Wrote two entries tonight: neither show up.

Dave had gall bladder surgery here in Jackson, WY.  Great hospital, great church family.  Hope to be on the road to Yellowstone on Tuesday.  Dave is feeling like himself, again.

This is my second one tonight; first one kicked off.

Dave had emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder here in Jackson, WY.  Great hospital; great church with supportive members.

Hopefully on to Yellowstone after followup doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

September 29, 2010  Day 113

Two days ago I wrote a long blog about our trip across the High Desert, and before I could post it, the internet kicked me off.  This is one of the most discouraging issues on this trip.  I have lost several blogs, answers to e-mails, journal entries, etc., because somehow, I get kicked off.

This internet, in Mountain View RV Park, Arco, Idaho, is unsecured.  I am at the mercy of the number of people in this park who want to use the internet the same time I do.  In some cases, people upload many pictures, or stream videos, which makes it hard for the rest of us to even read e-mails.

OK, enough complaining:  We traveled most of today, also across the High Desert, three days, altogether.  At first it was fascinating; then it became long and boring.  Finally, I began to think about those pioneers who braved the elements to travel across this same High Desert in wagon trains, taking far longer than 3 days, and with no creature comforts, often not enough food, and too often massacres on the way.

The most interesting part of today's drive was the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It is several hundred acres of weird, spooky, and utterly fascinating landscape created from lava flows a few hundred years ago.  I was driving, but Dave got some pictures.  I am not going to try to share them, as I don't want to lose this blog!

Yesterday and the day before, we were camped in a beautiful spot on the Snake River in Eastern Oregon.  The hills were barren, as all across the desert, but the riverside was lush and green.  It was a restful two days.

Tomorrow we leave for Grand Teton National Park.  I hope to write again from there. 

Day 107, Septermber 22, 2010

Just a quick note, as we are preparing to leave this lovely campground in Diamond Lake, which is private, therefore expensive, for an equally lovely one in Crater National Park.  We may not be able to get one of the only 10 sites there with electric, so we will be out of reach for a few days again.

We drove the Rim Road around Crater Lake yesterday.  Every corner yielded a new and more beautiful view of the lake and the incredible cliffs that surround it.  I took many, many pictures; too many, probably.  We also stopped at the Visitor's Center (all of those Centers in every park are well worth the stop), and watched a video.

We've enjoyed the videos in each of the National Parks, but this one was especially fine.  It blended the history/geology of Crater Lake with the local Klamath Indian legends about the beginnings of the Lake.  We also saw a brief video of the road crew clearing the snow from Rim Road each spring.  It takes them almost 4 months to completely clear the roads around the lake; they only get about 1/4 mile cleared a day!  When you think that the average snowfall on the Rim Road is 40 feet deep, it is understandable.

It was hair-raising to see those big bulldozers clearning the edges of the road, which they could not see, with the 500-1000-foot drop-offs.  There is some kind of cable running around the edge of the road that an electronic device in each bulldozer "reads" and that helps.  But it is still one of the most hazardous jobs in any of the National Parks.

Oh, and I learned that Crater Lake is NOT a volcanic crater.  A crater appears when the top blows off the mountain.  Crater Lake is a Caldera, which develops when the magma is depleted during many eruptions, and the top of the mountain SINKS down.  One of the interesting features of the area is the Pumice desert, created by the last eruption, 7,000 years ago.  Trees are still very sparse, and only some grasses and little plants grow there.

We didn't see the Phantom Ship, which is a 40-foot tree, floating VERTICALLY around the lake.  No one knows why it floats vertically, but it was first sighted 100 years ago!  Amazing!

Off to "button-up" for our hair-raising trip on Rim Road with the coach, on the way to our new home for several nights.  We will be dry-camping again.  Snuggles sends her best bark.

and don't come back for many a day!  It began cloudy, then around time for church, a bit of blue sky and sun.  Enjoyed the service at Emmanuel; met some nice and friendly people; then went home to have lunch.

We did get in a bit of sightseeing on the huge sandunes in the area and walked outside for a bit of sea air.  Took a couple pictures at the lighthouse at Umpqua, where in October and November you can see Gray Whales.  We scoped out the seafood restaurant that was recommended to us for our evening dinner, then back to the coach for a Sunday afternoon nap.

When we were ready to make the trek back to Winchester Bay for dinner, guess what?  IT WAS RAINING AGAIN!  And HARD.  But, we persevered, and drove to the pier at Winchester Bay to Griffs, a small but very good eatery.

Coming home just now (we closed not only the restaurant, but the whole town, then when we went to the next, larger, town for gas for the Honda, closed that, too!), the rain was pelting, not just falling.  Dave has the little heater on in the coach, which cheers things up a bit.

We leave tomorrow, heading east about 25 miles down the road; destination, Crater Lake.  We'll probably take two days to get there.

I'm afraid to look at the weather forecast!

We are settled in Lakeside, OR, after a somewhat disappointing trip down the Oregon Coast.  It isn't the Coast's fault; it is the foggy and rainy weather that made enjoying the rugged beauty of the coast nearly impossible.

The road went from seaside to high cliffs to deeply forested areas, then zoom! back out to high cliffs over the ocean.  All of this with myriad very sharp curves.  We unhooked the Honda after setting up and drove another 20 miles down the coast to find Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Coos Bay.  Their answering machine just tells you to leave a message; no information about services, etc.!  So we had to make the 40-miles round trip to find out.

The trip through the Fruit Loop yesterday was wonderful.  I did find some great pears, peaches, and apples.  We stopped on the trip to have a picnic lunch, and to enjoy our pears.  However, coming back to the campsite was very challenging.  We were using one of those "Visitor's Maps" that are not very accurate and leave out a lot of pertinent information.

One of the piece of information was how to get from the Fruit Loop back to our campsite without retracing a rather long drive.  I was driving; Dave was navigating.  Suffice to say, we explored many very interesting roads, none of which got us any closer to the campground.  Up and down, and up and down, round and round, we went.  We stopped at a place in the National Forest called Timberline, and enjoyed some incredible views.

Eventually, we did get back, tired, but happy.  Today was another up and down, round and round day.  I love the forests here, but you know what?  Give me an interstate for a couple days, OK?

Day 101.  We spent four wonderful days in Gateway Inn and Rv Park, 100 feet from the Nisqually entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park.  We couldn't use the Nat'l. Park campground because our unit is too big. 

We arrived Sunday night at the park, after church with Fr. Lovelady and a great welcome-back-to Church School barbeque.  Monday was a gorgeous day, and our drive up to Paradise Visitor's Center yielded many perfect pictures of the snow-capped Mount Rainier. I thought I had seen enough glaciers in Alaska to last a lifetime, but the ones coming down from Mt. Rainier's peak are beautiful.

Tuesday was another lovely day that we spent catching up on all the things that had been let go, like banking, telephone calls, etc.  I spent a good deal of the day trying to catch up on my scrapbook.  I got a lot done, but am still woefully behind.

Wednesday was a laundry/post office day.  Dave also worked on balancing the checkbooks; a thankless task, but necessary.  The important thing is that we rested from the big push on the caravan.

Today we drove through Gifford Pinchot National Forest; an absolutely lovely drive through old trees covered in moss with "Witches Hair" and "Old Man's Beard" lichens hanging down.  A twisty, steep road up and then down, just a little spooky.  We were in this forest, up and down, up and down, for at least 100 miles.

Tomorrow, we will take the Honda and drive a loop along the Columbia Gorge and then through the "Fruit Loop" country.  I hope to actually buy some fresh fruit!

Dave wanted me to write that Snuggles went "body-surfing", quite unexpectedly, in Long Beach on that last morning's run.  She got a little too close to the water and a wave caught her. She was no worse for the wear.

This afternoon, when we arrived at this campsite, Snuggles got past Dave on the stairway, and swoosh!  She was running all around, coming back to Dave when he called, but dashing off again before he could catch her.  (Thea, does this remind you of another dog?)One of the other campers saw this and leashed his Pug and came outside with him.  Sure enough, Snuggles came right over to the dog and I was able to snap her leash.  Dave and I thanked him profusely, and he said, "When I saw your dog loose, I told my wife, I know how to catch her!"

Day 94; our oldest son's birthday.

We are in Ocean Park, on a peninsular on the Washington coast.  We left Olympia and our friends this morning.  We had a wonderful visit with Ed and Debbie, and were gratified to see that Debbie is doing well, very happy in her home, and Ed is excited about his interim placement.

We will be at his interim church in Vancouver, WA, on Sunday, and I will assist Ed at the Eu charist.  This is another blessing in 94 days of many blessings!

It was a lovely drive today, through thick spruce forests, most of them owned by Weyerhouser lumber.  There was evidence of a humungous storm, I think in 2009, that blew down acre after acre of forest, like pick-up sticks.  Weyerhouser is salvaging what they can, and they have instituted a huge replanting program.

We are near the beach; we walked Snuggles through the grass-covered dunes to run on the beach this afternoon.  Dave took her off her leash and she ran and ran and ran.  A pickup truck drove by, and she took off after it (on the sand); they heard Dave calling, and turned back carefully to bring her back.  She finally ran herself out and came to where Dave could put her leash on again.

Tomorrow we will go into Long Beach.  This weekend is a big car show.  There many antique cars in town.  We had difficulty getting a campsite.  Long Beach seems to be a typical beach community, much like the one we left in RI so many years ago.  There are many, many shops and restaurants along the main street.  It was very busy when we drove through.

We have no phone service again.  I hope when we get into Long Beach we will pick it up again. 

It's nice to be "home" again!  But we will never forget Alaska.

We've had a couple interesting days, here in the Vancouver, BC area.  Yesterday we attended St. Dunstan's Anglican Church in Aldergrove.  This is a big, beautiful, NEW, church, built 8 years ago after a fire-bombing destroyed their old church!  They weren't targeted; the kids in the town went slightly crazy on Halloween and threw Molotov cocktails at several buildings in the town before they were caught.  Sad, but out of the ashes came a beautiful church.

The priest is recovering from a serious surgery, so the Deacon, a charismatic woman of about 50, led Morning Prayer.  We spent an hour afterwards with some wonderful parishioners at their coffe time. 

In the afternoon, we drove with our caravan friends into Vancouver, and after threading our way through horrendous traffic (Labor Day is a major holiday weekend in BC, too), we finally parked and went up the Tower to the Observation Deck, where we had a 360 degree view of the city.

Today, we went back into the city, taking the Sky Train from the suburbs.  We connected with the Seabus, which took us across the river to North Vancouver, where we strolled around the Public Market and had a delicious lunch overlooking the harbor.

So we had interesting views of this very modern city.  It rained most of today, but we were dry in the train and seabus and the market, so it didn't interfere.  We were reminded, however, that Vancouver is part of the Tongass Rainforest that we first met in Alaska, and that stretches down into Oregon!

Off to the border tomorrow.  Once we are in the states, we will have phone service again, thank goodness!

We have been leaving Snuggles shut in the bathroom and bedroom when we leave, instead of in her crate.  She is very good, spending her time on the bed, sleeping on Dave's pillow.  Today we were gone for 8 hours, and she was very good.  However, shortly after we got home, she ate the muffins I had purchased for tomorrow's breakfast!  She lets us know she doesn't like to be left alone!

There is a big "dog park" near here, and Dave has taken her there to run free a couple times.  Today, our friends brought Ruger, the enormous German Shorthair I wrote about, to run with Snuggles.  They had a wonderful time.  Eventually two big Labs joined them.  Snuggles was in doggie heaven.

Postscript:  St. Dunstan's gave me some note paper with a drawing of their new building.  I'll be sending some notes off to St. Luke's, Grace, and St. Peter's, once we are in the states.

Today is the 89th day of our Big Trip!  For two days, now, we have had drives over 200 miles, up very long hills, through dramatic scenery.  We are apparently, here in BC, in the foothills of the Cascades.  The beginning of the trip today was through very dry country, mountainous, very much like parts of Mexico and California.  The hills were brown, brown, brown, with little vegetation taller than sage brush.  But the deep valleys were beautiful.  We traveled along the Frazier River for many miles.

The latter part of the trip was in country with spruce and cedar forests, still very high mountains.  Now we are an hour east of Vancouver, BC, where we will rest for three nights, going into Vancouver to sightsee.  Tomorrow, we will attend a nearby Anglican church.

 Note to 4th Street Cafe'ers:  be sure to let the parish know what you are all about at the Opening Day on September 12.  You are a precious part of St. Luke's:  they need to get to know you!

 Snuggles is off with Dave just now, running loose in a securely fenced area for dogs.  She hasn't had that opportunity since the beginning of the caravan in Great Falls, Montana.  I have a loaf of bread rising, now that I have a little time.  Yummy!  Homemade bread!

The Caravan ended in Prince George, BC, last night with a bang-up farewell dinner.  Most of us met around the coffee pot at 7 a.m. this morning to say our goodbyes and eat the donuts the staff purchased for us.

We are in Cache Creek tonight; we traveled with another couple who will join us in Vancouver, BC for three nights.  When we pulled into this campground, half-way to Vancouver, there were two more rigs from the Caravan!  We had a pleasant "social",  going over our favorite memories from the trip.

Snuggles was happy to find out that Ruger, the German Shorhair friend she made on the caravan ,is parked next to us.  He weighs about 70 pounds, and could make about 5 of Snuggles, but he is the one dog in the caravan that could tolerate her puppyness.  The others pretty much stayed clear of her.

We're exhausted at this point; we'll try to recover in Vancouver, doing a bit of sightseeing, a lot of cleaning, and mostly, I hope, resting.  But it was all fun and exciting.  Alaska was amazing.  I've spent the last few weeks, in the little spare time I had, reading "Alaska", by James Michener.  We heard a lot of the history during our tours, but in no particular order.  Michener puts it into order, and Ienjoyed reading about the places we have seen.

So, on to new things.  First is our stop to visit Ed and Debbie Lovelady, and to attend church at Ed's interim placement.  Then, down the coast of Oregon.  Lots of the world still to see!  "The sea is his because he made it, and his hands have molded the dry lands."  This phrase, from Psalm 95, has become my mantra on this trip.

We've had no internet and I've had trouble getting into this blog for the last few days.

We are now in Stewart, BC, having left Skagway Alaska last Saturday morning.  In Skagway, we rode the famous White Pass Railway, took a catamaran trip to Juneau, and visited the Mendenhall Glacier.

Since then, we have been driving down the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, staying at small campgrounds.  Now we are in Stewart, BC, and this morning we will be going into Hyder, Alaska for our last Alaska town.  In Hyder, we are hoping to see the bears in the national park catching salmon.  However, it is pouring down rain right now, so I don't know what we will see, if anything.

The drive here was terrifying:  narrow, winding road with NO SHOULDER, ala the Baja in Mexico.  However, as we got closer to Stewart, the road improved so we could enjoy the incredible view of yet more glaciers.  The mountains rise sharply from the road, and the lovely rivers run right along next to the road.  The clouds moved in, however, so picture-taking wasn't very successful.

We say goodbye to the Caravan in two days, then we head for Vancouver, BC.  On September 7, we will be stopping to visit Ed and Debbie Lovelady, then, after a quick trip into Ranier National Park, we will go to Vancouver, Washington to attend the church (St. Luke's !) where Ed is interim.

Then it's off to the Oregon coast.  Hopefully, we will have both internet and phone service by then! 

Note to 4th Street Cafe-ers:  I'm planning to mail you a postcard from Hyder, Alaska this afternoon, one of the tiniest Post Offices in the US.

We spent last night in Destruction Bay, Yukon, and are back in Alaska, in Skagway.  Tomorrow we take a train up through White Pass.

This is another beautiful seaside area.  We came through an incredible pass today, with a 11.5 mile 11% downgrade!  In the middle of this steep and curving road, there is the US Customs!

Last night, we were entertained by the Lodge owner, a friend of his, and his nephew.  All are accomplished musicians.  It was to be an hour-long show after a delicious barbecue prepared by the owner, but they were so good, we kept them until nearly 11 p.m., playing and singing for us.

The mountains above Destruction Bay have new snow on them.  It is already fall in the Yukon, with lovely yellow aspens and willows, and many brilliant plants turning orange and red.  The lodge is on Kulane Lake, the biggest in the Yukon.  It is 50 miles long.

On Thursday, we will travel by boat to Juneau for the day.  This park owner in Skagway will walk all the caravan dogs during the day.  We will be gone for 12 hours.

We had to leave early from Valdez today, so we are going to have Evening Prayer when everyone is in the campground here in Tok.

It was another roller coaster ride, through areas in the mountains where there is permafrost, so the roads wave up and down like old-fashioned wash boards.  The scenery was spectacular, of course.

Last night we had a "Christmas in August" party, with lots of wonderful food, many laughs, and great Santa, and presents.  It was a nice goodbye to Valdez-if-you-please.

I have to print off today's Psalm; so long until the next time I get internet, which will probably NOT be tomorrow.  We will be back in Destruction Bay, Canada for the day and night, and last time we were there we couldn't get on the internet.

It's 9:20 p.m., and although overcast, still light out!  We are in Valdez, the port made famous by the Exxon/Valdez oil spill.  We didn't see any signs of it, but there are still places that are affected by it.

 We came here from Palmer.  When I heard we had yet ANOTHER museum trip in this little town, I wasn't very enthusiastic.  I've been to enough museums to last me for a lifetime.  However, I am certainly glad I went.  Palmer turns out to be one of the most interesting little villages because of its history.

First of all it is in a lovely valley, surrounded by huge mountains.  It was one of FDR's 100 "new colonies" that began as a New Deal project after the '29 market crash.  Tupelo, Miss. was another one.  I haven't had time to look up the others on the internet, but I would be interested to hear about them.

Anyway, Palmer was the only one in Alaska.  They chose this site for a new colony for political reasons (surprised, anyone?).  There was a treaty with China and Russia that no military presence would be in Alaska unless and until it was settled.  This now was 1935, and the winds of WWII were already blowing over Europe.  North America was vulnerable from the West because of Japan.  Washington wanted a military presence on the continent, so Palmer was born.

The people chosen to colonize it were from Wisconsin, Northern Michigan, and Minnesota, because of their Scandanavian heritage and their ability to survive in harsh winters.  To be eligible, you had to have a family and be out of work, with no prospects in sight.  This wasn't too hard in that time!

The lady who spoke to us is a grandchild (now in her 70's) of one of the original settler families.  900 people came; 500 of them children!  The town  is full of memorabilia of that era.  About 2/3 of the originals eventually found it too hard and left, but the remainder still have descendants there.

We left there to drive over one of the loveliest highways so far:  The Glenn Highway that runs from Anchorage to Valdez.  Valdez is on the Prince William Sound, if you are watching our trip on a map.  They get an AVERAGE of 365 inches of snow every year.  In 1952-53, they got over 900 inches!  Each year at least 800 inches fall on the mountain tops, and so there are many, many glaciers both high in the mountains, and down closer to the ground.

We took a 9-hour cruise on a 65-foot boat today, into the fjords to look closely at two of the glaciers.  One we couldn't get too close to because of all the icebergs that filled the water in front of it, but the second, the Meares glacier, we got up very close to.  We watched (and heard!) the glacier wall, 200-feet high, "calve" off icebergs.  It was the most exciting thing we have done on this trip.

The whole cruise was full of marvelous things; I have no superlatives left to describe the sights.  At all times, the enormous mountains, with their glaciers, loomed over us.  The islands were beautiful.  We saw a Minke whale, many, many sea lions, harbor seals floating around at the base of the glacier on little icebergs, bald eagles nesting in the tree tops, sea otters floating on their backs with their feet in the air, and myriad sea birds. 

I haven't looked at my photos yet.  I'm sure I took a couple hundred of them.  If any actually look like what we saw today, I'll try on another day to e-mail them.

I'm a bit sleepy tonight.  We are here for one more day, and then we are off to Tok.  Skagway is our last Alaska stop before we head back to Prince George and the end of the Caravan.  BTW, it was only 58 degrees here today, but sunny, finally.  When we were at the base of the glacier, it dropped to 46 degrees, with a brisk wind.  Alaskans are hearty people!

This was to be a "free day" in Homer, which is my very favorite of all the Alaska towns we've visited, but we had to come back to Anchorage because the work done last Monday for $500 didn't hold.  We think they've gotten it now.

Since my last blog, we have been to Seward and had an wonderful cruise down Resurrection Bay into the Gulf of Alaska.  We could see the Kenai National Park, and the Bear Glacier from the boat, along with several icebergs.  In Seward, we also had a "behind the scenes" tour of the Alaska Sealife Center, which is both an aquarium for public enjoyment, and a research center about marine life.  We learned about the research going on, which all began with the Exxon/Valdez oil spill.  Marine experts realized at that time that they knew little about what the effect on the marine life would be.  Exxon Mobile funded the construction of the research center as part of their settlement.

Then off to Homer!  This little town by the sea (it's on Kachemak Bay in the Cook Inlet on the Kenai Penninsula) would be the perfect place to live in my book.  The winters are no where as severe as the rest of Alaska that we have visited, the bay is surrounded by mountains with glaciers, and the water is beautiful. 

The happiest occurence for me was when I called the number for the little Episcopal Church, and I discovered that their priest was in Anchorage because her husband had had a heart attack.  "I'm an Episcopal priest", I said.  Well, the Warden was so excited to have a live one nearby!  They had planned on a soup dinner with Evening Prayer, but that got changed to a soup dinner with Eu charist.  What a blessing for me!

There isn't room here to tell the whole story; but, the church, builit in 2007 with a UTO grant, is the result of three faithful women who began meeting in Homer in 1997 to pray together.  There is now a congregation of 28 people, a beautiful building with windows behind the altar that frame the incredible mountains, a labyrinth in the back yard for the community to use, and a vegetable garden that supplies the community food pantry!

It is a living example that if you pray, do God's work FIRST, and have faith, the budget will work out. 

So, I'd move to Homer tomorrow, if Dave would go along with it.  Even the dark days (in the winter they get only 6 hours of daylight) are filled with the community theater, classes at the school, dances, skiing and skating, and many other community functions.

They also have an A #1 book store!  And an Episcopal Church.  And the sea.  And the mountains with glaciers.  What more does one who has seawater in her veins need?

 BTW, we are at Day 70 on our Big Trip, and Day 43 on the Caravan.

Except for the fact that we had to have the coach at the Workhorse Service place at 6 a.m., then go retrieve it later, I have been at home, writing in my paper journal, preparing some fabric for applique, finishing up a crossword puzzle (believe it or not, that is one of the things I miss; a regular newspaper with a crossword puzzle!  How lame is that?).  I've truly enjoyed it.  Dave is just arriving home from buying a battery for the Honda.

We had an interesting day yesterday (still in Anchorage).  It began with 15 people at the church service, then Dave and I visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center which explains and demonstrates all 11 distinct native cultures.  After lunch, we joined the caravan on a bus tour of Anchorage, including an exciting "Farmer's Market" that featured many Alaskan crafts.  We finished the tour with a visit to Wild Berry Farm, got up close and personal with 3 reindeer and a Great Horned Owl!

The latter was born partially  deaf, and was kicked out of the nest for that reason.  The Wild Animal Rescue Center took it in and raised it.  The owl can never go back to the wild because of the deafness; owls depend upon their keen hearing to find prey .  This owl is now four years old and could live to be 40!

The staff made breakfast for us this morning:  sourdough, sweet potato, or buttermilk pancakes, plus sausage.  This staff is very accommodating, and we often have "goodies", or super-sized hors d'oevres that serve as a meal.

Off to Seward in the morning.  Snuggles says Hi!  Actually , she says Woof! 

In Anchorage tonight.  Long drive today, all the mountains were in the clouds.  So, like 95% of the tourists, we didn't see McKinley.  But, we DID see a huge bull moose!

 Intermittant internet here, so I don't know when I'll be back again.

It was a long day, but very rewarding.  We got on a bus at 6:00 a.m., drove into Denali National Park, and didn't get home for 13 hours!  We had a "dog-walker" for Snuggles, but I still felt bad about leaving her for so long.

Denali is a beautiful, immense, park.  In that respect, Glacier was more personal.  Mt. McKinley (Denali, according to the Athabascans) was hidden all day in the clouds, as it was a day of unsettled weather, but we could see the base enough to realize that it is enormous.

The most interesting was the wild-life sightings:  13 grizzleys, 10 Dahl sheep, 3 wolves (latter running along ahead of the bus), a herd of caribou, and one moose!  The bus driver, an elementary teacher in the winter, was a great and knowledgable guide.  The road was dirt, and narrow, and winding.  Peter has been driving them for 16 years, so it wasn't as scary as it would have been driving it ourselves.

Today, Dave is white-water rafting.  I stayed home for the puppy's sake, to wash sheets (laundry is an on-going problem; this, at least is a pristine laundry, compared to many at campgrounds), and because I knew I couldn't get in and out of a raft, especially not in a wet suit!  Just thinking about it makes me nervouse!

Tomorrow we are on the road again, heading towards Anchorage.  If we are lucky, we will have 1.  Interenet, and 2, a clean laundry.  BTW, it costs $2.50 to wash a load and $2.50 to dry one here.

Mood:  happy

Gosh!  I can't believe it has been so long since I could write a blog!  We are just settled into Denali RV Park, after 5 great days in Fairbanks.  The driving has been difficult:  from Dawson City to Tok, Alaska it was absolutely the worst we have had.  When we pulled into the campground at Tok, our caravan was out in force, washing our rigs and tows with the campground's power wash!  We had far too many layers of dirt on everything.

We also picked up three chips in the windshield of the Honda, which Dave got fixed in Fairbanks.  We have a tiny one in the coach windshield, but as long as we can get away with it, we will wait until the caravan is over to get it fixed.

Dave celebrated his 76th birthday on the banks of the Chena River in Fairbanks, after a long day of touring.  The day before, he had panned for gold and got $26 worth!  We had 19 people at an Evening Prayer service Sunday night, before the birthday party.  I had typed out the whole EP service for the group.

The day before, we went on a Riverboat exc ursion on the Chena.  We stopped at a reproduction of an Athabascan village; our guides were Athabascan young people.  We went up in the steamboat to the end of the Chena, where it dumps into the Tanana River.  The notable thing about the Tanana is that it is fed by  melting glaciers, so it is full of glacial silt.  It was a very dramatic sight, seeing the silt boiling up around the mouth of the Chena.

I finally saw a moose on our way to Tok.  I was beginning to think they were just a my th!

Dave's real birthday present was on Monday, Aug. 2.  He flew in a small plane, 7 passengers and the pilot, up to the Arctic Circle.  I stay ed home with the pup.  He had a wonderful experience.  They landed in Coldfoot, above the Arctic Circle, then were taken by van to Wiseman, population 13.  There they were taken home to a local man's house, where he talked very knowledgably about the Aurora Borealis, how to live off the land, (he has solar panels!), and other explanations of life above the Arctic Circle.

Note from my paper journal on Aug 3.  "Had to put Snuggles in her crate:  she got up on the table and stole 1/4 pound of butter.  I scolded her, threw away the butter, and a few minutes later she was back up there."

Last night's entry from paper journal:  "Nice salmon/halibut/prime rib dinner at the Alaska Salmon Bake."  This place is attached to the Pioneer Park, a county park.  Each course was served buffet style from a different log cabin.  Fun, and delicious!

Tomorrow is the bus trip into Denali.  Rain is predicted, but it should be interesting, anyway.