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.

Trying Once Again!!

Dear folks;
I wrote about my European trip, and then crashed and burned... I stopped writing for no other reason than procrastination. Well, here I am again, apologetic and soulful. I don't promise to not miss a day, to forget to write or be here at all times, but I do promise to do my best...MY BEST...to keep up this blog on a regular basis. No New Years resolutions to set my life by, and then break.
Why is it that we must always make promises to do this, or that, and then we disappoint someone or other when we don't accomplish what we promised. Does that mean we are not trustworthy, or just incapable of living up to our promises, or of other peoples' expectations of us?

As of January 1st, 2012, I am retired from working for someone else. I won't be like many other people who retire and then travel to their heart's content, but, I will travel about the Yukon and close areas doing my photography of local events, the environment and the animals as they appear.

As I write this blog tonight, I am thinking about my future endeavours. It's just possible that I may be able to do my photography with enough skill to have people purchase my photographs as souvenirs to support myself with my craft. I love the world around me and it is my goal to portray it with a passion that stands out to other people.
Another of the activities which I will attempt is the challenge of two things, both in the health issues which I have - losing weight and quit smoking.
But this is the New Year! No chicken hatching before it's time.

I have included a few photos which have been taken this past year. I won't bore you with any from my European trip, but instead hope to wow! you with some new Yukon and Alaska ones which brought me great pleasure, mainly the animals and views of this beautiful territory. I hope you will be impressed enough to plan a visit to our wonderful part of the continent.