Homer a bust, but Seward is great

Our drive down to Homer had a lot of rain. I tried to make a bear viewing reservation, but everyone was full. We went to Homer anyway, only because we had campground reservations. The drive was long, but we stopped for a hike on the Bear Mountain Trail above Skilak Lake (no bears, but LOTS of scat). Most of our hikes seem to be up, up, up, and Mom gets left in the dust, which is a somewhat nervous experience with all the bears in the area. I find myself talking to myself to let the bears know I'm around. The Kenai Peninsula is supposed to be a moose habitat, but in the 3 days we've been here we have not seen one. So I took a picture of this carved moose instead. He seems quite happy. If you notice all the RV's in the background, they are all on the Homer Spit, a stretch of land over 4 miles long into the Bay. Our campground was at the end, and the entire spit is a series of RV parks. Our Park was at the end, and it was basically a dirt lot, with all the campers crammed together as close as possible... Phil was not happy. This was not the place he remembered from his youth! The entire spit had somewhat of a circus atmosphere. We did our laundry and left the next morning for Seward.

Since we could not view the bears, we booked a cruise at the Kenai Fjords National Park. We did this today. Saw sea otters, humpback whales, puffins, dall porpoise, harbor and stellar seals, and lots of birds. The big event was Aialik glacier, and the calving of the ice. Wow! We couldn't believe how big the face of the glacier was, and how loud the crashing sound was when the ice fell into the water. Very cool. We've discovered that Chris does not handle the open seas very well. He was a little green for most of the 6 hour trip, but at least he didn't get sick. Many others were carrying around their little white barf bags like precious cargo. Anyway, we loved the glacier.

We've had some excellent halibut, smoked salmon, and porcupine soup (rice and pork sausage). Phil and I are finding excuses to eat out, not only to sample the local cuisine, but to have beer and wine too. He's been cheating a lot with the caffinated coffee, by the way, but I, too, have cheated with the diet soda. We're weak.

Tomorrow we're going to attempt to hike up Exit Glacier outside of Seward. It's 3.5 steep miles up, then back down. Don't know if my knees can take this one. Stay tuned...

Campgrounds are full!

During our drive down to Anchorage, everyone must have left the city and come north for the holiday weekend. Every campground we passed was packed to capacity, and everyone in Alaska must own a quad, a boat and/or a motor home. There was stopped traffic heading north of Anchorage that would rival a San Ramon rush hour on Bollinger Canyon Road. We actually have campground reservations for the 5th and 6th in Homer, but none for the 4th (duh!). So we really had to rough it!

Phil's extensive work travels have finally paid off in Hilton points. We didn't just get a room, but we were upgraded to a suite, including breakfast buffet. I have truly appreciated my long, hot shower, and the kids have really enjoyed our 2 large flat screen TVs. After our clean-up, we went out a local favorite, Uncle Joe's Pizzeria. Everyone that worked there was from California.

Anchorage did have fireworks, but they were at midnight following a double header baseball game at the local park (I think there are a couple of minor league teams up here). It's not dark, but they have them anyway. The picture above was taken at 10:30 p.m. It's interesting to note that many of the tourist shops downtown are open until 11:30 every night.

Denali - Happy Independence Day!

We had the best of luck! Blue sky and warm weather for our 3 days in Denali National Park. We saw all of Mt. McKinley during our bus tour on the 2nd, and again during our "Polychrome" hike on the 3rd (picture at left was taken at Eielson visitor center). We saw several bears, caribou, a couple of foxes, ptarmigans, Dall sheep, and an abundance of snowshoe hares. No moose, though. We had hoped to see a wolf, but they're hard to find. Our campsite was great at Teklanika. Tyler had a blast playing in the wide rock riverbed and the late-thawing ice/snow. On the 3rd we again took the bus up the the Polychrome region and hiked the riverbed for about 8 miles. We saw lots of wolf tracks, but only saw 1 caribou. We had a forge the river at one point (painfully cold water), and were very happy to have our boots on again.

Unfortunately, the bears we saw were quite a distance from the road. The pictures are a little fuzzy due the the zoom lens and unsteady camera-person (the bus was usually moving a little from all the people diving to one side to see the wildlife). Need a bigger lens with a tripod.

Now it's on to Anchorage and Homer/Seward. We found out today that our bear expedition on Sunday was cancelled due to a mechanical issue with the float plane! So bummed out about this! We hope to find something else equally as fun on a holiday weekend at short notice... :-)

Alaska, Finally!

We entered Alaska at the uppermost boarder crossing via the Top of the World Highway; a very lonely spot, but awesome views. We made it into beautiful downtown Chicken (they have totally capitalized on the name) and have turned this small community into a tourist mecca. However, they had great panini (sp?) sandwiches and the little cafe! Camped to the south of Chicken, and Phil and Tyler finally spotted a Moose cow and her calf. Yesterday we travelled the Taylor Hwy, Alaska Hwy (where the picture was taken - Phil decided to take a little nap while the kids were out rock-hopping in the river), then the Richardson Hwy. Spectacular Views on the Richardson. We stayed above the tree line (burr...) at Fielding Lake. Lots of Fly-fisherman/women. Very cold this morning (39 degrees) and rain. Today we traversed the Denali Hwy, and saw Mt Hayes, Mt. Deborah and Mt Hess, then we glimpsed the peak of Mt. McKinley. Tonight we are staying just outside Denali Park, at an RV resort - showers, laundry, water, power - living the high life! Tomorrow we go into the park for 3 days, so no cell coverage.