DENALI

July 28 through 31, 2016

DENALI STATE PARK

Judy and Mike Dennis, old friends from Ed’s high school days, are campground hosts at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park.  We spent a wonderful few days visiting with them, even though the weather is starting to turn wet and cooler.  A couple times it cleared up, so Judy and Jill got in a nice 5 mile hike, and we spent several evenings around the campfire.  We’ve been dreaming about camphosting, and Judy and Mike gave us a lot of pointers. 

War memorial honoring the Alaskan Eskimo coast watchers.

Homestead cabin 

Luxury living

War Memorial honoring all branches of service

 Historic Buildings in Talkeetna, above is the hotel used by climbers, on their way to scale Denali.  Right is the general store they used to buy provisions, it is mostly in the same condition.

 Sunset views.

I think this was our best view of Denali, on the right.  The rest of the time it was hidden by clouds.
It is much farther away than the other mountains, so even tho it is 20,000 ft, it doesn't look much bigger than
the others.  They say it is very impressive when you can see it from the Visitor Center, however, only about
30% of the visitors here get to see it.  

STERLING HIGHWAY TO HOMER

We finally saw a moose!  This guy even posed for us long enough to get a nice picture. 

STERLING HIGHWAY TO HOMER

Homer is at the very tip of the Kenai Peninsula.  It’s a fair sized town, dedicated mostly to commercial and charter fishing.  Oh yeah, and tourists.  Since it was Friday, we expected weekend crowds, so we parked the motorhome at the American Legion Campground in Ninilchik, about 35 miles away.   We drove down to Homer to scout it out and were rewarded with a sighting of sea otters in the waves.  We had to use binoculars, and would have needed a pretty good telephoto lens to get any pictures, but we enjoyed watching them dive for clams and then surface and float on their backs to eat them.  During the Russian era, the sea otters were hunted almost to extinction.  Now days their numbers are increasing.

SEWARD

July 25, 2016

Driving down to Seward was uneventful.  We keep watching the roadside for moose, but they don’t seem to want to show themselves.  Seward was kind of crowded, there was a cruise ship in, and the pink salmon were running, so we didn’t stay long.  There was still plenty of beautiful scenery, though.

The purple flowers are Fireweed.  It covers the roadsides and hills with brilliant purple color, some of the plants are 6 feet high. 

HOPE

A little goldrush era boom town, that is now a tourist stop and fishing area.  We stopped at a quaint little museum that had lots of gold mining relics complete with recorded stories of the old miners.  Some of the cabins dating back to that era are still lived in.

Gold mining tools

Quonset Hut from WW2, several of these are still being used throughout AK

Circa 1890's

 

KENAI PENINSULA

Well, my computer is slowing down to a crawl, and WI-FI is hard to find and pretty slow also.  I you are enjoying this blog, please give me some feedback, so I know it is all worth it.

June 17 - 24, 2016

This week we drove south out of Anchorage, on the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm.  Turnagain Arm, is an inlet or bay, with more beautiful scenery.  The story goes that it was named by Captain Cook, because he sailed up it but he had to turn around – again.

  We had stopped at a picnic area a couple of days ago, and as we passed that way again, there were helicopters scooping water out of the Arm, to put out a forest fire in that same picnic area.  No, we didn’t start it, the report was that it was started by lightning.  Later, we learned that because of the lack of rain, strong winds,  and difficult access that the area encompassed several hundred acres.  

WHITTIER

Next stop was Whittier, which can only be accessed by a tunnel through the mountain.  This tunnel is one lane and shared with a train!  Traffic is allowed through every half hour:  to Whittier on the half hour and from Whittier on the hour, while the train takes its turn several times a day in between.  Quite a system!   

While in Whittier, we took a boat cruise to see glaciers up close.  They had a National Forest Ranger on board, who explained about the region and how glaciers are formed.  Do you know why glacier ice is such a beautiful blue?  If you add a comment, I will tell you. 

ANCHORAGE

July 14 - 16, 2016

Mt. Sanford (16,235 ft), Mt. Drum, and Mt. Wrangell.  Zoom in on Mt. Wrangell, on the right, the little puff on top is not a cloud, it is steam from the active volcano.  Cool!

This momma struck a nice pose for us.  

Our next stop was at a Musk Ox Farm.  These animals are basically the same as their ancestors from prehistoric times.  At this farm, they are domesticated, and the underfur, called qiviut, is harvested, combed by hand each spring.  It is non-allergenic, and 6 times warmer than wool. It's knitted into scarves, hats, and gloves. I only wish I could afford some.  Whooee.  

GLENN HWY TO VALDEZ

July 11 - 13, 2016

 Gorgeous drive to Valdez through Keystone Canyon, with 2 beautiful waterfalls.  

Bridal Veil Falls

Horsetail Falls

 We stopped at a fish hatchery where hundreds of salmon were trying to fight their way through the weir to spawn upstream.  The seagulls, eagles, sea lions were there for the feast.  I guess we missed a bear by just a few hours.  

This eagle decided to take his lunch up into a tree to eat in peace.  

This is a replica of a fish wheel used by native people for centuries. Modern ones are still being used today and can be seen in the rivers along the highway.  In the background is a cache, used to store food and supplies along the trail.  I still think an industrious bear could get in.