Second One Down

Well Mark just finished his second course and passed.  Two more to go.  The third one is only a one day evaluation so that should be done Monday.  The last course doesn't start until the middle of November but once they are done and he gets his medical he is on his way towards his 500 ton.

Today he went out on his first tow job.  He thought it was pretty cool and he learned a lot.  Of course it also drove home how much he still has to learn and how much fun it is going to be learning.

Summer is Over

Our first snow in Seward, at ground level, happened on Sunday and Monday.  It was all but gone on Tuesday except it has left a beautiful dusting on the mountains that surround Ressurection Bay.  It is hard to believe but Seward is even prettier with the mountains slightly covered like this.  When we came back in early May the mountains had significant snow still on them and though we marveled at how pretty it was, we think this light dusting where there is no permanent snow might be even prettier.

Even though Seward is pretty much closed down for the winter there are still lots of tourists coming in.  Seward is basically an ice free port so the harbour is full of boats.  Most of the locals believe it is better to keep the boat in the water for the winter than it is to put it on the hard where systems are sure to freeze up.  This makes a day like today with little wind kind of an inspiring place to walk around.  All the reflections in the water as we watch the ever hungry sea otters munching away and frolicking around the harbour amongst the quiet boats.  Not sure if it will still be this romantic in April after five months of it but for now it sure is pretty.

One Down Three to Go

Mark passed his Proficiency in Survival Craft.  He has three more courses booked before he renews his Captain's license.  Which will give him the qualifications he needs for his present job as well as setting him up to upgrade his license when he gains sea time.

Back in Seward

Well we made it back to Seward.  The car passed its road check tests fine and Nissan reset the alarms we got mid trip and changed the oil etc.  We had dinner last night with Father Bill at Chinooks.  Mark started working at his new job today.  Pauline finished unpacking the car and stowing as much as she could.  She has to go back to work tomorrow.  So does Mark as the Tug Chahunta has some last minute jobs that need doing before the weather turns and Mark has courses Monday through Friday for the next two weeks.  But he is happy to be employed again and accumulating time on a big boat which will help him upgrade his license.

Road Trip Day 9

Wow, what happened to Tok?  We didn't stop in Tok.  We got there a bit early and decided to try to get a bit closer to Anchorage.  We were hoping to get an appointment to get the car serviced so we figured the closer we got the better.  In the end we could only get a morning appointment so we drove nearly 14 hours non stop and made it to Anchorage.  So we will be home tomorrow.

We saw a couple of foxes today, one had a Canadian passport and the second one we saw was just after we crossed into the USA so unless it was an illegal immigrant it had a U.S. Passport.  We got close to both of them but the camera was in the wrong place both times, whoops.

Again today the trip was interesting, the scenery varied a lot as we drove.  Some of the more interesting were the trip around Lake Kluane and its Destruction Bay, Matanuska Glacier which is called a valley glacier and looks like a river of ice, several of the mountains including one we think was Mount St. Elias, which is the second highest mountain in N. America.

Road Trip Day 8

We made it to Whitehorse.  No animal sitings today other than squirrels, crows and eagles.  But the scenery was very pretty.  We had some snow shortly after leaving Watson Lake but the weather cleared about mid morning and we had a great ride.  Lots of lakes and rivers.  The Yukon River played a major part in the mode of transport for this part of the world during the gold rush and settlement of this area and Alaska.

We head for Tok tomorrow which will put us back in Alaska.

Road Trip Days 6 & 7

We stayed in the Northern Rockies Lodge, Muncho Lake last night.  We were told if our pocket book could afford it this was a great stop.  Our pocketbook isn't doing very well but hey this is probably the only time we will make this trip so we hit it.  The drive from Fort Nelson was quite nice and we even had a wolf trotting down the opposite side of the road.  At first we though it was a dog, then a fox and when we got close we realised it was a wolf.

Muncho Lake and Lake Louise further south are considered the two prettiest lakes in the Rockies.  We don't know which is better but since we saw this literature at Lake Muncho it probably means it is number two.  But no matter it is pretty.  The lodge is a giant log cabin and the only downside is the Internet was so slow no posting could be achieved.

view from our room at the Lodge

view of Muncho Lake

Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake

on our way to Muncho Lake, stunning scenery

Today's run was also designed to be short.  We had some small flurries and didn't want to be stuck having a long drive if the weather turned bad.  We also wanted to stop at Laird River Hot Springs and have our first hot spring experience since leaving Japan.  On the way to Laird we spotted a bear crossing the road.  There was a car coming from the other direction as well so before either of us got close to him he turned around and scampered back into the trees.

The board walk into the hot springs was covered with snow so we looked at each other carrying our bathing suits and said lets go look.  We can always decide not to go in when we get there.  The walk in is about 800 meters.  Once we got there we found a very well built facility with several people enjoying the water.  So we braved changing into our suits and hit the water.  Great!!!  Most of the visitors there were heading the opposite direction as us, but we chatted with several people and we soon realised we had been in for an hour already.  We only stayed in the lower pools, there is an upper pool about 300 meters further up but we had read that it was closed due to bear sightings.  Others said you could go at your own risk but we were comfortable where we were.

After leaving Laird we really got into the wildlife.  We had been seeing moose and bison crossing signs for miles but hadn't seen any.  Just outside of the hot springs we came upon our first herd of wood bison.  They were right by the roadside so we pulled over and snapped several pictures.  We noticed the cars from the other direction just kept going past.  After we had snapped a few shots and continued on we started to see why the cars were not stopping.  Every few kilometers we went we would see at least one or two if not a small herd.  And one place we had a very large herd on both sides of the road around a big curve.  We also saw some road kills.  One killed the vehicle as well.  We saw the smashed up vehicle first and knew it had to be several hours old at least as there was snow all over it.  A few feet further we saw the carcus of the animal.  Not sure if it was a moose or a bison.  Several miles after we saw a car from the other direction pulled off the side of the road.  Just as we got close a moose cow scampered off into the woods.  So the crash could have been either.

a herd of wood bison by the highway

We are at Watson Lake for tonight and will head for Whitehorse tomorrow.  That should be our last night in Canada as we plan to then cross into Alaska the day after.

the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake

Road Trip a Day 5

Wow, what a difference a day makes!  Yesterday it was close to or did touch 80 degrees F.  This morning we left Whitecourt with rain and 47 degrees at 07:30.  By 10:30 we hit Hythe and already about 3 inches on the ground and 25 degrees.  I asked the girl at the petrol station how long it had been snowing and she said it had started sometime after 7:00.  By noon it looked like about 6 inches and they were just starting to get the plows and sanders out.  Lots of cars and trucks in the ditches some of them completely upside down including one tractor trailer.  Needless to say it was a very slow ride today but we still managed to get 537 miles under our belt.  We are currently in Fort Nelson and there is only a small amount of snow on the ground here.  The last hour and a half we were able to maintain the speed limit.  One funny thing as we were coming into Fort Nelson there was a police check.  Stopping every car to check for sobriety.  We told him we don't think we would have made it through all the snow if we were driving impaired.  Our car was very iced up as well so he knew we were telling the truth.

beginning of the day, where the road was a little slushy

later on, after the snow plows went to work

Road Trip Day 4

We are in Whitecourt, Alberta.  Today we crossed the halfway point as far as miles go.  Of course the roads are a little quicker in the first half so we still figure we have not made the half way point yet.  We really enjoyed Saskatoon last night and we waited until 10 for Costco to open this morning before heading out.  Things went fairly smoothly a bit of a slowdown prior to and through Edmondton but not too bad.