A day at the beach

Saturday, June 30, 2018 - Homer, Alaska

This morning started off early as Mike went out on a fishing charter and I went for a national wildlife tide pool walk.  We were given an 8 1/2 x 11 card with ocean critters to identify and walked down the beach to explore the pools.  It wasn't a very low tide but we did see some burrowing anemones and crab exoskeletons and sea fleas.  I got my shoes soaked (oops, no boots!).  It was a nice walk on a glorious sunny day.

our spot at Homer Spit Campground

Mike got back about 1:30 pm and caught his limit, 2 big ol' halibut!  We'll have fresh fish to eat for awhile!

Mike halibut catch

I picked him up at the boat dock and after dinner we walked around the shops on the Home "spit" - a long finger of land that juts out into the Katchemak Bay.  The whole area is filling up with people for the 4th of July holiday so we're leaving before then.

Soldotna and the Kenai Penisula

Tuesday, June 26 2018 through Thursday, June 28, 2018

Soldotna ( soul DOT nah) is the hub of the Kenai, a good size city with all the amenities.  We hung out in the Fred Meyers parking lot for three nights to explore the area and replenish supplies.

There was the cleanest, most well-appointed laundromat in town where we could also get showers so we spent a couple hours after dinner on Tuesday getting cleaned up.

On Wednesday we took a ride out the Kenai Spur Loop to the end of the road.  Not much to see except huge oil, natural gas and nitrogen plants at the coast.  One beach had an interesting tree stump (Can you see Mike in the distance? He's the orange dot).

In the evening we drove out to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and walked along the trail near the center to the lake.  The center was really neat, with a large display of animals from the area.  It was helpful to see the scale of the different kinds; the grizzly or brown bear was enormous.  I don't want to run into one of those!

We haven't seen many live animals since getting to the more populated areas.

Headquarters Lake at Kenai Wildlife Refuge center

oil rig at Nikiski near end of Kenai Spur Highway

original homesteader's cabin moved to reserve

We explored the local used bookstore and got fishing gear advice.  We're both going through a book about every three days and we just recycle them at the used bookstores on our way.

On Thursday Mike went out to play some golf at the Kenai 18 hole course, the only 18 hole course on the peninsula.  After he got back, I drove out to old Kenai to see the Russian Orthodox church, built in 1894.

Russian orthodox church in old Kenai

Within walking distance is the Beluga RV Park and which is perched on the cliff side.  Next to it is a small park with equally great views of the Cook Inlet.  Most of this area can't be seen because the road is set back from the coast.  Private homes along the coast are shielded by dense trees.

Cook inlet from Beluga point outside of Kenai

There was another used bookstore in Kenai where I indulged in a pile of hardbacks that hopefully will last until I get back.  If you want to see what I've been reading checkout my other blog, Rooms with Windows.

Friday we head further south.  A side note, I cleaned out the refrigerator before we left and have been using up the frozen and canned peculiarities I'd found.  We've had filo dough wrapped sausage and mushrooms, steak calzones with pie crust dough, green chili enchiladas, and beets (only me on those)! It's a challenge and our little kitchen with the microwave and counter top convection oven is more than up to it.  Good thing we get lots of walking in.

The rest of the story...

Saturday, June 23rd 2018 - Kenai Fjords Wildlife Cruise thru Monday, June 25th 2018

We spent all day Saturday out on the fjords of the Kenai Fjords National Park on a small ship (about 100 people).  We saw the Bear Glacier up close and puffins, sea lions and hump back whales!

I haven't been able to upload the pictures we took with our cameras, so you'll have to wait until we get back (ha, ha!)

When we got back at 5:30 pm, we were tired and crashed for the night.

On Sunday, I tried to find and fulfill some requests for pictures of gravestones from the Find A Grave app.  People posts requests for pictures and the app allows you to "claim" the requests and post any pictures you can get.  Sort of geo-caching for genealogists!  Seward has four cemeteries next to one another but I wasn't able to find any of the requested names.  It was peaceful walking among the early settlers of the area.  Anyone want to try and make out what this one says?

I also visited the Library, where they had decent wi-fi, and met some folks from the Historical Society in the adjoining museum.  They are digitizing their collections of papers, scrapbooks and obituaries.  Maybe in the future they can be accessed online.  It was neat to see how the homesteaders lived in the early days and see the devastation caused by the Good Friday earthquake in 1964. 

Monday we re-visited the Aquarium and Exit Glacier.  Exit Glacier is inside the park, so I got my second National Park stamp from here.

Exit Glacier

Sea lion at Seward Aquarium

octopus at Seward Aquarium

Tuesday morning we headed down the Kenai Peninsula to further adventures!

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea!

Thursday, June 21 through Monday, June 25, 2018 Seward, AK

We left Anchorage on Thursday morning and headed south along the beautiful Turnagain Arm about 100 miles to Seward, Alaska.  Seward is a port town, used by cruise ships now and in WWII was a strategic access point to the interior of Alaska.  There a murals all over town depicting the history and events that have happened here.

We got a spot in Resurrection Bay Campground, facing the inlet, with the mountains rising across the water.  No hookups but beautiful views!   Thursday afternoon the sun came out for a bit and we went walking along the Resurrection river.  Everything is so vast here.  The mountains are enormous, the rivers rushing liquid like a gray milkshake from the glacier silt.

We hung out on Friday and on Saturday we're taking a cruise to the Kenai Fjords National Park, a series of fjords with glaciers and coves.  Stay tuned!

Exploring a glacier!

Monday, June 18 through Wednesday, June 20 Anchorage Alaska

On Monday we did some shopping around town.  It's easy to walk around and see the tourist shops.  We got tickets for a glacier cruise and on Tuesday drove down to Whittier, about one and a half hours south, through a 2.9 mile long tunnel that is shared with the train.  We had an early afternoon cruise that was really fogged in at the beginning and raining.

Mike walking to our ship

Three glaciers

up close with the Surprise Glacier

It turned out to be a great cruise, with salmon and spare rib dinner on board.  We saw lots of waterfalls and a bird rookery. 

birds that nest on cliff next to waterfalls

After the boat docked, Mike drove back through the tunnel and I took the Alaskan Railroad back to Anchorage.  Another beautiful trip along the Turnagain Arm

We were beat when we got back about 9:30 pm and slept well!  

Wednesday Mike went out and played a round of golf in a very tough course.  I did some cooking and in the evening, took the trolley tour in downtown Anchorage before attending the Anchorage Genealogical Society meeting to get my genealogy fix!  The flowers downtown are all in bloom and it was 72 degrees here today! 

Tomorrow is the summer solstice - the longest day of the year, over 20 hours of daylight though it will never really get dark. We're packing up Thursday and heading further down the Kenai peninsula.

Anchored down in Anchorage

Saturday, June 16 2018 thru Sunday, June 17, 2018 Trappers Creek AK to Anchorage AK

We drove from Trappers Creek to Anchorage on Saturday and are settled in at Elmendorf/Richardson FamCamp through Wednesday. 

We did some shopping - Costco on a Saturday! - they had "dip" nets (giant fish-scooping nets), kayaks, blackout drapes, some things we don't see at home!

Sunday morning we went out to Potter's Marsh, a swampy area that runs next to Turnagain Arm, an inlet south of Anchorage.  It was windy and cool.  Mike spotted a bald eagle and was able to point it out to several folks on the boardwalk but too far away for a picture.  We did get some other birds, some geese that Mike asked to stay in Alaska and stay off the golf course at home!

Canadian geese

We drove on out to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center and saw many native animals; wood bison, caribou, deer, reindeer, muskox, bald eagle, owl and a porcupine.  Great stop.

herd of Wood Bison being reintroduced to Alaska

Porcupine

 The best part were the two grizzly bears that went for a swim and tussled on the grass

grizzly bears

We plan to hang out here for awhile and explore the area with the jeep, leaving the RV as our base at the base.  We've officially be gone a month, over 4500 miles on the RV!

Heading south for more prospecting

6/13/2018 Fairbanks AK to 6/15/2018 Trapper Creek, AK

We recuperated Wednesday in Fairbanks and headed out Thursday morning for Trapper Creek, about 200 miles south of Fairbanks on the Park Highway.  There's a prospecting place Mike wants to try out that he didn't get to in 2016.  On the way, we saw the mountain range that includes Denali, although the peak itself was not visible from the road and was clouded over at one lookout point.  The scenery was stunning, I could see coming here more often!

Even the highway shoulders have gems of beauty!

Everyday isn't vacation

6/12/2018 Fairbanks, Alaska

Just so you don't think every day we're out enjoying ourselves, a little bit of real life does creep in.
Today while Mike was out in Central (that's a town), Alaska doing some prospecting, I spent the day taking an online Defensive Driving course.  I got ticketed for going too slow through the lagging left hand turn at Scottsdale and McDowell back in April.  It was either pay the fine ($335!) and get points or take the class ($225) and no points.  Easy choice.

Fortunately, Mike has a Verizon mi-fi and we've got a great signal, so I had connectivity all day.
It was a good lesson and I'll pay closer attention to driving.  I was *not* on my phone, thank goodness!

On the way out to the spot for prospecting, Mike ran into a bit of white stuff.  He got a bit of gold at a gold prospecting place on the way. 

snow on the way to Central

We had an easy dinner and an early night.  The computer was on all evening to get a Windows update.  As I said, real life.

66' 33"

Monday, June 11, 2018 Fairbanks AK to the Arctic Circle

We were up early today to do the 400 mile round-trip to the Arctic Circle, latitude 66' 33".  The road was punishing, potholed, rutted and windy.  We had a good rain that turned to sleet on the way up but it was sunny after a couple of hours and stayed that way until we returned to Fairbanks.  We passed through a boreal forest and tundra landscapes where the pine trees are described as "drunken" because they can't establish deep roots in the permafrost and lean precariously. 

snow peaked mountains

bridge over the Yukon River

 We crossed the Yukon River at about 140 miles in and on the return trip stopped at the BLM office to pick up our Arctic Circle certificate and stamp.

Mike looking out over wetlands

We made it!  Arctic Circle

 It was a bit chilly (45 ish) and windy and we had to wait for a motorcyclist taking selfies with his tripod before pulling the jeep up to the sign to get the evidence.

stunted  "drunken" pines

We didn't see any animals except arctic hare (rabbits with big white feet) until the way back when a large moose with antlers skittered off into the woods.  Didn't get a very good picture

They're a little camera shy!  

Taps are playing, time to get to sleep.  'Til tomorrow...

Hangin' Around Fairbanks

6/9/2018 Saturday and 6/20/2018 Sunday Fairbanks, AK Fairbanks is the third largest city in Alaska with about 30,000 people. It's in the interior, so they can get hot in the summer (90 degrees) and very cold in the winter. The Chena River runs through town; the University of Alaska at Fairbanks is here as is Fort Wainwright Army Base (where we're staying) and Eilesen Air Force base. We timed it right and were able to go to the Farmer's Market. There were lots of craft and food booths and some veges but it is early in the season for produce. Lots of flowers too...I liked this black and red "tuxedo" flower; the black parts are really blooms!

We switched camp spots to get electric on Sunday; Mike worked on his prospecting equipment having found some necessary parts in town while I went off to explore.

I went to the Georgeson Botanical Gardens and the UAF Large Animal Research Station.  

The garden is several acres and has an adorable children's area with a swinging bride, water features and playhouses.  Some blooms are out and there's a seed rescue project of heirloom seeds.  

This building used slices of wood embedded in cement for walls and included colored glass bottles.  From the inside the light through the bottles cast a rainbow of colors

At the LARS, I got to see muskox up close and personal!  They had a reindeer herd too.  

Tomorrow we're off on a road trip.