Remarkable

Yesterday (july 5) I headed down to the little town of seward. The weather in anchorage promised to be another stunner and I headed down a blustery beautiful road along the ocean and surrounded by mtns. By time I arrived in seward a few hrs later the clouds had rolled in and it was cool and raining. This made me hesitant about what kind of day we would have out on kayaks in the morning .
The morning clouds had begun to break and by time we were on our water taxi heading out, the sun was shining!  We saw numerous humpback whales, porpoises, seals, puffins, sea lions and sea otters, all just on the water taxi ride out to the bay! We had perfect weather to kayak our boats out to a glacier, dodging large chunks of ice that always looked like something else (like cloud watching) and barreling thru a small ice field. We saw the glacier calve numerous times and heard the "white thunder" of things shifting. The seals and otters were happy to hang out on pieces of ice too...curiously watching us. The water was an incredible turquois blue and calm as glass. As we approached the beach again at the end of the day, the clouds had started to roll in amd it started raining just after our boat took off back to harbour.

What an incredible day. I only snapped a couple shots with the phone from the boat so you'll have to wait for the rest.

Rest days

So del and I have been in anchorage for two days. His wife michelle has arrived and the two of them have wisked off on their own little adventure.
I have been catching up with the past and stretching my legs.
Yesterday I met up with a childhood friend whom I havent seen in prob 20 yrs! ! We recently reconnected on facebook and I found out she was living up here so we arranged to meet for coffee. It has been so wonderful to "meet" her again and now also meet her new baby and her husband.
Today she showed me the must do hike in anchorage. ..flattop. the afternoon weather was stunning and I got some amazing quiet mtn time out there today when andrea headed back and I went a climbed a second peak in behind flattop. Just cause its there.

And on the eighth day they rested

HAPPY CANADA DAY! !!
We woke up this am to........wait for it.........
Yup.
Rain.
After struggling back into our damp gear we hit the road again. We made a stop at matanuska glacier where we could actually walk up onto the glacier. It was cool and slightly unnerving to see and hear water flowing beneath the blue clear ice!
After some really great mountain curvy roads we finally came down into the anchorage area and low and behold....the sun was shining! It felt so good to have warmer air drying our fingers and toes a little!
Our first stop was the spinard roadhouse to try the 'bacon of the month' ...today we had a caramel apple compote on large chunks of bacon. Then add coffee porter and we were two very happy campers!
Except we're not camping now. Del had some connections here and we are staying at friend's house! Home cooked meal, craft beer, hot showers and stunning scenery right ourside their door.

The best laid plans...day 7

Today was wet. Cold. Miserable.
Thats it.

No, kidding. (Well actually im not but I'll tell you stories anyway)
In the am we made a quick visit to folks del knew thru work and by time we hit the road the rain had started. And it did not let up for even a second the entire day! We were riding thru and past what we assume are gorgeous mtns but alas, the clouds wouldn't let us see them.
As a pit stop to warm up, we ended up at a rural grocery/general store kinda in the middle of nowhere. There we met the ma and pa running the place. An interesting couple that stuck smack dab into the centre of my alaskan stereotype. The store was full of taxidermied animals and furs hanging on the wall, beside all the hunting photos. A couple of men came in while we were there...bought smokes and beer....
When we arrived at the glenallen turnoff we stopped at the visitors centre and met a young couple who had been travelling on their bikes for years already! The man was dutch and said he started out 5 yrs ago!
The rain continued as we headed down toward McCarthy. By time we reached Chitina at the end of the paved road we were soaked! And to top it all off..there was no gas station...contrary to the milepost book we were planning off of. Thankfully we found a man at the tire repair shop who was able and willing to see us some gas. After a cuppa to warm up, we headed down the unsealed road toward McCarthy. ..a dirt/gravel road full of potholes, washboard and mudslides that brought trees down. As the clouds seemed to sock in even deeper...we decided 120miles on this road for a destination we wouldnt even be able to see (the weather forcast was the same for tom) just wasnt worth the misery. So we turned around and headed back into glenallen...arriving back at the little visitors centre where the super nice lady helped us find a lovely b&b where we got deliciously hot showers and we're attempting to dry out our saturated gear.
"Oh the places we will go" (or not go in this case)

Day 6

Our day started under a canopy of cloud and drizzle. But within 10 mins of hitting the road we spotted a mama grizzly and two young cubs by the side of the road. As I geared down to stop, mum reared up for a min, but after I stopped and pulled out the camera, she seemed to settle down and just walked her babies into the tree line. However...after a short video I realized she was staying right along the tree line and I got to sit there and watch these three meander back out into the open. (Sorry folks, for those photos and videos you are just going to have to wait)

The rest of the morning we spent visiting mother nature's car wash, trying to get off the dust and bugs from previous beautiful days.
We made a pit stop at a gas station/cafe for a quick warm up and became a spectacle for a bus load of touring americans who apparently had never seen motorcycles like ours.

The roads at this point deteriorated to frost heaves that I was bottoming out on, and construction zones of slightly packed gravel.

By mid afternoon we finally broke free of the cloud hanging over us and came to the border of Yukon and Alaska. Again we were greeted by a very friendly customs officer and amazingly superb highway conditions.

We soared the rest of the day into Tok and snagged an awesome cabin at an amazing biker campground run by a freakin stellar lady: thompson eagle campground. If you're ever in tok, you MUST stay here.
So here we sit, sipping a beer I carted from spirit lake, in the sunshine, with hardly a mosquitoe, grateful for another safe day of riding .

Four and five

Ok. Time for a little catch up due to lack of wifi and charging abilities yesterday.

Day 4:
We left hyder (where we had to stop at the canadian border crossing to present our passports. Which we didnt do going into hyder, usa. She wanted to know if I had bought anything in the US. I wanted to say "have you been to hyder?" .) Hyder seemed to be a grouping of delapitated buildings, mostly closed/shut down and one hotel and one place to eat! Stewart, on the other hand had several cafes, stores, and even a toaster museum. Yup. I know you're jealous.
Moving on....
We left the valley under a blanket of clouds and some rain but after about an hour, the skies cleared and we ride thru stunning mountains and along lake after lake!
After lunch in dease lake, the road started going to pot. Literally.  Pot holes galore! Pretty brutal on the back, but then we met a young korean from vancouver doing the ride on a crotch rocket loaded down. I felt the need to stop complaining and buck up a bit. ;)
We made it to watson lake by supper time and had a wander thru the expansive sign post forest where del added our hesston college touch.
We camped just outside the town and had our first taste of northern mosquitoes! Del s attempt at using citronella generally failed but he did give it a valiant effort . I, on the other hand, moved on to 30% deet and toques.
Somehow we both managed a decent nights sleep in our tents, undisturbed by animals. Speaking of which, at this point we have a dismal count of sighting.
Bears (black): 2
Beavers: 1
Caribou, elk, moose: warning signs
Actual Caribou, elk or moose: none.
I am mildly miffed and irked at the seeming lack of roadside wildlife. Or even roadkill! Maybe all our animals are finally learning to use the wildlife walkways!

Day 5:
We were blessed with a dry night and clear sunny skies in the morning. This was the first day on the official alaskan hwy. We wound our way across the yukon/BC border thru snow dusted mtns and across the continental divide. (We stopped for petrol and coffee and managed to catch the crazy shoot out between chile and brazil today! )
Just before whitehorse we turned south and made our way thru the most scenic drive yet I would say. To skaguay, ak. turns out we missed the one vehicle ferry to haines by 15 mins! ! And next sailing being 3pm tom! Unfortunately, our schedule does not allow for that delay, so we turned around and went back to the yukon....towards Whitehorse again to go around instead.  What kills me is that both times going into the US has been a cake:
"Where are you going?"
"Prudhoe bay eventually"
"Great!  Have a great trip"

Coming back into canada:
"And how do you know this guy?"
"He is a friend thru my brother who also lives in kansas"
"And did you buy anything in the US?"
"No...we actually just missed the ferry so I was only there for less than an hour"
With reluctant suspicion..."oookkkkk....go ahead"

Today we crossed between yukon and BC three times and then of course across and back from alaska!!
We have now foubd ourselves at the spirit lake resort, where the water smells like sulfur but at least we can charge all our electronics (which I now realize is a bit much) and post this on wifi we can get outside our room door. Ahhhhh. Yukon.
(Two new places I've never been...alaska and yukon! Whoop!)

Third day

Today dawned as another gorgeous sunny warm day. We meandered thru the town of smithers, trying out the dutch pastry cafe for breakfast. Had a short stop at k'saan village...of long houses and totem poles. And finally turned north on hwy 37, ending up in stewart bc and crossing over into hyder alaska. (No passports required here) we took a little jaunt outside of town, riding 22 miles down a gravel, cliff edged, snow lined road (sounds good right??) To salmon glacier. The sun was bright and glacier was stunning.
Our day ended with sampling alaskan beer and halibut for supper. Tonite we're staying in a hotel...a far cry from our beautiful hosts so far but it'll have to do.