THE WEIGLES HAVE LEFT THE NORTH COUNTRY
A short synopsis of our adventure
The Good, The Bad , and the Ugly
left Michigan May 17, 2010, crossed over the border into British Columbia Canada at Eureka MT. on June 1, entered Alaska on June 15 - left Alaska August 15 to British Columbia (again), crossed the border at Sumas Washington on Aug 20
The adventure was all we had hoped for:
- fantastic scenery, sites, people
- more information than we will ever be able to remember
- great times, great food, great people
- experiences we could never get anywhere else
- memories made and savored
THE GOOD:
almost too much to mention
sites to die for - seafood to die for - wildlife galore - information & history - freezer full of Alaskan fish - interesting people - fun fun fun
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| Perfect day: The Great One |
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| Ice berg Valdez cruise |
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| Relaxing Radium Hot Springs |
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| Frozen Martini makes your clothes fall off |
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| ice bed at Chena Hot Springs Ice Hotel |
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| Salmon Bake Fairbanks |
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| Panning for Gold |
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| Miles canyon Yukon Gold Rush Trail Whitehorse |
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| Midnight Sun Dome Dawson City |
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| Yukon River at Miles Canyon |
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| The best scenic drive- Klondike Hwy toward Skagway |
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| Fun at the Follies |
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| Discovered a really good beer |
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| Freezer full of Alaskan fish |
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| Alaskan Native cultural Center Anchorage |
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| View of Dawson City and Yukon river from dome hill |
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| Scene from Valdez cruise |
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| Halibut fishing Deep Creek Kenai Peninsula |
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| Best campsite - Ninilchik |
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| combat fishing on the Kenai |
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| whale watching Seward cruise |
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| sunset over cook inlet from out campsite |
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| lots and lots of construction |
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| smoke in Tok Alaska and almost all of BC |
The Bad:
The spirit of adventure begins to disappear rapidly
- roads to ruin you vehicle - cold damp dreary weather many times - sketchy cell service - trouble with mail delivery - prices are high high high -
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| often miles of dusty narrow roads |
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| lots of cliff hangers on narrow bumpy gravel roads |
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| everything, I mean everything, cost more |
THE UGLY
Wild fires - darn near impassable roads - wear and tear on your body and your stuff
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| Before we get to Alaska we learn to pay attention to the road ahead so this doesn't happen again |
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| roads seldom seemed to improve |
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| Miles and miles and miles of slow going on awful roads |
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| Tire damage before we even entered Alaska |
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| red sky, smoke, fire British Columbia |
As you can tell, many more
GOOD memories than Bad or Ugly
So it is all worth while.
Go-See-Enjoy
Between the smoke and fires we had a great couple days.
Spent a night at Kinaskan Provincial Park where we breathed fresh air, Petro took a dip in the lake, and we saw a fantastic sunset.
Stewart British Columbia provided rest and warm weather. We discovered 6 movies have been filmed in the Stewart area (they like to call themselves "the movie capital of the North"): Bear Island with Donald Sutherland, Lloyd Bridges, Vanessa Redgrave 1979
The Thing with Kurt Russell 1982
Iceman with Timothy Hutton 1984
Leaving Normal with Meg Tilly 1992
Insomnia with Robin Williams, Al Pacino and Hilary Swank 2002
Eight Below with Paul Walker 2005
We traveled to Hyder (Alaska's southern most town accessible by road), just up the road a spell, for a bit of bear fishing viewing at Fish Creek.
Us a few other folk
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| running to catch a fish, he never did |
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| so he settled for a dead one stuck in the rocks |
This little guy was with his mom and the two of them stayed around for a long time (so did we).
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| Salmon trying to get upstream |
We could see the fish swarming and jumping in the river. The ranger told us they have only had about 7 bears this season visit the viewing area whereas last year and previous years they average around 17 bears.
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| this time it is dust, not smoke |
We traveled farther up the (rugged steep winding narrow gravel dusty) road to a breath-taking view of Salmon Glacier (5th largest in North America) which is overwhelming in size and grandeur. The drive, although treacherous at times, provided some of the best scenery we have seen on our adventure. Passing several old mining camps, winding along the salmon river, and inspiring mountainous vistas
We met a gentleman from Connecticut who had camped there the night before.
Brave soul.
