Excursions – Activities – Adventures in the Dirt Yacht

September 12, 2021September 13, 2021

End of Summer in Thousand Islands 09/11/2021

Even though the summer season is winding down, Swan Bay Park is very busy. We noticed quite a few large Class A Motor Homes pulling in. After googling events in the area, I discovered there was an All-Inclusive Motorhome (AIM) Rally here next week. I had never heard of this club and even though I read that it is open to Class A, B or C type motorhomes, the majority appear to be high-dollar Entegra Class A’s. There are several million dollars worth of RV’s in the park!

As busy as the park has gotten, I guess it is good that we have started packing up to get the Dirt Yacht ready to head home for a few weeks. The weather forcast is for some rain next week so Randy decided to pull the boat yesterday and he loaded the golf cart today while the weather is still dry. Randy was busy today rolling up the carpet, puttiing away all but 2 of the chairs, removing the wheel covers and polishing the wheels. Tomorrow he wants to take down the weather station and the DISH. He will probably keep the DISH hooked up, but just place it on the rocks in the back where we can still get reception.

August 31, 2021September 12, 2021

Castles 08/22/2021

We got to visit Boldt Castle on Heart Island and Singer Castle on Dark Island in the last few days while Ryan, Bill and Cheryl were visiting. Randy did a trip to Boldt two times since Ryan’s visit did not coincide with Bill and Cheryl. Randy toured Boldt Castle with just Ryan and then again a few days later with Bill and Cheryl when I joined them too. I did not want to do too much on the boat so Randy and Ryan explored the Canadian side of the River by themselves too. When Randy and Ryan toured Boldt Castle they also toured the Yacht House which we did not do on our trip to Heart Island. I liked being able to explore Boldt Castle at our leisure more than the tour of Singer Castle because the Singer Castle tour was a guided tour with a limited time frame of 45 minutes. I wish we could have explored the dungeon, tunnels and secret passageways in Singer Castle, but all we were allowed was a quick peek. I think they were trying to entice anyone to come back for an overnight stay so you could explore the entire castle. The day we toured Singer was probably one of the warmest days all summer so it was a little hot inside the castle too. It was fun taking Sweet Thing to both of the castles, instead of having to take one of the tour boats, even if the ride back from Singer was a little bumpy!

July 20, 2021August 4, 2022

Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site 07/19/2021

It was not what we planned for the day, but when we were driving near Sackets Harbor, I convinced Randy to stop so we could explore the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site. The grounds and views were gorgeous, the self-guided tour was informative and the tour guide did an awesome job explaining what life was like for the Commandant, his family and servants living in the house prior to the Civil War.

July 11, 2021July 18, 2021

Clayton, Classic Cars, Coyote Moon Wine and Friends 7/11/2021

So far most of our days here in Alexandria Bay are cool with showers. Had a line of strong thunderstorms roll through Thursday night with cool weather and a few light showers on Friday. At least the thunderstorms waited until after we helped Peter and Paulla move cars so they will have their car here once they arrive by boat. We are still eating pie that they brought as part of Peter’s family tradition of bringing pies on their first trip to the Thousand Island area for the summer. I really don’t think we will have any left by the time they get back next week.

September 24, 2019July 14, 2021

Wisconsin Dells 09/12 – 09/14/2019

We drove 354 miles to make it to Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park in Lake Delton, Wisconsin. This was a beautiful RV park with large grassy lots perfect for us! They advertise their park is for “older kids” so we definitely qualify. Originally we stopped for just an overnight stay, but we decided to stay for the weekend so we could explore the area and iwe didn’t want to get to Elkhart, Indiana, until Monday so we could have some work done on the front drivers seat of the RV. It was a busy weekend because of the Wo-Zha-Wa Days Fall Festival, but we lucked out and could stay for the weekend as long as we moved to another site the following day. It didn’t take long to move the RV and we still had lots of time to explore the town and the festival. We didn’t buy much at the festival, except for some delicious fudge and a new purse for me to replace my damaged small blue cloth purse that I carry when I walk.

September 14, 2019July 14, 2021

Telkwa, Totem Poles and Memories of 1966 09/05/2019

The time spent in Hyder was our last time in Alaska and once we left Stewart it was a push for 2 days of driving to complete our caravan’s journey. However, I think the drive to our next stop at Fort Telkwa RV Park was one of Randy’s favorite parts of this trip.

September 4, 2019July 14, 2021

Haines and Juneau: Eagles, Bears, Whales and Wildlife 08/27 – 08/30/2019

The roads after leaving Destruction Bay heading to Haines were much better than the last several days which made it a delightful 213 mile trip on the Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway. We had gorgeous views of the Kluane Range, Kathleen Lake, the Klukshn Wetlands and the Chilkat River.

September 4, 2019July 14, 2021

Destruction Bay and Tetlin Wildlife Center 08/26/2019

This section of the Alaska Highway to Destruction Bay was probably as bad or worse than the Tok Cut-Off. There were limited construction delays, but the roadway was full of potholes, unlevel areas and frost heaves. This road needs construction. I even posted on Facebook that an Alaska dance could be invented based on all the movement from the road; repeat hops for all the bumps in the road, sways to the left and right for the frost heaves, dips for all of the low areas in the road, slides to the left or right for all of the swerves to avoid potholes and a shimmy to finish the dance for the rough areas.

September 4, 2019July 14, 2021

Valdez: Glaciers, Salmon, Sea Lions, Seals, Whales and Wildlife 08/21 – 08/24/2019

It took us a good part of the day to travel the 262 miles to Valdez and our access to the Prince William Sound. A little over half of the trip was on the Glenn Highway that had lots of steep downgrades with sharp curves. The last 120 miles was on the Richardson Highway where we passed the Worthington Glacier and drove through the Keystone Canyon. We stayed at the Eagles Rest RV Park in Valdez. The management at the Park had mixed up the caravan reservations so we had to move our spot. We had just gotten set up and started washing the mud and dirt off the Jeep and RV when Mitch and us were asked to move. They had promised another 2 travelers the spots we were on for Saturday so we were not very kindly told we needed to move NOW. Because we had someone coming to see our ShowHauler, we didn’t get to go out to dinner as planned, but instead just had a quick dinner about 8:30. It had been a long day by that time so we just called it a night.

September 4, 2019July 14, 2021

Seward: Alaska Sea Life Center, Kenai Fjords National Park, Salmon Fishing, Smoke and Wildfires 08/15 – 08/18/2019

The Dirt Yacht only stayed clean for one day. By the time we drove the 155 miles to Seward, it was dirty and dusty again. We had several miles of road construction that contributed to the grime. There was also smoke from a nearby wildfire that probably contributed to some of the dust. This wildfire was in the same general location as the one we saw on our drive to Homer; however, this fire was larger and spread out in several locations. We spotted a helicopter dumping water from a large bag on the fire. We watched the helicopter drop down to a creek between the fire and the roadway to refill the bag before again dropping its load over the fire. I don’t know how much water the helicopter could drop at one time, but it didn’t look like more than a thimble full in comparison to the amount of fire. The fire had definitely grown in comparison to what we spotted on our trip into Homer a few days ago. That fire and smoke was the first time we had seen any active wildfire on this trip.