Back in the Lower 48

Last time you heard from us, we were in BC having just visited Hyder, Alaska. We have traveled a long way since then...currently we are parked in Rapid City, South Dakota, visiting the Black Hills and Badlands.

Hyder Sign

Our last view of Alaska was this sign just as we crossed the border back into Canada. You can see where Hyder's dirt road turns into pavement and you can see the Canadian Customs office (the US doesn't have one at this border crossing).

And so south through BC to Vancouver.

Old Totems at Kitwangak - located at the end of the Cassiar Highway.

That was the beginning of a gradual return to civilization. We stayed at Smithers, BC, in a Safeway parking lot. Then in Prince George and in Hope before driving into Vancouver, where we spent about an hour in a traffic jam on a 4 lane highway. That's almost as stressful as driving an hour on frost heaves but much less interesting.

Double vision? This Starbucks is across the street from

this Starbucks...

We stayed at a park in West Vancouver, across the Lion's Gate Bridge from Stanley Park. Karin & Glenn got to do a lot of sightseeing. We all ate well - returned to a couple of our haunts from when I worked in Vancouver. Rodney's Oyster House, Jester's, Komi's (for sushi). We also went to the Sun-Yat Sen Gardens and ate a great dinner afterwards in Chinatown.

The next day we headed south across the border. This was our longest border crossing - we waited in line for at least 45 minutes. At least the crossing itself was uneventful.

We stayed in Tacoma two nights and visited family and friends. Darlene and Tony are packing up to move. We ate with them on the night they heard that their house sale was final - a celebratory meal at Warthog's Barbecue. Very good ribs. We also ate dinner with a work friend of Sally's from Seattle.

One goal in the area had been to get the RV fixed - we have several nagging minor problems. We didn't have any luck with the RV, but while we were driving down I5 we spotted Mt Rainier and I managed to get a picture from a Camping World parking lot. Not as scenic as our Denali pictures, but we did get to see the mountain.

Rainer from Camping World in Tacoma

The past three days we spent driving across Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It's beautiful country - lots of mountain passes, ranch and grassland and now the Black Hills.

We stopped at what was one of the largest ranches in Montana in the first half of the 20th century - Grant-Kohr's National Historic Site. And we also visited Prairie Town State Park (it's a little pull off beside the highway where a prairie dog colony live).

Grant-Kohr's Ranch House

Prairie Dog

The weather has been fine so we cooked out in rest areas and just enjoyed ourselves. We plan to spend the next few days here in South Dakota visting Mt Rushmore, the Badlands, DeSmet (where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived as a girl and teenager and married Almanzo).

It won't be long till we are back down south, hopefully it will cool off and fall will arrive with us.

See you soon!