September 12, 2012

Well, our blog is coming to a close. We arrived back in Bismarck yesterday about 5:00.  I must say it is wonderful to be home.  Now it is to unpack, do laundry, yard ... well you get the picture.  We are so thankful that all went well with no problems.  We saw an enormous amount of beautiful scenery, museums, and the good old outdoors.  We are going to enjoy that king salmon and halibut soon. Will have to find some great recipes.  God Bless. Gerry and Kathy

Friday, September 7, 2012
Day 31

Well, our adventure is almost to an end.We have toured the Redwoods and have also had a great time in the Napa/Sonoma wine valley and San Francisco.  We were able to see some great wineries and the beautiful vineyards.

Hugging the Redwoods.

I got a chance to experience the breadth of these giant trees.

We spent an afternoon touring the Benziger winery.  Took a tram through the vineyards.

Inside the cave where the barrels are stored. It is 63 degrees. Some of the barrels cost $1700 a piece.  They are solid oak barrels.  I can understand why bottles of good wine are so expensive.

Going across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco.

I made sure we went to Ghirardeli square.  Had some great chocolate.

At the center for Performing Arts in San Francisco.

Nephew, Sean, drove down this winding road in San Francsico.  Lombard Road.

Nephew Sean and his girlfriend, Monica. We are at Twin Peaks overlooking San Francisco. Sean was our tour guide. He did a great job.

We had a great dinner at a Portuguese restaurant with Sean and Monica. Monica speaks Portuguese and is from Peru so she knew exactly what to order.  It was fun and a great meal.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we head to Reno and then will begin our journey back to Bismarck. It has been a great trip but are ready to return to the quiet life in Bismarck.  Gerry and Kathy

Monday, September 4, 2012
Day 27

We have spent the past two days traveling the Oregon coastline. Very scenic.  The fellow at the information center told us about a scenic drive one could take to a neat town called Oceanside.  Well, he forgot to tell us about the hairpin turns and the fact that when you arrived you couldn't drive through most of it pulling an RV.  So, we had to try and turn our vehicle around.  Gerry was not too happy about this.  I guess he thought I had directed him to go this way. hmmm ???  Anyway, we have taken our time. Spent a half day at Astoria. Took a trolley ride and spent some time at a craft outdoor fair with lots of fruits and vegetables and good food.

The trolley we rode in Astoria.

All of the garbage cans were decorated with fish that can be caught in Astoria.  I thought they were cool.

This is at a lookout on the Oregon coastline.  Quite windy at this location.

We stayed in Pacific City last night.  We saw all these kids carrying these small boards.  We were at the beach this morning and realized they were boarding on the sand dunes.  We saw lots of sand dunes and some were huge. Thought of Kendra and Marni as they both snowboard. They would have had a great time here.

Pacific City is known for the dory boats. When they come in from fishing they run the boats right up onto the beach.  There were many out in the water.  Then they just drive their pickup to the boat and load them.

Gerry enjoying a view of the Pacific.

A view of a giant spruce.
We stopped at a fish market and bought scallops and shrimp.  Gerry grilled them for dinner with fresh corn on the cob. We are heading for the Redwoods, wine valley, and then to San Francisco to spend a day with nephew Sean and his girlfriend Monica.  We look forward to these next days.  Gerry and Kathy

Saturday, August 31, 2012

We have spent the last 3 days traveling from Alaska through British Columbia.  We have not had cell phone service until today so was glad as I was able to talk to children, grandchildren, and siblings to celebrate my birthday.  We have not taken many pictures but did see a grizzly and black bear along the highway.

Am glad this grizzly didn't want to visit us.

This black took to the shrubs as soon as I took out my camera.

Gerry made a nice campfire as he cooked burgers.

As we get closer to the lower 48 it nice to be able to buy a newspaper.  I guess we are so spoiled as we take it for granted that a newspaper is delivered to your door each day.  Papers are flown in, so if a place does get a paper, it doesn't get there until about 3 in the afternoon.  Most places have none.  I find it interesting that you can buy an espresso everywhere but no paper.  And of course with tv not available in most areas, no newspapers, and just occasional internet, I really miss what is happening in the world. Gerry likes to give me a bad time, but hey I am a news junkie. What can I say??  

We are working our way to Washington, Oregon, and northern California.  We are looking forward to the coastline, the Sequoias and the Redwoods, and of course the wine area.  In San Francisco we are hoping to connect with nephew Sean and his girlfriend, Monica.  Gerry says we are stopping in Reno.  Maybe he wants to win back some of the money this trip has cost. HA

Great day. Good birthday.  Love Gerry and Kathy

An update. As I was trying to send the blog I did tonight it didn't appear that it was sent properly so will try again.  Hope it works. Kathy

Tuesday, August 28, 2012  Day 21

Gerry viewing an iceberg in Columbia Bay

We have now left Alaska and are about an hour into Canada along the Alaskan highway.  We have the bad roads again with all the frost heaves so we travel about 40 miles an hour.  We have another 100 miles on the rough roads tomorrow and then the roads should be a lot better.  We arrived in Valdez on Sunday evening in thick fog and rain.  You couldn't see the mountains from the campground.  It was also rainy on Mon. morning but we decided to take the glacier cruise anyway, and once again we were fortunate as the weather cleared, the sun came out, and we were closer to the glaciers than the ship had ever been.  We were able to see calving (ice breaking from the glacier) and hear the thunder of the glacier.

The Columbia Glacier

As we were cruising some Dall's porpoises came near and kept swimming along side and in front of our cruise ship.  They look like a small orca whale.  They kept swimming, diving, and traveled with us for quite awhile.  It was really fun to watch.  

The Steller sea lions were basking in the sun.  They have a loud boisterous bellowing sound.

This cute bunny was by our cruise ship as we were getting ready to depart.   Just had to snap a picture.

Valdez receives so much snow in the winter (about 25 to 26 ft.) that they need to put up these pole markers for the snow plows to find the road.  

It has been fun receiving e-mails from so many of you.  Keeps away the homesickness that I (Kathy) get from time to time.  We are now heading for some time in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Friday we left Homer.  On our way to Seward we stopped at the Russian River, Cooper Landing.  We walked down to an area where there were hundreds of red salmon.  The water had a red glow.

                              Red salmon at the Russian River.

 Seward is a beautiful town nestled in the mountains on Resurrection Bay.   In fact it is probably the most beautiful place we have stayed at in Alaska.  We are camping at Seward Military Resort.  It was a former military base that has been turned into a campground with all the luxuries.  Today, Saturday, we drove out to Exit Glacier.  We hiked out to the edge of the glacier. There were warning signs about black and brown bears. We didn't have our bear spray with us.  Others did as well as their bells.

At the top of our hike which was the edge of Exit Glacier.

The hiking trail was marked with signs that gave the year where the glacier had been.  It shows how much the glacier has receded over the years.

We spent some time at the Alaska Sea Life Center.  Gerry is watching the sea lions.

A view of Seward.  Lots of shopping and good eating places.

If you look closely you will see the path that endurance runners ascend each 4th of July.  It is grueling and the fastest time to go up and down is 43 minutes.  A fellow we talked to said the medics wait at the bottom as the runners come down hurt and bloodied.  One runner was never found from this last summer.  Certainly was not on our list of things to do.

A view of the harbor.  Lots of beautiful boats.
Tomorrow we leave for Valdez. Plan to take a cruise among the glaciers.  All is well.  We plan to be in Alaska for 3 days and then will begin our journey to California.  Gerry and Kathy