6/22 /2015 Week 4 in Alaska - Fairbanks/Valdez

Monday we took a canoe float down the Chena River with brother Jim and Buddy's cousin Rocky.  A beautiful day for a leisurely float.  Had lunch at Pike's Landing.  Laurie cooked a dinner of Copper Red Salmon and chicken (for Scott, who doesn't like salmon and Claudia who is tired of it!)  Tuesday night we went to the Golden Heart Review at Pioneer Park - a great production of music and dance that illustrated the establishment and colorful history of Fairbanks.

 Wednesday Scott and I returned to Pioneer Park to tour the exhibits that weren't open the night before.  These pics were taken at Pioneer Park that day.  Their were over 200 fires burning in the interior at that time. so the air was thick with smoke and visibility during the later part of our stay was hazy. We are told that Fairbanks is in the Arctic Desert, so fires are not unusual for this time of year.

Captain Bud @ the wheel

Musher Buddy

Wrangell Mountains

Thursday we left for Valdez, On the way we stopped at Wrangell-St Elias NP Visitor's Center where we caught up with Molly McCarthy, a fish biologist who works at the Park and also has a home in Silver City.

We camped that night at Blueberry Lake State Recreation Area - a beautiful campsite on a pristine lake.

Valdez Harbor from the camper

We arrived around noon in Valdez and stayed 2 night at Bear Paw RV Park.  An excellent site in the "adult park" situated on the water.  Weather was cool & foggy with drizzle both days.  Caught a few clear shots of the harbor where an oil tanker was loading.

  

Valdez itself was no culinary oasis, so we ate all our meals in the camper.  Tomorrow we leave to meet up with Molly, Lil and Terry who all live on homesteaded property on Kenny Lake near Copper Center.  Lil and Terry also own the house next door to us in Silver City.

6/15/2015 Week 3 in Fairbanks

We stayed an extra night in Denali, and broke camp Monday at noon. We had lunch at 49th State Brewery. Lots of stuff in the yard, but one thing of interest was the bus where Christopher McCandless lived & died in the movie Into the Wild.

Rock Pool - Hot Spring

By the time we got to Fairbanks, it was late, so we camped at Rivers Edge RV Park. We had a riverfront site. The next day we met Laurie's brother Jim at Chena Hot springs where we spent a couple of nights. Chena is currently owned by a man who runs a large Recycling operation. Water at Chena comes from the ground at 155 degrees, and is used to heat the buildings and the hot pools. In addition they have a prototype turbine that uses a combination of the 155 degree water and an R-134a fluid to make steam and generate electricity. http://www.chenahotsprings.com/geothermal-power/

Moose and Calf in pond next to the Rock Pool

On Thursday we went to Jim's house in Fairbanks. And Thursday evening we went to watch Jim at Band Practice for the Fairbanks Community Concert Band. This is a very professional group of volunteer musicians, some active military, some retired and many  folks from the community who just love music.

Friday evening was Foodstock at the Howling Dog Saloon. A great 3 day music festival on 2 different stages.  Admission was $5 or 5 cans of food and all proceeds go to help the local community.
Saturday evening we watched the Midnight Sun 10k Run. It started at 10pm and finished at midnight. There were about 3,000 runners, many in crazy costumes.
Sunday was the Solstice Festival in Downtown Fairbanks. Lots of food vendors, 3 stages with constant entertainment including the Fairbanks Community Jazz band, with Laurie's brother Jim playing trumpet.

6/8/2015 - Alaska week 2

Day 1 - Homer Bound
A beautiful drive on the Kenai Peninsula.  Got to Anchor Point and decided to stay at Kyllonen RV Park located on the "farthest west highway in North America."   Very nice small park with everything we needed including excellent wi-fi!

Watching the Alpha Eat

Walked the beach after dinner and came upon a large group of Bald Eagles having dinner.  There were about a dozen.

This is mine and you stay away

Day 2 - Rained in the morning so we spent a leisurely morning "around the house". Went into historic Homer and had lunch at Two Sisters Bakery. Very warm and welcoming place.

In the afternoon Laurie went to see fellow Pickleball player Lori Zitzmann who lives in Silver City half the year and Homer the other half.  She and husband Tom have a fabulous home overlooking Kachemak Bay where we walked on the beach and watched a nesting pair of eagles from their window.

On the way to dinner we passed a moose dining in the ditch. Finally, Laurie got to see a moose up close.

View from the Little Mermaid Restaurant

Dinner at the Little Mermaid on Homer Spit was fantastic. Laurie had local Kachemak Bay Oysters on the half shell. Our entrees were Rockfish Tacos for Laurie and Grilled Rockfish for Scott.












Day 3 and 4 - Whittier


Had beautiful weather and smooth seas for our Glacier catamaran cruise - 26 glaciers in total, including College Fjord named after the East Coast Ivy league colleges,  These glaciers included the seven sisters (including Smith ) and were the most numerous and the closest together.  Nice lunch and great crew aboard the Phillips Cruise.

Surprise Glacier

Cascade, Barry and Coxe Glaciers

College Fjord

The view of Russia from Sarah Palin's window in Wasilla (only kidding, this was an abandoned housing unit that housed the residents of Whittier, AK).  Of the 260 current residents, most live in one large apartment building that replaced the old abandoned one.

Days 5 - 8   Denali NP

Spent 3 glorious days at  Denali.  The roads were hell getting in, but well worth it.  The sun came out, the weather was very warm and the wildlife on the 8 hour bus trip though the park was amazing. Here are some of the pictures taken from the bus:

Mt McKinley

Dahl Sheep

Grizzly

Lone wolf in motion

Caribou

6/2/2015 - The Alaska Adventure Begins

When we crossed into Alaska we were in the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge. We came upon Deadman Lake Campground at milepost 1249, but I didn't want to sleep near a dead man, so we continued on.

The evening turned out even better. At milepost 1256 on the Alaska Hwy we found a campground next to Yarger Lake (part of the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge) with a dozen beautiful camping sites right on the lake. No utilities, but were able to park parallel to the lake and had dinner while looking at the most amazing views of the lake and the southern end of the Alaska Range.

 Saw beavers, loons, teals and a trumpeter swan. And the camping was free - couldn't get any better than this!

Day 2 - Lunch at Caribou Restaurant in Glennallen, AK. Great views of both Nelchina and Matanuska Glaciers.

Scott saw a female Moose and her calf cross the road in front of us. I was looking at the map and missed the whole thing. Camped at Anchorage Shipcreek RV Park – most expensive camping so far, but hot showers and internet for the night was in order. Had dinner with my niece Margaret at Snow Goose directly on the water. So very good to see family!

Day 3 - Arrived in Seward and stayed at Seward Waterfront Park. Nice campsite with water views. We could see cruise ships and the stone breakwater that Don Pryor built when he worked for Granite Construction. Nice lunch downtown while shopping for foul weather gear. My brother Jim, his wife Claudia and 2 of their 3 children (and some grandchildren) are taking us out fishing on a Halibut boat tomorrow. Been raining off and on since we arrived and more rain is expected tomorrow. Gonna be a raw day of fishing so we needed rain hats, rain pants, gloves and boots. Let's hope we catch something other than a cold! We met up with Jim and Claudia at the Military campground, got setup and went to dinner in Old Seward. The campground had great facilities.

Day 4 - The Fishing Trip on the Tia Rose was rough. Weather was stormy and seas were heavy. It was a two plus hour trip to the Halibut fishing area. We went 30 or 40 miles to the Gulf of Alaska.















Scott got the first Halibut of the day - roughly 25 lbs.
Lots of people were pulling in Dog Fish (from the shark family) and Rockfish. Laurie's first fish was a Quill Finned Rockfish - really ugly!!

Then we hit the big one. Laurie got a roughly 65 lb Halibut - this was a lot of work, so she got a little help from her friends on board.
















We all got together for a wonderful meal at Ray's Oceanside Restaurant in Seward. Many thanks to Shawn & Margaret for the dinner and for planning the event. As we left the restaurant there was a couple walking a Reindeer in the parking lot.

Sunday we all slept in, got showers and laundry done, then returned to the Waterfront Park for another night. The view out of the camper window was stunning, as was the sound of the waves.
















Sunday afternoon, while hiking to Exit Glacier we passed the 1998 glacier marker.  This is where the Glacier was when Jim, Adam and Kevin Crafts hiked it in 1998.  It has receded a great deal since then.

 

The sign to the right shows the glacier at its 2007 position. The 2015 position is off the map. The farthest (oldest) point shown is 1815.







Tomorrow we are off to Homer AK.