Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park-Aug 27-29

We agreed the trip's highlight was seeing all of the tallest mountain in North America and we all took several pictures of the mountain and the park. I took a park ranger guided climb while my friends continued on their bus ride deeper into the park and closer to the Mt. This was a fabulous view and within sight of a feeding grizzly. (I will be posting on shutterfly 50 photos with captions soon, if you want them e-mailed to you put a comment below.

Skagway to Prince Rupert 430 miles

We are enjoying the Alaskan Ferry with a 3 bed state room with private hot water shower and bathroom. As Wayne said "yes, this is a pleasant surprise." Frank lost his LLBean weather predictor for a few days but that showed up today again registering temps 20 degrees too high. Ed took a Dramamine in case he got sea sickness and had to go to bed at 8 pm. Mr Dozy. We have seen porpoises along the ships side and many inlets and villages along the way. we are now in Ketchikan Alaska, a major port of call for the ships. Lots to look at and spend the 7 hours we have for stopover. We arrive at Prince Rupert BC at 6:15am and am planning on a motel as we then board the BC ferry very early before dawn. For those interested in celiac I'm eating ricecakes and peanut butter for lunches on the ferry. tonight going to a thai restauart in town

Up Close to a Glacier

Monday, August 31, we drove from Seward to Anchorage a short 150 miles. Just outside of Seward in Kenai National Park we hiked to Exit Glacier and stood at the edge of a beautiful and large ice mass. Glacier are defined as moving by gravitation pull. Above the glacier, higher up the mountain is Hardy icefield which to cross takes 6 days to hike and camp. We spotted a couple of Tundra swan, who seem to mate for life and migrate to Venezuela.

Last night we slept at Ft. Richardson BOQ and watched Monday Night Football. This is the signal we have left the Last Frontier, as Alaska is nicknamed, and are now driving east and south on a two day trip to Skagway and the Alaskan Ferry. It has been miles and smiles of fun and memories. Ed and Wayne continue to grow their beards. Wayne says Ed looks like a homeless man especially before he did his laundry here at the BOQ. All he needs is a shopping cart.

Our fill of fish and fishing

Saturday morning we packed the van after a rainy night and headed out through Anchorage and onto Seward 375 miles away. Seward is where many of the cruise ships dock and vacationers will take the Alaskan train to Anchorage or on to Denali National Park. We reserved a campsite at Millers Landing, which is really a fishing lodge with campsites and cabins. As the tents and the ground were wet and the cabin was only marginally more we took a bunk house with heater for 2 nights. Oh it was so nice sleeping on a bed mattress last night. We scouted out the place and the boys lined up a guide for some silver salmon fishing in the morning. Dinner was fresh halibut and salmon at the lodge, where on Saturday nights there is a big fish feed for $7/plate. Its popular, I guess about 25 locals and guests chowed down either on the porch or around the warm stove. This was a real treat.
Ed and Wayne returned from successful fishing with enough fish to feed us for weeks. Ed's arms and shoulders were so sore pulling in the big salmon that he cried uncle. Good pictures coming later when I get to Vancouver on Sept 9.

Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley 20,300ft

We were at about 4000 ft with the tallest mountain in North America lumming about 8 miles away as clear as crystal. Guide said this was one of the best viewing days this summer. Have seen all the wild animals except the wolf. Many excellent photos, but must warn you the animals don't get as close as in the Kenyan safari. Neither is the bedding as luxurious as we had it then.

Since my last posting we have driven down from Fairbanks, lunched at an excellent Thai restuarant and have seen Hot Licks, one of the world's 10 best ice creams. No licks as it opens at 3pm and it was noon with a lot of road ahead of us.

My mother-in-law knit me 2 pairs of wool socks for the trip. She is a God send for doing it. Much warmer than cotton.
Okay send comments and emails we love hearing news from either the provinces or the lower 48.

Restpit in Fairbanks and on to Denalhi NP

8/25 Tuesday Last night we camped at a tremendous well run privately owned campground outside of Tok. Empty sites were plentiful and we were the only tenters. We're getting very proficient at putting the tents up before it starts raining. Every night we're becoming better campers, learning better ways to unload and load the van, set up tents and cook meals. We're even getting better at enjoying our time after we finished the dinner dishes. Last night we did the NYT crossword. Ed buys any daily newspaper to keep abreast of world and national events. We entered Alaska at about 2 pm. Now we will spend 8 days in the 49th state and the weather is dicey. Temps in the low 50s and at day break its about 40 degrees. One traveler bought and wore to bed a one piece Stanfield brand long johns in Whitehorse and then a bought a toouk the next chance he had.
We did not see any large animals today. Certainly they must be in the woods after all this is Alaska. We go to Denalhi National Park tomorrow and for sure we will see and photo several big bucks, bears and I hope Dull Sheep.
A couple morning ago as we were breaking camp a couple younger men came up and started talking with Ed and Wayne. It surprised us when they asked if we are prospectors. In the early 20th century there were many prospectors in this area, but we're not that old!

Bath in Hot Springs feels fantastic

Hot Springs was great-hot and clean. ALCAN soldiers in 1942 used it as an R&R spot when building the highway. Met couple from Whisler BC heading to Maritimes. (sorry no pics downloaded as using public library computers.)
Rained all night-all okay as rain began once we were horizontal.
Wayne saw mother bear and 2 cubs up a tree. Ranger had sit. under control. This was 200 yards from our tents. (Food is in van at night).

8/23 Sunday Dr0ve 420 miles to Whitehorse Yukon. Very good road with little traffic. Photos of buffalo herd.
One of us couldn't find his new phone card and said to himself " I'm not having a good trip finding shit."
Scenery consists of several rivers and lakes, mountains and valleys. White spruce trees for millions of acres. Only 23 to 66 ft at maturity. No logging, no gas pipes and no commerce except rare gas station and lodging. Temps in 60s at day low 50s at night lite rain today. Going for steak dinner probably at Earls. All of us in good spirits and having a great time.

Where is the new Headlamp?

Hello, Two warm sunny days in Jasper NP. Saw Black bear and Elk along the road side. Lake Louise parking lot full w/ vacationers. RVs are very popular. On Friday crossed to BC passing by gas compressing stations. Housing appears to be only in cities. Long stretches on wilderness. Camped at Fort St. John.
One of the travelers bought a headlamp in Grand Prairie Wal-Mart only to misplace it at supper time. We assured him the last head lamp will be found somewhere in the van before the next stop.
Heading to Liard Hot Springs BC Govt campgound. getting colder.

Oh Canada! Its a whole different country

Well we met up without hitch, giving Ed time to change car oil, find out our computer's motherboard is gone, and a stop at Tim's before Wayne arrived. Our campsite was walking distance from the Olympic Park. Guys choose not to cook since weather was iffy. I cooked rice, bananas and miso soup. At 9 PM the rain began for a couple hours, we stayed dry and slept okay for a first night. Wayne voiced some rules which I guess doesn't prohibit snoring. Up at 6 am, the guys had coffee and tea and Sobey muffins. Frank had hot cereal blueberries and banana. Left site at 8:10 heading for Banff. We're at Banff now. Sad news is Jim made a personal decision to leave us. He's catching a bus to Calgary and finding his way home to Tucson. He enjoyed the 4 days through the Midwest USA but I guess had something better to do back home. All is well, weather perfect and having fun with the buddies.

Tellico Village Tn to Rapid City South Dakota

The first day from Tellico Village TN to St. Louis Missouri went well for the solo driver Ed Fugit. He took some back roads along the Mississippi River then drove around downtown STL which he reports as quite nice near the Arch- lots of nice restaurants, river tours as well as casinos on the Illinois side. On day 2 Ed drove west across the Show Me State and met his brother, Jim, at the Kansas City airport in the late afternoon. Then they made their way north and over night in Omaha, Nebraska. Ed wants us to know the car is running well getting the usual 20 MPG with the load. “I expect to be in really hot weather next three days- first cool weather will be in Calgary!” Says Ed..

Friday (Day 3) Ed writes: Today the weather has turned nasty- there are heavy thunderstorms rolling over us now at 7AM and we expect to be in the soup a lot of the day. Jim has some great vistas he wants to show me, but no idea if we'll be able to see much. Hope to get to Rapid City SD by tonight- Elmendorf AFB- including a stop at world famous Wall Drugstore. My computer has a problem finding wifi- started yesterday morning- which means I can't log in. Don't know if it is temporary or a hardware glitch. I will check in tomorrow.Ed

Days before we begin the Alaskan Trip

Now with only days to enjoy family on Prince Edward Island before starting the Alaskan trip a pre trip blog posting is in order. Ed begins his bucket list adventure on August 15. Before meeting Wayne and Frank he will have driven 2600 miles from Eastern Tennessee west through Missouri, north through eastern Nebraska, then further north into the hearts of South and North Dakota before turning northwest towards Billings, Montana. Ed will have his brother Jim as company and guide through the northern plain states and badlands.

On the 18th of August Wayne and Frank are scheduled to arrive in Calgary by noon and are expecting to see trusted Ed and Jim in the mid afternoon. At that point we’ll have a pow-wow, check the weather, so some supply shopping and decide how far to travel on TransCanada 1 and Rt 93 towards beautiful Jasper National Park before setting up camp. Jasper is 260 miles from the airport with Banff some 100 miles from Calgary along the way. Canmore is along the way and can be a potential overnight stop. We’ll see what happens.

Welcome to my Alaskan Trip blog

If you decide to follow this blog for a month starting in mid August 2009, then you are most likely a Glencliff neighbor, a good friend, or a family member of one of our travelers. At this time, I expect that the blogger will be me, Frank Coolidge. I'll tell you where we are, how we're doing, and provide some stories and pictures.



So if you are interested, you'll make http://www.manymilesandsmiles.blogspot.com/ one of your favorites and check it frequently starting in mid August. Comments will be appreciated!

Preview
The travellers will be brothers Ed Fugit and Jim Fugit, along with Wayne Rychak and myself. Ed is starting this odyssey at his and Lin's summer house in Tellico Village, Tennessee. He will move quickly to the Kansas City airport where he'll pick up brother Jim. Jim lives in Arizona, and (I believe) is flying to Kansas City. The next two stops will be Bismarck, North Dakota and Billings, Montana.
Then on August 18, Frank and Wayne simultaneously fly to Calgary from either Frank and Cindy's summer place on Prince Edward Island or from Wayne and Colleen's Tampa Florida home.