We had a beautiful day for a cruise to Juneau--Alaska's capitol which can only be reached by plane or boat. It is the 3rd largest city in Alaska. We left at 8am and returned by about 8:30pm. It was a long day but a fun day. The Fjordland, a catamaran, fully glass enclosed except for the very back where we could stand or sit took us there. The water was good. We left from the docks for smaller boats but saw the 3 cruise ships still docked there. The Chilkat Mountain Range was what we were seeing along the way. The Long Fall Waterfall was the longest one on the trip but we saw many others. On Taiya River Point were a bunch of harbor seals hanging themselves out to dry on the rocks. The first glacier was the Rainbow Glacier and it is a hanging glacier followed by the Stevenson Glacier. Yet some more sea lions but these were the Stellar sea lions. Another unnamed falls and unnamed glacier and then we passed this large bunch of rocks in the channel upon which was a octagon lighthouse that is known as the Eldred Rock and Lighthouse. It is the oldest lighthouse still standing in Alaska and it still operates(unmanned). The captain pointed out a gold mining operation that has only been operating for 3 years but are doing very well and also has produced a huge mountain of pilings which is what is left over of the rock after it has been sluiced. Right soon after that someone spotted the humpback whales. The captain followed them for a little while trying to get us some good pictures. We had seen the humpback before and still enjoyed them but when we saw the Orca's everybody went wild. There were a small pod of them so we kept moving around the boat as they moved around. It was wonderful to watch them. None of them did any great leaps but they did small ones. They finally went on when we spotted about 25 small ducks all flying in a line just above the water. They had short wing spans so they were really flapping their wings a lot. Our boat was going about 35 to 40 miles per hour and these little things passed us up and went around in front of us to the other side and kept flying. We were cheering them on. They were surf scoter--a sea duck--cute little things.
We arrived at a spit of land outside Juneau where there was a dock and a bus drove us into Juneau and told us about the area. Southeast Alaska is a temperate rain forest with lots of growth but not a lot of variety. A coastal temperate rainforest must have more than 55" of annual precip. with 10% or more occurring in the summer, cool, frequently overcast summers with midsummer avg. temps. less than 61 degrees, a dormant season caused by low temperatures, infrequent forest fires and be in close proximity to the ocean. Now you know more than you ever wanted to know. We passed a wetlands and the confluence of Eagle River and Mendenhall River(I think) which was at low tide. I think she said that they have the 3rd largest tide like 26'. We stopped at a view point to see the Mendenhall Glacier and it had a field with lots of fireweed in front of it blooming-it was so pretty. We crossed the Mendenhall River into Juneau. She let us off the bus right beside one of the huge cruise ships docked and would pick us up there later. We had all looked at menu's while on board the boat and decided where we were going to eat lunch. I had the best Halibut and chips I've had fixed tempura style--yum. We ate at the Wharf in The Hanger Restaurant and as we were leaving in comes 3 float planes to land right in front of us, unload their passengers and go out again. That was neat to see it up close.
We didn't have but about an hour more so we just wandered around town on our own walking tour but didn't see much but shops. Without a car or more time we hardly could see the museum or other things. That was a disappointment but another time, maybe. Time to go back to the bus but unfortunately, a family of 3 was not there and we had to wait around about another 20 minutes for them which cut us short on time at our next stop. There were people on the bus who were not with our caravan and this was one of them. Oh well.
Our next stop was at the Mendenhall Glacier which is actually located in the Tongass National Forest. John Muir first named this the Auk Glacier for the local Tlingit tribe. It is the most visited of all the glaciers because it is the most accessible of all in the Juneau Icefield. It was formed during the shorter Little Ice Age and is the 5th largest. There is a beautiful and large waterfall there named Nugget Falls that comes out the side of the glacier and fills the pond below it where you also see the ice chunks which have calved off of the glacier. There are also glacial ponds off from it where a large hunk of ice has washed near shore and then stayed and melted the the depression causes a pond to be formed. They also have salmon come up the streams to spawn and they had a fish weir which we could see on one of the streams. It looks like a picket fence across the stream but funnels the fish thru a small area where they have a fish cam so they can count the returning salmon.
Tongass National Forest was designated as such by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907 and is over 100 years old. It is 16.9 million acres, the largest national forest in the U.S. It includes 2 national monuments, 13 campgrounds, 19 wilderness areas, 150 cabins and 450 miles of hiking trails and is part of the largest coastal temperate rain forest in the world. It also includes icefields, glaciers, mountains, valleys, estuaries, islands, lakes, caves and 14,000 miles of shoreline. It is home to over 5,000 brown bears and approximately 75,000 people. It surrounds the north end of the Inside Passage a very popular and historic travel route. We watched a short movie in the visitor's center and they had marvelous displays. We headed outside to see the glacier but not with enough time to walk down to the falls and the glacier to see them even more up close but still with a beautiful view and over to see the fish weir and back on the bus to head back to the boat.
We crossed the Mendenhall River again and returned the way we had come. While on the boat we were served very good smoked salmon chowder, a roll and a cookie. Earlier in the day they gave us coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and a muffin and apple juice then again later before lunch an apple( all of which I stashed away because I had eaten b'fast in the coach). Then our tourmaster handed out cheese sticks at some point which I also stashed. Bob didn't like the chowder so I enjoyed both small bowls. On the way over we were on the boat about 3 hrs. because of slowing down for the whales and they way back only took us about 2 because we saw no sea life only eagles.
The sun's rays were coming down into valleys or onto the water and it was gorgeous. We passed the Sapphire Princess and the Royal Princess as they headed out to their next destination. The captain took us a lot closer to the Eldred Lighthouse Rock. It is quite a place. He also took us up close to the Saw Mill Falls-beautiful. We then went into the Haines, Alaska small harbor port to disembark two passengers going there to visit friends for 8 days. The only way in or out of Haines is either boat or plane. Our crew and captain live in Haines also but they took us back to Skagway first. It was a long day but a very enjoyable one and so I say goodnight all.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
1st full day in Skagway--July 28
Last night I prepared my laundry for this morning. By 7am I was off to the laundramat in the park while Bob slept in, at least for awhile I guess. While the wash and dryer did its thing I met a man and wife who had come from Wyoming by covered wagon and finally parked it in some farmer's ground while they came ahead up here. They said the drivers almost killed them 3 times. Nice people. If you want to read about their experiences go to wyomingwagonadventures.com. Their names are Mike and Sheila. They were real nice people. After putting all that away I finally got to eat-lunch. Then I started writing one of the blogs because I was behind 2 days and if I can stay awake long enough till I finish this one and don't go blind I will be caught up. Marv and Dee rode with us into town to the "Days of '98 Show". It is the longest running show in the North and is held is Alaska's oldest Eagles aerie,F.O.E. #25 established in 1899. It is a 1 hr. musical/drama based on historical records and centers on con man Jefferson (Soapy) Smith's reign over Skagway during the days of the Klondike Gold Rush. It was very entertaining--definitely worth seeing. After that we walked around town into a few shops, down toward the train station and made it thru all the people because there were 4 cruise ships in port (ugh). The ships were sure beautiful. I tell you we are at least getting foreign tourism money into this country if nothing else. A bunch of our group was taking the White Pass/Yukon train ride and one of them had parked in a loading zone and a policeman on a bike saw our coats (Adventure caravans) which matched the large yellow sticker on the back of the car and asked if we knew the owner of the car so we started looking for them in the nearby stores no realizing they were loading on the train. Luckily we found the tailgunner who got their keys and moved their car before they got a ticket or worse.
It was dinner time so we found a restaurant and afterwards took a ride out to Dyea looking for bears fishing but didn't see any, but it was a beautiful drive. More about that another day. Tomorrow is a big day so I need to get to bed.
It was dinner time so we found a restaurant and afterwards took a ride out to Dyea looking for bears fishing but didn't see any, but it was a beautiful drive. More about that another day. Tomorrow is a big day so I need to get to bed.
Trip from Destruction Bay to Skagway--July 27
They only had 15 amp service in the park so rather than pull in we just parked at the side of the park in a gravel area. The others said even the 15 amp was not very dependable. The day began with sunshine and 56*. Yeah!! We went next door to the restaurant for breakfast and then took off. Kluane Lake which was right across the roadfrom the campground is the largest lake in the Yukon Territory which is 154 miles long and very few people up there to boat on it and you don't swim in any of the water up here because it is toooo cold. It is a beautiful lake. We stopped at a lot of places today.
Our next stop just down the road a short piece was named Sheep Mountain but has been renamed Tachal Dahl because of the native people and it means "skin scraper mountain". We did spy Dall Sheep up on the mountain with binoculars and a scope--quite a few actually. The mothers give birth right up on the mountain and/or side. The info said that 1 in 5 ewes will be killed by eagles and 1/3rd won't live thru their 1st year and a large percentage will not see maturity which is 12 years. As we continue on down the Alaska Highway (Yukon Hwy. 1) we arrived in Haines Junction (pop. 840) and turned onto the Haines Hwy. 3. Just as we turned they had built a mountain with animals all around it and a man on top looking thru binoculars. We went less than a half mile and turned to go to the Kluane National Park Visitor's Center and to a bakery. The park is a part of a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Center had very nice displays and a layout of the whole Park and Reserve. They also had a very good movie about the park. The bakery was nice but decided against it but we saw a goodly number of our cohorts who were enjoying the food.
As we continued on down the road we saw either wild horses or free ranging ones because there were no fences and we saw them in two different spots fairly close to the road. We had to go back thru Whitehorse so Marvin stopped at Canadian Tire and Bob and Dee went to WalMart next door and I went to the coach. While I was in the coach and we had cell service I enjoyed talking to Bob's sister Penny and our son Jeremy. This was after we ate our lunch at Ricky's which we had done before when we stopped in Whitehorse. As we left town we gassed up at Pioneer Village(where we camped on the way into Alaska) because it was much cheaper. Within a few miles we turned onto Klondike Hwy.2 to Skagway.
On we go to our next stop. Actually these stops help break up this boring long drive. The road was definitely better but we drove in the valley with black spruce growing on either side and not much in the way of animals.Then we came to a sight that took our breath away. It was Emerald Lake also called Rainbow Lake. The different shades of green and blue are the result of blue-green light waves reflecting off the white sediment of the lake bottom. This white sediment called marl, consistes of fragments of decomposed shell mixed with clay; it is usually found in shallow, freshwater lakes that have low oxygen levels during the summer months. It was fantastic!!Caribou Crossing was a stop especially for the boys because they bought ice cream. I took pics of a giant metal mosquito, a huge tall hunk of jade, stuffed sheep on a mountain and metal sculpture of caribou. It was false fronted old time looking buildings, gift shop and if you wanted to pay $7 you could go see the sled dog (we didn't). Just barely up the road was the Carcross Desert. This unusual desert aarea of sand dunes is the world's smallest desert and an International Biophysical Programme site for ecological studies. The desert is composed of saandy lake-bottom material left behind by a large glacial lake and then there are strong winds going thru the area. This was quite interesting.
We were told by our tailgunner that there was a little town we might want to turn off to go to so we did. Carcross, pop. 399, has 4 gift shops, a post office (only Canadian one open 7 days a week), a library and a community pool can you beat that. The Nares bridge that crosses the narrows between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake brings you into town. This town was a stopping point for gold stampeders on the way to the Klondike goldfields and it was also later a major stop for the White Pass & Yukon Route RR. In the early days they transferred freight and passengers from the railroad onto stern-wheelers. They were remodelling one of these ships called the S.S. Tutshi (too-shy) until it caught fire and partially burned in 1990. Now they are constructing a building to house its remains in the order of its location in the ship. They also have a small locomotive called The Duchess which operated a 2.5 mile portage between several places until 1921.There is also a St. Savior's Anglican Church built in 1902 and an unusual railroad bridge that went across the river but only half would rotate if a stern-wheeler came thru. The only problem was that every tour bus in the country comes in there. You can't stir people with a stick.
The rest of our drive was really beautiful. The road was back in the mountainous area with the lakes and streams right beside or below us. We had to stop to see a black bear feeding right beside the road--we didn't seem to bother him at all. That was a treat. Later we stopped to see where the Chillkoot trail went and the route the train went and a cabin that was along the trail.
We went past the Fraser, BC Border Crossing but didn't have to stop there and shortly thereafter we went across the US/AK border and a time zone change again. We are doing this several times. We went past numerous wonderful waterfalls and right before the Yukon/U.S. Customs border we crossed the Skagway River on the George & William Moore Bridge. The crossing was very easy and as we continued on a short way to Skagway we enjoy some magnificent views of the mountains and more glaciers. We stay at the Garden City RV Park for 4 days. Time to quit and go to bed.
Our next stop just down the road a short piece was named Sheep Mountain but has been renamed Tachal Dahl because of the native people and it means "skin scraper mountain". We did spy Dall Sheep up on the mountain with binoculars and a scope--quite a few actually. The mothers give birth right up on the mountain and/or side. The info said that 1 in 5 ewes will be killed by eagles and 1/3rd won't live thru their 1st year and a large percentage will not see maturity which is 12 years. As we continue on down the Alaska Highway (Yukon Hwy. 1) we arrived in Haines Junction (pop. 840) and turned onto the Haines Hwy. 3. Just as we turned they had built a mountain with animals all around it and a man on top looking thru binoculars. We went less than a half mile and turned to go to the Kluane National Park Visitor's Center and to a bakery. The park is a part of a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Center had very nice displays and a layout of the whole Park and Reserve. They also had a very good movie about the park. The bakery was nice but decided against it but we saw a goodly number of our cohorts who were enjoying the food.
As we continued on down the road we saw either wild horses or free ranging ones because there were no fences and we saw them in two different spots fairly close to the road. We had to go back thru Whitehorse so Marvin stopped at Canadian Tire and Bob and Dee went to WalMart next door and I went to the coach. While I was in the coach and we had cell service I enjoyed talking to Bob's sister Penny and our son Jeremy. This was after we ate our lunch at Ricky's which we had done before when we stopped in Whitehorse. As we left town we gassed up at Pioneer Village(where we camped on the way into Alaska) because it was much cheaper. Within a few miles we turned onto Klondike Hwy.2 to Skagway.
On we go to our next stop. Actually these stops help break up this boring long drive. The road was definitely better but we drove in the valley with black spruce growing on either side and not much in the way of animals.Then we came to a sight that took our breath away. It was Emerald Lake also called Rainbow Lake. The different shades of green and blue are the result of blue-green light waves reflecting off the white sediment of the lake bottom. This white sediment called marl, consistes of fragments of decomposed shell mixed with clay; it is usually found in shallow, freshwater lakes that have low oxygen levels during the summer months. It was fantastic!!Caribou Crossing was a stop especially for the boys because they bought ice cream. I took pics of a giant metal mosquito, a huge tall hunk of jade, stuffed sheep on a mountain and metal sculpture of caribou. It was false fronted old time looking buildings, gift shop and if you wanted to pay $7 you could go see the sled dog (we didn't). Just barely up the road was the Carcross Desert. This unusual desert aarea of sand dunes is the world's smallest desert and an International Biophysical Programme site for ecological studies. The desert is composed of saandy lake-bottom material left behind by a large glacial lake and then there are strong winds going thru the area. This was quite interesting.
We were told by our tailgunner that there was a little town we might want to turn off to go to so we did. Carcross, pop. 399, has 4 gift shops, a post office (only Canadian one open 7 days a week), a library and a community pool can you beat that. The Nares bridge that crosses the narrows between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake brings you into town. This town was a stopping point for gold stampeders on the way to the Klondike goldfields and it was also later a major stop for the White Pass & Yukon Route RR. In the early days they transferred freight and passengers from the railroad onto stern-wheelers. They were remodelling one of these ships called the S.S. Tutshi (too-shy) until it caught fire and partially burned in 1990. Now they are constructing a building to house its remains in the order of its location in the ship. They also have a small locomotive called The Duchess which operated a 2.5 mile portage between several places until 1921.There is also a St. Savior's Anglican Church built in 1902 and an unusual railroad bridge that went across the river but only half would rotate if a stern-wheeler came thru. The only problem was that every tour bus in the country comes in there. You can't stir people with a stick.
The rest of our drive was really beautiful. The road was back in the mountainous area with the lakes and streams right beside or below us. We had to stop to see a black bear feeding right beside the road--we didn't seem to bother him at all. That was a treat. Later we stopped to see where the Chillkoot trail went and the route the train went and a cabin that was along the trail.
We went past the Fraser, BC Border Crossing but didn't have to stop there and shortly thereafter we went across the US/AK border and a time zone change again. We are doing this several times. We went past numerous wonderful waterfalls and right before the Yukon/U.S. Customs border we crossed the Skagway River on the George & William Moore Bridge. The crossing was very easy and as we continued on a short way to Skagway we enjoy some magnificent views of the mountains and more glaciers. We stay at the Garden City RV Park for 4 days. Time to quit and go to bed.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Drive from Tok to Destruction Bay--July 26, 2010
It started out sunny and 56*---that was the best part of the day. For whatever reason we were joined up with a Fantasy Tour Caravan just till we arrived at Destruction Bay. This meant that for the first time during the trip our foursome could not leave early--everyone had to wait until the wagonmaster left at 7:00a.m. and we might be interspersed with their coaches until we stopped to see things.The bad part was yet to come. We had washed our coaches and our tow vehicles last night and before long we hit road repair which was dirt. We knew it would happen but the very worst part was that all the way to Destruction Bay, a distance of 225 miles we were in the valley where they built a road over permafrost and it buckles because the permafrost melts and then it is always unstable and believe me it certainly was the case. They do have many of them marked with flags or metal signs or the white lines on the sides of the road suddenly become wavy but you are going slow and changing speed all day long. Everyone was exhausted by the time we arrived at Destruction Bay.
Our next stop was at Burwash Landing, another small town, but they all seem to have museums. We went into the Kluane Museum of Natural History and they had absolutely beautiful mounted wildlife exhibits in their natural habitat dioramas along with native artifacts and clothing with all the pertinent information. The Canadians call them First Nation people and the government up here has certainly treated them much better than we have and they have a lot of influence in the country. Out in front of the museum they had the world's largest gold pan--all painted up. There had been a large fire in the area several years ago and the town had been evacuated but all was saved except for about 3 houses.
We finally arrived at Destruction Bay Lodge and RV Park. There are only about 33 people in town and it received it's name from the fact that when they were building the Alaska Highway they had just set up the temporary housing, etc. when a storm came thru with enormous winds and blew it all down. That area is known for getting strong winds from all directions. The best wind is the one that blows away the mosquitoes. We arrived in time to go pick out a diamond willow stick that I now will have to peel and sand and finish. Then we had our briefing for the next day's trip followed by a dinner prepared by the owner and chef of the lodge. It was very good--wonderful roast beef, baked potato salad, salad, and a home baked roll. Later in the evening there was music by the group, Loose Gravel. They took their name from the signs announcing all the loose gravel on the road. The owner also plays drums, guitar and sings. They were good just way too loud. The mountains around us were the Kluane mountains--prounced Klu (clue) and ane (short a and long e)--sounds hawiian. It's time for bed.
We passed through the Donjek River Valley and the Icefield Ranges of the St. Elias Mts. The Icefield Ranges include the highest and the youngest mountains in Canada and includes Mt. Logan, Canada's highest mountain at 5,489 meters (you figure)700 meters = 2200ft. This is the largest non-polar icefield in North America extending over most of the Kluane National Park and Reserve sending long glacial fingers into the valleys between the peaks. The ice is more than 2200 ft. thick.
Our next stop was at Burwash Landing, another small town, but they all seem to have museums. We went into the Kluane Museum of Natural History and they had absolutely beautiful mounted wildlife exhibits in their natural habitat dioramas along with native artifacts and clothing with all the pertinent information. The Canadians call them First Nation people and the government up here has certainly treated them much better than we have and they have a lot of influence in the country. Out in front of the museum they had the world's largest gold pan--all painted up. There had been a large fire in the area several years ago and the town had been evacuated but all was saved except for about 3 houses.
We finally arrived at Destruction Bay Lodge and RV Park. There are only about 33 people in town and it received it's name from the fact that when they were building the Alaska Highway they had just set up the temporary housing, etc. when a storm came thru with enormous winds and blew it all down. That area is known for getting strong winds from all directions. The best wind is the one that blows away the mosquitoes. We arrived in time to go pick out a diamond willow stick that I now will have to peel and sand and finish. Then we had our briefing for the next day's trip followed by a dinner prepared by the owner and chef of the lodge. It was very good--wonderful roast beef, baked potato salad, salad, and a home baked roll. Later in the evening there was music by the group, Loose Gravel. They took their name from the signs announcing all the loose gravel on the road. The owner also plays drums, guitar and sings. They were good just way too loud. The mountains around us were the Kluane mountains--prounced Klu (clue) and ane (short a and long e)--sounds hawiian. It's time for bed.
Monday, July 26, 2010
From Valdez to Tok--July 25
No I am not repeating a blog, but yes we have been in Tok before but on the way into the state. Sometimes there is no good way to somewhere else except to backtrack some, at least in this state. Here there are only so many roads. I read somewhere in the Milepost that one of the govenors years ago was being lobbied for another road in the state and his comment was " we already have 2 roads--how many roads does one state need?" In tomorrow's blog I will expound on the subject of roads in Alaska.
When we left Valdez it was still raining as it had for some time and was only 51*--that is my degree mark. The fog can be beautiful as it covers the lower part of Sugarloaf Mt. and leaves the top showing. The rivers were very high and I wouldn't be surprised that somewhere more roads have been washed out; however, we did not experience any. The only animals we saw were birds: an eagle sitting in a tree and about 4 swans and some with cygnets (babies).
We took the Copper Center Loop road again so we could stop and see the Copper Center Roadhouse is a site of historice importance. It had its beginnings in the gold rush days of 1897-98. It was the first lodging place in the Copper River Valley and the original was replaced by the current one in 1932. Also there housed in historical cabins are two museums of which one is specific to the Trail of '98. This trail went from Valdez over the glaciers and came down from the mountains and joined here with the Eagle Trail to Forty Mile and Dawson. 300 miners, destitute and lonely, spent the winter here. Many suffered with scurvy and died. The men who came west and/or north to find gold were tough, brave, fool hardy and many other things but they followed their dreams. Since the museums were not open yet and we wanted to see the inside of the roadhouse we went inside and Marvin and Dee had tea and toast while we sat and enjoyed the ambiance. It was a lovely old log building. We then toured the museums and I took some pictures of some other old log buildings.
We drove on toward Tok but first stopped at the Mentasta Lodge--we ate in the coach but went in to check it out anyway. The lady running it had beautiful hair that hung down below her rear end and also did some beautiful bead work but expensive. Her husband was outside in another building selling his tables and other things made from the burls that grow on one of the trees up here. He also carves pictures of animals and other things on the antlers of the moose. The moose and caribou shed their antlers every year and people go out and collect them and do this carving. It is extremely expensive but very nice.
If anyone wants to move up here there sure are a lot of old deserted log cabins everywhere. We finally arrived in Tok and after gasing up the boys washed our coaches and cars--not that it was going to stay that way long but it looked nice for a few hours. We had our briefing followed by a staff prepared dinner of salad, garlic bread and lasagna. It was very good. The park every night puts on some music. There were two young girls that played violin and a young boy on banjo and they did a very good job. They also talked a little about the town of Tok and how their parents ended up there and what it was like in the winter time. This was followed by a hot shower and writing the blog and bed.
When we left Valdez it was still raining as it had for some time and was only 51*--that is my degree mark. The fog can be beautiful as it covers the lower part of Sugarloaf Mt. and leaves the top showing. The rivers were very high and I wouldn't be surprised that somewhere more roads have been washed out; however, we did not experience any. The only animals we saw were birds: an eagle sitting in a tree and about 4 swans and some with cygnets (babies).
We took the Copper Center Loop road again so we could stop and see the Copper Center Roadhouse is a site of historice importance. It had its beginnings in the gold rush days of 1897-98. It was the first lodging place in the Copper River Valley and the original was replaced by the current one in 1932. Also there housed in historical cabins are two museums of which one is specific to the Trail of '98. This trail went from Valdez over the glaciers and came down from the mountains and joined here with the Eagle Trail to Forty Mile and Dawson. 300 miners, destitute and lonely, spent the winter here. Many suffered with scurvy and died. The men who came west and/or north to find gold were tough, brave, fool hardy and many other things but they followed their dreams. Since the museums were not open yet and we wanted to see the inside of the roadhouse we went inside and Marvin and Dee had tea and toast while we sat and enjoyed the ambiance. It was a lovely old log building. We then toured the museums and I took some pictures of some other old log buildings.
We drove on toward Tok but first stopped at the Mentasta Lodge--we ate in the coach but went in to check it out anyway. The lady running it had beautiful hair that hung down below her rear end and also did some beautiful bead work but expensive. Her husband was outside in another building selling his tables and other things made from the burls that grow on one of the trees up here. He also carves pictures of animals and other things on the antlers of the moose. The moose and caribou shed their antlers every year and people go out and collect them and do this carving. It is extremely expensive but very nice.
If anyone wants to move up here there sure are a lot of old deserted log cabins everywhere. We finally arrived in Tok and after gasing up the boys washed our coaches and cars--not that it was going to stay that way long but it looked nice for a few hours. We had our briefing followed by a staff prepared dinner of salad, garlic bread and lasagna. It was very good. The park every night puts on some music. There were two young girls that played violin and a young boy on banjo and they did a very good job. They also talked a little about the town of Tok and how their parents ended up there and what it was like in the winter time. This was followed by a hot shower and writing the blog and bed.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Last Day in Valdez--July 24,2010
We woke up to another cloudy, rainy day but we were inside a bus for the morning. We were picked up by a school bus for a tour of the town of Valdez. Now I must tell you that we had a very nice bus driver and a fantastic guide. They both have lived her a long time and they were very funny and informative.
Valdez is not very large it seems but it has a population of 4,498. There is actually Old Town and New Valdez. The reason for that is that the original town was built on very unstable ground and on Good Friday of 1964 there was a 9.2 earthquake that lasted for 5 min. and the ground turned to mush. A series of local waves caused underwater landslides which swallowed the wharf and 33 people lost their lives. The town was very damaged but the waterfront was destroyed. Due to the instability of the ground the powers that be relocated the town 4 miles west. There is nothing left of the Old Town. It is all grown up in bushes and trees but the stories were interesting and we enjoyed a good look at an eagle sitting on a light post.
While going there we went past the ships they would use for any future spills that may occur in the area. They are anchored off shore and have 42 miles of oil booms to contain an oil spill. They have sent some of it to the gulf for the problem there.
They also took us out to the fish hatchery release point to see the salmon but we had all been there the night before waiting for "The Bears" which did not show. We continued on to the Aleyska Terminal at least as far as we could go. Up until 9/11 they gave tours of the area but no more. We had seen it from the cruise ship at a distance but we did get a little closer. We had a real good look at the #1 dock although it is not used and they did not build 2 or 3 but they did build and do use 4 and 5. We also had a view of some of the large holding tanks. The property that it was all built on was owned by a local family--don't you know they must have made out OK.
They also have their own glacier so they drove us out to where it is located and you could see hunks of ice which have broken off of it but it has receeded and is hiding in a valley--it is the Valdez Glacier. We did find it interesting that the two picnic tables had no carving of initials in them but people love to shoot holes into all the signs in the state.
They drove us around downtown to point out different business', museums and government buildings. Valdez thanks to the money they have received due to the oil spill and the state is one of the richest towns in Alaska. Their economy is built upon the oil industry, the fishing industry, government and tourism (mining the tourists). But they know that the oil industry is slowing because they used to have 25 oil tankers per week come into port but now it is down to about 6 per week. They are trying to get a gas pipeline built but it hasn't happened yet.
For a number of years they had extreme skiing going on in the area and people would fly in from around the world to ski straight down the mountains but it was extremely dependent upon volunteers and kind of petered out but they are trying to begin it again. They also have a Mother's Day fly in and they can get as many as 400 airplanes come in for the weekend.
After dropping us off at the end of the tour most of us went to find food at one of the local hot spots followed by trying to hit the local museums and seeing some footage of the earthquake caught on film. Unfortunately we also had to go back to the coach and cook something for the potluck supper which we were having that night. It was kind of tricky finding the location of the potluck but all the food was good and a good time was had by all. We also had our briefing for the coming days journey.
Some of us were dog tired and went home to clean up our kitchens and get our coach put together for the next morning and go to bed while some others went back out to find "The Bears" which of course they did. Needless to say I was disappointed but I was in bed by 8:30 and I never do that. That's it. See you tomorrow.
Valdez is not very large it seems but it has a population of 4,498. There is actually Old Town and New Valdez. The reason for that is that the original town was built on very unstable ground and on Good Friday of 1964 there was a 9.2 earthquake that lasted for 5 min. and the ground turned to mush. A series of local waves caused underwater landslides which swallowed the wharf and 33 people lost their lives. The town was very damaged but the waterfront was destroyed. Due to the instability of the ground the powers that be relocated the town 4 miles west. There is nothing left of the Old Town. It is all grown up in bushes and trees but the stories were interesting and we enjoyed a good look at an eagle sitting on a light post.
While going there we went past the ships they would use for any future spills that may occur in the area. They are anchored off shore and have 42 miles of oil booms to contain an oil spill. They have sent some of it to the gulf for the problem there.
They also took us out to the fish hatchery release point to see the salmon but we had all been there the night before waiting for "The Bears" which did not show. We continued on to the Aleyska Terminal at least as far as we could go. Up until 9/11 they gave tours of the area but no more. We had seen it from the cruise ship at a distance but we did get a little closer. We had a real good look at the #1 dock although it is not used and they did not build 2 or 3 but they did build and do use 4 and 5. We also had a view of some of the large holding tanks. The property that it was all built on was owned by a local family--don't you know they must have made out OK.
They also have their own glacier so they drove us out to where it is located and you could see hunks of ice which have broken off of it but it has receeded and is hiding in a valley--it is the Valdez Glacier. We did find it interesting that the two picnic tables had no carving of initials in them but people love to shoot holes into all the signs in the state.
They drove us around downtown to point out different business', museums and government buildings. Valdez thanks to the money they have received due to the oil spill and the state is one of the richest towns in Alaska. Their economy is built upon the oil industry, the fishing industry, government and tourism (mining the tourists). But they know that the oil industry is slowing because they used to have 25 oil tankers per week come into port but now it is down to about 6 per week. They are trying to get a gas pipeline built but it hasn't happened yet.
For a number of years they had extreme skiing going on in the area and people would fly in from around the world to ski straight down the mountains but it was extremely dependent upon volunteers and kind of petered out but they are trying to begin it again. They also have a Mother's Day fly in and they can get as many as 400 airplanes come in for the weekend.
After dropping us off at the end of the tour most of us went to find food at one of the local hot spots followed by trying to hit the local museums and seeing some footage of the earthquake caught on film. Unfortunately we also had to go back to the coach and cook something for the potluck supper which we were having that night. It was kind of tricky finding the location of the potluck but all the food was good and a good time was had by all. We also had our briefing for the coming days journey.
Some of us were dog tired and went home to clean up our kitchens and get our coach put together for the next morning and go to bed while some others went back out to find "The Bears" which of course they did. Needless to say I was disappointed but I was in bed by 8:30 and I never do that. That's it. See you tomorrow.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Scenic and Wildlife Cruise--July 23
This was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was clear. This was a 9 hour cruise out thru the Valdez Narrows into Prince William Sound. I have pictures as we pulled out of the dock that shows the other side of the port where the oil tank farms are located and the tankers are filled. The tanker Sierra was being filled the day we were on the water. They also have a power plant that burns off the vapor fumes from the filling and it also produces electricity. Since the spillage they have plenty of booms and a ship to contain sucked up oil and other things incase of another spill. I guess the coast guard was lax in upgrading a particular radar navigation out near a point--they had diverted funds for its modernization to other places and this is what happened. We as people in the U.S. seem to be short sighted--we don't think ahead and then have to react to situations. They also failed to test the pilot early enough for alcohol and I guess he was a well known heavy drinker and was drunk at the time. Also he ran into heavy ice and wanted to change shipping lanes to avoid it but the Coast Guard wouldn't allow him to do this. He also put another man in charge while he went to his cabin and thru mistake or miscommunication the accident occurred. All around the sound is the Chugach Mts.
We saw lots of cute sea otters with pups. We went past an area where the fishing boats were very busy. They use different types of boats but one is called a seiner which puts out a large net and then pulls it in to put its catch in the hold and there is a small helper boat or skiff which helps keep the net out of the props and they are called purse seiners. Then you have large boats called fish tenders that come out from the canneries to suck the fish out of the fishing boats so that they can keep fishing and not have to continue to go back to the cannery. While in Homer we saw the Time Bandit and then here we saw the Northwestern and the Kodiak ships that are featured on "The Deadliest Catch" tv program. We saw beautiful Anderson Falls coming down the mountain side and then Andrews Rocks which sits out in the shipping lane. After passing there we went past Buoy #9 where several sea lions were resting.
Our captain was a 30 something female--real nice. She then took us up to the Columbia Glacier which is a tidewater glacier. There are about 4 different types of glaciers:tidewater, piedmont, cirque and hanging. The Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in Alaska and Columbia is next. Columbia is the 2nd fastest moving glacier in the world. It travels about 80' per day and discharges 2 cubic miles of ice into the sound annually.It is currently 34 miles long, 3 miles wide and 3,000' thick. It is the biggest North American glacial contributor to increasing sea levels and boy did it get colder the nearer we got to it. I was out on the bow all of the trip going and some of it coming back until I went into the wheel room and that was a magnificent view. It was very large and there were others up there so I stayed for a good while. I digress. Then we went thru the glacial passage of ice. She showed us Miner's Bay which was the epicenter of the 1964 earthquake and the mountains on that side rose and on the other side of the sound they shrank down some.
They served us lunch as we were going thru the glacial passage which was very good (baked chicken on rice with a white sauce over, various colored wax beans and a stick of bread and lemonade). It would have been even better had I been able to eat it hot---just after we were served(last) she told us she had sighted a humpback whale so up top I went. It was a nice sighting. It doesn't jump a lot but some and we had a few tail flaps and after a while I went back to finish lunch. We did see more on the way home. Whales are always a treat but we haven't been able to see an Orca yet.
She took us to see the Meares Glacier next. It is known for its calving or breaking off and falling parts of the glacier. We saw small pieces but no large hunks but you could hear it groan. As we went back she showed us Bullhead Point where a lot of Stellar Seals hang out and there were a lot of them. The tankers have to have pilots who are familiar with the area come on board and guide them thru the Sound so the pilots work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. There is a cove where two boats are kept--one is for accomodations while the other is to take them out to the ship which is in motion and no matter the weather they have to board her by way of a ladder up the side of the ship--very dangerous. It was a wonderful cruise and of course we saw our different birds.
We arrived home at 8pm and took off for the fish hatchery where it was reported that because of the salmon returning to the stream a mother bear with 3 cubs was frequenting the area to teach them how to fish. The night before others saw them up close but while we were there and we were there until 9:45 they decided not to arrive. We will try again tonight after our potluck. A wonderful day.
We saw lots of cute sea otters with pups. We went past an area where the fishing boats were very busy. They use different types of boats but one is called a seiner which puts out a large net and then pulls it in to put its catch in the hold and there is a small helper boat or skiff which helps keep the net out of the props and they are called purse seiners. Then you have large boats called fish tenders that come out from the canneries to suck the fish out of the fishing boats so that they can keep fishing and not have to continue to go back to the cannery. While in Homer we saw the Time Bandit and then here we saw the Northwestern and the Kodiak ships that are featured on "The Deadliest Catch" tv program. We saw beautiful Anderson Falls coming down the mountain side and then Andrews Rocks which sits out in the shipping lane. After passing there we went past Buoy #9 where several sea lions were resting.
Our captain was a 30 something female--real nice. She then took us up to the Columbia Glacier which is a tidewater glacier. There are about 4 different types of glaciers:tidewater, piedmont, cirque and hanging. The Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in Alaska and Columbia is next. Columbia is the 2nd fastest moving glacier in the world. It travels about 80' per day and discharges 2 cubic miles of ice into the sound annually.It is currently 34 miles long, 3 miles wide and 3,000' thick. It is the biggest North American glacial contributor to increasing sea levels and boy did it get colder the nearer we got to it. I was out on the bow all of the trip going and some of it coming back until I went into the wheel room and that was a magnificent view. It was very large and there were others up there so I stayed for a good while. I digress. Then we went thru the glacial passage of ice. She showed us Miner's Bay which was the epicenter of the 1964 earthquake and the mountains on that side rose and on the other side of the sound they shrank down some.
They served us lunch as we were going thru the glacial passage which was very good (baked chicken on rice with a white sauce over, various colored wax beans and a stick of bread and lemonade). It would have been even better had I been able to eat it hot---just after we were served(last) she told us she had sighted a humpback whale so up top I went. It was a nice sighting. It doesn't jump a lot but some and we had a few tail flaps and after a while I went back to finish lunch. We did see more on the way home. Whales are always a treat but we haven't been able to see an Orca yet.
She took us to see the Meares Glacier next. It is known for its calving or breaking off and falling parts of the glacier. We saw small pieces but no large hunks but you could hear it groan. As we went back she showed us Bullhead Point where a lot of Stellar Seals hang out and there were a lot of them. The tankers have to have pilots who are familiar with the area come on board and guide them thru the Sound so the pilots work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. There is a cove where two boats are kept--one is for accomodations while the other is to take them out to the ship which is in motion and no matter the weather they have to board her by way of a ladder up the side of the ship--very dangerous. It was a wonderful cruise and of course we saw our different birds.
We arrived home at 8pm and took off for the fish hatchery where it was reported that because of the salmon returning to the stream a mother bear with 3 cubs was frequenting the area to teach them how to fish. The night before others saw them up close but while we were there and we were there until 9:45 they decided not to arrive. We will try again tonight after our potluck. A wonderful day.
Trip to Valdez--July 22
We slept in this morning. We didn't leave till 6:30. The day was cloudy and overcast pretty much all day--oh well. When we left we were on the Glen Allen Hwy and eventually turned onto the Richardson Hwy. The Richardson goes thru a lot of muskeg tundra and boy did we have lots of frost heaves.The first stop was to read about the formation of gypsum in the mts there due to volcanic action and they were reddish due to the iron oxide. Our next stop was to take pictures of the Matanuska Glacier which heads in the Chugach Mts. and trends NW 27 miles. Some 18,000 yrs. ago it went all the way to Palmer. Now its avg. width is 2 miles and at its terminus it is 4 miles wide. I am always awed by their beauty and immensity. Our next stop was breakfast at Grandview Cafe. It was new, only built in the late 90's. The people who owned and ran it were Christians and the food was good and a very pleasant place to stop.
We stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitors Center.It is the largest National Park we have at 13.2 million acres of wild land and 9.7 is designated as wilderness. It is formed by the Wrangell, St. Elias, and Chugach mountain ranges. The park contains the greatest collection of peaks over 16,000' on the continent and Mt. Elias is the 2nd largest peak in the U.S. The park also contains the largest concentration of glaciers on the continent. Hubbard Glacier which flows out of St. Elias is one of the most active glaciers in North America. It is advancing in spite of "global climate change" if you believe in that which I am doubting more and more. Nature has been changing for millions of years and will continue to change no matter what we do--we are not the Creator. There are only two roads further into this park and neither are real good. This is honestly a preserve first and a park second. This place is magnificent but you explore more on foot than anything else. They had a visitor's center, a theater, a cultural center and an exhibit building and of course a restroom building and a trail out back. We saw a movie which wet your appetite for the park and listened to a ranger talk about the wolves in the park. The pelts from all these animals are beautiful and each so different. The sea otter pelt has 20,000 to 30,000 hairs per inch, yes per inch. You can't even see its hide when you try and separate the hairs(which you can't).
Passing more smaller glaciers and beautiful waterfalls to Worthington Glacier. It is located in the Copper River basin and is the most visited site in the area. It is a National Natural Landmark. This one heads upon Girls Mountain at 6,134'. The sight of it on the way to it was the best because you could see where it splits and forms two and then we went on up to the kiosk and read a little about it and if they all receeded, it would be the last to go if it did. Unbelieveably there were two men and a younger boy who walked up onto the glacier with no poles or ice spikes on their shoes and as they were coming down it was difficult. They also could have fallen into a hidden crevass.
We drove through Thompson Pass at an elevation of 2,678'. The National Climatic Center credits snowfall extremes in Alaska to this pass. The station there has recorded these extremes: 974.5" for the season in 1952-53, 298" for a month is Feb. 1953 and 62" in a 24 hr. period in Dec. 1955. That is something else. They have snowpoles that look like upside down "L's" for the snow plows-for guidance.
As we were getting closer to Valdez we also passed two wonderful waterfalls called Bridal Falls and Horsetail Falls. I never get tired of waterfalls either. Then our last stop before the RV park was an almost completed tunnel. There were copper mines up here very early on and 9 railroad companies were trying to be the first up here to get the business. This tunnel was being dug by hand into the solid rock of Keystone Canyon until a fued and a gun battle insued which ended the whole thing. It was never finished but you can go up to and inside if you want. Our RV park is practically right off the waterfront and the marina.
We stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitors Center.It is the largest National Park we have at 13.2 million acres of wild land and 9.7 is designated as wilderness. It is formed by the Wrangell, St. Elias, and Chugach mountain ranges. The park contains the greatest collection of peaks over 16,000' on the continent and Mt. Elias is the 2nd largest peak in the U.S. The park also contains the largest concentration of glaciers on the continent. Hubbard Glacier which flows out of St. Elias is one of the most active glaciers in North America. It is advancing in spite of "global climate change" if you believe in that which I am doubting more and more. Nature has been changing for millions of years and will continue to change no matter what we do--we are not the Creator. There are only two roads further into this park and neither are real good. This is honestly a preserve first and a park second. This place is magnificent but you explore more on foot than anything else. They had a visitor's center, a theater, a cultural center and an exhibit building and of course a restroom building and a trail out back. We saw a movie which wet your appetite for the park and listened to a ranger talk about the wolves in the park. The pelts from all these animals are beautiful and each so different. The sea otter pelt has 20,000 to 30,000 hairs per inch, yes per inch. You can't even see its hide when you try and separate the hairs(which you can't).
Passing more smaller glaciers and beautiful waterfalls to Worthington Glacier. It is located in the Copper River basin and is the most visited site in the area. It is a National Natural Landmark. This one heads upon Girls Mountain at 6,134'. The sight of it on the way to it was the best because you could see where it splits and forms two and then we went on up to the kiosk and read a little about it and if they all receeded, it would be the last to go if it did. Unbelieveably there were two men and a younger boy who walked up onto the glacier with no poles or ice spikes on their shoes and as they were coming down it was difficult. They also could have fallen into a hidden crevass.
We drove through Thompson Pass at an elevation of 2,678'. The National Climatic Center credits snowfall extremes in Alaska to this pass. The station there has recorded these extremes: 974.5" for the season in 1952-53, 298" for a month is Feb. 1953 and 62" in a 24 hr. period in Dec. 1955. That is something else. They have snowpoles that look like upside down "L's" for the snow plows-for guidance.
As we were getting closer to Valdez we also passed two wonderful waterfalls called Bridal Falls and Horsetail Falls. I never get tired of waterfalls either. Then our last stop before the RV park was an almost completed tunnel. There were copper mines up here very early on and 9 railroad companies were trying to be the first up here to get the business. This tunnel was being dug by hand into the solid rock of Keystone Canyon until a fued and a gun battle insued which ended the whole thing. It was never finished but you can go up to and inside if you want. Our RV park is practically right off the waterfront and the marina.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Day in Palmer--July 21
It began raining last night and rained all night long and into this morning. It sounded wonderful on the roof. We left at 8:45 this morning to go ride share to the Palmer Visitor Center/ Museum. The docent gave us a good run down on Palmer. Alaska is the most seismically-active state in the U.S. and contains 10% of the Earth's identified volcanoes. The rugged Chugach Range encloses the Mat-Su Valley to the south. To the north is the Alaska Range(Mt. McKinley) is only one of the peaks and the Talkeetna Range partially divides the Matanuska Valley from the Susitna this Mat-Su. Due to where Palmer is located the winds blow and they blow in a lot of top soil. The docent says he has 6' of good top soil on his land from being blown in. Their winter weather is not as extreme as the interior of Alaska partially due to their proximity to the water of the Knik Arm. The proximity to the North Pole causes the Mat-Su Valley's hours of daylight to vary greatly. In June there is an avg. of 19 hours of light per day while in Dec. the avg. daylight hours are only 5.
Gold was discovered near what became Knik near here in 1897 but in 1898 an expedition came up this valley and coal was discovered and became of interest. The Alaska Central Railroad in 1904 began construction since it had access to top grade coal for their engines but it fell thru until Alaska became a territory in 1912. Along with the construction came homesteaders who settle in the valley and begin some agriculture but the big change occurred in 1935 during the Great Depression. FDR proposed a relocation effort to move destitute Midwestern farmers onto more profitable lands around the U.S. Two places of the many others in the lower 48 produced 2 well known people. One was an Arkansas boy named Johnny Cash and a Tennessee boy named Elvis--both came from one of these communities. I digress.From the beginning of this Don Irwin who was director of the experimental station at Matanuska,AK was involved with the criteria and selection process. He was involved with FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) and that is how Alaska became involved. Part of the criteria was age (25-40), hardy pioneer type farmers with Scandinavian backgrounds from Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota( due to weather adjustments). 204 families were chosen to receive 40-80 acre tracts(by a draw), a house, barn, well and outbuildings on a $30,000 dollar, 30 year loan. This gave the people hope where they had no hope before this opportunity. This was truly the beginning of Palmer. Go read about this program on the internet. It was very interesting. I never knew about this. Then outside the museum they had the most beautiful gardens combining flowers, trees, berry bushes, vegetables so we could see what is grown up here. They only have a very limited growing season but long days during that time so things grow fast and large up here.
We then went down to Colony House Museum which is one of the original homes built during the Matanuska Colony Project in 1935. There were 5 different house plans they could choose. This was 3 bedroom, 2 story with living room, kitchen, and bathroom, It was very nice, but they first lived in tents because the houses were not built yet--actually nothing was built except the railroad they came up on and the land was not cleared for farming. But we toured this house and it was very nice--furnished with all original furniture from different families. The docent was very nice and informative.
We went across the street to The Inn Cafe for our lunch which was included. We had a wonderful tomato basil bisque soup, a salad with a huge sandwich of ham, cheese,lettuce, tomato and onion on a croissant followed by ice cream with raspberry sauce (umm!!) and iced tea. One of the better lunches we have had and the service was great.
Bob went back to run errands and make phone calls while Marvin, Dee and I went to Eklutna,AK. It is hardly even a community although they say there are about 377 people residing there. It is an Athabascan village and when the Russians came here in 1741 mostly for the furs rather than settlement, they occupied the land for 126 yrs. The main influence you see now is the Russian Orthodox Churches throughout Alaska. In most places the native cultures readily accepted their teaching because it made sense to them. Located there is a small historical park which contains St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church(still having services),a hand-built Siberian prayer chapel and traditional spirit houses or grave houses. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of fishermen. There was a priest there who told us about the area and when we went into the church also explained the icons and whatever else we asked. He must have just been burning the incense in the church because it was real strong so Dee and Marvin missed some of that explanation. When someone from the native culture dies they bury them and then put a blanket over the grave to keep them warm because they believe that the spirit of that person stays around for a year. That is also why they build small little houses on the grave to house the spirit. Many are deteriorating but that is what is supposed to happen because the spirit has moved on. They are also painted different colors to match the colors scheme of the family. As we left Dee asked several questions as did I to better understand the Orthodox faith in comparison to our own. The basics are very much alike but they have a lot more ritual. One very interesting thing was that when the first group of priests came over, except for one area which misunderstood the priest but later did understand, the people readily accepted their teachings and one of the explanations the natives gave to them was that they expected them. They had visions or dreams of men in black carrying a black book coming to them. I so wish Bob could have been there because he comes from the Orthodox faith originally.
We then drove back to Wasilla--home of Sarah Palin and drove around a little but never found the Iditarod Home base and museum. I guess that will be for next time we come. We had our briefing and then later tonight we will have a campfire and do somores and doughboys over the fire. That's all folks.
Gold was discovered near what became Knik near here in 1897 but in 1898 an expedition came up this valley and coal was discovered and became of interest. The Alaska Central Railroad in 1904 began construction since it had access to top grade coal for their engines but it fell thru until Alaska became a territory in 1912. Along with the construction came homesteaders who settle in the valley and begin some agriculture but the big change occurred in 1935 during the Great Depression. FDR proposed a relocation effort to move destitute Midwestern farmers onto more profitable lands around the U.S. Two places of the many others in the lower 48 produced 2 well known people. One was an Arkansas boy named Johnny Cash and a Tennessee boy named Elvis--both came from one of these communities. I digress.From the beginning of this Don Irwin who was director of the experimental station at Matanuska,AK was involved with the criteria and selection process. He was involved with FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) and that is how Alaska became involved. Part of the criteria was age (25-40), hardy pioneer type farmers with Scandinavian backgrounds from Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota( due to weather adjustments). 204 families were chosen to receive 40-80 acre tracts(by a draw), a house, barn, well and outbuildings on a $30,000 dollar, 30 year loan. This gave the people hope where they had no hope before this opportunity. This was truly the beginning of Palmer. Go read about this program on the internet. It was very interesting. I never knew about this. Then outside the museum they had the most beautiful gardens combining flowers, trees, berry bushes, vegetables so we could see what is grown up here. They only have a very limited growing season but long days during that time so things grow fast and large up here.
We then went down to Colony House Museum which is one of the original homes built during the Matanuska Colony Project in 1935. There were 5 different house plans they could choose. This was 3 bedroom, 2 story with living room, kitchen, and bathroom, It was very nice, but they first lived in tents because the houses were not built yet--actually nothing was built except the railroad they came up on and the land was not cleared for farming. But we toured this house and it was very nice--furnished with all original furniture from different families. The docent was very nice and informative.
We went across the street to The Inn Cafe for our lunch which was included. We had a wonderful tomato basil bisque soup, a salad with a huge sandwich of ham, cheese,lettuce, tomato and onion on a croissant followed by ice cream with raspberry sauce (umm!!) and iced tea. One of the better lunches we have had and the service was great.
Bob went back to run errands and make phone calls while Marvin, Dee and I went to Eklutna,AK. It is hardly even a community although they say there are about 377 people residing there. It is an Athabascan village and when the Russians came here in 1741 mostly for the furs rather than settlement, they occupied the land for 126 yrs. The main influence you see now is the Russian Orthodox Churches throughout Alaska. In most places the native cultures readily accepted their teaching because it made sense to them. Located there is a small historical park which contains St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church(still having services),a hand-built Siberian prayer chapel and traditional spirit houses or grave houses. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of fishermen. There was a priest there who told us about the area and when we went into the church also explained the icons and whatever else we asked. He must have just been burning the incense in the church because it was real strong so Dee and Marvin missed some of that explanation. When someone from the native culture dies they bury them and then put a blanket over the grave to keep them warm because they believe that the spirit of that person stays around for a year. That is also why they build small little houses on the grave to house the spirit. Many are deteriorating but that is what is supposed to happen because the spirit has moved on. They are also painted different colors to match the colors scheme of the family. As we left Dee asked several questions as did I to better understand the Orthodox faith in comparison to our own. The basics are very much alike but they have a lot more ritual. One very interesting thing was that when the first group of priests came over, except for one area which misunderstood the priest but later did understand, the people readily accepted their teachings and one of the explanations the natives gave to them was that they expected them. They had visions or dreams of men in black carrying a black book coming to them. I so wish Bob could have been there because he comes from the Orthodox faith originally.
We then drove back to Wasilla--home of Sarah Palin and drove around a little but never found the Iditarod Home base and museum. I guess that will be for next time we come. We had our briefing and then later tonight we will have a campfire and do somores and doughboys over the fire. That's all folks.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Travel Day to Palmer--July 20
Happy Birthday, Trajan #4
The day started early because we woke up at 3:30am in Alaska and 7:30 am in Tampa in order to sing happy birthday to our very special grandson. Then went right back to bed until 4:45 when I got up to get ready for our early morning pull out. We had a long drive today but we had to backtrack so their were no real stops except at the best bakery in Alaska in Soldotna named the Moose is Loose Bakery. It truly was the best I had tasted in Alaska. We pulled out at 6am and were in Mt. View RV Park outside of Palmer by about 2pm. I was sleepy all day and took a nap when we got here. We stopped for the bakery and gas and later we stopped at Tern Lake so the boys could nap. I would have except their were birds on the lake and in the air. You don't stop somewhere like that and sleep if you are a birder. I got to see Arctic terns and 2 common loons. I love loons. We were coming back via the Turnagain Arm and the tide was out and on the mountain side were waterfalls from the melting snow up top. We could also see a glacier at one point but don't know which one.
When I woke up people were gathered out in the middle of our coaches in the road sitting and visiting. That was fun. Now it is raining again and probably tomorrow. I was surprised we didn't have to travel in it today. Tomorrow we do some touring. See you later.
The day started early because we woke up at 3:30am in Alaska and 7:30 am in Tampa in order to sing happy birthday to our very special grandson. Then went right back to bed until 4:45 when I got up to get ready for our early morning pull out. We had a long drive today but we had to backtrack so their were no real stops except at the best bakery in Alaska in Soldotna named the Moose is Loose Bakery. It truly was the best I had tasted in Alaska. We pulled out at 6am and were in Mt. View RV Park outside of Palmer by about 2pm. I was sleepy all day and took a nap when we got here. We stopped for the bakery and gas and later we stopped at Tern Lake so the boys could nap. I would have except their were birds on the lake and in the air. You don't stop somewhere like that and sleep if you are a birder. I got to see Arctic terns and 2 common loons. I love loons. We were coming back via the Turnagain Arm and the tide was out and on the mountain side were waterfalls from the melting snow up top. We could also see a glacier at one point but don't know which one.
When I woke up people were gathered out in the middle of our coaches in the road sitting and visiting. That was fun. Now it is raining again and probably tomorrow. I was surprised we didn't have to travel in it today. Tomorrow we do some touring. See you later.
Last Day in Homer--July 19
I compose this blog as I type and I do try and spell check when I am unsure of a word but I used to be a good speller but Bob said some things didn't make sense so I guess I should start rereading them.It takes me a lot of time to do them and many times have not been able to do them due to bad internet connections and I never professed to be a professional writer so I hope things are not too disconnected. Sorry.
Yesterday Bill & Marilyn Kern and I went out together to do some birding and to a couple of museums. Bob is not a birder and he rested again. Our first stop was the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center--it is partnership with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. They have a beautiful museum and their video was very good. They do lots of things with kids also. Their Beluga Slough Trail right behind their building leads out into a wonderful area for birds. I took my scope and we saw a number of sandhill cranes and their colts ( that what they call their young ones, I did not know that). I had never seen the colts before. We saw a greater yellowlegs. It was not too busy out there. By the time had looked inside the museum and the walk it was time for lunch so we headed out for Duncan House--recommended by one of the other caravaners. It was ok and it filled me up but not great.
We went on to the Pratt Museum which was also very good. It explored the cultures of Kachemak Bay, the fishing industry, anthropology, history, art, earth sciences, biology plus historic photographs of the region and local quilts. They had videos that would have the real people talking to you about their lives. We had noticed how so very many of the cabins everywhere had all kinds of stuff or junk scattered all around them. In the museum they had an explanation that helped me understand this. From very early times when they either had to carry their stuff up here and then later it would come in by boat and then they had to take it from the docks to wherever they lived--it was a big deal and they might only get things once or twice a year. They never threw anything away because they were the original recyclers. If they needed something they would make it out of whatever they had around that they had saved. We saw some of these things in the museum. I suspect this still continues to some degree. The museum also had a scale model of the "Time Bandit" from the TV show " The Deadliest Catch". Lots of neat stuff. On another floor they had some tanks where there was some fish and other underwater anemonies, etc. but the best was the live feed from Gull Island. You could move the camera around with a joy stick to see different locations and zoom in and out. You really had wonderful close ups of the puffins, the common murres,and the glaucous gulls all nesting and even saw some young ones.The young girl that was manning the area was very informative and we asked a lot of questions--come to find out she will be a senior in high school this coming year--were we shocked. She looked young but she was so knowlegeable. As we were leaving we ran into Barry and Monique and they were going to take a walk on the trail out back.
We had to hurry back over to the first museum for a birding van tour. When we were there the first time they said we did not have to sign up but when we got back they said that they had done so because so many people wanted to go. Luckily they had remembered us and counted us because the 15 seat van was packed. The first place we went was down to The Spit and the rangers showed us where there were some black legged kittiwakes nesting on some pilelings and crossbars and we had the joy of seeing some young chicks. There were also lots of people fishing down below us on the rocks. We all piled back into the van and went down toward the airport where there was a boardwalk out into a marshy area unfortunately the ducks were too far away even with a scope to really identify. I did see a grebe and then back into the van. I think I mentioned about the eagle nest near the road but anyway we also stopped there on the way back for our last stop and we had a great view of the fledgling which is about 4 months old and getting ready to fly. There were probably about 5 people there with spotting scopes and large scopes on their cameras and at a good distance was one of the parents sitting on the top of a light post.
We just returned to the RV park and Marvin and Dee were getting ready to go to Anchor Point so I jumped into their car--this is the most westerly drivable point in North America. And Alaska has the most northerly, westerly and easterly point in the United States because the Aleutian Islands cross the International Date Line. Just a bit of trivia. Now back to Anchor Point. Outside the town there is a park with a large beach when the tide is out and boats come in and go out from there. The boats and their boat trailers each have a number put on them and there is a small building with radio communication. These people have a contract with the state and they charge $58 for a round trip of launching and retreaving them. They have this very large thing that kind of looks like a tractor and it hooks up to their trailers and backs up way out into the water and launches them and later does just the opposite. One guy drives this thing and on the back there is someone who hooks the trailers onto it and then cranks in the boats as the boats drive onto their trailers. It is very quick and efficient and there is no way people could use their own vehicles and do this. I don't know how this machine does this and doesn't get water into its engine. I forgot to tell you. Just a little way out of Homer on this outing Dee spotted a moose but it went into some trees but we didn't give up. Marvin backed up until he got to the end of this patch of trees and backed into a pull off and before long this big huge bull moose with a huge rack of antlers still in velvet came out just munching on grass and he just kept walking and munching. He had this long beard and was so beautiful. It was the best look we have seen the whole trip. What a treat.
The staff prepared our meal tonight: grilled chicken, small pieces of fish for us to sample, pork and beans, corn and clam chowder then some of the caravaners added fresh pineapple pieces, pasta,cookies and marionberry pie. This was followed by our briefing and home to secure the fort for a quick departure in the morning.
Yesterday Bill & Marilyn Kern and I went out together to do some birding and to a couple of museums. Bob is not a birder and he rested again. Our first stop was the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center--it is partnership with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. They have a beautiful museum and their video was very good. They do lots of things with kids also. Their Beluga Slough Trail right behind their building leads out into a wonderful area for birds. I took my scope and we saw a number of sandhill cranes and their colts ( that what they call their young ones, I did not know that). I had never seen the colts before. We saw a greater yellowlegs. It was not too busy out there. By the time had looked inside the museum and the walk it was time for lunch so we headed out for Duncan House--recommended by one of the other caravaners. It was ok and it filled me up but not great.
We went on to the Pratt Museum which was also very good. It explored the cultures of Kachemak Bay, the fishing industry, anthropology, history, art, earth sciences, biology plus historic photographs of the region and local quilts. They had videos that would have the real people talking to you about their lives. We had noticed how so very many of the cabins everywhere had all kinds of stuff or junk scattered all around them. In the museum they had an explanation that helped me understand this. From very early times when they either had to carry their stuff up here and then later it would come in by boat and then they had to take it from the docks to wherever they lived--it was a big deal and they might only get things once or twice a year. They never threw anything away because they were the original recyclers. If they needed something they would make it out of whatever they had around that they had saved. We saw some of these things in the museum. I suspect this still continues to some degree. The museum also had a scale model of the "Time Bandit" from the TV show " The Deadliest Catch". Lots of neat stuff. On another floor they had some tanks where there was some fish and other underwater anemonies, etc. but the best was the live feed from Gull Island. You could move the camera around with a joy stick to see different locations and zoom in and out. You really had wonderful close ups of the puffins, the common murres,and the glaucous gulls all nesting and even saw some young ones.The young girl that was manning the area was very informative and we asked a lot of questions--come to find out she will be a senior in high school this coming year--were we shocked. She looked young but she was so knowlegeable. As we were leaving we ran into Barry and Monique and they were going to take a walk on the trail out back.
We had to hurry back over to the first museum for a birding van tour. When we were there the first time they said we did not have to sign up but when we got back they said that they had done so because so many people wanted to go. Luckily they had remembered us and counted us because the 15 seat van was packed. The first place we went was down to The Spit and the rangers showed us where there were some black legged kittiwakes nesting on some pilelings and crossbars and we had the joy of seeing some young chicks. There were also lots of people fishing down below us on the rocks. We all piled back into the van and went down toward the airport where there was a boardwalk out into a marshy area unfortunately the ducks were too far away even with a scope to really identify. I did see a grebe and then back into the van. I think I mentioned about the eagle nest near the road but anyway we also stopped there on the way back for our last stop and we had a great view of the fledgling which is about 4 months old and getting ready to fly. There were probably about 5 people there with spotting scopes and large scopes on their cameras and at a good distance was one of the parents sitting on the top of a light post.
We just returned to the RV park and Marvin and Dee were getting ready to go to Anchor Point so I jumped into their car--this is the most westerly drivable point in North America. And Alaska has the most northerly, westerly and easterly point in the United States because the Aleutian Islands cross the International Date Line. Just a bit of trivia. Now back to Anchor Point. Outside the town there is a park with a large beach when the tide is out and boats come in and go out from there. The boats and their boat trailers each have a number put on them and there is a small building with radio communication. These people have a contract with the state and they charge $58 for a round trip of launching and retreaving them. They have this very large thing that kind of looks like a tractor and it hooks up to their trailers and backs up way out into the water and launches them and later does just the opposite. One guy drives this thing and on the back there is someone who hooks the trailers onto it and then cranks in the boats as the boats drive onto their trailers. It is very quick and efficient and there is no way people could use their own vehicles and do this. I don't know how this machine does this and doesn't get water into its engine. I forgot to tell you. Just a little way out of Homer on this outing Dee spotted a moose but it went into some trees but we didn't give up. Marvin backed up until he got to the end of this patch of trees and backed into a pull off and before long this big huge bull moose with a huge rack of antlers still in velvet came out just munching on grass and he just kept walking and munching. He had this long beard and was so beautiful. It was the best look we have seen the whole trip. What a treat.
The staff prepared our meal tonight: grilled chicken, small pieces of fish for us to sample, pork and beans, corn and clam chowder then some of the caravaners added fresh pineapple pieces, pasta,cookies and marionberry pie. This was followed by our briefing and home to secure the fort for a quick departure in the morning.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Trip to Seldovia and Gull Island--July 18
I have been looking forward to this particular cruise the whole trip. This is a birding cruise and then to a small Russian village across the Inlet. Unfortunately it looks like soup out there. We had 2 days of beautiful weather and the clouds were dark last night so we will probably not get to see any birds very clearly. Between my left eye always being blurry and the weather being nasty every 2 or 3 days and not having much free time I don't get time to birdwatch so today is a real disappointment. Tomorrow another older couple who both like to birdwatch and I were going out on our own to do some but it will probably be equally bad tomorrow, we'll see.
I had on top and bottom long johns, a long sleeved T-shirt, a nylon jacket, a fleece vest, my hooded rain jacket, a hat and gloves and hiking boots and my jeans. I kept quite warm all day and I was out on the open deck the entire time. It sprinkled rain the entire way almost to Seldovia, the Russian Village--nasty weather.
Homer is located on the southwest part of Alaska on Kachemak Bay off Cook Inlet and then Seldovia is in Seldovia Bay. They have a ferry that goes into a lot of the islands and around Cook Inlet that can carry cars and motorhomes, etc. On the boat with us was a group of young people and all their instruments. They were performing a concert on Seldovia that night. He captain took us around Gull Island where there is a gull rookery. Most of them are Glaucous Gulls, Pink-legged Kittiwakes, some black-legged Kittiwakes and a few Cormorants. We saw a raft of sea otters a couple of times.We also saw Common Murres, Tufted Puffins,Pigeon Guillemots,Scoter and Surfbirds. Near where a stream flows into the bay was a small beach area and there were maybe 15 bald eagles hanging out on the top of the beach area waiting for the salmon to start up the stream. That was cool. We have seen lots of Bald Eagles everywhere up here but not together like that. We went thru Eldred Passage past Sadie Cove and Grass Island and Heskett Island which he said was entirely subdivided. You could see a few cabins but a lot were hidden. We also went past Elephant Rock which at a certain angle looks like it raises its trunk up out of the water and it actually does look that way. Interesting.
Seldovia is 16 miles across Kachemak Bay from Homer and has approximately 284 people before this past census. It has city police, fire and rescue and ambulance services. The medical clinic has a resident doctor and visiting dentist, a library and a school. It has a harbormaster, a couple of restaurants and a bar and liquor store, a mercantile, a couple of churches(barely), a gift shop, a museum/visitor center which has very nice exhibits and served hot Russian tea. There was an old Russian Orthodox Church on the top of a hill. We walked up to it but it was locked. The name Seldovia is derived from Russian "Seldevoy" meaning "herring bay" and between 1869 abd 1882 a trading station was located here. In 1891 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was built.It is now a national historic site. It also is the farthest northwest ice free harbor on the North American Continent. The town was built right on the water so they had to build their houses up on pilings because of the high tides twice a month which can be 25 to 31 inches. The water came right up to their doors until the 1964 earthquake and then when they rebuilt they did it further back and up so they now have a main street. Before they had built a boardwalk that ran in front of all the houses to walk on during the high tide. There are some of the original homes and boardwalk we went to see. Just like anywhere else people with money have nice homes and those who have less or choose to exist on less live much more simply and the homes can be very old and decrepit looking. I have found the people here friendlier than in a lot of places we have been except for the tourists. I don't know if it is because they are foreign even though they may not look it or if where they come from in the states they just don't acknowledge each other--it is rather sad. We ate in Penny's Cafe and it was very good. Monique and I had a slice of quiche with 4 large slices of apple and 4 large slices of orange--it was very good and only $6 which for here was fantastic. All the others ate halibut for $15.00. For dessert we each had a fresh out of the oven cookie--yum!!
The boat trip home was straight and uneventful although I saw the back and fin of a porpoise.
I had on top and bottom long johns, a long sleeved T-shirt, a nylon jacket, a fleece vest, my hooded rain jacket, a hat and gloves and hiking boots and my jeans. I kept quite warm all day and I was out on the open deck the entire time. It sprinkled rain the entire way almost to Seldovia, the Russian Village--nasty weather.
Homer is located on the southwest part of Alaska on Kachemak Bay off Cook Inlet and then Seldovia is in Seldovia Bay. They have a ferry that goes into a lot of the islands and around Cook Inlet that can carry cars and motorhomes, etc. On the boat with us was a group of young people and all their instruments. They were performing a concert on Seldovia that night. He captain took us around Gull Island where there is a gull rookery. Most of them are Glaucous Gulls, Pink-legged Kittiwakes, some black-legged Kittiwakes and a few Cormorants. We saw a raft of sea otters a couple of times.We also saw Common Murres, Tufted Puffins,Pigeon Guillemots,Scoter and Surfbirds. Near where a stream flows into the bay was a small beach area and there were maybe 15 bald eagles hanging out on the top of the beach area waiting for the salmon to start up the stream. That was cool. We have seen lots of Bald Eagles everywhere up here but not together like that. We went thru Eldred Passage past Sadie Cove and Grass Island and Heskett Island which he said was entirely subdivided. You could see a few cabins but a lot were hidden. We also went past Elephant Rock which at a certain angle looks like it raises its trunk up out of the water and it actually does look that way. Interesting.
Seldovia is 16 miles across Kachemak Bay from Homer and has approximately 284 people before this past census. It has city police, fire and rescue and ambulance services. The medical clinic has a resident doctor and visiting dentist, a library and a school. It has a harbormaster, a couple of restaurants and a bar and liquor store, a mercantile, a couple of churches(barely), a gift shop, a museum/visitor center which has very nice exhibits and served hot Russian tea. There was an old Russian Orthodox Church on the top of a hill. We walked up to it but it was locked. The name Seldovia is derived from Russian "Seldevoy" meaning "herring bay" and between 1869 abd 1882 a trading station was located here. In 1891 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was built.It is now a national historic site. It also is the farthest northwest ice free harbor on the North American Continent. The town was built right on the water so they had to build their houses up on pilings because of the high tides twice a month which can be 25 to 31 inches. The water came right up to their doors until the 1964 earthquake and then when they rebuilt they did it further back and up so they now have a main street. Before they had built a boardwalk that ran in front of all the houses to walk on during the high tide. There are some of the original homes and boardwalk we went to see. Just like anywhere else people with money have nice homes and those who have less or choose to exist on less live much more simply and the homes can be very old and decrepit looking. I have found the people here friendlier than in a lot of places we have been except for the tourists. I don't know if it is because they are foreign even though they may not look it or if where they come from in the states they just don't acknowledge each other--it is rather sad. We ate in Penny's Cafe and it was very good. Monique and I had a slice of quiche with 4 large slices of apple and 4 large slices of orange--it was very good and only $6 which for here was fantastic. All the others ate halibut for $15.00. For dessert we each had a fresh out of the oven cookie--yum!!
The boat trip home was straight and uneventful although I saw the back and fin of a porpoise.
!st free day in Homer--July 17
We slept in a little and Bob washed the front window of the coach. Marvin went to breakfast alone because Dee was still recuperating. She must have had a 24 hr stomach virus which might have been what Marvin had also instead of seasickness. They took it a little easier all day. She did laundry and they took a drive.
Bob and I left about 10:30 for the street fair we heard about. We walked down thru it looking at all the items made by the people here in Homer and Alaska be it jewelry, photographs, paintings, clothing etc. and of course some food--we were forced to buy some kettle corn and they also had musicians. It was not large but it was nice and the items were lovely. Then we found the post office and stopped at the Visitor's Center and went on to the local Farmer's Market. They had a lot of green lettuces, rhubarb, herbs, plants to sell, jams and preserves made with local berries and all the local hand crafts and musicians. It was also very nice.
We left there to find a particular jewelry store which we did. This guy makes things out of spoons, forks and knives. He had made 2 large bicycles out of them and the paintings and carvings and sculptures were just beautiful.
We then went down to The Spit which is a mile long piece of land that they think might have been a moraine created by a retreating glacier and there are all kinds of businesses on this outcropping:charter boat and plane companies, gift shops galore, restaurants, marina(very protected) and large boat harbor. The Hickory, a Coast Guard cutter, was docked there. It's charged with covering the whole state of Alaska. There were wall to wall cars and campers and some motorhomes parked and camping everywhere. Every larger restaurant is serving fresh salmon and halibut and you pay dearly for it. At one restaurant they were filleting and cutting the salmon right in front of the store. There was also a nice Seafarer's Memorial on The Spit.
On the way to The Spit there was a tall tree next to the road and an eagle had built a large nest and there were chicks in the nest. It would have been a good day to have done birdwatching but I didn't want to boar Bob. We then drove up to the Bear Creek Winery which was a nice drive and I did some tasting but I decided not to buy since I still have some at home. We drove home and called it quits until we all go out to dinner later. We went to Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant and it was good. Larry bought a birthday cake for his wife Ada--the 17th and me--the 16th and everyone had some. It was nice. Marvin and Dee drove their car and we rode with them and afterwards we all went back to the mountain drive overlooking the water. No animals but a lovely view and drive. Did I tell you that the evening before Marvin sighted something in the water down from where we are camped? I took out the spotting scope and it was a whole raft of sea otters just floating in the water. There must have been 30 or 40 of them. They were so cute. That was our day.
Bob and I left about 10:30 for the street fair we heard about. We walked down thru it looking at all the items made by the people here in Homer and Alaska be it jewelry, photographs, paintings, clothing etc. and of course some food--we were forced to buy some kettle corn and they also had musicians. It was not large but it was nice and the items were lovely. Then we found the post office and stopped at the Visitor's Center and went on to the local Farmer's Market. They had a lot of green lettuces, rhubarb, herbs, plants to sell, jams and preserves made with local berries and all the local hand crafts and musicians. It was also very nice.
We left there to find a particular jewelry store which we did. This guy makes things out of spoons, forks and knives. He had made 2 large bicycles out of them and the paintings and carvings and sculptures were just beautiful.
We then went down to The Spit which is a mile long piece of land that they think might have been a moraine created by a retreating glacier and there are all kinds of businesses on this outcropping:charter boat and plane companies, gift shops galore, restaurants, marina(very protected) and large boat harbor. The Hickory, a Coast Guard cutter, was docked there. It's charged with covering the whole state of Alaska. There were wall to wall cars and campers and some motorhomes parked and camping everywhere. Every larger restaurant is serving fresh salmon and halibut and you pay dearly for it. At one restaurant they were filleting and cutting the salmon right in front of the store. There was also a nice Seafarer's Memorial on The Spit.
On the way to The Spit there was a tall tree next to the road and an eagle had built a large nest and there were chicks in the nest. It would have been a good day to have done birdwatching but I didn't want to boar Bob. We then drove up to the Bear Creek Winery which was a nice drive and I did some tasting but I decided not to buy since I still have some at home. We drove home and called it quits until we all go out to dinner later. We went to Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant and it was good. Larry bought a birthday cake for his wife Ada--the 17th and me--the 16th and everyone had some. It was nice. Marvin and Dee drove their car and we rode with them and afterwards we all went back to the mountain drive overlooking the water. No animals but a lovely view and drive. Did I tell you that the evening before Marvin sighted something in the water down from where we are camped? I took out the spotting scope and it was a whole raft of sea otters just floating in the water. There must have been 30 or 40 of them. They were so cute. That was our day.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
From Seward via Moose Pass & Kenai to Homer--July 16
Today we leave for Homer, AK and unfortunately Marvin is not feeling well. Not only did he not catch any fish yesterday he got seasick and was feeling kind of washed out this morning. We stopped at Moose Pass for both boys to have a nap. Dee and I went exploring which didn't take too long. Moose Pass is like most towns in Alaska--small. It had a bar and 2 cafes/gift shops plus 2 motels, a few houses and a lake with not boats but float planes sitting on it and also a church. We did see a family of ducks and some beautiful flowers and then back on the road again.
Our next stop was Soldotna to find the Moose is Loose Bakery we had heard about. It is much bigger with a population of about 4000. This part of Alaska is more populated and much more traffic and it has been all day. I'm not used to it after where we've been. Anyway, I digress. The bakery was unbelieveably busy and small with only 6 tables. We finally found seats and the pastries Dee and I had were too die for. When we head to our next stop we have to backtrack so we will stop again. Oh my, the best we have had, I think.
We decided to change course and drive down to Kenai which is on the west side of Alaska also on Cook Inlet. Wolf and Barbara had mentioned that they were going there and had asked us if we wanted to have lunch so off we went. Somewhere along our trip a moose was beside the road and we were lucky to see him before he headed to the woods. The drive to Kenai didn't take long and we ran into Wolf and Barb at the Visitor's Center. The center had lots of stuffed birds from the area, gifts and a museum which had a lot of icons, etc. from the local Russian Orthodox Church. The church is being restored with private money, I think, so they charge for the museum in order to raise money. We unhooked 2 cars and began to tour a little . We found the church which originally was log and you can see that it is just being covered with aluminum siding as they can afford and the priest volunteer opened the church for us to see and told us a little about it. Then Dee asked about the emblem of the cross they use and got more of an answer than she had asked for not realizing that these priests never give a quick, simple answer. After this we were ready to eat so we visited one of the oldest buildings in town--Veronica's Coffee House which is the old Oskolkof/Dolchok House built in 1915 out of hand hewn logs by John Oskolkof. In 1945 it became the Dolchok home. It is one of the few remaining examples of a community building and Kenaitze subsistence. Very cute and the food was delicious. Bob just had a salad while I had a cup of Italian Wedding soup and a half of Turkey and Provolone sandwich with a spoonful of pasta on the side. The soup was absolutely delicious and the sandwich I ate later was very good. We all enjoyed not only the food but the camaraderie. Marvin decided that it called for dessert so he and Bob shared this brownie with lots of ice cream and chocolate swirled over it. It was huge. This place was also extrememly busy. On to more touring.
Our next stop was the bluffs overlooking the Kenai River where they were fishing with dipnets. They are great big round nets on a pole that look like the things you blow bubbles. The people were in these waders with suspenders and they were out in this cold, cold water up to their waist or higher holding this net waiting for the salmon to swim into them as they go upstream to spawn. To use a dipnet you either have to be a native or have lived in Alaska for at least a year. You are allowed 10 fish a day per person for however long the season--which ends the end of the month. They were all lined up along the river and they had set up tents and their cars were down there with their whole family. It was like a holiday but of course for the natives this is food for the winter as well as now. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet but along the side rivers you will find people lined up side by side fishing with poles because the salmon are running now. This is called combat fishing. They all throw in at the same time, let the lines drift down and then they all pull them out at the same time. It is very syncronized (sp) or they will tangle their lines. There is an awful lot of haze over the mountains and the water today.
I walked down a road from where we were standing to another area of the bluffs to see the volcanoes and did see them even thru the haze just not clearly. There are approximately 40 active volcanoes in Alaska and of course this area and on down into the Aluetians is part of the ring of fire. It is also part of the San Andreas Fault that goes down into California. The two I saw was Mt. Redoubt which erupted in 1989 and also in 2009. Then south of it is Mt. Iliamna which is identified by its 3 smaller peaks on its left but it remains dormant so far. Nearer to Anchorage is the tallest which is Mt. Spurr which last erupted in 1992. We left Kenai by a loop road which was Kolifornsky Hwy. which eventually went back to Sterling Hwy. which was what we were on before our diversion trip. Also took some good pictures on those miles of the volcanoes. Because of our side trip we did not make it to the social but finally settled in with a great view of Cook Inlet .
Dee's lunch didn't settle good with her so about 8pm Bob and I went for a drive up and around the top of the mountains that are the backdrop to Homer and Cook Inlet. It was a great drive. Another day tomorrow.
Our next stop was Soldotna to find the Moose is Loose Bakery we had heard about. It is much bigger with a population of about 4000. This part of Alaska is more populated and much more traffic and it has been all day. I'm not used to it after where we've been. Anyway, I digress. The bakery was unbelieveably busy and small with only 6 tables. We finally found seats and the pastries Dee and I had were too die for. When we head to our next stop we have to backtrack so we will stop again. Oh my, the best we have had, I think.
We decided to change course and drive down to Kenai which is on the west side of Alaska also on Cook Inlet. Wolf and Barbara had mentioned that they were going there and had asked us if we wanted to have lunch so off we went. Somewhere along our trip a moose was beside the road and we were lucky to see him before he headed to the woods. The drive to Kenai didn't take long and we ran into Wolf and Barb at the Visitor's Center. The center had lots of stuffed birds from the area, gifts and a museum which had a lot of icons, etc. from the local Russian Orthodox Church. The church is being restored with private money, I think, so they charge for the museum in order to raise money. We unhooked 2 cars and began to tour a little . We found the church which originally was log and you can see that it is just being covered with aluminum siding as they can afford and the priest volunteer opened the church for us to see and told us a little about it. Then Dee asked about the emblem of the cross they use and got more of an answer than she had asked for not realizing that these priests never give a quick, simple answer. After this we were ready to eat so we visited one of the oldest buildings in town--Veronica's Coffee House which is the old Oskolkof/Dolchok House built in 1915 out of hand hewn logs by John Oskolkof. In 1945 it became the Dolchok home. It is one of the few remaining examples of a community building and Kenaitze subsistence. Very cute and the food was delicious. Bob just had a salad while I had a cup of Italian Wedding soup and a half of Turkey and Provolone sandwich with a spoonful of pasta on the side. The soup was absolutely delicious and the sandwich I ate later was very good. We all enjoyed not only the food but the camaraderie. Marvin decided that it called for dessert so he and Bob shared this brownie with lots of ice cream and chocolate swirled over it. It was huge. This place was also extrememly busy. On to more touring.
Our next stop was the bluffs overlooking the Kenai River where they were fishing with dipnets. They are great big round nets on a pole that look like the things you blow bubbles. The people were in these waders with suspenders and they were out in this cold, cold water up to their waist or higher holding this net waiting for the salmon to swim into them as they go upstream to spawn. To use a dipnet you either have to be a native or have lived in Alaska for at least a year. You are allowed 10 fish a day per person for however long the season--which ends the end of the month. They were all lined up along the river and they had set up tents and their cars were down there with their whole family. It was like a holiday but of course for the natives this is food for the winter as well as now. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet but along the side rivers you will find people lined up side by side fishing with poles because the salmon are running now. This is called combat fishing. They all throw in at the same time, let the lines drift down and then they all pull them out at the same time. It is very syncronized (sp) or they will tangle their lines. There is an awful lot of haze over the mountains and the water today.
I walked down a road from where we were standing to another area of the bluffs to see the volcanoes and did see them even thru the haze just not clearly. There are approximately 40 active volcanoes in Alaska and of course this area and on down into the Aluetians is part of the ring of fire. It is also part of the San Andreas Fault that goes down into California. The two I saw was Mt. Redoubt which erupted in 1989 and also in 2009. Then south of it is Mt. Iliamna which is identified by its 3 smaller peaks on its left but it remains dormant so far. Nearer to Anchorage is the tallest which is Mt. Spurr which last erupted in 1992. We left Kenai by a loop road which was Kolifornsky Hwy. which eventually went back to Sterling Hwy. which was what we were on before our diversion trip. Also took some good pictures on those miles of the volcanoes. Because of our side trip we did not make it to the social but finally settled in with a great view of Cook Inlet .
Dee's lunch didn't settle good with her so about 8pm Bob and I went for a drive up and around the top of the mountains that are the backdrop to Homer and Cook Inlet. It was a great drive. Another day tomorrow.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Last day in Seward--July 15
Today was rainy this morning and then just overcast and grey most of the day. I got up early and came down to the laundry and washed our clothes. After getting then all put away and writing some post cards I took off. Bob stayed in all day and slept and did a little on the computer so hopefully he will feel a little better.
I took off for the Exit Glacier which is in the Kenai Fjords National Park. At 2pm they were having a ranger led walk up to the edge of the glacier. I love learning about things and this would be really informative and it was. You are allowed to walk up yourself and even go further and go out on the Harding Icefield and their are trained guides you can hire who will take you up there and attach ropes to you so you can go down in a crevass--that would be so cool. I digress. We left at 2 and then you come down whenever you want so I actually didn't get out of the park till about 4:30.
I am just going to throw out a bunch of information I learned.
They have about 25 earthquakes a day in Alaska--most you don't even feel. I told you about the big one in 1964. One lady and her husband were in their house when the tsunami hit and it just lifted it off its foundation and it floated and when it receeded it was stuck between two trees about 10' off the ground. In regards to the glacier, it received its name because of the natives crossing the Icefield and they couldn't find a way off until they found this glacier and it was their exit off the icefield. 75% of our fresh water comes from glaciers. This one receeds about 10" per day--yes per day and as it does it pushes out all this rock and gravel which becomes moraines (a mound of gravel left behind). As you enter the park you see these signs with number that seem like years and they are beginning with 1815 and that tells you that in that year that is where the glacier was located. It did advance somewhere in the years 1986 to 1994.There are several ways they determine this: they study plant growth and tree rings on the moraines before 1950 and the signs in the park, I mentioned, are based on this method. Now they also use aerial photography and aerial lasers to determine length and volume and it is also loosing volume as well as receeding. They also combine it with GIS which is Geographic Information System which shows changes. On top of the Icefield is an automated weather station which sends back info. and then the rangers dig snow pits to measure the annual snow pack. Last year they said they received a lot of snow and that is why there is still so much on the mountains. They also did a radiocarbon dating on an old log that was exposed by the glacier's retreat and it was 800 yrs. old which is evidence of an ancient forest bulldozed by the glacier. What determines whether it retreats or advances is this. The more precipitation and the lower the temperature means it advances and if there is less precipitation and higher temperatures then it retreats. So there you have it. I about forgot--we had a quick glance at a coyote.
I left and went down town to the post office and the grocery store but before doing that I drove all over town taking pictures of all their murals. Sarah Palin while she was govenor named it the mural capital of Alaska. They are very pretty. Seward is a nice town. Didn't get any time to spend down town but that's ok. You just can't do it all.
Two interesting things. We visited the town of Oliver which is in Canada and two days later they had a mud slide and did some damage. Just found out that there was a land slide on the Taylor Highway out of Chicken just recently and the road will be closed for awhile. Since this is earthquake area I hope that is not on the agenda after we leave here. Tomorrow sees us leaving for Homer which means we have to backtrack a little ways and then get on the Sterling Highway. On the road again.
I took off for the Exit Glacier which is in the Kenai Fjords National Park. At 2pm they were having a ranger led walk up to the edge of the glacier. I love learning about things and this would be really informative and it was. You are allowed to walk up yourself and even go further and go out on the Harding Icefield and their are trained guides you can hire who will take you up there and attach ropes to you so you can go down in a crevass--that would be so cool. I digress. We left at 2 and then you come down whenever you want so I actually didn't get out of the park till about 4:30.
I am just going to throw out a bunch of information I learned.
They have about 25 earthquakes a day in Alaska--most you don't even feel. I told you about the big one in 1964. One lady and her husband were in their house when the tsunami hit and it just lifted it off its foundation and it floated and when it receeded it was stuck between two trees about 10' off the ground. In regards to the glacier, it received its name because of the natives crossing the Icefield and they couldn't find a way off until they found this glacier and it was their exit off the icefield. 75% of our fresh water comes from glaciers. This one receeds about 10" per day--yes per day and as it does it pushes out all this rock and gravel which becomes moraines (a mound of gravel left behind). As you enter the park you see these signs with number that seem like years and they are beginning with 1815 and that tells you that in that year that is where the glacier was located. It did advance somewhere in the years 1986 to 1994.There are several ways they determine this: they study plant growth and tree rings on the moraines before 1950 and the signs in the park, I mentioned, are based on this method. Now they also use aerial photography and aerial lasers to determine length and volume and it is also loosing volume as well as receeding. They also combine it with GIS which is Geographic Information System which shows changes. On top of the Icefield is an automated weather station which sends back info. and then the rangers dig snow pits to measure the annual snow pack. Last year they said they received a lot of snow and that is why there is still so much on the mountains. They also did a radiocarbon dating on an old log that was exposed by the glacier's retreat and it was 800 yrs. old which is evidence of an ancient forest bulldozed by the glacier. What determines whether it retreats or advances is this. The more precipitation and the lower the temperature means it advances and if there is less precipitation and higher temperatures then it retreats. So there you have it. I about forgot--we had a quick glance at a coyote.
I left and went down town to the post office and the grocery store but before doing that I drove all over town taking pictures of all their murals. Sarah Palin while she was govenor named it the mural capital of Alaska. They are very pretty. Seward is a nice town. Didn't get any time to spend down town but that's ok. You just can't do it all.
Two interesting things. We visited the town of Oliver which is in Canada and two days later they had a mud slide and did some damage. Just found out that there was a land slide on the Taylor Highway out of Chicken just recently and the road will be closed for awhile. Since this is earthquake area I hope that is not on the agenda after we leave here. Tomorrow sees us leaving for Homer which means we have to backtrack a little ways and then get on the Sterling Highway. On the road again.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Another day in Seward--July 14
For the lousy, rainy weather we had coming here today turned out beautiful just like at Denali. It was a great day to be out on the water. We began our day by carpooling downtown to the Alaska Sea Life Center which is more of a research and rehabilitation center than it is an aquarium although it is that also. They broke us into small groups of about 8 and while one group took a tour of the innards of how it all works and what they do the others looked at and read the information and viewed the sea life--both mammal and birds. The inside scoop showed us how they monitor stellar sea lions out in their own habitat where they have their pups by using video cameras. If they have not been branded which many are not they tell them apart by their scars or fungus growth on them. Their numbers are declining so they are trying to figure out why and how to stop it. As Alaskans are going about their lives if they come upon a stranded or injured sea animal they will contact the Center and the Center will go out anywhere in the state to check it out and if necessary bring it back for rehabilitation. If sea otters or walrus are brought in they cannot be returned to the wild because they tend to imprint on humans and this could be harmful to them or us so they are sent to qualified zoos once they are ok. We had the opportunity to see up close a 40 day old sea otter. She was handling him in her arms and he was just moving around and playing. He had this beautiful coat of fur. He was adorable. They also showed us how they bring freshwater and sea water into the Center and then how they filter and purify it before it is returned to Resurrection Bay.
Then we went to look at the displays and the aquarium and read the informative material. We definitely could have spent more time there. We saw a couple of harbor seals swimming and the best part for me was the sea bird aviary. We had the opportunity to see up close many of the birds we would see later on the boat tour so it made it much easier to identify them and you usually don't get to spend as much time looking at them in the wild.
A school bus then took us over to the docks where we would catch our tour boat "The Star of the Northwest". There were 3 decks--two enclosed and then the top open deck. Very soon after we pulled out of port they served us a buffet lunch of salmon and roast beef, rice with black beans, salad and sourdough bread and drink (non-alcoholic). Later dessert was chocolate brownie with icing, cheesecake, jello, fruit and carrot cake. It was a nice meal but all I wanted was to get out on deck and look for birds and whatever else I could see. We had a naturalist and a National Park Ranger on board doing narration which was really nice. She was also helping to spot whatever showed up but so was everyone else. We were travelling thru Kenai Fjords National Park. The first thing I saw was a Pelagic Cormorant followed by the Common Murre and at some point we began seeing Horned and Tufted Puffins--they are adorable. They look like little torpedoes with their wings flapping so quickly and their bright colors. We saw Glaucuous Gulls and quite a few Bald Eagles. There were some rock faces which were rookeries for the Red Legged Kittiwake and also another that was a rookery for the Puffins. The Captain would pull up close to these areas and cut off the engine so we could get a real good look. We also saw the sea otters out in the water just laying on their backs with their feet up in the air. You just want to cuddle these guys they are so cute. There were a couple of big rocks that the Stellar Sea Lions were sun bathing or sleeping on. We had real good looks at them also. The very best sighting was a Humpback Whale. Boy were the cameras busy then. He did a couple of jumps and showed his tail a couple of time but he waved to us with his flippers a lot. Later we were visited by about 3 porpoise but they didn't do much jumping. That was about it for the sea life, I think.
The Ranger told us about the history of Resurrection Bay and Seward, about Godwin Glacier and Harding Icefield which is named after President Harding, about the Eldorado Narrows which is a moraine, about the 1964 earthquake and the tsunami which hit Seward and about the fact that in the movie Red October near the beginning of it filming was done in the Bay.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. We drove out to Exit Glacier but decided not to walk us to it but I think I will go tomorrow (which is a free day for some of us) and go up with the ranger ( and take lots of mosquito repellant). There is also Nash Rd. to drive down which is supposed to be where a lot of people fish and the eagles can be numerous. I forgot that when we were coming back into port we saw the immature bald eagle again. Dee and Marvin are going out on a fishing tour to fish for halibut or salmon, I can't remember which. That's all for tonight.
Then we went to look at the displays and the aquarium and read the informative material. We definitely could have spent more time there. We saw a couple of harbor seals swimming and the best part for me was the sea bird aviary. We had the opportunity to see up close many of the birds we would see later on the boat tour so it made it much easier to identify them and you usually don't get to spend as much time looking at them in the wild.
A school bus then took us over to the docks where we would catch our tour boat "The Star of the Northwest". There were 3 decks--two enclosed and then the top open deck. Very soon after we pulled out of port they served us a buffet lunch of salmon and roast beef, rice with black beans, salad and sourdough bread and drink (non-alcoholic). Later dessert was chocolate brownie with icing, cheesecake, jello, fruit and carrot cake. It was a nice meal but all I wanted was to get out on deck and look for birds and whatever else I could see. We had a naturalist and a National Park Ranger on board doing narration which was really nice. She was also helping to spot whatever showed up but so was everyone else. We were travelling thru Kenai Fjords National Park. The first thing I saw was a Pelagic Cormorant followed by the Common Murre and at some point we began seeing Horned and Tufted Puffins--they are adorable. They look like little torpedoes with their wings flapping so quickly and their bright colors. We saw Glaucuous Gulls and quite a few Bald Eagles. There were some rock faces which were rookeries for the Red Legged Kittiwake and also another that was a rookery for the Puffins. The Captain would pull up close to these areas and cut off the engine so we could get a real good look. We also saw the sea otters out in the water just laying on their backs with their feet up in the air. You just want to cuddle these guys they are so cute. There were a couple of big rocks that the Stellar Sea Lions were sun bathing or sleeping on. We had real good looks at them also. The very best sighting was a Humpback Whale. Boy were the cameras busy then. He did a couple of jumps and showed his tail a couple of time but he waved to us with his flippers a lot. Later we were visited by about 3 porpoise but they didn't do much jumping. That was about it for the sea life, I think.
The Ranger told us about the history of Resurrection Bay and Seward, about Godwin Glacier and Harding Icefield which is named after President Harding, about the Eldorado Narrows which is a moraine, about the 1964 earthquake and the tsunami which hit Seward and about the fact that in the movie Red October near the beginning of it filming was done in the Bay.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. We drove out to Exit Glacier but decided not to walk us to it but I think I will go tomorrow (which is a free day for some of us) and go up with the ranger ( and take lots of mosquito repellant). There is also Nash Rd. to drive down which is supposed to be where a lot of people fish and the eagles can be numerous. I forgot that when we were coming back into port we saw the immature bald eagle again. Dee and Marvin are going out on a fishing tour to fish for halibut or salmon, I can't remember which. That's all for tonight.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
To Seward--July 13
It rained last night and almost all the way to Seward and the wind was blowing like mad. Even with the rain it was a fantastic sight all the way here. We were in the valley with Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm on our right and mountains on our left and when we got to the end of Cook Inlet we had mountains on both sides of us. The clouds were low of course and the rain was not hard just relentless. I'm beginning to think it is like Washington and Oregon only colder and more snow. There was still snow on the mountain tops and sides. We went thru the Chugach Mountains. It finally stopped just before we arrived at our camp outside of Seward(back in the middle of nowhere). It was a good thing they had directions or we would never have found the place. Both Marvin, us and two others were blessed to have 50 amp electric service which is full on for everything(whoppee!!) The name of the place is Stoney Creek RV Park. It is ok---the internet is slow even with my broadband which is a pain. I will certainly appreciate the service in the lower 48 except for the western states and all the mountains.
We stopped just about 11 miles outside of Anchorage at Potter Point State Bird and Game Refuge to do a quick bird watching stop despite the misty rain. Marvin spotted either a muskrat or beaver(couldn't get my binoculars on him fast enough to be sure). Also saw a family of blue winged teal, a greater yellowlegs, surf scoter(I believe) and about 3 or 4 families of Canadian geese with their goslings. I have never seen that many at one time all swimming together. That was a treat. Saw one duck that I still can't identify and Marvin and Dee saw an eagle in a tree.
We went on along the Inlet looking for beluga whales but never saw anything.
After parking and getting everything settled in the coach I laid down and took a short nap while Bob was watching tv. Then we went for our travel briefing for our trip to Homer even though we will be here about 3 days. Then we all hopped in Marvin's car and went exploring downtown Seward and surrounding roads. That is always so much fun. I wish Bob would do that. We all had eaten before we left but the boys found a place for ice cream. While we were driving around we saw what we think was an immature Bald eagle being molested by black birds. He finally took refuge in a tree and eventually the birds left. We had a really good look at it thru the binoculars because we were very close. Now I just have to look him up to make sure. Tomorrow is a full day so I will say goodnight.
We stopped just about 11 miles outside of Anchorage at Potter Point State Bird and Game Refuge to do a quick bird watching stop despite the misty rain. Marvin spotted either a muskrat or beaver(couldn't get my binoculars on him fast enough to be sure). Also saw a family of blue winged teal, a greater yellowlegs, surf scoter(I believe) and about 3 or 4 families of Canadian geese with their goslings. I have never seen that many at one time all swimming together. That was a treat. Saw one duck that I still can't identify and Marvin and Dee saw an eagle in a tree.
We went on along the Inlet looking for beluga whales but never saw anything.
After parking and getting everything settled in the coach I laid down and took a short nap while Bob was watching tv. Then we went for our travel briefing for our trip to Homer even though we will be here about 3 days. Then we all hopped in Marvin's car and went exploring downtown Seward and surrounding roads. That is always so much fun. I wish Bob would do that. We all had eaten before we left but the boys found a place for ice cream. While we were driving around we saw what we think was an immature Bald eagle being molested by black birds. He finally took refuge in a tree and eventually the birds left. We had a really good look at it thru the binoculars because we were very close. Now I just have to look him up to make sure. Tomorrow is a full day so I will say goodnight.
Monday, July 12, 2010
2nd Day in Anchorage--July12
Bob has a head cold so he did not go out today. He took a cold pill and stayed in bed a lot I guess. I took off in our car with Nancy Jenkins because her husband has knee problems and doesn't walk a lot--just drives the coach.
We had tickets for the Alaska Native Heritage Center so we left about 9am for there. We were there until about 2pm. On the inside is a theater with different informational movies playing so while we were waiting for the next one we watched a boy do one of their native games. They have a number of them and they compete also. There is also a nice indoor stage with a balcony where you enter and another wall is all glass. Later on that same stage we saw two different native dance performances with two or three drummers and they were all in native clothing. Out back around a large pond they have examples of the five native cultures of the Alaskans. We had a wonderful female native who guided us thru each one and told us things as we walked along and in each abode there was a native in her native dress who explained things about her particular culture and spoke their language to us. Finally at the end there were men working on two totem poles that were going to be placed as supports in a building. Two other supports were already carved and finished. Around the outside next to the building their were men and women who were selling and actually making some of their items to sell. They have put bead work on their clothes, head pieces, moccasins,etc. for hundreds of years and their work is beautiful as is their carvings, etc. We looked thru the gift shop and left to find something to eat. There was an IHOP right close wo we went and had a wonderful salad then stopped at Target for something she was looking for and we found it. We headed back to town to find this camping store I had seen earlier--REI. Nancy is a great navigator even when we have a lot of one way streets. We arrived home safe and sound and are now going to our travel briefing for tomorrow. Bob arose from the bed and we went down to the briefing.
We took off in search of my young life. Following the directions that the bus lady had given me we found a couple of old trailer courts with some trailers that look old enough to have been there since the 50's. Then we went looking for another one that she said was probably not there anymore because there was a large park and she was correct. From there we went in search of the school which I think is still there and we found. It was called Mt. View Elementary and it backed up to Elmendorf Air Force Base although it might not have been there when we were here. It was fun looking for these things. Roger, I will be calling you about all this. We are on our way to Seward tomorrow. See you down the road.
We had tickets for the Alaska Native Heritage Center so we left about 9am for there. We were there until about 2pm. On the inside is a theater with different informational movies playing so while we were waiting for the next one we watched a boy do one of their native games. They have a number of them and they compete also. There is also a nice indoor stage with a balcony where you enter and another wall is all glass. Later on that same stage we saw two different native dance performances with two or three drummers and they were all in native clothing. Out back around a large pond they have examples of the five native cultures of the Alaskans. We had a wonderful female native who guided us thru each one and told us things as we walked along and in each abode there was a native in her native dress who explained things about her particular culture and spoke their language to us. Finally at the end there were men working on two totem poles that were going to be placed as supports in a building. Two other supports were already carved and finished. Around the outside next to the building their were men and women who were selling and actually making some of their items to sell. They have put bead work on their clothes, head pieces, moccasins,etc. for hundreds of years and their work is beautiful as is their carvings, etc. We looked thru the gift shop and left to find something to eat. There was an IHOP right close wo we went and had a wonderful salad then stopped at Target for something she was looking for and we found it. We headed back to town to find this camping store I had seen earlier--REI. Nancy is a great navigator even when we have a lot of one way streets. We arrived home safe and sound and are now going to our travel briefing for tomorrow. Bob arose from the bed and we went down to the briefing.
We took off in search of my young life. Following the directions that the bus lady had given me we found a couple of old trailer courts with some trailers that look old enough to have been there since the 50's. Then we went looking for another one that she said was probably not there anymore because there was a large park and she was correct. From there we went in search of the school which I think is still there and we found. It was called Mt. View Elementary and it backed up to Elmendorf Air Force Base although it might not have been there when we were here. It was fun looking for these things. Roger, I will be calling you about all this. We are on our way to Seward tomorrow. See you down the road.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
First full day in Anchorage--July 11
We slept a little later this morning. Marvin and Dee got up and went to breakfast and later to church. Bob and I were heathens today and did not go but went down to the Weekend Market downtown. Barry and Monique went down with us because they were also meeting someone down there. It started out as a farmers market originally and then when the area became more invaded by tourists it became a crafts fair type atmosphere. They had beautiful handmade native items made out of mammoth fossil ivory, caribou antler and other animals and their fur and hide. All kinds of things--very beautiful and cheaper than at other places. We also had All Alaska Quesidillas made with salmon and reindeer sausage. It was good. We left there and went right down the hill which we found out later became a hillside because during the 1964 Good Friday earthquake the land just slid down. The earth under much of the area there is a alluvial clay and when the earthquakes hit it turns to liquid and shifts so they now have pipes sticking out of the ground in places as vent pipes which lets in the air which hardens the clay so it won't do that. After the earthquake they had tsunamis that hit and wiped out many of the ports of Alaska and did a lot of damage especially in Seward. When we went down the hill we went to the Ulu factory store. An ulu is a native type cutting utensil that the Alaskans use. Look them up on the net and take a look at them. We went back to the park for a quick rest before catching a bus for a tour of the city.
The lady that drove us was Hawaiian. Her father brought the family here in 1973 to work on the pipeline-talk about an adjustment. She was very nice and wrote out specific directions to the area that our family lived in back in 1952 before Alaska was even a state. My Dad was a construction worker and he pulled our trailer up here for work. We lived in Anchorage and I began 1st grade here. I was six and Roger was 11. So tomorrow we will scope out the area. She thought that was so cool that we were going to do that so she was real helpful. She drove us all over town. The town limits go 50 north and 50 miles south of the city. She figured when this year's census comes out there will probably be 300,000 people in Anchorage and more than 42% do live in Anchorage. Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm and and Knik Arm define the peninsula where Anchorage is located with the Chugach Mts. as a back drop. Until Russia's Far East was opened to air traffic it was considered the" Air Crossroads of the World". Today it is still the major air logistics and cargo carrier for Asia, Europe and North America. The only other time I was up here is when I had a stopover going to Vietnam. It also had the 3rd largest high tide in the world--about 36'. High tide is 6 hrs. long and the same for low tide. Just heard last night on the news of an individual's boat that had gotten grounded because the tide went out.
Lake Spinard and Lake Hood are connected and it is the largest float plane base in the world. On a summer day there may be as many 800-1000 take offs and landings there. 1 in 59 people have their flying license up here, of course they do have an airfield up here also. She told us more but I couldn't keep up with the writing.
We then went out to the Wildberry Farm for a very good movie about Alaska and had a supper there. Afterwards in their backyard they had a lady who took care of a rehabbed eagle as well as a couple of other birds and she showed him to us and told us about them and answered questions. It was magnificent. It had lost part of one wing due to flying into a power line and being shocked. They also had 3 reindeer in an enclosure which you could go into and feed them while the rest watched and one was a small baby. They are much smaller than wild caribou but their horns are velvety feeling. They also had lots of big stores like Nordstrom, J.C. Penny, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, etc., a beautiful new arts museum, big National Parks Service Office Bldg, an FBI Building, BP Oil and Conoco Oil buildings. She also took us down to a bridge in town where the salmon run and where the fisherman in town line up to fish. Only a few guys out that day and we saw 2-3 salmon as they came upstream. They are not running thick yet. We also stopped at the float plane base and saw several planes land and one take off. Some fly all year long. They exchange wheels for floats for skis. A truly multi season use tool. We stopped at Earthquake Park to view the inlet and the mountains in the background although it wasn't a very clear day.
Anchorage is in a transition zone between the moderating influence of the Pacific and the extreme temperatures of Interior Alaska. The average temperature in January (coldest month) is 14* F. and in July (warmest month) 58*. The annual precipitation is 15.9 in. with about 69 in. of snowfall on the ground between Oct. and Apr.
Sorry about jumping around on what I was telling you. If I knew how to move sections around I would but I don't so you just have to go with the flow as best you can. Another day down.
The lady that drove us was Hawaiian. Her father brought the family here in 1973 to work on the pipeline-talk about an adjustment. She was very nice and wrote out specific directions to the area that our family lived in back in 1952 before Alaska was even a state. My Dad was a construction worker and he pulled our trailer up here for work. We lived in Anchorage and I began 1st grade here. I was six and Roger was 11. So tomorrow we will scope out the area. She thought that was so cool that we were going to do that so she was real helpful. She drove us all over town. The town limits go 50 north and 50 miles south of the city. She figured when this year's census comes out there will probably be 300,000 people in Anchorage and more than 42% do live in Anchorage. Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm and and Knik Arm define the peninsula where Anchorage is located with the Chugach Mts. as a back drop. Until Russia's Far East was opened to air traffic it was considered the" Air Crossroads of the World". Today it is still the major air logistics and cargo carrier for Asia, Europe and North America. The only other time I was up here is when I had a stopover going to Vietnam. It also had the 3rd largest high tide in the world--about 36'. High tide is 6 hrs. long and the same for low tide. Just heard last night on the news of an individual's boat that had gotten grounded because the tide went out.
Lake Spinard and Lake Hood are connected and it is the largest float plane base in the world. On a summer day there may be as many 800-1000 take offs and landings there. 1 in 59 people have their flying license up here, of course they do have an airfield up here also. She told us more but I couldn't keep up with the writing.
We then went out to the Wildberry Farm for a very good movie about Alaska and had a supper there. Afterwards in their backyard they had a lady who took care of a rehabbed eagle as well as a couple of other birds and she showed him to us and told us about them and answered questions. It was magnificent. It had lost part of one wing due to flying into a power line and being shocked. They also had 3 reindeer in an enclosure which you could go into and feed them while the rest watched and one was a small baby. They are much smaller than wild caribou but their horns are velvety feeling. They also had lots of big stores like Nordstrom, J.C. Penny, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, etc., a beautiful new arts museum, big National Parks Service Office Bldg, an FBI Building, BP Oil and Conoco Oil buildings. She also took us down to a bridge in town where the salmon run and where the fisherman in town line up to fish. Only a few guys out that day and we saw 2-3 salmon as they came upstream. They are not running thick yet. We also stopped at the float plane base and saw several planes land and one take off. Some fly all year long. They exchange wheels for floats for skis. A truly multi season use tool. We stopped at Earthquake Park to view the inlet and the mountains in the background although it wasn't a very clear day.
Anchorage is in a transition zone between the moderating influence of the Pacific and the extreme temperatures of Interior Alaska. The average temperature in January (coldest month) is 14* F. and in July (warmest month) 58*. The annual precipitation is 15.9 in. with about 69 in. of snowfall on the ground between Oct. and Apr.
Sorry about jumping around on what I was telling you. If I knew how to move sections around I would but I don't so you just have to go with the flow as best you can. Another day down.
Travel Day to Anchorage--July 10
This morning was cloudy and rainy real soon after we left the park. There was lots of fog in the mountains. Saw no animals the entire trip to Anchorage.
The first stop we made was to see a huge building in the shape of an igloo that at one time had been a new trading post/gift shop/cafe. I just took a picture but Bob decided to investigate. He took a flashlight and went in for just a few minutes--nothing much. We passed over Hurricane Gulch Bridge, it was long and it was very deep--great sight. The next stop was also a napping spot but while the boys napped Dee and I went to see the Alaska Veterans Memorial to all the branches of the service and the POW-MIA's and also to the crew of a C-47 that crashed in the mountains years ago. Because the Aleutian Islands were invaded by the Japanese the armed forces became more involved up here and they engaged the native Alaskans to help watch and lead them because they knew the area so well. It was acknowledging their help as well. Very nice memorial.
We then went on to a little town called Talkeetna which it is said that it was the town portrayed by the TV show "Northern Exposure". Most of the town is on the National Historic Register. The road leads into there and stops--you go out the same way you came into town. We met its elected mayor who is a yellow stub tailed cat named "Stubbs". It is also the point at which many climbers come to secure a plane to fly up to 7000' on Mt. McKinley to begin their accent--20,320' high total.
We then started trucking onto Anchorage but we went thru Sarah Palin's stomping grounds of Wasilla. We went on to the campground. They had a cook out for everyone in the park and live music. One of our group, Ira Miller used to play with a country/western band for years (bass) and they let him play quite a few numbers with them so we all went over and listened. He's very good. After that it was bed for me.
The first stop we made was to see a huge building in the shape of an igloo that at one time had been a new trading post/gift shop/cafe. I just took a picture but Bob decided to investigate. He took a flashlight and went in for just a few minutes--nothing much. We passed over Hurricane Gulch Bridge, it was long and it was very deep--great sight. The next stop was also a napping spot but while the boys napped Dee and I went to see the Alaska Veterans Memorial to all the branches of the service and the POW-MIA's and also to the crew of a C-47 that crashed in the mountains years ago. Because the Aleutian Islands were invaded by the Japanese the armed forces became more involved up here and they engaged the native Alaskans to help watch and lead them because they knew the area so well. It was acknowledging their help as well. Very nice memorial.
We then went on to a little town called Talkeetna which it is said that it was the town portrayed by the TV show "Northern Exposure". Most of the town is on the National Historic Register. The road leads into there and stops--you go out the same way you came into town. We met its elected mayor who is a yellow stub tailed cat named "Stubbs". It is also the point at which many climbers come to secure a plane to fly up to 7000' on Mt. McKinley to begin their accent--20,320' high total.
We then started trucking onto Anchorage but we went thru Sarah Palin's stomping grounds of Wasilla. We went on to the campground. They had a cook out for everyone in the park and live music. One of our group, Ira Miller used to play with a country/western band for years (bass) and they let him play quite a few numbers with them so we all went over and listened. He's very good. After that it was bed for me.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Another day in Denali & Healy--July 9
Marvin and Dee went out to breakfast at Rosie's, a mom & pop restaurant which it sounds like was a real hoot. Kind of like the Breakfast Club in Paris, IN near home. Then later in the morning they and a lot of others went on a short float down the river--about 2 hrs--smooth water. Some others went for 4 hrs--the last two over class 3 & 4 rapids. We chose to do neither. If I hadn't had a broken back I would have been right with those that went down the rapids.
I got up and fixed myself breakfast and did a little on the computer and eventually Bob got up. We took Monique--whose husband went on the rapids--with us and we went shopping down in Healy and back to the Visitor's center in the park. We would have loved to have spent more time there but we needed to catch a bus to a free dog mushing demonstration which was free--yeah!!! We had the opportunity to walk around and look at all the dogs and pet some of them. They are not the pure bred malamuts that you think of when thinking of this activity. They are not pure anything but a mixture. When getting dogs they look for long legs, a good coat, ability to get along with the other dogs. These dogs are stronger than horses and mules and they live to run and work. The first superintendent for this park was actually a dog musher so he introduced the sled dogs and they help do a lot of work around the park in the winter using the sleds. When the rangers started to take one out they all started barking--they knew what was coming and they were eager to get on with it. They barked until they took off around the small oval track. The building where they keep the tack for the sled and other things is the original one built by Mr. Karsten for the same purpose. After taking another quick look around it was back to the bus to return to the Visitor's Center/snack bar/gift shop.
Marvin called and we met a bunch downtown at the Salmon Bake Restaurant and had supper, looked around a little more and drove home. We have pulled in the sides and are about ready to pull out in the morning. We are headed to Anchorage.
I got up and fixed myself breakfast and did a little on the computer and eventually Bob got up. We took Monique--whose husband went on the rapids--with us and we went shopping down in Healy and back to the Visitor's center in the park. We would have loved to have spent more time there but we needed to catch a bus to a free dog mushing demonstration which was free--yeah!!! We had the opportunity to walk around and look at all the dogs and pet some of them. They are not the pure bred malamuts that you think of when thinking of this activity. They are not pure anything but a mixture. When getting dogs they look for long legs, a good coat, ability to get along with the other dogs. These dogs are stronger than horses and mules and they live to run and work. The first superintendent for this park was actually a dog musher so he introduced the sled dogs and they help do a lot of work around the park in the winter using the sleds. When the rangers started to take one out they all started barking--they knew what was coming and they were eager to get on with it. They barked until they took off around the small oval track. The building where they keep the tack for the sled and other things is the original one built by Mr. Karsten for the same purpose. After taking another quick look around it was back to the bus to return to the Visitor's Center/snack bar/gift shop.
Marvin called and we met a bunch downtown at the Salmon Bake Restaurant and had supper, looked around a little more and drove home. We have pulled in the sides and are about ready to pull out in the morning. We are headed to Anchorage.
A Day in Denali National Park--July 8
We had to be at the entrance to our RV park at 6am and we were all there, but no bus. Our tour master couldn't reach anyone in the office by phone so he went in search of it in town. Finally at 7am he showed up. Someone messed up the pickup point so we were not a very pleased group of caravaners. This put us about an hour late of going into the park. Our tour driver was not one of our favorite. He droned on and on about the other buses and non essential items and repeated himself continually instead of about the park, its history, etc. He got on everyone's nerves by the half way point but after lunch he was better (quieter).
The scenery and the animals and the comraderie were the best so far on the trip.It looked like it was going to be a very clear day, but they have made it clear all along that if we could see all of Mt. McKinley (Denali) it would be a rare treat. We were in the 1% that had the opportunity to see all of the mountain and surrounding peaks and the lower peaks in front of it. On our trip to the Arctic Circle we were not so lucky--it rained three quarters of the day. The trip to Denali was an entire day riding in a school bus with slightly improved seats and after about the first 15 miles it was gravel and dusty but it wasn't bad. They keep working and packing down the road. That 15 miles is as far as private vehicles can go unless they have a pass for some special work or study. We went as far back as there is a road--91 miles. Our tour bus was affiliated with the lodge that is back at the end and that's where we went for lunch and a little free time to pan for gold or walk around. It was lovely and peacful right by a creek with a swinging bridge.
I will give you a run down of the animals we were privileged to see: a large bull moose and later a large female, 2 momma ducks with babies, several Dall Sheep with one being up close, 2 golden eagles, a wolf feeding on something, a caribou walking down the road and then laying down and another just standing, a trumpeter swan on a pond right near the road, a ptarmigan right next to the road--just standing there and we saw probably 6 grizzly bears or more. The last three were real close down in the grass and bushes and a creek. It was probably a mom and two cubs but they were about 3 yrs. old so they were also pretty good size. This was next to the best sighting along with the wolf and about a quarter mile from the RV park on the right was a pond right next to the road and in the pond was a female moose having her supper. I can't begin to tell you how beautiful Denali--the mountain was to see. The sun was directly shining on it and the glacier--it was just magnificent. There were hikers and bike riders everywhere but you have to check in with the rangers before you begin and their our other tour buses as well as buses that people can get on and off of at any location just by flagging them down.
All in all it was a wonderful day.
The scenery and the animals and the comraderie were the best so far on the trip.It looked like it was going to be a very clear day, but they have made it clear all along that if we could see all of Mt. McKinley (Denali) it would be a rare treat. We were in the 1% that had the opportunity to see all of the mountain and surrounding peaks and the lower peaks in front of it. On our trip to the Arctic Circle we were not so lucky--it rained three quarters of the day. The trip to Denali was an entire day riding in a school bus with slightly improved seats and after about the first 15 miles it was gravel and dusty but it wasn't bad. They keep working and packing down the road. That 15 miles is as far as private vehicles can go unless they have a pass for some special work or study. We went as far back as there is a road--91 miles. Our tour bus was affiliated with the lodge that is back at the end and that's where we went for lunch and a little free time to pan for gold or walk around. It was lovely and peacful right by a creek with a swinging bridge.
I will give you a run down of the animals we were privileged to see: a large bull moose and later a large female, 2 momma ducks with babies, several Dall Sheep with one being up close, 2 golden eagles, a wolf feeding on something, a caribou walking down the road and then laying down and another just standing, a trumpeter swan on a pond right near the road, a ptarmigan right next to the road--just standing there and we saw probably 6 grizzly bears or more. The last three were real close down in the grass and bushes and a creek. It was probably a mom and two cubs but they were about 3 yrs. old so they were also pretty good size. This was next to the best sighting along with the wolf and about a quarter mile from the RV park on the right was a pond right next to the road and in the pond was a female moose having her supper. I can't begin to tell you how beautiful Denali--the mountain was to see. The sun was directly shining on it and the glacier--it was just magnificent. There were hikers and bike riders everywhere but you have to check in with the rangers before you begin and their our other tour buses as well as buses that people can get on and off of at any location just by flagging them down.
All in all it was a wonderful day.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Fairbanks to Denali--July 7
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Day 29--to Denali National Park(travel day)
Sheryl & Bob Price
Our travel day began as it does quite often--breakfast out. The four amigoes (Marvin, Dee, Sheryl & Bob) went to the local Denny's in Fairbanks. A fact which you all may not know is that this Denny's is the northern most one in the world. They have a sign outside the restaurant.On the way Marvin and Dee saw Denali but we didn't get a view.
We stopped at the little town of Nenana which means "a good place to camp between the rivers" in case you didn't read your Milepost but then somewhere else I read that the Nenana River was named for a Philippine card game. Oh well! During the early 1920's it was the construction base for the Alaska Railroad. Pres. Harding drove the golden spike in 1923 signifying its completion. Today it is the hub for the tug/barge shipping on the rivers of the Interior. Personally I don't know how they do it with the rivers being so shallow and silt-laden going 12mph downstream and 5mph upstream. The lady at the visitors center gave us a good speal for going to see differnt things and we were gullible. While the boys slept Dee and I went exploring. We stopped at all the appropriate gift shops all the way thru town. We walked down to the general store to look at her collection of hand made items and Dee was lusting after a warm winter pull down hat lined with beaver fur and another fur on the outside. It was beautiful. We mosied on down past the "Moocher's Bar" to the Depot and perused their items where I did make a couple of small purchases. Upon leaving we saw the monument to the completion of the railroad.
We stopped in at the small, quaint St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Lots of wood carving at the end of the pews and on the altar plus the altar cloth had a lot of bead work on it. A lovely church.
As we walked down to the Cultural Center by the river we passed the Tripod they use to put out on the ice that is hooked to a line on shore which is then hooked to a clock. When the ice breaks and begins to move downstream it will break the line and the time will be recorded. This breaks the tedium of a long winter, I guess. The Cultural Center had a number of items, pictures, furs and history and a gift shop. They had two books written by Miles Martin, the same guy our bus driver was telling us about on our trip to the Artic Circle. He was saying that his first woman had a few cards short of a full deck. They had a very long boat with little depth to it and they use these type of boats for races like the regattas in the lower 48. I don't know how they keep water out of the boats. Across the river from the Center was a large white cross and upon inquiry found out that it was originally the cemetery for the local native people, but young man there said that now everyone want to buried there. A missionary who served in the area many years ago was buried over there when she died.
While we were all standing around near the road by the Visitor Center the lady who runs the gift shop across the street came over to see if we wanted to see a demo of the Ulu knife. She told us this story. Two of the native boys had decided they were not going on to further schooling after high school and the missionary was very concerned. They went on to tell her that they had a plan and that plan was to produce the Ulu and package it and get the Good Housekeeping Approval stamp and sell them to tourists. She was impressed with their plan. The Ulu's originally were made from old saw blades with bone handles and when they took them to Good Housekeeping they were not impressed and could not endorse them. So the boys took their concerns to heart and made them from stainless steel and the handles from a sealed polished wood and received the stamp of approval. Now you know the rest of the story. These are only made in Anchorage, Alaska.
We passed the sign for the Clear Air Force Station which is a ballistic missile early warning site. Bill Kern did you see that the town of Anderson hosts an annual Bluegrass Festival? We also made a stop at the Tatlanika Trading Post and wandered their gift shop and looked at all their old equipment and stuffed animals--the biggest of which was a huge polar bear that is in the record books. That was our last stop, but I found the change in landscape as we travelled today to be interesting and then to get back into these beautiful peaks.
The evening was topped off with our briefing and a wonderful supper provided by not only the staff but a large potluck by fellow caravaners. I think we can all say that we did not leave hungry. Thanks to everyone. Another busy day tomorrow. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, where ever you are.
Day 29--to Denali National Park(travel day)
Sheryl & Bob Price
Our travel day began as it does quite often--breakfast out. The four amigoes (Marvin, Dee, Sheryl & Bob) went to the local Denny's in Fairbanks. A fact which you all may not know is that this Denny's is the northern most one in the world. They have a sign outside the restaurant.On the way Marvin and Dee saw Denali but we didn't get a view.
We stopped at the little town of Nenana which means "a good place to camp between the rivers" in case you didn't read your Milepost but then somewhere else I read that the Nenana River was named for a Philippine card game. Oh well! During the early 1920's it was the construction base for the Alaska Railroad. Pres. Harding drove the golden spike in 1923 signifying its completion. Today it is the hub for the tug/barge shipping on the rivers of the Interior. Personally I don't know how they do it with the rivers being so shallow and silt-laden going 12mph downstream and 5mph upstream. The lady at the visitors center gave us a good speal for going to see differnt things and we were gullible. While the boys slept Dee and I went exploring. We stopped at all the appropriate gift shops all the way thru town. We walked down to the general store to look at her collection of hand made items and Dee was lusting after a warm winter pull down hat lined with beaver fur and another fur on the outside. It was beautiful. We mosied on down past the "Moocher's Bar" to the Depot and perused their items where I did make a couple of small purchases. Upon leaving we saw the monument to the completion of the railroad.
We stopped in at the small, quaint St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Lots of wood carving at the end of the pews and on the altar plus the altar cloth had a lot of bead work on it. A lovely church.
As we walked down to the Cultural Center by the river we passed the Tripod they use to put out on the ice that is hooked to a line on shore which is then hooked to a clock. When the ice breaks and begins to move downstream it will break the line and the time will be recorded. This breaks the tedium of a long winter, I guess. The Cultural Center had a number of items, pictures, furs and history and a gift shop. They had two books written by Miles Martin, the same guy our bus driver was telling us about on our trip to the Artic Circle. He was saying that his first woman had a few cards short of a full deck. They had a very long boat with little depth to it and they use these type of boats for races like the regattas in the lower 48. I don't know how they keep water out of the boats. Across the river from the Center was a large white cross and upon inquiry found out that it was originally the cemetery for the local native people, but young man there said that now everyone want to buried there. A missionary who served in the area many years ago was buried over there when she died.
While we were all standing around near the road by the Visitor Center the lady who runs the gift shop across the street came over to see if we wanted to see a demo of the Ulu knife. She told us this story. Two of the native boys had decided they were not going on to further schooling after high school and the missionary was very concerned. They went on to tell her that they had a plan and that plan was to produce the Ulu and package it and get the Good Housekeeping Approval stamp and sell them to tourists. She was impressed with their plan. The Ulu's originally were made from old saw blades with bone handles and when they took them to Good Housekeeping they were not impressed and could not endorse them. So the boys took their concerns to heart and made them from stainless steel and the handles from a sealed polished wood and received the stamp of approval. Now you know the rest of the story. These are only made in Anchorage, Alaska.
We passed the sign for the Clear Air Force Station which is a ballistic missile early warning site. Bill Kern did you see that the town of Anderson hosts an annual Bluegrass Festival? We also made a stop at the Tatlanika Trading Post and wandered their gift shop and looked at all their old equipment and stuffed animals--the biggest of which was a huge polar bear that is in the record books. That was our last stop, but I found the change in landscape as we travelled today to be interesting and then to get back into these beautiful peaks.
The evening was topped off with our briefing and a wonderful supper provided by not only the staff but a large potluck by fellow caravaners. I think we can all say that we did not leave hungry. Thanks to everyone. Another busy day tomorrow. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, where ever you are.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Out and about--Fairbanks--July 6
This is our last day here so we are trying to get a few things done. We slept in and then went to the bank and we both had our hair cut, went to lunch and did a little final grocery shopping. I finished my past blogs and will try and get some pictures on some of them so you may have to go back and check out the pictures if you want. Tomorrow we head to Denali.
Artic Circle Tour-Fairbanks-July 5th
Left is straight road and on the right is one section of the pipeline.
Here we are at the Artic Circle sign.We had to catch the bus at 5:45 a.m.---way too early. We went in a van over to the airport where they put us on a nice tour bus. The rain started even before we got on the bus and it rained all day until about 6 pm on the way home. It cleared up great then. The bus driver/tour guide was terrific and has lived here for almost 40 yrs so he was very knowledgeable. He threw out a lot of facts of which I will give you some so hold on to your seats. The airport here is international but beside runways it has a large pond for float planes to land on. Alaska is actually an artic desert which seems strange to me. In 1967 they had a massive flood in Fairbanks--6' of water was running thru the city. The soil is glacial silt and it is not very rich at all. The railroad belonged to the federal government at first but they turned it over to the state and it makes money and is the most northern railroad in North America. It is the last remaining flag stop railroad in the nation. Which means that if a person gets off in the middle of nowhere he can later get back on just by waving down the train. They don't get a lot of rain and last year not a lot of snow. Their 1st freezing frost is near Sept. 1 and the ground thaws by mid-May. About 67% of the state is underlayed by perma frost. The moose up here are the largest anywhere about 1600 lbs. and their are more caribou than people in the state.
One of the stops we made was at a place called Joy which was only a gift shop with also cold & hot drinks and huge fresh cookies and muffins and outhouses. These people had 5 children and 18 foster children at one time. We also stopped later for lunch at a place that was used highly when the pipeline and road was being constructed. It was all metal buildings. They had put them together and one area was still being rented for $99/night. There was just a very long narrow hallway with doors on each side--didn't get to see the rooms. We ate in their dining room with our sack lunches. A lot of this road was dirt but packed down pretty good. The tour bus got filthy and we saw a number of truck and pull campers and motorcycles--all of them filthy. I don't know how the cycles did it.
We stopped to see the pipeline up close and also walked out onto the perma frost--its spongy on top of the perma frost and down it is stone hard frozen. We also found blueberries there and picked and ate them. We kept driving within sight a lot of the time of the pipeline. It is not straight much of it zigzags and about half is underground and the other is on arms above the ground. There were only 7 construction workers killed during its building. That did not include truck drivers. The oil comes into the pipes at 185 degrees but gets down to 145 thru its trip to Valdez. The amount of oil being pumped has dropped significantly. Each resident who applies each year to receive whatever amount the state oks--it is the same for everyone but it depends, I think, on how much was made from the states investments. One year they received a $3300 payout. The state receives money from the oil revenue that goes into a permanent fund which just accumulates for the use of the state when the oil money is gone. There is no state sales tax--it is left up to each municipality as to whether then want one or not. They do have property tax but no state income tax--they did away with it. Prices are significantly higher on most everything up here. They grow very little of their own food due to the lack of good soil and a very short growing season unless people have their own gardens or greenhouses but they fish and hunt and trap. People live out in the woods everywhere and love it.In the rural areas the state pays 100% of school costs:home school, books, study by computer or correspondence but if you live in town the state pays 75%. People are very strong and independent up here it seems.
On the way back the sky was very blue with beautiful white clouds and when he stopped at a pull out he showed us where Mt. McKinley (Denali) should be and told anyone with binoculars to check. I took my spotting scope so I checked and we could see it so I took out the spotting scope and set it up so everyone could get a view. It was about 120 miles as the crow flies. Just the very tip was covered with clouds. Other than that I saw a rabbit and a raven. We arrived home about 9pm and we were all tired. That's all.
One of the stops we made was at a place called Joy which was only a gift shop with also cold & hot drinks and huge fresh cookies and muffins and outhouses. These people had 5 children and 18 foster children at one time. We also stopped later for lunch at a place that was used highly when the pipeline and road was being constructed. It was all metal buildings. They had put them together and one area was still being rented for $99/night. There was just a very long narrow hallway with doors on each side--didn't get to see the rooms. We ate in their dining room with our sack lunches. A lot of this road was dirt but packed down pretty good. The tour bus got filthy and we saw a number of truck and pull campers and motorcycles--all of them filthy. I don't know how the cycles did it.
We stopped to see the pipeline up close and also walked out onto the perma frost--its spongy on top of the perma frost and down it is stone hard frozen. We also found blueberries there and picked and ate them. We kept driving within sight a lot of the time of the pipeline. It is not straight much of it zigzags and about half is underground and the other is on arms above the ground. There were only 7 construction workers killed during its building. That did not include truck drivers. The oil comes into the pipes at 185 degrees but gets down to 145 thru its trip to Valdez. The amount of oil being pumped has dropped significantly. Each resident who applies each year to receive whatever amount the state oks--it is the same for everyone but it depends, I think, on how much was made from the states investments. One year they received a $3300 payout. The state receives money from the oil revenue that goes into a permanent fund which just accumulates for the use of the state when the oil money is gone. There is no state sales tax--it is left up to each municipality as to whether then want one or not. They do have property tax but no state income tax--they did away with it. Prices are significantly higher on most everything up here. They grow very little of their own food due to the lack of good soil and a very short growing season unless people have their own gardens or greenhouses but they fish and hunt and trap. People live out in the woods everywhere and love it.In the rural areas the state pays 100% of school costs:home school, books, study by computer or correspondence but if you live in town the state pays 75%. People are very strong and independent up here it seems.
On the way back the sky was very blue with beautiful white clouds and when he stopped at a pull out he showed us where Mt. McKinley (Denali) should be and told anyone with binoculars to check. I took my spotting scope so I checked and we could see it so I took out the spotting scope and set it up so everyone could get a view. It was about 120 miles as the crow flies. Just the very tip was covered with clouds. Other than that I saw a rabbit and a raven. We arrived home about 9pm and we were all tired. That's all.
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