Day 53

Another of those days that make this trip so worthwhile and so special.

We left our very quiet campsite early, and drove 60 miles to the little village of Whittier.

This place was created in 1942 when the US Army/Navy needed a second ice free port to transport materials to the interior of Alaska. They picked Whittier, but didn’t realize that there was a bloody great mountain in the way of the route to the interior, so undeterred, they bored a tunnel, 2 ½ miles long and threw a few train tracks down, and bingo, a route in!!

However, it was only in the year 2000 that the tunnel was converted to road traffic as well, and now you get to drive through the tunnel, on the train tracks, one way only.

Yes, you wait at the entrance to the tunnel, after first paying the toll, and can wait up to an hour to go through, coz you have to wait for the traffic coming from the other side, and the train, to clear.

It is all done with traffic lights, hand signals, prayers and mirrors, I think.

Still, it’s exciting!

We had an excellent breakfast of salmon omelette, wandered around the village a bit, looking at the 14 story high brick and concrete monstrosity, left over from the second world war, where 90% of the population live.

On to the good ship Emerald Sea, and off into Prince William Sound.

After an hour of watching water go by, listening to a really boring Forest Ranger talk about all the things we might see, but didn’t, and eating a surprisingly pleasant lunch of prime rib, salmon, salad and wild rice, we eventually rounded a corner and got to see tidewater glaciers. The two we saw were Beloit and Blackstone Glaciers and are the ones that reach down into the sea, and have chunks break off, small, big and megahumungous,

We have all seen National Geographic, and other nature programs, showing this happening, but to see it up close and personal, was just amazing. What you don’t get on TV is the atmosphere, the size and majesty of these things. The cracking and creaking of the ice, wondering which piece is going to break off next, and go plunging hundreds of feet into the ocean, creating a mini tsunami.

Also, the wind whipping off the glaciers is pretty cold. The captain of the ship was knowledgeable, and told us where to watch for a possible calving of growlers.

See how I remember the language!

Growlers are what the small icebergish size lumps of ice are called, and calving is the breaking off and the crashing to the sea.

We stopped for at least half an hour at each glacier, and finally, after a lot of teasing, Beloit Glacier delivered, sending trillions of tons of ice into the Sound, and scaring the crap out of the idiots in kayaks who were paddling around, too near in our opinion, but what do we know?

After another boring talk, mostly the same stuff regurgitated in different words, from the Ranger, we got back to Whittier around 6.15, in enough time to catch the 7o’clock tunnel opening. So, we sat there until 7.30, waiting for the two trains to go through, and then all the tour and cruise line coaches were let through first, because of their timetables. Good job we are patient, and didn’t sit there cursing and swearing, and complaining about those damn tourists. Not us!! We are not on a schedule.

We then drove to the peninsula town of Hope, had dinner at a place called Bearcreek Lodge, which was very cute, very Disneyish, and full of skeeters!

Afterwards, we drove down to the village itself.

It is a tiny little place, all the streets are dirt roads, and the local RV park by the creek flowing into Turnagain Arm, the main inlet near Anchorage, was heaving with tents, campers, trailers and RVs. When we asked why, everyone told us “ The salmon are running”

The silver salmon finally started their spawning runs, and there were fisherists all over the place, pulling them in left, right and center.

We went into the local bar, The Seaview, had a few brewskies, while listening to a local blues band…..Swamp Mamas from Baton Rouge, Louisiana!!

So, we finally got back to the coach at 1 in the morning, way too late for us oldies!!

We apologize for the pix, there were only 400 today to choose from!

We cannot get enough of this place and the scenery, and so we are snap happy!

Wildlife watch today was sea otter, bald eagles, seals, and icebergs!

Day 52

We finally tore ourselves away from Scenic View RV park, sadly.

We had spent a very pleasant, quiet six days there, excellent hosts, good people/fellow campers, gorgeous scenery and just an excellent relaxational time.

We drove towards Seward, and after going through Sterling, and back into the mountains, we passed a sign saying that there was high wildlife crossing in the area. We did not see a giraffe ( get it, high wildlife?) but within a couple of miles a black bear scampered across the road right in front of us, and then there was a big moose grazing at the side of the road. We found our new campsite for the next couple of days, Trail River USFS site

( which is short speak for United States Forestry Service) where we are dry camping, which means no utilities but a secure, quiet, safe campsite, cheap.

We went to Exit Glacier. This is just outside Seward, and we bumped into our friends from the campsite we just left, Art and Robin.

This is a tremungimous chunk of ice, which is all shades of blue, grey and black, but no white, and is receding at an alarming rate, about 100 yards per year. I told Marlipops and Brian that we should have come here a hundred years ago, and we would not have had to walk so far.

You can walk up to the glacier, and get within about 10 feet of it. The trek to it from the parking lot was about a mile, up hill all the way, so you are perspiring when you get there, unless you are one of these hikerists, with the boots and the sticks with a compass in the end and big strides and smiles ( they make you sick) and when you reach the glacier, there is a brisk breeze blowing off the top, and you freeze your wotsits off!!

It is worth the hike, absolutely fascinating to be that close to thousands of years of nature.

We went down into Seward, had a fish and chips lunch/dinner, again, and then went to the Sealife preserve and sanctuary, where all sealife from this part of the world is studied, and taught about.

We wandered around the harbor, and saw some amazing halibut, just being offloaded from the fishy boats, one of which was 253 pounds, caught by a little bitty woman of about 65.

There was a sea otter playing around in the harbor, right under our noses, just a delight to watch as he showed off.

Today has been a good day, Brian was finally relaxing, still in awe of where he is. Great to give my big bro the vacation of a lifetime.

Wildlife watch today…………….read the blog above!!!

Day 51

Well, there is darkness in Alaska at this time of year. Brian and I got up at 4 in the early o’clock, to drive 50 miles down to Homer for an early morning fishing trip, and it was dark. Not for long though, by the time we got to Homer it was fully light.

We boarded the good ship Sizzler and along with 18 other hardy souls, left the safety of Homer harbor and set off into the great unknown. Actually we went for twenty miles, still well within sight of the snow covered wilderness.

As we pulled out of the harbor, the bald eagle cacophony was all around, as they competed with the seagulls to see who could make the most noise. Bald eagles have a high pitched screechy type noise, totally unexpected from such masculine looking creatures.

So, 1 ½ hours later, we stopped and proceeded to fish.

You have all heard the expression “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”. Well, this wasn’t like that, it was easier. I caught the first halibut of the day, only because I was the first one to put a line in the water. The weight hits the ocean floor, about 150 feet down, and before you have time to flick the bale arm over, a halibut has grabbed the bait, is hooked, and up he/she comes.

The law states that you are only allowed a limit of two halibut, and these things bite at anything, so within a couple of minutes, you have got your limit. So Captain Cautious was busy throwing back everything, until the rest of the boat passengers had got their limit, hoping for the record breaking big one. Of course, no such luck, but after the fish were filleted, we came off the boat with 40 pounds of fresh fishes, and we reckon we saved over half the price compared to market prices.

We wandered back to the campsite, where we cooked some of the halibut, using mayonnaise, lemon juice and herbs, on the grille.

Perfection.

Tonight, everyone from the campsite sat around the fire, toasted marshmallows, ate chocolate and told tales. A very relaxing evening, followed by the most incredibly colorful sunset, all shades of blue and pink.

Wildlife watch today was a sea otter, bald eagles fighting, and some puffins.

Day 50

Raining.

Brian the brother brought the miserable weather with him from Houston.

We went down to Deep Creek beach, the tide was in, and we sat and watched the big machines putting the fishing boats in the water, and bringing them out again. I’ve previously reported this, as well as the lots of bald eagles after the fish scraps on the beach, but Brian was a newbie, so we have to touristify him.

We then drove down to Homer, where we did something we don’t normally do, we ate at a place we’ve ate at before. The halibut really is to die for.

We booked an early morning fishing trip for tomorrow, we have to be up at 4, so we will catch some halibuts.

We wandered around the harbor, but the rain was incessant, despite Marlipops doing an anti rain dance in the parking lot, so we cut our losses and left.

We did some more touristy things, like visiting the Russian Orthodox Church again in the little town of Ninilchik.

After a very pleasant early dinner of salmon and taters, we visited with our friends Art and Robin, on the campsite, and Bob the owner of the site wandered over, with the most awesome smoked salmon, which had been smoking for about 6 hours.

We then went off to Crooked Creek, coz Norm, from our campsite, had rushed off in his truck, yelling, “The salmon are running”.

Norm is an avid fisherman who has caught precisely nothing on his trip, so we have been giving him a real hard time.

So, we caught up with Norm, who was wading in the river, and he caught……..none.

We went down to a beach in the quaintly named town of Clam Gulch, and took some nice eagle pix.

Brian heard some sounds from the bushes which were bearlike, and later he saw a piece of wood which was bearlike, but neither were the real thing, so he will have to wait another day, and just go to bed with his teddy!!

Wildlife watch was eagles and a sandpiper.

Day 49

Today we were getting an early start, to do a bunch of stuff in Anchorage, which is 180 miles away, so we jumped out of bed……………at 9.00am!!

The salmon and late night photography of last night zonked us, and we had a much needed lie in.

So, off we went, at around 11.00 am, through Soldotna, past a female moose grazing in the pasture, and in to Anchorage, four hours later.

It was refreshing to see that we have not grown accustomed to the scenery, it is still wonderful to behold, even though it was a bit cloudy. Seeing glaciers from afar is still mind blowing.

We had an early dinner/ late lunch at a wonderful establishment called The Moose’s Tooth Brewing Company.

They not only make and serve the most delish and different pizza, they brew their own ale!

I was in heaven.

A smoked salmon pizza was washed down with a Northern Lights amber ale, which was so nice I bought half a gallon!

We stopped for gas and saw a weird truck, with stuffed animals. See pic.

At 8.30pm, we met up with brother Brian who had flowed in from Houston, to annoy us for a week or so.

Now we have to run him around all over the place, doing the touristy thing.

We left the airport at around 9.30, and within 2 hours Brian had seen his first 2 mooses!

Both munching away at the side of the road.

We got back to the campsite at around 1.00 in the morning, after an interesting drive back. A big deal is made in Alaska about driving carefully coz of the moose, and there have been a lot of accidents recently, and some fatalities, with people hitting moose, and after the drive last night, I understand why. These huge, harmless creatures stand innocently at the side of the roads, eating and minding their own business, and they are virtually invisible, so when they decide that the grass is greener in the other side of the street, they stroll across the road, and whammo, one minced moose and one mangled car. Very sad.

Wildlife watch today was the above mentioned mooses.

Day 48

The one problem with 20 hours of sunlight, is that the day gets away from you, especially when your watch has been banished to the darkest drawer in the coach, and before you know it, you are having dinner at 10.30 pm.

We had another fine day, not a sky in the cloud, eagles and seagulls all over the place, doing absolutely not a lot.

The main event of the day was driving 35 miles into the town of Soldotna, to join the library.

They have high speed internet and wifi access there, and as we needed to do some bizniss, bills and other boring stuff, we combined the trip with a beer run.

An Englishman never runs out of beer, and I was down to one bottle, so, we had to go.

In the evening, after a sumptuous dinner of steak, roast potatoes and salad, we met with our campsite neighbors at the communal firepit, where we sat, until the local gillnet fishermen came by with our order of salmon.

We then proceeded to process the fish, your never say die Captain ever game to attempt new and dangerous tasks. Armed with a left handed fillet knife, I proceeded to get some very juicy fillets at my first attempt.

One of our neighbors, Art, declared that he was going to smoke his fish there and then, so we all stood around the barbecue pit, drinking, giving all kinds of conflicting advise as to the best way to cook it.

He ended up sprinkling chili powder on, and covering it with butter, and after 30 minutes we all helped him eat it!! Absolutely yummy!!

By this time the sun had set, it was well after 11pm, and we all suddenly realized that the one problem with 20 hours of sunlight, is that the days get away from you.

Wildlife watch today, eagles, gulls, a bucket full of dead fish, and Max and River, the two campsite mutts, who are always wandering off, nosing in everyone’s coach, and generally getting into mischief. They can usually be found……….in the doghouse.

Day 47

Today was all about doing exactly nothing.

After leisurely reading yesterday’s morning paper over coffee and toast, ( we always read the paper a day behind, the news is always the same and there is no rush to get the paper)

we chatted with fellow RVers at the campsite, and then made our way down to the beach, where the tide was out, way out, as in negative 3.8 ( whatever that means).

There were hundreds of people clamming.

This stretch of beach is famous for its razor shell clams, see daily report # 42, and the tricky little suckers are really hard to get out. First you have to spot the tiniest of depressions in the sand, then using this T shaped tubular thing, the clam gun, you push and twist, and pull, and usually get a tube full of sand first time. Eventually a clam is caught, by which time your back is killing you, and the daily limit is 60, so you get to do this another 59 times, if you want.

Then, after having spent three hours, sometimes on your hands and knees, and in big scooped out holes in the sand, covered in mud and fish smelly sand, you get to go and clean them, which can take another four hours, coz they are really fiddley.

So, like all visiting celebrities would do, I caught the grand total of one clam, purely for the photo opportunity, and left the rest in the beach for the real enthusiasts.

Afterwards we had an excellent lunch and some good natured banter with our fellow campers at the beachfront café, known locally as The Beachfront Café, and we then went for a pleasant drive in the countryside, off the beaten track, looking for bears.

We didn’t find any, so we went to church.

There is a tiny Russian Orthodox Church perched on a hill above the little village of

Ninilchik, with some fascinating gravesites. The grass is mowed between the graves, but each site has a tiny white picket fence around, so the weeds and flowers grow wild on the grave itself.

Marlipops added to her collection of local wild flower photographs, and while we were wandering around the church, a cloud literally dropped on us in a matter of minutes, and we went from a magnificent view across Cooke Inlet and the distant mountains, to a fog bank in seconds.

As you drive around some of the back roads, and go into the little “scenic view” pull offs around here, you can discover some unspoilt areas, full of lush vegetation, streams and creeks. One of the major attractions for us here is that there are no snakes to step on, so we can go crashing through the undergrowth without fear of rattlers or coral snakes. Of course, there is always the possibility of a grizzly bear or a mountain lion or a wolf, but at least they are not venomous!

We just chilled for the evening, around the campfire, the highlight of which was six grown men trying to get the top off a cocktail shaker, and finally succeeded using a hammer and screwdriver.

We stayed up until 11pm and watched an absolutely stunning sunset across the Inlet, over Mount Redoubt. For once the sky was clear, and the colors were spectacular.

There were over forty fishing boats of various sizes in view, and when I woke at around 4.30 am, the boats were still there, and I watched the sun rise, at about 90 degrees from where it went down, and all the mountains were cloud free, with the snow sparkling in the dawn sun.

Wildlife watch today was bald eagles (yawn, yawn) and clams.

Day 46

Revelation!!

The coach is white, with pretty black and grey stripes!!

The yellow peril is yellow!!

We left our campsite in Sterling and proceeded in a westerly direction, to the town of Soldotna.

On the way, we washed the coach, and the car, and dust, grime, rocks and crap from 44 days disappeared down the plughole!

This Alaska dust gets everywhere. We had all the vents in the car closed, and still it got places we didn’t know existed.

Afterwards, we went to Fred Meyers parking lot.

This store is famous for being RV friendly, even having water and a dump. RVers can stay here for up to 5 days, free, and then have to disappear for 24 hours, before they can come back for another four free days. Coupled with the Saturday shoppers, the place was a zoo.

So we did our grocery shopping and vamoosed!

We drove the fantastic distance of 45 miles to our new campground, Scenic View, near the little town of Ninilchik, and we have a magnificent view across the Cooke Inlet, to the mountains on the west side, including the active volcano Mount Redoubt. We are parked at the bottom of the hill, with an uninterrupted view of the ocean, the fishermen’s boats and the bald eagles flying by. There are only 27 sites here, with a big communal log fire in the middle where everyone congregates and chews the fat. Wonderful.

We chatted with the owner, and he showed us the rest of his property, adjacent to and up the hill from the campsite. An even better view, if that’s possible, over the Inlet.

While we were sitting at the campfire, chilling, and chatting, fortified by some more fine ale from Kassik’s Brewery, we watched as some bald eagles pirouetted over us, so calm and serene. Absolute heaven.

Then Bob the owner told us that there is only about a 90 day frost free period up here, and when all the tourists have gone it’s pretty bleak!!

Day 45

It was not raining this morning!

We still didn’t get up and rush out!!

And a very happy birthday to Wilda, mother in law extraordinaire!!!

A very leisurely breakfast at our local internet café, Naptowne, was followed by a drive to Kenai, the largest town on the peninsular, although we didn’t know it at the time.

There is an old town area, sort of preserved from the late 1800’s, including the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, built in 1895. The priest was there, and he was the star of the day.

We reckon he was actually the original priest from when the church was finished, he was that old, but what a talker!

Non stop for about 20 minutes, and then he asked if we had any questions, after he had told us the history of the church and his own life history, and how priests are ordained, and what happens if they are widowed or get divorced, and on and on, ………until I asked him if there were any women priests. “NO WOMEN”, he almost yelled at us, “God was a man, no women of importance in the bible”, and so on. Marlipops and I looked at each other, at the couple with us in the church, and decided to get out of there pronto, he was building up such a head of steam!!

The town of Kenai spans the Kenai River, and today was the last day of the King Salmon fishing season, so there were hundreds of fisherists, lining both banks of the mouth of the river, with their tents all pitched and their rods and nets and other fish catching necessities, waiting for the tide to roll in, hoping to catch lottsa fish. We were on an overlook park thingy, watching from above, and for the two hours we were there, not a fish was seen.

We met and chatted to a very nice couple, Grayson and Pauline, from Michigan, fellow RV ers, and exchanged tales from RV nightmares.

It was wonderful and relieving to find out that other people have similar plans, problems and solutions to ours, and also very pleasant to exchange tips of the trips with them.

The rest of Kenai is pretty standard USA anywhere, so we wandered out of town to another micro brewery, offering free stuff.

Kassik’s Brew Stop is fantastic.

A small sample of six different ales, a very knowledgeable owner, and an exceptionally clean place, all lent themselves to a pleasant half hour supping.

All six ales were good, the best being Roughneck Stout. Very much like a traditional English mild.

This brewery has only been open for a year, and was started after the owner’s wife bought him a home brew kit a few years ago for Christmas. He quit his well paying job at the local refinery, she quit her job locally and they are going well.

So, we had to help the local economy by purchasing three different ales, for home consumption later. We then wandered north on the coast road, past the big oil refinery, which has been here since they discovered oil in 1957, and which produces about 15,000 barrels per day.

We followed directions from one of our guide books, and went to the beach, which has room for about 3 cars, and is all pebbles, and had a fabulous view of the oil rigs in Cooke Inlet with the mountains and volcanoes as a backdrop.

We then trogged off again to a state park further up the road, which was deserted, and had bear warning signs posted all around. So what did we do?

Went into the woods, singing and talking and yelling “Go Bear”( see previous reports) in loud, deep voices.

And, once again, we got about a hundred yards, looked at each other, and did another runner back to the car!!

The weather up here is interesting. One minute we have the AC on, the next we need the heater on. Weird. The advice is to dress in layers, and I’ve found the best sort of pants to wear are light weight Columbia pants, with the zips around the thigh, so I can convert them into shorts instantly, together with a T shirt and waterproof windbreaker thing with a hood.

Of course, Wimpypops wears 500 layers, with scarves and all sorts of unmentionables!!

Wildlife watch today was pathetic, just a noisy squirrel at the campsite.

Day 44

Another rainy day, but that does not deter your intrepid twosome!!

We drove 80 plus miles down to the end of The Kenai, as far south as you can drive in Alaska on normal roads, without getting on a ferry or a plane. Or swimming.

The town of Homer sits on the end of the peninsular, and then a huge Spit of land sticks out like a giant fishhook into Kachemak Bay, which is the southern end of The Cooke Inlet, where it meets the Gulf of Alaska.

On the way, for miles, the fields and roadsides are awash with purple Lupines and Indian Paint Brush, full of bees and other assorted flying creatures. Very pretty.

The village on the end of the Spit has been originally named Homer Spit.

As you drive over the causeway road thing to the Spit, there is a lake called Beluga Lake, why, is a mystery coz it is landlocked, and a beluga whale would have trouble getting into it unless it was a flying whale, or if there was a whaleway, ( terrible pun) and there were dozens of float planes coming and going. Busy, busy, busy.

There are millions of RVs camped all along both sides of The Spit, whose main touristy attractions are halibut fishing, ocean kayaking and sightseeing tours of the glaciers.

We wandered into the only original building still remaining from when the town was founded in 18 something, now converted to a pub called the Old Salty Dawg.

Very quaint, the walls covered with dollar bills pinned there by customers, who have written their own comments on the money in black marker pen.

Of course, we are upstanding citizens, and would never dream of defacing property of the treasury, with comments such as “Marlipops and The Captain”, and “Come On You Wolves”. Never. Nor would we search for a glass full of thumb tacks to pin the dollar bills to the wall. Not us.

Unfortunately, it is with great sadness that I have to report that the locally brewed ale on offer was pretty horrible, served in plastic bottles which were not allowed to leave the bar, as they were recycled. The beer tasted as though it had been recycled as well, through a few halibut. It was bad.

Also, the ban on smoking in public places has either not reached this far south, or is just ignored, so the atmosphere was, well, smokey!

Anyway, we left the pub and wandered across the street, to Boardwalk Fish and Chips, in Cannery Row.

The halibut was served on a skewer, fried in a very light batter, and was absolute heaven. It was far better than that reported from Haines a few weeks ago.

The chips were pretty good too, and vinegar was on the table without being requested. Very civilized!

We then walked around a bit, checking out the various offers on fishing trips and sea kayaking, and I have to commend one of the young ladies behind the counter at Mako’s Sea Taxi.

As usual, I was the comedian to Marlipop’s straight talking, and when I asked about alligators on the glacier wildlife cruise, this young girl, without a second’s pause, came back at me with “Of course, sir. We have the white alligators, the Northern species. They are white, to hide in the snow, and their claws work real well on the glaciers.” She then proceeded to explain that the kayaks all have some kind of skirt, but I would look good in a pastel shade, not the standard black. She was very good, almost a match for me, and so refreshing compared to the usual “like, like, like” which is how kids today talk, like.

On our way back to Homer from the Spit, Marlipop’s research had uncovered the fact that Homer Brewery was open to tours, so we thought we would give them a chance to redeem themselves, and paid them a visit.

The brewery, shop, sampling area and register are all in one room. The tour consisted of “Which 3 of our 10 ales would you care to sample?”

So, forewarned being forearmed, or something like that, I tried 3 that were not on sale in the pub earlier.

The brewery redeemed itself.

The samples were very generous, and after the 3, I was feeling no pain!

It would have been rude not to buy some beer, and so I purchased half a gallon of fine ale, for $ 10.00, plus a fee for the designer flagon. Considering the price of beer here in Alaska, and the fact that these people only have a short season in which to fleece the tourists, it was not a bad deal. Only problem is I had a headache when I woke up, hence the reason this travelog is being written a day later than normal.

Homer is an artsy type of town, and some sights were pretty neat, particularly the blue RV, see pix.

Also, the tracked ATV pic is for Geoff, who probably needs one in Florida!

We were very tired, so on the way back, pulled off the road to have a snooze. We were woken by a woman knocking on the window, who had seen our license plate from Florida, and wanted to chit chat coz she was from Florida. Who cares???? Go away, we are tired!!! But we are very polite, so we weren’t rude, but we wanted to be!!

Wildlife watch today was lots of bald eagles, again, and tons of dead halibut.