This is the only picture of Lake Tahoe I could find. Something tells me I lost some pictures because I know I took some. We left Crater Lake to go to Reno to see my Uncle Tom and my cousins Siobhan and Molly. Though we had a great time and so glad we stopped, we were ready to get home. From the moment we crossed back into the lower 48 we were ready to get home but, we had family to see. And that was the best part of the leg home.
Thank you guys for a great time. We really enjoyed it and wished we had more time. Next time we start with you.
We left Reno about 6:00 am and hoped to get to Salt Lake City but, we made it all the way to Cheyenne, WY. It was late and we slept in and took it a little slower the next day. We had to go to Indy to pick up Chanel before we could head home.
Surprisingly Chanel was not real excited to see us. Tony pampered Chanel while he had her and she liked him better. Once we headed back out to get in the truck she was eager to join us but it took a while. We finally made it home and then the unloading began. Worst part of the trip? That was it. Best part, omg there were so many. I enjoyed everything about it. John and I spent 24/7 for over 2 months, with no tv, occasional internet and we didn’t fight nor get tired of each other. The views were outstanding and I would actually love to do this again.
The Dempster Hwy is 737.5 km hwy in Canada that connects the Klondike Hwy in Yukon to the NW Territories in Inuvik. After the Dempster is the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Hwy that is 138 km that takes you all the way to the Arctic Ocean. It opened in 1917 and until that time residents of Tuktoyaktuk relied on planes in the summer and ice roads in the winter.
They really should call it the Dirty Dempster. Imagine driving a dirt and gravel road for approximately 461 miles one way and then 461 miles back. There are also 2 ferry crossings along the route. Gas stations are limited and internet service is just as limited.
We set out initially wanting to get to Eagle Plains which is where the first gas station is–229 miles in before we could fill up. Pulling a camper uses more gas so we were sure to carry some extra–just in case. While driving and realizing we were going to get to Eagle Plains mid afternoon, John and I discussed going a little farther and thought maybe we could get passed those ferries before settling in. The first one was only another 115 miles–or close to that and the second one was about 40 miles farther. We just thought since the ferries didn’t start until 9:00 in the morning (and we seem to be early risers) it might be good to get that far. We ended up going all the way to Inuvik and camping there. I think it was about 11:00 pm when we arrived. We lost an hour because we went from Pacific to Mountain time so I am not sure what time it was. John was up again around 6:30 (naturally). Sometimes I wish he would slow down a little. We didn’t pay when we arrived because the office was closed until 7:00 am. Finally someone arrived about 7:30 and she just told John to not worry about it because she wasn’t ready. Score–especially for John. He loves a good deal–we even had electric which is great because here we were in the Arctic Circle and it was hotter than any place we had been. And mosquitos were horrible.
I decided to divide this post into two posts because it was going to be so long and I am hopelessly trying to edit a video so I can post that. This really might take a while.
This was the view from our last campsite. It just never ends. The views are unimaginable, pictures just cannot do them justice.
Our second day in Homer was much nicer as far as the weather is concerned. While it is always on the cool side for me, the sun was out and it was a nice day. We started out looking for a water taxi or ferry to take us out in search of wild life again.
We found a water taxi that took us out to Gull Island and around the area to see birds and sea life. The Captain of the water taxi was entertaining and knowledgable though he had to admit some things he was just going by what he heard. Either way, he was super nice and we had quite the trip.
Christy told the captain her trip to Alaska would be complete if she could see a moose. He told us where he thought we might see one and we headed in that direction once we completed that trip.
Well, we actually had to drop Melissa off at the airport on the way to find moose. She had a flight from Homer to Anchorage-so we dropped her off at the Homer Airport and set out to find moose. We drove a few miles onto the road the Captain sent us to and had not seen anything. Then Melissa called and said her flight was cancelled. We were on a loop road and realized it would be closer for us to turn around rather than finish the loop. We had two cars–the girls and the boys–we told the boys to continue and we would turn around and go back for Melissa. On our way out, we saw a moose with a calf (I think that is what baby moose are called). Christy has quite an eye for spotting wild life. It was way in the bushes but we did see her. Then we noticed more in the woods behind that one. So do we hang out and hope to see more or go get Melissa. We hung out a while and I tried a moose call to get its’ attention but, I honestly have no idea what a moose sounds like and was just making something up. It did get her attention and pushed her further back in the woods. I tried.
Before picking Melissa up we had planned to go to Kenai to see if there was someplace John could fish. So, now with Melissa we set out. And OMG, there was no doubt Christy was meant to be a wildlife animal scout. We saw so many moose, we stopped counting and sometimes we didn’t even stop. We did see about 3 bull moose but I couldn’t get their picture. One was behind trees and seemed much more skiddish than the girls. Also, their antlers were not very big and impressive like I expected. This is the time of year they are growing them back. It coincides with the longer days. A bull moose can grow an 80 pound rack in 80 days over the summer. Basically a pound a day. They still have a way to go before they are at their finest. Guess I will have to come back in the fall to see my bull moose.
After eating, Sefina wanted to go by the beach, so we went to a beach in Kenai. We got very lucky because it just happened to be a night for dip netting. Dip netting is when the locals are allowed to use a net to catch salmon. It was very interesting to watch and most participants we saw were women. To learn more about Dip Netting click here.
We didn’t get back to camp until midnight and John and I had planned on leaving at 6:00 to head up to Palmer the next day.
