Alaska 2012 Leg 1

June 9, 2012       Day 1/60  Millbrae to Lakehead, CA

Today we left on our grand adventure to Alaska. We had breakfast at the Millbrae Lions’ Pancake breakfast. An easy way to start our day with no preparation or clean up. Also a good reminder of how much we are a part of the community around us. It was nice to see friends like Bill and Cal that we have known since our boys were Tigers together in the first grade. Just two days ago, those same boys graduated from 8^th grade! Nice to know that Millbrae is small town enough that two of our City Council members (also Lions) were right there at the grill making Mickey Mouse pancakes – even though there was no media coverage. Sorry couldn’t help a little cynicism.

Not much to say about the drive today. A few sights worth mentioning…a deer (yes, I know we have them at Crystal Springs, but I never get tired of seeing one), a turkey and a lot of cranes and egrets. I think I even saw a golden eagle in flight but we were on the freeway so hard to tell.

Today I was struck by how much the media influences our lives and cultures. Even on this great getaway where we will have many fewer hours of electronic media per day, I am reminded of commercials that are shown ad nauseum during my boys’ favorite TV shows. First reference – towing the trailer, our speed limit is 55. On some hills that is not even a remote possibility. As a result, we were passed repeatedly by all kinds of vehicles (including semi-truck s who do not feel compelled to obey their speed limit and cars on the frontage roads). I don’t mind really, makes it easier to see the sights. However, we all had a good laugh when we realized we are the “Slowskis” from the Comcast commercials. Embrace it. Own it.

Second media reference – the commercial with the family that spontaneously breaks out into the chorus of “Crazy Train.” Yeah, that is not us. We can drive for miles in complete silence, each of us in our own thoughts. I imagine Rick is wondering about the wind, the pull of the semi-trucks as they pass us (we can feel the pull before we see them, reminds us of when the Titanic left the dock and nearly pulled another ship into it. If they had actually collided, how would that have changed history?), and trying to see as much of the scenery as he can while concentrating on the road. Luca spent most of the day busy with his DSi. This will change as we get into more scenic areas and we wean him from the dependence on media. Dominic slept and thought about rings he could make next summer at Grandpa Mike’s “jewelry camp.” I managed to stay awake despite averaging 6.5 hours of sleep a night since April 1. I am just too excited, I guess.

One last thing…before we even left Millbrae, my mom called me on the walkie-talkie (note to self, look up origin and first use of this strange name), “Gypsy to Scout.” I recognized her voice and, really, who else would be calling me on that channel. However, we had never discussed call signs. I am happy with Scout and just like 45+ years ago, it seems appropriate that my mother name me. Well, part way through the day, Dominic decided that we should all have call signs. So it was quickly determined (by me) that Rick would be Ranger in reference to his zoology degree and life pre-Julie when he spent so much time in the outdoors. He is returning to those pursuits with Boy Scouts. Dominic chose Element since he is really into the Periodic Table right now. Luca is Hawkeye because we all really enjoyed “The Avengers” and he is really good at spotting things and archery (for his age). We are still waiting to hear if Grandpa will have his own or simply share with Mom like he does so many other things. Suggestions:  Jewelryman, Engineer, The Wanderer, Chief, Guide….But, of course, he will ultimately pick his own.

June 10, 2012     Day 2/60              Lakehead, CA to Eugene, OR

Day 2 brought a very scenic drive through the Cascade Range. The trees were so densely packed on either side of the freeway that one couldn’t see more than a few feet. I found myself wondering what it would have been like for the first white settlers to the area and for the native peoples already living here. Did the natives find comfort in the cover of the forest so that they could study the strange new people to the area to try to determine their intent? Were the settler children frightened by strange noises coming from the darkness of the forest? I am sure more than one settler cursed the density of the trees as they tried to gain passage for their families and belongings.  Modern technology made that easy for us. Nice, wide, and surprisingly uncrowded freeways made it so easy, especially for me since my wrist injury keeps me from driving the Suburban with the trailer.  Could this really be the same Interstate 5 that is so jammed through the entire LA basin and passed my old hometown in Fullerton?

Speaking of Fullerton…strange thing happened. I went to check the local weather when we arrived in Eugene and my AccuWeather phone app had automatically placed us in Fullerton. I don’t recall ever checking the weather for Fullerton. Seems like a strange coincidence.

Things I learned today…the Sacramento River goes surprising far north. There is a Phoenix, OR (and it even has a mesa). There is also a Saginaw, OR. The dense trees of south Oregon give way to an almost desert-like valley with very few, yet hardy, plants. It was not overly hot, just dry.

I read somewhere that different personality types recharge themselves in different ways. Introverts tend to recharge with periods of quiet and solitude (caving). Extroverts tend to recharge through interaction with others. This could prove problematic on this trip. This first leg of our journey is almost all travel days. We need to drive for 5+ hours (250 miles +/-, mostly +). That is a lot of togetherness in the car. No choice about that. I am fine. I am an extrovert. I can talk with my family throughout the day and feel connected and recharged. The introverted family members will have more of a challenge. We are together in the car all day and even with the “larger” trailer (we went with the 26’ as opposed to the 18’), there is no getting away in the trailer at night. Well, that is the case so far. We are overnighting in Eugene at the Elks Lodge on a main street in town. I don’t think anyone wants to get out a chair to sit in the parking lot to enjoy the night air.  I read about cultures where many people had to share living quarters (like the longhouses of certain Native American tribes during the long winter months). Ok, I may have seen it in a movie, too, but I can’t remember the name. The inhabitants developed a sense of privacy by not looking directly at each other and people went about their “business” (whatever it may be) as if they were alone.

 Sounds like a major challenge for all of us. Introverts will have to adapt to new ways of recharging. If we have no Wi-Fi or the connection is slow, there can be no computer caving. Maybe it is time to draw or read a book. Extroverts will have to be quiet and give others space. 

I will have to learn other new tricks as well. I am not an organized person. Living in 26 feet if mobile space with 3 other people forces me to make sure I put everything in its place every day. If I don’t, we will have no room to do our daily routines and things could get damaged while we are in motion. It is only Day 2, but I am doing pretty well so far. Maybe I will form habits that will carry over to life back home. Then I would just need to find the time to un-do all the piles that are already there.

June 13, 2012                     Day 5/60                              McChord AFB, WA (near Tacoma)

It is morning of Day 5. I am successfully on vacation. I think I know what day of the week it is, but had to look up the date and count how many days we have been on the road. It seems like we have been doing this a lot longer than 5 days. I mean that in a good way, not a “we’ve been gone forever” way. I am finding it hard to blog daily. There are always so many things to do, both chores and fun. I wonder if the first white settlers to the area ever got any down time. I think I remember reading that the concept of leisure time didn’t come about for common folk until the Industrial Revolution. Could that be right? Of course, it doesn’t help that the boys have been on the computer whenever they got a chance. Something they didn’t have to worry about way back when.

The drive through Oregon and Washington was pretty uneventful. We got so used to the relative solitude of the long expanse of I-5 that we didn’t like the crowded freeway section through Portland and a few other cities. We stopped for lunch with my mom’s cousin and his wife whom I had not seen in 20 years. They couldn’t stay long because of a prior commitment. The food wasn’t great but we needed to eat so we did. I was so excited when Dominic agreed to try something new – Spaghetti Carbonara. We had been trying to get one of the boys to try this for so long. Unfortunately, it was not very well prepared. I ended up trading him for my so-so salad. It had been advertised as a Chicken Caprese Salad. It had only 5 dice-sized cubes of mozzarella cheese and the balsamic dressing was only on the tomato and cheese. Some awful house dressing was on the rest of the salad. Oh, well.

We had to stay an extra day here because the check engine light keeps coming on in my parents’ truck. The dealer couldn’t diagnosis the problem even with the On-star code so we will move on and hope for the best. I am a little worried about heading into even more remote areas with a potential engine problem. They say they have Good Sam and we will do ok.

I was glad to have the break from the monotony of the driving mile after mile all day. It is harder on Rick who is doing the actual driving, but it is hard on all of us. The boys haven’t complained once about the drive and hardly even asked, “Are we there yet?” The campground here is gorgeous but nothing to do (no hikes, etc.) as we are in the middle of an active military base. We finally got groceries but now wonder if any of it will be confiscated at the border when we cross today. Planning.

Having gained an unexpected day in the Seattle area, the boys asked if I could try to get them another tour at Valve Software. We had toured there last year when we came up for a cruise to Alaska. It was hard to arrange then as the company contacts are not listed on the internet. I wrote about 3 emails to the contacts I could find and they got back to us with a 3:30 tour time. The boys were thrilled.  The tour was very different this time. Last year, we had a very techy guide and very techy adults on the tour. We got to spend time with some of the designers and programmers who were working on Team Fortress 2 and the boys got to see some of the weapons still in production for the game. This year we got to see how some of the art progressed from mock up through to finished concept. They sure seem to be constantly evolving as a company. Everyone there was super nice as they were last year. I am so glad that fate intervened and gave us this extra day. The boys both finally had something they wanted to blog about. I mentioned this in a thank you email to Valve. The lady said they want to read the blogs. Uh-oh, pressure. We are having trouble with internet connections everywhere so we may have to wait until we have a strong Wi-Fi spot anyway. At least they are writing.

June 13, 2012     Day5/60               Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia

We didn’t enjoy driving through Seattle. Even at 11 in the morning, the traffic was pretty backed up in areas. They have an interesting system where each freeway lane is assigned a speed limit based on congestion. Interesting, but a few thoughts ran through my head. One, this would not work well in California. It is difficult to enforce and Californians don’t do much unless they have to. Oh yeah, make me. They opening break the laws we do have, often right down the street from the police station. Two, does this mean that the people of Seattle lack the common sense to adjust their speed to conditions without being told to do so by some higher authority. Common sense says if it is crowded, slow down. If you don’t, you may have a crash. That seems like pretty natural consequences for your actions. So I suppose the authorities are protecting the innocent victims of the other drivers’ stupidity.

Somewhere near Bellingham, WA we left the I-5 for a smaller, two-lane country “highway.” This was very scenic and a nice change from the concrete of I-5. We passed farms, ancient and modern, and small towns. The closer we got to the border, the more flags the small towns had lining their downtown area. It reminded me of my trip to Ohio with Mom about 5 years ago. This led us over to a smaller border crossing area and I was relieved we wouldn’t be driving through Vancouver. I am sure it is lovely, but I wanted to get away from the traffic and I wasn’t even driving. 

We have crossed into Canada. Thankfully the border crossing was pretty uneventful. The boys rode with the grandparents all day, leaving the Suburban oddly quiet. It felt very strange and after several miles I asked my mom if they indeed had both my children in their car. I had heard stories of kids left behind at rest stops and had this horrible feeling that one of mine was at the camp ground at McChord. I guess a military base is a pretty safe place to leave behind a kid, but I am so glad we didn’t. The border agent was fine with all of us being in separate cars as long as the grandparents had the boys’ passports and Rick and I were right there to vouch for the grandparents’ right to transport the kids out of the country.

We had to declare shotguns at the border. “What is your purpose for bringing a shotgun into Canada?” There are only a few acceptable answers to this question. The friendly border agents seemed to think it completely reasonable that we have one along for remote fishing and berry picking. After cautions about not having it out in populated areas and not discharging it in populated areas and storing ammo separate from gun, etc., they sent us on our way. While we waited for the paperwork, I got in some good people watching. There was a fairly nicely dressed woman of undetermined middle-age. She was there when we arrived and seemed to be waiting for them to process her. We couldn’t imagine what would take so long. Then out of nowhere came a scruffy looking guy who looked like he had been on the road for some time. The agents escorted him from the windows over to low cubicles where he was asked to take his shirt off. I didn’t hang around to see what that was all about. I am trying to imagine what he said to make them want to see what was under his shirt and why they only provided low cubicles in the lobby area for such a situation. Well, the agents were satisfied and he left….wait for it…with the nicely dressed lady. Uh? I still can’t figure out what this was all about. Rick said maybe it was profiling and since the two travelers seemed so different, the border agents needed to check it out.

At one point, they cautioned Rick not to bring our shotgun inside for inspection unless he wanted to get shot at. The border agents I saw all looked like they just stepped off the Canadian version of a Rose Parade float and I wondered whether under their Chamber of Commerce smiles they could hit the side of a barn. I decided it would not be a good idea to test them, however, and we were on our way.

The small highway continued on the Canadian side of the border. The view was very peaceful and we really felt our vacation had begun. The boys convinced the grandparents to stop at Harrison Hot Springs for the night. We checked in and got parked at relatively pricey RV park in Harrison Hot Springs. It looks like people buy a plot and park their RVs here permanently. They build fences and gazebos right up to the RV. It is sort of like a mobile home park.

From here we walked to the beach and downtown Harrison Hot Springs. It wasn’t far and for me it felt good to stretch the legs a bit after so many days of inactivity.  I think it was harder for Mom with her sore knee, but she made it. Once there, we bought our way into the local public pool complete with towels and a shared locker. This was not a swimming pool, but a therapeutic pool fed by the hot springs. It was 100 degrees and the only people there were a few much older Germans and an Asian family with small children. Ah, it felt good to soak. The boys seemed to enjoy it, even if they couldn’t rough house or really swim. Then a woman and two boys about the same age as Dominic and Luca showed up. They were allowed to rough house and splashed water on us. I used my teacher voice, which seemed to have more of an effect on the mom who moved them away from us. After a soak and a shower, I dried my hair with the hand dryer. I can’t remember if I had done that before.

We had dinner at a great Swiss place on the beach. All the adults had the special, St. Gallen Schnitzel, a pork cutlet with caramelized onion gravy, pan fried Yukon potatoes and red cabbage with soup (Rick and Mike) or salad (Judy and Julie). The boys went for pasta, of course. Rick and Mike enjoyed some good German beer and the food was delicious. The only complaint is that it was European service (slow on purpose, usually appreciated so we don’t feel rushed) and we were starving. However, it was worth the wait.

After dinner we walked out to touch the water in Harrison Lake and it was cold. They have inflatable slides set up near the Marina and I can’t imagine the lake water getting warm enough for me to want to go sliding into it.

June 14, 2012                     DAY 6/60              Lac La Hache

Thanks to my fabulously talented husband, we were ready to leave by 8 AM. We didn’t get far before we stopped at a little town called Hope (flashback to a certain presidential campaign from my youth). This Hope is known for chain saw carvings. They were typically nature-themed:  salmon, bears, foxes, and wolves were popular. However, there were also strange-looking human figures: old men, native peoples (creation stories) and mythical beings. The wind was really blowing so we did the only sensible thing and ducked into a small Belgian Waffle place. Sharon was there to wait on us. Turns out, Sharon owns the place and is efficient yet laid back. It is a great combination. Five of us split 2 waffles (Luca abstained). We also bought some nice looking lunch meats and cheeses for our lunches (usually at rest stops along our route, but today we stopped at Hell’s Gate, more on that soon).

Next stop, Hell’s Gate, the narrowest part of the canyon on the Fraser River. Great story about the first white guys to go through here ages ago without benefit of modern equipment. They used ropes and branches to hang from the canyon walls to make their way down the canyon. Much later, people decided to build a fish ladder of sorts to help the salmon fight the waters upstream. They even built a resting pool. I might have some of the details wrong as I was still dizzy from crossing the bridge. Mom chose to take the gondola down the shops and exhibits. Not being a fan of gondolas, I walked about 1 km down with Mike, Rick and the boys. This was not a tough walk and definitely the road less taken. Once we crossed the Canadian Pacific/British Columbia Rail tracks (no crossing gates here, pay attention and cross at your own risk), we still needed to cross the suspension bridge across the gorge. I am not a fan of bridges with open grate walkways, but I needed the bathroom on the other side (good motivation). I walked across without whimpering or holding anyone’s hand. I even managed a few pictures and looked down a few times. The bridge is much lower to the water and sturdier than the one that gave me a panic attack at Neuschwanstein. I did great! I did not reward myself with one of the 32 flavors of fudge advertised.

Once the family was all together, Mike bought the boys a gold panning experience for only $5 Canadian. They each received a “salted” gold pan. He helped them each find some amethyst, agate, tiger-eye, and small flakes of gold. They both got the idea that gold panning is really tedious. It started to rain at this point and I decided not hike back up. Mom, Luca and I took the gondola up and started prepping lunch. Rick, Mike and Dominic made great time (21 minutes).

It rained most of the rest of the day. Not too hard most of the time, just enough to keep us from stopping to see a 2000+ lbs. slab of jade. We saw it from the car and my folks have larger jade pieces at home. The little towns have to find some draw to pull in the limited tourists we see on the road. The towns are very depressed economically. There are many dilapidated churches and abandoned homes. Stores and businesses look like people just closed the doors and walked away.

Today’s animals include our first Bald Eagle. I woke up just in time to see it soaring over the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. So majestic that we all agree that we are glad that Benjamin Franklin was out-voted when he nominated the turkey as the national bird. We also so one of the healthiest coyotes I have ever seen. It ran across the road in front of Mike and up the side of the highway. He had a full healthy coat and fluffy tail. No sign of mange at all. Luca claims to have seen a honey badger but I saw only a badger crossing sign. Everyone but Mike saw two marmots standing watch on the side of the road. One was standing up tall on hind feet like a meerkat. All in all, not a bad second day in Canada.