Day 88 - Last Day of Trip :-(

Howdy Everyone,
We are currently in Las Vegas pondering our trip. This has been truly a once in a life time vacation. We've had such an amazing time, we're sad to see it end. We're already planning our next big trip for next year.

We did gamble a little at Sam's Town Casino last night. No big winners but we did have fun. Dug was excited to play and almost got a Jack Pot on the Wheel of Fortune until he was kicked out for not being a seeing eye dog, oh well (see Dug's photo below).

We want to thank all of you for following us on our trip through this blog. The blog in itself was a wonderful part of the trip. We really enjoyed the comments and the e-mails. We strongly suggest that if you take a long trip that you do a blog as it keeps you in touch with your friends and family and it gives you something creative to do during the down times.

Below are a few photos of Zion National Park. The scenery is truly stunning here and completely different than Alaska and Canada (it was 107 degrees and sunny!!). It has to be seen in person to be truly enjoyed.

If any of you would like the full size image of any photo on our trip, please e-mail me at vhupp@cox.net . We hope to share with you the thousand plus photos (OK we'll only bring out a few) that we couldn't post when you come visit.

Thank you all again and take care,
Vern, Sue & Dug


Here is Dug just before the dog alarm sounded.

Here is one of the many views of Zion.

Here are some interesting pancake rocks that Sue found.

Another view up canyon from one of our hikes.

Ditto from above.

This was a monolith rock that goes straight up for about 600'.

More monoliths.

It's hard to imagine that these mountains are about 3300' high. Just stunning in person.

Hi Everyone,

After Leaving Prince George we headed southeast to Alberta. Upon entering Alberta, we drove through Jasper and Banff Provincial Parks. One of the most beautiful drives we made. The steep, jagged, snow capped and glacier covered mountains on either side of the highway was awesome. If you ever get up here it's a drive to make.

We dry camped near Alberta and then drove to the Dinosaur Provincial Park. The museum was full of every kind of dinosaur imaginable. The range was from the very weird looking to dino giants that had to be seen to be believed; my favorite was the T-Rex.

After Calgary, we drove south into Montana and camped at an RV resort in Polson that looked like it was for the rich & famous. When we booked it, it was listed as a KOA which we have known to be a medium of the road park. When we arrived, it looked like an RV sales lot for million dollar motorhomes (see photo below). We felt like the Clampets pulling in.

While in Polson, we drove to Lakeside to visit our friends Mike, Sunnie & Dane LaVigne (sandy too). Mike retired from the ABLE helicopter bureau, we flew many hours together. They have what we consider to be the ideal dream retirement home. See photo below.



While driving south on the 15 freeway near Idaho Falls, Idaho, we saw this B2 bomber making low passes. We stopped and took a few photos. What an awesome sight. As we continued south on the 15, we saw that it was there for an airshow. We saw the Blue Angels aircraft parked on the tarmac near the freeway. Wish we could have gone, but the traffic was horrendous in the area.


Here is our friends, the LaVigne's house in Lakeside, I think it's about 15,000 square feet...ok I'm not really sure. Thanks again for the visit Mike, Sunnie & Dane.

Here is a beautiful sunset over the KOA RV park in Polson.


Here is one of the many million dollar plus motorhomes in the KOA. This one is owned by the ex-owner of Kenworth trucks. Must be nice..

Here was our initial view of the park, we thought that this must be an RV sales lot as they were all lined up and looking brand new (as most were).

Here is the wonderful T-Rex. This one stood about 30' tall and it's mouth was big enough to swallow me in one bite. I could not imagine running into this in a dark forest.

Here is a T-Rex skeleton that two boys fishing found in the late 1980's. They told their science teacher of it who then told the museum of it. What a find.

Here is a large Ammonite. It is about 24" across. They dig for these and use the colorful shell for jewelry. Over millions of years the pressure of the rocks turns the shells into this colorful mineral.

The overpass in the photo is actually an animal crossing. There were many of these throughout Jasper and Banff Parks.

We're off to Zion National Park in Utah to hike, explore, horseback ride & golf. We will try and post in a few days.

Take Care & Thank you for looking,

Vern, Sue & Dug

Sterwart BC & Hyder AK

Howdy Everyone,

We have been out of phone range for the past three days but we're finally able to get Internet in Prince George. We took the WPYR (White Pass Yukon Railroad) from Carcross Canada to Skagway Alaska. This train follows the Chilkoot Trail all the gold stampeders of 1898 followed to get to the gold fields of the Klondike and onto Dawson City via the Yukon River. The trip was indescribable. You will have to experience this trip yourself as words and photos can not do it justice.

We then drove to Stewart & Hyder which are right next to each other but in different countries. This area is one of the most spectacular for beautiful sights of full and hanging glaciers with shear mountains on either side of the highway. Again no words or photos...blah...blah..blah.

After driving through Hyder, we drove to the Salmon Glacier. This glacier is the fifth largest in North America. I will try to get the factual info later but I would guess that it is at last 3 miles across at the top, 10 miles wide at the base and about 25 miles long. I wish there was a person on the glacier in the photo above for reference but again, photos, words...blah...blah (I'm quoting Sue now :) ).

Anyway, we are actually starting to head south towards home. Currently in Prince George it's about 70 degrees and sunny considering two months ago when we came through here it was 32 and snowing. We will be off today to Calgary in Alberta then onto Montana. We will post again in a few days.

Hope everyone is well, talk to you soon,

Vern, Sue & Dug Here we are standing at the summit overlooking Salmon Glacier.

This is Mt. Gladstone and numerous glaciers descending from it, what a sight.

This is Mt. Disreali and it's glaciers.


This is a baby Ptarmigan chick that we saw feeding in the grass with it's mother and two siblings, very cute.

Here is mama Ptarmigan looking ever vigilant for her babies nearby.

Here is the view from our campsite at Lake Meziadin Provincial Park Campground, the nicest and most beautiful campsite so far.

Here is Kevin (our motorhome) at our campsite, what a view.

Here is a baby Black Bear - BooBoo Bear (we figured about 1 or 2 years old) peaking out of the bushes at us on our drive down the Cassiar Highway.

Here is the same bear eating flowers on the roadside, she didn't seem to care that we had stopped next to her with the motorhome and take photos.

Here she decided to leave and walked out onto the road and crossed right in front of us as if to say, I own this road, I dare you to leave your "home" and check out my claws.

Here is Emerald Lake which is on the way to Carcross from Whitehorse. Click on the photo for a better view.

This is the WPYR (White Pass Yukon Railroad) we took from Carcross BC to Skagway AK entering one of a few tunnels on the way. Our rail car was actually built in 1891.

Here is a view of Bennett lake from the train under way.

Here is a panorama shot of Bennett Lake. Click to make larger.

Here is an old church at Bennett Station near Bennett Lake. This area is the end of the Chilkoot Trail and where all the stampeders make their boats to navigate the treacherous Yukon River to Dawson City which is about 600 miles north. The Yukon River flows north to the Bering Sea.

Here is a view of the 43 mile Chilkoot Trail as it winds up through mountains from Skagway to Bennett Lake. The stampeders had to make 40 to 50 trips up and back to bring enough supplies before they were allowed to continue north from Bennett Lake. Hikers today take a slightly diffrent path and it's only 33 miles.

Here is a Panorama of the rail cars setting at Bennett Station. Click on image for better view.

I was reading one of our many books and the author mentioned that we should see at least one bear on the Cassiar Hwy. As soon as we turned onto the highway we saw a cinnamon colored brown bear. Of course we weren't ready photo wise so after that Sue had the camera in her lap. To help our bear viewing possibilities we went to Hyder Alaska to a bear viewing area. The bears come here for the salmon run. Unfortunately there were no salmon therefore no bears. We waited two different days for a total of 4 hours...no bears. Yet as soon as we left our camp site and headed south we saw the young black bear. So far on the Cassiar Hwy we've seen two!! Maybe there will be more.

Day 66

Hi Everyone,


The new banner photo above is of Dawson City with the Yukon River in the foreground. The Yukon is the muddy water and the clearer water is from Bear Creek that runs along the Klondike Highway.

After leaving Valdez, we drove to a small town called Chitina to spend the night. The road from there to McCarthy/Kennecott is unimproved dirt/gravel/mud for 60 miles. We were going to unhitch the car and drive it to McCarthy the next day but the weather failed to improve (rain & low clouds). We wanted to take a flight seeing tour out of McCarthy to see the Wrangel National Park and all of the Glaciers, Ice Fields and high Mountain Peaks but the forecast for the next few days was for continuing rain and low clouds. After two days near Chitina, we decided to drive up to Dawson City and check it out.


The drive to Dawson City was very scenic but 110 miles of the road was dirt/gravel and narrow. It took us about 4 hours to go the 110 miles. At the end, dust, dirt and rocks was in every crevasse of the motorhome, car, dug and ourselves. But the ride was well worth it.


Arriving in Dawson City, we had to cross the Yukon River on a ferry. This ferry runs 24/7 and at times, the wait can be as long as 3 hours. Lucky for us we got right on.


Gotta go for now but stay tuned for more photos in the next few days as we head south to Whitehorse Yukon.


Thanks for taking a gander,
Vern, Sue & Dug

This is the Gambling Hall at Diamond Tooth Gerties, can you find me spending Dug's hard earned money?

This is Diamond Tooth Gerties Dancing Girls. Sorry for the blurry photo but we took the photo without the flash. It was an awesome show. Very comical and entertaining.

Here is an someone's old shack floating on the Yukon River. Cheap rent I guess.

This is an old warehouse that was built in 1898. It is still in very good shape for it's age.

Here are a few 1800's buildings tilting in every direction. This was caused by the buildings being built on permafrost ground that thawed after the building was occupied and heated from inside which melted the permafrost into a muddy muck that the buildings sunk into.

Dug is seen here licking the windshield as we drive onto the ferry. This was a fun ride as the river is running fast at about 8mph. Dug didn't mind though.

We stopped and camped on the side of the road about 25 miles from Dawson City. This is a photo Sue took of the sunrise at about 3:30am. We wonder what it's going to be like to have total darkness at night when we get home.

Here is Dug licking his chops as we approach the Canadian Border. Thank goodness they didn't ask about Dugs (make believe) papers, we may have had to leave him behind. These Canadian Border Guards are all business, no personalities at all. Not even a smile...geeezzz

Here is a photo of the Top of the World Highway in all it's glory. If your vehicle can make it across this road, it can probably go anywhere. If there was anything on your vehicle that wasn't torqued, tightened, strapped, chained or bolted down, it would be gone at the end. We saw several car parts (springs, bolts, chains, mufflers, stuffed mascots, etc.) on the road along the way.

Just outside of Valdez there are numerous waterfalls along the Keystone Canyon. These are fed from the Lowe River (any relation to Jerry & Kathy?) This waterfall is called Bridal Veil Falls. It is about 120' high.

This one is called Horsetail Falls.

While in Valdez, we decided to attend the 4th of July festivities on main street. It was fun to see a small town celebration with a parade, games, BBQ's (all food was free-even to out-of-towners), vendor booths and fireworks. We also had the great fortune to meet two of the crew members from the Deadliest Catch TV Series that work on the Fishing Vessel Northwestern. That is Edgar Hanson on the left and Matt Bradley on the right. I also got a Northwestern T-Shirt signed by both...yeeehaaww

Coming back from the Columbia Glacier tour, we saw the Northwestern Fishing Vessel from the TV series Deadliest Catch unloading a catch of Silver Salmon. I guess they fish for more than just crabs.

Valdez Alaska

Monday, July 5th
Hi Everyone,
Wow it's hard to believe its been a week since we last posted. After leaving Talkeetna/Palmer area we headed to Valdez. What a beautiful drive down into Valdez. I say "down into" as it will be a heck of a drive out...maybe 15-25 miles an hour if we're lucky, but hey we coasted all the way there! On the drive to Valdez we stopped and went river rafting. Once in Valdez we took another cruise (Sue hoping to see her Orca) and another kayaking trip. We also got to experience the 4th of July in a small town, with a parade, BBQ and fireworks. Since we had so much to show on this blog, we'll talk about the 4th of July and the celebrities we met on our next blog.

We're heading to Chitina/McCarthy/Kennecott area. We are hoping it clears up (it's pouring right now) so we can take our flight around St.Elias/Wrangell mountain (this is the largest national park in the U.S.).

As always thanks for checking and keeping in touch. Love Sue, Vern and Dug

P.S. There are lots of pictures!!

This was at Allison Point (across from Valdez) where Pink Salmon are coming home. There were thousands of them. We had heard there was a momma grizzly and 3 cubs in the area. We got up early Monday in the rain and waited an hour and didn't see her.

Valdez Oil terminal, across from the city. This is where the Alaskan Pipeline ends.

We took a kayak trip to Valdez Glacier. This glacier is dumping in to a fresh water lake rather than the ocean. We beached (or rocked) the kayaks so that we could walk on a floating glacier. Vern is on top of the glacier that broke off from the face of the Valdez glacier two weeks earlier. It was so strange to see this huge glacier floating in a lake.

Ice anyone? This beautiful chunk of blue ice was floating in the lake and we were able to paddle right next to it.

This was absolutely the most blue iceberg we had seen. How it carved out a hole in the glacier we don't know but it was spectacular to stand inside something so beautiful that used to be a chunk of ice attached to a glacier that's millions of years old.

Sue trying to explain to Vern it's the front person who's the "lead" person and controls when to paddle!! It was sprinkling and we were glad we had our rain gear on and dry packs which had extra clothing, food and camera equipment.

Here we are underneath an overhang of a glacier...I guess it could fall off on top of us, but we didn't care....we're adventurers!! These kayaks were different than the ones we used before. The ones before were hard plastic, we sat inside and used a spray skirt to keep dry. These kayaks were rubber and were blown up and we sat on top and used rain gear to stay dry. This one is much more sturdy as Vern had to turn around a couple of times to adjust his seat back and the boat hardly moved at all.

We saw this Horned Puffin on our cruise.

On the cruise Sue finally saw this beautiful Orca....she was so excited she could hardly control herself. Unfortunately for her, it was just a photograph of WHAT she could have seen. Still on the hunt for Orcas!!

We saw many of these Rafts of Otters (This is what the official name is). Some of them had their babies sitting on their stomachs (very cute).

We saw many Bald Eagles, some just standing on icebergs and others flying. They are difficult to get a decent photo of. Beautiful birds though.

Same as above.

This was taken on our 9 hour Columbia/Meares Glaciers Tour. There were so many icebergs that we could only get within 12 miles of the glacier.

Here is a very cute baby otter on her mother's stomach. I guess this is the safest way for them to travel until they can fend for themselves.

This mother has a good grip on her baby as they swim.

Here are two Sea Otters praying for some food, or as least that is what it looks like.

Here is our trusted White Water Rafting guide Laurie glad to have us back safe and sound.

Here we are powering through some massive rapids and getting soaked. What a blast though. That is Sue to my left with the blue helmet. You can't see it from this photo but she had the biggest smile on her face the whole trip.

P.S. Vern forgot to tell you that it was about 45 degrees outside and the water was about 35 degrees. Thank goodness for dry suits as rain gear wouldn't have worked here!!

P.S.S. To Sheila and Holly, it was just like Colorado, the front seats seemed to get those "buckets" of water after even the smallest rapid!!