Hello, People (Family and Friends)

Hello again, my friends;

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last wrote anything here.

Well, I tried to retire in 2011, 2012, but in 2013 I finally did it! May 7th, 2013 was the date. I retired with the idea of travelling, travelling, travelling!!! Instead, I spent the summer lazying around the local campsites, reading, getting some enjoyable sunshine, instead of sleeping all day and working all night. What a magnificent time. A short walk during the daylight was so beneficial, communing with nature, taking pictures with my camera, meeting new people, just plain enjoying being alive.

This summer looks like more of the same, except that I hope to be adding painting to my repetoire. Yes, painting in watercolours, and acrylics, with some coloured pencils thrown in. This winter has been slow and easy, watching the tube, learning some new methods for putting colour on paper. Now it's almost time to give up the procrastination and get to work. Yes, procrastination, the bane of many a person's ambitions.

It is so easy to just let the day go by, without doing a blinking thing constructive. I am looking at the future and know that this has to be put away. April is almost upon us, spring is here, and the camping season is almost upon us. I am really looking forward to this summer, getting out into nature again, and following the birds, squirrels and flowers as they mature from eggs, and seeds to maturity in all their glory. My camera will be busy and hopefully my paint brushes will be worn down to their ferrules.

Keep in touch folks, and follow a rebirth of an old retired man as he rebuilds his life. Please leave comments if you like what you read. Sorry there are no photos for this post, but keep watching here for the rebirth of "The Yukoner".

New life begins!!

Well, friends and relatives, my new life has begun! I quit the job, purchased all the vehicle licenses, insurances, paid for electricity for my apartment for about 8 months, rent for 4 months and just have to winterize my apartment for the time that I'm away. Then it'll be "On The Road Again"!!!!!. Willie sure knew what he was singing about.

I have worked hard to make this time a reality and now is the time to initiate the plan. "The Plan" you say? It is to travel our country's roads and photograph our nation as we see it everyday and just pass it off as the same as it was the last time. Is it really or does it change every time we pass that way? I want to take a photo recording of those places and events that we take for granted every day.

This is a view which we don't see every day, an absolutely beautiful sunrise in Whitehorse. The colours alone make the scene unforgetable. The Yukon River looking south, an indelible image on the brain. I haven't had much time this summer to take photos like this that represent our territory here in the northwest of Canada.

I hope to include shots like this in each blog that I publish this trip. Look forward to the best I have to offer in this blog to all my family and friends as I travel this great land of ours. Have a great day everyone!

On The Road Again!

Well, it's that time of year again (Brrr, Winter) and this old boy is getting ready to quit the job and hit the road again. After 67 winters in my life, I decided to become a Snowbird! This year, I'm going where the birds go to stay warm, the Southern USA. Not quite sure where I'll roost for the winter, but a long roadtrip is definitely in the near future.
A friend in South America is dealing with the big "C" word, yes, Cancer, and I'm going down to support my friend through the medical procedures. I'll be there for a few weeks, but I will be back for that roadtrip I mentioned sometime in December.
As I am writing this post at work during my spare time, I don't have any photos to add this time, but I will add some Yukon scenery to my next post from home. Although I have been working way too much this summer to take many photos of our so excellent territory, I have managed to shoot a few worthy shots when I could. So stay tuned occasionally to this station, and keep abreast of the latest news from the roadbound traveller.
Have a wonderful day.
The Yukoner

Back In The Yukon

Well, family and friends, I'm back home again and all that entails, unpacking, and returning to work. My trip home was an interesting one. I started off with the idea of visiting Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, and Jasper, with a short stop to visit a long time friend in Hinton, Alberta. Boy, how plans can change! Missing my turnoff in Cranbrook, BC, to go to Banff, I decided to travel all the way to Lethbridge instead. The trip there was spectacular, with many opportunities to take photos of some of the scenery along the route.

Leaving Lethbridge, I decided to visit some RV dealerships to try to find a small camper trailer to spend most of the summer living in. Guess what...by the time I arrived in Edmnton, I discovered that no dealer carries any that I could afford without going into several thousand dollars in debt, which I am not eager to do. Finally a salesman gave me a suggestion - to look up kijiji.com for what I wanted where I was located.

As a consequence, I dragged a small 15' Travel Aire camper trailer home behind my van. A tiny bit of fix-it-up and it's almost as good as new. Now I can hardly wait to haul it into the country and set it up for a trial run just for the heck of it, only problem being that white stuff which is everywhere here in the north, and as of supper time last night has been getting deeper by the hour. Ah well, there's always spring just around the corner, after corner, after corner, etc.

Travel Adventures of The Yukoner

Hello, again, blog readers;
It has been a wonderful two weeks since I last wrote here. After being rained on in Juneau, snowed on in Haines, and almost frozen in Whitehorse, I decided to go down to the 48th parallel near Vancouver, BC. Abbotsford/Aldergrove was my destination. I decided to visit my children and their families. Surprise, surprise, my daughter-in-law's baby decided to make an appearance, seven weeks early!
Born on January 22nd, 2012, Kaleb Alexander Lang weighed 4 pounds, 1.5 ounces, fully developed and very healthy. Although his mother was discharged from the hospital on January 25th, he was sentenced to stay at the hospital until he has gained enough weight to be legal in a carseat, minimum five pounds. (Maybe they should feed him some McD's burgers and fries...HaHa).
I was also available to attend my 3rd grandson's (Ethan) 11th birthday dinner at his parent's new house. All in all, a fortuitous trip!
While here, I'm also taking advantage of the cost reductions to fix my car up, for it to last a few more kilometers safely. Windshield, tires, headlight lenses, oil change, all in a good cause, safe driving, day or night.
I wanted to check out what was available in Bellingham and had to go through the Peace Arch Crossing. It took about ten minutes and the agent was polite and let me through without a lot of flack which some are prone to do.
After some late lunch and a quick trip through WalMart, I returned to Abbotsford by the Sumas-Huntingdon Crossing. Today a quick trip to Sumas for gas and lunch, then back home. Gas in Sumas was $3.53 a gallon. What a saving!!!

Well, last night, I wanted some Japanese sushi for supper and upon entering the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to discover one of the cooks was a friend who used to work at my hotel restaurant. I spent a nice evening conversing with the staff and drinking Sake, one of my favourites. I really look forward to returning there again while I am here.
That's all for now. Watch for the next episode of the travels of the Yukoner!

Haines & Over the top

Hello again. I have now arrived in Haines, Alaska, after a three hour delay because the Gyrometer on the ferry was not working and had to be repaired. The trip was uneventful with light following seas and a tail wind to boot. You could see whitecaps out on the water and the ferry had a slight roll but all-in-all, a great trip on the water. After unloading at the Haines Terminal, I headed out to the Chilkoot Park area to see if any of the grizzly bears were still around.

The picture shows the ones in which I was interested. They must have gone into hibernation as none were to be seen. I returned to Haines and found the city had been buried in the snow storm of Friday night when we came through on the ferry. After having supper, I found my camping spot for the night. Saturday morning, after breakfast, I took my leave of Haines and started up the highway back to Canada. I saw many eagles like this one watching for their opportunity to catch breakfast.

There is much competition amongst the visiting eagles for the salmon going up the river to spawn at this time of the year. More than 6000 eagles visit this hunting ground for the feed of fish which is available. From the beginning of November until the end of February, the salmon stock come into the Chilkat River to spawn.

This cow moose was trying to hide but there was enough open spaces between the trees to get a good image with my camera. She's very photogenic, isn't she? It's a good thing it wasn't hunting season. Just after I passed the highest part of the highway, I found this cross fox hunting for his breakfast, probably an Arctic Ground Squirrel, which burrows it's way under the snow looking for ripened grass seeds. 
I also had the opportunity to watch a grader/snowblower team clearing some of the snow from the highway as shown in the next photo. A highly efficient method of snow removal.

I will be leaving later this week for the rest of my winter trip. Hopefully I will be back about the beginning of February to follow the Yukon Quest 2012.

First Part of January Journey

Whitehorse to Skagway, Skagway to Haines and then to Juneau, six and a half hours of ferry ride in a snowstorm and the pouring rain. The nice part of the trip was from Whitehorse in the early morning with the sunrise coming in over the snowcapped mountains. It was sure pretty seeing the sun hit the tops of the mountains.(Photo included)

I took the ferry from Skagway to Juneau, by way of Haines. The view from the ferry was hampered by the snow storm through which we travelled. Haines, Alaska, was lost in the storm as we approached the dock. The crew of the ferry was careful and thorough. The approach was perfectly performed, the landing soft and accurate. Once we had left Haines, the trip moved into the darkness and as we travelled closer to Juneau,the weather warmed and the snow turned to heavy rainfall.

Arriving in Juneau, the rainstorm continued throughout the night and all of Saturday. I managed to take a few photos of the Governor's Mansion during the day and evening from my motel room. It is so hard to find my way around the inner part of the town because the traffic control patterns are very diversionary, little sections disembodied from the other parts of the inner city.

The shopping center of the inner city has narrow streets and little parking areas, apart from a large parking garage just off the downtown core.

This will be a long trip through Alaska at a time when most tourists stay home, apart from the hardy tourists who are at home in the snow, cold, and wind. I look forward to seeing Alaska in her hardest time of the year. Much happens in the far north of the 60th parallel that we don't see too much of, skiing, mushing, snowmobilling, and of course, staying warm in front of a blazing fireplace.
This day is coming to a close as bedtime is nearly here. 4am start tomorrow, ferry to Haines, should be a great day!
So long for now.