Day 12 Rained in in Juneu

Bear got chased by the bigger Bear ( hiding in the tree)

Close up of Mendenhall Glacier

View from visitor Center

Water falls towering over Juneau

Flooding creeks

Book store in Juneau

Juneau Town

Very Pretty Town

We are stormed in. There is a storm advisory and we have taken a day off from travelling. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. It is a lush green rain forest here and the hill towering the town has numerous large waterfalls. There is a reason for all this water and greens. It rains all the time. Every local person we talked to said this is about normal ( may be not storm but rain and clouds). So, do not let those blue skies pictures fool you, plan on rain.

We did go out and walked around the town. It is very pretty and is full of expensive jeweler shops and tourist stuff. We tried to go up near the falls and planned on hiking a little but the trail was quite flooded and decided to come back to the town.

It is nice to take one day, sort of easy. Pay bills, do the laundry etc. If you are reading this please pray to rain god for a better weather. Good night

Day 11 Juneau

Lime Projector from 1880's , hence the expression , " in the lime light"

Eskimo's Buddha like Gods: Gods of everything the way it should be.

Eskimo Art

Bear Looking for Fish

Found the fish

Eating the fish

Mandenhall Glacier and the water fall

Mendenhall Glacier

The night on the Ferry was interesting. The kids in the next room were all excited and were up till way later, but we managed to sleep though it. We met an interesting Australian couple travelling Canada and Alaska almost like us, may be we will see them again in Vancouver:) . A grandma moving to Juneau to be close to the grandchild ( she said what's the use of having a grandchild if you are not close to him:), reminded me of Sue.

Juneau is very pretty and we are told by almost everyone that rain is the normal weather, that's the secret of the rain forest and the water falls. We drove to the Mendenhall Glacier. It comes with two wonderful waterfalls, blue glacier ice and a lake with ice bergs floating in it. I thought it looked like something we see on PBS nature series.

And guess what: We were watching Salmons swimming in this shallow creek and heard a big sound and here was a Bear fishing the Salmon. We just stood there and clicked pictures ( wish had better zoom) but it was just like the nature show on TV, It took him 5 minutes to catch one and then just ate it. We saw so many half eated fish scattered all over. We were told there were 17 bears around that creek. VERY COOL.

The down town is cute. Many upscale shops, mostly jewelery catering to the Cruise ship tourists. There are four ships docked here and the local restaurant person said they get 4000 people every day...

Ate good Salmon ( with coconut and Mango chutney) at a local place ( Twisted Salmon Grill) and visited the Alaska State Museum. Big and interesting in that it goes from Native people to Russians and then early Americans. I guess Sarah Palin is right in that it is( was) really close to Russia in fact it was Russia. The Museum has a copy of the 7.2 million dollar check that was used to purchase Alaska from Russia by Mr. Steward ( Secretary of state then) . Lots of Eskimo information and culture and gold mining stories.

Our hotel, Hotel Juneau is just outside the main area ( a mile may be) It is basic and nice , has kitchen and washing machine. SO, cleaning break tonight...

Hope all is well with you and I will be in touch tomorrow

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Day 10 Ferry through Inside Passage

Get to Petersburg at 9 pm.
Narrows: most beautiful part of the trip

A house in Wrangell

Float plane taking off at Katchikan

Fery docking at Petersburg

I am in a cabin of a local Alaska Ferry going to Juneau. We boarded the ferry at Port Rupert at 3am. We had to get in the line at 12:30am ( which was not totally necessary) but we followed the rules and slept in the car till they woke us up. We boarded the car and ourselves and have a nice small basic cabin with ( all important) window and bathroom. Slept like a log till 8am.

The ferry is nice, mostly local people and few tourists like us. ( it is mostly empty actually). Five stories high , has several sitting areas, movie lounge, childern’s play area, cafeteria with warm food and very nice crew. People are friendly and we got to meet interesting local people. One family with three kids, going to Disneyland. I thought it was in the wrong direction, turns out for them the only way to get out from Ketchikan is to take a all day Ferry to Juneau and then fly out from there…huge travel ordeal just ot go to Disney Land. This other old naturlist looking guy ( with long white beard) was going home to Pertesberg after 17 years. He was very emotional and excited. Another young kid in half sleeves shirt ( when we had three layers) grew up in Katchikan and was doing very similar road trip as us but in opposite direction. He had gone to California and was coming back. Many more interesting stories. It has been a wonderful experience.

We managed to get lost in Ketchikan and almost missed the Ferry , had to run in before they closed the gates. After that, no one ever check our IDs when we got down ( because they knew us well :)

We stopped at Wrangell as well as Petersburg. All of these are tiny towns with very depressed economy and wonderful nature. So, tourism is their main business but coming here is not easy. Only way is by marine routes or planes. Katchikan seemd to be the float plane haven.

Before Petersburg, the ferry goes through what is known as "the narrows". The channel is barely enough for the Ferry to navigate and all the crew is on alert for 45 minutes. It is the most beautiful section of the "inside passage" and we were told that the cruise ships cannot and are not allowed to navigate here...

Now we are on our way to Juneau and will get there at 9 am. I will post this tomorrow as I get the internet access . I have to say that after travelling by local ferry, I do not see why people pay so much for Alaska Cruises even when those huge ships cannot go though the “narrows” these ferries do. No more Canda tidbits for now, we are in Alsaka J Good night.

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Day 9 Looked for Grizzlies and found humpback whales

Prince Rupert: Small and Pretty

IN search of Grizzly Bear

A Killer Whale Family

A Humpback Whale

Bald Eagles Fishing

We are still at Prince Rupert. This morning we were walking for five minutes and two women came over and asked if we needed help. They said we looked like someone who is lost. We either look total clueless or people here are very friendly. I choose the second option

We Decided to take a boat trip to find Grizzly in the nearby sanctuary. It was an ECO trip, so no frill boat and very knowledgeable guide and people from all over the world, including one shop owner from Down Town Los Altos , who just retired in Tuson. Their advise to us , " do not leave Los Altos unless you have to ":)

Spent all day driving around in the little boat, saw Humpback Whales very close up. ( i need a new camera) and families of Killer Whales. The one month old babies were soooooo cute and were just playing around all over. I wish i could take pictures but , are they were so much faster than my camera or my reflexes ;(

We saw, amazing scenery, bear dens, trees where Bears mark themselves ( rub against them) Bear foot marks but NO BEARS..oh well. There are lots of Bald Eagles and like every other living thing here, they also fish for Salmon.

Tonight we are taking a local ferry to Juneau. I will report tomorrow or day after as to how it went. It is NOT A CRUISE but just a local ferry. The ticket is 114 dollars vs thousands you pay for the cruise and it goes though the exact same route may be even closer because it is small. I am little apprehensive because of such a price difference but it will be an adventure.

There is no road going in and out of Juneau, so we decided to do this and then drive on further after that.

So, another Canadian titbit: Three top languages spoken here are English, French and Punjabi ( north Indian Dialect) , there must be lot of Indians but we do not see them around at all. Anyways, good night and I will be in touch whenever the internet is available.

Day 8 Prince Rupert and the Bears

Views on the way to Prince Rupert

Views going to Hazeltons from Smithers

Long house at the Ksan village ( first nation people)

Fresh Salmon omelet at the local place at Hazelton

Salmon Fishing the traditional way

Campground at Smithers ( Glacier View)

I have been planted on a seat at the picture window in the Crest Hotel in Prince Rupert, watching ferries come and go. It is very nice to get out of rain, take hot shower and sit on soft surface :)

Our day with drizzle and good Indian Chai in the rain. Packed up and on the road at 7:30 am, a good time for the bears to be out too. The high light was a HUGE mama bear and two cute cubs. Sorry no pictures ( Jagdish did not let me get out :) . Anyways on the way to Prince Rupert , we saw people fishing for Salmons while they were jumping, just collecting them in a net and putting them in the delicious food. ( like my breakfast),

We stopped at Hazeltons ( three towns close to each other) , very pretty with suspension bridge, fast flowing rivers ( Skeen and others I forgot) and the main attraction: the original village of the people for first nation. They give tours of their houses and it is informative and intersting. I think they are treated a little ( just a little) better than native Americans even though the small pox infested blankets and forced conversion are all too familiar stories.

After Hazeltons, the highways gets windier and prettier as it goes down though the town of Terrace ( i thought was over rated) . Had delicious lunch at Don Pedros with menu written on the white board.

It rained quite a bit today but the roads are very pretty and worth the drive. Hope tomorrow will be drier.

I will say good night with one Canadian observation: There are all the Californian stores here, including Costco, safeway and of course Starbucks, Big Mac etc etc...other than the scenery it is close to California.

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Day 7 Smithers ( you probably never heard of it ;)

We are at Smither;s now. camping right in front of the Glacier. Jagdish said , he feels cold just looking at it so he is all snuggled in his sleeping bag in the car, too cold for the tent. We need to buy wood for now on. I will post the Glacier picture tomorrow , it is pretty cool.

Today we drove the Yellow head higway from Prince George t oSmithers. Smithers is an alpine skiing village but nothing like Whistler. It is very pretty with Glacier and all but not commercial at all. We learned that in early 1900;s the Dutch and the Swiss people came and homesteaded here at Smithers so it is sort of Swiss village. Another interesting titbits about Smithers: The Egg Cartons were invented here and the first road trip here was done by an American from Seattle ( i thought we were the first ones :) in 1912.

On the way here , we took a detour to Fort Saint James: First trading post in Canada. They have recreated the area with complete functioning places and costumed volunteers. We found out how the trade was done and how the "fist nation people were used as carriers as well as trappers". Most valuable trade was beaver fur and everything else was traded against it.

The logging trucks were constantly passing us on the way here. Many lumber mills and sadly lots of logging going on. But the newest industry is Molybdenum mining

The internet is acting weird, i guess should not expect too much sitting in the middle of no where. I will close it now with one last titbit: we get served peanut butter instead of butter will toasts, bagels or anything ( i guess it is healthier, just like vegimite)

Day 6 Prince George , B. C. Canada

Outside the art gallery

Train Museum. Turn table and old trains

Flower at one of 116 gardens

Carvings on live trees in one of the parks

Inside the art gallery

We are at Treasure Cove hotel at Prince George. It was a short drive today and it rained most of the way. I am keeping track of the weather and booking hotel or camp grounds depending on what the weather person says. So, far it has been pretty good. The hotel is nice and clean and quite.

Prince George is fourth biggest town in BC but we saw pretty much all of it in one day and are planning to leave tomorrow. ( originally, we were thinking to stay her for couple of days...but we have long was to go to see our friend...the not quite declared presidential candidate. ) The city has 116 parks , we saw few of those, very nice and full of flowers and mosquito. We did a controlled test for the effectiveness of "odomos" ( an Indian mosquito repellent) and i will like to report it really works. I have no bites and Jagdish is all swollen up..from tomorrow he will not leave home without it.

The art gallery was nice outside as well as inside. We found an Indian ( Punjabi) restaurant and the food was excellent. Generally, after Whistler, one does not see any tourists or ethnic people, just Canadians of European decent or quite a few people of , " first nation".

I will try to catch up on sleep tonight. Good night and have happy thoughts.

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Day 5 Saturday at Quensel and Barkerville

Wagon Ride at Barkerville

Luxury Camping at Robert's Roost Camp ground at Quesnel

Museum at Williams lake

Hongman Society ( oldest Chinese heritage house in Canada )

Blacksmith at Barkerville

Barkerville and the Teacher

Today, I woke up with the first light at 5am and it was cold but not too bad. We had oatmeal and fruits ( works well for camping) and were on the road. Cariboo highway: the road gold miners took in 1860’s. The road is a regular freeway but littered with lakes. We made good milege ( I was driving) stopped at William’s lake. It is a pretty town on the lake William. Continuing on , got to our destination campground at Quesnel. We are staying at “Robert’s Roost campground” and is a total luxury. We are on a lake with a swamp , Canada geese , hot showers, flush toilets( happy) and a beautiful garden.

Drove to Barkerville about 50 miles east. This was the biggest gold rush town in 1850’s and they have restored it to it’s original settings. There were 20,000 people living here at one point and mined $50 million dollars worth of Gold. One of the interesting fact was 30% of the miners were Chinese from the Pearl River Delta ( near Greenie’s town I think) . They had their own China town. These people were trying to throw Ming Dynasty ( something like that) . Lots of interesting stories about how the Europeans and Chinese were segregated and yet Europeans came to china town for Herbs, Opium and getting there clothes washed:) This is definitely a worth while place to spend a day.

Last night , it rained and was very windy. So, we slept in the car. We both thought it was very comfortable and will do it again. I am blogging , Geese are visiting and the neighbor is ready to hit the road. He alone on a motor cycle. I better get ready too.

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Day 4 100 mile house , BC, Canada

Water Fall at the Camp Ground

World's longest cross country Skiis at 100 mile house

Camping at 100 mile house municiple camp ground

Lilloet Farmer's maket. There were ten puppies, all free

I am blogging from the camp ground of the town named 100 mile house. No kidding, there are many other towns named 50 mile house, 150 mile house etc etc. The names come from 1850’s the big gold rush days. The start of Gold Rush was from Lillooet ( look at the map) and the wagon trails went from there to Barkerville ( have not reached there yet). The name of the town ( i.e.) 100 mile house is the rest stop 100 miles from Lillooet.

To back up , we got an early start , like 7am ( do not ask why). The day is beautiful and we drove rest of the “Sea to sky “ highway from Whistler to Lillooet. It is the most scenic road I have seen, with 14% grade and granite cliffs, lakes and white water rivers. It really spoils you. I let Jagdish drive on this section J

As I mentioned above, Lillooet is the beginning of the gold rush trail and at one point it was the biggest town north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Now, it is a historic town of 2500 people and a cute railway station. We were planning to take the train ride for two hours but the train was very late so we decided to move on L

Now we are driving on highway 97, it is totally boring compared to the highway 99 (sea to sky) but has interesting stuff along the way. It reminds me of the gold rush towns of California. Not much tourists here, and quite a few natives , (the first nation people) that’s what they call the original native people here. I guess it is better than Indians or Red Indians ….

The campground is right by the water fall and is very nice. It is close to the town and there is this 12 year old kid who is riding his mountain bike and keeps coming by. First, he asked for some water from us then to tell us , “ do not leave food outside” the bears come here and then he just came by to show off his new bike tires. He says he lives in the town. Hope he means well and is just a kid hanging out.

It is a nice and warm day and we are now going to cook the dinner. We will let you know as to how our first night of camping turned out to be.

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