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