On Wednesday, May 24, the last day of the cruise, we woke up in Whittier, Alaska to this view, from the   

  very top deck of the Carnival Spirit.

 

 

 

We had arranged transportation to the Anchorage Airport, where we picked up our rental for the two weeks travel.  It's about 60 miles to Anchorage and you have to go through a two and a half mile tunnel through the mountains.  This was originally a train tunnel, but in 2000 it was opened to auto traffic also.  Auto traffic has to wait on the train, and then it's one way at a time, but the wait is seldom more than 15 minutes.

Our standard SUV rental turned out to be Buick's new entry into the field, the Buick Rendezvous.  It was nice, comfortable, with plenty of luggage space.  The girls turned the driving over to the guys and they each had their nest in the rear seat.  They had a console compartment and cupholders for snacks, coffee, etc.  They traveled well except for occasional directives, such as "slow down" or "turn around! We need a picture of that". 

 

Leaving the Anchorage area, that afternoon we stopped and stocked up our cool pack with a few drinks and sandwich materials, so we could have lunch on the road when we needed to.  This was often very convenient.

 

After we passed through Palmer,  with the Talkeetna Mountains to the North and the Chugach Range to the South, we started seeing some beautiful mountain scenery.  This is Alaska #1, called the Glenn Highway.  We were traveling East toward Glennallen.

 

 

 

 

At our first rest stop along the

Glenn Highway, next to the

footbridge to the restrooms

there was this little lake with a Trumpeter Swan on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we discovered we were gaining elevation and we saw our first frozen lake, though it was sunny and "light jacket" weather outside.

The sign has a few bullet holes in it.  Alaska has rednecks, too.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a lot of volcano activity in Alaska - see the sign below and click to enlarge if you need to. 

 

Mount Drum was impressive as we drove toward it for a long time.  You may need to use your bottom scroll bar to center it. 

 

 

On the way to Glennallen we passed the Matanuska Glacier and many photo ops along the way.  We stopped at a cafe near the Eureka Summit, highest point on the Glenn Highway.  Susie served us great apple pie and ice cream.  Susie had relatives in Mississippi and was full of interesting conversation.  The weather was nice and sunny but the lake behind the cafe was still frozen on May 24.

 

We spent the night in Glennallen, at the Caribou Inn.

 

 

The next morning, May 25 we got our first closeup of the Alaska Pipeline - I touched it.  We drove down Hwy 4, planning to visit Copper Center and go as far as Hwy 10, which is a one way trip into the Wrangell - St Elias National Park.  This is the largest of our Parks, over 13 million acres.  The Chugach, Wrangell, and St Elias Mountain ranges converge here and the park has the greatest assemblage of mountains over 16,000 feet on the continent.  Mt St Elias, second highest in the US at over 18,000 feet is here.  Actually it's on the Yukon Border and is claimed by both the U S and Canada.

 

 

A sign at a visitor center overlook, explaining about the volcanoes. 

 

 

Mt Drum again, from the visitor center.   We had planned to turn around here, rather than take the turn-around trip down Highway 4 to Valdez, but a friendly and talkative Ranger named Neal insisted we go on to Valdez.  He said "you need to see Thompson Pass, you won't regret it".

 

 

 

 

We found a lot of snow at Thompson Pass, below.  We found that only a one thousand foot rise in elevation made a lot of difference in the amount of snow and ice we saw.  Most of Alaska is relatively low.  The "base" elevations even far into the interior may be 1000 feet, or less,  above sea level and the mountains rise from that, so the mountains can have more vertical rise here than in other places.  The tree line in most of Alaska is only about 2500 feet, versus 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies.

 

 

 

There were lots of snow melt waterfalls along the road. 

 

 

 

 

When we got to Valdez, we thought maybe they had found out we were coming, but we soon discovered the Patricia Neal on the sign was not our Patti.  She looks somewhat disappointed.

 

 

 

The waterfront at Valdez below.  The end of the Alaska Pipeline is across this little bay.  We drove around town, which takes about two minutes, went in one gift shop, and picked out a place called the Totem Inn for lunch.  Valdez is not big enough to have a wide selection of restaurants.  I started with a bowl of Minestrone from the salad bar, and never got any further - I just went back, and back, for more Minestrone.  We all had

a good lunch and by the time we were through the crowd thinned out so we asked the waitress a few questions about Valdez.  We soon had two waitresses sitting at the table with us, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the visit.  Like I said, Alaska people are friendly.

 

Valdez is the snowiest town in Alaska.  It gets the moisture and warmer air from Prince William Sound, cold air from the ice fields and glaciers of the nearby Wrangell - St Elias range, and has about 300 inches of snow a year.  Thompson Pass, only about 25 miles out of town,  has about 900 inches a year.  Heckuvalot of  snow.

A few days before, on the cruise ship we passed near the entrance to the Valdez Harbor and saw the spot where the Exxon Valdez ran aground, causing the big oil spill.  Someone in Valdez told us that the only thing still noticeable  is an occasional petroleum smell on a few beaches and islands. 

 

 

We saw our "Moose of the day" on the way back up Hwy 4 to Glennallen.  Ginger claims she saw a Moose

every day we traveled.  She was on the passenger side rear and searched all the creek beds and openings in the Spruce forests.  A few of her Moose, the rest of us never saw, and we even accused her of fibbing a couple of times, but she stuck to her story.  We got pictures when we could, but we soon learned that Moose and Eagles do not pose well.  Caribou seem to enjoy having their picture made. 

 

 We drove back through Glennallen, and on to Tok, on the Alaska Highway, to spend the night at the Burnt Paw Cabins. 

 

 

 

 Friday, May 26

 

 Ginger and I enjoyed a little morning sun on the porch of our cabin.  "Oleman" sneaked around the corner and got in the picture just to be ornery.

 

Each cabin had a different theme inside.  Ours was early Alaska aviation.  Some old bush pilot pictures and newspaper articles were interesting.  On the wall was an old two bladed prop, bent on the ends, obviously from a crash.  I asked the owner's wife about it and she said "Oh, that was a good friend, he survived and is now retired from flying."   The cabins owner had run the Iditarod in past years and next to the  cabins had a kennel with sled dog pups - cutist little things you ever saw.   He also had several different types of sleds on display.  I had never known there are regular sleds, racing sleds, freight sleds, etc.   

 

 

 

The old timers' cabins had sod roofs, as do the Burnt Paw Cabins and the office.  The owner has a sense of humor - he keeps a lawnmower on the roof.

The Alaska Highway, or the Alcan, is the route from the lower 48 to Alaska.  We intersected with it here at Tok and traveled North on it.   It was built in the early days of WW II to connect the U S and Alaska.  Gravel for many years, I believe it is now completely paved.  The Alaska portion is Alaska 2.    Alaska 5 is known as the Taylor Highway and goes out to the little town of Chicken, paved that far, then gravel on across the "Top of the World" Highway to either a border crossing to Canada's Yukon Territory, or to the town of Eagle, on the upper Yukon River.      Eagle would be a great place to visit, but we just didn't have time this trip.  If you want to read about it, it's prominent in John McPhee's book about Alaska, "Coming into the Country."  McPhee lived there some back in the 1970's while gathering information for his very interesting book.

The Taylor Highway is a beautiful drive, but that's what I'm saying about all of Alaska's highways. 

 

Not far from here, over in the Yukon Territory is Bonanza Creek,  considered to have been the richest find of placer gold ever.  Placer gold is the dust, flakes, and nuggets found in alluvial deposits - the loose sand and gravel mainly in stream beds.  This gold came originally from veins within the earth, but has been scraped away and dislodged by glaciers, spring thaws, the tumbling of rocks in the rushing water,  and deposited in stream beds over many years.  The early miners of a century ago found a lot by panning - getting a pan full of the loose stuff and gradually swishing out the gravel, then the sand, until you get down to the heavier gold, which has sunk to the bottom.  Larger operations now use various types of dredges, suction, and hydraulic methods to process large quantities of gravel through their sluices, which let the gold settle out.

 

 

 

 

We traveled the Taylor Highway as far as the old mining town of Chicken, end of the pavement.  Just past there, the gravel road crosses the Fortymile River Valley.  The Fortymile Caribou herd once numbered half a million animals, and is still the largest herd in Alaska.

 

These young Caribou apparently had been standing here all morning, waiting for some tourists with a camera to come along. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then they couldn't decide where the grass was greener. 

 

This early in the year, there was little tourist traffic  and even on major highways, we could often just stop in the road to take pictures - no traffic.  This is not normally recommended, however.  This particular morning we drove about 60 miles out the Taylor Highway to Chicken and only met a half dozen vehicles.  The only traffic problem seemed to be animals.

 

And speaking of animals, here's Ginger's Moose of the day.  Looks like a young bull - this early in the summer, his antlers are just beginning to grow and are not clearly visible in this picture.

 

 

 Everytime we gained a little altitude we found frozen stuff

 

 

 

 

 And we finally got to Chicken, and the homemade sign reminds us that It's not far to Dawson City, Yukon Territory, home of the famous Klondike Gold Rush of 1896.  Three "Sourdoughs", George Carmack, Dawson Charlie, and Skookim Jim, discovered gold in Rabbit Creek, later named Bonanza Creek, which I mentioned earlier.

 

 

"Beautiful Downtown Chicken".  While we were in Chicken there was some exitement - the mail plane came in.  Mail comes by plane on Tuesday and Friday.  In the winter there is no maintenance on the Taylor Highway, so after the snow falls if you have to get out it's by dog sled or airplane.  I believe there are about a dozen winter residents, more in the summer so tourists like us can come in and buy hats and t-shirts.

 

The local bush pilot service is called "Chicken Air".  I had to buy the hat. 

 The public outhouse is called the Chicken Poop.  The big tire is the major recreation for the kids in Chicken.  You curl up inside the tire and someone rolls you down the hill toward the airstrip. 

 

 

An old gold dredge that now rests in Chicken

The Alaska State bird is the now the Willow Ptarmigan.  They were probably a favorite food source of the original gold panners over a century ago and they wanted to name their community Ptarmigan, but nobody could figure out how to spell it, so they settled on Chicken.

 

 

We soon saw all of Chicken and found out the restaurant wasn't quite ready to open for the tourist season, since we were still in May, so we headed back to Tok for a late lunch.  Had a good lunch at "Fast Eddie's", a very nice restaurant right on the highway in Tok. 

 

We went on North on Alaska #2, the Alcan Highway, and spent the night in Delta Junction.  In spite of winter temps of 30 or 40 below, this is an agricultural area.  There are some dairy farms, also buffalo and reindeer herds, raised for meat.  Back in Sitka, on the cruise,  I had eaten a Reindeer hot dog, after being assured it wasn't Rudolph.  They raise barley  and oats also.  We were constantly surprised at how fast things grow in Alaska, because of the long summer days.  We were getting about 19 hours of daylight and things were really "green and growing".  They say that somehow the plants, and wildflowers, know the summer will be short, so they really "get with it" when spring comes.   

 

At the Delta Junction Visitor's Center we had a chat with a local college student working there for the summer who mentioned she had recently been through Mississippi a few times.  She attended college at Pensacola Christian College.  Had supper at Pizza Bella's.

 

 

 

 This just shows the actual size of the pipeline, four feet, along with two previous small pipelines that were used in the area.  The pipeline was designed to carry about two million barrels of crude a day but now averages slightly less than one million.  From Prudehoe Bay to Valdez it runs almost 800 miles.

 

 

 

 

The next morning, Saturday May 27, we headed North toward Fairbanks.  We were told to stop at Rika's Roadhouse for breakfast.  However, it was closed - probably just didn't open for the tourist season until June first.

 

 

 We drove on to North Pole Alaska where your letters to Santa go, and found Santa, with Mrs Santa.  We didn't know all this was there year round, so we stopped to check it out.   It was May, but the whole town stays decked out for Christmas all the time. 

 

 

 We had a late, but excellent, breakfast at Dalman's in North Pole.   The inside of the restaurant was completely decorated for Christmas, even the rest rooms.  We sat next to three guys waiting on a little morning drizzle to quit so they could start their Memorial Day weekend motorcycle ride down to Valdez, and visit a veterans memorial down that way.  We found they were truck drivers, hauling back and forth to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields on the Dalton Highway.  Since we were planning to drive up the Dalton the next day, we again asked for advice, and again, got plenty of conversation.  They first told us to beware the big rigs on that gravel highway, they drive fast and sling rocks.  One said, "Yeah, and we get another door sticker for every tourist we get."  After too much breakfast, a lot of coffee, and some fun with the truckers, we hit the road again for Fairbanks, only about 15 miles.

 

We did some looking around Fairbanks, shopped at some gift shops with Indian and Eskimo made things, made a stop at a Fred Meyer store (division of Kroger) to stock up the cool pack again.  The Fred Meyer stores in Alaska are good groceries and the prices, while a little higher than home, were not as high as we had been led to believe.  We noticed they are planning to start a "bush delivery" service.  Made us wonder about the cost of having a bush pilot deliver your groceries. 

 

We found a nice Comfort Inn for the night.   We had booked some reservations ahead, by internet, mainly in Seward and Homer.  We wanted to stay flexible, in case we decided to change plans, and never had any trouble finding a place to stay.  Later in the summer, you would need reservations.

 

Sunday, May 28 was our day to head North for the Arctic Circle.  The regular auto rental companies forbid you to drive their cars on Alaska's gravel highways, especially the Dalton Highway, and I can understand that.  To travel to the Arctic Circle you need to either book a van or bus trip with one of the tour companies, or rent a "specially equipped" vehicle.  We were stubborn and had chosen to do our own driving, so we had arranged for a car from Arctic Outfitters in Fairbanks.  Nothing special, just a Ford Taurus with two full size spares, CB radio, some tools, extra oil and water, and most important, a roll of duct tape.  You don't want to have to call for a wrecker on the Dalton, it's a long way at $5 a mile.   

 

Just North of Fairbanks, we checked out Highway 6 that goes out to Circle, another old mining town with a story, on the Yukon River.  We didn't have time for the whole drive, however.  Note the sign on Highwy 6, below says next gas 117 miles.  We're getting into some pretty remote country now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On up Highway 2 before we got to the actual Dalton Highway we came to Joy.  Home of 13 people and 67 dogs.  We stopped for some free coffee at the Arctic Circle Trading Post.  A sign said "There's not a single mosquito in Joy.  They are all married with large families."  Fortunately we were a little ahead of the mosquito season - didn't find any anywhere.  We were told they hatch after the summer solstice - June 21.

Another sign on the very rickety outhouse said "Imagine this at 40 below".  This far North of Fairbanks you don't find many flushable toilets except at State or Federal buildings like visitor centers.

 

 

Moose of the day. 

 

 

 

 And finally, the Dalton Highway, Alaska #11.  Originally known as the "haul road" it was built in the early 70's to make possible the pipeline construction and to haul equipment to the oilfields on the North Slope of the Brooks Range at Prudoe Bay.  Before coming here, we had talked at length with a good friend at our church, Franz Cowart, now retired from Michael Baker Engineers, who had to travel up here frequently supervising survey work, during the construction of the road.  He had some very detailed maps that we borrowed for the trip.  Also, Bob Rogers, another church friend, currently comes to Alaska occasionally on business, and had some helpful information for our travels.  

 

Cliff and Mary Davis were especially helpful in educating us about travel in Alaska.  "Brother Cliff" is a retired Baptist Minister.  He and Mary spent a summer in Alaska several years ago while he did church related work all over the state, even travelling by bush plane to remote areas.

 

 

 Well, the pavement didn't last long.  Some of the gravel sections had "Chip Seal" surface which isn't as good as asphalt, but is a definite improvement over just gravel.  Some of the gravel was pretty good with a speed limit of 50, but some was rough.  A stretch of "washboard" caused the CB radio to turn loose from it's bracket and fall on the hump.  We rolled up my denim shirt and stuffed under it, and it stayed for the duration.  Didn't even have to look for the duct tape. 

 

 

 

 

In addition to Moose, Ginger could spot Snowshoe Hares.  In telling someone about one, she tripped over the name Snowshoe Hare, got her tongue twisted, and it came out "Snowfoot Rabbit."  She was constantly reminded of it - every time one was spotted, someone would say "look, Ginger, a Snowfoot Rabbit."

They are brown in summer, but white in winter, to hide in the snow.  They don't pose well, either.  This is the only one we captured with the camera. 

 

 

 

 

 When we got to the Yukon River the Alaska DOT was replacing planks in the bridge flooring.

 

 

 

 

The Mighty Yukon from the North bank visitor overlook.  The Yukon River travels from deep in the Yukon Territory, Northwest past Whitehorse, then generally West through Alaska to the Bering Sea.  In it's 1800 miles across Alaska, this is the only bridge.  The Salmon that go up the Yukon to spawn have to travel over 2000 miles. 

 

 Airplane crossing guard.  Over the bridge, the road widens into an airstrip, mainly for emergencies and forest fire fighters.

 

 

A short stretch of good pavement just North of the river was welcome.

 

 

 

 Matt, at Arctic Outfitters, called our Taurus "Little Cranberry".    It was getting pretty dirty by the time we made the Arctic Circle.  Somewhere, just North of here, I think, was where we hit bottom on some rough gravel and tore loose a piece of protective plastic plastic under the car.  We could hear it dragging the rest of the way to Coldfoot, but a mechanic at the truck stop got underneath and cut it off.  No other damage. 

 

 

We thought the Arctic Circle area would be barren, so we were surprised at the greenery, and the thick spruce trees in some places.  These are mostly Black Spruce up here and we were told it takes a fire to make the little cones pop open to release the seed.  We saw evidence numerous times of fires caused by lightning in the past few years. 

 

 

 

 "Oleman" points out our location on the map.  Above this lattitude beginning June 21, the sun never sets. Even in Southern Alaska, while we were there we were having about 20 hours of daylight, and it never really got dark, as we know dark down South. 

 As usual, we see some snow at higher elevations.  We are seeing some of the Brooks Range now.

 

 

 

 

 Our first Brown Bear.  He looked like he was on pipeline patrol.

 

 

I'm sure this pretty little stream was thoroughly checked out by gold seekers back in the late 1800's.

 

 

 

Our overnight stop, Coldfoot, is 55 miles North of the Arctic Circle.  Coldfoot claims to be the Northernmost truck stop in the world.  The big rigs travel back and forth to the North Slope oilfields, Deadhorse to Fairbanks is about 500 miles.  Fortunately we traveled on Memorial Day weekend and most of the drivers were having a holiday, so the traffic on the Dalton Highway was very light. 

 

 

 The sign tells you that around the turn of the last century Coldfoot had one gambling hall, two roadhouses,

and seven saloons.

And this one tells you the record low here was 82 below and the record high 97 above.  Quite a spread.

 

 

We spent the night at the Slate Creek Inn, the only place to stay in Coldfoot.  It's made from pipeline construction trailers, rowed up and walled in.  They were dressed up inside, carpeted, and have a decent bath and shower, very hot water.  The central heating system was excellent.  We had to open a window - three panes, each separated by a couple of inches for insulation.

 

It never got really dark, and the sun was up, I believe, about two AM.  About six, I walked out on the porch into bright sunshine and the thermometer nailed to the post said 46 degrees.  With no wind, it was comfortable in my shirtsleeves.  I chatted a while with a guy from Albequerque, there with a Princess Tour.  Their small group had been flown to Prudhoe Bay to see the oilfields and the Arctic Ocean, and were being bussed back.  His wife was disappointed - she didn't get to see the Arctic Ocean, nothing but ice. 

 

 

 

 

Going to supper at the Coldfoot Cafe. There were several college student summer workers in Coldfoot.  One waitress at the cafe said she was from Buffalo, NY and we were impressed that she was set to study the next school year at Oxford.  The one in England. 

Many students find summer jobs on the internet and come to Alaska just for the adventure.   We met lots of students along the way, especially working in the hotels and restaurants around Denali.  There were also a lot of foreign students that needed another English lesson.

   

Speaking of supper, the evening buffet was $18.95.  Coldfoot was the only place in Alaska where the food prices seemed substantially higher than back home.  The buffett looked great, and a few truckers were loading up at the reserved "truckers' table" but we ordered a more reasonably priced hamburger.  We filled up the Taurus there and gas was a little over $3 a gallon. 

 

The local air service in Coldfoot, Coyote Air.

 

 

 

 He had two of these nice old Dehaviland Beavers.  Note the fat "tundra tires" - he can land on pretty rough terrain.  These planes have been out of production more than 40 years, but are still a favorite of the bush pilots.  They just keep rebuilding them.  Most of the others we saw were float planes.  The Canadian Company, Dehaviland, built about 1800 of these and a surprising number are still flying, mostly in Canada and Alaska.

Coldfoot had a nice, new Parks Service Visitor Center.  We got our certificate there for crossing the Arctic Circle.  Yeah, I had to have the hat too. 

 

 

Below is the sign just North of Coldfoot.  If you drive on across the Brooks Range, through Atigun Pass, you are on the "North Slope" headed downhill to the Arctic Ocean.  It's 240 miles to Deadhorse - gravel road, no food, no gas, and no restrooms.  After a few more miles, not even a tree to stand behind.  I understand that somewhere up the road there is a marker designating the last Spruce tree Northbound. 

 

This was our turnaround point - we headed South again. 

 

 

 

 

Monday May 29 we drove back to Fairbanks, turned in "Little Cranberry" and got back in the Buick.  Since we made it back by mid afternoon, we decided to drive on to the Denali National Park area,  about 120 miles from Fairbanks.  Again, the drive was beautiful and the highway was good. 

 

We did see frequent "Bump" signs on Alaska highways.  At first we slowed down for them, but the bumps were never severe, so we soon started ignoring most of them.  We found that Alaska's frost heave bumps were nothing compared to our yazoo clay bumps at home.     

 

 Oleman contemplates the Nenana River near Denali Park.  We saw lots of whitewater rafting activity here.

 

 

Tuesday May 30, Denali National Park.  The park is about 6 million acres.  By comparison, Yellowstone is  2.2 million acres.  The park road goes 90 miles inside the park if you go all the way to Wonder Lake and the Kantishna Roadhouse.  You can only drive a private vehicle about 15 miles into the park and after I saw the very narrow and very high roads I understand why they don't want to turn loose a bunch of tourists driving there.  We took one of the Park tour buses, but that early in the summer we were only able to go to the Toklat River, about 50 miles inside the park.  The park road crews were still getting the roads drivable, fixing water damage from snow melt runoff.  Lots of wildlife - these Caribou were still in velvet, growing their antlers for this year.   The bus drivers will gladly stop for wildlife sightings, and you can get off one bus, hike a little and flag down the next one if you wish. 

 

 

The scenery is awesome, but our only real disapointment for the whole trip was that it was too cloudy to get a look at Denali.  Mt McKinley, or Denali, is North America's highest, 20,380 ft.  It is so high it seems to create its own cloud cover, and only 20% of the visitors actually get to see it.  Many other mountains, mainly in the Himalayas, are higher above sea level but Denali is said to be the "tallest" mountain in the world if mountains were measured from their average base.  Denali's vertical rise is about 17,000 feet because much of the surrounding area is only 3000 feet above sea level.  Even Everest doesn't have that much rise above its immediate surroundings.    Denali would have been seen beyond, and would have towered above these mountains in the picture if it hadn't been cloudy.  Our driver, Chuck, was very informative and since it was early in the season we had a small crowd on the bus, so we were able to ask a lot of questions about the park.  Chuck had been with three Denali mountain climbing expeditions back in the early 90's and was successful in reaching the peak twice.  The other time they were pinned on the mountain by storms for a week and had to retreat. 

 

 

 Rivers like this, above and below, are called braided rivers because the snow melt creates so many different channels.

 

 

 

We saw a lot of Dall Sheep in the mountains.  They are normally seen high on a mountainside above you, as little white specks.  This picture is unusual because we are on such a high road that we were actually looking down on a group of rams. 

 

 

 The Nenana River again, at the park entrance.  We had what's called the "Denali drizzle" by the time we finished the bus trip.  It seldom rains hard here, they say it can drizzle all day and only amount to two tenths on a rain gauge.  Before this day, we had had only one other day with any rain, and it didn't last long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, May 30, time to travel again.  Every drive in Alaska is spectacular.

 

 

The Denali Highway turns East off the Parks Highway (Alaska 3) at Cantwell, South of the Park.  It would be a good trip, but most of it is gravel and National said we couldn't drive their Buick Rendezvous on the gravel highways.   We drove a little on the paved part.

 

 

 We had to stop at Talkeetna.  The little town makes two claims.  One, that it is the bush pilot capitol of the

 world, and two, that the town was the inspiration for the TV series, "Northern Exposure".  Many bush pilots make their living here, "flightseeing" tourists, and taking the summer mountain climbers out to their base camps. 

We had a good lunch at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, met some more interesting people, and at one of the big tables, sat across from a couple from Holland that were just starting a bicycle trip from the Arctic Ocean to the tip of South America.  Brave folks.  In shape too.

 

 

 

 The Talkeetna Baptist Church.  Brother Cliff has been here. 

 

 

 

 

 Thursday, June 1, we were at a Ramada Inn in Anchorage and needed a day of rest, so we spent the day in Anchorage.  We went to  Alaska Wild Berry products, and Oleman found a friend there.  Had an excellent Halibut lunch at the Sourdough Mining Company and walked around the Ship Creek area behind the Ramada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Friday June 2, to Seward, we drove along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet.  Here, the bore tides sometimes come in as a wall of water six feet high, and the inlet has tides of 30 feet, in North America second only to Canada's Bay of Fundy.  Turnagain Arm was originally named Turnagain River by Captain William Bligh,  later of HMS Bounty fame.  In 1778 he was Sailing Master on the Resolution, accompanying Captain Cook's Discovery.  He kept dispatching parties searching for a Northwest passage, and here they had to "turn again."  I hate to keep saying this, but it was another gorgeous drive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When we turned toward Seward on Alaska #9, we had reached one of our goals.  We had been on all of Alaska's numbered Highways, one through eleven.  The only one you haven't seen here is #7, which we were on in Juneau, on the cruise.  It doesn't connect with the others and you can't drive to the capital of Juneau.  You go by air or sea.  In 1974 Alaskans voted to move the capital from Juneau to a more central and accessible location.  However, the later vote to fund the move failed, so Juneau is still the capital.

 

West of the Anchorage - Fairbanks area, the other two thirds of the state has only local roads that do not connect to the Alaska highway system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way to Seward, we had lunch in Moose Pass - our kind of place.  A nice little rustic cafe, good food, nice waitress, and a village you can tour in two minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Main street, and there was a little elementary school down the street.

 

 The local airport.

 The view from behind the cafe.

 

 And they have a Methodist church.

 

 

 

 On to Seward, a view of the beautiful Kenai River.

 

 

 

 

Kenai Lake.   Yellow flowers were everywhere, but we were too early for the red fireweed and the many other colors of wildflowers that fill every vacant space by late July.

 

 

 

 

Our cabin, just out of Seward, was on the Exit Glacier Road and we got there in time to make an afternoon visit to the glacier.  It was about a mile hike from the visitor center, Ranger Peggy went with us and explained all about the glacier, the Moose and Bears in the area.  She even told us about Moose nugget fertilizer. 

 

 

Don't worry about what the sign says, folks, that chunk of ice probably won't fall until tomorrow.

 

 

 The short drive back to the cabins. 

 

 This restaurant was also just down the road from our cabin.  It was a big rustic log building with a large porch and a crowded parking lot.  We went to see if it was just cheap beer drawing a crowd, or if the owner was just kidding about lousy food.  The food was great and we ate too much again.

 Saturday, June 3   Seward

 After finding some breakfast and touring Seward briefly, we drove around the bay opposite Seward and took a few pictures.  A Royal Carribean was in port, and the little town was crowded with boat people so we took a drive in the country.   

 

 

 Across the bay, we found this Trumpeter Swan nesting close to the road.

Most of Alaska's coastal towns have nowhere to grow, except straight up a mountainside. 

Our cabin, at the Box Canyon Cabins just out of Seward.  A nice two bedroom cabin, very comfy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is the Moose pond in front of the cabins.  It is about 10 feet deep, spring fed, and has some little salmon in it.  A Moose appears early most mornings, and the owners said last winter when it was frozen, a Moose fell through the ice.  Much thrashing about before he finally got out.

 

 

Sunday June 4 we headed to our last stop in Alaska except for the airport.  The next three nights were at the beautiful Seagrass House, a vacation home in Homer, at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula.  I won't even mention how spectacular Kenai Lake is along here. 

 

 

 

We drove across the Kenai Peninsula from Seward, on the East side, to the West side on Cook Inlet.  There are four active volcanoes across the inlet.  This is Mt Redoubt, (10,197 feet) which last erupted in 1991.   Mt St Augustine  erupted back in the spring and spewed a little ash around the area.

 

 

 

Anchor Point, so named because Captain Cook lost an anchor here in 1778.  The King Salmon were just starting to run in the Anchor River and the fishermen were getting ready.

 

 

 

 

On the hill above Homer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our first evening in Homer, we were driving out the East End Road, and discovered Mama Moose and two calves beside a church yard, within the city limits. 

 

She walked up the bank toward the church so I drove around behind the church for a better view.   

 

 

 

Monday June 5

 From the hills above Homer, a view of Katchemak Bay and the famous Homer Spit.  There is a lot to see and do out on that long finger of land you see.

 

 

Businesses and shops on the spit.

 

 

We saw this sign in front of a little cafe, but we never got up enough courage to go in and find out what twitching sushi is.  Some things you are better off not knowing.

 

 

 

 

 We know Cindy's in-laws in Birmingham, but until we went to the Homestead Restaurant in Homer, we had never met Cindy, except through email.  She helped us a lot with information and advice, in planning our trip to Alaska.  She and Chad work at the Homestead, a fine dining establishment in Homer - Don't miss it if you are ever there.  www.homesteadrestaurant.net  check it out.  Thanks, Cindy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday June 6.  I had gone fishing on the Sizzler the day before, but forgot my camera.  No one else in the group wanted to go but I went anyway for a morning Halibut trip.  A congenial group on board, decent coffee, and good fishing.  I caught about 10 small Halibut, and when I decided we weren't going to catch any bigger ones, I kept the two fish limit.  They were filleted by the crew, flash frozen back on the spit, packaged, and I picked them up as we were leaving Homer, checked the box on the plane.  They are now in my freezer and we will be having some over the weekend. 

 

 

 The best thing we did in Homer was take a trip to Halibut Cove, across the bay, on the Danny J.  This is a beautiful old boat, built in 1942 but very well maintained.

 

 

 

The lady between Ginger and Patti is 85 years old, from Idaho, and was the life of the party that day.

 

 

 Gull Island, covered with nesting gulls and many other birds.

 

 

 

 Puffins!  With the orange beaks.  You may need to click and enlarge to see them well.  We were told we probably would not see any this early. 

The community of Halibut Cove has just a handful of winter residents, but several artists and fishermen come for the summer. 

 

 

 The nearest building is the Halibut Cove Post Office.  The mail boat was there when we arrived.

 

 

One of the art galleries.  About a dozen different artists had things on display inside.  Alaskan Jade and other gemstones, carvings, paintings, a lot of beautiful things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch outside at the Saltry Restaurant.  Excellent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The lady at the Cove Gallery, up these steps, does wildlife drawings in Octopus Ink.  We didn't get to meet her, but we were told she gets her own ink.  Don't ask me. 

 

 

 The Seagrass House, as seen from the spit.  We stayed where you see the upstairs balcony.  Maureen, our host, is a gracious lady and the guest house upstairs was luxuriously furnished, spacious, with a bedroom and bath on either end, large kitchen, dining room, and den in the middle.  And a great view of Katchemak Bay and the mountains.  The carpet was about ankle deep and you are asked to leave your shoes at the bottom of the stairs.  It's that kind of place.    http://www.seagrasshouse.com/

 

 

On the last day, when we went to the spit to pick up my frozen Halibut, we finally got a picture of an Eagle. 

 

 These signs are seen frequently.  Moose are huge and you surely would not want to hit one. 

 

 

 

 On Wednesday, June 7 we had to drive back to Anchorage, 233 miles from Homer, to turn in the Buick and catch a 9 PM flight to Atlanta and Jackson.  We had a nice lunch at the Chair Five Restaurant in Girdwood, on the Turnagain Arm, stopped at Alaska Wild Berry Products again, then watched the Salmon fishermen on Ship Creek for a while.  We got lost on the way to the airport and saw a lot more of residential Anchorage than we meant to, but had fun doing it. 

 

We enjoyed every day in Alaska, and want to go back.  We would probably just fly to Anchorage, rent a car and stay in Homer for a week or two.   (  www.homeralaska.org  Be sure to click on photo gallery and slideshow ) There's a lot to do on the Kenai Peninsula, and we really would like to try again to see Denali. 

 

If you're interested in Alaska information, even the small villages have web sites with good information.  Just enter a search for the town and state, and you can find info on most towns that you would want to go to.  Alaska is surprisingly computer friendly, and we also had good coverage with our Cingular cell phone in even the small towns, but of course, not in the rural, mountainous areas.

 

Thanks for looking at our site.  We hope it was enjoyable and informative.  And thanks to John and Patti for being such fun traveling companions. 

 

John Jenkins