Grand McMullens: Alaska trip

Had to stop for these two bears. Both are fairly large bears and give good idea in different coloration.

Now entering the Yukon

At this point we are between mountain ranges and the landscape will be fairly flat all the way up to Dawson City.

Watson Lake, YT is best known for it's sign post forest. We didn't bring a sign to post but Fran improvised.

A forest of signs.

This is Fran's sign in the forest.

The road approaching Whitehorse, YT. This was the views we enjoyed most of the way to Dawson City, YT

This is just before you get to Whitehorse. It is a special place for Al since in 1942/43 his Dad worked for the U.S. Army as a civilian and would come to this spot to pick up mail for the troops and take it back up the Canol highway to their camps that stretched all the way to Normal Wells. So almost 70 years later here is Al at the same spot.

So I had to take a picture of my vehicle coming out of the Canol road just like my Dad did when I was just 1 year old.

June is a great time to drive the Alaska highway. Flowers like this lined the highway and of course the bears were ever present to eat them. Only one day were we bothered by mosquitoes and that was the Sabbath we hiked in a bird preserve out of Fairbanks.

Fran had to take a picture of these dandelions. They are much bigger than ours at home and really added nice color to the road side.

Ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant then headed for Dawson City, YT up highway 2 so we took a detour from the Alaska highway. We would drive the Alaska highway from Tok to Whitehorse on our way back just to be able to say we drove every mile of the Alaska highway.

More of the flowers that lined the highway. They seemed to be more abundant on the side of highway 2 then the Alaska highway.

Coming in to Dawson. This is a bridge ove the Yukon river.

They were very practical. One side welcomes you to Dawson while the other side says goodbye.

Main street Dawson City, YT and this is at morning rush hour.

Just so you know we are still together and not fighting. At this point I think we were about 3700 miles into the 9100 miles for the total trip.

The Old part of town. Buildings kinda reminded us of what thos old gold miners probably felt like after digging in the streams all day long.

Jack London, the author, lived in Dawson. This was a later cabin he built.

These pictures are of the inside of his first cabin. A very rustic way of life. Just the bare essentials in this cabin.

Fran trying her hand at the sloughs box. No gold found.

A view of Dawson from the Midnight Dome. A high hill behind town where the towns folk gather for the summer solstice (June 21 when sun reaches it's lowest point). We were there that night but didn't realize that we could have gone up there at 1:30 am and seen the sun just touch the horizon. Kinda weird not having any night. Glad we had dark curtains for the van.

We need to take this ferry to cross the Yukon river on Highway 9 which is also called Top of the World highway.

First they had to have a septic truck remove something. Guess they either had restrooms for employees or the thing leaks and the pump out the hull between trips. Hope it was the first reason not the latter.

People waiting on other side. The towns golf course is across the river so many towns folk ride back and forth to play golf.

A view of the Top of the World highway. You are literally driving along the tops of the mountains with lots of valleys on either side. Road is partial pavement but many frost heaves so they have decided rather than patching the pavement they just remove it and gravel the stretches that are breaking up. So most of the road is now gravel.

Fran beside bank of snow. Notice the dirty color. Road got dusty so you stayed behind vehicles or passed them and tried to stay in front.

Looking across the hilltop you can see the US//CND border crossing.

This is where the US border patrol officers live. They were very friendly and seemed to enjoy the chance to talk with real live people.

Finally - Alaska.

As you drive down from the top of the mountain you follow a stream in which there were individuals panning for gold all the way up to this commercial operation.

We left Dawson on Thursday June 21st and there was to be a bikers rally that weekend where they were expecting 200 bikers from all over North America and Europe to gather. We met many of them on the Top of the World highway. It was raining and the road was not very wide and gravel so never comfortable meeting these guys on the corners. They kinda wanted their half of the road down the middle.

There were lots of fifth-wheelers but they were very good at finding areas where they could pull over or slow way down so you could pass them. Lots of tour buses on the road as well but they had pilot cars ahead of them so you knew in advance what was coming.

On highway between Tok and Delta Junction we were stopped by this flag lady who walked up to window and asked if we would like to see a moose. One was feeding right beside her vehicle. Just as I got the camera out the moose decided to bolt for the othere side so this was the only picture I got.

Fran had gotten out to go look at moose so I got this picture of her and the flag lady. They finally realized traffic was coming.

At Delta Junction, AK. The end of the Alaska Highway.

Got to see the Alaska pipeline as it crossed a river just out of Delta Junction.

Stopped at a view point turnout just before Fairbanks and this couple were there taking pictures. Fran asked them to take ours and in the conversation the lady asked if we were Adventists and what part of MI we were from. Ends up he is Kurt Allen whose father lives in Berrien Springs and his wife is Jeanie the sister of Karen Nash who is the wife of Steve Nash who works in the Seminary with Fran. What a small world. They were finishing up their vacation and were very helpful in pointing out things to see while in AK.