“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NLT
Badlands National Monument
Downhill /
Captured this caribou moving quickly down this steep hill along the road in Denali National Park. They moved so smoothly even though the antlers seemed to be out of proportion to the animal. Neat to watch.
Counting Critters /
At an overlook in the Badlands, we saw four people with notebooks in four different spots just watching. It turned out they were counting Prairie Dogs. Something to do with relocating some of them. But what impressed me was the scale of the mountains with the folks in the frame.
There are two counters in this photo!
Not a Buffalo /
It is a Bison. And in the park they are quick to tell you the difference. This one was wondering alone and close to the road in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. This is an expansive, wild place with some neat hikes and great vistas.
140 MPH, Standing Still /
One of the most gorgeous automobiles ever built, the successor to the 120/140 series, the XK 150 Drophead Coupe. This one is, I think, a 1960. Perfect. However, if you are thinking of getting me one to use as the official TLT transportation unit, I would prefer the fixed head coupe. Thanks.
And Another One /
I thought I had written down what kind of flower this was but if I did I cannot find it now. Again, in the Butchart Garden in Victoria BC.
Contrast /
Soft light yellow flowers and the deep black jagged lava rocks in the background. These rocks are spotted iwht blue embedded minerals. These contrasts are common in the Craters of the Moon NM in Idaho.
Ordinary /
One of the common birds in Raleigh is a White-crowned Sparrow. They were also abundant in Alaska and in breeding plumage were striking.
“What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.” Matthew 10:20 NLT
Last Row /
This tractor belongs to Chris Reindel - out in the back lot of his North Dakota Ranch. Loved walking around their original 160 homestead acres.
Apt Name /
This shot is from the Craters of the Moon National Monument. What a remarkable landscape, old volcanic ash mountains, jumbled black rock piles, twisted, gnarled trees and more that makes you think of alien worlds. There is a reason some astronaut training was held here.
Another One /
The flowers at Butchart Gardens are just astonishing in the numbers, perfection, color and scope of the garden. Someday I will learn some names!
Athabasca Falls /
Athabasca Fallsl in Jasper National Park on the upper Athabasca River just west of the Icefields Parkway is a really loud, fast waterfall that has cut a narrow canyon that increases the noise and the fury of the water. Very cool place.
Studebaker /
This 1949 Studebaker Champion was in the collection of the Alaska Museum of Transportation in Wasilla. Clearly oversprayed at one point with a second color, I think the red. Now rusting away in a field.
Kennecott Copper Mine /
This is my favorite photo of the town of Kennicott and the Kennecott Mine. (Spelling is different for each one!) It was taken on July 4th when almost everyone - rangers, tour guides, tourists, locals were down the hill for the McCarthy Fourth of July Parade. We had the street to ourselves. That is the original train station on the right, this street was actually two lines of railroad track and wagons and such rode a street below or above where we are now. The mine office and assay room is in the house like building just beyond the station.
Tasty Bonus Post /
I’m upstairs working and at the top of my ladder appears this delicious cupcake, hand delivered. The only thing sweeter than the cupcake is the granddaughter who made it specially for me. It was excellent. Thanks, Ellary.
Alaska Recap: The Experience /
This trip was planned over a three year window (and funded the same!) Most of the plans worked and some were complex involving tight schedules and potential capricious weather. Lots of days were tiring. This was not a sit and relax trip - most of ours are not. We were up early, drove a lot, did a lot and went to bed tired. We met a lot of interesting and generous people and saw not just the usual tourist sights, though we did include them and they are well known and often visited for a reason, they are amazing. But we also spent time in small towns like Palmer seeing old farms, in some small parks with few if any other people. We were in some neat homes, old mines, small churches and hikes where the best views were the flowers at your feet or the White-Crowned Sparrow like you had seen scores of times in Raleigh. We spent more than we ever have, drove more, flew more, were gone longer and might have worn out a truck and the trip was worth every moment. The magnificent scenery is not just a park here and there but every mile you travel opens up yet another vista and every hike you take leads to another intimate scene with a small waterfall, a fisherman alone in a stream or a baby duck just learning to swim. We were blessed to be able to take this journey and are enriched by a thousand memories.
“Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.” Psalm 145:3 NLT
Our first view of Denali. You look at the horizon and the thick clouds and wonder where it is then some clouds and blown away and you are awed by the scope and grandeur of this incredible peak that rises well over all the other mountains. And here we did not even see the top. Thankfully we did on visit two to the park.
Alaska Recap: The Numbers /
We were gone 124 days on this long trip. We drove 19,487 miles in 17 states, two provinces and one territory. Seat time in the truck was 480 hours. We also used six ferries, 2 small ships, 1 water taxi, one air boat, five commercial flights, three small aircraft, two flights in a sea plane, three taxies, a train and seven buses (and a partridge in a pear tree). We walked a lot with an average day exceeding 10,000 steps. The farthest we were from Raleigh was 4820 miles in Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Our single largest expense was fuel. We averaged more than 13 mpg but still spent $4,585 for 1474 gallons (average $3.11 gallon). Least expensive fuel was $2.21 gallon and the most costly came in at $7.69 in the Yukon. Our other expenses were close to planned budget. We spent $2,652 for food other than groceries. That is all other food, coffee, ice cream, dinners, snacks etc. That works out to $147 a week, not too bad on vacation mode and we ate very well. Campgrounds added $2,800 and repairs and maintenance $1,435. So, excluding admissions, excursions, hotels etc. the trip cost $10,172 or about $2,500 a month. We of course, did not have regular house expenses during this time and had canceled some things so a significant portion of that amount came from our usual expected expenses, just spent in a different venue.
I spent a lot of time in the driver’s seat.
Alaska Recap Five: The Campsites /
Out of the 124 days we were gone, six nights were not spent in our trailer. That is a lot of time in 90 square feet and a lot of different experiences in overnight stops. We actually stayed in 80 different locations. 20 were free when we stayed at friends or places like Cracker Barrel, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer and Cabelas. There were 6 Harvest Hosts nights that we pay an annual fee to belong, these were no charge nights along the way at farm stands, museums and wineries. Two of our more memorable places were Harvest Host locations. There were 27 different commercial campgrounds, always the most expensive option but they offer lots of services (or most do). There we can dump tanks, fill water, charge everything and, often, use WiFi. We also camped in nice sites in 8 National Parks (1 Canadian) - very economical and 20 nights at various Forest Service, BLM, Provincial, State or City parks ranging in cost from $5 to $20. Our average weekly cost for lodging was just a bit over $150. Since the average cost of one night at a US hotel is $132 and in Alaska the average is $275 taking the trailer was a huge savings. Even figuring extra fuel costs and maintenance we were able to travel many more days than if we had to pay for hotels. I will be posting under the “camping” tab many of these sites starting on Monday. I will also post a data base of all the sites next week.
A Harvest Host night at Hansen’s Dairy in Iowa.
Alaska Recap Four: The Birds /
My expectations for new birds and better views of birds I have seldom seen were rather low. I intended to see a Willow Ptarmigan and get some good eagle and puffin shots but did not know what else to expect. It was really good and I added 32 new birds to my life list that is now at 393. I will do a Bird Week soon but among the coolest birds I saw were horned and tufted puffins, ptarmigans, jaegers, red-throated grebes, snow buntings and the long elusive Spruce Grouse that I tried to see every time we were in Acadia.
Yellowlegs Lunch in the Fast Casual Category
Alaska Recap Three: The Animals /
Stars of the trip have to be the grizzly bears. We saw 33 over the whole trip most of them in the three big parks, Lake Clark, Katmai and Denali. Several of them were quite close and ranged from a six month old cub to 1100 pound mature males. We saw them catching salmon and failing to do so, chasing a wolf, playing with each other and eating grasses and berries.
Among the other animals we saw were big horn sheep, mountain goats and dall sheep, scores of caribou, about 18 moose, one wolf, two coyotes, bison, mule deer, white tail deer, a large porcupine, elk, several black bear, dozens of sea otters, humpback whales, two pods of orcas, sea lions, stellar sea lions, marmot, ground squirrels, spotted seals, harbor seals, a fin whale and lots of pronghorns.
