Southwest Nova Scotia (09-05-18)

We came away from Cape Breton with a much better picture of my family history- especially regarding the King family, which has been my primary focus.  We have new leads to follow and have already started. We stopped in the Guysborough area of Nova Scotia and although we didn’t learn much here, it was very cool for me to realize that my 5th great grandfather moved to this area from Virginia, in 1784.

We were headed to Halifax, again, to look for land deeds, but we took the long way there.  With temperatures hovering at 30 degrees ( that's Celsius) we opted for one more beach day. One of the perks to traveling in a truck camper is that we can check out from one campground, stop at the beach with the camper, hang out, make our own lunch, take a shower, and then go to the next campground. And that’s exactly what we did.

Once in Halifax, we hit the Archives as soon as they opened, and found the records we were looking for. We had suspected that my 5th great grandfather came to Nova Scotia with 4 children, not just the 3 we knew about, and the land deed records showed that Amelia Cook, daughter of George King, sold land at the same time as her sister, Rebecca King Langley.

That was a key piece of information for me, and the only thing we were looking for, so we met with Neil and Susan again for dinner, this time down at the Halifax waterfront.

Labor Day weekend is one of those weekends that its not always a good idea to wait till the last minute for campground reservations.  Paul and I had looked ahead and had to decide where we wanted to go. We could have done the Cabot trail again, on Cape Breton, but decided we didn’t need to do it again.

We debated heading back to the States, but there was a section of Nova Scotia that we hadn’t really explored, and we decided that it could be “now or never” so we booked places along the south western section of Nova Scotia.

Shelburne

  We bypassed the quaint, but well known towns of Liverpool and Lunenburg because we had visited them before and settled near the seacoast town of Shelburne.

This is a cute little town, with a few nice restaurants and a long history of Dory making.

I have seen Dories before, in fact, Gloucester MA has dory races every year. Anyway, although I had seen dories , I didn’t know much about them. Shelburne was known for their Dories, and at one time there were 7 dory builders in town. Now there is one museum, and they build about two per year.So here is what we learned:

A Dory is a shallow bottom boat, usually about 12-15 feet long. The shorter boats can be manned by one person and the longer boats require two people at the oars.

Dories have many purposes- fishing, transport, etc

They were cheap, and considered to be disposable, so if a dory sprung a leak, it was tossed overboard.

They were painted “Dory Buff Yellow” which was, at the time, the color most visible in a fog. New ones are sometimes painted in neon colors.  Back in the day, when they were used for fishing, two members of the same family were not allowed to go out on the same dory- the fatality rate was pretty high in the dory fishing world.

Kejimkujik

Trying to get back into the hiking routine, as much as possible, we stayed in provincial parks, as well as Kejimkujik National Park.

There are two sections to Kejimkujik- one deep in the woods, and another along the seashore.

We hiked them both. Paul’s favorite trail was probably the Gold Miner Trail- an interpretive hike that showcased the gold mining history of the area.

We noticed these weird contraptions all over the park, and finally chatted with a volunteer to find out what they are. The Blanding Turtle is endangered, and they love to lay their eggs in this particular area, only at night, and each year they return to the same spot. There is a group of volunteers that stay here and cover the eggs once they are laid, protecting them from predators. Once they hatch, each turtle is marked with a unique code ( they notch the shell) and released.









As we were hiking back to our campsite one day, I got a kick out of this sign that showed our speed. I was pretty impressed with our walking pace until I remembered it’s in kilometers per hour, not miles. Still, it was funny.

Digby

Our final stop in Nova Scotia was Digby.  They are known for their scallops so of course we searched for a restaurant on the water where we could enjoy a glass of wine and some seafood.

Nearby Annapolis Royal has a cute downtown area and also Historical botanical gardens.  We meandered around the gardens for a bit, and bought some amazingly delicious orange vinegar from their gift store.

Scenes from British Columbia (09-02-14)

  After driving major highways for a couple of days, we veered off and headed down scenic rte 99.  It’s not a road for big rigs, but we had no issues handling the hairpin curves and 12% grades.









The road took us through scenic Fraser Canyon and the small town of Lillooet.

It was a quiet few days, just making our way south, stopping to spend the night places where we could have campfires.

We did do some hiking along the way.

The road took us through Whistler, one of the top skiing destinations in the world, and host of many of the 2010 winter Olympic skiing events.

  In the summer its a premiere  mountain biking destination.  We sat outside for lunch on a beautiful afternoon and watched the bikers.  The ski lift brings them up the mountain, and special chairs bring up the bikes. The rider can choose, just like a skier can, what degree of difficulty he wants on his ride down.

We decided the gondola ride to the top of the mountain was worth the investment, and we had a great time!  We started out in a private gondola for part of the ride up.














Once we reached the top of that run, we hiked over to a chair lift, which brought us up to another peak.  Luckily it was a great day because it was still pretty chilly!








The views from up there were pretty amazing:

 


















Once we’d had our fill we took yet another gondola, called the Peak to Peak, from where we were, over to…another peak.














It was a fun day, in part because the weather was outstanding.  The village of Whistler is very walk-able, with  pedestrian streets running through it, and tons of restaurants with outdoor seating.  Plus of course, all the upscale shopping one could ask for.  We wandered in and out of a few stores but mostly just enjoyed the ambiance.

Soon after Whistler, we crossed over the border, back into the United States for the final time this summer.  I think we were both happy to be “home”.

Random Thought:  I sure am lucky to have Paul around.  We came home one day and found no power in part of the rig, including the refrigerator.  After pulling it all apart Paul discovered that the movement of the slide had caused wires to get twisted and pulled apart.  An hour later, it was fixed.

The Cassier Highway (08-29-14)

There are two basic routes to get to Alaska- the Alaskan Highway (the Al-Can) or the Stewart Cassier Highway.  We took the Alaskan Highway on the way up, so we took the Cassier on the way out.  Part of the reason for that order is that the Cassier passes by Hyder, AK where the grizzlies are very active- but only in the late summer.  So, in order to see the grizzlies, we waited to travel that road later in the year. We waited a little too late in the year but it was worth delaying to see the Aurora Borealis.

The drive to Hyder took several days.  On the second day, we started looking for a place to spend the night a little early in the day since we were tired from staying up late every night.  The first place we checked out was Kinaskan Provincial Park, and we looked no further. The site we got was gorgeous, and right on the water.

Dozer enjoyed the lake as well.  There was plenty of fresh water to drink and wildlife to chase.  We sat outside for a long time, since for once, it wasn’t raining. The next morning we were up and on the road again.

Hyder Alaska and Stewart, British Columbia, are sister cities with Stewart being the larger of the two, with a population of 500. The road to get to them brings you through Bear Canyon and past Bear Glacier.

Hyder has the distinction of being the only entrance into the U.S. that does not have a customs station. It’s on the water, and I guess they figure there is no where you can get to from there.  When you cross back into Canada, you have to go through their customs checkpoint.

There are two main attractions in Hyder- the bears, as I mentioned, and Salmon Glacier. The road to get to Salmon Glacier is a scenic 22 mile trip, up and around some “hills”.
When we started the trek, the views were pretty awesome.

The clouds added a mysteriousness to the mountains and glaciers.

Once we got near the end of the road, we could see Salmon Glacier.  It’s unusual to see a glacier from this angle.  It looked like a gorgeous river of blue.

By the time we reached the end of the road, we were in the clouds and the rain again, but we went for a short hike anyway.

It was worth getting wet to hike through this beautiful area!













So, did we see the bears?   Stay tuned…….

Exit- Stage Right! (08-22-14)

Someone once told me that when the Fire-weed stops blooming in Alaska- summer is over.  Well, folks, the Fire-weed has stopped blooming and we have started our trek south.

Our road of choice is the Klondike Trail, which is actually 3 roads-  the Taylor Highway in Alaska, Top of the World Highway in the Yukon, and the Klondike Highway in the Yukon. 

 This route has a reputation- as both a beautiful, scenic byway, and a dangerous, slippery road. Indeed, 2 motor homes have “fallen off” the Klondike Trail  this summer.

The Taylor portion was the spookiest for me.  Much of the road is dirt, and it has soft shoulders with sheer drop offs.  Paul was confident and the truck handled fine, but the passenger admits to some white knuckle moments.

Its not a road that anyone takes when they are in a rush nowadays, for sure.  We took two days to drive it, spending one night near the Canadian border.

There are very few towns along the way, but the few that are here are definitely full of character!


 The town of Chicken has a population of about 200, mostly gold miners.  The story goes that the original inhabitants really wanted to name the town after the state bird- the Ptarmigan, but no one knew how to spell it, so they settled on Chicken. 

There are 3 business downtown, as well as an overgrown chicken.  The signposts point out distances from such places as Clucker’s Hall, Illinois,  and Chicken Scratch, NC.

The historic post office has been open since 1903, and receives mail twice a week.  There is no phone service in Chicken and the water and electricity are generated locally.

Once we crossed the border, the view got even more incredible.

 

The road was in pretty good condition and an easy drive.

This is why they call it Top of the World. 

You can see the road skirting along the tops of the ridges for miles.

We did drive through clouds at one point, but we only got rained on a little bit so the road didn’t get too slippery.

Eventually we landed where the Klondike Trail has been bringing people for over a century- Dawson City.

Alaska! (06-13-14)

Our last day of travel through the Yukon and British Columbia (we crossed the border about 7 times that last day) took us through some good wildlife viewing areas.

We saw mama black bear with two cubs…

And numerous buffalo along the side of the highway.










 

My favorite was this guy though.  He was munching the dandelions and grass, right next to the road, and there were no  other cars, so we could stop and get a good look.

He was only about 20 feet from the truck.

We also passed through Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing) and stopped at the local bakery, where we had heard that the cinnamon rolls are the best ever.  After missing out at the last place we tried to get them, we were hoping this place would be open. Well, not only was it open, this place had the best cinnamon rolls we’ve ever had!

 
As we approached the Alaskan border, I swear the mountains got bigger and bigger.








 

The scenery is incredible along this road.

The border crossing was uneventful, except I had to give up the tomato we had.  Apparently no tomatoes, green peppers or citrus fruits are allowed into the U.S.


Soon enough, we were in Skagway, Alaska!