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!