Sunday, September 30, 2012
Gay Sept-29-12
7:49 AM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was another one of those days that we didn’t feel like doing anything, just plain lazy and no energy. We read, watched some TV and then we got a call from Nikki that Coz was up so we headed over to their place for lunch. Coz has to work tonight so he slept late today. After lunch we show Coz and Nikki how to play Hand, Knee and Foot. We only had time to play one game as Coz needed to take a nap before he went to work. We were going to do some brats on the grill but no one was hungry so we decided to wait and have them tomorrow. I was feeling really tired so Cheri and I headed back to the 5th wheel. We watched a couple of TV shows we had recorded. I had trouble staying awake so we headed to bed early and I tried to watch the rest of the Wisconsin football game. I fell asleep before the 4th quarter started. I don’t know why we have been so tired lately, hope we get over it soon as we have cleaning and washing of the truck, 5th wheel and motorcycle that needs to get done.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Gay Sept-28-12
8:22 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
OK, today the temp is supposed to get up to 71 degrees. Well Coz & Nikki and Cheri and I had a motorcycle ride planned for 10:00 am. So it was only 54 degrees when we left. We were headed over to Cambria to have a bacon cheese burger at the Dump Bar and Grill. We were there last year and it was soooooo good that we had to go back. On the way we stopped by our old house in Friesland, it looked the same as when we sold it eight years ago, only change was the tree were bigger. We arrived at the Dump about 11:30 am. Cheri got cold on the first part of the ride and the rest of us were fine, we did dress for the ride. By the time we got there it was already 60 degrees with a lot of sunshine. After our delicious burger it was time to work our way back home. We arrived around 2:00 pm, 100 miles later and then it was time to get ready and head up to Appleton for a car show that was to have 400 cars on display. We planned on meeting Kenny and Trish Nimocks. Kenny and I have been friends for around 50 years. We checked out a few cars and then went to a Bar and Grill for supper and catching up on what we all have been doing the last two years. Later we visited while looking at all the cars. Before we headed home we went to the parking lot to see Kenny’s 1937 Chevrolet coupe. He has worked on it for many years and finally has it done so he can drive and enjoy it. It was around 9:30 pm when we got home. Oh yes the temp did get up around 70 plus degrees and was a perfect evening to be with friends.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Gay Sept-27-12
7:53 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Cheri didn’t sleep very good last night and was very tired today. I on the other hand did have a good night’s sleep and feel more rested then the last few days. This forenoon I sat around and did some reading and did some cleaning on the motorcycle. Cheri worked on finishing all the laundry. This afternoon Coz and I went for a 75 mile motorcycle ride. A friend of his from work also went with us. We rode down to Teresa to get some fresh cheese curd and then to Brandon to pick up some steaks at the meat market to grill for supper, also got some beef sticks. We were going to be late getting back so Coz called Cheri to pick up Cece after school. The ride was on the cool side as it was only 60 degrees and not much sunshine. Coz and Cheri took Cece for her volley ball practice and then came and picked me up so I could put the motorcycle away for the night. Nikki got home a little after 5:00 pm and Coz got the grill out to do the steaks for supper. We didn’t stay long after supper because Cheri was tired and so was I after the bike ride.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Gay Sept-26-12
8:00 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was another lazy morning; we just can’t seem to find the energy to get anything done. The biggest thing we did this morning was get our application for absentee ballots filled out and ready to put in the mail. We have been making plans on see family and friends while we are here and have a few date filled. Coz called around 1:30 pm and said that he was up for the day and Nikki was home early from work. So we headed over and visited with them until it was time to go and watch Cece play volley ball. They played three games and Cece’s team won all three. Then we headed up to Pipe to have half price pizza at Capone’s. We found this bar and grill a couple of years ago and it has the best pizza around and on Wednesday nights pizza is half price. When we got back to Coz and Nikki’s we only stayed for a short time as Nikki had a 6:30 pm hair appointment. We did turn in early this evening as we were both tired. Maybe tomorrow we will have more energy to get some work done.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Gay Sept-25-12
8:29 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was near 7:00 am before I rolled out this morning. I guess it is from all the traveling and the late night last night. We are both tired today and just need to get caught up on our rest. I did get some computer work done and Cheri was busy doing laundry. I checked out getting our absentee ballots for the November election. Our printer has quit working and so I put them on a flash drive to take over to Coz and Nikki’s to print. Before lunch we headed out to find a new mattress, yes we bought a new one a few months ago and it turned out to be a bad investment as it has already broken down. I guess that is what I get for being cheap. Well this time I hope we are getting a good one, won’t get it until next week as it has to be made to fit in the bedroom. After we got done with that we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries. When we got home we had a late lunch and got ready for Nikki as she called this morning and said that she would be done work at 2:00 pm so we got to spend the afternoon with her. When she got here we sat down and watched Dancing with the Stars, couldn’t watch it last night because of the football game. At 5:00 pm we headed over to Nikki and Coz’s to see Coz before he headed for work. We had leftovers for dinner and then it was time to watch Dancing with the Stars. I slept through most of it. We got some e-mails from some of the caravan people letting us know that they got home safely.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Gay Sept-24-12
9:56 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
This morning after we got the 5th wheel somewhat ready to travel we took a break and had coffee with Greg and Jeanene. After coffee it was time to finish closing up the 5th wheel and head on down the road to Fond du Lac where we will be staying for two or three weeks. Thanks Greg and Jeanene for letting us camp in your driveway and also for all the good food and friendship. We arrived in Fond du Lac around 11:30 am and headed to the fairground office and paid for two weeks. It took a while to get things setup and will be nice to stay in one place for two or three weeks. The last time we stayed for more than a week was back at the end of July at just before we started our caravan. Nikki called this afternoon and has dinner plans for us at her place after she gets home from work. We did go over to Coz and Nikki’s around 4:30 pm so we could spend a little time with Coz before he left for work. After dinner we relaxed and watched the Monday night football game. We didn’t like the ending as the Packers should have won and we think it was a very bad call at the end of the game.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Gay Sept-23-12
3:37 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
At 7:30 am the four of us headed into Waupaca for breakfast and more visiting, and then we took a long ride out through the country side. We also made a stop to see Jeanene’s new horse. When we got back to Greg and Jeanene’s we were going to take a nice long walk and decided that it was just too cold and windy. We skipped lunch as we had such a big breakfast. We showed pictures of our Alaska trip and Jeanene show us pictures of her trip to the Holy Land. Jeanene fixed us chili for supper and then we rode into Waupaca for ice cream at DQ. When we got back to Greg and Jeanene’s we tried to watch a movie but after a half an hour Cheri and I decided we couldn’t stay awake so we headed out to the 5th wheel for the night. It is always a great day when you can spend it with friends.
Gay Sept-22-12
3:37 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We stayed at a Wal-Mart in Monticello MN. When we went in to find out if we could stay the night we stopped at the Subway shop and had a sandwich for supper. We both had a hard time getting to sleep as it was a 24 hour Wal-Mart and there were a lot of traffic coming and going, at times we thought we were in the middle of a race track. It was another cold and windy morning. As we traveled the temp did get up to 54 degrees. We pulled into Stevens Point at 1:30 pm to have a late lunch and only 25 miles to go to get to Greg and Jeanene Peterson’s. We try to spend a night or two every year with Greg and Jeanene, old friends from our Gold Wing days. Jeanene fixed us a wonderful dinner. The rest of the day was spent visiting and catching up. We don’t have any internet service to up load the blog so it will have to wait.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Cheri Sept-21-12
7:58 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We left at 7:30am thinking we were getting an early start only to find out ½ hour down the road we go through a time change. We are back in central time now. We will only have to give back 1 more hour now when we get back to Florida. In the last seven days we have given back three hours, nice to get them and not so nice to give them back.
We went through lots of construction and saw lots of oil rigs today. The day seemed to go a little bit easier today. We did 469 miles and are in Monticello, MN tonight in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Cheri Sept-20-12
9:33 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were all packed up and ready to leave at 9:30am. We took HWY 200 across Montana. There was little to see, just prairie, at least we were lucky to see 3 mule deer and about 50 antelope. I didn’t get any pictures of the animals because we flew by too fast.
We dropped down to HWY 200s and picked up Interstate 94 and sailed right along and into North Dakota. We drove 438 miles today.
We pulled into a Wal-Mart in Dickinson, North Dakota, grabbed a sub-sandwich for dinner and checked e-mail, and uploaded the blog.
One more day closer to Wisconsin!
Gay Sept-19-12
9:11 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I was up a little after 6:00 am and made a pot of coffee, first time we have had coffee in the morning as we have been on the road and didn’t take time to get the generator out. Cheri rolled out shortly after 7:00 am. She started a load of laundry and we headed down town for breakfast. Then we made a stop at a strip mall where Cheri got her hair cut. Then on to Wal-Mart to get a few things we were out of. We stopped back at the 5th wheel to drop off our purchases and then when to get the motorcycle out of storage. We couldn’t find the paper work on the storage facility and ended up going without it, no problem, they took care of us. On the way back we also stopped and filled the truck up with fuel. Cheri did two more loads of laundry and also did some cleaning. We are going to have a big cleaning job inside and outside the 5th wheel when we get back to Florida, lots of dust everywhere inside. It was after 6:00 pm before I got all my outside work done, and then I got the grill out and grilled up some brats and hotdogs. (Wonder why they call them hot dogs when they are cold when they go on the grill). We plan on heading for Wisconsin in the morning.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Cheri Sept-18-12
11:30 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were on the road by 6pm. We got to watch a beautiful sunrise this morning as we motored down the road. As soon as it got light and we could find a McDonalds where we could pull in we grabbed a cup of coffee and got the blog ready to upload and checked e-mails.
We traveled through Calgary. Everything went well. We were on the south side by 10am.
We happened upon an honest to goodness cattle drive. We were on a side road and they wanted to drive the cattle across the road to the pasture on the other side. The cowboys were all dressed in the chaps and western hats. They even had a cattle dog, driving the heard. It was fun to watch.
Some of our tour group had told us about Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump located about 10 miles off HWY 2 just before we got to the junction of HWY 2 & HWY 3. We spent 2 hours there. A long time ago, according to one legend, the people were driving buffalo over these cliffs. A young brave wanted to watch the buffalo tumbling past. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, as if behind a waterfall, he watched the great beasts fall. The hunt was unusually good that day and as the bodies piled up, he became trapped between the animals and the cliffs. When his people came to do the butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses. Thus, they named this place “Head Smashed In”. There is evidence of human activity in this region of North America for at least 11,000 yrs. This buffalo jump bear’s witness to a custom practiced by native people on the Great Plains for nearly 6,000 yrs. These communal bison hunts required much organization and special skills to lure buffalo from the gathering basin into the drive lanes and finally over the cliffs.
We watched the movie on this event and toured the wonderfully laid out museum. We also took the walk up to the cliff where the actually event happened. It was all so interesting.
Just as we got back on the road, we spotted a moose. The poor thing was lost and we found it! It was in a pasture wandering in some tall weeds right along the highway. I wanted another moose to add to my animal card and I got one.
We arrived at the border around 4pm. There was quite a backup so it took us about 20 minutes before we crossed over into the U.S.
The rest of our day was long. Our pretty trees were all gone and everything looked like dry prairie land. The last hour went by real slow but finally we arrived at our campground in Great Falls, MT at 6:30pm. We checked in, got set up and crashed. Tomorrow will be a busy day getting ready for our journey into Wisconsin.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Edmonton to Great Falls.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Cheri Sept-17-12
10:12 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
When we woke up this morning we found we had company. One of the couples from our caravan, Ron & Betty, had pulled in the wayside behind us. They offered to buy us breakfast, but we had already eaten. They wanted to thank us for the job we did as tail gunners. We visited for a bit and then they were on their way.
We pulled out at 8:30am. We were about 120 miles north of Dawson Creek—Mile O on the Alaskan Highway.
We pulled into a McDonald’s for coffee and to upload pictures & blogs for the last few days. We read Dick & Marie’s e-mail and saw they were at Mile O campground in Dawson Creek. We checked the campground out when we got into town just in case they would be staying there an extra day. They had already left.
We decided to get off the beaten path and follow the GPS directions out into the country on Highway 59. It was a good road and there were wheat fields for as far as the eyes could see.
It was a long day today. We drove into the night to reach the south side of Edmonton. We finally ended up in a pull-out barely off the highway. Lots of trucks pulled off also, it was very noisy and we didn’t get much sleep.
There are no pictures for today. We lost another hour. (Back on Mountain Time)
Monday, September 17, 2012
Cheri Sept-16-12
1:29 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today we were on the road by 8:15am. The road south of Watson Lake to Fort Nelson is loaded with animals. That animal card of mine is plum full.
It began with a single Bison, just grazing along the road. Not far beyond him we saw some Stone Sheep. They were right in the road. They like to lick the minerals off the road surface.
We were wondering where the herd of Bison was and we finally came upon them. They were lying on both sides of the road—some were grazing and some were right in the road. They can weigh up to 2000 lbs. There were lots of little ones in the herd. They meander along so slow.
We hadn’t seen any caribou yet. Not even while we were in Alaska, and that was so disappointing. Well, there were only a couple (in the road) but at least we could say we saw some.
It was not long and we spotted more Stone Sheep. They are not afraid when you drive up. They just gawk at you as if to say “OK I’ll move.”
What a surprise when we drove upon a herd of Caribou. They were just standing in the road. Gay drove right up behind them before they decided to move.
We saw about 9 deer in the course of the day, one with a nice big rack on him.
The Big Horn Mountain Goats were the best. One doesn’t see them too often. They were a little more skittish then the rest of the animals were. They were quite a site to see.
We were still seeing one Bison now and again, grazing all by themselves.
At the end of the day I told Gay I was getting bored because we weren’t seeing anymore animals, up pops a Black Bear. He was feeding on a dead carcass on the side of the road.
Our road was very bumpy today it about shook us to pieces. Thank goodness for all the distractions of all the animals. They made our day.
We traveled 455 miles today. We finally found a wayside to pull off into about 6:30pm. It has been an animal crazy day!
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: South of Watson Lake to Fort Nelson.
Cheri Sept-15-12
1:17 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We left our wayside campground at 8:30am. We were about 150 miles from Whitehorse.
At 11:15am we pulled into the Pioneer RV Park in Whitehorse, picked up our water regulator we forgot there, filled up with LP, and had a quick lunch, all in 30 minutes and “Off We Go”.
As we neared Teslin, the color in the trees wasn’t as bright and there were still trees that were all green yet. They hadn’t even begun to change, but still pretty none the less.
We spotted some of our tour group for the first time since we left Kenai. They were pulled in a wayside. We honked as we went by.
We arrived in Watson Lake at 4:30pm. We checked in at the Visitors Center and picked up paperwork for our trip on to Dawson Creek.
We checked the Sign Forest, but couldn’t find the signs left by our group, so ended up hanging our new sign close to the one we hung in 2008. We found out there are approximately 75,817 signs in the forest. Wow! What a site that is.
We had snacks for dinner, topped the gas tank off and decided to head on down the road a bit further before we called it quits for today.
I was going to say in the blog today that we saw no animals but we weren’t even out of Watson Lake 20 miles before we saw a bison grazing along the roadside. On down another 10 miles and we spotted a black bear eating along the road. We stopped and backed up to get the pictures, then another black bear, another bison, a grizzly bear with her 2 cubs and last off, another bison. Our animal card is full for today!
We finally found a wayside for the night around 8pm. It was a good day, 464 miles.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Destruction Bay to 50 miles south of Watson Lake.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Cheri Sept-14-12
8:52 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Our journey began late this morning. Gay was up at his usual 6am, but I didn’t wake up until 8:15am. It was late for me. It was only 28 degrees this morning. No wonder I stayed all snuggled in!
We were on the road by 9:30am and right away Gay spotted a fox running across the road. I caught a glimpse of him as we drove by.
The colors are still fabulous. We had beautiful scenery everywhere. The mountains looked like they had more snow on them.
We arrived in Tok around 1:30pm. We parked at the Visitors Center and Gay got on the computer and began uploading the pictures and blog from yesterday. I hopped out and went to the nearest gift shop!
We had a quick lunch and then stopped at the gas station to top off the tanks and “Off We Go”.
I kept snapping pictures as we traveled down the road. We met very few cars. It was like we had the road to ourselves.
We made another stop to top of the gas again just before we crossed the border into Canada at Beaver Creek around 4:30pm.
About halfway between Beaver Creek & Destination Bay, Gay spotted a bear going down into the ditch. It was a Grizzly with her 2 black cubs. They walked right along the tree line at the side of the road. We stopped and got some pictures before they trotted off into the woods.
We never thought we’d be seeing more bears, we were looking for moose.
We finally pulled into a wayside by a lake at 8pm. It was just beautiful. What a view we have from our front window. We traveled 364 miles today. We’d say 200 miles at 20 to 35mph, 100miles at 35mph and the rest at 50mph. It was another one of those ROADS! We should be used to them by now.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Glennallen to Destruction Bay.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Cheri Sept-13-12
4:54 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
There were more goodbyes this morning. Two groups of our caravan left before we were even outside. A few more will be staying at the campground and they all went fishing this morning. One rig moved to a nearby campground and was going into Anchorage to pick up friends and show them around before heading to Washington. One left to catch the ferry out of Haines.
Gay and I didn’t get on the road until 9:45am. When we reached Anchorage, we stopped into Sam’s for a few items and ended up having pizza for lunch there. We also needed to do some returns at Wal-Mart. It was just across the road. I went in to do the shopping and Gay sat in the truck and up loaded the pictures and blog from yesterday.
As we headed out of Anchorage we were back in the fall colors. The beautiful yellows and oranges would take your breath away. I took so many pictures; it will be hard to pick which ones we will post. We can’t get enough of the colors and the mountains.
We finally found a good pull-off for the night about 7:30pm. We were just south of Glen Allen. We traveled 349.7 miles today. This is a great day for such a late start.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Kenai to Glennallen.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Cheri Sept-12-12
6:52 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It was raining early this morning. I heard the fishermen of our group leave in the rain to catch their boat that was scheduled to take them out fishing. What a cold, wet trip that will be.
We didn’t get around to early. Today is the last day of our caravan. We were feeling sad that we’d be leaving all our new friends.
Gay was busy running off CD’s for everyone with all the pictures he took on our trip. I worked on getting the laundry caught up and rounded up all our tail gunner equipment to give back to Spike. I also needed to get my dish to pass ready for the pot luck tonight.
Two of our group left for Soldotna to fish from the banks of the Kenai River. They came back with 7 fish. They were so excited. The boat crew didn’t fare so well, they only caught one, but have decided to try their luck tomorrow in Soldotna.
The tables were set and the gang began to gather. Everyone talked about how much they enjoyed their trip. The meal was great and the poems & skits were really neat.
Spike gave us road updates for our trip home. Lots of the group is making plans to be at the reunion in Florida Feb. 8 & 9th. It will be great to get together again.
God blessed us with another unbelievable trip to Alaska and a chance to meet so many great, new friends.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Kenai.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Cheri Sept-10-12
11:51 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Gay rounded up the fishermen at 9:30am this morning. They had to be at the dock by 10am. Their boat was called the Sizzler. There were 15 from our group that went fishing. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for being out on Cook’s Inlet fishing.
I checked in with Issie and we both wanted to check out the two quilt shops in town. Kim drove us around. The first shop was located in a hardware store! This was perfect; Kim had something to look at while Issie & I checked out the material.
We stopped at a couple of Galleries and then the 2 Sisters Bakery. We picked up something for lunch there and took it to a picnic table on the beach to eat. What a beautiful spot.
The last quilt shop was small, but so neat. The gals there spent so much time helping us with our selections. We had a great time visiting with them.
We came back to the park and I walked Pepper and before we knew it the fishermen were back.
Gay caught 2 big Halibut. He had 9 lbs of fillets. The tour boat cleaned them and took them to have them fast frozen. He will go back tomorrow at 9am to pick them up. The biggest catch was Ed, with 12 lbs of fillets. They all had a great time.
We took Kim & Issie out with us for dinner at the Boardwalk Fish & Chips. We had Halibut and Fries. Spike recommended this restaurant and it was very good. We came back to Jelly beans Ice Cream Shop for dessert.
Gay was ready to crash early tonight. Too much fresh air from the boat trip I think.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Halibut fishing.
Cheri Sept-9-12
9:32 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We left our campground at 9:30am headed for Homer. We made a 10 minute stop at mile 62 and then went on to Soldotna. We stopped at the wood carvers. There wasn’t too much going on there so Gay & I had a quick lunch in the 5th wheel and then headed on to the campground. It is located right on the Cook Inlet. We have a beautiful view of the water & mountains right from our rigs.
As soon as we were settled in Gay & Spike took everyone into town to purchase their fishing licenses and check out which boat would be taking them out to fish for Halibut tomorrow morning. Gay was not going to go but Spike talked him into it. Spike gave the city tour and then we all kind of settled in for the night.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Anchorage to Homer.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Cheri Sept-8-12
11:03 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
The vans were lined up for departure at 8:45am. Last call was made at 9am and we were off to Whittier to board the Major Marine Tour boat for our Prince William Sound Glacier tour.
We traveled down along Turnagain Arm and spotted some Beluga Whales in the bay.
Whittier is about 60 miles south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The only way into Whittier is through a 2.5 mile tunnel.
The train and road traffic take turns using the tunnel. The schedule allows traffic going into Whittier 15 minutes in the bottom of the hour and outgoing traffic 15 minutes at the top of the hour. The train, both freight & passenger uses it in between.
We made it to the tunnel at just the right time. We passed through and pulled over—Gay and I went on up to purchase the tickets and then led our group into the parking lot.
I passed out the tickets and at 11:45 am we boarded the boat. We were assigned tables 1 through 5. Our group took over almost all the seating on the upper deck.
Our 5-hour catamaran cruise pulled out of the harbor at 12:15. Gay got a glimpse of a whale right there in the harbor. I was on the wrong side of the boat!
Our tour included an all you can eat meal of salmon & prime rib with all the fixings. We were all served before going out into the bay very far. It was delicious.
We cruised around and saw harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions and lots of birds. We had a Forest Ranger on board who narrated our trip for us.
We passed by a working salmon hatchery.
We were shown many glaciers and as we entered the Harriman Fjord, we saw Surprise Glacier, which was the highlight of the tour.
This massive 300 ft. glacier featured towering blue ice sculptures. We were lucky enough to see it calve twice. The blue in the iceberg was stunning.
We headed back to the dock through the bits of icebergs surrounding the boat.
Once we were away for the iceberg, we were served dessert.
We had our binoculars out looking at the many waterfalls and wildlife. Once back in the harbor they all spotted the whale again. I missed it again.
As soon as we docked, we all hot footed it to the vans so we could make it through the tunnel at 6pm.
It was a beautiful, sunny day. They told us on the boat that there is only a 1or 2 percent chance of having a sunny day, God presentenced us a perfect day for our Cruise.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Glacier Cruise.
Cheri Sept-7-12
11:01 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
At 8am Kim & Issie, Dick & Marie picked us up to go out for breakfast. The first restaurant we went to had a 30 minute waiting list, so we ended up at the Village Inn. The food was great. It was nice to be together with such great friends.
Gay & I had lots of errands to do—plus top the truck off with gas to be ready for our departure on Sunday.
There was an article in one of our books on Anchorage about moose sightings in Kincaid Park. We drove over there, but didn’t spot any. One of the side roads we took in the park was full of ruts—it was like riding on the Top Of The World Highway again!
Back at the campground we heard one might see moose across the street in one of the city parks. We made our way through the woods and found lots of trees down from the storm a couple of nights ago. No moose there either. We also heard there were 400 trees down at the golf course here and many residents are still without electricity. We were sure lucky here.
At 4pm we all met at the pavilion here in the campground. We met Kelly Griffin & Ed. She is a lady Musher and has run the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. She also lives off the land. It was real interesting talking to her. Newton Marshall was also there. He is a Jamaican dog musher. His take on living here and running the dog races was really funny.
We all loaded up in the vans at 5:45pm and headed for Wild Berry Park. We had a meal of Chicken and beef brisket waiting for us. It was all so good. We also took in the Dusty Sourdough show and the “Alaska The Great Land” movie.
They kept the Chocolate Factory open for our group. We tried lots of samples and many purchases were made.
It was late when we got back to the campground and we were all ready to turn in.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Anchorage day three.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Cheri Sept-6-12
9:57 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Gay was up at his regular but I slept in until 7am. We had coffee and breakfast and then checked in with Dick & Marie.
We both wanted to check out the quilt shops. We found some interesting material for projects we want to do.
We broke for lunch at the Glacier Brew House. Spike said it was a neat place and they had a wide variety of food. What we had was very good.
We had a list of errands to do and the next stop was the Title Wave book store. Spike told us we’d be able to find whatever we were looking for in there. He was right. It was huge. We could of spent hours in there. It is all used books with great prices.
We needed some groceries so we headed over to Fred Meyers. It didn’t take long to gather what we needed and head back to the park.
Our tour group is all in now. Kim & Issie are back and their truck is fixed and ready to go. Marge & Cliff are back for their side trip to Talkeetna.
We got together with some of our tour group, told some stories and enjoyed a great evening.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Cheri Sept-5-12
1:34 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Last night was quite a scary time. We had around 55mph winds that rocked the 5th wheel back and forth. Trees were blown down here in the park and the electricity went off. It didn’t quiet down until the early morning hours. No one got much sleep, but everyone came through ok, even the little t-pee camper.
Today was a cool rainy day. We left the park at 9:30 and Spike gave us the city tour and then we checked out the Ulu Factory. We were given a demonstration on how to correctly use this knife and could watch how they make the Ulus. A number of our group bought some for themselves or as gifts.
Our next stop was the Iditarod Race Headquarters at the Millennium Hotel. This is where they have the banquet for the Iditarod Mushers before the race starts. The lobby was filled with stuffed heads of all the Alaskan animals. It was quite a site. They gave us all a cup of coffee, and we browsed the lobby.
We then headed to the Fur Exchange. That was neat. All the skins were hung up for purchase. The gang tried on all the fur hats with the animal heads on them. No one bought a hat but we all had fun checking them out.
We headed down the Turnagain Arm, watched for the Beluga Whales but saw none. We stopped at the Indian Valley Meats processing plant. They had samples out of the Reindeer Sausage, Salami, sausage brats, etc. Our group bought a lot of items. As a treat, we also bought ice cream cones.
Spike stopped at a turn-off where we could catch a glimpse of the spawning salmon. It was raining and so his dog Skippy had his own little tour coat on. How cute!
We stopped at The Portage Glacier Center. We watched the movie on how glaciers are formed. The saw both the Portage Glacier and Byron Glacier and got lots of pictures. The blue in the glacier pops right in the pictures.
At the Wild Animal Park we caught a glimpse of a coyote roaming around. There were lots of bison and reindeer. The bears were huge and we even saw an eagle.
We didn’t get back to the park until 7pm. Everyone was tired, due to their sleepless night and we ready to call it a day.
Gay and I went out to eat with Spike and another tour couple. Spike took us to his favorite Chinese restaurant. It was excellent.
We had such a wonderful day.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Anchorage day one.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Cheri Sept-4-12
11:31 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We got packed up before the rain started and we all were on the road by 9:30am.
Spike gave us our history lesson as we headed through the Tundra. We were still seeing the beautiful colors. I was clicking off pictures even though it was raining. They might not be worth putting on line, but I couldn’t help it—gorgeous scenery!
We stopped for a 10 minute break at mile 50. After we got back on the road, we started coming down off the mountain. The tundra red velvet carpet under the trees was gone. We just had the yellow and oranges of the aspen trees.
When everyone else stopped for lunch we went right on by and headed for the RV Park. It was still sprinkling when we arrived. We put on our rain jackets, got our unit set up and headed up to the office to let them know our group would be arriving soon.
The parking went ok; everyone was finally settled in for the next 5 days.
Gay got the grill out right away and cooked steak & chops that we had defrosted a few days ago. We had dinner and finished up some paper work, watch a little TV, and crawled into bed. We have a full day of sightseeing tomorrow.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Denali to Anchorage.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Cheri Sept-3-12
12:30 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
All of us were up by 6am. I fixed breakfast for us and Issie headed over to Subway to pick up sandwiches to take along with them for the 6 hr bus trip into Denali.
We are dog sitting today and we have Kim & Issie’s dog, Honey, staying with us while they are gone.
Spike called everyone on the two-way radios about 8:50am. They were all to line up and be ready to head out at 9am to Denali Park.
As soon as they all left, Gay, Honey and I hopped into the truck and headed for Denali Park also. You can drive your personal car up into the park about 15 miles. We wanted to check out the colors and look for animals.
I don’t know how to describe the beauty we saw. All the colors, with the mountains in the back ground, were gorgeous. Yellows, oranges, reds and deep maroon, we kept blinking our eyes to see if these beautiful colors were real.
The green bus carrying our group passed us and everyone waved. We were able to get a picture of it just after it went through the check point and headed up the dirt road, deep into the park. They traveled 53 miles back into Denali Park.
We turned around at this point and headed back out. We stopped to take so many pictures. The scenery was breathtaking. About half way out there were a number of cars parked along the road, all with their camera going. We pulled over, jumped out and got a chance to see a bull moose with the biggest rack we’d ever seen. That made our trip. We hated to come back out of the park without seeing any animals.
We walked dogs and then I finished up making my dessert for tonight. Spike and Roger joined us. I had a pot roast with all the fixings going in the crock pot all day. It was an easy meal to put on the table. It was a very enjoyable evening.
We turned in early; we’ll be leaving for Anchorage tomorrow morning.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Denali.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Cheri Sept-2-12
5:28 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We all met down by the river for a short prayer meeting at 9:15 before we began our journey today. We pulled out of the campground at 10am. We hadn’t even got 30 miles up the road and one of the units had a problem and pulled off to the side of the road. The rest of the group continued on towards Denali. Our mechanic and Gay& I pulled over to check things out. Come to find out, he had a broken belt. One of our tour group had an extra belt. They turned around and headed back to see if it would work. Gay and I went on the catch up with the tour group. Roger stayed behind to get the belt installed. Come to find out the belt was the wrong size and they ended up calling their Good Same Road Side Service and had them send a mechanic with the correct size belt. They finally got it fixed and were on their way.
When we finally caught up with the tour group we found out another unit had problems. His truck just died on him. We dropped our 5th wheel in a big lot up the road and went back and hooked onto Kim’s truck and pulled the truck and 5th wheel over into the vacant lot near our 5th wheel. Gay thought he might have a filter problem, so he crawled under the truck and put on a new filter. That didn’t solve the problem, so they called tec service to see if they could give them some assistance. It was a weekend and a holiday coming up and they were told as long as they were off the highway, they would have to wait until Tuesday to be towed in. We hooked up again and headed on into the campground to check out the sites and Spike led the rest of the group in. We had them all parked in a flash and were waiting to hear what Kim & Issie were planning to do.
It turned out they left their truck & 5th wheel there and Roger brought them on into Denali with him, so they could join the group tomorrow for the bus trip into Denali.
It was about 7pm and the unit with the belt problem finally pulled in. We got them settled and it wasn’t long and Kim, Issie and their dog Honey arrived. They stayed with us for the night.
A few of the group went into Denali in the early evening and came back reporting sightings of moose and an awesome array of colors all over the mountains and along the roadsides.
It was very windy here and too cold to go out and visit tonight.
We were all tired so I make up the sleeper sofa for Kim & Issie. We called this day GONE!
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Fairbanks to Denali.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Cheri Sept-1-12
1:33 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today we went moose hunting. We were up and on the road by 6:30. We were dog sitting today, so we took Pepper with us. She liked sitting on my lap and checking everything out.
We read the best chance to see moose in the Fairbanks area was along Chena Hot Springs Road just north of town. Past about mile 15 there are swampy areas and many creeks and sloughs. Moose love to feed in swamps and sloughs. We went as far as mile 26 and didn’t spot a thing. The scenery, however, was beautiful. The trees were all a pretty yellow, along with a few orange and red. The creeks were like glass and you could see a mirrored reflection in the water. We saw a few old, rusty cars sitting along the road, they made a perfect picture. We meet very few cars so we could drive along at our own pace.
When we got back to Fairbanks, who do we see at the Cookie Jar Restaurant but Dick & Marie? We stopped and joined them for breakfast and then headed to the Farmers Market. It was something to see different color carrots and large cabbages. Then we headed back to the campground.
Gay needed to fuel up so we jumped back in the truck and went over to Fred Meyers for gas. Meanwhile I popped into the store to pick up a few items.
We checked out a few things with Spike, got a little paper work done and then went over to Roger & Gwen’s for a bit, and checked on a few other tour members and headed back to the 5th wheel.
We were invited out to dinner tonight. It was a great evening spent with some wonderful new friends. We laughed lots and lots. We feel so blessed to be here.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Fairbanks day three.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Cheri Aug-31-12
1:56 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were out and about early this morning. We went to breakfast with Dick & Marie at the Cookie Jar Restaurant. It was off the beaten path and we found the food to be excellent there. It gave us a chance to enjoy the morning and visit a bit.
Later in the morning Gay helped Dick repair his shower and I went to check out the material at the Alaskan Fur Co. I bought one small piece of material and was not impressed with the layout of their store. They had a lot of their material setting on the floor. It made it too hard to check it all out.
We decided to get a few of our errands done. We got a fresh tank of LP, and then headed for the Harley Dealer. Gay wanted to get a tee-shirt from Alaska. He found 1 long sleeve and 1 short sleeve shirt that say Farthest North Outpost for Harley-Davidson. He also checked out the motorcycles. A bike like ours here is $3,000 more than what you could buy one in Florida for!
We stopped by the Alaskan Bowl Factory. We watched the manufacturing process through the in store viewing windows, and also the process of burning the designs on their products. The bowls were all too expensive for us, but we did pick up some Alaska Pure Birch Syrup and a cookbook on Sourdough everything.
I got Gay to stop and take a couple of pictures of the flowering cabbage at the Alaskan Fur co. The flowers here are all so big and beautiful.
We needed to pick up a few groceries, so we headed for Fred Meyers. It’s like a big Wal-Mart. They have everything. With that job done we headed back to the campground, put the groceries away and were ready to head out again.
We picked up Issie and off we went to the Quilt shops. Material up here is very expensive. I did buy a few choice pieces, along with a couple of patterns.
We had a note on our door when we returned. It was an invitation to dinner at Big Daddy’s BBQ. This place had been featured on the food channel as well as Good Morning America. We tried the chicken, brisket, and the ribs. Gay says the ribs were the best he has ever had. Everything was excellent.
It was another beautiful day with friends.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Fairbanks day two.
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