August 26-28, 2007, Valdez, AK

On the 26th we drove just over 250 miles from Wasilla to Valdez. This took most of the day. We stopped many times to look and take pictures of the mountains, valleys and glaciers. Our first day in Valdez was devoted to a nine-hour glacier cruise. We went to the Columbia and Meares Glaciers. The water was littered with icebergs. There was some very colorful ice. The weather was almost perfect for glacier viewing. Along the way we saw bears, eagles, sea otters, harbor seals, Stellar sea lions, Orcas, Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, cormorants and some birds we did not identify. Today we drove several miles in the truck looking at scenery including a large glacier which was close to the road and some waterfalls. We also picked some blueberries. We went to the museum and saw videos of the pipeline construction and the 1964 earthquake.

August 19 - 25, 2007, Wasilla, AK

Once again we are going to group a week’s worth of activities, since we stayed in the same campground the entire week. Before leaving Anchorage we did some replenishing of groceries at Sam’s. Our destination was Wascilla, northeast of Anchorage. The purpose of remaining in the area was because the Alaska State Fair began that week at nearby Palmer. At the Dorothy Page Museum we saw exhibits of Wascilla’s history, and behind the museum a historic town site that had several old buildings. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters is outside of town. While there, we watched a video about the race and took a sled dog ride. Independence Mine State Historical Park is located on the Hatcher Pass Road. The mine was a large producer of lode gold during the early 40's. The state has refurbished some of the original buildings. The Hatcher Pass Road is about 50 miles long, with at least half of it unpaved. We happened on a beaver dam and pond. It was exciting to see a beaver bringing building material back to its lodge. We visited the Martin Buser kennels. Martin is a four-time winner, and the fastest winner, of the Iditarod race. His time was 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. Those seconds can count because one of the past races was won by Dick Mackey with a margin of only one second. This is a sled dog race of more than 1100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. We saw a video of his racing, and he showed us one of his sleds and explained the items it carries. He also did a demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled. Carol had wanted to hold a puppy, and she was all smiles when she was able to do this. We went to the fair on two different days. The fair is home to some of the world’s largest vegetables. The big cabbage competition is next Friday. The winner will probably weigh more than 90 pounds. The all-time record cabbage was over 105 pounds. We saw some huge cabbages, squash, turnips, radishes, kale, and rhubarb. They were not part of the vegetables to be judged but there for display in advance of the judging. They have a lot of entertainment. We saw a juggling act two times. A lumberjack show, a military brass quintet, an African acrobatic team, saw animals--goats, poultry, rabbits, cows. The highlight was watching a demolition derby. Another fun thing was watching a scarecrow-building contest. There were at least 10 teams competing. Each team had a t-shaped post and a lot of old clothes to choose from. Some of the teams were quite innovative. There were scores of small booths selling food, souvenirs, including those made by Alaskans rather than made in China. Thursday night the climax of the day was a large fireworks display. The 25th was our 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated it by attending the Palmer church. They had a nice fellowship meal for visitors. After the meal we followed one of the members home. They live next to the Alaska Conference camp meeting grounds, and we wanted to see the facilities there. They told us the road beyond was gravel and led to a lake. We did the drive and were not that impressed with the lake. It was big but not scenic. We went back to the motorhome and took a nap. After 50 years we were really tired and sleepy.

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August 12-18, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Since we were in Anchorage for over a week and some days we did not do much sightseeing, we are going to group the activities. Following are some of the places we went and things we did: At the Visitors’ Center we obtained information about Anchorage. A bus tour took us to Earthquake Park, where the 3/27/64 quake slid 35 expensive homes into the water, and Hood Lake, the largest seaplane base in the world.

One afternoon we returned to Earthquake Park. We were thrilled to find a bull moose was eating his dinner, oblivious to his audience. Soon he decided it was time to cross the road but looked neither to the left nor right. That is why so many of them are killed by motor vehicles. Two natives were in a van with the door open and urged us to get in. We thanked them but just went around to the back of the van. The moose was only interested in crossing and being on his way. However, moose do kill by stomping their victims. This is usually a cow moose with a calf that feels threatened. At the Ulu factory knives are made out of modern materials. The natives originally made the knives out of rocks they sharpened into curved blades and attached handles. It was what they used for skinning animals and preparation of food.

They have a contest every year, and the artists had designed some very interesting-looking fish art. The Alaska Zoo housed just about every animal we are used to seeing in the lower 48. However, we missed monkeys. John concluded it was not warm enough because they did not have enclosed buildings for the animals–just rock dens. At the Alaska Native Heritage Center they demonstrated dances done by the native tribes. There was also a path around a small lake where they had replicas of the homes of the various tribal areas and a native of that area gave some information regarding their tribe. But there were no igloos. We understand they are only built by some of the native hunters and trappers during the winter when they are away from their villages. The Alaska Botanical Gardens were nice, but they had passed their peak. The Anchorage Museum of History and Art at Rasmussen Center housed much interesting information, artifacts and displays regarding the native people. At the Wild Berry Park we saw a very beautiful film about Alaska and were able to hand feed and pet reindeer. Inside the building where they made wild berry candy they had the world’s larger chocolate fountain.

The J C Penney store in downtown Anchorage has a Kokiak bear on display. It is on record as the 101st largest bear taken on Kodiak Island. Its weight was 900 lbs and it was 10 feet 6 inches tall. We can’t remember if we have made mention of the beautiful flowers everywhere you look. Alaskans, who after a long winter are anxious for color, decorate their lawns, lamp posts, and porches with hanging baskets and flowers everywhere. It is really a beautiful sight.

August 11, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Since we were camping in the church parking lot it was easy to be on time. An announcement in the church bulletin stated they were having a special offering the following Sabbath to pay off their new piano; so we made a contribution to it, since we are saving money on camping. After church they had a fellowship dinner, and we joined them for a delicious meal. In the afternoon, after we took a nap, we drove back to Turnagain Arm. We stopped at a river where people were fishing, but we never saw anyone catch a fish. At a boardwalk wildlife-viewing area, we saw water birds and a few large reddish salmon at an area where fishing is not permitted. The church parking lot was a good one for walking, so Carol was able to get in some exercise most evenings.

August 10, 2007. Hope, AK

We spent a couple of hours at Hope. It is a small settlement that goes back to the turn of the century. Gold was found here before the Klondike gold rush. It was not a high-producing area, though, like the Klondike. There are several old buildings at the museum. From Hope we went to the Portage Glacier. Here we were able to visit the glacier by boat on a lake created by the glacier and also walked to Byron Glacier .8 of a mile one way. We didn’t do it, but there were some who walked onto the snow near the glacier and went sledding. We had tried calling one of the Anchorage churches to see what time the services would be held but only got a recording and noone replied to the message we left. We decided to skip staying in a forestry service park and drive to the church hoping the parking lot would be ok to park on and we would be there for when services started the next day. It was large and had a fairly level area. The church secretary was there and said it was fine to park on the lot and we could stay there during the week. That will make it very convenient for sightseeing Anchorage.

August 9, 2007, Soldotna, AK

Last night we camped in a Fred Meyer parking lot. Fred Myer is a store similar to a Super Wal-Mart. They allow RVs to park along the periphery of the store parking lot. During the morning we stopped at a visitor center where there was good internet, and I posted blogs of several of the previous days and checked the mail. We then started on our day’s journey. Along the way we stopped for several views and at a place were wood carvers demo and sell their products. They had a lot of interesting creations. There were bears, eagles, fish, moose, and people, among other things. You know Alaska is a lots larger than Texas and they have big furniture up here. Late in the day we finally made it to within 5 miles of Hope. There was a good place to park next to the Turnagain Arm. This is a large inlet named by Captain Cook. He sailed into it looking for the northwest passage. When he reached the end he had to turn around and named it Turnagain Arm. This body of water is about 37 miles long.

August 8, 2007, Homer, AK

We began the day by visiting the Pratt Museum. You could spend the whole day, but we only had time for a few hours. One of the fun things was watching the brown (grizzly) bears. They have a remote camera on a stream about 100 miles away. The lady operating it from the museum could pan the stream and zoom in on the bears. You can go to www.prattmuseum.org to view the bears. There is supposed to be a link. I have not checked it out. If they are not showing them live, they play some of the archived sessions. Homer is the end of the road, so by mid afternoon we were on our way back the road we had traveled. As we left Homer we could see smoke coming from Augustine Volcano over 100 miles away. We stopped at some places we had skipped on the way to Homer. This included a visit to an old Russian Orthodox Church, and a general store that has some of the biggest scoops of ice cream we have ever seen. Yummy! We purchased a reindeer pelt here. We don’t know exactly what we will do with it but have a couple of ideas. We had read the store had good prices and later found the same pelts for $40 more. That always makes you feel good.

August 7, 2007, Homer, AK

The first thing we did today was the weekly wash. We finished just in time to take a boat tour to Seldovia. It is about 90 minutes or 15 miles from Homer. They go the long way over and pass a couple of islands to view seabirds. Gull Island is the home of black-legged kittiwakes, tufted and horned puffins, red-faced cormorants, murres and, of course, gulls. We also saw some more sea otters at gull island and along the way to and from Seldovia. Seldovia is a small town across the bay from Homer. It can only be reached by water or air. We had 3½ hours there to sightsee and eat lunch. Before the 1964 earthquake there were 2000 residents engaged in fishing and canning. The earthquake destroyed that industry and now there are only about 300 residents. Their main business is tourism

August 6, 2007, Homer, AK

We went to the new Alaska Islands & Oceans Visitor Center. They have exhibits of sea birds and mammals of Alaska and much interesting information, some dating back a couple hundred years. Also, there is a film of how they use their research and supply ship. This is one place a visitor to Homer needs to include. There is also a nature trail. After visiting the center we drove several of the roads around Homer. On the East End Road we were able to look across the bay to mountains with glaciers. We went around a curve and there was this moose. She was right next to us when I got stopped. I had the telephoto lens on my camera and she was actually too close to use it. She was down in the ditch and the grass between us makes her look blotchy. The above picture was taken when we drove up on their Sky Line Drive. From an overlook we could see this view of the town and the spit we are parked on, with the bay and the mountains in the background.

August 5, 2007, travel to Homer, AK

Today, we drove to Homer which is one of the major destinations on the Kenai Peninsula. Most of the people come here to fish. They catch some very large halibut here. Most catches are between 50 and 100 pounds. Some of them are over 300 pounds. We are camped at the end of the Homer Spit which is a narrow piece of land about 3 miles long. We have water in front of us, a road behind and the boat harbor across the road. Toward evening the sun finally came out, and we had a beautiful sunset about 10:30 pm. The days are now getting shorter, and we do have some real darkness during the night

August 4, 2007, Captain Cook State Park, AK

It rained again this morning. We did our usual church by DVD. We had another sermon by Doug Bachelor. It finally let up in the afternoon and we went down to the beach were we picked up a few pounds of rocks. I joined Carol in the crime. She did pick up a lot more than I did.

August 3, 2007, Captain Cook State Park, AK

Rain good portion of the day. We walked down to the beach in the afternoon. Carol has this fixation to pick up rocks. The ones she chooses are usually pretty and will look better when they are polished. If she keeps going we may have a “ton” of them before we get home. She has already decided she wants a rock tumbler for her 50th anniversary gift.

August 2, 2007, Captain Cook, AK

Not a pretty day. The sky was overcast; and it rained some, as we drove toward Captain Cook State Park. We camped at a turnout beside this lake for the night. By the way, between us we have now taken 5,752 pictures. We are glad they are not on film because if they were it would
would mean a small fortune. We have deleted some along the way, but we know many more will disappear as we review them.

August 1, 2007, Seward, AK

This morning we visited Exit Glacier. You can drive to within a mile of it and then take a trail to an observation area very close to it. You could feel the cold air coming from the ice. Later, we took a 6-hour wildlife & glacier cruise. On this cruise we saw the above sea otters. They were part of a group floating way out from shore. We also saw many bird species, including Kittiwake, Puffin, Cormorant, and Murre. There were a number of sea lions on a rock .near an island where there were several hundred birds nesting. The glacier did not do a spectacular calving while we were there, but there were a few small ones. The glacier would crack like a rifle shot.

July 31, 2007, Seward, AK

We arrived at Seward and found a spot to camp at a RV park along the bank of Resurrection Bay, so we could watch the fishing and sightseeing tour boats go and come. The entire afternoon we spent at the Alaska Sealife Center. There were live sea animals, birds, sea life displays and informative talks by naturalists. They even had remote cameras showing wild sea lions basking in the sun at Chiswell Island, 35 miles away. The Puffin picture was taken at the Sealife Center. We saw many of them in the wild but could not get the close-up we were able to get at the center.

July 30, 2007

We traveled from Talkeetna to southwest of Anchorage, with a stop at Wasilla. Carol’s sister, Judy, had spearheaded a short-term mission group a few years ago to go there to help build the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She asked us to get some pictures for her. South of Anchorage we drove the Seward Highway that parallels Turnagain Arm for about 25 miles. This body of water is an extension of Cook Inlet. We spent the night between the highway and a spur of the Alaska Railway, where there was a tourist trap that was closed for the night.

July 29, 2007, Talkeetna, AK

This small town of 873 population stays extra busy with tourists. The attractions are flightseeing to Mt. McKinley, fishing, float trips and shopping. All the climbers of Mt. McKinley depart from Talkeetna by air. Planes fly them up to base camp on a glacier. There is an outstanding museum, and we attended a video showing of a bush pilot who did the highest fixed-wing rescue on the mountain. They now have helicopters that are able to fly to the very top for rescues.

July 28, 2007, Denali National Park

We had to check out of the park today. Decided to leave the campground at 5:00 am in hopes of seeing animals before the buses filled with sightseers came along. As we drove, we spotted a red fox coming toward us along the shoulder. In its mouth was its breakfast. Neither of us got a decent picture–suppose it was because the fox was really moving out. We did stop the motorhome, and it passed us as though we weren’t even there. However, our decision to leave early was to no avail. Quite a bit of road construction is being done on the park road. They do a lot of the work at night, when the buses aren’t running, because it doesn’t get very dark. Many semi-sized haulers kept passing us as they took out the dirt and tree roots to be dumped. Before we left the park we wanted to see their sled dogs. During the winter Denali National Park does all its patrols by dog sled. Each day they give two free demonstrations. The visitors are able to visit and pet some of the dogs and then watch a sled, mounted on wheels, being pulled by several dogs. The above picture shows Carol trying to guide the sled, but the dogs decided to go on strike! Actually, they had just run the course and were resting. The dogs prefer winter weather and pulling a sled in the summer, even though the temperature is in the 60's, warms them up in a hurry.