WA, ID, UT, CO, NM, TX

After seeing Vickie off at the Vancouver airport, I picked up my bike, newly fitted with fresh oil, a tune up, and tires and started thinking about what route to take home.  Having been warned that getting through Seattle at rush hour would take several hours, I opted to go east and the mountains instead of south and west along the coast.  Riding through the Cascade mountains was beautiful and I made it to Winthrop, WA, that night.

Continuing south and east, through the apple orchards on the plains of eastern Washington, I saw a sign for the Grand Coulee dam.  As with most large civil projects, the dam was controversial, but was finished in 1942 and is still today the largest electric power producing facility in the US.

Traveling on the back highways of eastern Washington is an invitation to gain some time and miles.  With few cars and miles of visibility, I was cruising pretty fast when I passed a white Tahoe.  As I passed him, I saw the Sheriff sign on the door.  Being committed to passing, I didn't slow down until the flashing lights came on.  Realizing the speed limit was 60mph and I was probably doing 85, I was expecting the worst.  Observing my Texas tags and the fact I was about his age, he let me off with a verbal warning and a reminder that no matter the speed limits in Texas, I was still in his state.

Crossing into Idaho at Lewiston, I continued southward thru rain and sleet and a day and night of generally crappy weather.  Breaking my rule of no interstates, I jumped on I84 and I15 and stopped at Brigham City, UT.  With a massive Mormon temple and the somewhat famous Maddox Ranch House restaurant, this was a welcome rest stop.

Grand Junction, CO was my next stop, followed the next day by a beautiful, but muddy dirt mountain trail into the back side of Crested Butte for lunch.  Riding familiar roads now led me to the last night of this adventure and our old standby, the HI Express in Raton, NM.  Enjoying a cigar and drink by the firepit, I was thankful to God for His protection and favor and the chance to make another set of memories.

postscript:
I'm just now (May 2016) publishing this 2015 trip.  I'm about the depart on the first leg of my 2016 Summer adventure soon.  I'll be writing about that in the near future.

Thanks for following along.

  A massive structure, still providing electricity and recreation.

Brigham City, Utah

Grand Junction, CO. Sticking to my plan of no chain hotels.  

Aspens just beginning to turn, as I came over the pass into the back side of Crested Butte.

One last look at the mountains and the cool weather of Raton, NM before returning to Texas.

Victoria, BC

Our flight from Anchorage to Vancouver was uneventful, just long.  This four plus hour flight was another reminder of how far away Alaska is from the continental USA.  I've gotta think the Russian's are kicking themselves all the time for selling this huge natural resource to us, and knowing how close we are to them.  Our purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, for $7mm or about 4 cents per acre was criticized by some in the US and was called Seward's folly, after Secretary of State, William Seward, who pushed the deal through.  Hindsight is always 20-20, but this has turned out to be pure genius on his part.

Arriving late back in Vancouver, we scored a night at the Rosewood Hotel, with a big discount thanks to an old friend.  

The next morning our itinerary started with a trip to Victoria.  The provincial capital of British Columbia, Victoria is a beautiful small city on Vancouver Island.  Getting from Vancouver to Victoria is no small task, requiring either a bus (or car) ride to a ferry, and a four hour ferry trip.  Or, a 30 minute sea plane hop.  Vickie, not being a fan of small planes, took a little convincing.  But, all in all she agreed it was an enjoyable way to travel.  Commuter sea planes were buzzing around all over the place, and I quickly learned this was a common yer fairly expensive method of travel in this area.

Based on several recommendations, we had reservations at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.  An historic hotel on the Inner Harbor, across from the Capitol building, it was the best place to stay for exploring this small historic city.  Of course, the big attraction at this quintessential British accommodation is High Tea, in the afternoon.  Being more of a cigar and bourbon fan, rather than cucumber sandwiches and tea, none the less, I experienced an afternoon of culture and raised pinkie holding my tea cup.

Not to be outdone, I adjourned to the iconic bar at the Empress, and found fast friends; a couple from Denison, TX, who were vacationing post cruise, like us, and Toby Gabriel, a fellow GS rider who was a long term Fairmont associate.  Toby and I exchanged many ride stories and have kept in touch via FB, although I missed him when he was in Dallas a few months ago.  

A must see attraction near Victoria is Butchart Gardens.  A former limestone quarry used for the production of Portland cement, the business owned by the Butchart family, has become one of the most beautiful locations of unique gardens in the world.  Mrs Butchart, wanting to make use of the abandoned and ugly quarry site commissioned several garden artists to build these gardens; including Japanese, Italian, and British style gardens.  This is a wonderful example of re-purposing an industrial wasteland that could be done more today if people would take the opportunity.  Still owned by the Butchart family, it is a major tourist attraction.

With this portion of our vacation coming to an end, we take a sea plane back to the Vancouver airport, Vickie boards her place back to DFW, and I take a cab back to the BMW shop to pick up my 1200 GS and begin the southeastern journey back to Texas.................stay tuned.

A forced smile, but things get better.

Almost there.

We made it

Inner Harbor of Victoria

High Tea at the Fairmont Empress

A rainy day, but still amazing

Alaska bound

I suppose an Alaska cruise starts appealing to someone once they reach the time in their life when they realize cruises are more than tropical climes, sunburns, and Jimmy Buffett music.  I remember when I was younger, thinking that a cruise in cold weather didn't make sense.  How wrong I was.  Sort of like the time we decided to take a Carnival cruise during spring break with a ship full of college students.  BIG MISTAKE.

Having taken a couple of cruises on large ships, we opted for a small ship, the Pacific Princess.  With only 600 passengers, it was just what we wanted.  With the help of our travel agent, Margo Kyger, at http://gullivers.com/ we scored a suite that so nice we spent most of our time on our own private balcony observing the beauty of the the Pacific Northwest as we cruised toward the inside passage of Alaska.

Being the adventurous types that we are, we rarely opt for planned excursions or tours when we travel.  Being on a cruise ship is the closest we come to a planned itinerary, and true to form, we didn't pick any of the ship planned excursions, but did some research beforehand and chose our own outings.  

After asking many of our friends about their experiences, I wanted to either take a plane or helicopter to visit a glacier or fly over the remote areas.  However, a couple of weeks before our cruise, a plane had crashed on such an excursion, killing all aboard, so Vickie decreed that was out of the question.  So plan B was developed and at our first port of call, Ketchikan, we tried something new for both of us, sea kayaking.

Ketchikan receives over 200 days of rain per year, but our day there was sunny and 72 degrees, perfect for our outing. http://www.kayakketchikan.com/ was our chosen expedition.  We took a small boat to a beautiful remote area, Orcas Cove, where the kayaks were waiting, and for several hours we witnessed eagles, dolphins, and other wildlife up close and personal, without getting wet.  No Orcas however.

Cruising the inside passage is a scenic treat in and of itself.  With snow capped mountains as far as you can see of the eastern side, and beautiful forests on the western side, we were traveling thorough the Tongass National Forest.  At 17 million acres, it is the largest national forest in the USA.  One night at dinner, sharing a table with our French speaking table companions, we saw a large pod of Orcas swimming alongside our ship, an amazing site.

Our second stop was in Juneau, the capital of Alaska.  It is the only state capital with no roads or highways connecting it to the rest of North America.  As one of the locals said, there are only three ways into Juneau; plane, boat, or birth canal.

The excursion chosen here was a boat ride into the Tracy Arm fjord, and a visit to the massive Sawyer glacier.  While a long ride, the icebergs, whales, and calving of the glacier were rewards that made the long day quite enjoyable.

Our third excursion was in Skagway.  We took the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway for about an hours ride to the trail-head for the Laughton Glacier.  With almost all of the passengers remaining on the train for the several hours round-trip, our small group of hikers departed with our gear and excitement for the hike ahead of us.  The trail began in old growth rain forest, and as we climbed higher, the trail became more rocky.  After a couple of hours, we reached a lookout area, with a 360 view of mountain and the massive Laughton Glacier.  As we reached the glacier, we attached crampons to our hiking shoes to continue onto the ever changing frozen glacier.  As we were there in August, there was glacier melt and we were constantly having to avoid the crevasses and other dangerous features of the frozen landscape.  After sandwiches and hot drinks, we departed the glacier, hiked back down the trail, and met the returning train for the scenic ride back to Skagway.

We saw many of our fellow passengers in Skagway, browsing the cheesy souvenir shops and the dozens of jewelry stores.  We commented to each other that it seemed such a waste to travel to Alaska, and spend your time shopping for stuff you could buy in the mall at home.

The remainder of the cruise was spent enjoying the passing scenery, listening to the nature guides tell of all we were seeing, and viewing the magnificent glaciers and mountains that seemed to be never-ending.  Realizing that this cruise did not even allow us to see the main largest part of this massive state, I quickly realized that another trip to Alaska should definitely be on our agenda.

Arriving at our last stop, Whittier, the wind was so strong that the ship's captain had to try three times to dock before being successful.  Whittier is the port closest to Anchorage, a former military base built in WWII, and consists of a population of about 200 persons.  All of these people live in one high rise apartment building built in the '50's.  Next to this building is another smaller building attached by a tunnel, which houses all of the other shops, services, and school.  Whittier is the port for the Alaska Marine Highway, consisting of boats, ferries, and ships that service all of southern Alaska, and the towns and cities which have no land access.  Whittier is also the terminus for the railroad, which carries many passengers to Anchorage and points beyond in mainland Alaska.  A one lane tunnel is used by both the railroad and cars and buses. 

Taking the bus to Anchorage, we arrived the same day President Obama was making a visit to Anchorage, commemorating the name change of the tallest mountain in Alaska from Mt. McKinley to Mt. Denali.  Knowing that another visit to Alaska should be in our plans, we boarded our Air Canada flight back to Vancouver, and the final portions of our Alaska Adventure.

A little hard to see, but the rain gauge in Ketchikan, where rain falls most days of the year

A Ketchikan cutie

Rookie kayakers

This eagle was keeping watch over our ship

Lot's of icebergs in the Tracy Arm fjord

These glaciers are constantly growing and shrinking.  Today, in August, it was shrinking.

Our little group, ready for a hike to the Laughton glacier

Treacherous hiking on ice and snow.

Quick scenery change, coming down from the glacier into the rain forest.

Back to Skagway, with this little guy following our train.