Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City

Thursday, Jan. 29 while Paul and I were in Salt Lake City we went to Temple Square to see the Mormon Tabernacle. We entered through the North Gate and made our way to the North Visitors building where guides [two young female missionaries – one from Hong Kong and one from Washington State] took us on a quick tour outlining the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The story was told using large murals and statues as we walked from station to station. From there we went to the South Gate Visitor building which is dedicated to family and also has a display showing the history of the building of the tabernacle. Our last stop was the Tabernacle Choir building. We had to leave then to get to Clark’s Planetarium which has a domed IMAX screen. The 5:30 feature was World of The Universe, lots of flashing lights and loud surround sound. Pretty awesome!! We ate at The Gateway Mall Food Court before returning to the Tabernacle to listen to the practice session of the Mormon Choir Tabernacle. We were early and waited in the South Visitors building. We did a quick search for our ancestors on the computers. I printed out the info on Grammie and Grandad Wile. Paul found oodles of info on his family. Other groups were wandering around – among them was Martin Luther King Junior!!!!! At 8 o’clock we hurried over to the rehearsal.
His group came into the temple and down the aisle just as a guide was taking our picture. We had to step aside to let them through. He was introduced to the audience during the choir practice. That’s when we learned who this VIP was.
The choir was magnificent. I took a few videos so we will be able to hear and see the practice.
Today we left SLC @ 10:30 and drove to Red Ledge RV Park in Kanarraville, UT. The freeway was really crazy when we started but thinned out after we left the city behind. The highway follows a wide valley plain with mountains to the left and right all the way down. This area is very high above sea level[@7000 feet] and must be very dry in summer as both sides of the road were covered with sagebrush and scrubby little pine trees. The only other trees were near streams and creeks. The farmland had huge irrigation systems on wheels – some were unbelievably long, stretching in straight lines and sometimes gargantuan circles over the grain fields. Black Angus cattle dotted the grassland along with an occasional sheep herd. We saw a couple herds of deer near Cedar Rapids. Paul is really good at spotting them. I would miss them completely as their color blends right into the landscape.

January 27, 2009-01-27

A wonderful four days and nights again with Stephen and Jaime in Calgary after making the full circle from Calgary – Ft. Liard – Whitehorse --Skagway – Vancouver – Surrey and back to Calgary! We had planned to head out from Calgary on Saturday with the Fun Finder RV, however some issues with the trailer plug, brake controller and wiring had to be resolved so our start was delayed until Sunday morning.
Beautiful weather and bare roads all the way to Great Falls, Montana where we found Rick’s RV Park for our first sleep in the RV! Paul is very pleased with the way the RV tows behind the Dakota. The confidence level increased as the day wore on with some very sensitive adjustment to the brake controller and Faye finally relaxed and enjoyed taking pictures of the Montana scenery!
The furnace didn’t quite keep up with the -21 C. but we survived. We need to get into non freezing temperatures before filling up with water, so electricity is the only luxury!
Paul forgot to unplug the trailer electrical plug from the truck causing a feedback into the truck computer from the park power. This caused the engine light to come on resulting in a four hour delay Monday morning getting the problem diagnosed at a Dodge dealer and fixed. UNPLUG THE TRAILER BEFORE HOOKING INTO OUTSIDE POWER!
Amazing country vistas in Montana through miles and miles of prairie with thousands of beef cattle winter grazing, all of them Black Angus.
On Monday we were determined to reach Pocatello, Idaho. This drive took us through the Blackfoot Mountains and the Chesterfield Range on a beautiful cold sunny day. Fantastic views with the occasional glimpse of elk, deer, eagles, hawks and huge ravens intermixed with numerous herds of Black Angus and sheep.
We finally settled into Sullivan’s RV Park in Pocatello, a very small setup but economical at $16.00. Our second night was more comfortable due to a more moderate outside temperature. We are looking forward to our next destination in Salt Lake City to have a look around the sights there.

Later…..

Terrace-Nanaimo-Surrey-Calgary

In Terrace we had a great four day visit with Jeanine (niece), Greg, Nolan and Damian. Their large, lovely home is on the shores of the Kalum River. During our stay Greg did up a very tasty Skeena River salmon on the barbeque. Jeannine took time out of her busy schedule to guide us on a tour up the Nass River Valley to the lava fields and the Nisga nation village of New Alyansh. Faye was impressed with the totems and was brave enough to walk with Paul across the swinging bridge.
Paul managed to visit the local Legion and a couple tackle shops in Terrace where he picked up some local steelhead salmon flies to try out on Souris River next spring.
The drive thru the Skeena River Valley from Terrace to Prince Rupert on Friday morning was totally awe inspiring as the sun finally showed its face after a week’s absence! The scenery on the drive through the mountain ranges was “wow”!!
The ferry MV “Queen of Prince Rupert” departed from Prince Rupert at 4:30 taking the spectacular inside passage to Port Hardy arriving at 4 pm on Saturday so we caught some good mountain views while sailing through the Grenville channel which is about 1400 ft. wide and very deep. We had a berth and so had a good nights sleep and spent all day sitting at the bow windows looking out at the magnificent scenery. We met and talked to a number of people who have been to PEI and loved it. The father of one girl was from North Rustico and now practices law in Prince Rupert. Sharon and Peter were both in education and Faye enjoyed her conversations with them. Paul Toth is an outfitter. His business is called “Something Fishy Charters”. www.somethingfishycharters.ca
He is a great talker describing some of the fish he guarantees - king salmon, halibut, and steelheads! He also explained much of what we were seeing as we sailed along. Terrific to get the local knowledge!
Upon reaching Port Hardy we drove thru clear weather as far as the Rustic Motel in Campbell River where a thick fog had set in. On Sunday morning we had another spectacular drive down to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to the Vancouver mainland. The truck GPS steered us under sunny skies and past green fields to Carl & Kim’s place in Surrey where we enjoyed visiting with them, their son Justin and another visiting nephew, Craig. Carl treated everyone to terrific beef tenderloins from the barbeque for dinner. Blair Deveau dropped in too. We had a great evening with them in their beautiful home.
We headed out from Surrey towards Calgary on Monday through the beautiful Fraser River Valley and up through the mountain ranges passing Hope, Kamloops, Salmon Arm as far as Revelstoke where we had a delicious meal (maple glazed salmon for Faye and Buffalo burger for Paul) at the Great Northern Bean pub. There we discovered Revelstoke Ski Resort and Tuesday morning took the opportunity to take the Gondola up to the upper restaurant for breakfast and then up further above the fog into sunshine and +4 temp and a view from 4700 ft. This ski resort opened in 2008, a massive project still underway with costs reaching one billion which includes a buyout of a heli ski company! (Confederation Bridge was one billion!)
From Revelstoke we drove through Golden and Lake Louise and on to Calgary. Faye took pictures at every turn in the highway.
We were so happy and relieved to have had mostly clear highways the entire trip from the time we left Calgary to our return. The trip of a lifetime!!!
We arrived in time at 6:00 pm to go to a birthday dinner at the Flatiron Restaurant honouring Jaime’s brother Ryan. What a great way to end our day and this leg of our trip.

Later……

Terrace, BC Legion Visit

Dropped into Terrace Legion today! Very well appointed Legion with all the amenities one would expect. Some very friendly opinionated locals and received good advice on fishing options for another time when we will definitely visit again.

Later.....

New Aiyansh and Gingoix

Wednesday, January 14th, our friendly tour guide Jeannine Knox (niece) took us to two First Nations Villages, New Aiyansh capital of the Nisga;s Nation and Home of the Gitmidiik famous for their smoked salmon and to Gingoix, another village. These places are located approximately 100 km northwest of Terrace. We drove through miles of lava fields that resulted from an eruption about 200 years ago causing much loss of lives. Totems are in evidence depicting stories of myths and legends of native lore.
We glimpsed bits of mountain ranges, rivers and lakes through the fog and mist burnt through on occasion by the sun.
For a late evening snack we sampled Skeena River smoked salmon and some Alaskan King Crab. The salmon is packaged as a promotion and fund raiser by the Skeena Wild Conservation Trust. Check it out at www.skeenawild.org. Greg Knox (married to Jeannine) is the Executive Director of this trust which is primarily funded by the Moore family who are owners of Intel headquartered in the US. The Skeena River is the second largest salmon producing watershed in BC second only to the Fraser River. The watershed produces all pacific species of salmon, Coho, Chinook, King, and Sockeye along with various species of trout. The Skeena remains un dammed and open to public access. It yields large fish to those who angle. But there are constant challenges facing the various environmental organizations including First Nations Peoples who work diligently to keep the watershed pristine, the current one being an attempt by a large oil consortium to build a pipeline alongside the river to transport Alberta tar sands oil to the coast. There is a moratorium on this type of development locally but the consortium has earmarked 100 million in its campaign to convince the decision makers and public to approve the development.

Later....

Skagway to Prince Rupert - Inside Passage

Friday, January 9th, waiting all day in Skagway. We went for supper at the Skagway Brewing Co. restaurant. They make their own brand of beer and the friendly waiter/bar tender was happy to regale stories about Skagway..
The MV Ferry Taku departed from Sdagway at 0100 hrs Saturday, Jan.10th. We were assigned an outside berth with upper and lower bunks. The ship was built in 1963 in Seattle, Washington. It is well appointed with gift shops, observation lounge, cafeteria, and bar. We toured the ship before going to bed to get oriented with the layout.
The inside passage from Skagway to Haines loomed through a vague moonlit mountainous landscape as seen from the observation deck. The channel cutting between two low mountain ranges seemed to be only ¼ mile wide! It’s hard to imagine large cruise ships navigating through this narrow channel.
The odd foot passenger spread out sleeping mats on the floor of the observation deck which was kept in semi darkness.
The top bunk had Paul’s name on it and he had a sense of déjà vu bringing back childhood memories. We both slept through docking in Haines as we tied up in Juneau at 0600 hrs.with Haines situated between Skagway and Juneau.
The ferry passage from Juneau, capital of Alaska, to Kate took all day providing panoramic views all along the way. The crew were put through boat and fire drills when we were reading in the cafeteria lounge. We spent part of the afternoon in the bar lounge chatting. The lady bar tender sold Faye a book called Sourdough School wriiten by her grandmother, a chronicle of her teaching experience in Alaska.
After Kate the next port of call was Petersburg arriving sometime in middle of the night after which was the port of Wrangell. From Wrangell the sail was through the Wrangell channel, a long twisting passageway which eventually opens up to a body of water taking us to Ketchikan where we had to disembark ashore and wait twelve hours to board the M/V Kennicott to Prince Rupert arriving there at 0700 hrs on Monday morning.
Ketchikan, a port town, has an impressive amount of recreation and fishing boats located up and down the waterfront. There are lots of amenities throughout the town. We had time to explore driving both ways up and down the coast. The Cultural Centre is a museum depicting the Haida, Tlingat, and Tsimshian First Nations. It was very interesting. Faye thought Paul had an uncanny resemblance to a picture of an elder!
In Prince Rupert we dropped in to visit with nephew Gary McQuaid and his two girls, Hyla and Araya who took immediately to Faye. After showers and much needed laundry, we all had lunch at a wonderful dockside restaurant, then took the two hour drive, along the famous Skeena River, up to Terrace to visit with neice Jeannine, Greg and sons Nolan and Damian.
Later......

Skagway, Alaska

Good decision to leave Whitehorse a day early as the White Pass is closed today due to severe storm conditions and an avalanche somewhere on the Skagway side of Carcross. Apparently some truckers are stranded on the other side and running low on fuel!
Today we took a tour of Skagway which has a winter resident population of 700 souls. In summer the population soars to 2000 residents not including the huge numbers of tourists. The town buildings are still "old town" store fronts. Skagway is one of 16 top cruise ship destinations in the world so a large number of shops are gold jewelers and fur dealers. The liquor store had a very friendly lady clerk who was very informative and helpful. Faye wanted something for the ferry trip so Paul picked up a taste too!
The boat harbor includes a marina with boats still in the water but there were also a lot of boats hauled out. We definitely were the only tourists in town and looking forward to leaving on the ferry MV Taku due to depart at 12:45 am on Saturday. The host at our B&B are allowing us to check out just prior to leaving later tonight.
Time to go get a bite at the Skagway Brewing Co. restaurant downtown... hope we don't get lost along the way!

Later....