Palmer, Valdez

PALMER
Short drive back through Anchorage to Palmer.  Pete discovered our muffler bracket was broken and we were able to get that fixed quickly in Anchorage after a gas fill up at Costco.  Costco is booming in Alaska!

Palmer is close to Wasilla (Sarah Palin's home) and is snuggled down in the mountains.  Our camp ground looks right up the mountains.  Palmer is the site of a Roosevelt New Deal project that settled 200 pioneer families on 40 acre homesteads with a home, barn, some animals and equipment for $3000 loan they had 30 years to pay back.  These families were starving in the depression and were willing to start over in Alaska.  They didn't count on clearing the forest first!  Hard times!  The glaciers made for rich and deep top soil so agriculture succeeded here in the 100 day growing season.  This garden shows the very large cabbage and rhubarb  plants--about twice as big as in Ohio.

The State Fair cabbage can be 100#

We went to the Colony House Museum which was in an original Colony home.   A woman who grew up in a "Colony family" was our hostess.  Life was difficult and about half the families left.  The furniture, which was mostly ordered from Sears or Montgomery Ward,  along with original stoves and kitchen appliances were all there.  It was a wonderful history lesson!  Pete recognized almost everything in the home from his years growing up in Iowa.

Note Proctor Gamble Soap

Musk Ox farm was the next stop.  They live as domesticated animals on this non-profit farm and their inner fur is combed out in April as it sheds.  This is made into VERY expensive yarn.  A simple knitted hat is $200--but it is extremely light weight and warm.  We had a nice tour of the farm and now we know about Musk Ox!

Alaska has a LOT of rain in this southern area.  We just put on our rain gear and proceed through the "liquid sunshine" as they say!  It is 60 degrees so a little cooler than Ohio in August!




VALDEZ (as in giant oil spill!)
The drive to Valdez was beautiful!  It is was through the mountains with Falls everywhere and so much beautiful GREEN!  This area is part of a temperate rain forest and has the most snowfall in Alaska--about 300-400 inches a year!  We stopped at the Welcome to Valdez Visitor Center and the girl at the counter told us she can't wait to get out of Valdez.  "No way I'm sticking around for 400 inches of snow!"  She is probably not the best person for this job!

                            Our campground, Bear Paws RV, is right on the beach with a great view.

Dan, the wagon master, always parks the three RVs without showers near the bathrooms so we have Jean and Jack who are doctors from Seattle next to us often.  We have really enjoyed them.  Sometimes we ride-share to nearby areas with Roger and Laura (from Niagra Falls) or Ken and Carol (from Cincinnati area) so we've gotten to enjoy them also.  Being in a group really adds to the fun!

Jack and Jean

The Soloman Fish Hatchery. had a self guided tour that was well done.  We happened to hit it when the pink salmon were returning to the hatchery after two years.  There were SO MANY fish it is hard to describe!  They are returning after a 1500 mile trip in the ocean back to breed at the hatchery where they were born.  Hundreds of thousands of them struggling to swim through a 6 foot opening and up "ladders" to spawn.  After all that effort, they die!  The hatchery fertilizes 250,000,000 eggs each year to help support the fishing...the largest hatchery in the world!

Salmon near shore at hatchery

Salmon entering fish ladder

The salmon were "running" and the commercial boats are allowed several hours to use huge nets and wenches to haul in the nets which were full of skinny tired salmon.  They are near the end of their long journey--their only focus is to get back to their spawning grounds.  LOTS of fish, but these are not the good eating ones they want.

There was a Sea Lion and several harbor seals who were 30 yards from us feasting away on the salmon.  Close to the hatchery along a small stream we saw two black bear enjoying their lunch.

We went on hike (up-hill so qualifies) on Dock Point Trail--so beautiful!  Pete had his bear spray ready but no need today.  There is a Golden Sparrow bird that sings the first three notes of "three blind mice" over and over!

Salmon fishing in Alaska has been very poor this year and no one knows why.  Our group of 20 only caught 3 salmon on a 4 hour trip.  Hard on the economy!

Came home to find Bailey had torn up and eaten instructions we had received from the RV park
"Rules for Dogs in the Park"!  Ha!  She didn't even look sorry!!  

This is what I think of the rules!

Today we spent 8 hours on Stan Stephens cruise of Prince William Sound.  It was a catamaran hull and very smooth!

The Valdez Spirit

 

Sea lions roaring!

 It was a rainy day but Amanda, the captain, made it so memorable!  She was able to get very close in the small inlets and found us over 30 Orca whales and porpoises that played on the waves of our boat!  We saw Sea Lions, little otters floating on their backs, harbor seals, bald eagles and all kinds of birds.  Most of these were moving too fast to photograph.  It was
so great!

Sea otters floating on their backs!

The best part was seeing the Meares Glacier!  It is about 700 feet thick--400 feet below the water level.  Glaciers like this are what make the fjords.  It is one of the few glaciers that is not receding.  She had the boat right among the ice that calved off as we watched.  The seals were enjoying floating around on the ice chunks.  The blue color is more intense because it was a cloudy day.  What a wonderful experience!

White on right is top part of glacier--the blue is 300 ft tall!

Lots of floating ice

There was an old woman who was part of the crew and we felt sorry for her that at her age she had to work.  I started talking to her and found out she was the OWNER of the whole deal!  Her daughter runs it now but she still loves to go out twice a week to help the crew!

We got the whole story on the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill with maps and islands affected.  The oil came no where near Valdez because a severe storm pushed all the oil west and south.  They seem to think all has returned to normal now--good to hear!

Meares Glacier in background--300 ft above water level and goes 400 ft below waterline

Anchorage,Homer and Seward

Our drive from Denali started out a bit windy and 70 mph but settled down as the "pot hole" jungle started in for a few miles of construction then smooth driving.  We are at the Golden Nugget Camper Park which is conveniently located 2 blocks from Costco!  That is a mandatory stop for samples and strawberry yogurt sundae!  We were on a mission to check out steak and dessert for our group cookout and report back to Dan, our Wagon Master.  A $14 haircut for Pete and we're back in action!

Young moose eating leaves by the road

 Alaska Native Heritage Center was our plan for today and on the way we saw a young moose on the road who moved to the side to eat--this involved grabbing a branch and stripping all the leaves from it.  He didn't pay much attention to us and just kept eating as we watched.





The fireweed blossoms are almost at the top of the stalk--Fall is here and it's August 15th!

The Heritage Center was WONDERFUL!  We took a guided tour by Dustin who is an Aleut Native.  There are six different native homes around a pond and Dustin gave us so much history of each one.  We came away with great admiration for the ingenuity of the natives who live in areas minus 60 degrees to 100 degrees.  They share what they fish or kill giving the BEST part to the ELDERS first.
That sounds like a great idea to me!  Nothing was wasted and they kill no more than they need.

Native sunglasses- wood with narrow slits

Doorway into home

 Their homes suited their environments and often multiple families lived in one structure.  There was a lot of black lung disease from the campfires that burned in the homes.

 
Native peoples are allotted a certain number of whale kills based on their population.  This skeleton is of a small whale.

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There were wonderful movies in the Center along with several programs.  The young people are being taught their native language and dancing.  The dancing was like very graceful sign language telling a story with drums and singing. Each movement had a meaning that told the story. The native people generally do not believe they came across a land bridge from Russia. They believe they have always been here and many feel offended at the suggestion they may have migrated.   They also dislike the term "Eskimos" because it meant "eater of raw meat".

I'm still wondering if I should have bought
this little number in Denali!
 It was a bit pricey but on those cold winter nights....

My two are the small ones, 28 inches

HOMER, ALASKA

This little town is right on a large inlet and supposedly has the best halibut fishing in the world.  Twenty of our group have hired a fishing boat, Inlet Charters, to take them out all day on this sunny day to see if it’s true!  

Pete’s back and he caught his 2 limit --each around 28 inches-- and he is dead tired!  “The most exhausted I’ve ever been fishing”!  They are fileted  right on the boat by two very skilled female deck hands.  We are going to have them frozen and shipped home—these will be the most expensive fish we’ve ever eaten!!!  What a great day!

Our RV park has such a magnificent view.  We are parked on a cliff overlooking the inlet with mountains in the background and three distant volcanoes.  One of them you can see ash spewing out the top!

View from our cliff side RV spot

We are parked under a pine tree which has an Eagle’s nest in it.  The male eagle keeps watch perched on the top of a 30 foot pine tree.  He is about 30 yards from my eyeballs!  He is there almost all the time—just looking around and chirping  to his girl friend occasionally!  We are keeping a good eye on Bailey so she’s not on his menu!  Looked up later and they were both at the top of the tree!

We went on a hike in a beautiful pine woods near Homer.  There were very fresh moose tracks on the trail and great scenery.  Not sure what these berries are but very colorful!

My sister Kathy told us about the Norman Lowell museum which is hidden away off a dirt road in the woods near Homer.  It was such a well done art museum and so unexpected and free.  So glad we made the effort to find it! 

SEWARD

Short drive to Seward and on the way we stopped at the Moose is Loose bakery.  Very popular with a long line outside and a tiny lady with a drill sergeant attitude keeping order—“you, stand over here”, “don’t move until I tell you to”—it was really funny.  The pastries were terrific!

Across the street was access to a boardwalk along the Kenai River which sister Kathy told us about.  Very pretty walk!

Seward is yet a different Alaska landscape…big mountains above Resurrection Bay.  We stopped by the large marina there to see the results of a Silver salmon contest in progress.  Lots of boats out there in the rain—fierce competition!  

The Sea Life Center was the next day with well done bird, fish and seal exhibits.  Had a private talk by a naturalist about the Puffin birds. They swim with their wings down 200 feet to feed.  They look like little penguins!

Movies about the huge amount of plastic in the ocean that is ingested by birds and fish was pretty alarming! 

My packing didn’t include enough warm clothes so needed to shop a bit after the most expensive lunch we’ve ever had—and it was just fish and chips for $53!  Alaska is expensive!  Gas is $3.75 here and about $2.50 at home.

The day ended with a rousing evening of bingo at the park lodge conducted by Dan.  It was crazy Bingo but we managed to win 2 candy bars and have lots of laughs.

Our Caravan leaders made us a great breakfast of sausage, pancakes, fruit, juice and coffee to start the day.  We followed that with a 5 hour lunch cruise of the Kenai Fjords and nature tour.  We went right by sea otters, seals, puffins and lots of Bald Eagles as the naturalist on board taught us about them.  The fjords (a u-shaped valley carved by glacier and filled with water) were beautiful but the constant rain, fog and rough seas made viewing less than desirable.  About 10 of our group were sea-sick so we were glad we purchased Sea Bands for our wrists—just in case!  Trip was worth it but would have been spectacular with good weather.

Homer is in a temperate rain forest so not surprising that it rains a lot!  We had rain every day but we forged ahead to Exit Glacier .  The ranger talk was given by a very enthusiastic young lady as we walked up the trail.  Trail was easy until the last 200 foot elevation.  The forest was beautiful.  This glacier is rapidly shrinking!

We like to take pictures of unusual RVs on
our trip and thought this one qualified!  In the past we noticed similar vehicles brought over from Europe to tour the U.S.

Off to Palmer, Alaska

Denali National Park, WOW!

Short 110 mile pretty drive to Denali National Park.  We car-pooled to a resort for the Alaska Cabin Night dinner and show.  Great dinner of ribs and salmon served by singing waiters and a funny show about old time Alaska.  Very talented group and as usual, members of our group managed to be "chosen performers" which added to the fun!

Up at 5:30 am to board our tour bus at 6:15 for a 14 hour tour of Denali Park.  It was better than we could ever have imagined!   A partly sunny day and about 62 degrees!  We made many stops along the way to get out but many more stops on the road because with 42 people looking , we saw so many animals.  Grisly bears (19 mostly blond moms each with two cubs), caribou, an American eagle soaring, a lynx (rare to see),  Dall sheep (white with spiral horns and a red fox!  The fox was right on the single lane road walking ahead of us for about 5 minutes.  He would turn around, look at us and keep on walking.  He stopped to pee on the road and then 10 yards later he pooped!
Hope to fill in some good photos from our friends.   Our cell phones didn't have enough magnification to catch most of what we saw but it was FANTASTIC to see all these beautiful animals!  Blonde grisly mothers with black, brown and blonde cubs that could have three different fathers! Our friends took these pictures--so good!                                 

Lynx sitting 50 feet off the road.  Rare to see!

Our enlarged picture of Mom and baby bear!

Baby moose getting a drink right in parking lot!

Mr Fox ambling down the road!

The scenery is just too big and breath-taking to catch in photos.  It is 360 degrees around you!
We saw beautiful snow-covered mountains but Denali mountain (formerly Mt. McKinley) at about 20,300 feet was covered in clouds at the top.  We only caught a glimpse of the peak.

Denali (formerly Mt McKinley taken by a friend with a big lens!

There are very few roads into Denali park and cars are allowed only into the first 15 miles.  To get any further, you need to take one of the buses that takes you deeper into the park. We took the tour that goes deepest  into the park This really is a great system.  The park is not crowded.  It is truly a wilderness!  The whole area shuts down in about 3 to 4 weeks because the snows start!

They look lazy until they see that sled out, then go berserk!

The Visitors' Center has great free movies and nice displays.  There is a bus that takes you to Park Headquarters where the Alaskan Huskies are bred and trained to pull heavy transport sleds in the winter. These Huskies are not

Wild blueberries

an AKC recognized breed because they are not bred for appearance but for function -- strength, speed, endurance.

We walked the 1.5 mile trail back to the Visitor Center and ate wild blueberries on the trail.

Dogs are very important because no motor vehicles are allowed in the park.  Unlike the smaller race huskies, these are much bigger and stronger dogs that can pull 100 pounds each.  They were so excited to pull this sled around the track in front of us.  Each dog has a different job.

This type of sled would haul supplies deep into the park and maybe
transport scientists in and out during the winter.

Our last day here we hiked the Savage Loop trail which is a two mile rocky trail right along a raging stream.  This is as far as you can venture into the park with your own vehicle.  (At this point, a perky, cheerful ranger stops you and tells you that you've gone as far a you can go! ) Ken and Carol Kromme who live 40 minutes from us in Cincinnati hiked with us which made it more fun.

Hiking Savage River Loop Trail with Carol and Ken

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A beautiful hike in Denali!  We were armed with Bear Spray but no bears out today!

Our  Caravan staff made us quesadillas, root beer floats and frozen Kahlua and cream drinks for our evening party and followed that with a "brown bag auction".  Each RV received a large grocery bag and each couple bought a $5-$10 gift and brought it to the party.  Dan then conducted a "blind auction" for each bag.  It was so much fun and Dan was so clever getting us to bid--like asking someone their rig number--24--then saying SOLD for $24!  He had all kind of fun tricks and we raised $620 for St Jude's Hospital.


Tourism in Alaska and Denali is winding down and the fireweed blooms are almost to the top so we are heading south.   Here is a picture of our RV compared to most others in the caravan--in real life we look even smaller but it works great for us!