Homer area and Anchorage

It has been a long time between hookups, we have gone as much as 2 weeks without electric, but each time we travel the battery in the trailer recharges. Spent 5 nights in a Forest service campground 20 miles north of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. Lovely little site overlooking the Cook Inlet. We saw bald eagles in pairs with their young from our campsite and in Homer. They are very plentiful in that area. Homer has 2 sides, touristy and wonderful. Beautiful spot with a long, narrow spit of land where there is a convention of RVer's, as well as partiers, mixed up with fishermen. We spent about 30min there! However in the main part of town is a wonderful wildlife center, where we took a guided tour through the estuary seeing many interesting plants and birds. The Sandhill cranes had a chick that they were guarding with their lives. We then spent an afternoon browsing through the Pratt Museum. Samples of sea items and history of the area, gardens, artwork (including quilts), and a video area where they play the news special about the Exxon Valdez disaster over and over. A sad reminder of what oil drilling can do to pristine areas. During our stay in AK the supreme court decided not to give the people of the coastal areas that were affected by the disaster their punitive damages they have waited 19+ years for. You can imagine the frustration of the locals. Our visit in Anchorage was much enhanced by staying with Annie and Westby who toured us around the area, fed us, and took us to some hot spots in town. The 4 of us went on a nice bike ride alongside the beautiful Turnagain Sound. It was great getting to know them and spend time chatting, great hosts! Anchorage is an interesting city with a population of about 250,000. Great book stores, restaurants, shopping. There is an interesting mix of people here. Many Alaskan natives, who struggle with poverty, as well as a mixture of other ethnic groups. A large University section and of course, tourists. Bike paths are everywhere here as well as in many of the smaller communities.

Hope Alaska

We found a quiet little town on the Kenai called Hope. It is on the Turnagain Sound about 2 hours outside of Anchorage. It is off the beaten path with colorful locals, old gold mining history, and lots of beautiful views. The town consists of a library, 3 restaurants, a used book store and 2 gift shops. It is very picturesque to just walk through the town. Some fishing at the mouth of a river that enters the sound, but more people panning for gold than fishermen.


What we enjoyed most was the since of small town, quiet, and a beautiful place to camp. Porcupine campground is a USFS site, where many people reserve their campsite, we lucked out and found a nice site for 1 week that did not require a reservation. We could see bald eagles, pine grossbeaks, and other birds. A mother ptarmigan with her brood scuttled by during a hike. A nice 5 mile hike skirted along the bank of the sound from our campground.
Wild flowers continue continue to awe me. All in all we probably would consider this our favorite stop so far, and most likely because we relaxed and didn't need to break camp for a week.


Our next goal is to find fish in the infamous Kenai peninsula. Then south towards Homer.

Denali

We had a mixed experience at Denali and area. Started out chilly in our campground 13 miles into the park. Took the 5 hour bus trip to Wonder lake and ran smack into mosquito ville. On with the head nets and bug spray. Nice little spot on an incline near the lake, should have been lovely but in turned out to be our rainiest day in 8 weeks! One night in the tent for Joe and I, not too bad, but poor Phil, wet, and failed air mattress, left him looking sad after spending the night trying to sleep in a gravel pit covered shelter covered with mosquitoes!

Regular attempts to see "the mountain", everyone looking, it is the big draw of course beside the wildlife. On the bus we saw 2 cute little short eared owl juveniles sitting in a pine tree, 2 grizzlies, a wolf, dall sheep on the hillside. The park was overwhelmed with a peak population of snowshoe hares, which means, there will be a peak in the lynx and wolf populations in the next few years. We also spotted some red fox pups playing, nice sight. A golden eagle roosting on the ground, a jaeger ( pronounced with a y), gulls, and sandpipers in the woods! And of course old Mr Raven follows us everywhere taking advantage of left overs. Everyday we see more and more wildflowers, so many varieties, such as blue bells, lupine, dogwood, fireweed, wild rose, ect., I am amazed at the numbers. We had the treat of watching a dog sledding demo with the rangers, including 6 husky pups. Huskies come in many different colors and types and are bred by their ability to lead, and good temperaments. Dog sleds are used exlusively for patrolling the park by rangers in winter, snow mobiles are prohibited.

Denali is enormous and mostly closed to tourists unless you backpack. Just a few days before we came 2 young women were lost in the park and finally found, following a braid ( rivers separating as a result of glacial runoff). One must really be prepared to venture out into this wilderness.

The day after rain comes the sun, and with it Mt McKinely, over 20,000 ft, which is very grand and quite exciting. Two more days of boon docking and we head back to Anchorage where we bid a farewell to Phil as he heads out to visit his cousin in Kotzebue, a remote area in the Arctic circle, we look forward to hearing about his travels.

Seward Alaska

On June 18th we picked Phil up in Anchorage and traveled to Seward which is on the coast of the Kenai Penninsula. A much bigger town than Valdez, tours, and lots of fishing. Joe and Phil decided not to spend 11 hours on a halibut charter, perhaps with sea sickness. Instead the 3 of us went on a tour of Kenai Fiords National Perserve. It was an 8 1/2 hour trip along the coast. The day was a bit chilly (as usual) and cloudy but no rain. We saw quite a variety of wildlife. Both horned and tufted puffins, harbor seals, sea lions, orca and humpback whales, common murres and gulls nesting on rocks that protect them from predators. A very cooperative bald eagle sat for a photo op. We also got an upclose view of Northwestern glacier while pieces that had calved bumped the boat. All along our captain narrated with stories and history. A cold but very enjoyable day. Topped off with a delicious salmon buffet!

Camped near the coast in a rather delapitated campground while Phil stayed in an even worse cabin. Next morning toured the Seward Sealife Center to see sealife up close and personal. One of the nicest aquariums we have ever seen. We were able to see those cute little puffins diving under water. They swim much better than they fly.

Camped on our way back to Anchorage on beautiful Kenai lake and hiked to another small glacier lake, always keeping our eyes peeled for bears.

Joe and I were glad to have Phil's easy company, and he was very excited to be in Alaska.

Seward Alaska