Asleep at the wheel

The current was fast. We soon learned that we could make time even while resting.

We saw lots of moose on the stretch from Indian River to Hootalinqua, and we passed uneventfully through the Roaring Bull Rapids.

Eventually we arrived at the Yukon and the old paddlewheeler docking station of Hootalinqua.

From this shot on the hills above Hootalinqua you can see the confluence - the Teslin on the left and the Yukon on the right.

White on White

Here are a couple of snow photos for the new white blog. It has warmed up forty degrees to 20 above now.

Layouts

I decided to try a new upgraded layout. They assured me that a backup of our old site would be saved if we need to consult it. The change was a breeze. This layout is only one of many we could choose. If someone has another idea. . .have at it. Check out the new Archive retrival system - that's what I thought was neat.

Rub a dub dub

We hiked back into the mountains searching for Mount Black which we never found, but we did see a wolverine and other animals. Back at camp we washed clothes and cleaned up. We wanted to bathe too, but the rivers were icy cold so we innovated.

I'm not sure who was the genius behind this plan. They filled a canoe with water then dropped red hot rocks into one end.
I'm also not sure how the bathing order was determined, but Tom and I did not want to be the last of 8 to get into that water, so we used hot rocks to create a sauna.

The Indian River

About halfway down the Teslin we stopped at the Indian River for three or four days. We wanted to hike back into the mountains and then have a little R & R to clean up.



The fishing was great. Arctic Grayling. We actually had a contest to see who could cast and reel in without catching a fish. It was hard to do. We ate well. We saw wolves. They were as curious about us as we were about them. They seranaded us to sleep at night- one of the most magical experiences of my life

Home Sweet Home

Almost immediately we started finding abandoned settlements and even whole villages. Notice the rhubarb in the picture to the right. Almost every cabin had some. We put rhubarb sauce on everything.

Anchors Away

Shortly after we took off I started snapping pictures. A little earlier I think I said Steve and Paul were canoe partners, but I was wrong. Richard was Steve's partner. Steve and Paul slept in the same tent. Richard and I had the same tent, but the Yukon is semi-arid and we almost always slept in the open air with an overturned canoe at our head so if it rained we could quickly throw a tarp over us.

photo test

i added a more realistic picture lest you think we have global warming right now. This is 1600 x 1200, 321KB, and -20 degrees F outside. Even the smallest twigs are covered with a layer of snow. Today is the 9th of January...

Holly has a better camera than mine, so this is a test to see what happens when i put her photo on the blog. Her photos are 2112 x2816 px (pixels?) and about 2.5mb. Mine are about 1280 x 960px and 554kb.

Away we go

After years of planning and a lot of driving and a lot of waiting we're within minutes of putting our canoes in the Teslin River and heading out. 120 miles to the Yukon River and over 500 miles to Dawson. We will only intersect with civilisation once when the road to Dawson crosses the Yukon at Carmacks.

The guy to the right of Steve is Dave Duke. The two on the far right are Paul Fink and Phil Lundberg.

Ho Hum

I took this picture and then said, "Come on, show a little excitement!"

And they responded appropriately.

Halsey

We're almost ready to leave. The room is the basement at Halsey. The little child is Dean. The man by the door is Richard Roach's dad.

Days Gone By

The most recent scans of Dad's pictures include a few from the trip down the Yukon River in 1970. Then at Christmas Richard Roach gave me two CD's of all his photos of that trip. (Mine were ruined because of water damage. . .Steve can't find his. . .hey Mark, do you have slides?)

Anyway I thought I'd post a few pictures from that memorable adventure. John took this one. We're all excited and ready to leave.

Freezing Rain

We had some freezing rain last night. It's always a good idea to go outside with a camera after a freezing rain...

Christmas Day at Ralph and Jean's

Ralph and Jean hosted the Christmas Day brunch...

The highlight of the day, of course, was a rousing game of Scum. Mark, do you all play Scum up there? (There are other names for the game also such as President, King, and ##%&*@#!) You don't have to play with hats, but it sometimes helps the Scum know their place (see above). I never made it to the executive office, but I derived a lot of enjoyment trash talking my opponents.

Happy Holidays

Wow, the Lindstroms have been unbelievably busy the past month, bouncing from one thing to the next. I've barely had time to glance at the round robin. I think this is my first post? A good time was had by all at Greg and Denise's in mid December.







On Christmas Eve some of us met at our house.

Hidalgo from Fidalgo

We are down in Anacortes, which is the main town on Fidalgo Island, visiting John and Heidi for Christmas. Here are a few photos of their dog. His name is Hidalgo.








Christoffer and Holly on the edge.


























Here you can see that he is a towing machine. When you take him for a walk he pulls with all of his might. Notice the tension on the line and the collar choking him. If anyone knows how to train dogs, please let us know how to get him to walk normally.

PS MERRY CHRISTMAS

Thanks

Haven't stopped in for a few days. Thanks all for the kind B'day greetings. Who is that guy with his head sticking out in the photos. Nice stairway! Winter might actually be here this afternoon. Thanks also for coming to our annual Swedish Christmas gathering, you all made it really special! Especially the fine Apples to Apples excitement!

Christmas Day

We'll be with Faith's side of the family on Christmas Eve this year. Is anyone doing anything on Christmas day?

Paul's first post using the new beta

Happy Birthday Greg... "but more importantly" it looks like I'm able to post with this new beta version. :)

I appreciated Mark's posting of the old Christmas cards last year. There are a number of people who don't quite make the cut for our annual Christmas card - business contacts, politicians, etc. But, at the same time, one would like to do something more than a mere "Merry Christmas". This is where these old cards come in so handy. Simply email these old cards to these acquaintances and everybody's happy. I'm emailing the above card this year.

Happy Birthday Greg

Here are a few photos of Greg from August of 2005. I like the stairway photo best because he is more normal compared to everyone else. (talking about his height)