Sunday, June 28, 2015

Pics from Anacortes to Dawson Creek

Here are some pics from this section, though haven't been able to get all of them up yet:

Last night in Anacortes--Scott brought Maddie over to see Sophie, but Maddie is still a little reticent.

 Great blue heron on the morning we left Anacortes


Beautiful mountain views as we approached the Canadian border





Now into Canada, we went through a series of 7 tunnels during our climb of about 4000 feet of elevation, going over Jackass Mountain Pass--what a name, huh?

The Frazier River

 We were pretty high up, looking down to the valley, near Hell's Gate



 Just love this sign--Hell's Gate Turnaround--one of the few places where you could reverse direction if you needed to
 Getting to places where we can clearly see above the tree line
 Looking down on the railroad tracks that ran on the other side of the river from the highway--since I spent much of my career representing a railroad, trains are always near and dear to my heart!  As my brother Jimmy once said when we heard a train whistle:  Jack, that's the sound of your retirement!
 Here are some shots showing the still smoldering remains of a fire started by a lightning strike, on the way to Cache Creek



 Just love looking down on a river as we drive!







 What a difference irrigation makes!  Passing a big feed lot operation

 Very pretty little church, though we couldn't see any sign to tell us what denomination

 Here we are at Hat Creek Ranch, in Cache Creek, BC, our first stop.  We were dry camping, so all the rigs were fairly close together in this big grassy area.  We were all relaxing while our wagonmaster and tailgunner staff were cooking hotdogs for us!  This was our first experience with a group camping like this, but it was a lot of fun, and a great way for us all to get to know each other a little better.
 You can see some of the restored outbuildings of Hat Creek Ranch in the background


 Our friends from Missouri, Kathy and Ken on the right

Sweet little Maddie, Sophie's shy friend!
 Our campfire, where lots of folks roasted marshmallows.


 Pretty awesome setting for our first night out, huh??
 These are some shots of Dee and Ray, who live in the Villages in Florida--she had been thinking and talking about marshmallows all day, so she got her wish!
 Here's Dee, about to pop in her first one--she likes them really burned a little on the outside . . .
 . . .  so they're a little hot at first--I couldn't believe how this picture turned out, and she was a good sport as we all got a laugh from it--but I know she's planning her payback on me for sometime down the road!!
 Sophie was looking at all the dogs

 Some of the ranch's horses across the way--a couple of folks went over and fed them some carrots

 Our wagon masters, Chuck and Sally, with Gunner, a miniature Alaskan huskie
 Sophie likes 'em all, little or big!
 Here's her new favorite friend, Daisy, from North Carolina--they are having a ball together, rough housing and tussling--she fell right asleep when we got back to the rig!



The covered wagon "motel room"
 Sunrise at Hat Creek Ranch, while I was taking Sophie for her morning walk, before we headed out
 Visitor Center at William's Lake, with some stunning log construction!





 We stopped at a woodworking shop we had seen written up in the Milepost book, though it turned out to be more of a gift shop than a woodworking  shop

 Trisha was intrigued with this woman working in the big garden--in a long dress!
 On the drive to Prince George


 Lots of beautiful wild flowers along the roadside, though hard to get a picture in focus






 Love these old barns--this one was log
 Coming through Hixon, a small town with these beautiful petunias lining the sidewalks--reminded us of Petosky, Michigan
 Beautiful red barn
 Sikh Temple in Prince George

 Had a couple of these iron bridges to go through, and they were pretty narrow.  Fortunately we didn't meet any log trucks like a couple of the other rigs



 The sky was just beautiful here!






 Some snow above the tree line, on the drive from Prince George to Dawson Creek







 The Pine River, which we crossed several times




 Ken and Kathy, when we stopped in Chetwynd, the Woodcarving Capital of the World!



 One of the carvings from previous years

 Here are some from this year's competition--this one had big angel wings, covering a skeleton!
 the head would move--pretty amazing how they did that, but a bit spooky!
 Like a ship's prowess
 Along the walkway where they had this year's winners displayed, to be moved to permanent locations around town
 A snake!


 Deer and beaver


 The fish
 ET call home!!

 Neptune

 The angler


 Couple of turtles . . .
 Beautiful tree carving, had a sunflower on the other side

 The goalie, third place winner

 Gorgeous bench, with dogwood blossoms on either end


 Tiger got his prey
 The cowboy at rest

 A panther hunting dinner

 First place winner--On Eagles Wings

A butterfly on the screen over our radiator
 Here we are in Dawson Creek, at the beginning of the Alcan Highway, now known by the locals as just the Alaska Highway
 Our tailgunner, Lorrin, his wife, Nyla, Sally, her husband, Chuck, our wagonmaster