Driving to Salmon Glacier,British Columbia

    Salmon Glacier is the fifth largest glacier in North America and one of the easiest to get by car. Even so it’s a pretty long trip. The jumping off point is Hyder ,Alaska which is about forty miles from the main highway and at the end of the paved road. From there it’s another twenty or more miles on a rough gravel road but it’s definitely worth the trip. The glacier is huge and the view is awe inspiring! Pictures do not do it justice.  More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/DrivingToSalmonGlacierBritishColumbia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJqQg-qinu_ddg&feat=directlink

British Columbia

     We’re finally on our way to Alaska!  We’ve been going slowly because of the weather. While the rest of North America has been baking in a heat wave ,the north west is experiencing a very wet cool spring and summer.  We wanted to avoid all of the flooding ,landslides and washouts plus British Columbia is a beautiful province to meander through rather than just rushing by on the way up to Alaska..   
     The photograph above is one of the buildings from Barkerville , a  gold mining town that is now a historic park. Most of the town dates to 1868 and it’s pretty unique ,at least to visitors from the states ,because all of the buildings are wood ,either frame construction or log.  Many US gold mining towns burnt down and were rebuilt with brick and stone.  Others were never rebuilt because  the gold had played out and any remaining buildings crumbled and decayed. More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/BritishColumbia?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSAyYG6qZyEogE

Columbia River Gorge (again)

   Yeah , I know – we were just here a little over a year ago but this is one of those places that we will never get tired of visiting. The scenery is so spectacular ,constantly changing with the terrain and the seasons. Plus it’s on our way to Eden and Burt’s house.   
More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/ColumbiaRiverGorgeAgain?authkey=Gv1sRgCP3bgduUipW4Gw

Nevada’s Ghost Towns

   Nevada has two large cities-Las Vegas and Reno and the accompanying  suburb sprawl that has overtaken nearby smaller cities. The rest of the state is dotted with widely spaced towns. Most of them are old gold and silver mining towns slowly sinking into partial or complete ghost towns.  Very rarely did the easily mined gold and silver last for more than twenty years and then most of the miners moved onto the next big strike leaving behind equipment and buildings. Fire was also responsible for accelerating the demise of these towns so in many places the only thing left standing are sections of concrete and stone foundations and walls.  Berlin ,the one pictured above, managed to survive pretty much intact probably because at least one person was still living in the town until 1970. Kind of unbelievable to us - imagine having to drive over 100 miles to get groceries! But the night sky is incredible this far out in the middle of nowhere. More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/NevadaSGhostTowns?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSC_qnr6er1owE

Indian Country

     We’ve been driving through the Navajo Nation for the past several days. It’s the largest Indian reservation in the US,about the same size as the state of West Virginia. The Navajos migrated to this area of the US ,north eastern Arizona, from Canada  around 1400. They found an empty land but evidence of older settlements and a vanished people who they called the Anasazi which means ancient ones. The Anasazi are actually the ancestors of the Puebloan people  who now live in northern New Mexico.  The Navajo and all of the Puebloan tribes fared a little better than many other American Indian tribes because they were allowed to return to or stay on a portion of their ancestral lands which has resulted in a much more intact culture.
 More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/IndianCountry?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCbqL6gyMDZ4wE#

Texas Wind

    It’s so windy that all of the cars at Cadillac Ranch have been blown over at an angle!!  Just kidding-they were stuck in the ground like this. It’s a public art installation where spray painting and even taking pieces of the cars is considered part of the project. More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/TexasWind?authkey=Gv1sRgCKu8isWgxqDiswE#

Texas Oil and Hurricanes

    and pink spoonbills. We drove along  the Gulf coast through Mississippi and Texas passing by large areas that are still devastated from  Katrina and Rita. Most of coastal property for miles west of Biloxi,Mississippi is empty land where beautiful old houses once stood. In 2008 hurricane Ike flattened the entire little town of Gilchrist, Texas. It had been a thriving fishing,vacation and residential community spread across the narrow Bolivar Peninsula.  Many places are reverting back to a more natural state which the animals seem to be enjoying. These spoonbills were nesting in a wildlife preserve which is protected but now gets even fewer visitors because of destroyed roads and recreation areas.  More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/TexasOil?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXWtsulodmN7QE#