As sunny as it gets in Ketchikan.

Yes, that is Abraham Lincoln on top of the totem. It is from the 1930's.

We learned something new about Ketchikan today. Even when the sun does peek out for a few mintues, it still rains. That's just crazy. The guy camped next to us is here for the summer working as a tour boat captain. He said he will not be coming back next year - he can't take the rain. And a lady I talked to in the laundry who is here for the summer from Seattle said she is sick of the rain too. But she does have 150 pounds of fish to take home with her! My advice - don't move to Ketchikan unless you love rain. We have to leave the camp site at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow for the ferry. Will arrive in Prince Rupert, British Columbia at 5:oo p.m. We stocked up on groceries and filled the gas tank before heading into expensive Canada. This is our last night in Alaska - we are kind of sad about that but have had a great time.

Comments from Eldon: I'm tired of rain.

Comments from Larry: I'm tired of rain.

Surprise, surprise - it's raining again in Ketchikan. I think this is the last place I could live in Alaska. In one month, Ketchikan gets the same amount of rain Seattle gets in a year. Moss grows on house roofs; it's that damp. They don't get real cold weather though. Their temperature varies mainly between 20 and 60 degrees. Our totem tour was provided by Independent Tours. They should call it Laid Back Tours. The driver arrived over 15 minutes late. She was at the dock talking to friends. She was fun and chatty, but not real "professional" so, of course, we enjoyed it. And we got 3 hours of tour instead of 2 because we kept her talking. A trainee and us were the only ones on the tour.

Comments from Eldon: Today I met a totem carver named Woody. It seems appropriate to me! Guess I don't have much else to say.........except stop with the rain already.

Comments from Larry: Stop with the rain already. Jeez.............

Yesterday's pictures - the marina picture is at our campground. This time we don't have have a waterside site though.

No pictures today. My computer doesn't want to read the camera cards. Hopefully it will heal itself over night! Another rainy day in Ketchikan. We just walked around downtown Ketchikan, with many, many cruise ship tourists, and had pizza for lunch. It sounds like Ketchikan shuts down on Saturdays because there are no cruise ships that day. I'm sure the locals look forward to Saturdays! A lot of the people in our campground are here to fish for salmon. We thought about it, but it's expensive and we already have a freezer full of halibut. Speaking of halibut, we had some for supper last night. I sauted it this time after coating it in cornbread mix which I happened to have on hand. It turned out tasty.
Comments from Eldon: Another day in the rain forest. Tomorrow's weather looks like - surprise - rain. Tomorrow we are taking a totem tour. I've noticed the cruise ship people like lines, because they always seem to be standing in one. I love my camper - no lines.
Comments from Larry: A day in the rain beats a day on a boat. That says it all for me.

Successful ferry trip to Ketchikan. Cold and rainy again, so we stuck around the camp site this afternoon. We'll play tourists tomorrow and go see the totem poles and down town Ketchikan. Ketchikan is like Juneau and Sitka - it has about 20 miles of road. The only way to get here is water or air. It is always rainy here - I heard someone say they had 2 days of sun so far this summer. The ferry ride was fine for us- please refer to Larry's comments for more information! We stay in Ketchikan until July 31. On the 31st we have an all day ferry ride to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Then a 2,500 mile drive home.

Comments from Eldon: I guess we've been lucky with all the nice days we had this trip, but it doesn't look to be ending that way. The ferry ride was comfortable. The cabin was small but functional. I enjoyed the "free" shower. Several campgrounds have charged for showers on this trip.

Comments from Larry: I chewed through 2 layers of duct tape in the screen door trying to get out of the camper on the ferry. Lots of new holes in it too. While E & C were up in their nice cabin, I was in purgatory again in the bowels of the ship. If I ever take a boat again, it wil be too soon.

Monday, July 25: Slow connection - no pics
Still rainy and cold in Sitka, but not a bad day to be a tourist. I must be part Russian and don't know it because I surely enjoyed seeing the Russian icons at the historic Orthodox church. Orthodox is the oldest Christian church. The Roman Catholics split from it in the 1100's. Sitka was the Russian capital in the late 1700's until the U.S. bought Alaska in 1867 for 19 cents an acre. Lots of history here. And as the pictures show, we found the bears today! Also saw a huge whale, but didn't have the camera handy. Tomorrow we get back on the ferry and head to Ketchikan. It is an overnighter. We leave at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday and arrive in Ketchikan at 10:30 a.m. Wed. We have a cabin to sleep in but Larry has to stay in the camper. He is going to be so.........unhappy.
Comments from Eldon: I didn't ride my scooter due to the rain, but enjoyed seeing the Sitka sights. It seems big but has only about 7,000 people. It has only 14 miles of road - like Juneau you can only arrive by air or water. RV's aren't plentiful, but we have a spot to stay at the marina. A woman today told me she would love a camper like ours, but can't find one in Sitka. It would be strange to live some where you can't drive away from. She said she loves road trips, but doesn't often get one!
Comments from Larry: Eldon duct taped the ripped screen door today. Now we look like a bunch of Yoopers. Doesn't he think I'm going to chew it up again tomorrow when they make me get on the boat? Two more boat rides. After that I promise I am never getting on another boat.

Even though it is cold and rainy today and even though we had to get up at 5:30 a.m., we had a beautiful ferry ride to Sitka. We traveled what they call the Inside Passage. It is islands and fjords. FYI: according to Wikipedia a fjord is a long narrow inlet with steep cliffs created in a valley carved by glacial activity. The only marine life we spotted was lots of jumping fish. I turned the heater on for the first time this trip when we got to the camp ground since we were cold and wet. And you all are in the middle of a heat wave! The channel picture with the lighthouse in the background was taken sitting on the couch in the camper. What can I say - just another beautiful day in the good life.

Comments from Eldon: Enjoyed the ferry ride despite the weather. Hope it improves so I can scooter around Sitka tomorrow.

Comments from Larry: OK, I know I'm a wimp, but I was so scared on the ferry today I chewed a hole in the screen door trying to get out. I have no idea where I would go if I did get out, but the noise and motion totally freaks me out. E & C tell me I have to do the boat ride 2 more times - somebody please rescue me.

Lady Baltimore. She was shot and is blind in one eye and has damaged wing.

Another beautiful day in Juneau. The locals are loving this weather - in the low 70's - it rains here a lot so they get out to bask in the sun when they can. We took the tram ride to the top of Mt. Roberts today and went to the fish hatchery. We heard bears hang out there, but again, no luck for the Pattens. We did see 2 bear in the road yesterday outside Juneau. We walked around down town Juneau for a while. We have to check in at the ferry tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. (ouch) for our 4 1/2 hour ride to Sitka.

Comments from Eldon: I enjoyed the scenery in Juneau and watching the salmon jumping at the hatchery, but its a small town with big city infrastructure. It has 40 mile of highway with a state trooper every 3 miles standing in the road with their radar gun. People have no where to go except "the road". The tram ride was nice and the film about the Tlingits (local Indian tribe) was interesting. Their art is cool, especially the totem poles.

Comments from Larry: Glad to get back to the great camp site, after waiting in the truck all day for my people to get done sightseeing. I hear we are getting back on the ferry tomorrow. I'd rather stay in Juneau...................

Taken last week in where else? Chicken. We had other great

pictures to post, but connection is slow I give up. It's time to

go eat the ribs Eldon is grilling for supper.

Mendenhall Glacier - Juneau

Steve and Julie with Eldon at Haines campground

Oldest light house in Alaska; taken on ferry to Juneau.

We are now in Juneau. Seems such a big city after being in small towns and roads with no traffic. Old Juneau is built on the mountainside and pretty. The downtown is crowded with cruise ship business. The weird thing about Juneau (the capital) is that you have to arrive by air or water. You cannot drive to Juneau. The main road is 40 miles long. It looks like a typical city of 30,000 people with Walmart, etc.; just don't plan on a road trip if you live here. The campground we wanted to go to first was closed due to flooding. It is very close to the glacier; the road to the campground was closed too. We found out why when we went to the glacier today. A glacial ice dam melted and released a glacial lake of water. It has happened in small amounts before, but never like this. It is now receding, but sounds like it was a big deal. It is an awesome glacier - trust me we've seen a lot of them to judge by. Lots of deep blue color (it has something to do with light reflection but if you want to know more, Google it because I can't tell you) and ice bergs.

Comments from Eldon: So far Haines wins as my favorite Alaskan town - so darn friendly and the town reminds me of St. Ignace. I got one layer of dirt off the truck, it's not clean but you can tell what color it is. The ferry ride to Juneau was scenic - also so relaxing I fell asleep. I woke up to a ranger telling me a baby whale was beside us - never been woken up that way before. Didn't get a good picture though - whales don't pose. Juneau has the nicest glacier we've seen. Some glaciers look like old snow banks, this one (called Mendenhall) bluer and has lots of icebergs floating around.

Comments from Larry: The boat ride to Juneau was purgatory - even worse than the ride from Skagway to Haines because it was longer. It is loud, dark and scary. But I like the camp ground in Juneau. Few cars, few dogs and lots of woods and bushes to hide in.

Made it to Juneau - will try to catch up tomorrow.

Wed., July 20, 2011: Haines is definitely one of our favorite Alaska towns. Easy to get around in - lots of friendly people. They only get one cruise ship a week and today is their lucky day. Our pot luck crab dinner was canceled last night because it was too windy for the boat to go out. We are on for tonight though. I'm am taking my famous Rice-A-Roni for the potluck and a loaf of sour dough bread. Today we drove a few miles out of town where we heard there is a mother brown bear and 2 cubs hanging around, but luck wasn't on our side today. Then we drove to the Eagle Preserve; again luck wasn't on our side. But we have seen several eagles at the camp site. We then went to Bald Eagle Foundation and saw stuffed ones. Actually saw all the Alaska mammals, birds and fish stuffed. We have to be at the ferry at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow - the ferry ride to Juneau is about 4 hours.
Comments from Eldon: No comment - at the car wash trying to get a lot of dirt off the truck.
Comments from Larry: No comment - at the car wash trying to bury himself under all the pillows and blankets to hide from the car wash.

Tues., July 19, 2011:
We arrived in Skagway on Sunday. Another stunning drive - this state (plus Yukon & B.C.) just keeps on giving. The gold miners that made this trek in the 1890's were a brave and crazy bunch. We should have stopped to take pictures, but I guess we are on scenery overload! Skagway is another attractive gold rush town. It is surrounded by mountains and water. The buildings are brightly painted like Dawson City and it also follows the gold rush theme. When the cruise ships aren't in, it is a great place to walk around. When the cruise ships are in, it is very, very crowded. It is a town of 800 residents. Sunday there were 3 cruise ships in port; on Monday there were 4. The Alaska economy is very dependent on the cruise ship crowds. I finally found my first antique shop. Our luck for not reserving ahead held. Yesterday we purchased our tickets for the Inside Passage. We were going to stay at Skagway on Monday night too, but left yesterday at 5:00 p.m. instead of taking the 7:00 a.m. Tuesday trip. After a one hour ferry ride we arrived in Haines about 6:00. This may turn out to be one of my favorite Alaska towns. Will let you know after I see more of it. I'm at the library on the computer right now. When we pulled into the water side campground - Julie and Steve from Colorado were here. Is that crazy? Tonight the campground owner is having a potluck. For $6.00 each, they provide fresh crab and every one brings a dish to pass. Guess what we are eating tonight??!! Our ferry stops besides Haines will be Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. We get off at Prince Rupert, British Columbia on July 31. Then it's time to head home. Eldon & Larry are back at the camper, so I took notes for them......
Comments from Eldon: Haines looks like a real town. Skagway was nice, but very touristy like Dawson City. I am looking forward to the ferry ride and the stops along the way, but I'm not ready to head home yet!
Comments from Larry: The birds in Haines are harrassing me, especially the ravens. They swoop down on me and cackle. I can't concentrate on my hunting. Nice town though.

Sorry no pictures this time...............

After a beautiful, but tiring drive, we arrived in Dawson City last night. There isn't a bridge across the Yukon, so everyone waits in line for the short (free) ferry ride across the river. Last night we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's Saloon and Dancehall. They have real dancing girls reminiscent of the gold rush days. We thought it was hokey, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. It is a casino too. Eldon lost $10, I lost $5, then we went to dinner at Klondike Kate's. The whole town is on the historic register. A lot of the buildings are painted in bright colors; the town is trying become a replica of its gold rush days and caters to tourists. Today we got to drive on a paved road....... We are in Carmacks at a campground on the Yukon River. A very nice, uncrowded site with 3 TV channels. Carmacks, not surprisingly, was also a gold rush town (coal too). We should have about a 5 hour trip to Skagway tomorrow - back in the USA! In Skagway, we will start on our trip on the marine highway. We hope our luck with not making reservations ahead of time continues.
Comments from Eldon: The Top of the World Highway from Chicken to Dawson City was gravel and the most pot holes I've ever seen. It took about 3 1/2 hours to drive 110 miles, then a 1 1/2 hour wait for the ferry ride across the Yukon into Dawson. The road lives up to its name - it is on the Top of the World. If I had done this drive at the beginning of the trip, I would think it was even more awesome but we have seen a LOT of beautiful scenery. Dawson City is kind of like a Hollywood set of a gold rush town.
Comments from Larry: More pot holes and more pot holes - what else is there to say? I need a nap.

Tonight we have Internet, but no cell phone service. Weird. Now we have to catch up again. Tuesday in Valdez, we went sight seeing, bought some groceries, did some laundry, and had tacos and margaritas for supper with Steve & Julie (from Colorado). Nice people to be with. At the mouth of a stream, we saw sea lions gorging on salmon that were running upstream. What an easy way to get dinner! On Wednesday we stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It is the largest national park in the country. Also, very remote and has no facilities. There are 2 roads that go into the park. We took one of the roads for 34 miles while it was still paved. When you reach the gravel road, a sign says "Drive at your own risk - beware of railroad spikes in the road." Obviously, it used to be railroad before being abandoned. The ranger suggested going a few miles further because the Natives are salmon fishing with their fishing wheels. When salmon goes in the wheel, they become in the trapped in a tank. Later all a person has to do is net them out of the tank. Not too much action while we were there, but it was interesting. Today we traveled about 3 hours to Chicken. Just a little burg with an RV park, a bar, a retaurant and a couple gift shops. We are traveling the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City, Yukon. Part gravel road today - tomorrow will be all gravel road the 110 miles to Dawson City. You have to drive through Yukon and British Columbia to get to the southern Alaska coast (which is where we are headed to get on the marine highway). The weather was hot yesterday afternoon, but today we are back in sweatshirts.
Comments from Eldon: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is the size of 6 Yellowstones - the largest in the country and very under used. I'm glad we stopped there, most people don't. The ghost town of Chitina is at the end of the paved park road - it's trying to make a comeback but I don't think so! Today I learned to love pot holes. I don't have to worry about hitting wild life in the road - I only drive 25-2-30 mph. Today in the bar in Chicken, I met a prospector. So far this summer he has mined $15,000 in gold. He scuba dives to get it and uses dredging machinery, so not an easy job. I would think about claim jumping but too many guns in holsters. It is illegal to take your gun in the bar though - you have to give it to the bartender. Good rule!
Comments from Larry: Too many potholes - what are these people doing to me? I couldn't even take a nap today. The only chickens in Chicken are in the gift shop. The miners named it Chicken because they couldn't spell Ptarmigan.

Friday - lost my connection last night and could never get back on. We are now in Dawson City. Connection is too slow to do pictures. Another good day on the road though!

We haven't had Internet access for a while. Let's see if we can remember what we've done! On the way out of Seward, we stopped at the Exit Glacier. You can get really close to it via a 2 mile walk. We then drove back up the Kenai Peninsula (still a beautiful drive) and stopped in Hope and Whittier. Hope is an old gold mining town. Not much there but their teeny, weeny library was having a book sale, so I picked up a few books. The librarian grew up in Detroit. Whittier was more interesting. Before 2000, you could only get there by train. Now you can drive there, but you drive on the train track. The 2.5 mile train tunnel is open to one way traffic every hour. As soon as you drive out of the train tunnel, you are in Whittier. A big cruise ship was in, so the small town was packed. Most of the people live in a building the military built during World War II. Interesting, but I wouldn't want to live there. We stopped at the Portage Glacier on the way out of Whittier. We have now seen so many glaciers, we no longer stop! We are now in Valdez. The drive here was absolutely stunning. Every time we think we have seen the most beautiful part of Alaska - there is more. The drive to Valdez through the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains was spectacular. Great views and waterfalls. Slow driving due to twists and turns and the dreaded frost heaves in the road, but definitely worth the drive. We are camped on the water watching the fishing boats come and go. It is a busy, working port - this is the end of the pipeline. You may remember, Valdez had a big oil spill in 1989. The fishing has recovered. Valdez was wrecked by the 1964 earthquake too. Hmmm, maybe not a good town to live in? Oh yea, as we were leaving the camp site for supper to celebrate Eldon's birthday, the people we met in Jasper from Colorado pulled in. They went to dinner with us. I guess it is a small world (in a big state.)

Comments from Eldon: When I left home, I was expecting Denali to be unbeatable for views, wildlife and Alaska ambience. But the drive to Valdez through Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was even more beautiful. We saw a number of glaciers to the point we have stopped taking pictures of them. The waterfalls matched any I've ever seen. Not in power like Niagara Falls, but in beauty. Our camp site is on the bay in Prince William Sound. There are bunnies all over the place, fish jumping in the bay and across the bay are snow covered mountains. We had a Venetian Parade past our camp site last night as the fishing boats were leaving. This trip has made it my best birthday ever.

Comments from Larry: I think if I lived in Alaska, I might choose Valdez. Last night I chased rabbits. I didn't want to catch one though - what would I do with a rabbit? They are pretty big. When the rabbits bored me, I watched the fish jump. Ahhhh, what a life.

Seward is another cute little Alaskan town. Last night we went on the evening wildlife/glacier cruise. We were lucky enough to see some killer whales. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice. Also, we saw sea otters up close and puffins, eagles, sea lions, porpoise, and mountain goats. Today we are going to the Alaska Maritime Center and the Exit glacier and then heading down the road toward Hope. Such a hard life we lead!

Comments from Eldon: Once again, the whales didn't cooperate posing for pictures. But at least I finally saw whole whales. I've grown to like sea otters the best. They have a great sense of humor and enjoy eating & floating on their backs. Wait a minute - I could be a sea otter.

Comments from Larry: The Seward campground is quiet and almost dog free except for one weiner dog. I think I could take him.

We stayed in Homer 4 nights. We went halibut fishing yesterday - what a fun day. We left at 6:30 a.m. & returned at 5:00 p.m. The weather was perfect. Alaska Bay was calm, the weather was warm, and the boat crew guys were fun. The pictures tell the rest.............We enjoyed Homer's small town 4th of July parade. No fireworks though - it doesn't get dark enough! We watched the parade with our friends from Texas. We have run into them so many times it is ridiculous! I told them they are stalking us. Also, gave them some halibut - our little freezer is full of fish. Now we head for Seward.

Comments from Eldon: The Kenai peninsula is probably the most beautiful part of Alaska. You get mountains, oceans, active volcanoes and woods all in one campground. Every time I turn a corner, this state continues to amaze me. Fishing was fun. I caught 7 halibut. There is 2 halibut limit, but you can keep throwing them back until you have your 2 favorites in the box. When you have your 2 in the box, you are done. The crew advised throwing the small ones back early, in hopes of catching bigger ones. It's pretty hard throwing back a 15 pound fish, but we did end up with about 100 pounds from our 4 fish in the round. Sea otters were sun bathing by the boat, eagles were soaring above and an active volcano was belching smoke; who could ask for better fishing scenery.

Comments from Larry: Did they say eagles? I can't hunt because I have to keep my eyes to the sky. They are BIG birds. The golden eagle in the picture was way to close for my comfort level.

We are now in Kenai in the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage. We drove through Anchorage, but didn't stay there. The Kenai is where the native Alaskans go for their vacations and fishing. Kenai is where the Kenai River flows in to Cook Inlet which flows into Alaska Bay (Pacific Ocean). We are on a beach - feels good - 59 degrees though. Nine months ago, we were on a beach in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The beaches are 5, 100 miles apart. Are we lucky people or what? We have seen so much more of the U.S. and Canada than we ever dreamed we would. We think we are going salmon fishing tomorrow, but waiting for a call back. Last night we stayed in Portage near glaciers. The pictures are of last night's camp site and tonight's camp site. We will head on down the peninsula to Homer. It sounds like a good town to celebrate the 4th of July.

Comments from Eldon: Since my last comment, I have fished therefore I am. I went fly fishing with a guide and a guy from Drummond Island. We used a drift raft and did a lot of portaging and walking the raft through shallows. It turned out to be a real job because the current was fast and the rocks were slippery. The beauty of the trip, besides learning a lot about casting, I caught and landed a 13" rainbow trout. She was small but most beautiful. It was definitely worth going and good views too. The fish are native to the mountain streams not planted.

Comments from Larry: I had my own stream near a glacier last night - one of my favorite places so far. I didn't catch any fish though. Tonight we are on a beach, but too many people around. Beluga whales are spotted here, in fact we are staying at the Beluga Lookout Campground, but we have spotted any yet. I sure would like to catch a whale!