Soldotna, Alaska

July 24^th

The weather changes very fast here in Alaska! The clouds have covered the sun and it has been raining since Sunday and is forecast to continue until Friday or Saturday. It sounds like some of you wouldn’t mind trading with us.

We are camped about 15 miles south of Soldotna at Johnson Lake State campground. We chose it because of the lake and the campsites. There’s plenty of room between the wooded sites, unlike private campgrounds where you are side by side in a gravel parking lot. We are near the clam beaches and Homer for halibut fishing. The Kenai and Russian Rivers for salmon are nearby too.

We have our fingers crossed that Kim, Kurt (Delta pilot) and the girls will make the flight to Anchorage out of Salt Lake tomorrow. They’re flying standby but there are 30 other people on the standby list for the flight they want! Once they’re here I probably won’t have much time to update the blog so I’ll fill you in when I can. Until then….

Seward, Alaska

The following is a continuation of where I left off on my last visit to the blog...

We spent three days in Homer exploring all the little shanty-type shops on the Spit and in the town proper. I don’t have a clue as to why it’s called the Spit. Maybe something to do with glacial activity since the Spit was created by a glacier. It extends half way into the bay and you can drive, dine, live (condos), fish and camp all along it’s length. We drove up the hills surrounding Homer and took pictures of the Spit. I feel like I’m repeating my adjectives since almost everything to do with nature in Alaska is beautiful, gorgeous, awesome, etc!! Man’s influence has not been as pleasant!

The shore opposite us was filled with glacier covered mountains. Off in another direction were dormant and active volcanoes which we could only see when the fog or clouds lifted. The active volcano happened to be spewing something but we were so far away it just looked like smoke. Maybe it was smoke since we never heard that it was erupting.

The beach was mostly gravel and rocks and the daily tides were something to see. We happened to be there during a time when they were having negative low tides and the sea would recede quite far. The Bald Eagles would hunt for fish during the times the tides were changing and Jim got some great pictures of a pair that came by everyday. Once when the tides were in we were able to watch a Sea Otter fishing. They are so cute floating around on their backs to eat their catch. We tried to get pictures but unfortunately our camera lenses just couldn’t capture more than a speck on the photo.

One day we drove back to Anchor Point and watched some folks fish in the Anchor River for salmon. The salmon runs have started but most of the salmon are about a week late. The fishermen & women we saw were having good luck. We assumed that they were locals but found out that they were from Yonkers, New York and Houston, Texas.

North of Seward, Alaska – July 19^th

We left Homer yesterday and drove across the Kenai towards Seward. The arrival of the salmon has attracted not only bears (which we haven’t seen) but hoards of fishermen. Trucks, cars, and RVs are parked along rivers and creeks all along the western side of the Kenai. At one spot the fishermen were only about 10 feet apart. That’s too crowded for me.

We found a great and uncrowded U.S. Forest Service campground, Trail River, about 20 miles away from Seward. It’s on a huge lake and you can fish for trout and Dolly Varden, another type of fish. It doesn’t have any hookups but the fee to camp is the best we’ve found… $5.50 per night. Normally it’s $11 but since we have a Golden Age Passport we can enter national parks for free and get reduced camping fees.

After breakfast we drove into Seward. Jim really liked this town and said he wouldn’t mind living there. It’s surrounded by Resurrection Bay on one side and mountains with the Harding Icefield on the other. The shops have the usual tourist items except for one that had the most beautiful carved eagles and other wildlife. Jim was captivated by one particular eagle and we both agreed that it would be a great souvenir of our trip.

Our next stop was at Kenai Fjords National Parks and a hike up to Exit Glacier. We joined a ranger led 1+ mile hike. He explained all about the cause and effect of glaciers and pointed out the reforestation of the terrain after a glacier melts. The ranger left us at a fork in the trail so we could explore on our own. We hiked up the morains of gravel until we reached the glacier.

It was different from the ones we saw on the boats because it didn’t terminate in the ocean so there wasn’t any calving. You could feel the cold breath of the glacier as the wind blew off of it. It definitely was a lot colder there than on the trail up. We took lots of pictures and hiked back down. It was another great day of walking and hiking.

July 20-21st

I’m sitting in the Sea Bean, a coffee shop in Seward, having a Mocha coffee and getting caught up on the internet.

Yesterday we went back up to Portage to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center to view the rescued animals that are unable to be returned back into the wild. It’s a marvelous place for them instead of a zoo. Most of the animals have 15+ acres to call their own and the enclosures are left in a natural state.

Today we’re going to look for a campground somewhere between Seward and Homer to act as a home base for us once Kim, Kurt, Sydney & Jenna fly up next week.

The weather has been perfect…sunny and mild, mid 60’s. Life is good!!

Homer, part 2

As you can see I’m still behind! I’m sitting in a Laundromat in Homer, Alaska that just happens to have a free hour of WIFI. I don’t have time to fill in the events of the last few days but I’ll try to do that when I get back to the Monty and then log on again.

We parked on Homer Spit. It’s a peninsula that juts out into Prince William Sound. We have great view of the water and bald eagles out the back window. I think we’ll spend a few days here dry camping.

‘Til then…..

Homer, Alaska - July 15th

Let’s pick up where I left off on July 7^th.

Instead of going for a hike in the rain we drove down to the gift shops that line the entrance to Denali for some serious browsing. I also checked to see if I could locate a WIFI signal for later.

Before we left on our trip I purchased a keychain sized device that will tell you if there’s a WIFI signal nearby and its strength. The only problem is that it won’t tell you if it’s a secured site or one that can be “high jacked”. When we came back later, with the laptop, none of the potential sites were available. Oh well!

The rain had finally stopped so we drove back north to Stampede Trail Road, the original entrance to the park. The first few miles are paved and have a few homes and home-based businesses along that stretch. The rest of the road is gravel and slowly narrows down so much that the truck could go no further. We passed several areas where other vehicles were parked and we weren’t sure where the owners were so we decided not to stay. If they were hunters we didn’t want to be mistaken for a bear and shot. We did find a beautiful lake out in the distance but unfortunately no wildlife.

On the way back out we stopped at a place that takes you on pack horse tours into the back country and checked their prices. Kim, Kurt and the girls will be flying up July 25^th to join us for a week and we thought going on a trail ride might be something fun to do with them. The owner was really nice and told us about another area that had an interesting geological feature that we should explore and off we went to Smoking Mountain to check it out.

Again we were on another gravel road and by now the truck was covered with sticky, gray Alaskan mud. We finally reached the end of the road and the Smoking Mountain. Actually, they’re sandstone or limestone cliffs with veins of coal running through them and at certain times, under certain conditions they smoke! It was a very interesting area and we took lots of pictures.

July 8^th

We were enjoying the area so much we decided to stay another day and go back into Denali National Park to take the sled dog kennel tour and then drive as far (about 15 miles) as private vehicles are allowed.

The sled dogs and handlers spend the entire year at the park and their main function is to patrol the park during the winter. The ranger said the dogs were happiest when the temperature was between 20º above to 20º below and running their heart out. But the dogs were eager to demonstrate their sled pulling skills for us even though it was sunny. Yes, we were having another sunny day!! But Denali stayed hidden from us.

After the park bus returned us to our truck we drove out to the Savage River and hiked about a mile into a canyon along the river. There was saw and photographed lots of Ptarmigan mothers and chicks. They’re large quail-type birds and once you started looking for them they were all over the place. The chicks were not afraid yet and came within two feet of us. The snowshoe hares were abundant and allowed us to take pictures of them too.

July 9^th

Good things can’t last forever and we had more sights to see so it was time to leave Denali behind and head for Anchorage.

The trip was a bit exciting and a bit stressful because Jim was told there were plenty of places with diesel fuel down the road and didn’t fill the tank before we left. Of course, you can guess what’s coming. The fuel prices around Denali were around $3.25/gallon. We had been paying $2.85 in Fairbanks and knew the Denali prices were highway robbery. The prices were also high at the next available station south of Denali so Jim kept going. Needless to say there were no more gas stations and the gas gauge was hovering just above empty. We finally spotted a gas station and pulled in only to find out they were out of diesel!! The next station was 15 miles away and we weren’t sure that they would have fuel either but we had to go for it. Luck was with us because we made it! They had diesel but the power to their pumps was out! We knew we couldn’t make it to the next station so we stayed put and waited for the power to return. Luckily, it was a short wait and we were back on the road.

I can’t believe how much Anchorage and the surrounding areas have grown since I lived here in 1984. Wasilla and Eagle Creek at one time were small towns north of Anchorage. Today they all just run together along the Glen Highway. Traffic is terrible and made worse because there are few freeways.

We had some trouble finding space in a full service campground and ended up in a municipal campground near Elmendorf Air Force base. We were surprised to find out that we were camped right next to Jean and Jerry from Virginia. We first met them at the visitor’s center in Dawson Creek and other campgrounds in British Columbia. We found out they had stayed at the same places we did but on different days. Small world!!

They told us about a mother Black bear and her cub that been running through the campground earlier in the day. Some campers had left food out in the open and that had attracted the bears. We got to see and photograph the cub later that evening. Then to top that off we were visited by a mommy moose and her two calves. Both the bear and the moose were no more than 20 yards away from us. Who would have thought that we would have the best wildlife sightings right here in Anchorage?

July 10^th

This was another one of those days for catching up on the laundry, going to the library for a WIFI connection so I could pay some bills and getting Missy shaved at the Dog Wash. She looks pretty weird but we’ve been living with a shedding fur ball for the last month and couldn’t stand it any longer!! Carson and Keeker the cat aren’t shedding but if they start we’re going to get them shaved too!!!!! Ha, ha….. I’m picturing the cat without hair!

July 11^th

We drove into downtown Anchorage to visit the Ulu factory. An Ulu is an unusual shaped native Alaskan knife with many uses from skinning a seal to chopping veggies. From there we walked the gift shops and saw more of the same stuff we saw in Denali, Fairbanks, etc, etc! We also checked on some day cruises out of Whittier or Seward in Prince William Sound to view glaciers for next week.

I got tired shopping and asked Jim if he wanted to see “Earthquake Park”. It was one of the hard hit areas from the 1964 earthquake where 4 people lost their lives and many homes destroyed. The city turned the area into a park. I lived nearby in the Turnagain area and we saw the house as we drove to the park. I was surprised to see that more than 20 years later it was still the same gray color.

After walking through the park we drove over to Lake Hood/Lake Spenard to see one of the largest and busiest float plane “airports” around and watched the planes take off and land. The lakes are adjacent to the Anchorage International Airport and it’s quite a contrast to watch the float planes land and hear the big jets take off.

July 12^th

We left Anchorage this morning and headed south along the Seward Highway for the Kenai Peninsula. In order to reach the peninsula you must travel along the Turnagain Arm of Cook’s Inlet.

The tide was out and I was hoping we’d get to see the famous Bore Tide come in. I’ve only seen it once and hoped Jim could see it too. Instead of the tide rising like it does in San Diego, the water comes in as a wave and at times can be as high as 6 feet! Crazy, die hard surfers have been known to ride the wave. I don’t know how they survive the cold water. Brrrr!!….Makes me shutter just to think about it.

Cliffs line one side of the road and if you’re lucky you’ll see Dall Sheep prancing from ledge to ledge. We weren’t lucky, but I did spot a Bald Eagle.

Some folks we met at the Anchorage campground told us about camping at Crow Creek Mine (former gold mine, now a National Historic Site) just outside of Girdwood/Alyeska ski area. We thought we’d check it out. After dragging Monty more than 3 miles up a mountain on a rutted gravel road there wasn’t any room for us. All was not wasted because we saw portions of the Ididarod Trail. It’s unbelievably narrow… just wide enough for the dogs and sled.

Anchorage - July 10th

As you can see I'm way behind with the blog!

We haven't been near an Internet connection since we left Fairbanks. I finally located one here at the public library in Anchorage. I needed to pay some bills and catch up on my email.

There's a lot more to tell but I don't have the time right now. It will just have to wait for another day somewhere down the road.

Denali - July 7th

The trip from Fairbanks to Denali, on July 5^th, was short and uneventful. And Jim is feeling better!

While we were in Fairbanks I tried to make reservations at the Denali National Park campgrounds but all the spaces for large RVs were already reserved. So we crossed our fingers and hoped to find something at a private CG. That “something” ended up being in Healy, AK, 12 miles north of Denali. It’s a nice spot, with an electrical hookup, among the Spruce trees. Other campgrounds closer in, with full hookups, were no more than gravel parking lots with the RV’s packed so close together you could pass a cup of sugar from window to window. And they wanted $35+ per night for the sites! They also were booked up. We were fortunate to find this one even though we don’t have water/sewer/WIFI.

We do have cell phone service, most of the time, since we’ve been in Alaska so Jim called Denali NP once we were settled into our campsite. He ordered tickets for the next day, July 6^th, for an 8 hour bus tour to Fish Creek. That’s the only way you can see the interior of the park since they don’t allow personal vehicles very far into the park. You are allowed to get on and off the bus anywhere you want and then take off on your own.

Certain areas are restricted because hiking there may negatively impact the wildlife in that area. We passed one area that was closed because there was a wolf den up the riverbed. There are 3 wolf packs that call Denali home and they normally stay in their own territory. After this spring’s breakup the alpha female from Pack 1 was found dead, probably natural causes they think. For some unknown reason, the alpha female from Pack 3 strayed into pack 2’s territory and was killed. So with two breeding females dead the park is very protective of the only existing litter. We weren’t fortunate enough to see any wolves during our tour.

We did see the grizzly bears that Jim had wanted to see. Once Jim saw the grizzlies grazing on a far off hillside he was ready to get off to get a closer look. I, on the other hand, was content to observe them with binoculars from the bus! They are very different from the black bears we saw in British Columbia. For one thing, the ones we saw were blonde in color and really stood out against all the green tundra. And they were huge compared to the black bears.

We also were lucky to see several bull Caribou who should have been up in higher country this time of year to get away from all the insects.

The scenery inside the park is spectacular!! Mountains and glaciers are everywhere. The tour took us through all types of terrains from forest to wet tundra and finally dry tundra. Surprisingly, Denali doesn’t get much yearly precipitation and the snow is so dry in the winter you can’t even make a snowball. The rivers are at their fullest right now but they really don’t look it. Most of the water is glacier melt and is so full of glacier silt that fish can’t survive in it.

Denali, (Mt. McKinley) the thing the park is famous for, kept itself hidden from us with a cloak of clouds. Most tourists never get to see the mountain. Luckily, I did get to see it when I lived in Anchorage even though the mountain is more than 130 miles north of the city. It’s that big!

This morning, July 7^th, greeted us with overcast skies and rain. We had planned to drive back north a few miles, to the original entrance of the park, and go for a hike.

Happy Independence Day!

We're still in Fairbanks because Jim has come down with either the stomach flu or food poisoning. It doesn't matter which one it is, he's been feeling miserable since yesterday.

Fourth of July ceremonies in Fairbanks are held at Pioneer Park and that's where we are camped. While Jim rested Missy and I walked into the park and watch the ceremonies and Air Force flyover. The rest of the day I spent talking with our RV neighbors from Massachusetts. It was a nice relaxing day.

There won't be any fireworks though... I don't know why. Maybe because it doesn't really get dark!!

Fairbanks – July 3rd

Saturday morning, June 30^th, we went to Fairbank’s Pioneer Park. It’s a rustic theme park filled with museums, galleries, a gold rush town and a dry docked sternwheeler. They also have an area for RVs to dry camp, free WIFI and we decided to move here on Sunday. After a short walk around we realized that we needed more than a morning to visit this park so we left for our Riverboat tour.

Riverboat Discovery is advertised as the #1 rated tour in North America and we really enjoyed all 3 ½ hours of it. The boat is spacious and clean and the tour starts with a demonstration of a float plane taking off and landing on the river next to the sternwheeler. Flying is a very popular mode of travel here in Alaska since there aren’t that many roads. As we traveled down the river we saw planes docked in front of homes and even in driveways! Some of the homes belong to the very wealthy and are huge and others are old dumps. This also is typical of Alaska. When I lived in Anchorage I couldn’t believe that the zoning would allow a mixture of residential and business next to each other. There probably wasn’t any zoning back then!

Our first stop was at the home and kennels of Susan Butcher, the Iditarod champion. Even though she passed away two years ago from Leukemia, her husband and kids are still active with the sled dogs. We saw a litter of puppies, all of the adult dogs, and a demonstration of a team of dogs pulling an ATV around a small lake. Their speed is amazing! The dogs did a lot of jumping around and barking but once they were in the harness they were all business and just wanted to go. After they returned they were unhooked and they all ran to the river to cool off.

The trip continued down the Chena River until it met the Tanana River. The junction of the rivers is called “Wedding of the rivers” because you can actually see the blending of the rivers. The Tanana River is white/gray in color because it’s fed by glaciers and contains lot of ground up rock. The Chena’s waters are brown so when the two types of water met you can see the two waters mixing together. Both the rivers are low right now but as the warm days continue they are expected to rise.

The Tanana is filled with sand bars so we were given another demonstration of a small plane landing and taking off of one of the sand bars. Just another demonstration of how versatile theses planes are. It looked like fun. In winter the pilots attach skis and retract the wheels so they can land on snow or glaciers.

Our final stop was at an Athabascan Indian village where we were shown different techniques on how they fillet salmon for various uses. We also saw how native parkas are made and decorated. Each type of fur in the parka is there for a specific reason. The parkas made by Dixie, an Athabascan seamstress, are valued at more than $18,000 and she even has one in the Smithsonian. I had a chance to talk to her and she gave me the name of a local quilt shop that I should visit, which we did on Sunday.

We moved over to Pioneer Park on Sunday, July 1^st and will probably be here until the 4^th. Yesterday, we took Monty in for repairs to the bathroom sink and toilet. There were pieces of plastic in the pipes that became lodged in the valves and stopped the flow of water. The repair folks think the plastic had been in the system since the trailer was made. Everything is working again.

We’ll be heading for Denali soon.

Fairbanks, Alaska June 30th

We left Whitehorse Wednesday, the 27^th. It was 63º under partly cloudy skies and it started to rain within a half hour of leaving. So what’s new! The scenery was beautiful none the less and the rain kept the bugs from sticking to the windshield. As we drove we were surrounded by mountains and stopped to take pictures of the snow covered Kluane Range in the distance. The Black Spruce trees were starting to look like something out of a Dr. Spock book. They’re thin in diameter and the branches hang down towards the ground. I read that one inch of trunk could mean the tree is almost a hundred years old. Since the ground is permanently frozen the roots are very shallow which in turn stunts the growth of the tree.

As we approached Lake Kluane we saw signs warning us of road construction ahead but we had crossed other places where they were fixing the road so we didn’t give any thought that there would be any problems. Wrong! We drove for 141km of gravel, mud, remember it was raining, frost heaves, and washboard conditions. If you drove more than 20 MPH the truck and trailer wanted to do the “Watusi” all over the road!! Very scary! At times we would have to wait for a pilot car to escort us through a one lane stretch of road. I was glad when we hit solid pavement but by this time the truck and Monty were covered in a thick layer of dirt and mud.

The Alaskan border was finally in sight! The sun was shinning and the temperature was 72º! The customs agent asked us the usual questions and then asked us how we liked Skagway? It took me a minute to realize we were in their computer system and they knew when and where we had been. We had a nice chat and we were free to continue on.

A half hour into Alaska we came upon a turnout with a beautiful view of lakes & distant mountains (milepost- 1231) and decided we would stop there for the night. We’re usually the first RVers to stop at a turnout for the night but others pull in until it’s a mini campground.

Thursday, the 28^th dawned sunny and warm. It was only 66º but felt much warmer. As we were preparing to leave we had a real scare when Keeker jumped out of the trunk, pulled out of his harness and ran under the muddy truck. He was just as scared as we were and just cried and cried. He half-heartedly tried to get away from me but finally let me catch him.

With that accomplished we headed off to Tok, Alaska the next “major” town up the road. We stopped for diesel and a truck and trailer wash that we had to do ourselves. You feed quarters into a machine and it turns on either foam or a high pressure spray of water. Twelve dollars later the Monty and the truck were presentable and we could see out of the windows. We noticed that there was a campground behind the Chevron station and Jim found out we could camp for the night for free if we filled our tank. So we pulled in with the other RV nomads.

Tok has a lot of native people with alcohol problems just like the in the lower 48 and we met three of them. A man and woman wandered over to a picnic bench near by and ate lunch. They were joined by another native who walked up carrying a beer bottle in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other which was shared by all three. One by one the guys left leaving the woman sitting at the table. The next thing we know she has a seizure and falls off the bench onto the ground. We ran over to help her and get her stabilized and sitting upright. She reeked of booze! I asked her name and she said, “White people call me Marilyn.” She said her people call her “Little grandma”. Jim went into the Chevron station to get help. They all knew her and said she was harmless. We gave her cold water, because it was so hot in the sun, and that seemed to sober her up a bit. She wandered off about an hour later.

The rest of our stay was uneventful and we left for Fairbanks the next morning.

Friday morning, June 29^th. You can tell you’re in the interior of Alaska because it’s so warm. It was 69º at 9:30 AM but the sun makes it feel much warmer. On the drive up to Delta Junction we saw some wildlife again… moose. All of the moose we’ve seen so far have been females (no antler growth) and we were able to stop for some pictures.

No trip up here would be complete without a stop in North Pole, Alaska which is actually a suburb of Fairbanks. We stopped at the visitor’s center, a log cabin with grass growing on the roof. We’ve seen other privately owned log cabin homes just like it. Then we visited Santa’s house and met both Mr. and Mrs. Claus and two of their reindeer that sported brand new growth of antlers. Very impressive.

We pulled into the Riverview RV park and are surrounded by a large caravan of RVers. Neither of us would care to travel that way. We set up camp and I made reservations for a river boat tour on the Chena River for Saturday. Then we drove into Fairbanks to look around and stopped off at a restaurant on the Chena River called Pikes Landing. We had drinks and an appetizer on the patio overlooking the river. You would have thought we were in California, except for the river and trees, because everyone was dressed in shorts and even a few Hawaiian shirts!

This morning we’re off to see the sights.