Cathy & Jan's Travels: July 2010

Eldred Rock Lighhouse - South of Skagway

After reaching the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington State, we parked our 5th wheel in an Escapees RV Club CO-OP Park and left out of Seattle on a Norwegian cruise ship thru the Alaska Inside Passage. We enjoyed a rather relaxing trip since we did not sign up for any of the (sometimes very tiring) on-shore excursions. Jan had located the coordinates of all possible lighthouses along the way and used a GPS device that listed the speed of the ship, how far away each lighthouse was, and in what direction to look for it. So, on the way, we arranged our meals and activities around making sure that we did not miss one (except for those that we could not see at night).

Our ports of call were Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, & Prince Rupert, BC. We disembarked the ship in each place and strolled thru the towns. In Skagway we visited the Klondike National Historic Site where we got the passport stamp and listened to a talk on the Volunteer Fire Department (quite interesting to us since we had both been volunteers back in Texas). The Ranger there was being transferred to the National Park Service site on Guam (a place that we probably will never get to for a passport stamp). Cathy visited the quilt shops in all ports (except in Prince Rupert which did not have one) looking for and finding Alaska themed fabric. One of the highlights on the trip was seeing the Dawes Glacier in the Endicott Fjord.

After this trip and a few days of rest we rented a car and drove 800 miles around the Olympic peninsula. Some of the highlights were:

Taking photographs of 10 lighthouses. One was on the northwestern tip of the continental US at Cape Flattery and we also climbed the tallest lighthouse in Washington (Grays Harbor in Westport, WA)
Driving up 18 miles and a 5,230 ft gain in elevation in Olympic National Park to Hurricane Ridge to see beautiful mountain tops.
Hiking in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park to see the lush green forest plants.
Driving by the beautiful Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park
Driving along the Pacific coastline
Visiting the communities of Forks and La Push. These are the main locations for the Twilight series novels (werewolves and vampires) that are especially popular with teenage girls today. There are an estimated 3,000 people that come to these small communities every month to see the places mentioned in the novels (such as the high school, hospital, police station, some of the main characters homes, and First Beach). We drove around and took photos of the main places (plus a lighthouse keepers home that was converted to a school in La Push) and sent them to our teenage granddaughter.

We had heard that the way to see the real Alaska is to go by ferry. The ferry goes at a much more relaxed pace, stops at places the cruise ships don’t go to, and sails thru much more of the inside passage in British Columbia. So, after a week’s rest we took our 5th wheel to Bellingham, WA and left it at an RV friend’s house. The next day they drove us to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal where we started our 2 week ferry adventure back to Alaska (without a vehicle). The first leg of the journey took over 2 days aboard the Columbia ferry. We could not get reservations for a stateroom and were planning to sleep in the passenger seats. We could have also taken a tent and pitched it (tied down with duct tape) on the top decks (which many do, but we decided against it). Fortunately, we signed up on the standby list & were paged for the last 2-person stateroom which made sleeping much more comfortable.

With the only scheduled activity onboard being a few short talks by a National Forest Ranger, there was plenty of time to sit and watch the beautiful scenery, scan for signs of whales, read a book, talk with other passengers, and (of course in our case) look for and photo lighthouses. What a different and more relaxing experience than on a cruise ship!

We got off the ferry in the small community of Wrangell. While there, we had time to walk around the town and talk with local folks and get a much better idea of what life is like up in Alaska. After spending a restful night in a B&B there, we boarded the Taku ferry for a four hour ride thru the beautiful Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. After leaving the ferry we spent the rest of the day walking thru town and, of course, Cathy visited the quilt shop in town. Our B&B for the night was very convenient since it was only about a block away from the ferry terminal & we had a great view of the waterfront and eagles diving for fish,

The next morning, we boarded the Fairweather (a high speed catamaran ferry) and enjoyed the smooth four hour ride to Juneau. After spending a day of rest in Juneau, we flew in a small plane to Gustavus (the Glacier Bay National Park headquarters) for two nights at the Glacier Bay Lodge. The highlight of our stay there was going on a day long boat ride into Glacier Bay National Park (narrated by a Park Ranger) to see three tidal glaciers (those that end in ocean waters) plus wildlife (whales, sea otters, bear, seals, puffins, etc.). We also enjoyed nightly talks by a National Park Ranger at the visitor center located right in the lodge. The next day we flew in another small plane thru a beautiful mountain pass back to Juneau where we spent the rest of the day driving around the Juneau area visiting a quilt shop, seeing the great Mendenhall Glacier, and other sites.

The next day, since there was no scheduled ferry, we flew to Sitka and spent 2 days in this delightful historic community (not yet impacted too much by the cruise industry). Sitka at one time was the capital of Russian America and the influence of the Russian and native cultures are still quite evident (notable Russian buildings are the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Michael in the center of town & the Bishop’s House. The National Park Service operates the very good Sitka National Historic Park which includes a lot of the history plus a totem pole park.

As all things must come to an end, the day arrived for us to board the ferry (The Columbia again) for our 3 day and night trip back to Bellingham. We had managed to reserve a stateroom for the 3 nights and enjoyed the relaxing ride back to Bellingham.

The weather on both of our trips to Alaska in May and June was normal for this area (a tropical rainforest). A good bit of the time it was quite cool, overcast and cloudy with intermittent rain. But we did have a few great days when the sun was out and then the scenery was especially beautiful. The ferries and the cruise ship did not take the same routes and so we were able to add 24 lighthouses to our photo collection (bringing our grand total to 568).

After the ferry trip, we took it easy for a few days visiting with friends in Bellingham and for Jan to have and recover from a hernia operation in Bellingham. Fortunately, one of our college friends was a doctor who had practiced in Bellingham and he recommended the surgeon to us. All went well with the surgery and we were released to continue our travels after 2 weeks.

We are now in Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We plan to tour what is known as 'The Island' for 4 weeks before returning to the states. In a few weeks, after we get back into the US, we will put out another update which will cover some of our recent experiences (including one very close call with our 5th wheel). Until then, enjoy the following photos.

Sleeping Sea Otter

A sea otter "raft"

Green Island Lighthouse - In British Columbia (just below the Alaska border)

Green archway in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park

Moss covered phone in the Hoh Rain Forest

Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park

A Tuffed Puffin in Glacier Bay

A brown 'black' bear lumbering along the shore in Glacier Bay

Dawes Glacier in Endicott Fjord

Mendenhall Glacier (north of Juneau)

Floating ice that calved from glacier

Side channel off of the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg

Our cruise ship with the Seattle Space Needle in background

Badlands National Park in South Dakota

After a long break in our travels we are back traveling and exploring North America. Right now we are in Bellingham, Washington. In order to bring you up to date, we will split this into 2 updates:

This one – our travels up to the Olympic peninsula area in the northwest.
The second one (in 2 weeks) – Our 2 trips to Alaska (cruise and on the Alaska Marine Ferry) plus our visit to Olympic National Park.

Here is what has happened since the beginning of 2009 (with some photos included below):

In April we were in Louisiana on our way to the east coast when we were diverted to the Austin Texas area to help Cathy’s brother David. With no warning, he developed a brain tumor and needed someone to help him since he lived alone and his daughter lives in London. For the next 9 months we lived in our rig parked on his driveway.
In January this year, when his condition worsened, we moved him into an assisted living facility. With help from Cathy’s sister and other brother (who fortunately also live in the Austin area) we got his house ready to sell, disbursed his furniture etc., and fortunately completed the sale of the house by the 1st of March.
We left David’s sister and other brother to help with his doctor’s visits etc. and we drove to Dickinson (close to Houston) for a month set aside for our annual doctor checkups etc.
After camping a few days at the Escapees RV park in Livingston, TX (our “home base” address) we headed to McKinney (north of Dallas) to spend a month with our daughter’s family and grandkids plus help with major house repairs (like putting on a new roof on an addition).
Finally, on April 8th we hitched up and started this year’s trek to the northwest.

Our first major goal was to be in Idaho for an RV rally with other owners of New Horizons 5th wheels and travel trailers. On the way, we visited with Jan’s brother in Kansas City and stopped at the following National Park Service sites:

Buffalo National River in Arkansas
Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota (This is where the Native Americans did [and still do today] quarry for the special stone used to make peace pipes).
Missouri National Scenic River in Nebraska
Niobrara National Scenic River (plus Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge) in Nebraska
Badlands National Park in South Dakota
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in Wyoming/Montana
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming
Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho

The RV rally in Mountain Home, Idaho was a great time to learn RVing tips, reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. The best part (as it has been with previous rallies) was when we have open house and get to visit each other’s RVs to see how their home on wheels is configured. Each RV (5th wheel or travel trailer) is unique and was custom made in Junction City, KS . They only problem we had were the north cold winds which seemed to blow almost all of the time.

After the rally we headed to the Olympic peninsula in Washington State with a stop in Kennewick, Washington to photo a brand new functional lighthouse on the Columbia River – this was the 1st lighthouse we had seen in over a year. We then settled in at the Escapees COHO Evergreen Co-op RV park in Chimacum, Washington.

We plan to visit Vancouver Island for a month and then meander down the Pacific Coast to San Diego (of course seeing lighthouses). Then we will head east thru the Grand Canyon (north rim) and Canyon de Chelly on our way back to Texas for the winter.