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note – 2

September 15th, 2005

Okay – We appoligize for the photo album style of show and not posting them with the blog. There are two reasons for this – one, we took way too many photos and wanted to share a lot of them & two, it is a lot faster for us to do it this way when there are so many photos. We will normally post pics up with the blog though – unless there is a ton (like when we visit such beautiful places in the national parks).

So, with all that said…. here is a link CLICK ON ME to our photos for Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. You do not need to sign into the site, you can just click on the photo to view them. We will be posting the Canada and AK pics asap.

Hope all is going well with everyone and thanks for your patience as we updated the last two weeks of our traveling.

Posted in 05 - USA - Alaska, notes | 1 Comment »

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Sept 14 – AK

September 15th, 2005

Day 44 – Thanks to my Aunt Laurel, whom we call Lolo, we took a boat tour of the Chena River on the Riverboat Discovery. She had some pre-season ticket still and tour season is just about over. Thank you very much Lolo for the boat tour!!! It was a good tour that had very good donuts and we were able to learn a lot more about dog sledding and Athabascan Indian’s culture and villages.

At night we visited Russ’s favorite bar The Marlin in Fairbanks and we met Dan (my oldest cousin) and his girlfriend Sarah there. It was a laidback college bar with open mic and as we walked in a talented jazz band was playing. This was Russ’s last night at Fairbanks before flying out to school and our last night before moving on to Denali National Park. It was a relaxing way to spend the evening.

Tomorrow we depart from Fairbanks and go to visit Denali National Park. Sarah was extremely generous and gave us one of her passes for driving all the way into Denali National Park, which you can only get by winning a lottery. Thank you so much Sarah and Dan! Thank you Lolo, Eric (my uncle), Mik (my youngest cousin) – good luck with school, Dan, Sarah, and Russ for a very hospitable time and warm home. I can’t wait to come back and visit later!

Posted in 05 - USA - Alaska | No Comments »

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Sept. 13 – AK

September 15th, 2005

Day 43 – Today it was pleasant to wake up in a home and comfy bed. We spent most of the day updating the blog and website and visiting with the family. All three of my cousins were here, which was great because the middle cousin, Russ, was about to leave for college at Eastern Washington and we got to visit before he left.

The Stahlke Family below 🙂

Aunt Lolo, Mik, and Uncle Eric

Russ, Sarah, and Dan

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Sept. 12 – YT, Canada/AK

September 15th, 2005

Day 42 – Our last day on the Alaska Highway. We decided it would be nice for us to find a place to shower up since we haven’t showered since we left Salt Lake City. It’s not that we are trying to go all natural or anything – just the campgrounds that we have been staying at have not had showers or any water facilities. We didn’t want to offend my Aunt and her family arriving with five days of dirt and grime on us. It felt really good to shower! And our drive continued and we successfully crossed the boarder into the states again with no problems at all, some of the nicest boarder guards we have met. There is something comforting about all of a sudden driving in your home country – even though Canada isn’t that different with driving. I also noticed that in Canada we never saw a mounty or anything – and you could tell because no one went the speed limit. Once we were in AK for a few hours I had already spotted two highway troopers. We arrived just in time for dinner at my aunt’s house in Fairbanks – well planned huh?

Posted in 04 - Canada | 1 Comment »

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Sept. 11 – BC, Canada/YT, Canada

September 15th, 2005

Day 41 – The trees started to turn a light shade of orange, but mostly still yellow and we are constantly driving through mountains and countryside. It is a really great drive and I think more lonelier than highway 50 in the states. We have seen a lot of wild animals on our drive, more than we saw at Yellowstone – our sightings include: a bunch of caribou (these guys are so cute and beautiful), a moose who tried to chase a semi, a bear running into the forest, deer, and a bunch of bison. We were constantly watching the road for animals to make sure they didn’t run out in front of us. We stopped right before nightfall outside of Whitehorse at Marsh Lake Provincial Campground.

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Sept 10 – AB, Canada/BC, Canada

September 15th, 2005

Day 40 – The clouds were still hanging around so we didn’t get to view the icefield or much else of Jasper National Park. We continued our way out of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and up highway 40 to the Alaska Highway. Now our serious drive is ahead of us, we are trying to drive as much as we can to get to Fairbanks, AK as soon as we can, to cut down the costs of day to day living like food and camping. Since the prices of gas went up and in Canada they were up as high as $4.56 a gallon (much more than we expected) our trip is based on a shorter amount of traveling days. The drive along the side of the rocky mountains was covered in yellow trees, contrasting against the evergreens and letting us know fall is here and it is much colder outside of the car. We camped tonight at Buckinghorse River, a provincial park of British Columbia. There we met some nice people from Edmonton, Mark and Wanda – originally from New Zealand. We sent the night chatting with them about various items and learned that Wanda does small trekking tours in Nepal – check out her website for more information www.hihimalayas.com . They also gave us some great information on Alaska.

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Sept 9 – MT/AB, Canada

September 15th, 2005

Day 39 – We have hit the fall of the north and are no longer wearing shorts and tank tops – though I am sticking to my flip flops for awhile longer. We tried out the seat warmers that came in the car – I have to say that was a great invention. Felt like someone was rubbing the soreness out of my lower back and my body got thoroughly warmed up. It is refreshing to be in the cooler weather and Jason is definitely enjoying the non-sticky humid climate.

We woke up in Glacier National Park with clouds all around us and a dew soaked tent. Haven’t have dew in a long time, I almost forgot about that part of nature. As we maneuver up through the mountains, the parks’ stunning beauty and sharp features kept us in awe and driving slow. The lack of guardrails and the drop of 3,000 vertical feet through the clouds below at the edge of the road also kept us in awe and driving slow. As we drove up to the pass the clouds frolicked up out of the valley and along the road, starting to clear up the higher we climbed. At the pass we had a great view of the sun coming over the horizon and dappling some color on the mountain tops. One of the more untouched national parks we have. I can’t wait to go back.

Canada!! Yay, the guards let us cross the boarder into the wonderful land of moose, maple, and friendly people. Though, we had to be questioned up in the customs office first, but no car search was done – thank god, because I am sick of repacking the car. Right as we started driving north to Calgary the clouds started to settle in more and there wasn’t much to look at. Calgary was all shrouded in clouds so we only saw a faint outline of a few buildings. We moved onto Banff and the clouds got thicker. As we drove through the park the only part we could see was the base of the mountains, but we could tell that they looked enormous and astounding even if they were covered in clouds. The whole trip through Banff and Jasper National Park was cloudy, so we will have to come back again. Our camping tonight happened right as we crossed into Jasper Park, next to the Columbia Icefield. The whole landscape was blanketed in snow. It was really exciting to be in snow, since I never really got enough of it growing up. I had my first experience snow camping and our tent became an igloo because during the night it snowed about 2-1/2 inches or so.

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note – 1

September 15th, 2005

I figured I would be adding notes to the blog as we travel, so now I am numbering them.. but Aug 26 is updated with photos from our drive to arches national park.

Here is a pic of a view of Moad as we drove up arches national park. And this is a link of our pics from Arches and Cayonlands National Parks. For pics of Arches and Canyonlands CLICK ME You don’t have to sign in – just click on the album

More updating will be happening tomorrow and the next day 🙂

Posted in 03 - USA - Rocky Mountains, notes | No Comments »

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Sept. 8 – WY/MT

September 14th, 2005

Day 38 – We woke up with the sunrise to the freezing temperatures in Yellowstone, it was in the high 30’s and as we packed up our tent our hands were not happy to be bare to the temperatures. Later that morning, we were graced with the skilled performance of the Old Faithful Geyser. A magnificent display of hot water under pressure and finally having release. In Yellowstone National Park we also looked at some colorful sulfur smelling water holes and mud holes. The landscape was beautiful with deep blue streams and bright yellow fields of grass, mountains, and colorful cliffs. You would never imagine how many bison live in the park. We saw about four or so herds wandering in the meadows and crossing the roadway. They even walked down the road as if it was there means of transporting themselves also. Maybe, they prefer the road over the grass…. Below are some pics of the other animals that came out for our viewing.

After our morning hours in Yellowstone it was a direct drive to Glacier National Park and we barely made it by nightfall. Camping just inside the east entrance of the main road that goes through the park.

Posted in 03 - USA - Rocky Mountains | No Comments »

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Sept. 6 – UT

September 14th, 2005

Day 36 – We went down to the Red Cross meeting for volunteers this morning and learned how the whole system worked and what Red Cross is doing for the hurricane relief project. Unfortunately, we couldn’t be much help due to two things – one, they have so many volunteers already that they don’t need help until mid-september and two we don’t have a local chapter since we are on the move. We were hoping that we’d be very usefully since we didn’t have to be anywhere at anytime could move anywhere, but it is not that simple. So, we will see how we can help out when we reach Seattle.

We also, stopped by my Uncle’s office for his business Bottman Design – www.bottman.com – and saw how it all works. Check out their website, they have very artistic and funny cards, magnet pads for the fridge, calendars, invitations, and pottery items. I love their work!!

We did our last bit of Black Rock City clean up by unpacking everything in our car and cleaning out the last spots of dust. Than, put everything back in – some how feeling more organized and clean afterwards. Even though I know we will keep finding more dust. The playa dust has a certain smell to it, almost like the natural shelled peanuts you buy in a bag that still have the dirt on them – you burners know what I am talking about. And it is still in our vents when we turn the air on – a nice reminder of the past week .

Posted in 03 - USA - Rocky Mountains | No Comments »

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