Portland, Oregon

We leave for Hawaii tomorrow for one week. We will have photos and info when we return Sept 1st. This chapel was in the side of the road. I made Birdie turn around and take me there. We met up with Doug and Deb, friends of Birdie. Today I got my hair done, pedicure, and manicur. Wow, I feel like I am back to civilization.

Sumas, Wasington.....USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glacier in Hyder,
Forest fires and smoke through Canada, Blackberries on stove, wine berry preserves in jar, and blueberry syrup (all homemade). There is a first for everything. I have become domestic...Yuk...

We took several days to cross Canada. There were fires burning and we drove in smoke most of the way. We even had to be escorted through some spots. Finally we arrived across the border. We have been enjoying the nice weather. Sunny and 70's to 80's. Today we picked blackberries. The wild berries are super flavorful. As a comparison it is like buying tomatoes at the store vs. growing your own on the vine. I have been freezing the berries and when we get home I plan to can them. I did make some blackberry syrup like the blueberry syrup I made in Paxson. Today we are heading through Washington and tomorrow meeting up with some friends of Birdie's that live here. We plan to be in Portland, Oregon on Sunday for we are leaving for Oahu, Hawaiin Islands on Tuesday. We have a flight there and will be back in 1 week. I will post that trip also.

Video of picking blackberries in Washington.

Hyder, Ak and Stewart, B.C. Canada

S
Above left is Salmon Glacier, middle are salmon spawning

Hyder, Ak and Stewart, B.C. Canada

We left Fairbanks and traveled across the border without incident. You just never know when they will decide to check your rig and then you have to put everything back in. We stopped just north of the Cassier Hwy. There was a fire which encompassed 2200 acres. The traffic was held up till in the am and we had to wait for three hrs until a pilot car escorted the group through. We landed near Hyder, Ak which is just off the Canadian border. We saw 9 black bears and went to the salmon spawning area. This is a very sad sight for sure. They start to die when the salmon are in fresh water and many were bottoms up. There were hundred of females making there egg beds by flipping their tails and then they will lay their eggs. The males were close behind...Not much different than humans. .... The males would fight off any other males that came close to the lady they planned to squirt their "milk" on. We then traveled 20 miles further with the Jeep and saw a glacier. This is salmon glacier the 5th largest in Canada. It was GRAND. We saw the bottom and traveled up the road and saw the summit. Wow. We got to see three really neat things in just one day. The weather was sunny and 74. Then, we went in a desserted copper/silver mine. The town of Hyder is dirt roads, the post office is a trailer, and is at sea level. They get 26 ft of snow each winter. We are heading to Sumas, Wash. and hope to be there to clean the motorcoach and Jeep. Birdie had blueberry waffles for breakfast and Halibut for supper. I have learned how to take care of him even though I am going through "mentalpause".. Love to all.....

Video of Louise cleaning a lake trout

I really just wanted a video of myself....

Anchorage Air Show < Paxson BLM

We enjoyed our stay with Hal and Treba Scott at Paxson Lake. We picked blueberries growing wild everywhere. They are more flavorful than the ones bought at a store. I canned 9 jars, made syrup, and froze some. There were also crow berries and salmon colored rasberries. I did not pick them because they were not ripe yet. The purple flowers are fireweed which grow everywhere. At the end of summer the flower then turns dark pink, dries, and the seed turns white and blows away. I was amazed at all of the flora in Alaska. The permafrost is also neat. The ground is boggy. When you walk on the permafrost you sink down as if you are walking on a mattress. Under this is ice or sometimes water then ice. There is new snow on the mountain tops. When we passed through Anchorage we saw and air show right on top of the motorcoach. We finally got a chance to ride the scooters again. The sun is out and the temp up to 70. Tomorrow we out of Alaska. But,,, the adventure is not over ....stay posted to see where next. Love the comments.