If the leaves on the deciduous trees are a microcosm of life, then death is starting to appear in Alaska. In Maine, about now I would expect to start seeing the glorious red and orange hues of the maple trees as they shed their adornments. There are even a few maples in southern Minnesota near where I worked. But the colors in Alaska are more like northern Minnesota, birches and poplars which turn yellow like the one at the left. All the leafy trees are starting to blush in pale yellow here in Alaska.

We've been doing the last few thing in our list before we head back towards Canada. We developed a problem with our generator, it cranked very slowly, but would not start. Our friends on the Alfa web site suggested a starter was the problem. We brought the coach into a shop in Anchorage on Monday, they confirmed the diagnosis, and they have ordered a starter which they will put in on Friday. Have to get that done before we leave.

Meanwhile, we came up to Palmer, back to the Elks Lodge on Finger Lake. The loons here haunted us soon after they arrived. Such a familiar sound from our time in northern Minnesota, but we both had to take pause and remember what that sound was.

Hatcher Pass

On Tuesday, we packed a lunch and climbed back into our car to take the Palmer Willow Fishhook Road road through Hatcher Pass, another item on our list. The clouds lingered around the mountain tops, with overcast above. We passed the Independence Mine, which we had visited in July, and continued up the steep, rough, washboard dirt road up to the top of the pass. We were above the treeline, into the tiaga and tundra. The road kept our speed to 20 mph or less, washboard on the slopes, and potholed on the flats. The view from the top was pretty good. Still would have liked to have seen it on a clear day. About 2/3 way through, the clouds were clearing to the west, and a snow covered mountain range came into view. Could have been up in Denali, but we may never know.

We continued on down the hill to Willow. We realized, after about 15 miles of the 40 mile trip, that there are no restrooms on the mountain tops, and not even a bush to hide behind. Fortunately, the last 8 miles or so were paved, and we hurried on to Willow and relief in a rest room.

South Rolly Lake

By the time we got to Willow, the clear sky was above us. We looked for a place to have lunch, and stumbled into the Nancy Lake Recreation Area, one of the parks in the Alaska State Park system. We found a picnic table overlooking South Rolly Lake, had our lunch, and then wandered up to the campground to look around. Got some nice pictures of the lake.

Our list also included going to the Alaska State Fair, which started today in Palmer. We arrived 2 hours before they opened (some sort of a record for us) so we went touring for a while, east of Palmer toward the Chugach Mountains, across the Matuniska River, until we bumped into the Reindeer Farm. We stopped and toured that for 1-1/2 hours.

Consuelo feeding the reindeer

The farm gives the visitors a 10 minute talk about the farm and the reindeer, then hands out some pellets and turns us free in the pens with the reindeer. The reindeer they let us go near were pretty friendly. They got visitors all the time, so they knew what the routine was. People who walk into their pen usually have food. Follow them around and maybe they'll get some.


400 lb pumpkin

After the reindeer farm, we went back to the state fair. After waiting in our car to park and waiting in line to get in, we toured the fair from one end to the other. We had heard about the giant vegetable the Alaskans were able to grow in the extended summer days, and we got to see some in the vegetable exhibits: Pumpkins, almost 400 lbs; 70 lb rutabagas; 90 lb cabbages; 133 lb watermelons; and 15 lb beets. Way to go, Miracle Grow!

Quilts on display

The fair had the usual assortment of other competitions: chickens, turkeys, rabbits, livestock, sewing, photos, and more. The streets were lined with food vendors, trinket shops, service clubs. 4H had their own building. One of the most spectacular was the exhibit of quilts, some 250 were entered into the competition. Quilting is a perfect hobby for long, dark winter nights, and Alaska has more than their fair share of fabric shops, we've notices.

We spent 5 hours wandering around the fair, were completely tired out.

Western Kenai Peninsula

Moonrise over Anchorage
We returned form Seward to Anchorage in the rain. We delivered the kids and grandkids to the airport for the plane to New York on 8/6 at 6:30 in the morning. They had TSA challenges, because the smoke from the fires around Fairbanks had diverted passengers into the Anchorage airport, and there was a crowd at TSA. But they got through OK and we got a call in late afternoon saying that they had arrived safely.

The rain stopped after a day, and we spent a few days in Anchorage, putting away things and doing laundry. Thumper needed to get here prescription renewed, so we found a vet for that. We also had our mail sent and picked it up at the post office. I went for a bike ride with our Escapee/Jekyll friends Lloyd and Kathleen with whom we've been sharing Alaska. I got out to Woronzof Point for some sunset photos and shots of downtown Anchorage after dark.

Mount Resolute Sunset from Kenai Harbor

On Tuesday, 8/11, we departed for the Kenai Peninsula again. This time, we would spend some time on the western side of the peninsula. We cruised up through the Turnagain Pass on the Seward Highway, then took the Sterling Highway through Cooper's Landing and Sterling over to Soldotna. We passed the Russian and Kenai Rivers along the way, noticed that the fishermen were far from shoulder to shoulder, as the peak salmon runs had passed.

In Soldotna, we stopped at Fred Myers store. This is the only store parking lot that we have found listed as a campground in our travel bible, Church's Alaska Camping book. Dozens of RVs were parked around the fringe, and smaller ones in the middle. They have a dump station and water fill, and we took advantage to empty our tanks. We then checked with the Kenai Elks and found that they had room for us, so we went to Kenai and parked at the Elks.

The Russian Orthodox Church at Kenai

The rain returned, with projections for a week or more of it, at least off and on. We checked out the Kenai Visitor's Center, and happened onto a free concert by Hobo Jim, Alaska's official balladeer, which we found very enjoyable. In the evening, I took my camera to the town wharf and got some shots of the fishing fleet and Mount Redoubt, the active volcano across Cook Inlet that had been spewing smoke and ash earlier in the year.

On Saturday, we did some exploring, getting as far east as Soldotna, where we checked out the Farmer's Market and bought some produce. We then came back to Kenai, checked out their Saturday Market, bought nothing. We took a ride up to Cook State Park, some 35 miles up the Peninsula, at the end of the Kenai Spur Highway. We noticed all the oil and gas facilities in Nikiski, where oil was discovered in 1957. Production is now moving toward LNG, as the crude is mostly depleted.

Another munching moose

On Sunday, we looked into old town Kenai. We found the Russian Orthodox Church, still in use for services after nearly 100 years. Kenai was settled by Russians in the 18th century. They recently celebrated their bicentennial. We found a really horrible Chinese buffet, where the owner/waitress/hostess tried to be sure we didn't eat too much food. In some ways, the plan was smart... you order the main courses from a check list, as often as you want. The food is freshly cooked, but the portions were fairly small, and it was strange to have to order 2 or three times.

A Pair of Eagles looking for Breakfast in Homer

Consuelo needed to replace her 15 year old iron. I took it apart, it needed a part, might have been salvageable, but I broke a screw and made it worthless. So we stopped at Home Depot, nothing she wanted, went to Lowe's (right next door, of course!) and found a good one.

Later I went back to Cook State Park, as the weather had cleared and I was looking for more good sunset shots. While I waited, I had several conversations with campers and visitors on the beach. One old native Alaskan was hunting for agates, was kind enough to show me what they looked like, and even gave me one. And I did get a few sunset shots. I also nearly bumped into a pair of moose munching along the road on the way up, a distance of some 25 miles. I made the return trip, after dark, slowly and carefully.

The Harding Ice Field from Homer

On Monday, we left Kenai and headed down the Sterling Highway to Homer. The weather cleared up , and it was a beautiful day. We found the Homer Elks, who have a great location on a bluff overlooking the bay. After some confusion on where to park (they told me where to park, but didn't realize that we were long enough that we blocked their dumpster) we nestled up to the back edge of the parking lot. We have great views of Kachemak Bay between the lodge and the adjacent buildings. We can see the mountains and parts of the Harding Ice Field across the way, all the boats that come and go, at least we can when the fog stays away. When it's really clear, we can see Augustine Island (another volcano), some 65 miles away.

The Homer Spit

On Tuesday, we checked out some of the shops in town, and cruised out to the end of the Homer Spit, a jut of land which some believe is the terminal moraine of a glacier that created Kachemak Bay. The Spit is the only deep water land in Homer, so the ferry terminal and deep water docks are there. It's also the home to hundreds of cheap city RV sites, some sleazy looking shops, and dozens of charter services competing for fewer dollars this summer. You can charter boats for fishing (Homer claims to be the halibut fishing capital of the world) or wheel or seaplanes for fishing trips, sightseeing, or even bear viewing. Tuesday night I went to the top of the hill, looking for more sunset shots.

Sunset across Cook Inlet from Homer

On Wednesday, we took a 35 mile long drive across Skyline Drive, East Hill Road, and East End Road, traveling up the north side of the bay nearly to the end. We got great views of the bay, the mountains, and the ice field. After, Consuelo found the fabric shops in town and did some shopping.

We had planned to go to Whittier for a night or two on Thursday, but after looking at what there is to do (boat tours of Prince William Sound) and the cost ($70 in tolls to get through the tunnel) we decided to stay in Homer for a few more days.

Seward to Anchorage

Resurrection Bay on a clear day

If you read the last blog segment, you learned how bad the campground was in Seward, how it rained forever, the road washed out, and the boat trip got postponed. Then when we got on the boat, almost everybody got seasick. I ended the segment with us eating dinner Friday night in Seward.

During dinner, things began to turn around. Paul and I decided to go fishing on Saturday. Consuelo, Maria and the kids decided to go to the Sea Life Center in Seward. We went home and built a campfire. The clouds began to part, and we saw the mountain tops clearly across the bay for the first time in 4 days.

Our fishing boat left at 12:00 noon, a half day outing. It was our iontention to catch some silver salmon, but that was not to be. When we met with the 3 other charterers on the deck on the lodge, one of them was urgent to bottom fish to catch a lingcod. Due to the Alaska fishing rules, if we caught a lingcod, we could not do any other fishing in Resurrection Bay, where the salmon were. Our guide suggested that we bottom fish some, then salmon fish some. We agreed, got into the boat, a 26' center console, and headed down the bay.

Salmon fishing spot

Our first stop was near the cliffs where all the birds congregated which we had seen on the previous day. We stopped over 200' of water and baited up, one guy fishing the bottom, the rest of us fishing for black rockfish. I think our guide weighted the location toward us, since we caught our limit of black rockfish in aboug 45 minutes. We caught no bottom fish. We did catch a couple small sharks. At one point, all five of us had fish on our lines, and our guide, Andy, was busy unhooking, untangling, and stowing rockfish. He knocked them on the head to kill them, because their dorsal fins carried toxic spines which would have disrupted our trip if somebody got spiked.

Once we had our load of rockfish, we motored across the mouth of the bay, watching a pod of 6 or 8 orcas swimming in the same direction we were going. A group of stellar sea lions watched us go by. We then stopped in an area with about 20 other boats fishing for salmon. Paul manage dot catch 2, and I got one. We all lost some before we could get them into the boat. We certainly could have caught more, but time ran out on our trip. So, we had to return home.

Paul and I and the catch from the boat

Our captain and some of the staff at Millers filleted our catch, and we cooked up one of the rockfish for dinner. The salmon and the rest of the rockfish, about 25 lbs of fish altogether, we froze.

Soon after we picked up our fish, the rest of the family returned from the Sea Life Center. Everybody had a grand time there, too. The Center has the largest salt water aquarium tank in the world, and they have wondrful displays of puffins, common murres, sea lions, and the other creatures that live around south central Alaska.

On Sunday morning, Paul got up and out early, taking his camera to the black beach. Independently, I had the same idea, and arrived at the beach about 20 minutes after he did. The rest of the family slept in. We took a few shots of the beach, then decided to walk the nearby trail down towards the point.

The trail was probably the remains of a road built to create and supply a fort on the point which defended Seward during World War II. The fort was about 6 miles down. We only walked the first 1-1/2 miles. The trail was dark and damp, even though the sun was out. Many little streams were still draining all the rainwater from the mountains.

Tosina Creek and Point

We finally reached Tosina Point, the next point down the bay from Millers, where a salmon stream ran into the bay. Dozens of salmon were making their way upstream to spawn, continuing the cycle of life. Just beyond the stream, a flat grassy area remained, most likely a portion of the coast that was submerged in the 1964 earthquake that destroyed Anchorage. The trunks of long dead sitka spruces punctuated the grass. A few folks were fishing in the mouth of the stream, where fishing was allowed. It was closed to fishing farther upstream. We checked it out for a few minutes, then made our way back to the campground.

On Monday, we ran out of fresh water in our tanks. We had been being careful with water, using the grungy restrooms and showers in the campground. Making 20 cups of coffee every morning was a significant toll by iteslf. We figured that our holding takns were nearly full, too, so we packed most everything up and drove into Seward to dump and fill. Maria and Liam had decided to walk into Seward earlier to have lunch together. Consuelo stayed in the campground and got a couple loads of wash done while we tripped into town.

A pair of eagles near our camper

Later Monday was birdwatching day. The eagles were flying around the campground, and a pair of them camped out in a tree near where we were parked. We found an eagle's nest just a few hundred feet away, in another small campground.

On Tuesday, we really packed everything up and left Seward. Maria and Liam decided to take the train from Seward to Girdwood, and the rest of us drove up to Bird Creek, just beyond Girdwood. Paul and I fished in the creek, COnsuelo and Amelia stayed homw and tried on lipstick and other makeup. When we got back from fishing, Consuelo had dinner ready, and Amelia put on a show for us. After dinner, we picked up Maria and Liam at the Girdwood train station.

Paul and the single salmon from Bird Creek

Wednesday morning, Paul and Liam and I tried one more time in Bird Creek to catch some salmon. There were plenty there, and we snagged a few. Alaska regulations require that salmon caught in fresh water must be hooked in the mouth, snagging them with a hook in the fin or tail is not legal, and those fish had to be returned to the river. Paul managed to catch one, which we cleaned stowed for dinner.

Wednesday afternoon, we rolled back into Anchorage, back to the same mediocre campground that we started out in. It was raining again. Although we wanted ot eat the salmon we caught, we wanted more to enjoy the reliable sameness of a night out at MacDonalds, so we all packed into our little VW bug and headed out for dinner. After we ate, we went downtown for some last minute shopping, then got ourselves settled in for the night.

The alarms went off at 5:30 AM on Thursday morning. The kids had packed most everything up the night before, and I bumbled my way around, dumping first a bowl of cereal, then a cup of coffee. We got everybody but Consuelo into the car and headed out to the airport, arriving at 6:30. The car disgorged all the baggage and 5 people, and I went hoem to catch a nap.

Anchorage to Seward

(The blog was abandoned our kids and grand kids arrived in Anchorage to visit with us for a couple of weeks. This section was written on 7/29 in Seward)

Polar bear at the Alaska Zoo

We landed in Anchorage ahead of schedule, since we wanted to get a few things done before our kids/grandkids arrived. Good thing we did, as our car needed major engine work. Had we arrived on schedule, we would not have had time to get it fixed. As it was, the work took even longer than the shop expected, and they gave us a loaner to pick everybody up at the airport.

After the kids arrived, we spent a couple days doing the sights in Anchorage. We took a walk along Ship Creek near the campground and watched the fisher people catching salmon. We went to the Alaska Zoo, which was pretty good. The kids got to see all sorts of Alaskan animals all in one place and close up, but being 4 and 8 the attention span was only about 30 seconds each. I'm thinking that TV conditions us to want to look at something else after 30 seconds, or change the channel. I do it, too. But I lasted longer than 30 seconds, and enjoyed seeing and reading about the animals and their lifestyles.

After the zoo, the kids treated us to lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse in downtown Anchorage. If you like beer, they have some great stuff. The food was pretty good, too.

Seaside Cafe in quaint Hope, Alaska

The next day, they checked out the shopping at the craft fair and bought a few unusual souvenirs. On Monday, we headed south, cruising along the Turnagain Arm (the estuary of Cook Inlet extending east from Anchorage) on the Seward Highway, one
of the few designated "All American Highways". It was pretty spectacular, even though we were hemmed in under a 1000 foot ceiling and pushing 30-40 mph headwinds.

Some folks have to choose either the ocean or the mountains when they go on vacation, but here there is no choice. You have both everywhere, and the mountains roll right down into the sea.

Liam learning to pan for Gold

We had one night out before our arrival in Seward, and we decided to stop in the village of Hope, Alaska. The attraction was for Liam, the 8 year old, could try his hand panning for gold. Some folks told us that "there's nothing in Hope", but like most places, some like it and some don't. We fell in love with it. The salmon run
was on, and people were lined up in the stream to catch them, and catch them they did. The quaint Seaview Cafe runs a little campground right next to the stream. You overlook Turnagain Arm, and there's enough history and crusty folks there to keep the whole family amused. The gold panning was excellent. The lady's name was Dallas, and she kept the 8 year old and everybody else amused for over an hour, teaching him that gold was 19.3 times heavier than water. And he got some pretty nice gold flakes out of the process.

We departed Hope for Seward. We had made reservations for a camp space and a boat trip in Seward at Miller's Landing. We were told that the site was right on the beach. We were told that we could pitch our screen room on the beach. We wanted the spot to be memorable for our kids/grand kids to enjoy. Then we arrived, and reality fell far short of our expectations.

On the 'beach' in the rain and fog

Miller's Landing is, to be somewhat generous, a fish camp. The sites by Resurrection Bay are far from level, all rock, and just a tad bit wider than really, really narrow. There's only electric, no water or sewer at the sites. We knew that going in, but were told that they have "hot showers and flush toilets". The hot showers are filthy, as are the toilets. Some fixtures are not working. The building looked like they were last painted in the 60s. The explanation, proudly displayed on the shower wall, was that they had finally received approval to build new facilities, but that was no excuse for not keeping the old ones clean and painted.

Then there's the fees. They have wifi, but they charge $12/day. I offered them $20 for the week, but they said no. We're paying $46/night for a campsite for a week. We booked it in February.

The weather is generating complaints from others for the campground, too. The rain has been incessant for several days, and the roads and walkways are flooded with puddles. Some folks paid for all day boat rentals, got washed out, and the campground said, "Sorry", no refund.

Beyond the control of the campground is the 2 mile road from Seward that leads along Resurrection Bay to Miller's. There's a stream that flows under a bridge at the south end of Seward that leads along the bay to Miller's. We thought there was an amazing amount of water flowing under the bridge when we crossed it on the way in. It rained long and hard overnight, and this morning the bridge is closed, so we are effectively stranded at Miller's. We took a drive up there to the bridge this afternoon, and they appeared to be working feverishly just to keep the bridge from washing away. But we've been without rain for about 8 hours now, and we just got word that we can walk across the bridge tomorrow, and get cars across it by Friday. No word yet on how long it will take to get it up to carrying the motorhome across.

And the road itself is a real piece of work. Driving speed is about 5 mph most places, as it's loaded with pot holes large enough for a tire to fit into. We knew about that before we got here, so we're not surprised. But, Wow!

Steller sea lions

We did discover a nice black rock/sand 'beach', just a few hundred yards from Miller's that has the beautiful Alaska scenery that we wanted from our visit here. Back in February, we also booked a Kenai Fiords Boat trip for the 6 of us through the campground. We expected some confirmation when we arrived at Miller's but they said no, just give them your name when you go into the boat. It didn't matter too much, since the road was closed, we couldn't get there this morning anyway. The tour boat people were kind enough to reschedule our tour for Friday. We're hoping that the weather clear up some by then.

On Thursday, the road was repaired and we drove into town to snoop around and get some groceries. We visited the Visitor Center for Kenai Fiords National Park, bout some books and things, and watched a short movie there. The city had graded the road, so it was a little more passable.

A puffin fishing

On Friday (7/31) the rain had stopped, after dropping another 1-1/2 inches on us. We found a few things to do at the campground. The campground shuttled us into the boat harbor for our tour of Kenai Fiords boat tour. Everybody enjoyed the first few miles of the boat trip, but it was windy, and as we left the protection of the bay, the seas grew to 15 feet. Our 120 foot boat was rocking pretty good, and a lot of people got sick, including Consuelo who suffers from seasickness in the back seat of a car. Liam, Amelia, and Maria were all somewhat unsettled. Unfortunately, there were several hours of boat trip to go.

We got to see mountain goats, sea lions, and some birds on the way to the glacier. The tour was narrated by one of the Park Rangers, who pointed out sights and talked about the history of the area. As we left Resurrection Bay and made the turn into Ailick Arm up to Ailick Glacier, the seas were the worst, and lots of folks clutched their barf bags while holding onto a rail.

The face of Ailick Glacier

We finally arrived at the glacier, in a quiet bay. The boat stopped and faced each side of the boat at the glacier for 20 minutes. Seasickness is something that people recover from almost immediately, so everybody got a good look at the glacier. Hearing it was almost as impressive, as it groaned and cracked like a thunderstorm as it moved down into the sea and calved off big chunks of ice. Forty minutes seemed to pass in an instant.

On the return, we cruised across the mouth of Resurrection Bay to an island that was a rookery for gulls, common murres, and puffins. Sea lions and mountain goats were hanging around here, too.

Humpback whale tail

In the bay, among the islands, a pod of humpback whales were hunting for food. We could hear them blowing when they surfaced, and caught a few whale tails.

The return trip was as rough in some places, but farther up the bay, with the wind now calmer and behind us, the seasickness was more manageable. We arrived back inot Seward around 5:30, regained our sea legs, and called fror the shuttle to pick us up. We got the car and then were treated to an enjoyable dinner in town by the kids. By the time we got back to the camper, everybody was tired out and ready to sleep.