July 12, 2012 – Portland/Fairview RV Park, Fairview, Or

It was another short drive of 65 miles today.  After setting up, we headed to Camping World to get the water inlet plug I needed and then to Wal-Mart to stock up for the trip home.   About 5:00 we went to Ross and Kelli’s.   They had planned a picnic at a farm concert which is held every Thursday.  The concert was at the Kruger’s Farm Market and we spent the evening there listening to music, eating some of the delicious food Kelli had made, and visiting.   They charge $10 a car for admission and there were 100s of families attending.   As well as the market where they sell all kinds of produce, they have hay rides, pick your own fruit, lots of space for kids to run around, booths for food and drink if you did not bring your own, and just a very fun atmosphere.  We had a great time and got back to the RV about 9:30 to be met by a lady complaining that the dogs and been barking too much and disturbing everyone.  So, we will take the dogs with us tomorrow and see how that goes.

Kruger's Farm Market Concert

Kelli, Ross, Larry, Karen

Croud at concert

July 11, 2012 – Longview North/Mt. St. Helens KOA, Castel Rock, Wa

We decided to make a campground close to Mt. St. Helens the destination for today so that we could visit and see how the mountains have recovered since we last were here (about 8 years ago). It was a short 135 mile drive, but we had to contend with Seattle traffic for the first part. But, we had an uneventful trip and got to the campground about 12:30. This is another very nice campground. It is about 2 miles east of the interstate and the sites are terraced so that each has a view looking back down the valley toward the interstate. This park even has a fenced dog run, so the dogs were finally able to be free and off leash. We had so many campgrounds in Canada and Alaska that were basically gravel parking lots that Harry wants to roll in the grass every time he sees nice grass.

Later in the afternoon we headed east to Mt. St. Helens. It is about 48 miles from our campground where the road ends by Mt. St. Helens. You start seeing the remains of the eruption when you are very close to the Johnson Ridge Observatory. Maybe it is my memory, but it seems that the destruction was noticeable at a greater distance 8 years ago. Even as close as the Observatory is, you now see flowers blooming and much of the trees that were knocked down are gone (probably from the passage of time). The change seems amazing, but then you think that it has now been 32 years since the eruption.

Mt. St. Helens as we drove in today.

Mt. St. Helens from Johnson Ridge Observatory

Downed tree and flowers by Johnson Ridge Observatory

Hillside with remains of the downed trees.

Think of the force required to sheer a tree off like this one.

July 10, 2012 – Lake Pleasant RV Park, Bothell, Wa

We were tired yesterday and didn’t say much about the drive. There was a definite change in the terrain. We drove mostly through a valley between through a mountain range. As we came out of the mountain range, we were in a farming area. For the first time since we had left the Midwest, we saw a few corn fields, the corn was still small, and it may have been sweet corn. There were lots of hay fields, produce type farms, pick-it-yourself type places and nursery growers.
85 miles today – I know, not very far. But, we were looking for a place that we could stay and go down to Pikes Market in Seattle. Campgrounds are very few close to Seattle, and nice campgrounds are rare. This one is about 18 miles from downtown and we are backed up to a lake that is a dedicated wildlife habitat. The have 118 paved RV spots and they surround two lakes. We were very lucky to get in here, our second choice was described by some reviewers as a gravel parking lot (seen enough of those in Alaska). Because of the short drive, we got here about 11 and they at first said they were full, but then said they did have a back-in spot large enough for us for one night only. PERFECT!

We got set up and headed into Seattle for a look around the Pike’s Market area. They are known of course for their huge fish market where they throw the fish to one another across 15 or 20 feet. They actually have anything and everything for sale. Beautiful flower bouquets, fresh fruits and vegetables, restaurants, cheese shops, meat markets, ice cream, yogurt, coffee, clothing, etc. You name it! All we bought was a basket of fish and chips, which we shared, and some peaches. We did find the mushrooms, as from the mushroom buyers we wrote about seeing a few days ago. They were very valuable too, as you can see from the photo.

Karen checking out the fruit at Pike's Market

Fish at Pike's Market

$39.99 Mushrooms??

Downtown Apartment - What do you think it cost???

Water Front with Ferry leaving.

We came back to the camper early as the dogs seem to have separation anxiety – Harry especially. We had a complaint from a neighbor yesterday about the barking. I, Karen, seem to be coming down with the sore throat and cold that Larry had a few days ago. Hopefully it will go away by morning.

July 8 &9, 2012

Jul 8 we spent in Clinton, BC - Jul 9 we are at Nor’West RV Park in Ferndale, WA.   Both days were driving days.  As we headed west today on 1 in Canada, they showed 4 boarder crossings and the wait times.  We picked the first which showed a 20 minute wait and spent 45 minutes getting through customs into the US, no problem just a lot of traffic.  Our plan was to stay at Bellingham, but mistakes sometimes work out for the good.  I did not write the exit down for the one I had picked and wound up going 2 miles further north to Ferndale.  This park turned out to be a deal at $25 for full hookups, cable, and Wi-Fi.  It also has grass for the dogs.   Now that we are back in the lower 48, it was time to go grocery shopping and to Walgreens to get prescriptions refilled.  Both were within a couple miles of the RV park.  Grilled supper and now we are going to relax for what is left of the evening.

July 7, 2012 – Dave’s RV Park, Vanderhoof, BC, Canada

368 miles today – Started out in the rain today.  So the glaciers that stood out in the sun on the way in yesterday, and we said we’d take pictures of today on the way out, were now under a overcast sky with light rain.   Not much to say for the drive, we saw our one bear for today crossing the road (that’s not counting the one we saw that had been hit by a car) and more pretty scenery.  Today about half the drive was in a valley through ranching and farming land.  We are out of the frost heaves and the further we came we started seeing more homes and towns.  We even saw, and ate at, a McDonalds.  Where we originally planned to stop seemed way to early when we got there, so we decided to go about an hour and a half further to a municipal campground.  We were thinking of the municipal campground we stayed at in Seward.  Well this one was nothing more than a dirt road in a circle the size of a cul-de-sac.  On we came for another hour and a half to Dave’s RV Park.  We were blessed for the mistake, this is one of the prettiest RV parks we have stayed at on the trip.  It’s about a mile out of town and than a half mile off the highway.  Like most parks we have stayed at, it has Wi-Fi, Cable TV, and full hook-ups.  But, the sites are nicely spaced with grass in between.  The grounds are immaculate and they have a miniature golf course that is planted with the prettiest flower beds.

The overcast/rainy Bear Glacier

Dave's RV Park grounds

Some of the flowers

July 6, 2012 – Bear River RV Park, Stewart, BC, Canada

The short day’s drive to Stewart brought us down the Cassiar Highway and then we turned onto the Glacier Highway, so named because of the proximity of nearly 20 glaciers near the highway. The town was started because of the gold and silver mines in this area. According to the brochure, the area had a population of nearly 10,000 in the early 1900’s. Now Stewart’s population is only about 700. The brochure boasts this as being Canada’s most northern ice free port which is on the Portland Canal.

Shortly after leaving this morning, Bears have the right of way!

Going from Stewart, British Columbia, into Hyder, Alaska, there is no customs stop. There is only a sign saying you are entering the USA. Hyder is popular with tourists because of the large number of bears which come to Fish Creek in the Tongass National Forest down a rough gravel road. As you cross into Hyder, population about 200, the pavement ends and becomes a rough gravel road. The town seems to be really run down. They had a post office and a couple of bars, but those seemed to be the only businesses still open. There was a sign saying to slow for a school, but the only place it looked like there could be a school was a community building. Coming back to Stewart, there is a Canadian customs stop. I’m not sure why they bother. Obviously, we did drive to Hyder and to Fish Creek, but the salmon haven’t started running yet, so there were no bears either. The park ranger said they had only had a couple of bears so far this year.

Hyder Alaska Main Street

On the way here, we were delayed at a few areas where some crews were clearing out along the road, cutting trees and logging. In a few places logs were stacked up to be loaded for use. Other places they were stacked up, teepee style, to be burned. They seemed to be fairly close to the forest so at first we couldn’t imagine they would be burned. We talked to a flagman and he said they would be burned later in the fall. We presume that will be when there is snow cover on everything.

Starting a pile of trees to burn.

Since we could not stop, this is the best we could do to give you and idea of the size of the finished piles of trees to burn.

July 5 2012 – Mountain Shadow RV Park & Campground, Iskut, BC Canada

Larry developed a cold and sore throat yesterday and had a miserable night. I thought he might need to stay put today and rest up, but he thought he could drive and feel as well as he would just sitting around. There are very few roads in this area, so we turned on Rt. 37 which is the only one going south from the Watson Lake area other than the ALCAN. It is somewhat of a secondary road, paved but no center line and very few signs. We had only gone about 10 or 15 miles when we saw a bear by the road. We did get a picture of it, but the internet connection here is not strong enough to post pictures. We spotted three moose – no pictures – and two more bears romping around together, also no pictures.

There were hardly any towns along this whole stretch of road (about 200 miles). The one little town where we got gas had a population of 400. That was the big town for the day. They had a gas station, a little grocery store (by our standards) and a “hospital”. Another town had a school, but the only store was more like a convenience store. At one stretch, we probably drove for 10 or 15 miles without meeting another single vehicle. We are definitely out in the wilderness.

In one area we saw several small tents somewhat together, then a few more, then we saw a larger tent with some tarps strung up beside it with an “open” sign, then a few older campers and tents somewhat close together. We couldn’t figure out what that was all about. They weren’t by a stream or lake, they were by a burned out forest. Was it some kind of limited hunting or trapping season? Then we saw another larger tent with a sign that said “Mushroom Buying Headquarters”. We kept seeing several other clusters of campers and tents, then again one that said “Mushroom Buyer”. A few miles beyond that, we were stopped by a flagger for some mowers and brush cutters, so I asked the flagger what that was all about. She said they were hunting morrell mushrooms. She said the morrells grow where there has been a forest fire. The buyers then sell them commercially.

The campground we are at is at the base of some mountains. It is a beautiful setting. It is off the road about a quarter of a mile, down a winding narrow little road, but when you get back here it is just gorgeous, trees, mountains, a lake and more trees.