This morning we loaded up my Rogue with just the "essentials" that we would need for our nearly 5 1/2 months in Ketchikan. Our KTN apartment is fully furnished, so we packed only the things that we would really, really need.
And, we figured we would only need a little bit, as our KTN apartment is fully furnished, as I said.
We got the back hatch closed (didn't even have to sit on it like an over-stuffed suitcase) and we were ready to get on the road. Dolly Parton singing "Here We Go Again" is going through my mind, while Dan, sitting in the passenger seat is air-guitaring to Canned Heat's "On The Road Again."
The weather is a cool 50 degrees, cloudy and a little bit rainy. Stacie said it's just getting us ready for K-town. I checked my smart phone and KTN weather is 43 degrees and rain. I guess she was right.
The first night we got to Alexandria MN, several hours past the Twin Cities. The second night we got as far as Havre (pronounced "Hay-ver") Montana.
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| High Plains in Montana |
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| Home, home on the range. Where the (deer) & the Antelope play |
We got our last "cheap" gas in Shelby, MT before crossing into Canada at Sweetwater, MT. We were getting gas for as little as $3.55/gal to $3.77/gallon. We knew that it would cost much more north of the border.
The next night we got as far as Banff, Alberta Canada, near the border with British Columbia.
Gas in Canada was now anywhere from $1.19/liter to as much as $1.35/liter. One gallon equals 3.785 liters (almost 1gal = 4 liters). Well, you do the math. We paid between $47/Canadian and $65/Canadian, and the exchange rate now is $0.96. Needless to say we only stopped for gas 4 times before getting on the ferry in Prince Rupert.
We decided to drive the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper, AB. We'd checked the weather/driving report and found out the Parkway was open - no snow closures.
All along our route we had some sun, rain, rain-snow mix, snow, and.......rain.
We brought along our GPS from the airplane, just for fun. Dan programmed our speed into kilometers (yeah, I wasn't really driving 100 mph) and you can see by the bottom numbers what our altitude was. We were moving up in elevation. It was fun to see it go up all the way to 6700 feet and then all the way down to sea level on the coast.
Along the highway they have built Caribou crossings. You can't see it from this picture, but they are quite wide and there are evergreens and bushes planted so it looks like the landscape the Caribou have been traveling along. Sure has cut down on the Caribou vs auto-truck accidents.
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| Some of the beautiful mountains along the Parkway |
This is the Crow Foot Glacier (elevation 6300 ft). Look at all that snow. Well, we just had to stop......
And have a bit of a snow ball fight...........
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| Top of the mountain is in the clouds |
Getting closer to the Columbia Icefields and Jasper.
It's not an apparition, just a beautiful mountain in the mist.
Just past the Athabasca Glacier, as we were rounding a curve and down a steep hill we spotted some big horn sheep crossing the road right at a turn-out spot (how accommodating of them). We stopped and pulled out the camera. They were unconcerned....obviously not camera shy.
We stopped for lunch in Jasper, and then it was back on the road again. We needed to make Prince George that night (Sunday 29 April). The drive between Prince George and Prince Rupert is 717 kilometers, and, at 100 kpm, it would take all day the next day. We had stopped for the night in Prince George at our usual spot, The Bon Voyage. It's an older place, but very clean and reasonably priced. This year we saw that it was showing its age, and the price was creeping up the pay scale. I think on our way home we will check out a different place.
Once in Prince Rupert we stayed at the Crest Hotel. What a very nice hotel. We were in a luxurious room that was surprisingly inexpensive. We had dinner at their restaurant over looking the harbor. We treated ourselves to wonderful Filet Mignon and a glass of wine (which ended up costing more than the room).
What a treat the next morning. We didn't have to catch the ferry at 3am. We actually got to sleep in until 7am. There weren't a lot of passengers on this ferry. It was still early in the season. In fact, there were a lot of seasonal people that I'd worked with last year.
It was a nice sail to Ketchikan. This picture shows some light rain, but as the day progressed, the weather got better. The sun even came out. The wind was down and the crossing was smooth.
We even got a Canadian Coast Guard escort out of the Port of Prince Rupert. Dan then reminded me that this was the one year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. Fortunately it was a very uneventful crossing.
Here's a beautiful lighthouse on the Canadian side of the border (which runs down the middle of the passage.
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| Lunch on board the Matanuska |
Oops, I forgot to rotate this picture of Dan eating some yummy pie, before I posted it. Oh well, your neck was getting tired of just sitting there anyway.
I can see Ketchikan from here (unlike Sarah Palin who thinks she can see Russia from here).
Well, here we are at last.....down town Ketchikan, or, as the locals call it - K-town, or shorter yet - KTN.
I got out my binoculars and I think I found our apartment, just up the hill from the Safeway grocery store.
At least it's not raining!
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