Mom asked for shelves in the storage room all year long but with everything happening I never got to them.  Mom asked for them for Christmas and here they are.  We had a very good Christmas with all our family.  Tuesday before Christmas Savanna Mom and I road the train down to the old Delta Center and had fun at a Christmas sing along.  Thursday Dave and his family and Mom and I and Jake rode the train to SLC stopping to pick up the Child's at Clearfield, and Chris at Layton.  We had dinner and then the lights at Temple Square.  Friday it was lights at Ogden down town.  Christmas was good with two new grand daughters added to our family.  Way to go Sara and Sarah.  Albany and Esther.  Patsy will be flying out to Minnestoa to spend time with Sarah and Jason next week. 

Jack and Afton helping

Jack and Afton thought this would be a good place to sleep

Patsy likes the new shelves.  There two foot wide so they will provide lots of storage space so we can clean out our storage bedroom and maybe put up a train track. 

Halloween at the Hunt's

we celebrated Megan's birthday.  I'm not sure why I'm not smiling. We only had four candles, so this means that she is 31.

Jack and Megan are blowing out candles.

We carved pumpkins today.  We had the kids yesterday and made Jack-o-Lantern pizza but I forgot to take pictures until we were eating them.

Lincoln carving his pumpkin

Jack did his the cool way.  Much easier.

This is finished product.  Scary uh?

Here we are showing off our pumpkins.  Good time was had all.

After leaving Winnipeg and crossing back into the the States we arrived at our son Jason's  in Shakopee Minnasota.  It was really good to see His family since it had been a while.  I appoligize for not adding to the blog and keeping it up.  The time we spent in Minnasota went by fast as they kept us busy going here and there.  Sarah's Father took us boating and swiming and then there was the Zoo, a trip to Wisconsin to see  old town St Croix Falls.  We then went to the falls and a park and had a good time. The water at the falls was almost red colored.  After that Sarah and the kid's took Patsy and I on a nature walk where the kids had a ball, they know so much about nature.  Then there was the Minnesota State Fair.  And best of all was a walk almost daily to a school play ground about four blocks from their home.  Grampa helped Eli to start and stop by his self of his bike. Way to go Eli.  The school was a good place for them to play and we liked watching them play. 

At the park Ethan showed us some great moves on whatever they call this thing, they didn't have one at my school, don't think they were invented yet.

On some days they have up to 240,000 people come to the fair.  They have parking all over town and then they bus you to the fair.  It's a great fair.  Wish we had one like it.

Andy had no trouble about riding the rides.  She was like a pro that had done this all her life.

Eli sure had fun on the cars.  He kept his car right on the track so it didn't go where it shouldn't go.  Great job Eli.

Jason took me fishing one day.  Fishing is one thing Jason likes to do and he loves taking his boys with him.  What a great dad!

On our way home we stopped at Mankato, Sleepy Eye, and Walnut Grove and check out all the Little House On The Praire sites.  The museum had a lot to see and do.  We ate dinner at Nellies Dinner. 

From there to Walls Drug Store, somewhere in Dakota.  There were bill boards every few miles for a hundred miles so we stopped.  We bought a number of items there.  It was really quite nice for a tourist trap. 

From there to Mount Rushmore.  We both like being there, this is our second time and it moves you each time we go.  There are more than fifty flags as they include all the territories that were over. 

This is Crazy Horse, its a lot bigger than Mt Rushmore.  It has been in the works since I believe 1948 and won't be finished for many years to come. 

I want to live to see this finished.  It will be awesome, hope I live long enough.  One man started it and his family keeps it going. 

This is the end of our travels this last summer.  The weather was warm, mom wore a coat a couple of times when we were on the coast.  There was a lot of rain on the way up and our first vist to the coast but never when we had something we wanted to do did it rain.  Only when we put up the tent.  The next morning we packed it up wet and the next time we set it up it dried in just a few minutes.  Took five minutes to set up, couple of minutes with the electric air mattress which mom said was better than most beds we slept on and take down was just as fast.  We had a propane stove which we heated water for a couple of bowls of oatmeal and a banna, some yogart, muffins in the morning, at night a can of stew, soup, or ravioli all on paper plates, fast and good.  We did sleep in the car three nights in a row due to a fire and being out in the middle of nowhere.  We did sleep in the car two nights in a row several times also.  We stayed in Motels over half the times.  Most motels were Comforts Inns, Hampton's Holliday's, a Hilton and three nights at Fairbanks in a suite with a balcony.  Several cabins and a few places we won't talk about.  Fairbanks the temp was 78-82 while we were there.  About half the nights late you might need something over your shoulders.  Alaska welcomes you to stay anywhere there is a pull off or at Wal-Mart or anyother place.  It's always safe. Patsy say I'm not sleeping in the car at Wal-Mart, it never gets dark and people can see me sleeping."

On our way up we camped at White Horse in the Yukon and Patsy asked, "you awake,"  "am now,"

"what time is it?"  "three fifteen in the morning."  Under the trees and in a tent you had not trouble seeing.  At Chicken I would set out side and work on the computer till the sun went down around a quarter till twelve, but never dark.  We only saw a couple of mosquitoes  one night and no other bugs to be found.  Neat huh.

Gas, we paid as much as $7.00 a gallon.  Gas in Canada is by the litter.  At the top of Canada gas was running a $1.85 a litter.  A man told me to buy gas at a place called Contact Creek right in the middle of all this high prices.  We stopped and gas was a $1.09 a litter. We asked him why his was so much less,  He said "I'm making good on what I charge.  No need to rip people off,  I'm doing just fine."  The food was a couple of dollars more than what you would pay here, but you seemed to get more and it seemed better prepared.  At Fairbanks we ate the the farthest north Denny's in the world. 

One thing we both liked about our trip was we spent most of our time in the back country in the small cities

and going places most people never see.  Yes we did take a couple of cruises and went to the parks and the museums and I did go on two minning trips where I worked my own mining equipment.  One place I staked a claim and found a lot of color in my test pan.  I then started working the sluice and just got going and the bank of the creek caved in on me.  It was three feet deep and five feet wide.  There was a couple of young men just down from me and when I moved on they asked if they could have my claim.  I said yes and they worked hard.  They could shovel the big rocks out and they had buckets and a larger sluice than mine and by night fall they had around an ounce worth.  I did find another place, and the same thing happened but not as big as the first one.  From then one I just worked the creek.  You paid a fee and then they took you in to the back country by four wheelers and they left you for the whole day and came and picked up and brought you back to your car.  It was one of many great experiences that I had, no I did not become rich but did have a rich experience doing it as the old miners did. 

Phone service was only in cities over one or two hundred people and then not always.  Most cities away from the large cities made their own electricity.  RV places and campground had their own generators.  One note, we were without phone most of our trip but had WI FI every night no matter where we were.  Even in the small camp grounds the host would have a small gererator and a satelllite dish for TV and Internet and they all provide WI FI.  A lot of children there get their school over the net. That is most people's contact with the outside world. 

Our travels took us 11500 miles with out incident, our car ran well.  Canada was good to us as each time we drew money out  for each $200.00 we gained $15.00.  Something interesting in northern Canada and away from the cities in Alaska for two months of travel we saw only two police cars and only about five others in the cities and across Canada.  You could travel 500 or more miles and never have more than a dozen or more people scattered along the way.  After four or so in the afternoon traffic  was almost nil.  I often thought if you had some trouble or accident help would be long in coming. 

Both Alaska and Canada had a lot of rain and their hay could not be put up.  Much through Canada was in round bales and had turned dark.  I'm sure that will hurt the farmers a lot.  All the cities were clean and neat and homes in good repair. 

We here live in a small world.  Up there everything is big, like the Grand Canyon.  It stretches your mind to take it all in.  Mountains fourteen thousand feet high or higher seem like giants because they start out at less than two thousand feet.  Even at forty or eighty miles aways they seem to tower over you.  The ocean is big and I had to take sea sickness pills to enjoy it.

Both of us feel very gratefull to have been able to spend two full months of our lives and enjoyed it as we did.  Each of the four times we crossed a border it gave us a different feeling inside us and we loved Canada and the people but we love the good ol USA.  When we got to Minnesota and spent time with Jason and Sarah and Ethan, Eli, Andy and our soon to be grandchild we realize how much we missed all our children and grandchildren..

Is there anything we would do different?  Yes, we would spend more time exploring the old mining cities and some of their off colored places.  No, we would not drink or gamble, but most places were gathering places and it would be fun just to hang out with the locals and just go back in time a little.   

After leaving Valdez we passed this water fall.  I beleive that there is one special water fall for every person in Alaska or Canada.  This water fall was one of Patsy's favorite. 

River boats abounded in Alaska and the Yukon Territory back then.  I think I read where there was six hundred of them of all sizes.  This one could float in as little of thiry inches of water.  There are no true steam driven river boats left now.  What paddle wheelers there are all diesel driven.  The Klondike shown here ran from the sea to here at Whitehorse some I think fifteen hundred miles. 

This is the obervation deck and in back of me is the dinning room.  I would  liked to go back in time and have the experience of traveling on this ship. 

Grampa and Grandma out standing in their field.  What more can we say.

P<>S.  These sunflowers remind us of the smiley faces of our Grand Children

We stopped at a large park in Edmonton and they had some large gardens of flowers and trees.  Some we didn't get to go through because of a wedding.  Mom said it made her trip.  There were flowers we had never heard of or seen, but they were all beautifu beyond description.  

We visited a replica of a Hudson Bay Fort.  The buildings and everything in them are all made the same way they were made in eighteen sixty four.  All the buildings were completly furnished,  It was amazing the detail and accuracy of every item.  They had a steam train and an electric trolley that ran around town you could ride.  They had three authentic streets.  One was eighteen sixties, one eighteen ninties and another around the nineteen twenties. 

We also went to the Edmonton mall.  The largest in North America.  It's much larger than the Mall Of America in Minnesota.  We spent two days exploring Edmonton.  We looked hard for a street that was straight for more than two blocks.  We did spend two nights at the Hilton which we enjoyed. 

After Edmonton we saw a few Russian Orthodox Churches along the way.  This one had a next grave yard next to it with words we couldn't understand, the dates were ok but thats all.  From Grand Paririe all the way to Minneapolis Minnesota the land is flat.  You can see for a hundren miles in any dirrection.  It is beautiful as it is green.  They have had so much rain this summer that they can't get their hay up and the grain is still green unable to be harvested.  From Edmonton north and through Alaska for four weeks we saw only three police cars.  I don't know how long it would have taken for one to come if you had an accident.  There are very few cars on the roads to begin with, and after about four or five in the evening you may not meet a car for ten or twenty miles and the later it gets even less cars that that.  You are pertty much on your own. 

The pictures and the words that are on our blog does not in any way tell a small part of the experience we have had in making this trip.  On ever turn there were new scenes to look at and wonder.  The vastness and scope of it all can't be comprehended until you can feel and experience it yourself. We would say that the people of Canada and Alaska Welcomed us and made us feel as if we were home.  We felt at Fairbanks a sense of belonging, but not sure what winter would bring.  As we waited for a train to take me to a minning camp to pan for gold some one asked the conductor how they could stand the long dark winter nights.  He replied, easy, we work hard the three short summer months and when you all go home we play.  There is no traffic so snow mobiles ATV's and dog sleds can go anywhere and travel for miles and days without  interference form anything.  We live it up he said. 

We left Chicken and traveled over the Top Of The World Highway to Dawson in the Yukon.  I was like a hundred and forty miles of dirt road.  It was about nine thirty when we come down off the tops of the mountains and we came around a curve to the Yukon river and the road with no signs or warnings ended at the river bank. If you were not watching you could have drove into the river.  The ferry soon pulled up and took us across the river to Dawson.  As you can see the ferry needs no landing or dock.  It's ran by the Government  It held eight cars or semi's with cars or what ever they can put on.  It's free.  The next day we walked the water front and rode over and back on the ferry. 

This is Dawson from Dome Mountain.  The muddy river is the Yukon and I can't remember the other.  The clear water river was where gold was discovered and the canyons and rivers has all been dredged with several dredges like the one up at Sumpter.  One of them is the biggest in North America.

Halfway up to Dome Mt. was the city cemetery.  There must be several thousand or more people buried
there.  About a third of it was organized and the rest like this just spread out over the hills.  Very interesting to walk through and see the names and dates.  They had a small section for the Canadian Mounted Police. 

This is Dawson, dirt streets, board sidewalks, old buildings, old house, all painted.  New buildings that look old.  A lot of the stores look on the inside much the way they might have a hundred years ago.  Sometimes you walk in and the floor slopes so much you have to step up or down just to walk across the floor.  We saw no police anywhere in Dawson.  Out side and across the street at an old turn of the century saloon people was sharing drugs with no fear.  Even with that you were very safe as the people are the nicest. 

We stopped to watch this goat.  It was walking across a vertical hillside.  Makes you wonder how they hang on.  The baby goat had no problems at all.  This day we had two different black bears walk across in front of us out in the middle of nowhere but by the time I stopped to keep from hitting them and getting the camera I only got one butt shot off.  Its just so neat to see the in the wild with just you there and no one else and so close to them.  They will pass with in  feet of you but they will not stop.  Maybe a good thing they don't.   

Mom literally could have leaned out the window and touched this young moose.  In another picture it stuck its tongue out at us.  We saw so many animal this day it was like a zoo with no other people around. 

We got to Grande Prairie about six and we found a place and ate and then we played golf, score thirty eight to thirty five.  Mom won.  Ya. Then we went and got ice cream.  Hows that for ending a day.  We left Dawson and made it to Whitehorse where we slept in the tent.  Mom's shower even have live flowers growing everywhere in the showers.  Cool.  We drove for five hours and ran into smoke from a fire so we stopped at a RV place.  The had water tanks like kids swim pools but much bigger with pumps and hoses that went to all the roofs with sprinklers on them.  Some of the road was shut down.  We slept in the car that night and the next night.  We got a room at the Holiday Inn at Grande Prairie and went to Church there today.  Were now is Edmonton at a Hilton Hotel for two nights.  Lots to do and see here.  They have the largest mall in North America and many other things to do and see. I must mention that people in Canada and especially Alaska and the Yukon  are so friendly.  They talk to you like they have known you all their lives.  At one RV place we sat around a fire and talked for hours.  Really cool how open people are.  Every church we've been to is the same.  Today an old man came an took me to Priesthood with him.  We went more than a week with out phone service but everywhere you camp there is WIFI, even out in your tents.  A lot of the places don't have electricity so they have to generate there own.  The town of Chicken out in the middle of now where had a WIFI for the whole town so the children could have their school which was over the net.  You can always find a satellite dish.  This has been a great experience which is far from being over since we still have to cross Canada to Minnesota before coming home.  We may do a side trip around Manitoba lake before coming back to the States. 

We got to Fairbanks and checked in at the Bear Lodge.  We got a suite for a good price and kept it for a few days.  Patsy was in seventh heaven.  We went on this river boat cruise.  They put on quite a show for us.  It was  family owned and they cared about everyone on the boat having a good time.  First off a friend with a float plane took off and landed right beside us several times while talking with us.  They told us about all the history of the river.   A famous dog sled trainer lived on the river so he gave demostrations with his dog teams.  Ten dogs hooked on to a four wheeler made it move like it was nothing.  They could pull it with its brakes on.  We stopped at an Indian village and took a tour.  That's where this picture was taken.  The boat could stop anywhere it wanted.  It only needed three feet of water and carried nine hundrend passengers.  The tour is rated the best in North America.

Yes we did go to the North Pole.  We saw Santa and a few of his Raindeer.

And now were are officially Eskimos.

 The rivers here are huge, miles across and running fast.  This is a glacier flow.  Small in the summer, but large in the spring run off or after heavy rains.  It has been raining in this area so there's lots of water. 

 This is the Alaskan Pipeline crossing a large river.  Amazing sight.

 This is Mom guarding the pipe line. Half of it is under ground and half above.  We got to follow the pipe line for over four hundred miles.  Quite a sight a times. 

 I dont think Mom realized when I left her that I wasn't just going to touch the glacier but climb on it too. I crawed in where the water comes out from under the glacier and in some different places.  There was a couple of other people on the glacier and one took my picture.

We back tracked and went back down to Valdez to see the Salmon run.  Were glad we did.  The seagulls take the Salmon out of the water and eat their gills and leave the rest.  What a waste.  We watched the bear eat some of them.  He or She perferred fresh caught Salmon.  I walked down the ramps to the fishing boats and walked among them.  It gave me a different feeling about fishermen and how they work. 

Were in the town of Chicken.  Population, six in winter, around forty in summer, with just a many tourist, us being a part of that group.  It is seventy miles for nowhere.  Party dirt roads. Infact the next forty miles to the Yukon border is dirt.  There is less than a half a dozen buildings here. Our is on the right, two twin beds.  No covers or sheets, bring your own. Out house, no charge.  River in back. Gas four fifty three a gallon.   Its just a mining stop.  I paned for gold.  I got about ten dollars worth.  I'm paying to go to a gold  mine tomorrow to pan, we'll see how that turns out. 

 

 Forgot about this.  We went to an Ice Sculptors place north of Fairbanks way out in the sticks.  The highway ended at this place.  There was a hot springs there.  They had a big pool out side lined with big rocks and this foutain spraying up in the middle.  We probably should have went in.  There's a hot spring just inside Canada that were going to stop at. Its a little bit of a walk in but worth the time.  This is Mom wishing she was in the igloo, might be warmer. 

Two Knights in mortal combat.  Wow, its amazing how detailed these carvings are and how beautiful they are.  well worth the trip to see them.

 

We stayed at the Sourdough RV Park in Tok Alaska friday night.  We got there just in time for the pancake toss.  You had two tries to put one pancake in a bucket.  If you did you got a free sourdough pancake breakfast in the morning.  I failed but Patsy came through.  My breakfast cost me twelve dollars, but it was all you could eat.  They had Raindeer sausage that was very good.  A lot of the women won. 

I'm sitting here on the porch of our cabin here at Chicken and the sun just went down.  It is now nine forty but it will still be light at eleven thirty.  Its been near eighty the last couple of days.  For some reason it seems hot and your seeking the shade.  Our room was to hot to go to sleep last night.  Today we just read and played on the computer and went for walks.  Been a great restful day.  We have been without phone since we left Tok and we won't have it again till Dawson.  Everywhere up here has the internet.  WiFi.  Even in the remote campgrounds in the middle of no where has it.  Most places like where were at run off generators that run all night.  We know because you can here them all night.  The kids here stay at home and get their school off the net.  The signal is strong and is called the Town of Chicken so I think it serves the whole place.

We went to an Eskimo olympics friday and saturday.  This is called the Two Foot Kick.  You have to jump using both feet to kick the ball and land on both feet and maintain ballance your ballance.  One of the young man kicked the ball at seven feet eight inches.  The One Foot Kick is just one foot and you have to land on the foot you used to kick the ball and maintain balance on the one foot.  The record for the game was ten feet.   It was really neat they did a lot of interesting games.  One is called the ear pull.  The take a string made out of a sinew from an animal and tie the ends together.  They then put it around their ears opposite and pull.  One man had to have twelve stitches to put his ear back on.  They had stick pulling contest and a lot other games. 

This is the blanket toss.  They get up to forty feet. 

They choose a Queen Friday night but they also had Princess too.  This picture is for Savanna,

Ande and Afton.  Their Mothers or Grandmothers helped to make their dresses. 

This is for the boy's all those who love trains.  Lincoln, Eli, Ethan and Jack.  Dad's too.  This is the little engine that could, and did.  He pulled ore out of the mines,  he pulled lumber around the sawmills.  His was a tough job because he was so small and strong he could go places the bigger engines couldn't go.  Now he's retired and takes kids for rides around the park. 

We have seen Totem poles but this one had a cabbage in front of it.  Cabbages up here grow to a hundred and fifty one pounds.  Around Fairbanks they grow all kinds of vegetables including tomatoes.  It's because of the longer days they mature faster, and usually bigger.