Photo by The Joneses Here we are on the glacier cruise. That's Meares Glacier in the background. — — — E-mail Gisela — — — SLIDE SHOW: A beautiful part of the world
ARCHIVES: You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! Wouldn't change a thing Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana A special day From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida Traveling to Texas Finally, we're in Alaska! On the way to Canada Boise sure has changed a lot Escapees Rally in Wyoming Bittersweet trip through the southeast From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ Michigan is full of treasures Arriving in Florida Earning our ears Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks Down in the Lowcountry Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. The holidays in Florida Our time in Lakeland has come to an end Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! Arriving in Charleston A day with friends from Frederick 'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. Leaving Florida, and heading north Our final days in Kentucky Into the Keys Out of Charleston and off to Indiana Dreams come true in Vermont You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too It's all about the theme parks From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' And so it begins ... Moving days for Greg and his family The gang's all here! Happy to be in Florida again Strawberries, and more strawberries 'The RV Capital of the World' From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut Training for our jobs at Disney World Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' Under the weather Back in Florida At long last, back in the area Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho Look back, look ahead Back in the Lower 48 The cold weather is hitting Florida From Dallas to devastation Back on the road again Leaving Idaho and heading east Beautiful Alaska A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Watch out for flying dinner rolls

We traveled the famous "Top of the World Highway" and all I can say I am glad we didn’t take our coaches.Although some people do so, since there are only two roads into Alaska from the Yukon, and this is one of them.

It was the worst road we have encountered so far, but it was very scenic and at times it did feel like we were on top of the world. Chicken is a unique, little village settled by miners in the late 1800. Now it has a year-round population of 15!

We had to cross the border into Canada to get to Dawson City. This border is in the middle of nowhere and consists of one small wooden building. It is manned by one American and one Canadian custom officer, and closed during the night.

Dawson City was a busy city during the Klondike Gold Rush days. It still looks much like it did in those days. The sidewalks are made of wooden planks and the streets are unpaved. We recently saw the movie "North to Alaska" and I could certainly imagine John Wayne’s mud fight in these streets.

On our drive to Valdez we traveled for many miles right along the Alaska pipeline. Ralph worked on the pipeline many years ago, but, of course has no recollection where.

Valdez is beautiful — I fell in love with this town. It is surrounded by high mountains with snow on the top and situated around an inlet of the Prince William Sound. It was totally destroyed in the large Alaska earthquake in 1964, was relocated and completely rebuilt on the present site.

The first evening we drove over to an area called "Allison Point" and watched a brown bear come wandering down the rocks to an shallow area in the water and catch himself some fish for supper — awesome!

We took a glacier cruise to the Columbia Glacier and Meares Glacier. What a fantastic cruise, the glaciers were breathtaking. Not only were the glaciers were spectacular, the coastline was just as magnificent. I was awestruck throughout the nine-hour cruise, it was the most wonderful experience of our Alaska trip so far.

We also saw a lot of wildlife, sea lions, sea otters, puffins, blue herons, and bald eagles flying around everywhere. One humpback whale was swimming around the boat, but he never let us have a good look at him (her).

The other excitement was fishing for salmon.

We bought fishing licenses, spruced up our fishing gear, bought lures, and went out at low tide to catch pink salmon. I am not much interested in fishing, but this was exciting, fun and also hard work. The way to catch these salmon is "cast and snag," meaning you have to constantly throw out the line and snag (hook) the fish. Pulling them in is quite the job. Most of them are about three pounds or more and put up a fight.

I caught four and sure was proud of my accomplishment. The daily limit is six and between the four of us we caught our limit.

We had them cleaned and filleted by a local guy at the marina. We kept one whole and baked it today for supper – yum, yum. The others went into the freezer.

I think we will do this again when we are on the Kenai Peninsula. Maybe even go on one of the fishing boats and go for Halibut.

I could go on and on about all the amazing things we have seen and done — it is truly a wonderful — once-in-a lifetime experience.