Day: February 22, 2017

Long, long ago in a far away place…..

Really, my childhood was spent  living with my parents and family  in the jungles of Peru at a place called Yarinacocha.   In 7th grade, a very interesting family came down there for a year from Alaska.  The parents taught in the school and among other children, they had three Athabascan children they had adopted, one boy and two girls.   Twila now lives in Anchorage and Dawn in Fairbanks.  They were two of many friends that I was privileged to get re-acquainted with once more  when we found each other on Facebook!

Today I get to meet up with Twila again for the first time since 1971  I believe.

We decided to meet up at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  If you are interested in visiting follow this link  :  http://www.alaskanative.net/

I found it very interesting, and not just because I was getting a personal tour from a native Alaskan!   We also had delicious salmon for lunch at the cafe there.

 

Tonight my son will be catching a red-eye back home from the Anchorage airport and I will stay in Anchorage for the weekend to visit with a childhood friend that lives there.

So we packed up the T@B again and headed back towards Anchorage.  There are stop on the South side of Denali Park where you can catch a last little glimpse of Mt. McKinley if she is out.  Well she came out for us once more!

We also got our second looky at the strange huge “igloo” that is just off the highway.   It was suppose to be a big resort, but went bust.

This time in Anchorage, we stayed at a different RV Park which was in the middle of the city but right off the highway.   Very tight spots and nothing to look at, but at least it was very clean and safe.    We got something to eat, then a short nap, then off to the airport late at night.

I’m sad to see my son go.  It’s been nice having him here.  Now it’ll be back to vacationing by myself!

Today we got up at the crack of dawn to go on our Wonder Lake Bus trip that we had booked.  The road into Denali is 93 miles long and Wonder Lake is almost to the end.  [Mile 85]    Individual private vehicles cannot drive the Denali road past Savage River at Mile 15 (without special permits like for photographers, etc).  So the park service provides a couple of different shuttle buses that a person can buy tickets to ride.   The bus we rode was called the green bus and for $49 each we could take the 11 hour ride to Wonder Lake and back.  There are no eating facilities anywhere along the route.  Water is available to fill a canteen at Eilsen.  Vault toilets are various places along the way and there are flush toilets at Eilsen.  Be prepared!  We took a back pack filled with water, sandwiches and other snacks.  We were dressed warmly also.

We boarded the bus at the Wilderness Access Center at 8  and soon were on our way past Park Headquarters, the Dog Kennels and Savage River.

 There’s a moose in those bushes!  Fireweed.  6 weeks till winter

according to legend.

 Bighorn sheep. Ptarmagan bird.

Polychrome. The green bus behind us. Not much fall colors left. Teklanika River.  Caribou moving west.  First views of Mt. McKinley (Denali).   The winding road.  View from Eilsen Visitor Center.

One of my friends just got married here 3 weeks ago, only the second wedding in Denali in history.

 That’s the wedding spot right there!  The view was awesome!  Our first bear in Denali! Wonder Lake.  The bears love these blueberries! Or these. Wonder Lake overlook. Wonder Lake rest stop.   More bears.

We arrived back at the Riley Creek campground in the evening, tired but exhilarated from all we had seen.  The best for me is that I get to go back for a second visit next month as I won a Denali Road Lottery ticket for September 19th!

Remember, there are no hookups in Denali.   No elec, no sewer, no water.   So with our handy-dandy T@B we had options:  Use the battery and propane sparingly for minimal amount of lights and use the Aldi furnace with propane.  We did fine even though it was quite cold and our battery and propane held out just fine.

Tomorrow we leave Denali and head back to Anchorage for my son to catch his flight back to his home in FL.

Anchorage to Denali National Park is about 238 miles and will take about 4 hours.   Yesterday we had gone grocery shopping because we knew there would not be any big stores near there.  So we are ready for adventure!

It was rainy most of the way to Denali.

We arrived at Denali about 1 pm.   We have reservations at the Riley Creek Campground, which is right inside the entrance to the park.   It has a couple of huge loops where the sites are located.   Trees are everywhere.  Each loop has one large bathroom house with toilets and sinks only, no showers as well as one bathroom house with vault toilets.   Nice name for an outhouse.   The sites are all gravel, with a fire pit and picnic table.   I found many of the sites were so short.   My T@B with RAV4 hooked up to it was too long, so I HAD to unhook and park it to the side.  Long campers would’ve been tight also.  To shower, you can either walk or drive to the shower house/Mercantile  that is located nearby.

We got set up at the site and then went up to the Visitors Center, where we ate at the cafe there, then took a 2 mile hike back to our campsite via a trail.   The trail went through the woods, down by the creek, past the train trestle and to the Mercantile.  My son thought it was silly that I kept talking about bears and making lots of noise on the trail, but seeing wildlife around the campground is not unusual.  Bears like to eat the berries on the bushes.

 

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!   Happy Birthday to me!

It was raining so much and we knew we would not be able to get any decent hikes in.  Our next destination was Denali National Park on the 25th, so after checking the weather apps, we found that the weather further north was better.   So we decided to leave Seward a day early and go to Anchorage for a day.   That would give us more options for celebrating [meaning eating out] and we could do some shopping to be ready for Denali.  Besides, my son’s cell phone had decided to crap out the last couple of days, so we could find some better wifi for him to try to hard reset the phone or even visit a cellphone store if necessary.    So, off to Anchorage.

It was great having my son here now to help me pack up the T@B!   I’ve also gotten a break from the driving since here’s been here as when he’s around, I always give him the keys and say “please drive me”.    He’s used to pulling his motorcycle on a trailer sometimes, so towing the camper is not hard for him.  The weather did improve, no rain in Anchorage and the sun came out.

When we arrived in Anchorage, we took care of getting the cellphone fixed (yes, when we got to decent wifi, he was able to reset it) and grocery shopping.  We ate supper at the “most famous pizza joint in Alaska”, http://moosestooth.net/   Yes, it WAS good, but different, not at all what we expected.

We stayed at Centennial Campground.   It is on the north side of Anchorage, right off the Glenn Highway.   We will never stay there ever again.    The clientele is sketchy and the bathrooms/shower facilities not clean.   My son went to use the restroom and told me “mom, don’t go there!”   So we made exclusive use of our T@B facilities and didn’t leave anything outside as it might’ve walked.   If I had been camping by myself, I would’ve left and found another campground, but with my son with me, we just dealt with it for one night.   Since I am planning to come back to Anchorage when we leave Denali and have to drop my son off at the airport, I have time enough to find a better place for then.

The only picture I have is of an interesting hill next to the campground where evidently people sled/toboggan etc down it in the winter: 

Tomorrow off to Denali!

 

Today my son and I  took a half-day kayaking trip with Liquid Adventures.   We paddled from Seward along the beach to Tonsina Creek and back.

http://www.liquid-adventures.com/content/tonsina-creek-half-day

Can you see the bald eagle we are looking at?

We ate lunch and walked around looking in the shops in downtown Seward, then back to the camp site for a nap and get ready for the big day tomorrow.

 

 

Today we had booked an 8.5 hour trip with Major Marine Tours in Sewards.

It was very cold and rainy, so as we arrived they were offering everyone if they wanted to re-book another day, but they were not going to cancel the trip. We figured it would just be part of the adventure. It cost about $225 per person.

 

 

 

 

 

As the boat cruised out of the Seward port, we saw some sea otters, ducks etc. swimming,

even an eagle! It was relatively smooth going inside Resurrection Bay. It got it’s name because the explorers who discovered it found the bay on Easter.

Once the boat left Resurrection Bay though, it became quite rough.

We cruised a few hours before reaching the area where we saw glaciers:

Humpback whales:
Stellar sea lions on the rocks:

Cataract Cove:

Spire Cove:

When we got back at about 5 pm, we went right next door to eat at a restaurant.   I can’t remember the name and it was expensive, but worth every dollar.   The halibut was to die for!!   I had lots of seafood in Alaska, but that was THE BEST.

Since the rest of our week was pretty much planned out, today was whatever we decided on the spur of the moment to do. It was cold and rainy, so we would have to dress warm with rainy gear.

First, we drove to downtown Seward and located where we would have to be the next morning for our glacier/whale watching trip. Easy to spot the hotel where Major Marine Tours has it’s office.

Then, we drove to the Alaska Sealife Center. If you are interested in visiting, click on this link:  http://www.alaskasealife.org/

You can easily spend a few hours there. After lunch at one of the eateries near there, we drove to the western end of the road and walked out on the beach to Lowell Point and where Tonsina Creek comes out into Resurrection Bay.

       Resurrection Bay

 

Sea lions                          

Puffins             

 

 

 

 

 

Hike to Lowell Point:

Tonsina Creek Trail:

Yes, you got that right.  I am going back and forth, back and forth like a boomerang. Anchorage and Seward are not far apart, so it is easy drive.  My son is arriving in Anchorage from his home in FL on the 20th to spend 8 days of vacation with me!   Yippee!   I haven’t seen him since I moved from FL in June, so it will be great to see him.

We are planning to spend his 8 days split between Seward and Denali.   His plane comes in the afternoon on the 20th and we’d get to Seward late to be setting up.   So on the day before (the 19th) I went from Soldotna to Seward and got the camper all set up in the http://www.stoneycreekrvpark.com/ .  The park itself is like a parking lot–no trees, just gravel everywhere.  But it is surrounded by trees and mountains and a creek at the side.  There were at least 2 – 3 caravan group of motorhomes, so I was an ant amongst giants with my little teardrop.  [In my explorations around town, there was rv camping right on the Seward waterfront, but still just like a parking lot.  So it had a view, but your neighbor was feet from you.  West of town near Lowell Point there was another campground, but it looked quite seedy.]

 

 

 

 

 

After setting up in Seward, then the next day I drove back to the Anchorage airport and picked up my son from the airport, then we drove back to my campsite in Seward.

Now you say, where will I find space for my son in the teardrop???   I have been using just the back jacknife portion of the dinette sofa to sleep on, since I am short.  It ends up being about twin size.

So with my son here, we now have to make room for two to sleep. So out come those handy-dandy bed slats and we make the bed into queen size. The funny thing is the cats litter box is squeezed under the slats, but Oreo doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. She just squeezes under there and does her business. Hopefully not in the middle of the night!

Burrito doesn’t care. He is happy to see Michael. Michael sleeps on one side of the bed, me on the other, with the dog and cat in between!

Today I drove south west across Highway 1 to Palmer, then down past Anchorage to Soldotna on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula.  [The traffic around Anchorage was as bad as any other major US city.  And the road goes right through the city too.   Watch for speed limit signs going through Cooper Landing.]

Scenery along the way towards Palmer:

I went to Soldotna primarily to visit  some childhood friends who live there.  Their younger brother was in my class at school and was going to also be visiting at the same time!

The couple works with Samaritan’s Purse.  So I was able to visit their offices/headquarters.   What a great ministry they have to the needy, not only indigenous groups, but also the Wounded Warrior Project etc.  I will not post pictures of all that to maintain their security.

After much reminiscing and good food, the husband and my classmate flew off for a few days, doing a SP project.  So I and the wife had some girl time to our selves!

We spent some time exploring Soldotna, taking a nice easy hike in Centennial  Park and viewing the Historical Museum.

Then we went to Homer.  We ate lunch at the Lands End restaurant at the west end of the Spit.    Yummy halibut sandwich!   

We saw sea otters from the restaurant window and as we drove back east on the Spit, we saw a couple of bald eagles perched on the top of poles right at the side of the road.

At Ninilchik, you can see lots of beautiful Russian-style buildings.  Remember, Alaska used to be owned by Russia!  When the US bought the land, some Russians stayed.

Boats in the Cook Inlet.

View from the hills overlooking Homer.