular scenery.  There is an osprey nest on one of the rocky pinnacles (not in photo) with two youngish osprey altho' full sized.  They were calling, whining, flapping their wings begging for food.  Parent brought fish. 

(3) Halfway from Poles to Equator.  When we were in Fairbanks and also Whitehorse, we were less than 200 miles from Arctic Circle.  I was wishing to go, but all reports are that the road is not in good repair. With a sturdier vehicle, I would have been there. 

State Park and View of Rainier

The first two photos are at Ike Kinswa State Park.  Stately huge trees, moss, fern, lush understory.  We saw a winter wren, we think that's a first time for us. Typical wren - cheeky, talkative, active, tiny. Our campsite was huge, and no others campers really close by.  That makes us Fuddy Duddy campers very happy.  We are going to make a sign:  "Keep away.  Fuddy Duddy Campers,"  instead of the happy signs that folks have, "Welcome. The Smiths. Tacoma, WA."

We took Route 12 through the mountains to see more of Mt. Rainier.  This was the best shot we took at a scenic outlook.  We were lucky that the day was so clear. Rainier is quite active, rumblings and grumblings, and the predictions if it erupts for the Seattle area are sobering.  With the glaciers suddenly melting, the lahar or mudflows would devastate the area. 

Our travels in this area were not originally planned as we were going to come back from AK through the Yukon and BC.  I am happy to have seen the Mt. St. Helens area.  We were planning to visit Glacier but will save it for another trip.  We are in the Spokane for the night at an RV resort. It's very nice and really seems to be resort like (indoor pool, spa, fitness room, mini golf, tennis, etc).  Mostly RV "resorts" just charge more for the same old, same old. 

We were surprised to find the area east of the mountains very arid. Of course, thinking about it, I should have realized it is in the rain shadow.  The campground we were in last night was in a temperate rain forest, but this is semi arid.  Much irrigation allows for a variety of crops and fruit trees. 

Mt. St. Helens

Two photos of Mt. St. Helens taken yesterday.  It was a bit hazy, but the area is spectacular in an awesome, hard to believe way.  The National Park has several visitor centers focusing on different aspects, but the last one, closest to the volcano is the most amazing.  The films, info panels, photos, and other displays only hint at what must have happened if you were in the area in May 1980.  I vividly remember the news reports of the bulge growing in the volcano and people waiting with great interest or fear depending on circumstances. 

Back in the Lower 48

One more REI.  We are standing outside the Mother Ship!  The REI in Seattle, WA where it all began.  We decided to not drive thru the Yukon after Whitehorse or thru BC as the nights were getting seriously cold and many of the services were already closed for the season.  We headed west on a bit of a scary road to Prince Rupert, BC to pick up the AK Ferry. Convoluted planning (Prince Rupert on the MV Taku to Ketchikan then board the MV Kennicott to go from Ketchikan to Bellingham.  As lovely as the ferry system and the scenery are, I have had enough for now. We had a bit of a glitch at the Prince Rupert ferry entrance.  the purser, checking out ticket, said that the ferry to Bellingham only leaves Ketchikan on Wednesdays...We were there on Thursday with tickets all paid for.  Panic!  A week in Ketchikan??  His error.  We were booked on the proper Thursday ferry.  However, in all the confusion, Bob drove over a cement parking bumper and scrunched the driver's door so that it will not open.  We should have been safely in line for the ferry, not pulled over to go into the office about our tickets (which were fine).  That will be an expensive repair and we cannot use the door.

Tomorrow we visit Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center. Originally, this area was not on our itinerary.  We will still be able to swing up thru Glacier and then to Yellowstone but will miss Lake Louise and Jasper.

Taiga

These look like little plants in the photo but they are full grown trees, but these are Tiaga trees.  Very old, limited by the permafrost below and the short growing season.  In our guidebook it says that Tiaga means land of little sticks in Russian: "This boggy landscape of bottle brush trees" where a 2 inch diameter black spruce tree might be 100 years old.  They have to spread roots horizontally because of the permafrost which prevents drainage of the soil.  Also the ladder like branches provide a route for fire to climb the trees easily reaching the top quickly.  This causes the bundles of pine cones to open for a new generation. 

The Old Salt

Here is the photo of The Old Salt from the last blog that did not upload.  Happy guy.

Valdez

 



(1)On the way to Valdez, we stopped at the Worthington Glacier.  People can go right up to the glacier if they are willing to ignore assorted warning signs that cautioned about steep trail, unsorted glacial till, eroded trail.  Without my trusty trekking poles, I decided to let caution rule, but I was more than jealous when one fellow came back with some glacial ice. From the scrambled order of photos, obviously, I haven't got the skills in place to get photos and text where I want it.   

 

 

(2) Meares Glacier.  the boat was able to go quite close to the Meares Glacier.  It talks!  Creaks, groan, cracks.  A few chunks of ice calved off and made an enormous booming sound.  I can only imagine the boom a big iceberg would make.  This glacier is one of the two that is advancing.  All other glaciers are in retreat.  We saw trees on both sides of the glacier that are slowly but inexorably being plowed over, they are bent or knocked down. 

 



(3)The Old Salt.  We are on the Stan Stephens all day cruise to the Meare Glacier. It is a beautiful day and we are rewarded with many sightings of animals and glaciers: A raft of sea otters including a mother with her cub riding on her belly; Many sea lions climbing up on rocky shore. Mostly it's a bachelor colony; Eagles in the trees and one on a sand bar with many gulls; Puffins (2 species) and Jaegers; Seals; Salmon jumping.  We also saw the Colombia Glacier and much icebergs of the smallish variety.



(4)The day before the cruise, we checked into the campground and did a quick tour of the pipeline terminal and the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery.  Thousands of salmon returning to the hatchery to spawn churn the water.  It frustrating to see so many fish and know that so very few will get to spawn which is not such a happy event at a fish hatchery.  Glad they do not have pre knowledge of the rest, they are blindly operating on hormonal changes the urge to return their original stream after 5 years in the ocean.  It is such an arduous journey for Pacific Salmon, given the rigors of the mountain streams, that they get only one chance to spawn.  Atlantic salmon can go upstream more than one year. 

Boxes

 

 

Bob at the Post Office mailing home yet another box of read books, extra gear, a few small souvenirs for his grands.  Kate and Mo think the pile of boxes in the home office is very funny but typical of how we travel.  The camper has very tight quarters.





But Wait...

Did I say a ten pound cabbage? I took the photos from the computer screen showing the account about the 2012 World Record Cabbage.  That's a lotta cole slaw!   

 

 

The ladies in their cabbage costumes.  Again, I wish we were going to attend the state fair; but no time (Valdez boat ride for Glacier, whales tomorrow); it's pricey, it's cold and rainy.  

Wet subjects

 

 

(1) Happy Nan at the Exit Glacier near Seward.  We hiked about a mile to get really close and when we climbed over a ridge, there was a blast of frigid air coming off the glacier.  I have my camera and binocs under my jacket, but we were pretty much wet through.

 

(2) Campground in Palmer, AK.  The state fair starts today, but we don't have time to go and spend the sort of time a state fair needs to be enjoyable.  I really did want to see the 10 pound cabbages and football sized potatoes.

 

( 3) Eagle Nest. This should have been in the first slot as the eagle nest is in Homer.  Talk about big lumps of wet seemingly annoyed juvenile eagles.

 

(4) Last Photo.  Along the road then along the trail to the edge of the glacier, there are signs with numbers - 1894, 1927, 1961.  At first we thought they might be forest service roads.  DUH.  They indicate the position of the glacier at different dates.  It sure isn't the glacier it used to be!

 

A few facts:  A.  Denali is the third largest national park in the USA.  It is bigger than NH, Israel, Massachusetts.  Of the top 5 national parks, 4 are in AK.  Death Valley comes in 4th.  Number One is Wrangle St. Elias, AK.  B.  Yukon has only 28,000 people, doesn't even come close to Framingham, MA.  C.  Homer is the halibut capital of the world!  D.  The Good Friday 1964 earthquake in AK measured almost 9 on the Richter Scale, largest in USA ever.  Approximately 150 people died which is amazing given the magnitude of the quake.  The tsunamis wiped out several towns especially Seward, Homer and Portage.  Seward turned the waterfront area into parks, etc., and that is where we camped last night. Portage is gone.  We drove through that area - nothing there but greenery and marshy areas and all the dead trees killed by the salt water.

 

 

 

 

Campfire and Low Tide

 

(1)  How to enjoy a campfire in Alaska.  Get bundled up to your eyeballs, get out your lawn chair. enjoy. You can just see the Roadtrek up to the left. 

(2)  Really low tide.  I walked down to the edge of the water at low tide. We are way  up at the "horizon" line.  Rainy today for travel to Seward. 

Driving Around Homer

 

 

(1) Such a perfect day. We decided to drive up the ridge along side the bay.  First interesting sight was two eagles on the tsunami alarm.  this tells me two things: One, eagles don't mind being a bit "urban," and there is a danger of tsunamis.  There are three active volcanoes quite close across the bay from Homer.  Mount Redoubt erupted in 2009 spewing 1/2 inch of ash on Anchorage.  

 

(2) We could see three glaciers across the bay.  The horizontal bumpy bluish line between the mountains is the glacier.  With binocs, it was wonderful to see. 

Glaciers, volcanoes, wildlife, halibut for lunch, walks on the beach.  Happy!

 

(3) Northern Sandhill Cranes on a front lawn.  At first, I thought they were lawn ornaments like the ubiquitous pink flamingoes until one moved.  We had to maneuver the Beluga on a narrow road to go back for a second look. 

 

 

  

News in AK, Menu Item, Homer Campground

 

(1) Local newspapers feature interesting articles and photos. Front page: It's berry picking time in Alaska and this fellow is showing off his blue tongue probably eating as many as he gathers. Other news:  (a) It is giant cabbage country fair time. There was a photo of a young girl with her huge cabbage at least 3-4 feet across.  The women were shown in cabbage costumes, great green leafy affairs. I wish I had saved that front page. (b) Page two:  Police were called for two incidents.  The first involved a worker who got extremely agitated after drinking 5 (!) of those energy shots.  The second was a complaint by a fellow who asked his best friend to watch his fishing gear while he was away.  Upon his return the ex best friend and the gear were missing.  (c) There was a front page photo of a man with his record fish that he caught.  It was huge as was the man's smile. (d) Page three of the paper was shared by the Yankees and BoSox upcoming game and the troubles in Egypt. 

 

(2) Sunrise Cafe in Cooper Landing, AK (also gasoline, lodging, RV park and gifts).  Unusual menu offering.  The above describes the Pig Vomit Omelet, a house favorite. It is stuffed with bacon, sausage, ham and cheese and smothered in country gravy.  Disclaimer: the PVO with cause heartburn, indigestion, clogging of arteries, and high blood pressure.  Note: I chose a more modest but delicious chili and cheese omelet.

 

(3) Homer, AK Heritage Campground right on the water with sea birds, sea otters, fisher folk, mountains, boats.  It was the best of the choices here for our camper; however, it is a sobering $73/night. There were a few eagles sitting on poles and branches. We are, of course, hoping for many more sightings.  There is breathtaking scenery everywhere one looks even on a rainy day such as today. 

 

 

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

(1) We spent a wonderful hour or so at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) in Portage on our way to Homer, AK.  The Center is preserving and restoring populations of wildlife especially the endangered wood bison and educating the public. The first photo is of a baby musk ox. There were two in a separate enclosure, totally adorable and fuzzy and making little brawww cries.  The herd of adults and older offspring was good sized and in a different large pen.  

(2) The brown bear had been sitting in the pool enjoying a bit of a float about. The AWCC has a gift shop with Alaska and wildlife souvenirs.  There is also a giant glass box with a stuffed brown bear that was killed by a hunter. It was the biggest caught in many, many years.  Question: What good is it to get to be the very largest bear if you are going to be shot and put in a glass case for people to gawk at?

(3) Majestic male elk. There was a small herd of elk, also a few moose, black tailed deer, and caribou all in separate enclosures.  The Center has a lynx, eagle, great horned owl and red fox, all rescued animals. 

(4) The adult wood bison.  The wood bison was thought to be extinct but individuals were found to establish a new herd.  There is a healthy number of them at the Center and they are scheduled to be released in 2015.