October 9, 2018
The Cashew's European Adventure Continues

Hopefully the rather long winded 6 day posting yesterday did not fully incapacitate you as there is more uninteresting drivel still to come, like right now.  Sit down, have a cup of Joe and try to stay awake.

Today's blog will capture the exciting activities from yesterday, Tuesday 10/8.  And off we go.
The day started early.  I slept til about 8:15 with Chiara rising about an hour and 1/2 later.  Such early birds.  I guess it helps to stay up to midnight watching the one or two English speaking movies on TV.  We, or at least I have been sleeping later since arriving.  Usually I am up by 6 to 6:30.  It is surprising that I am sleeping this late.  Anyway, after what passed for breakfast (a cup of tea) and after my shower, Chiara wanted to go to the beach.  Where Rosaria lives, the beach is about 2 miles away.  We drove down and found the place completely deserted,  Of course it is October, and it was a Monday so you would expect a sparser crowd.  But to Italians, the beach is a major goal in how you spend your leisure time.  Regardless of the month, the beaches are crowded on weekends.  That is where you go.  It is colder and possibly more windy, but they love it year round.  And Chiara is no different.

She would like to go to the beach every trip we make, even if it is for just 30 minutes.  As you see she will go into the water if only to get her feet wet.  After her dip, we sat in the shore.  The sun was surprisingly hot, giving you a bit of a burn, even though it was about 70 degrees.  We had the whole beach to ourselves.  It was a clear day so you could see the islands that are close to the mainland.  We are going to try to get over to one of them in the next few days, but we have to see is there are any boats running.  During the summer months people go over daily.  Once the summer ends, things change and the boats are much less frequent.  If we manage to get over there, I will be better able to elaborate on this point.  But back to our exciting day's activity.

After the beach it was my lunch time.  Well, actually it was past my lunch time.  Lunch time here, as you might remember from past complaints of mine, is like 2 PM or later.  Lunch to me is noon.  But I digress.  Coming back from the beach we stop at the local supermarket.  We are picking up a few things.  Chiara sees chestnuts and fennel along with a couple other items.  She bags them up and continues.  I see mortadella, salami and mozzarella cheese.  That is what I want, along with iced tea, some sweet wine and potato chips.  For future reference, I note they also carry prepared chicken wings.  I just might have to indulge myself in the next week or so.  We finish our shopping and head back to her sisters.  Now it is about 1:15.  They eat at 2 or so, and their lunches can be pasta filled  and quite heave for a meal.  Sorry, that is not going to cut it.  I open the loaf of bread they have on the table and prepare my ultimate sandwich, lots of the two meats and the cheese.  I open the chips for all to share and pour my iced tea.  What more could one want out of life?  Chiara waits for the family and helps clean up as the women folk were making cookies for a future gathering.  I should point out that earlier, Chiara's cousin, Louisa, came over to help Rosaria with making cookies.  Apparently, Rosaria made them the other day, but they did not come out good and she threw them away.  Her cousin come over to help and to see Chiara.  After their lunch, the three of them chatted for the rest of the after noon, while they made the cookies.  This went on until 5:30.  I should note that we are scheduled to go to Louisa's Thursday for dinner so they will have more time to kibitz.

They stopped at 5:30 as we were invited to Angela's house for dinner and I was directed to prepare to leave.  So they cleaned up and we headed out.  We got to Angela's a little after 6.  I figure dinner will be maybe 7 or so.  But how wrong I was.  First it was not just Angela and Pietro,  No!  There was also to be Onofrio, Silvanna, Angela's two sons and their girl friends.  A total of ten people.  Now I have no problem with the numbers.  It does get a bit cramped in the kitchen (there is no dinning room) and the table is packed with the food and everyone's plate.  The issue (for me only) was that Pietro was working until 8:30.  So that is when dinner would start.  As you all know, this is an issue for me.  Italians like to eat late.  They eat and after a short while, they can just go to bed.  Me on the other hand, cannot begin to sleep on a full stomach.  That and possible bouts with acid reflux can create problems for me.  But what could I do.  Angela was making pizza, a total of 4 pies, 3 of them large.  She was making me a special one of meatballs and sausage. I could not say no.  It would be insulting.  She also made large meatballs, had mortadella and salami along with very large Mozzarella balls, both regular and smoked.  And lets not forget about the bread.  I was very good and only had the pizza, which she put on my plate or should I say it hung over my plate, and a couple of slices of the mortadella.  Another note: they always have mortadella now because I mistakenly let then know I like it.  I was so full from it that I could not go to bed until midnight but I could not get comfortable with my full stomach.  Needless to say it was a restless night.  These are the crosses I must bear to keep the little woman happy.  It is a messy job, but someone has to do it.  We left around 9:50 in the evening as we had to get back to Rosaria's before their bedtime since the properly is gated and we don't have any means to get it.  Over all, it was a typical day in Italian paradise.  Plenty of food, much conversation (in Italian) and large gatherings in small places. 


Now most people would like these cookies, but I have not been able to appreciate Italian pastries and deserts.  They are just not my thing.

The Cashews European Adventures for 2018

Europe et AL

Well, hello again my trusted readers, or non readers as is probably the case.  This is the Big Cashew, once again thrilling you with my travel stories and words of wisdom(?) that you have come to expect and forget before you even hear them.  We are back on the road again, this time, its another trip to Italy, but with a side stop in France (Lourdes) at the request of the little woman.  I will note that we have been on this trip for almost a week now, but this is the first chance I have had to sit down and write about all the fascinating things we have experienced or seen.  So on with the diatribe.

Day one, the Trip begins
We had a 6:35 PM flight out of Philly on 10/1.  The flight time is about 8 1/2 hours over night so it can be a bit long and uncomfortable.  Well, that is the how you would describe almost any airline seat.  But wait, I hear there is a rumor that some passengers actual can enjoy a flight in the comforts of their own seat, basically separate from other passengers with the ability to sit up or recline to almost any degree up to and including completely horizontal.  In addition, they get their own gourmet dinner, drinks and snacks, plus they have basically a surround sound system for watching movies, TV shows and special presentations of their choice.  But, as I said, this is just a rumor which I am sure has no basis in reality.

As you can see from this photo, this passenger is in a terribly uncomfortable position, with almost no "frills' at her disposal.  This spartan setting only has the following minor creature comforts:

• A seat, minimally cushioned like a Lazy-Boy chair, that moves from fully up rite to fully reclined and any position in between.
• A reading light
• A remote to operate the video screen
• noise cancelling headphones
• A care package made up of various sundry items for her to keep
• A choice of dinner between fillet Mignon or fried shrimp with accompanying vegetables and other sides
• a pillow and blanket
• complementary champagne
• Wine, beer and other liquors such as Glenlivelt whiskey, Bacardi rum to name a few
• Breakfast before you land 
• extra attention from the numerous people attending to you

So you see, it was a very difficult trip that we embarked on, and one we somehow managed to survive.  I don't know how we did it, but sometimes you have to sacrifice for the good of the world as we know it!

We arrived at about 8:45 AM Rome time, and after our trudging through customs, who seemed more concerned about whether I had a blank page that they could stamp as opposed to smuggling in drugs or weapons.  Fortunately, I had the necessary blank pages in my passport.

Day 2 Arrival and Departure

After clearing customs and finding our luggage, we were headed to the car rental counter.  well, actually, we needed to purloin two baggage carriers to handle our 5 suitcases and carry-on bags.  Did I mention we like to travel "lite"?  So, anyway, we loaded up and headed to the counter for the car.  The Rome airport is very similar to airports here in the US, although their car rental companies are still located on the airport itself.  You have to walk a couple of long corridors to get to the counters.  Then you have the identify the correct company.  Since I book on-line and look for a reasonable costing car that can handle our luggage, it is usually not one of the big named rental companies.  Hertz, Avis, Alamo, Budget and National are all here.  But they tend to be higher priced.  There are numerous lessor known businesses, although EuropeAuto is throughout Europe.  That is who I chose, but as I noted earlier, nothing is ever easy.  There is another company called AutoEurope, however, their sign shows their name as both AutoEurope and Europe Auto.  A little confusing, and it does not take much to confuse me.  I took a ticket to wait my turn and it would have probably taken an hour or so.  I decided to take a walk around to see other wait times, and low and behold, I find EuropeAuto.  There were three people ahead of me.  So this was an improvement.  I had to track down Chiara, who was on the other side and move all our luggage to the correct counter area.  Oh well, just another dirty look I have gotten.  Once called up, it did take about 15 minutes, but fortunately we were then on our way.  I ordered a compact wagon which turns out to be a Renault.  It is more than adequate for our storage needs so I loaded it up.  But before we leave, I all ways take a full set of pictures just to be safe and have proof of the condition of the car.  

While taking these pictures, I happened to step on some very slippery stuff.  It must have leaked from the car that was parked next to ours.  It was not oil, but I could not be sure what it was.  At least I did not slip and fall.  It just seems like there is always something that will challenge us a little bit.  Last year it was the Italian monsoon that was taking place in Rome as we arrived and tried to drive to the Naples area.  Or the time they gave me a car and told me what slot it was parked in.  I went to the slot and there was a car, in the correct color and size.  So I drove it but was stopped at the exit as the paper work did not match.  It was the wrong car.  How am I supposed to know?  But you get the picture.

The rest of the day was without incident.  We drove the 230 kilometers, just a drizzle along the way and made it to Naples area. Then we head to her sisters house but got lost and past the exit.  Took about 30 minutes to find our way, but we did.  Once unloaded, and slightly rested, we then went to Chiara's mothers house for a brief visit.  She is in the throws of dementia and does not even recognize Chiara.  She also has to be forced fed as she does not eat on her own.  Not the way you want to think of your parents as elderly.  We left to go to Angela's and ran into our first detour on this trip.  We have since stumbled across other detours in the area, so I wondering if this ancient place is just finally falling apart.  We were advised the there has been a lot of rain and it is eroding the substructure so some roads are caving in.  I will keep you posted on that situation.

Day 3, Rest and Relaxation
This was a day to catch our breath.  To begin with, I slept well past 8 and I cant remember when that happened last.  We hung at Rosaria's for awhile then sent back to her mother's.  While there, Onofrio was completing a shower.  He asked us to stay a few minutes and he would be up.  Then, since their mother was going to bed for her nap, he invited us to come down and have some lunch.  He ran out to complete an errand and picked up an octopus just to cook it for me.  He cooks one every trip I make and this one was no exception.  Since my lunch usually amounts to half a sandwich and some iced tea, this was a bit more than that.  The octopus must have been 5-6 pounds and he cooked pasta and sauce.  The meal was fabulous and the octopus chunks were large,  It also passed for both my lunch and dinner as I was stuffed and ready for a nap.  Oh the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that I must suffer in silence about!

Well, that was about it for the day as we were preparing for our trip to Lourdes, France on Thursday.

The Lourdes trip and Activities
The day started out fairly early.  We had to drive back to Rome to catch a flight to Lourdes airport.  The Rome airport is not Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) but Ciampino, which is slightly south of the city.  It is a much smaller airport that services smaller cities in Europe.  It is so much different that what we are used to.  You walk in and there is a one or two counters to get your ticket, but that's all. Two one person counters.   If you have your ticket already, you go to these glass doors, have the scanner read the bar code on the ticket and wait for the doors to open.  On the other side, you have security.  But there are no major lines,  In fact, there were 3 people ahead of us.  You put your travel bags on the conveyor and walk through the older type scanner.  No body scan.  Just a metal detector.  We also had more than 3 oz of liquids in our bags but no one stopped us nor checked inside.  And that was it.  We just waited for the plane.  The 2 hour trip to Lourdes went fairly quickly and when we landed we encountered that same kind of airport.  We did have to go through customs, but all they did was look at the picture and pass you along.  That was it.
We took a cab to our hotel, which was a very nice place to stay and then went out to walk around.
Lourdes is famous for the Virgin Mary appearing before the peasant girl, Bernadette 15 times.  It was finally considered to be true by the Vatican and the site is now a memorial shrine.  Hundreds of thousands of people visit it yearly.  It can become very crowded very quickly.  There is a chapel and a church known as the Immaculate Conception.

As you will note in the  pictures, there is a hugh square for people to gather, and gather they do.  There are specific activities that occur daily and it is all choreographed by the church.  There is the rosary said multiple times daily, in Italian, French, Spanish and English.  There is the Grotto where Mary appeared that is a sacred site where people come to touch the rocks and pray to the statue that represents the Holy Mother.

This is where the rosary is usually said.  It gets so crowded there it is difficult to get through to the other areas.  You also have to stand as there is limited seating.  Further down from there is the fountain area.  A spring flows through the grotto and it is unusually clean.  Numerous small fountains were created to allow people to fill bottles with this water, which is considered holy.  Many believe it has recuperative powers and they drink it or use it to bless themselves.  The next area is the bathing section.  This is where people come to bath in the spring waters, which, again, are stated to have recuperative powers.  This area is fully controlled and you have to wait your turn.  There are three entrances for women.  One for the handicapped, one for women with children and one for people without physical issues.  You are escorted inside.  You disrobe behind curtains and then two volunteers help you into the water.  You usually are submerged to your neck.  Then you are helped out of the tub, dry off and get dressed.  They then escort you out.
This option is so desired that you need to show up about 2 hours ahead of time to be able to get on line to go.  This option is open to both men and women, going to separated entrances, however women are more inclined to go through this.  This was one of the main reasons Chiara wanted to come here.  She waited a total of 3 hours to get her chance in the water.  I did not partake, yet if I had wanted to, I could have gone 3 separate times while waiting for her.  The men's side is not crowded.
The process to me does not seem totally fair to the women who have no physical issues.  The entire experience is geared to support the handicapped.  There are hundreds of volunteers to assist those so handicapped.  They provide special conveyances, which look like Chinese Rik Shahs with someone pulling them where they need to go.  Although there are hundreds of handicapped people, they are far outnumbers  by the non-handicapped.  They get through the process more quickly and are given that preferential treatment.  The ladies, such as Chiara, have to wait all these hours while mostly standing.  It can be quite a grind.  To top it off, women with children have their own section and there were very few who used it.  Those that did were taken in within minutes and there was never a line.
The greatest danger you face in the town, which surrounds the grotto, is when a special event or a procession occurs, once it is completed, there is a mad wheelchair dash to either head back to the volunteer site, their hotel room or the bus which is leaving soon after the activity.  You take you life in your hands if you try to walk the streets.

Back to the chapel, there was quite a difference inside when compared to the larger shrine above.  The chapel has these incredible mosaic art on both sides before you reach the altar itself.  You will note by the pictures the work this required.  There are 5 on each side, all telling a story about Mary or Christ.  They are so well done and preserved, the color just jumps off the tiles.

While I was waiting on Chiara to take her plunge, I walked around the area.  Beyond the Grotto is a walkway that runs along the river that splits the holy site in two.  It is not a deep river but it seem larger than just a creek.  I walked to the end and found some concrete tables and benches so I sat and watched the stream and played with my phone for a little while.  I then walked back to the bath area and saw that there had been some but not a lot of movement.  Chiara was moving up but it turned out it would be 2 more hours.  I then went to the square and decided to walk through the chapel and shrine.  I have outlined what I saw above so I will not repeat myself. After the climb up what seemed like Mt Everest and after a caught my breath while walking through the church, I decided to walk some more.  Actually I more or less wondered around with no particular direction until I made it back to the baths and waited for Chiara to finish.  Then on Friday night we decided to participate in the procession of the Virgin Mary and Rosary.  This was about a mile walk all around the area with thousands of faithful following with lite candles.  We both had candles which had a protective paper bib to keep it from blowing out.  This worked fine for most of the time until mine went up in smoke as my arm got time holding it up.  That was my excitement for the day!

The weather was really good for most of our stay.  It was about 80 degrees and sunny Thursday til Saturday.  The evenings did get cool, down to the lower 50's with a breeze that puts the chill in you.  You have to expect this as you are in the Pyrenees mountains.  The weather changed late Saturday afternoon.  I become very overcast and windy, which eventually lead to rain.  That sent most of the huddled masses home or at least to their hotels or the nearest bar.

We did not stop at the bars, although we did get a complementary drink from the hotel.  The hotel also took care of breakfast which I found to be a bit better than US hotels I have stayed at.  They had a little better selection with the eggs, sausage, Canadian bacon, hard boiled eggs, pastries, cheeses, fresh breads and fruits.  This helped us skip lunch since we were not hungry then.  For our dinner we first tried this place on the river.  Another night we tried one of the Brassieres.  There were plenty of them.  They have a specific menu, very similar for each one that we checked as we walked along.  The food was decent but it was the speed by which they brought it.  Although I did not time them, it was much less than 10 minutes from order to delivery at the table.  Also, one night we were serenaded by a singing waiter who was actually pretty good. Overall the trip was a success as Chiara got to experience the bathing and participate in one of the processions. 

On Sunday we returned.  The flight back was even less taxing than the previous one.  We did not even have to show our passports in Rome.  You just keep walking out.  We headed to the parking lot, got in the car, pulled out our ticket and went to the exit.  I put the ticket in and then the credit card.  To my amazement, it requested my PIN.  This was wonderful except for the fact that I do not have a PIN and never have had one.  We finally had to ask for assistance and all they said was back up and try the other exit.  Of course the same thing happened.  We finally had an attendant direct us to a pay station where we paid for the parking and updated the ticket.  Then we went back to the exit,  This time it worked.  Finally we were off.  No issues except we did hit a detour just a 1/2 mile from her mothers house that was not there last week.  We had to backtrack and then go a more circuitous route.  But we did make it.  The rest of the day was to recuperate which was find by me.

Tomorrow we will have the trip to the beach, lunch with her friends (me excluded), and time to spend with Genaro.  So stay tuned.

Big Cashew Adventure - Final Installment

 I can hear the sighs of relief and the cheers in the background.  Those wonderful words, 'Final Installment'  No more non-insightful, dull as dish water, insomnia curing meanderings of an 'Old Koot' with too much time on his hands.  Yes, that is me!!!

First, the final day is anti climatic.  I had nothing major planned and there isn't a lot to due in Anchorage, not meaning to disparage this city.  It's just that we have only one day and we are tired from all the driving.  We did do a couple of things though so it was not a nothing day.  I wanted to visit a couple of the parks here.  One is Kincaid Park.  It is just beyond the southern end of the airport on the bay.  It is a fairly large park with miles of trails, soccer fields and playgrounds.  The reason I wanted to stop here is that this is a frequent stop for many moose.  In fact, there are dated warnings to hikers and bikers about aggressive moose that chase you.  They recommend only bikes and you better know how to speed up.  Alas, we saw no moose or any wildlife.  Still, it was a nice drive.

Then we went to Earthquake Park.  It is about the only remaining point that looks a bit similar to when the 'Great Quake' occurred.  For those not in the know, Anchorage was a middling city in Alaska, back in 1964, still finding its place on the scale of important metropolises.  It was 5:36 PM, local time when the 2nd greatest recorded earthquake in history hit this city.  It registered 9.2 on the Richter scale.  The quake actually occurred in the Prince Edward Sound, about 120 miles away.  But with the massiveness of this phenomenon, most of Anchorage was severely damaged.  In some areas, the businesses on one side of the street dropped or were raised between 7 and 50 feet compared to the business across the street.  70% of all bridges and other infrastructure were destroyed, but there were minimal fires as electricity was lost at the beginning and it did not ignite broken gas lines. Surprisingly, only 7 people died due to the quake.  But the greater impact was due to under sea avalanches.  At this time, there were two other towns that rivaled Anchorage.  They were Steward and Valdez.  They had excellent ports and a number of shipping businesses had sprung up there since the early 1900's.  Both towns were competing and winning the battle for businesses when compared to Anchorage.  However, both these towns were completely wiped out by the quake and tsunami that followed.  It caused the complete destruction of the oil stations and the railroad too.  Miles of track were twisted and unusable.  It took years to rebuild these towns and they never were able to regain their pre-quake strengths. Meanwhile, Anchorage started their rebuild immediately and over the next couple of years grew into a major port and modern city it is today.  When you get down to it, there is not much to see, but there are posters that tell the story of what happened and the impact it had.

We then headed for the only Hard Rock Cafe in Alaska.  Chiara is stopping at each one we come across in cities we visit to get a T-shirt for her sister and nephew.  There was no place to park so I drove around for 10 mins while she shopped.  After this, we found an empty parking lot, pulled in and had lunch.  We then drove back through town, noticing the continuing theme of small houses (there are some beautiful homes that are decent to large sized but many are ranches that look to be two bedroom).  I guess that is less to heat in the 8 month of winter.

Time to head back to the RV site.  We have lots of packing to do and we don't need to do it in a rush late in the evening.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow starting early.  I think I will pull in all the hookups late tonight so I don't have to go out in this mess in the morning.  Just close up the bedroom bump out and head out to fill the gas and propane tanks before we turn in our home for the last 18 days.  They will take us to the airport for our 12:50 PM flight to Seattle..  As I stated previously, it has been a long trip but I do not regret any of it.  It was an adventure and the little lady was great having never done anything like this before.  I am glad we did it, but I am not sure if I would do it again.  I am not getting any younger and it is hard to handle driving %K miles.

I sign off with this thought.  They say these hold up to 8 people.  I would say that anything more than 4 is not going to work.  Three or four people change the dynamics but give you someone to talk to while someone drives.  And you have another driver to share this requirement.  But there is not enough room for more, unless you have a larger one.  That is my 2 cents.  So take care and hope it wasn't a trial to get through these postings.

Big Cashew Adventure - Day 17 - The is upon Us

Today is the third and final Monday of this trip.  In two days we deliver the RV to GAH.  But in the meantime, we still have a couple of activities and some to accomplish them.  We see the finish line and it looks pretty good.  As I have noted lately, we are tired and worn out from the driving and sitting for extended periods.  We get out and walk around when we can but the body is not happy these last few days.  Still, it has been an experience I do not regret doing and I am very thankful we had the time to do this and see both countries in a way we had not done so before.  The experience and the pictures, both by camera and with just our eyes were beyond description.  But don't worry, we have plenty of pictures to show that were not loaded to this blog.

The plan for today was to pack up the 'camp' and head either back to Denali for a couple of hours or head south.  The weather was no the most hospitable.  It was at freezing, and there was rain.  It was not freezing rain, but it was very cold and dank.  In addition, the winds picked up in the early morning and the RV was rocking a few times during the night.  Its hard to tell if it is night, as it never gets dark.  Although the sun sets, it seems to stay just below the horizon and there is enough light to do some day activities.  It makes falling asleep more difficult, at least for some people (I am not one of those people).  Any way, we took our time getting our sh*t together and decided to head south and say goodbye to Denali.  We hit the road and set off for Telkeetna and then Anchorage.  I have copied some pictures from the internet to show you the town as I did not take the camera but this gives you an idea of the layout.  The town serves two purposes.  There are a bunch of gift shops with both locally made items and nick-knacks from other global points.  There are also a number of excursion companies that offer activities to do.  This includes white water rafting, Helicopter and plane rides to see Denali and it is also an initial gathering point for those who want to climb Denali.  There is a lot of activity for such a dinky town.









The town is really alive for just 4 short months, mid May to mid September.  It is too cold and there is too much snow the rest of the year.  The town itself is active all year.  There is a native population of about 900, with a school, medical building and mayor, but during these four months they receive thousands of visitors.  Along this one strip there are over a dozen shops and at least 10 restaurants or snacking businesses.  There are not enough people in the town to fill the open jobs, so people come from far away to work this abbreviated time frame.  The come not only from the lower US but from other countries too, like Europe.  Very similar to those who work in Denali for just the tourist season.  So we walked the strip and visited the shops.  We were then for a couple of hours and picked up a few items.  The weather was on and off rain, but that did not seem to matter to the crowd.  We saw another GAH RV and I am sure there were others throughout the past week.  We finished our shopping, got back to our 'home' and drove out.  We now headed to Anchorage.

It was already near three and it was a 2 hour trip to this main city.  Traffic started to build once we got near Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin and family.  Just a tidbit of information for you.  She did not come out and greet us.  This is a good sized town or small city, especially compared to what we have see lately.  It is spread out over 10 miles along the main artery here, and has all the stores and stop offs of towns we are familiar with.  I was amazed at the amount of traffic going against us.  It is about 35 miles from Wasilla to Anchorage and I would guess, many people make this commute.  The highway was crowded the entire way to Anchorage.

Anchorage, as noted earlier is the largest city in Alaska.  It has over 300K inhabitants.  This is about 40% of the population of the entire state, which is around 700K.  It is a regular city with the same issues and activities of any other town in the US.  We will explore a bit tomorrow.
We pulled into the RV park, or what passes for one.  It is right on the main highway and rather noisy, Probably not the best choice but the other sites had there own negatives also.  Plus, I was able to sleep with no problem.

So here we are, just a day or so before the 'Adventure' ends.  The goal for Tuesday is to pack up, clean up and maybe still find some wildlife to photograph.  Moose is said to be quite prevalent here and can be seen walking down main street on occasion.  We will see.  Until tomorrow!

Big Cashew Adventure Day 16 - Wildlife show in Denali

Here we are, the third Sunday of this trip and it seems like only three months ago that we started.  Perhaps the enthusiasm has waned slightly.  Perhaps we miss our warm, cozy bed at home, or decent cable offerings.  Well it could be those points but its not. It comes down to the fact that my ass and back are killing me from sitting and driving 5 thousand miles.  That's a round trip across the US. Whew, am I bushed.  But only a dwindling few days to go so I am getting off the mat and back in the drivers seat to lead this rag tag group of two to the finished line.  But first we do have to talk about Denali, as excruciating as it is to read one more day of these inane tombs.  Here we go, one more time.

Since it was Sunday, and there are Catholic Churches about one every 500 miles, we found ourselves with an infinite number of options that totaled only one with only one mass time period.  That was at 10 AM, back in Healy, AK, about 10 miles away.  It was a bit different compared to what we are used to.  There were 8 pews and some chairs lined up along the back.  The room is about 40 X 40 with a few statues and pictures.  There were about 35 people at the service, and at the end when the priest asked all visitors to stand up and say where they were from, about half the room stood.  What must a gathering in the winter be like?  I can only imagine.

So mass lasted an hour.  We then got in the RV, drove down the dirt and gravel for pot holes from the church and headed back to Denali.  It was just after 11 and we had a date with a park bus at 1 PM, so we went to the park at the Wilderness Center, parked, had lunch and prepared to go.  You are allowed to drive into the park up to mile post 15.  The road is paved for that distance.  To really see the wildlife you need to venture further.  The shuttle buses, that have been running since 1972 take you in further.  Of course, the remaining part of the road, which stretches to miles post 90, is unpaved, pot marked continuously and very narrow at spots (like up high on a mountain side with a direct plunge to the valley floor below.).  At least the bus comes with seat belts.  Another point is that the speed limit is between 15 and 35 MPH, with more towards the lower numbers.

The ride itself is bearable, but not comfortable.  There is no heat in the bus, and it was about 51 degrees outside.  The seats are typical of a regular city bus, I guess, but the bus itself looks more like it should be taking kids to school.  It will hold about 40 people.  Whether you are sightseeing, camping, biking or hiking, you can use these buses for a fee.  We paid $26, but the price is higher during the summer.  The cost is dependent upon how far in you are going.  At this time, you can go as far in as 53 miles.  The remaining part of the road opens as of Memorial Day.  Out driver, Marilyn, is a retired bus driver and has been doing this for 8 years with her husband, who is also a retired bus driver.  They drive their trailer up every year from south California and work this for extra spending money.  I guess life is what you make it.

OK, now to the main course.  As we started out, I had some doubts as to whether we would see many animals.  It was a bit cool, very overcast and I was just sick of sitting in a moving vehicle.  But I was proven wrong again!  As we past a turn off driveway to one of the housing buildings for the employees, there was a moose in the parking lot.  It was just a very quick glance as there were more trees than opening and I did not see it.  By the time someone said something, the bus has traveled past and could not back up.  But fear not, the day would not disappoint.  As we made our way in, we started seeing Caribou.  We actually saw a number of groups of them.

  Overall, we saw more than 2-3 dozen at various points.  A good number of them were growing their antlers.  One group of three seemed to have a full set of antlers, were large bulls and were eating in the brush about 50 feet in front of the bus.  We got some good shots as they stayed there awhile until we had to move on. We saw plenty of birds, especially this one that looked like a small rooster but can fly.  It was white with black spots and had a red crest on the head.

As we moved further in, we came across a wolf who was just meandering down the road.  We noticed him at about 50 yards away and he just kept coming at us until he reached us and then must kep walking down the road past us as if we were not there.  This is a rare site as there are only about 70 wolves in the park.  Once we hit the final stop, we got out to stretch and in the head.  We had to wait 35 minutes as this was all scheduled so that people can depend on the bus showing up regularly.  On the way back, hit the jackpot.  Just starting out, we saw a grizzly with her two cubs on the side of a mountain near the top.  It was far away but we got some good pics.  We also saw Dahl sheep on anther ridge.  As we kept moving back towards the visitor center, we saw more Caribou, three moose, and multiple sites of the sheep up on the ridges.  Hopefully the pictures will do it some justice, but they are not the best substitute for being there.  I was exhausted and worn down on the return to the point I wished the driver would speed up, but we saw so many animals that it was quite s successful day.  The only disappointment was that Denali mountain was not visible due to low clouds.  We were advised that it is visible less than 30% of the time, so you have to be lucky and time it just right.  Not something you have control over.

So that was our day.  As I noted, I am tired and worn down, but this was great for Chiara and that has been the number one goal of this trip.  Just two days to go and then we return the RV and head to airport Wednesday.  What will these last days have in store for us.  Tune in to find out!

Big Cashew Adventure - Day 16 All Hail Denali

Yes, as you might have surmised, we are at Denali, or actually, in Denali.  There is a town just north of the Denali NP called Denali.  That is where we are at the moment.  At a site called Rainbow RV and Motel.  A small town, made up mostly of shops and excursion type business, such as for running the rapids, sightseeing by Helicopter, and exploring with a jeep Safari.  Of course we do not have any of those on our list of to-do's.  And we will get into what we are doing, but first a word or hundreds on today's happenings, or lack of same.

Since we were staying to see a few sights that did not open until 9 or so, it was a slight sleep in morning.  I slept in all the way until 6 AM.  Then got up, make my tea, using Red Rose as I ran out of Lipton, for shame, and worked on yesterday's blog.  Chiara stayed in bed until after 7:30, but finally got up and made me breakfast.  That will come to he who waits!  Had cheesy eggs, toast and my remaining tea.  I then  took a shower, we got dressed, closed up the site and headed out.  It was after 9 so we headed for the Farmers Market.  This small gathering near the fairgrounds is just that and more.  There are fruits and vegetables, although you wonder where they came from.  The growing season hear is barely late May to August.  That is all the time you can usually depend on no frosts.  They had cucumbers, tomato plants, and a number of herbs.  But even though it was a farmers market, at least 60 percent of the booths had nothing to do with farming.  Lots of nick knacks like local jewelry, hand made place sets, hot pot holders of NFL teams, t-shirts, carved wood items, jams and jellies, honey and other food stuffs.  We were there for about 40 minutes and then moved on.  Next stop was another game preserve.  It will not open until June, but you could see Oxen in the pen that was near the road.  There was supposed to be a 3-4 week old baby but we did not see it.  Moving along, we decided to get the little lady and espresso at this one coffee shop.

While we waited on line, the lady in front of us had seen us pull up with a RV and asked some questions about it and what you need to expect.  We gave her the low down on this particular RV,  She stated she was organizing a trip with and RV with the family and her father.  We stated that although it is designed for up to 8 people, there should be no more than three or four, tops.  It is just to cramped.  Chiara was disappointed with the Espresso while I drank my British Breakfast tea.  It was not bad.

We next headed to Pioneer Village.  This is more of a playground than a historical site, but there were some interesting points.  This 'village'is made up of mostly original houses or cabins when Fairbanks was first settled in 1901 and the name was accepted a year later.  It was more of a trading facility and stop for panhandlers when gold was discovered 20 miles north.  The town grew from that time and eventually became Alaska's second largest city.  The cabins in Pioneer Village, as noted earlier, are mostly original.  I took a number of pictures.  They have some color to them and many are now shops for local businesses.  There was a kids jamboree when we got there so we just walked around for a little while.  We had some ice cream and then headed back to the RV for the drive to Denali.  First there was a stop at Fred Myers for some quick food shopping.  I got gas while waiting.  We made one more stop for wine and then we turned south and said good bye to Fairbanks/

Denali is 115 miles from Fairbanks so it was about a 2 hour + trip.  We stopped in a town called Healy, as I found a Catholic Church that serves mass on Sunday and wanted to see where it actually was located.  They are few and far between in this part of the state.  One church states they have a service but there is no priest, only a deacon.  A deacon cannot say mass.  But I digress.

We got to Denali around 4 and drove in.  We first went to the visitor center.  Things are changed since I was last here.  Newer buildings and better lay out.  We went in and talked to a Ranger.  We found out that unlike summer time when you cannot drive past the 3 mile marker, we can drive to the 15 mile marker.  Not much farther but a little.  The shuttle buses are running but only to about the 56 mile marker, then they return.  We signed up for a Sunday trip starting at 1 PM.  They last up to 7 hours.  Lets hope we see lots of wildlife.  We will stay til Monday so we will be back to the Park Monday morning and see the dog sled demonstration.  Maybe then drive our allotted 15 miles befoer heading south.  We will see.

RV site is just a completely open parking lot with the hookups.  No trees or anything, but it covers the need.  So that about takes care of this blog.  Hope I haven't bored you too much.  We are in the hoime stretch.  I am sad and glad.  The trip has been exhausting, but interesting.  Chat later about today.

Big Cashew's Adventure - Another drive to Who Knows Where

Day 15, 5/19/17

This will probably be a short blog as there was not much happening today and there were few pictures.  The goal was to reach Beaver Creek, YK as that was about the mileage distance we set for driving in a day.  First we had to get there.  We had stayed at Takhini Hot Springs and Campground/Hostel the night before.   The site was fine as it was more than large enough for the RV and could fit another vehicle if you were so inclined.  As has been happening ever since we reached British Columbia, the sun stays up late and gets up really early.  In fact, the last three nights, I do not believe it actually got completely dark.  It is still light out after 11 and rather bright by 4 AM or so. 

We left the campground about 9 AM PDT and headed out.  I had some worry as the propane gauge in the RV was showing empty.  It is not that accurate, but I knew we were down towards the bottom and needed to find a place.  Remember, the Fridge and stove run on propane.  We had to keep the fridge going at least.  I asked at the office of the campground, but they do not carry it and directed me to go back to Whitehorse, which was about 20 miles south.  This was not an option so we got back on the ALCAN going north and took our chances.  This drive is more of the same of nothing, then abandoned stops, then nothing and then an occasional house.  Where these people worked was beyond me.

We ran into the usual construction works which held us up for about 15 minutes.  At the stop, we noticed a group of 4 other GAH RV’s ahead of us.  Apparently they were traveling together.  Once we got past the road that was not there (they had torn it up completely and it was rutted dirt, very rough), they took off and kept the group together.  Chiara had spoken to some people earlier and knew that at least two couples were driving together, but we did not know it was this many.  Anyway, they lead for a while but finally pulled over to stop.  We kept going and after another half hour, found a place that sold propane.  We filled up and got back to the driver.

The rest of the drive was the most devoid of humans on this trip.  There was a couple of spots where two or three buildings were located.  These went up after the ALCAN was built to give truckers a rest spot along the way.  They had weird names, like Destruction Bay, Burnish Landing, and Beaver Creek. Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek kept operating, but Burnish Landing had nothing to stop for.  You are pretty much on your own here so don’t break down.

Since Beaver Creek was our goal, here is a little more information.  It is a small hamlet about 30 km from the US border.  Plus they had an RV campsite, two restaurants and gas stations, along with a place called Buckshot Betty’s.  I guess this place has been there a very long time and with so few offerings along the way, it stood out and stood the test of time.  We did stop at Beaver Creek, and we visited Buckshot Betty, but there was not much to get excited about.  They had some clothing and nick knacks, plus there were one of the restaurants, but really, not something to write home about.  We took our time to stretch our legs and decided to get back in and head for the border.

About 2 miles out of town, you reach the Canadian check point for the border.  What is surprising is that the border is still 20 miles away.  We drive past as there was no requirement to stop.  We know entered what I would have to say is the “Dead” zone.  The road for this stretch was about the worst we encountered.  Some spots there was no road.  There were many frost heaves, pot holes, loose gravel, dust and just a plain rough surface.  I get the idea that no one takes care of this section, but it belongs to Canada so they don’t care I guess.  We finally reach the US customs point.  It is just a small building with three lanes to reach a customs official, only two were operating, and two lanes for the run into Canada.  We handed in our passports which they must have checked for any red flag, asked us two questions, where do we live, and what do you think the RV, and let us through.  You wonder where these officials live to get to work here.  There is really nothing in Alaska for 100 miles, which is the town of TOK.  Do they commute every day or what?  Who knows? 

We stopped at TOK as we were now over 300 miles of today’s travels and needed to stop.  I picked the first RV site, since I did not know what was ahead, and it seemed OK.  Plenty of room, treed spaces, gas grilles at strategic points and full hook ups.  They also had WiFI, but I did not find out until after I had paid that it was strictly controlled and you only got 2 hours free.  After that you are charged.  We were both pissed, and I felt bad that I just assumed otherwise.  All previous sites who had WiFi were open with no restrictions.  Maybe it was the drive or just being tired, but this really bothered us and it took while to calm down and get squared away.  At least we had a nice juicy Lucy burger and salad for dinner.  I did not feel like writing last night so we watched a move and then went to bed.  It was 10:45 Alaska time, which is 2:45 EST.  The sun had set but it was still quite light out.  It’s not easy to get to sleep when the day still seems to be running.

 

Well, that will do it for now.  We head to North Pole, Alaska tomorrow then head to Fairbanks.  Chat at you tomorrow!