RV There Yet? » Alaska

Crafty Things, Part I – Remembering Alaska

steph — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:55:47 +0000

Since we have a day or so until our March project really kicks in, I thought I’d share some recent crafty things I’ve completed lately. Ok, so actually they were from last year and were mostly Christmas gifts and yes, it is March, but somethings just don’t get organized so easily! (Like a “show and tell” post!). But, because some of my faithful readers are my quilting buddies from my previous lifetime, I thought I’d do a little sharing.
Today it’s all about Alaska. I know, I know, you heard about Alaska for 4 months. But this is about Alaska memories! Have you ever heard of a “Shop Hop”? A Shop Hop is where area shops (in this case quilt shops) join together in some group marketing plan to entice shoppers to visit all of the shops and purchase stuff! With quilt shops the plan is often to purchase a particular block kit at each shop that can be sewn together into one large quilt. In Alaska, the Shop Hop covered the entire state, and while we made it to lots of those shops, we didn’t make it to all. But that didn’t stop us – my quilting buddy Naomi and I still managed to pick up (or have shipped to us!) 12 kits! If I had followed their directions, I would have ended up with a quilt that looked (more or less) like this -

But I didn’t really want an Alaska quilt. So I decided to add borders and make individual wallhangings. A plan much more suitable for someone who lives in less than 400 square feet.
So, to help me remember the bears that we saw,

I made the bear wallhanging.

To help me remember the moose we saw (and oh, how l loved the moose!)

I put this together -

And my favorite fireweed…

The towering mountains -

The ancient glaciers -

the serene loons -

and while we never did see any Eskimos in kayaks, we did see some of those wonderful jackets -

Oh, and the outhouses…..

(This one is headed to our Vermont Cabin, where we do indeed have an outhouse!)
And then the last three -

Out of the eleven that I completed, five of them went to my unsuspecting family as gifts. The other six are in my wallhanging “stash”. And every time I pull one of them out, I’ll be reminded of the wonderful summer we spent in Alaska!

Tomorrow – the rest of the Crafty Story!

Back to the Lower 48 – Day 4

steph — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Monday, July 27
Chitina to Kennicott, back to Chitina in the truck. 60 Miles of Gravel road each way.
Chitina to Tok with the house.
Another early start day, but we had 60 miles of dirt/gravel road to cover, so it made sense to get a good start. Besides, it was a lovely morning – and the early views were lovely!

These big wide rivers are in valleys made by glaciers – you can always tell by the wide “U” shape of the valley. It often has a lazy braided look, but just as often has quite a strong current and can be quite treacherous. Glacier fed rivers have a lot of glacier “dirt” in them and I think they look like concrete slurry. Very gray.
Although the day started out quite clear (as you can see in this clear little pond with the beaver house in the back),

we soon began to notice a layer of smoke settling around us.

This is the Kuskulana River Bridge built in 1910 (had I mentioned that this road follows the railroad bed that ran to the copper mine community in Kennicott?). It’s one skinny lane, 525 feet long and 238 ft. above the river. Gulp.

Although the wildfire was still far away, the smoke continued for quite a while.

We came out of the smoke and upon a lovely lake at just about the same time. We climbed down an embankment to get a closer look at the lake –

(The smoke is hanging just above the horizon)
Finally we made it to the end of our 60 mile dirt road. Of course, we still had a mile walk to McCarthy and then a 6 mile shuttle bus to Kennecott, but we were happy to be done bumping along for a bit! There is a long pedestrian bridge across the Kennicott River – plenty of photo op’s there….

A little background on McCarthy and Kennicott.
“The 2 settlements in this area, McCarthy and Kennicott, both originated with the establishment of the Kennecott Mines Company in 1906. (An early day misspelling made the mining company Kennecott, while the glacier and river are Kennicott.)
The mining town of Kennicott, perched on the side of Bonanza Ridge above the wide and rocky Kennicott Glacier moraine, housed the mine offices, homes, a hospital, school and a movie theatre. Today, the 14-story Kennecott Mine mill and concentrator building towers the narrow gravel road through “town”, which includes historic structures like the old hospital and assay office, the restored recreation center, some private buildings and Kennicott Glacier Lodge.
McCarthy, 5 miles away, sprang up to provide miners with more housing, saloons, a newspaper, stores, hotels, restaurants and a red light district. A number of these pioneer structures have been restored or rebuild and now house a variety of businesses that serve the influx of summer visitors and the small year-round population of homesteaders.” The Milepost, 2009.
Apparently, in 1938 when the mines closed, the owners removed what they thought was valuable and pretty much just packed up and left everything else. Along with several private establishments, it is also a part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We found it to be very interesting, and well worth the 60 miles of smoke and bumps!

Apart from the abandoned mining community, there are also glaciers and mountains to be hiked and explored. The valley is filled with glacial moraines - they look like giant piles of cinders, but they are actually ice that is just covered with the glacial debri.

The processing plant was gi-normous!

We walked through McCarthy on our way back to the truck –

Took a short cut through the woods –

And came upon a black bear once we made it back to the road.

It was between us and the bridge, but fortunately it decided that the flowers at the little community chapel looked more interesting than we did,

So we were able to continue on our way.
We made it back to the truck without event and bumped along back to the rig (with a few less stops for picture taking!).
The day wasn’t done for us though – we still wanted to get close to (if not all the way to) Tok. Of course, we did have the daylight thing going for us!
We made it to Tok by 10:00, found a nice spot by the side of the road and settled in for the evening. I looked out a little after 11PM and almost saw a sunset!

Day Four – RV miles – 202.3, Chitina to Tok
Truck Miles – 120 and lots of dust, but lots of history too! A Very Good Day!

PS – The complete set of the Day 4 Pictures are Here

Psst….Here’s a map that might help a little with just where we are!

(Real Time update – it’s Wednesday night, we’re in Chicken, AK, and we’re headed to Dawson City (Yukon Territory) tomorrow morning. Here’s hoping our border crossing goes smoothly! More on Day 5 & 6 & maybe even 7 tomorrow (I hope)!)

Getting ready to roll

steph — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:14:58 +0000

Tomorrow is our last day at Solid Rock. It’s been a good month. The weather has been outstanding – the locals have all said that this has been one of their nicest summers in a long time. We saw our first rain drops of the month on Monday, and even those were pretty few and far between. The intermittent rain has been a blessing for the local firefighters as they battle several wildfires in the area, and it hasn’t really slowed us down.
Solid Rock Bible Camp is one busy place! They run several different types of camp each week. During our first week there was a Running Camp, a Waterskiing Wakeboard Camp, and a Wagon Train Camp (focusing on horsemanship). This week they have two Wagon Train groups, a large Lakeside Camp and a basketball camp. It’s been keeping us pretty busy in the kitchen feeding all those hungry campers. We’ve been blessed by being able to eat with the campers, and since the guys were working down at the Wagon Train area we all got invited to their campfire breakfast last Friday.
Yummmmm.

Here are a couple of other shots from the Wagon Train area –

There is a nice trail around the lake that starts at the Wagon Train and goes over to the Lakeside Camp.

Here’s a view across the lake to the Prayer Chapel that we’ve been meeting at =

The trail ends at the Lakeside Camp –

I think you can see the appeal of these camps.

So tomorrow we raise the jacks, pull in the slides, strap down that coffee maker and make sure all the drawers are securely closed. We’re not done with Alaska yet, but we’ll be officially beginning the long trek back to the Lower 48. Fair Warning – there are windshield shots in your future!

Can I get a little crafty with you?

steph — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:31:06 +0000

I know this is supposed to be about TRAVEL and such, but a certain part of this Alaskan Adventure has involved hunting down local quilt shops (and while Lara was with us, yarn shops as well). Alaska’s Quilt shops are REALLY BIG on Alaska fabric. Lots and lots of moose, bears, puffins, Alaskan Indian motifs, sled dogs, wild flowers and more moose. And along with wonderful selections of Alaskan-themed fabrics, many of the shops are participating in the 2009 Great Alaska Shop Hop, which of course is just a marketing ploy to get quilters into their shops. Back home a Shop Hop usually ran for a day or a weekend, and you would try to get to as many shops as you could in the allocated time. Often each shop would offer a block kit which when made would work into a larger wall hanging or quilt (depending on how many blocks you were able to collect). The 2009 Great Alaska Shop Hop goes from May 1 through October 31st! (Gives you an idea of how much territory you’d have to cover to get to them all. Not to mention that some of them are inaccessible by road, and we brought neither a plane or boat!) Naomi and I have been doing our part to support the local quilt shop economy by picking up blocks where ever we can. I’m not sure if I’ll be putting them together into one quilt or just making individual wall hangings. Each block has a pieced square and then an appliqué of some Alaskan highlight – bears, fireweed, mountains, trees, glaciers, etc. Here is one I have finished so you can get an idea of what these blocks are all about –

My one other sewing project has been an assortment of Alaska themed pillowcases. Shhhhhh – these are gifts for my little granddaughters. Hope they aren’t checking!

This one is for me –

I really do love those lupine and fireweed!
Aside from all the fabric fun I’ve been having (especially while Gary has been busy doing plumbing things), I have also just completed my first knit hat. Daughter Lara is an exceptional knitter (and that’s not just her mother talkin’ here. Check out the picture of the three of us at the end of this post – she knit the sweater I’m wearing. Really, she’s amazing!). Anyway, even though I couldn’t figure out how to finish off a dishcloth that I had started a year ago, she thought I was ready to move on to making a hat. And then she left before I got to the hard part – trying to figure out what “ sl1, k2tog, psso” could possibly mean! Thanks to the internet, a little common sense and a forgiving pattern –
ta da – ze hat!

And look – it even fits!

Who know what I’ll be knitting next!
Thanks for hangin’ in through my little show and tell. Sometimes I just need to get that off my chest!
And as a thank-you for sticking with all the gobbley-gook about hopping shops, here are a couple of Moose Creek area photos that are a little more back on track –
These were taken around Upper Trail Lake-

That’s it for today. We’ll be heading on to Soldotna tomorrow but I think we’re planning on stopping for a fish hatchery tour and a gold mine tour on the way. That’s one of the great things about Alaska – there’s always something “on the way”.

Some Final thoughts about Camp Li-Wa

steph — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:11:54 +0000

This has truly been an exceptional project for us.
1.The folks we worked with.
We were working with the team we drove to Alaska with along with those new team members Pete and Ellen.

After all that time on the road we are STILL good friends, and thoroughly enjoyed sharing devotions each morning, working together and then playing together. Such a blessing!
2.The folks who work at Camp Li-Wa
Li-Wa has been a camp in Fairbanks since 1959. Like Alaska, it is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. I can’t speak for all of the counselors and summer staff, but I know that the full-time year around staff are all there as missionaries. There are no big salaries or corporate perks with these jobs, everyone raises their own support and feels called to serve the Lord at the camp. They are a remarkable group of servants, and we were honored to serve along with them.
3.The work we did.
a. The men took on a huge job, and (as usual) handled it with great skill. The camp had been given a small construction trailer and needed to make it into the boys’ bathhouse.

When they started the shower stalls were in, the plumbing was there for the toilets and sink and that was all. No water, no electric, no sewer, not even steps into the building. By the beginning of the third week it was fully functional with a new peaked roof along with stairs and a landing into the building.

While Gary finished up the electric and water service to the boys’ bathhouse, the rest of the guys moved over to the girls’ bathhouse where they put a peaked roof over the existing flat one. Towards the end of our work time the guys worked together on getting the sewer line installed in the bathhouse and then while Gary worked on water lines in one of the new cabins,

the rest of the men built a solar box for the hot water heater!
These four men accomplished amazing things!
b. We ladies started out with a big cleaning job – getting the camp kitchen ready for the “season”.

It hadn’t been used all winter so it took us a couple of days to not only clean the appliances, shelves and floor, but also wash and sanitize all the dishes and silverware. After we got the cleaning done, Ellen and I worked on painting the floor.

With the kitchen cleaning done we moved to making curtains!!! Naomi, Rosie and I are Sewing Sowers, so we were pretty happy with that assignment. Ellen kept busy watering the gardens and flowers boxes that decorate the camp (and get enormous with all the sunlight!).
After we made curtains for one of the new cabins, we made new curtains for the camp dining hall and then for all three of the boys’ cabins.

(Check our our anti-mosquito garb!)
We were done with a couple of days to spare so we tackled some pillows and a wall hanging that they had had for a while and just hadn’t had time to get to. So for the last two days I was machine quilting!!!! What a delight for me!

4.The fact that we are in ALASKA! We have had a great time this month during our “tourist” moments – Chena Hot Springs, the Dalton Highway and the Arctic Circle, Discovery Riverboat, local farmer’s market, museums and parks, and the lovely Camp Li-Wa itself. As a special bonus, today as we were heading into Fairbanks we actually (for the first time) caught sight of Mt. McKinley on the horizon. It’s almost 200 miles away, so the conditions have to be just right for it to be visible. It was a great way to end our time in Fairbanks. (Sorry, but I didn’t have my trusty camera with me!)

Right now we’re parked in the Fred Myer’s parking lot waiting for a call from Lara that her plane has landed. While the Fairbanks Airport may have a “cell phone waiting lot”, we’re pretty sure it doesn’t have an RV waiting lot! It’s been a good month – and we’re looking forward for more goodness in the weeks and months ahead.

PS – if you’d like to see more of these hard working folks workin’ – Here you go!

Friday Fun in Fairbanks

steph — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Today was our last “tourist” day in Fairbanks. We headed to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks (UAF) and their renowned Museum of the North. It was chock full of all things Alaskan, including two short films on winter in Alaska and the Northern Lights. Both were excellent (though the Northern Lights one was a little on the technical side!). But maybe the most fun we had was watching Rosie learn how to use an Eskimo Yo-Yo!

I’m done!

But there were other interesting parts in the museum –

Looks like Gary, John and Rosie were done before the rest of us!
After a quick bite to eat, we drove over to the Georgeson Botanical Garden – also part of the UAF. I was busy practicing my macro shots – I just love those beautiful flowers!

From there we went to the Large Animal Research Station (also part of UAF) where they do research on the Muskox and the Caribou –

See those folks at the bottom of the picture? They paid the $10 each for a 45 minute tour of the facility. We enjoyed the picnic area, a couple of close by muskox

and the gift shop (we could have purchased a tuna fish size can of reindeer chunks in gravy. For $9.00. I’m sorry, but eewwwwwww).
We checked out a couple of local stores and then ended the day with a great little sundae.

A yummy day all around!

Tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll be finishing up a sewing project for the camp while Gary works on getting his tools all packed up for our departure Saturday night. Then we’ll be doing all the laundry, getting our inside stuff all put away for travel. We pull out in the early evening to get close to the Fairbanks Airport where we’ll be picking Lara up in the very early hours of Sunday morning. From there – it’s Denali National Park for us!
I think there will be adventures ahead!

Driving the Dalton

steph — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:13:45 +0000

Around these parts the major roads go by name not number. Some are obvious – like the Chena Hot Springs Road which dead ends at (you guessed it) Chena Hot Springs. The Richardson starts in Valdez and goes to Fairbanks (and changes route numbers along the way at Delta Junction) and was named after General Wilds P. Richardson, first president of the Alaska Road Commission. Then there’s the Steese Highway (starts in Fairbanks and dead-ends at Circle (pop. 102)). Yesterday we took the Steese up to Fox (pop. 369), picked up the Elliott (151 miles of road that starts in Fox and goes to Manley Hot Springs – about ½ of it is paved) up to Livengood (we tried our best to find this town (pop. 25) but had no luck) where we got on the Dalton – which connects the Elliott to the city of Deadhorse, right on the Arctic Ocean.

The drive to Deadhorse and the Arctic Ocean (Prudhoe Bay) from Fairbanks is about 500 miles. As you can see by the dotted lines, it’s only about 25% paved and the steepest grade is 12%. Yes, 12% grade on gravel roads. It’s recommended that you bring TWO spare tires and ALWAYS give way to the trucks that barrel up and down that road. Oh, and once you get to Deadhorse you can’t actually get to the Arctic Ocean unless you are part of a tour ($40.00 each!). Although John and Rosie decided that they couldn’t come this far and not make it to the Arctic Ocean, the rest of us opted to do just part of the trip, and go as far as Arctic Circle (about 200 miles from Fairbanks). It sounds like their two day trip (6:30AM Friday to 12:00AM Saturday) was amazing – from the long grueling drive (but it was filled with wildlife and scenery that they will probably never have the opportunity to see again) to the fascinating tour of the oil community in Deadhorse (the longest anyone is allowed to work there at a stretch is 6 weeks, and then they have to return at least to Fairbanks or Anchorage for 2 weeks) to John actually putting his fingers in the Arctic Ocean (brrrrrrrrr). Our “little” drive to the Arctic Circle was just a taste of their adventure, but it suited us just fine.
We followed the same pipeline north –

We had our share of paved road –

More than our share of gravel/dirt road-

A good selection of 12% grades –

Gave way to some pretty big rigs coming and going-

Crossed the same Yukon River-

And saw some amazing scenery along the way (even though it was cloudly and rainy most of the day)–

(those are white wildflowers in those fields!)

While we didn’t see herds of caribou, we did have a little baby moose run beside us for a bit and then cross in front of us. (All the time thinking, I’m sure, “Mommy, Mommy, I’m on the wrong side of the road!!!”)

We also enjoyed some of the fine facilities along the way-

We made it to the Arctic Circle

(where we were able to take a quick picture before we were eaten alive by the skeeters!)
and home again all in one (long but good) day.

And Sunday after church, we washed the truck!

Hope your weekend was filled with adventure too!

Saturday One – Chena Hot Springs

steph — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:41:15 +0000

After a productive morning of dusting, vacuuming and bathroom cleaning, Gary and I took off to Chena Hot Springs Resort - about 50 miles east of us. It was threatening thunder showers all day, but we had a nice ride through countryside that really reminded me of Vermont.

Here are the Hot Springs -

Somehow, once we got there, we just didn’t feel like paying $10.00 each to sit in giant hot tub. So we saved ourselves the money (and the need to put on those swimsuits) and checked out the ducklings in a nearby pond.

Have you ever seen ducklings swim half under the water?

Maybe they just aren’t strong enough to stay all the way above water?

Here are a couple of other shots from around the grounds -

The Model T of Snowmobiles!

The wildflowers are bustin’ out all over up here. We’ve heard a lot about
Fireweed - a wildflower that is one of the first vegetations to appear after a forest fire. (It’s also the Provincial Flower of British Columbia.) I thought I spotted some today
but when I googled a picture of it, it didn’t quite match. Maybe they just aren’t open all the way yet? Whatever they are, they sure are purty!
Other beauties along the road (yes, I did make Gary stop so I could take these pictures!)

So, Saturday One – Chena Hot Springs -
Saturday Two – The Arctic Circle!

Man, I love these three day weekends!

An early evening stroll

steph — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:07:00 +0000

Tonight, after a lovely dinner provided by our hosts, I loaded up with bug spray and took a little walk around the camp. I hadn’t checked out all the different areas and since the evening was so very lovely it seemed like a perfect opportunity. Want to come along?
This is where we are parked.

We’re very cozy (and close enough so I can yell at Rosie if I need to borrow a cup of sugar!). Jay and Naomi and Pete and Ellen are parked on the other side of this building (where we meet for devotions, break and games).

I took the pictures standing in the same place, so even though we aren’t all together, we are certainly all in the same neighborhood!
I hadn’t checked out the horse barn, so I wandered over that way.

Along with their horses (they have quite an equestrian program here)

they also have a petting zoo of sorts.

Busy place, that barn!
But, on with the walk-

This is the building where we ladies have been sewing. Once it’s finished it will be used as cabin space for campers. Right now it’s pretty cluttered with our sewing stuff as we’ve been working on curtains. (We’ve completed 17 pairs, with 9 more to go!).

I’m not sure who gets to sleep in the tent – maybe some of the summer staff?

The cabins and dining hall are down at the “lower camp” – just a short walk down the road,

But I thought I’d explore a path down to the lake

I had spotted something white high in one of those pine trees on the other side of the lake and thought it might be a bald eagle.

But alas….

It was just a seagull. I guess they get to make nests too!
Looking back from the observation deck you can see the dining hall (left) and another building.

It’s pretty scenic, but the permafrost does an amazing job each year of skewing the buildings and generally wreaking havoc with the roads and floors. The camp is hoping to move the camp center (mostly the dining hall) to up on the same level where the horse barn is. It’s a couple of years down the road, so meanwhile they’ve put up a “temporary” building to use for activities.

I think it’s working well for them!
But a walk around this camp didn’t only bring me to buildings and animals and Lake Li-Wa. (Here’s another lake shot I really like -)

But it also had a lovely selection of wildflowers along the way.

Back up the hill….

And home.
A good walk, and a nice quiet evening.
The sun should be setting about 12:32AM today (and it comes up just two and a half hours later at 3:08AM). This daylight thing is pretty crazy!
Off to the dark bedroom!
g’night!