Update On Wanda

Here are a few pictures showing Wanda's progress. The sun actually came out yesterday, so Wanda got a buffing as well. The old girl is starting to look like her former self. . .if you don't look too close.

before. . .

after

 Spiffy curtains that Kirsty made.

before. . .

after

old back panel

new back panel

Catching some rays. . .

Peace my friends!

Spiffing Up Wanda

Apparently buying an old van is like buying a boat: keep tossing money at it to keep it looking proper. So, absent the money part, we have been doing the deed ourselves. First the interior, then we will concentrate on the exterior and replacing the canvas top.

Wanda without her knickers on. We removed the panels and cleaned her up a bit.

The panels were in various stages of deterioration, some with holes in them. Three panels are being replaced, the rest stripped of this plastic covering covering and painted. Good thing I took a picture of this piece. I replaced the panel yesterday and was wondering what the extra holes were for (where this bracket is).

Scraping away on the bed support before Kirsty tried heat on a side panel and found that the laminate peeled right off. I knew that. I just wanted to gouge the crap out of it. Really. Luckily this side won't see the light of day.

This is the other side. Looks much nicer. The roller, however, has seen better days.

Taking out the rear seat.

According to John, you can't just buff this out!

So this is what we have been busy with the last few weeks. Easy taking it apart, not so easy putting it back together. Now where does this screw go?????

Peace my friends.

Hellooo Wan-da

If you have seen "A Fish Called Wanda" you will get the meaning of the title. There we were, minding our own business in Sitka, when the urge struck us both to find a Volkswagen Westfalia and bring it back to Alaska. Some would call it cabin fever, or a tool to attend to our wanderlust. Whatever the cause, we found one in Santa Cruz, California that appeared to be just the right one. After talking to the owner Joshua, we were convinced and caught the next flying bag of bolts to San Francisco. We met Josh in Santa Cruz, did the deed, and headed back up to Prince Rupert, BC, (1800 miles) to catch the ferry back to Sitka. Madness? Perhaps.

We walked around Santa Cruz, where they filmed "The Lost Boys" but no vampires were spotted. Pity.

 I believe its twin sister is in San Diego at Belmont Park.

 Must be hideous in the summer!

 No vampires lurking under the bridge.

 The camellias were in bloom!

Working hard on my flat white at the coffee roasters, Verve.

The roaster is housed in an old cannery.

Oh yeah!

After picking up the westy, now named Wanda, we tootled out of town and stayed at Half Moon Bay the first night.

 It was a night of biblical proportions as regarding the weather. I expected Noah to come sailing by in his ark. The wind was howling, the rain hammering down, and the thunder and lightning crashing most of the night. What a night to experience our first outing! Happy to report that no leaks were reported the next day. This picture was taken the next morning, everything freshly scrubbed from the night's downpour. So glad not to have to wrestle with a soggy tent.

Pelicans at Half Moon Bay.

Unbeknownst to us, Greta had made birthday reservations for Jamie in San Francisco a few months back. So we met him in San Francisco for a birthday surprise lunch. The clam chowder was excellent!

View from the cliffs outside Trinidad, CA.

A path to the cliff in Trinidad.

After Trinidad, we stayed in Sunset Bay Park, by Coos Bay, Oregon.

 At first we thought these were rocks in the sand, but upon closer inspection, we found that they were huge tree trunks. The shore was about 200 feet behind me. The erosion in this bay is amazing!

The rock uplifted at the cliff's edge.

 Erosion wears it down.

Last remnants of the previous rock edge.

Kirsty found her first silver dollars ever in Cannon Beach, Oregon!

 Plenty of slugs about!

Who can pass by Tillamook and not visit the creamery??!! Tasted the cheeses ( a couple of times) and may have had a scoop of ice cream as well.

We stayed at Nehalem Bay, north of Tillamook in a yurt for a change.

 Very cool staying in a yurt!

 What a gorgeous place!

We had breakfast with Jamie at the Sunflour Cafe in Seattle. I had French Toast (orange infused bread) with peaches and berries. It could have choked a horse.

We snuck across the border to Canada and stayed in Hope, BC.

 Very nice!

Kirsty looking for gold in Hope.

McLeese Lake in BC. Wanda wasn't too sure about the 20 degree temperature at night. Her bones were creaking as we left in the morning, but she was fine after she heated up a bit.

Back in Sitka! It was a fun journey, learning to move things ten times around the van. It must be a law of nature that when you move something to another spot, you will need to next get whatever you placed the object in front of. And so on.

Peace my friends!

Spring

Spring has begun to show signs of life around these parts!

Kirsty knitted and then felted these bunnies! The daffodils came up by truck from the lower 48.

Peace

The Snow Surprises Sitka

Well, so much for the green grass! About a foot of snow fell between 7 am and 1 pm today. And as of 3 pm, it is still snowing. Apparently we have a stalled snow mass above us. We took a stroll to Totem Park to see what was what.

The tables at the entrance to the park were not for sitting at today.

 The snow is so heavy on the branches that they are touching the ground.

 Kirsty standing in the snow.

Snowy wonderland!

We are done with the snow. Where is the off switch?

Peace.

The Herring Are Coming

Today or tomorrow the herring fishery gets going. It is kind of like a bumper car affair at times, when the boats compete with each other for the bazillions of herring that are getting ready to spawn in Sitka Sound. They have to catch them before they spawn, so that they can extract the roe and sell it, mostly to the Japanese. With the herring in town, the sightings of sea lions, whales, seals and eagles goes way up. We were taking a drive out to the end of the road north of town when we pulled over to see the whales out on the sound. We looked out onto the water and saw a group of about 6 sea lions, just offshore, swimming around a very large fin poking up out of the water (nothing but the fin ever came out of the water).
This continued for about 20 minutes or so, leading us to believe that it was a small whale either injured or dead. Our binoculars were sitting at home, gazing forlornly out the window, so they were no help.
Kirsty made a couple of calls and soon a NOAA policeman (didn't realize there was such a thing), was heading our way. Sonny arrived just as the larger fin disappeared for good under the water. He said that it could have been a grey whale, as they can come real close to shore and scoop up large amounts of sea bottom, then float up to the surface, rolling on their sides as the sediment and water gets strained out, leaving the food inside the baleen. He says he gets calls often from folks thinking the whale is in distress as it lays on its side for an extended period of time. Sonny also said that sea lions will hang about the whales at times.
He said it could also have been a very large bull seal (Edgar being Sonny's favorite) who was being tended to by his harem. We think the flipper on the left (first picture), is too big for a sea lion, so we're are going to stick with the whale theory.
Anywho, we also watched more than a dozen whales further out in the sound, cavorting up and down, presumably having lunch. More on the herring fishery in a few days.

Peace!

Walking to the Beach

The sun came out, so we climbed out of the igloo and headed for John Brown's Beach. The wind had a bit of a bite to it, but the sun felt great on our pasty faces! Here are a few pictures to let you know we are still alive.

A view of Mt. Edgecumbe as we were walking across the bridge to the beach.

Looking back towards Sitka from the bridge.

 Da Beach! I know, seriously.

God's wood sculpture.

Peace my friends!