Having spent most of July and August enjoying our spectacular Alaskan adventure, we spent most of September traveling back through Canada and enjoying the awesome sights and sounds of Washington, Oregon, and California. Here we are in the Redwood National and State Parks in northern California. It doesn't matter how many time we see these giant trees; we cannot get enough of them.

After a week in the Fairbanks area, we drove south and met up with the official end of the Alcan Highway in Delta Junction, 1,422 miles from Dawson Creek, BC, where the highway begins.	The end of August is the beginning of their autumn and we heard this season is mighty short. And we wanted to make sure we did not see the beginning of what the next season had to offer.
At Tok, we drove north to the town of Chicken (population 7), which was named after the state bird "Willow Ptarmigan," which no one could spell, so instead called the town Chicken. We had chicken noodle soup for breakfast.	Shortly after filling up in Chicken, the odometer turned 40,000 miles. The RV had 20,000 miles when we bought it in March of 2021 and about half of those mile were put on during this year, including our great Alaskan RV road trip.
From Chicken, we drove to the "Top of the World Highway" going east 127 miles into Canada, the territory of Yukon and on to Dawson City (pop 1,300).	The Top of the World Highway was mostly dirt and gravel and ended at the Yukon River, where we took a car ferry to Dawson City on the other side of the river.
When we got to the campground, we nearly didn't recognize the RV with all the dirt, grim, and mud we picked up on the Top of the World Highway. Fortunately, an upcoming rainstorm cleaned it all up.	Dawson City is an eclectic town which draws on its rich history as a Gold Rush town in the late 1800s. The Grand Palace was rebuilt, using the original plans as has been most of the other buildings in town.
The entire city is built on permafrost, which is why all the streets remain dirt and gravel, the elevated sidewalks are made of wood and the buildings are built on short stilts to create air flow so the heat from the buildings does not melt the permafrost.	When in Rome--they say. So, we joined the only Sourtoe Cocktail Club in the world. The cocktail consists of one ounce of alcohol, one dehydrated human toe, garnished with courage. When the toe touches your lips, you got a certificate.
One of the biggest draws in town is Diamond Tooth Girties Gambling Hall. Each night, showgirls entertained tons of tourists, with multiple wardrobes.	Once we left Dawson City, we pointed the nose of the RV south and drove about 250 miles each day for the next six days. We stayed at beautiful Provincial parks, with awesome hiking trails.
One night we dry docked next to this Native American historic site in British Columbia.	After driving through lush and green countryside, we were surprised to drive through this desert landscape.
Our first major stop was in Washington with Larry's cousin Jerry and Mary Barnhardt. We spent Labor Day at the State Fair, where they reminisced about their boyhood days on the farm.	The next day, we drove to the SeaTac Airport where we parked the car and took the Light Rail to downtown Seattle, which, in our minds, is one of the most beautiful cities in America.
We got off the Light Rail, took an elevator up three floors to the street level, and spent most of our time along the Sound, which is home to the famed Pikes Market.	We had lunch at one of their favorite restaurants where the Salmon and Halibut were flown in fresh from Alaska.
Next stop was in Salem, Oregon to visit Larry's sister Claudia, her husband Lou and son Bryan, who we had not seen since before COVID. They are the ones who got us interested in RVing and snow birding.	We spent an evening at Spirit Mountain Casino, about a half hour west of Salem. After dinner, both Glorine and Claudia hit small jackpots. The Harvest Moon lit up the road on the way back to Salem.
Having missed the family reunion in July, we spent allot of time talking about the Barnhardt family history about Germans from Russia which Bryan is tracing on Lou's side of the family.	After spending time at an RV remodeling store near Portland, we drove passed Glorine's alma mater-- Portland State University, where we saw this cool parking garage with a facade of textbooks.
Our next stop was with Larry's nephew Steve and Elaine in Eugene. They grew up in Nebraska and moved to Oregon 25 years ago. Steve manages a regional waste-water treatment plant, which is the only plant in Oregon that produces natural gas as a by-product.	They took us to several wineries, which were closed due to power outages. The fear of forest fires forced power companies to shut down power as strong winds were predicted. We settled on dinner at a restaurant their son, Cole, manages in downtown Eugene.
From Eugene, we headed to the coast highway, which we took all the way to southern California. We spent a night in Coos Bay, which is the largest city on the Oregon Coast.	Coos Bay is also the largest deep seaport between Seattle and San Francisco and has several awesome bridges that allow big ships to navigate the harbors.
The Oregon Coast is like no other, in that none of the Pacific coastline can be privately owned. While some parts of the drive were overcast; the view of the shoreline were still stunning.	Just south of the Oregon state line, we got to the Redwood State and National Park, where we had this interpretive guide talking about the ancient or old growth redwoods. Some over 2,500 years old.
Larry has always been a tree hugger and wanted a picture to prove it. Especially after learning that only four percent of the old growth forest is still standing.	Glorine shows how resilient these ancient trees are. While fire gutted the inside, this tree remains alive and well.
Our guide talked about all the ferns and three-leave clovers (that are edible) that grows in the shade of these giant redwoods.	We saw this elk grazing along the side of the road. We, along with other tourists stopped to take pictures. A bike rider rode along the side of our RV to protect himself from the elk.
We hiked a dozen trails through groves of giant redwoods, which are the only tree that do not release carbon into the atmosphere once it dies. Other plants thrive on these decaying trees.	Throughout the town of Eureka, we saw the homes of timber barons who made their money from the old-growth forest. Their wives, however, were the inspiration to saving what currently remains.
We enjoyed driving along these highways that weaved us through these giant groves of redwoods.	In addition to trees cut out for cars to drive through, we noted this tourist trap that used a fallen redwood to lure us in.
From trees to vineyards--California is famous for both. We stopped at Gracianna's winery, because of her story we learned about on an audio book along our trip.	While the grapes were picked about ten days earlier, Glorine found a few ripen grapes, which were very favorable.
Our next stop was with Ajijic friends, Chuck and Jean Busch at their home in Oakland. Along with catching up, we watched the movie Top Gun, hiked a nearby park and had the best pizza at a local restaurant.	From Oakland, we drove to Santa Cruz, where we picked up California Highway 1. Like the Oregon coast, parts of this drive is indescribable. This is one of several arched bridges along the drive.
We spent a week camping and hiking along a 175 mile stretch of this two-lane highway. Because of all the breathtaking stops, like this one, the highway comes with tons of pull out for us to take it all in.	We got off the CA1 highway in Pismo Beach, where we had fun catching up with Jerry and Mary, friends we met at a RV rally, over ten years ago. They live in a park-model near the beach with two cats and a dog. From here drove to Carmen's, to find out they all had COVID! Oh No!