Top of the World HIghway and Chicken, Alaska

We have heard about the Top of the World Hiway and about how bad the condition of the road is.  It is a gravel road for the most part, but not as bad as we expected it to be.  In fact once you pass through the border crossing you have a piece of very nicely paved hiway.

 Things you learn on the road that you never knew:  Alaska has it's own time zone.  The next step over is the International Date Line.

 Jay kept saying that he now knows where Montana gets its puffy clouds.  They float over from Alaska.  They are just beautiful.  The guys are kinda cute too.

 It truly feels like you are on top of the world and can see forever.

 Of course you have to stop in Chicken, Alaska which looks like three different establishments.

 We went to the funkiest looking one first.

 How appropriate.

 They have these "stick your head here" pieces of artwork all over Alaska, so you've just gotta do it.

 Woodstock, Palmstock, Chickenstock, of course.

 This is the place from Top of the World to here that you see people looking for gold everywhere.

 And off we go again!

Dawson City and crossing the Yukon

We spent the night in Dawson City RV park and caught up with our laundry etc.

Brady taking in the view.

 The caravan.

Of course you have to have a gigantic cinnamon roll at least once on this trip.

The columbines were in bloom.  I've only seen them in cooler climates.  I remember my gramma having them in her flower garden in the front of her house.  Love them

 

Love the sign on this store, all kinds of stuff.

This was once a brothel.  They boys tried to go in, but it was closed for the day.

 

This is the Keno. It used to ply the Yukon.

Wildflowers and bumblebees.

I love how they spell "er" sounds as "re"
(teacher geek moment)

There are boardwalks around most of the town,

Squash growing in an old, iron bench,

This is one of the old, well-kept cabins.  Our new summer home,.

Float planes landing on the Yukon River.

You had to line up to get ferried to the other side of the Yukon River.  We waited for almost two hours and that was when the line was short.

 Getting ready to load onto the ferry, yikes!

Off we go . . .

and then we have to get off.

Buddy and Judy documenting a successful landing, phew!

British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory . . .

It took a long, long time to get through British Columbia.  We camped in four different campgrounds. Along the way we stopped and took the tram at Hell's Gate.

I don't think we want to raft down this one.  

They made a fish ladder so the salmon can get past this area.

Our first night we camped along side a river, don't ask me the name . . .  it is situated between two railways on either side of the river and camp.  It didn't bother me, but I think it kept a few of our fellow travelers awake.

 Jim bought solar panels just before we left.  He was having some wiring problems and then the sun kept moving on him.  He finally got it all figured out, a fuse.

The second night we stayed by a lake.  I would tell you the name, but I can't read my bumpy handwriting in my journal and I'm too lazy to go look it up.  But the showers were free because the federal government is planning to update them so they aren't fixing the coin machines.

There is a lot of timber being harvested in this part of the country.

 The third night we stayed in an overnight only campground called Seeley Lake.  I liked that because when I was little we went to a lake for a few summers called Seeley Lake.

 There was fungus among us.

Love the hillbilly pontoon.  These guys have a cabin on the other side of the lake and were moving furniture.  I think Jay wanted to go with them.

The lake was absolutely still in the morning.

We were on the hunt for the elusive moose.

This little guy was so tired!

We took a side trip to Hyder, Alaska

Unloaded the trailers in Stewart, BC, Canada and piled into Buddy's truck.

This is one of the places the bears come to eat salmon.  We were a little early.

It's a pretty long boardwalk.

I'm sure this is what Glacier Park used to look like.

Judy was fixing the timer on her camera to take a group picture.

The lake looked so nice we blew up the kayak.

Buddy and Judy even took it out for a spin.

This was at Kinaski Prov. Campground

Out of British Columbia into the Yukon

Signpost forest in Watson Lake, YK

The desert rats were so excited to get some rain.

Brady wasn't so sure about it though.