Leaving Alaska Soon

I'm sure Linda will have a few more posts before we leave Alaska, a place I lived for 23 years, the longest I lived anywhere in my 72 1/2 years.  I lived in Anchorage but at one time orthe other I visited most of the rest of the state, missing only the tourist Alaska most people see (Juneau and the inside passage.)  Anchorage is my favorite city.  With 10, 946 acres of parkland, 23 city parks, 250 miles of trails, 135 miles are paved trails,  In the winter who cares about paving?  Its snow covered anyway.  A city of 300,000 and the real heart of Alaska,   With winter festivals, Iditirod, Fur Rondy, and a festival somewhere in the state almost every week, plus ongoing fishing contests for biggest halibut or tagged salmon during the summer,  there is always something going on.  And let's not forget the Nenena Ice Classic,  Date and time of when the ice breaks up on the river and starts to move.  A tripod set on the ice and tied to a clock to record the exact time.

Well, good bye Alaska, I loved you well,  but its time to leave.  So long to the Great Land I'll probably never see again.

From Talkeetna to Valdez - city displaced 4 miles by 1964 earthquake and termination of Alaska pipeline

Polychrome mountains - gypsum, not copper

On to Valdez - stayed overnight at Copper Center - camping right next to Klutina River.  Fishermen up and down the banks.  Trip thus far has been beautiful, passing snow covered mountains and the Matanuska glacier.  It's amazing the beauty in Alaska, just traveling along the road.  Very few roads - I can see the difficulty they could have building roads.  Just a few mountains, glaciers, rivers, lakes in the way.

Road re-construction along the way.  Sharing the dirt road with these big fellas.  Course, they probably feel the same way about us.

Matanuska Glacier in the distance

No pictures of our hike - left our new camera sitting on a rock outside the restrooms.

We took a very nice 3.5 mi hike around Talkeetna Lakes.  All kinds of berries ripening, including high-bush cranberries and rosehips.  Too bad we don't have pictures, as I left our brand new camera sitting outside the bathrooms.  Kickin' myself.  Linda

Flight around Mt McKinley - Words can't describe!

We had the most awesome experience - beautiful weather - clear for us to see all of the beauty of this majestic mountain and surrounding glaciers.  I feel so blessed - to have had such an experience and, to share it with someone I love .  Linda

Marv waiting for the flight - Meanwhile I can't sit still

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail - total ride 15 miles - Anchorage, AK

One of the reasons we returned to Anchorage was to ride this coastal trail.  Most of the trail was in lush forest that followed  the coastline from Kincaid park to downtown Anchorage.  Marv had a great idea for the shuttle to the trailhead We took a people mover from the downtown area to within 4 miles of the trailhead.  The buses have a tote on the front for bicycles.  Then we hopped off at Raspberry Road and Jewel Lake Rd and biked the 4 miles to trailhead.  

The trail was very busy on the weekend, but that sure didn't bother Bullwinkle.  He was just munching and munching right on the edge of the trail.  He didn't come up out of the brush so we could see just how big he was, but his velvety antlers (still growin') said it all. 

• Most of the trail was level or downhill as the elevation of the park was higher than downtown, so it was as easy a ride as 15 miles can be.  We certainly enjoyed it, as did many other people. 

Flattop Mountain-3510 feet- We made it!

Making the hike to Flattop Mountain was on our "must-do" list for Anchorage.  Marv had hiked it several times (the last time about 15 years ago), stating he wasn't sure he would do it this time.  But he did; and, so did I.  And Arlo, well he was up and down to make equivalent of climbing it twice. He is definitely a "mountain dog" and just loves it!  We like hiking, but that dog is happiest when he is on a hike.  His agility skills were definitely at work, without a misstep.  As for Marv and myself, we both landed on our butts several times, due to the loose gravel, in spite of our careful stepping.  However, at least the helicopter, that arrived to rescue a hiker, was not for us!

The panoramic views of Anchorage, the ocean and the mountains made all our effort worthwhile.  It was nice that our frequent rest stops allowed greater appreciation of the view as we climbed higher and higher.  Just as we started our descent, two parasailers came off the mountain.  And when we were about 1/2 way down, a rescue helicopter landed in our pathway to pick up a senior who had fallen on the trail.  

It was about the most strenuous hike Marv and I should be doing at this point in our lives.  A couple of times I questioned our sanity.  But we need to live "on the edge" every now and then.  "Hiking a trail" turned into "rock-climbing" at the summit.  But it was too late to quit then, as we were almost to the top.  A very steep final ascent had me wondering how we were going to get back down.  The loose rock, gravel and dirt was the treacherous part.  But we kept 3-4 point contact at all times and had enough endurance to make it safely.  It took us about 5 hours, including reststops and time at the top.

Anchorage - for one more week

We are back in Anchorage today.  Bought a new little throw-away grill on which to cook our halibut.  Plus we bought a couple of new lawn chairs.  Back to Golden Nugget RV park for a week.  Gonna finish up some activities we didn't get to do last stay.  Tony Knowles trail for biking, and hiking Flattop Mountain.  And of course, a couple of days recovery.  Might hunt for a new little camera also, as the one we have is very outdated and almost obsolete.  My phone takes sharper pictures than our camera.    Linda

Floating down the Kenai river - pretty quickly!

We took a canyon raft ride on the Kenai river for about 6 hours.  Lunch was included and was quite good.  Beautiful blue glacial river - with snow topped mountains in few, and some mildly steep canyon walls.   I spotted a moose on the shore and bald eagles were as common as robins in spring in the midwest.   Katt was our guide.  We were about 2-3 hours on the river and an hour on Skilak Lake.  The river was very high and swift, but not many rapids due to its depth.  The lake was glassy and we could see the glacier in the distance.  Beartiful scenery.  A bunch of people along the upper portion, fishing for the salmon,  Did not see any bear, which surprised me, with the salmon running. Marv got some decent photos on the trip.

A few more notes on Homer....

Homer was one of my favorite stays.  Everyone comes to have a good time and walk the beaches and fish...  We stayed at the Ocean View RV Park.  Rates were very reasonable and we could watch for whales out of  our window all day long.  Never did see one breech, but the view was very nice.  We fished off the spit on our last day there.  Marv caught a big, pretty scary-looking fish.  I caught a little one while he caught 3.  Needless to say, we released these critters.

Two sisters bakery

Fishing is tiring for man and his friend!

Halibut fishing in Homer, where people from all over come to fish!

On this Alaskan trip, I have come to love halibut.  We went on a charter yesterday out into North Pacific to catch some.  Marv fished for about 40 min and caught 4 nice ones, keeping 2.  I fished all day and caught 5.  I could hardly climb out of the boat I was so tired.  Water was very rough and Marv got seasick for a bit.  I got a little queasy once, but not bad.  We had both premedicated for prevention.  Lots of people were feeling yucky.  It took us an hour and a half of boating just to get to the spot.  But it was a hot spot!  Everyone got their limit of 2, one under 29 inches and one any size.  Our largest was about 33 inches.  We now have a freezer full of vacuum-packed halibut filets!

On our way back in to the harbor, we spotted large pods of sea otters, floating on their backs in the water.  It looked like "Margaritiville" and "it was five o'clock somewhere".  They were hilarious!  Looked for whales all day, but did not see one of them.  I got a little anxious on the boat when I could no longer see the land so I just tried to concentrate on the wildlife.

Fishing trip of a lifetime - thrilling and exhausting - would do it again if I ever get the chance!  Linda

Kenai National Wildlife Center - Fourth of July - No Fireworks - Just MOOSE!

Started this morning out with a trip to the Visitor Center at Kenai National Wildlife Center.  It had a huge sculpture of a full antlered bull moose right at the entryway.  We were the only ones who had yet arrived, and nearby to the sculpture stood a real moose cow; it almost looked like she was trying to check out the sculpture.  Liked his looks, but scent wasn't quite right.  As we positioned ourself for better viewing, we realized there was a calf behind her in the woods.  That made things much scarier.  We kept our distance and quietly edged into the nature center.  They stayed right near the center and we were able to observe their activity for about 20 minutes from the windows.  Never been so close to such a huge wild animal, and we were safe from any threat.  It was great.  The two of them ended their nature center visit by tromping thru the flower gardens and taking down a couple of garden border fences.  It was awesome.  Got some decent pics for a change...usually it happens too fast.

 

Also, we met this ranger and started talking about how she came to Alaska for the first time this summer.  Come to find out, she is from Evansville and went to school at Dexter elementary, just adjacent to Christ the King School.  Same age as Stacy.  Gretchen Mominee is her name, and her mother was an ER nurse at St Mary's.  It is such a small world!

Kasilof

Moved to Kasilof on the 1st of July,  to stay over the holiday weekend.  Waiting for Homer to empty some, so we can find a decent park to stay in.  Decanter Inn RV park is almost deserted on this holiday weekend.  After arriving, it was easy to see why.  We had to search the sites for electric that worked.  And the rest was boondocking.  But the weather is accomodating with cool nites and mild days.

I say "almost deserted", but, in truth, moose life here has been very entertaining.  After seeing Mama moose with 2 calves saunter past our RV and encoutering Bullwinkle while walking outside, the place is pretty alive after all.

Got our fishing licenses and so we have cast a few lines into the lake waters here.  More practice then anything for me.  Haven't fly-fished in quite a while.  Had to dig out instructional DVD to take refresher course.  Trying to get geared up to visit the fishing capital of the world, Homer.  It was interesting to visit the hardware/fishing stores here.  The size and amount of fishing equipment sold here is an eye-opener to the fishing industry that is here.

Taking a halibut charter on the 7th, out of Homer.  Hopefully we will catch some to ship home to the kids.  That would be a wonderful souvenier for all.  Plus, a good time for us.

Drove to Homer yesterday (60 mi) to catch a sneak-preview.  Busy place.  Marv kept telling me I would like Homer, but wasn't real specific about  why.  Well, you just have to be there to understand it.  The massive bodies of water with the snowy mountains in the background and a mysterious foggy like appearance...well, you just have to be there.  He is right - I do like Homer.

Seward - Land of Boats and Ships

A new cruise ship arriving every day.  Sea otters in the harbor.  Even spotted a harbor seal walking along.  Rain and fog about 4 days.   Glad we took our boat ride before the weather got so bad.  Worked a jigsaw puzzle to pass the time.  Did laundry.  Cooked.  It is very expensive eating out in this area - probably because of the cruise ships.  But the halibut was worth it.