Homer

Left Seward around 11am.  The smoke from the fire north of us has settled into the Seward area.  The fire was started with a lighting strike back on June 5th.  It has burned about 40,000 acres and it is estimated to burn thru August.  As we turned on the corner onto the Sterling highway, the smoke

and fire activities became more prevalent.

Once we passed the town of Sterling, things cleared up.  (We have also heard that a large fire is burning up towards Fairbanks.  We’ll be there in a week or so.)

Arrived at Kyllonne’s RV park in Anchor Point and got settled in. 

Walked to the fisherman’s launch area the next morning.  Instead of a ramp, they use large tractors to launch the boats.  $70 to launch and retrieve …

In the background you can see Ilimna Volcano.  Redoubt Volcano is also just a few miles to the north and last erupted many times over the last century, most recently 1989 and 2009.

Onto to Homer and the Spit. 

Found the Salty Dog to quench our thirst!

The dollars on the wall remind me of the Boat House, Destin

Its all about the fishing and sea activities  down in this area.

Just up the road is the community of Ninilchik.  This is home to a group of Russian Orthodox folks.  They left Russia to be able to practice their religious beliefs.

Did a little shopping at the local farmers market.  The veggie’s are coming in.

The ship graveyard for a few photo’s.

Finally a young bull moose on the return trip to the campground!

Off to Saldotna for a few  days.

Seward – Day 2

Day 2 Seward

We hit the open seas today aboard the Glacier Express. 

We left the harbor at 10 am, cruising by our camping area,

and before we were out of the breakwater, a bald eagle seen showing off for us.  

We continued on and within a short time we came upon a pair of hump back whales. They were quite entertaining.

Just around the next shoreline, the park ranger aboard hollered that killer whales, or Orca were in view.  She exclaimed that in was unusual to see them.  The Ship’s Captain was able to drop a microphone into the water so we could hear the communication between the Orca’s.  Very vocal!  Unfortunately, no pics.

Onto one of two glaciers we would see. 

These are called end glaciers.  Very cool to be as close as we were.  The seals were even closer, as they were laying on the ice!

A pair of bears were sighted on the shore.  A little far away for a good shot, besides, we have had a chance to see many bears.  The park ranger explained that very often the bears will retreat, but these two were bothered by us.

As we ventured back towards the dock area, the captain opened up the wheel house.  Kinda cool also. 

 

She has been a captain for 20 years. The Viking Line cruise ship was just leaving port.

Got back into port around 5:30 after a very good day of viewing wild life.

Off to Anchor Point!

Seward

Day 1 of Seward

Very nice ride along the Turnagain Arm

and on pass Moose Junction arriving Seward around noon.  We were very lucky to find a spot right on Resurrection Bay at the municipal campground.

Seward is the port town we cruised out of on Holland America.  We could see the dock from the rear of the rig.

Spent the rest of the day wondering around the out town area.

 

This is the start of the Iditarod, mile 0. 

 

 

 

As luck would have it, we found a place to quench the taste buds!

 

Also went to Exit Glacier National Park. 

The park has documented the recession of the glacier and have placed signpost marking the position of the glacier back to the late 1800’s. Seems like the glacier has receded miles during that time period.

End of another great day in Alaska!

 

Anchorage

Anchorage

We left Valdez, drove up the Richardson Highway and turned towards Anchorage. 

Passed by some great waterfalls

 

 

and the Worthington Glacier area.

 

We overnighted along the highway in an ATV “park & ride.”  Left the parking area without our morning coffee, so the first order was to find a cafe.  The Sheep Mountain Inn was just the spot. 

Turned out the owner we chatted with, he winters in Destin with his folks.  We shared memories of June’s Dune and the burnt down Red Bar at Grayton Beach.  Small world!

On towards Anchorage, passing by the Matanuska Glacier area.  Very nice area.  We’ll pass through here next month, hopefully spend a little time there.

Arrived early afternoon and got parked at the Golden Nugget RV Park.  Had a chance to catch up with Sam and his dog, Charlie.  

We spend a few days in Anchorage back in 2017, so not much sight-seeing, but had a chance to restock the fridge.  Seward is next.

 

Valdez

Valdez

Arrived from Tok, 260 miles and some construction and mud.  Probably 12 miles of torn up roads full of equipment.  Did I mention the mud?  Heard of a gesture some other folks who have traveled these same roads, so we have been offering a piece of candy to the flaggers as we go by.  Doesn’t speed up the delay, but we do get a nice smile!

Arrived at the Bayside RV park and parked near the small boat harbor.  

Didn’t need to worry about getting here before dark.

 

 

Plenty of fishing here.

Toured a couple of the small museums.  Two major events have defined this town.  The Valdez oil tanker spill in 1989

and the earthquake of 1964.  Both events occurred on Good Friday…  The earthquake caused enough damage that the entire town was relocated to its present location.

After all that good news, we need to brace ourselves.

Found a watering hole that knows how to dress a glass of tomato juice…

Cheers!

 

Tok, Alaska

Tok, Alaska

We left Skagway 0615 Friday morning trying to arrive at the Canadian Customs when they opened at 0800.  Since the Yukon is on Pacific time, this should have been great timing, except…  The US border is barricaded until they open at 0700 Alaskan time and the two inspection stations are about 12 miles,  and on these roads, about 1/2 hour apart.  The best laid plans.

Back to metric and Canadian currency for a couple of days.  Stopped in Whitehorse, YK for a few things and then off to Destruction Bay for an overnight stop.  We were able to park the rig on the shores of Kluane Lake.

We traveled along the eastern/southern shore for quite a few miles, er kilometers.  Noticed that the S/E shoreline was quite dry, and dusty.  The owner of the lodge explained that Kluane Lake was glacier fed, and the glacier is receding, so the lake is down 15 feet.  Of course with no other water supply, it will continue to shrink in size. Sat by the lake till 9’ish hoping to see a nice sunset. 

Finally realized that the sun wasn’t really going to set, so we retired.  Thought about getting up for the sunrise, but that was scheduled for 0344!

Hit the road about 0900 heading towards the Alaskan border. The welcome sign…

 

and on the back of the sign, a reminder of our Milwaukee ties! (Actually this is the second time we have seen this sign!)

Enter a caption

Cleared customs and drove the additional 120 miles to Tok, Alaska.  Arrived at the Sourdough campground mid-afternoon and will stay a couple of nights.

Skagway

Arrived Skagway early afternoon, after 120 mile ride from Teslin.  Stopped at Carcross, YK and as we exited town,

we saw our first grizzly.  He posed for the car across the highway, unfortunately we weren’t able to get a shot.  

The highway descends at 11% grade for quite a few miles.  This was the first ‘welcome’ sign, just before we passed thru customs.  

Four cruise ships were parked at the terminal which is out our back window. 

In the past when we sailed, we’d wake up in a different port.  Now we wake up to see which ships are visiting our port!

We set the BBQ grill towards the rear of the rig, and had many visitors stopping by as they returned to their ships.  Tomorrow, we’ll place the BBQ up front as we heard five ships carry roughly 10,000 passengers will be visiting…

We’ll visit here in Skagway till Friday.

Teslin, Yukon

Left Saturday morning in the rain and headed for Teslin, Yukon.  Raining, muddy trip.  Noticed that the Yukon Highway Department doesn’t trim the shoulder area as far back as the British Columbia.  Was very nice to be able to see the wildlife before they broke the highway.  

Had to cross the second  longest bridges on the Alaskan Highway.  We had read that it was common to stop and allow wide traffic to pass.  The fella behind us gave us a ‘what for’ toot as we waited for a RV to cross…

Stayed at the Yukon Motel & Lakeshore RV for the nest few nights.  Had a great view of Lake Teslin which is 78 miles long. 

The First Nation tribe has a great museum which we visited.

Also visited a second museum name the George Johnston who was a trapper who arrived in Teslin in the late 1930’s.  Seemed like quite a character.  In the early 40’s he bought a car in Whitehorse, had it shipped by paddleboat up the river and had some beefy men lift the car off the paddleboat. 

 

Of course, there were no streets in Teslin, so he drove the car in the winter on the frozen lake.  Bet he was happy when the Alaskan Highway came thru!

Off to Skagway!

Sign Posts – Watson Lake

Left  Liard Hot Springs Friday morning and headed to Watson Lake.  Arrived early afternoon and good settled into the Downtown RV park.  Kinda tight spaces in a parking lot.  Rain was predicted so we decided to tour the ‘sign-post’ area before the rain started. 

Over 10,000 various signs have been placed since the Alaskan Highway was built in 1942.  We wondered around looking for familiar sights, license plate from Hixton, WI, a hade made sign from a couple from Spooner, WI (I recognized the name as folks the my parents had exchanged houses with when we moved from Spooner to BRF in 1970),

a license plate holder from Sopchoppy, FL ( a spect of a town in the panhandle of Florida where we stayed April of 2018) along with 10,000 other signs!

We also viewed a film of the Northern Lights that afternoon.

Heading North!

More from the Alaskan Highway

Left Fort Nelson and headed west and north along the Alaskan Highway.  Thought this was an interesting  traffic warning sign.

The weather was a mixed bag.  Started out cloudy, then some rain, changing to snow and finally to sunshine!  The roadway from Ft. Nelson heading north crosses the Canadian Rockies.  Beautiful scenery today.

Arrived at the Liard Hot Springs late afternoon.  Nice sunny end to the day.

                                                                                                 

We stayed a couple of nights,

moving to Watson Lake, Yukon and the sign post forest.