Day 23 (Tuesday, June 28, 2016)

Around midnight, the announcement came that they were nearing the Juneau port.  People would be exiting and entering the ferry.  It was surreal (I know, I am using that word again but it fits) when I looked out the window and the wood of the docking area was literally within a foot or two from the window!!  And the lights, and other boats, all the strange glow of midnight.  Andrew actually wandered up on deck to take in the sights before wandering back to our room.  We were docked here for about four hours, so we both got up and went out when we left port.  The city is actually further away but there is some housing here so we didn’t go in. 

There were fewer people after this stop on the ferry.  It was quite funny as the passengers without vehicles are loaded first and they must have run for the solarium deck and snarfed up any and all of the lounge chairs.  As mentioned previously, if you don’t have a room, you can just find a place to crash.  Interesting but it works.  By the time we got up to the solarium to look around, people of all ages were all huddled up, neck deep in their sleeping bags, and reading books already!  Literally people of all ages-very young with their parents, and very old and a steady mix in between!  There are lounge chairs inside in a couple of locations (but they don’t recline and really aren’t that comfortable to sit in) and some on the decks.  There really aren’t that many unoccupied chairs so we stand by the railing.  A new tent was set up on the deck and some chairs were now unoccupied. 

The ferry docked in Sitka, so we thought we’d head in.  We had about 2 hours but then found out that Sitka really isn’t where the ferry is either; it is seven miles away! Too far and a risk to walk and return on time.  There were two busses ready and waiting for those disembarking to take us and our money into town.  They only go in and back, once so we had to really watch our time.  We wandered around town and then stopped to have some crab bisque at a local restaurant.  We’ve now had most of the “Alaskan” food:  elk and reindeer on a pizza, crab in a bisque, halibut with fries, and salmon and halibut Cajun style at the Double Musky! 

If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Proposal”, then Sitka may sound familiar.  Even though they actually filmed the movie itself on the East coast, the town where Drew is from is Sitka and they did do some basic film of the area.  Personally, nothing looked like anything from the movie so I am not sure what they took pictures of!  I will be forced to watch it again once we are home to see if anything looks like anything we saw. :)

Once back on the boat, we opted to get some laps in. We’ve been trying either hike, bike, or kayak each day just to make sure we are moving!  Some days we haven’t been able to do what we’d like because they are heavy driving days.  Since we aren’t driving for three days, we took some laps around the boat.  I took fewer (Andrew racked up 10 total “deck” miles – some in Sitka, but most at about 5 or 6 trips around the boat per mile) as I wanted to get this blog done just in case they have good cell service in Petersburg, our next stop.  (Sitka did not.)  also, I really wanted to read a book I picked up in Haines written by a Haines author called “Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons From a Small-Town Obituary Writer.”  It’s good so far! 

We pulled out all the stops and got our travel Scrabble out.  It went with us to Alaska the last time and has been waiting patiently to be used again.  It was fun as it is one of my favorite games. :)  It was close but I won by a few.  Rematch on Wednesday. 

The journey through the inner passage is incredible.  Sometimes the waterway opens up, but most of time so far the shore is close on both sides… the narrowest maybe about ~50 feet from shore.  Deep channels but close on both sides.

We also were treated to an orca sighting.  We’ve never seen one before, so this was a treat.  It was a young one but it swam by, carefree and enjoying the day.  We also have seen more bald eagles, and something we think were small dolphins, harbor porpoises maybe?  Usually the captain of the boat announces when something is close by but this was a chance sighting and that is what the person standing the deck thought they were.  His name is Paul and he is a retired air traffic controller (I think he said he did it for the navy).  He lives just south of Los Angeles.

That, of course, created another question:  What are all of their stories--the stories of all the people we’ve encountered. Some young traveling to a summer job, some just moving to try something new (like our waiter in Sitka who was from Vincennes!), some older and retired, wanting to see this last frontier while they can.  Some traveling with their grandchildren, creating very special memories for both.  Some traveling in groups and some alone.  Some look sad and pre-occupied, some tired like their journey isn’t what they’d expected, some excited with everything they’ve seen.  Diversity all the way around.

The landscape of this water adventure as changed, the mountains smaller and more green, trees all the way to the top.  The scraggy snow-covered peaks still visible but now more in the distance.  The air is actually warmer, especially in the sun.  When we decided to pack layers, we didn’t realize we wouldn’t really need layers!

I am sitting on the back deck, watching the sun set over the mountains, a fog gently rising from the water near the land.  It is getting grayer so perhaps there is rain on the way.   The sun glistens off the water.  Another amazing day ends.  BEAUTIFUL!

The ferry has no WiFi or cell service except MAYBE near a town, but it hasn't been close enough to update the blog or add pictures to the map.  We will catch up on the pictures when we can! After today's stop in Ketchikan, we will be completely enroute to Washington, literally for 38 hours. We will let you know once we are landbound again!

Day 23 (Tuesday, June 28, 2016)

Around midnight, the announcement came that they were nearing the Juneau port.  People would be exiting and entering the ferry.  It was surreal (I know, I am using that word again but it fits) when I looked out the window and the wood of the docking area was literally within a foot or two from the window!!  And the lights, and other boats, all the strange glow of midnight.  Andrew actually wandered up on deck to take in the sights before wandering back to our room.  We were docked here for about four hours, so we both got up and went out when we left port.  The city is actually further away but there is some housing here so we didn’t go in. 

There were fewer people after this stop on the ferry.  It was quite funny as the passengers without vehicles are loaded first and they must have run for the solarium deck and snarfed up any and all of the lounge chairs.  As mentioned previously, if you don’t have a room, you can just find a place to crash.  Interesting but it works.  By the time we got up to the solarium to look around, people of all ages were all huddled up, neck deep in their sleeping bags, and reading books already!  Literally people of all ages-very young with their parents, and very old and a steady mix in between!  There are lounge chairs inside in a couple of locations (but they don’t recline and really aren’t that comfortable to sit in) and some on the decks.  There really aren’t that many unoccupied chairs so we stand by the railing.  A new tent was set up on the deck and some chairs were now unoccupied. 

The ferry docked in Sitka, so we thought we’d head in.  We had about 2 hours but then found out that Sitka really isn’t where the ferry is either; it is seven miles away! Too far and a risk to walk and return on time.  There were two busses ready and waiting for those disembarking to take us and our money into town.  They only go in and back, once so we had to really watch our time.  We wandered around town and then stopped to have some crab bisque at a local restaurant.  We’ve now had most of the “Alaskan” food:  elk and reindeer on a pizza, crab in a bisque, halibut with fries, and salmon and halibut Cajun style at the Double Musky! 

If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Proposal”, then Sitka may sound familiar.  Even though they actually filmed the movie itself on the East coast, the town where Drew is from is Sitka and they did do some basic film of the area.  Personally, nothing looked like anything from the movie so I am not sure what they took pictures of!  I will be forced to watch it again once we are home to see if anything looks like anything we saw. :)

Once back on the boat, we opted to get some laps in. We’ve been trying either hike, bike, or kayak each day just to make sure we are moving!  Some days we haven’t been able to do what we’d like because they are heavy driving days.  Since we aren’t driving for three days, we took some laps around the boat.  I took fewer (Andrew racked up 10 total “deck” miles – some in Sitka, but most at about 5 or 6 trips around the boat per mile) as I wanted to get this blog done just in case they have good cell service in Petersburg, our next stop.  (Sitka did not.)  also, I really wanted to read a book I picked up in Haines written by a Haines author called “Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons From a Small-Town Obituary Writer.”  It’s good so far! 

We pulled out all the stops and got our travel Scrabble out.  It went with us to Alaska the last time and has been waiting patiently to be used again.  It was fun as it is one of my favorite games. :)  It was close but I won by a few.  Rematch on Wednesday. 

The journey through the inner passage is incredible.  Sometimes the waterway opens up, but most of time so far the shore is close on both sides… the narrowest maybe about ~50 feet from shore.  Deep channels but close on both sides.

We also were treated to an orca sighting.  We’ve never seen one before, so this was a treat.  It was a young one but it swam by, carefree and enjoying the day.  We also have seen more bald eagles, and something we think were small dolphins, harbor porpoises maybe?  Usually the captain of the boat announces when something is close by but this was a chance sighting and that is what the person standing the deck thought they were.  His name is Paul and he is a retired air traffic controller (I think he said he did it for the navy).  He lives just south of Los Angeles.

That, of course, created another question:  What are all of their stories--the stories of all the people we’ve encountered. Some young traveling to a summer job, some just moving to try something new (like our waiter in Sitka who was from Vincennes!), some older and retired, wanting to see this last frontier while they can.  Some traveling with their grandchildren, creating very special memories for both.  Some traveling in groups and some alone.  Some look sad and pre-occupied, some tired like their journey isn’t what they’d expected, some excited with everything they’ve seen.  Diversity all the way around.

The landscape of this water adventure as changed, the mountains smaller and more green, trees all the way to the top.  The scraggy snow-covered peaks still visible but now more in the distance.  The air is actually warmer, especially in the sun.  When we decided to pack layers, we didn’t realize we wouldn’t really need layers!

I am sitting on the back deck, watching the sun set over the mountains, a fog gently rising from the water near the land.  It is getting grayer so perhaps there is rain on the way.   The sun glistens off the water.  Another amazing day ends.  BEAUTIFUL!

The ferry has no WiFi or cell service except MAYBE near a town, but it hasn't been close enough to update the blog or add pictures to the map.  We will catch up on the pictures when we can! After today's stop in Ketchikan, we will be completely enroute to Washington, literally for 38 hours. We will let you know once we are landbound again!

Day 22 (Monday, June 27, 2016)

Our prep day had arrived.  We have had our stuff organized (my stuff less so than Andrew’s J) to camping each evening but we could access it anytime we wanted.  Now we are going to be on a ferry for 4 nights and three days.  Our truck is on the ferry as well, but access to it is limited to when we are in port somewhere, so we had to re-pack for three days of easy access and not seven.  Based on our wildlife and glacier tours, the boat will be cold, so pack the layers.  We have to be in line at the ferry two hours ahead of the departure time so we worked back from that.

We packed up our campsite while eagles soared overhead.  I think I will really miss that!  We headed into town to actually re-organized and then looked out over the inlet.  We had time, so what to do, bike a bit?  Or maybe kayak?  The amazing blue/green color drew us in and we opted to kayak.  We hadn’t been able to kayak as much as we would have liked and hadn’t in Alaska yet.  Andrew unloaded them and inflated them and we carried them down the stairs, and across the rocky beach.  This doesn’t mean a sandy beach with rocks on it; this means a beach made of large round rocks!!  The rocks closest to the water are covered with barnacles and blackened sea vegetation of some kind.  Into the water and, hmmmm.  The waves are a bit choppy-we are used to lakes at home after all!  But once you get the swing of it, it works.  We stayed somewhat close to shore but not too close as we weren’t exactly sure if the waves would send us there on their own accord.  Andrew, of course, went out even further!  And he is the one who doesn’t swim as well. 

It was such a relaxing time, and we are glad we succumbed to that calling and went in.  We went around a point and found a little cove.  The water varied greatly from slightly choppy to calm to a little more choppy to calm again.  We got to spend about an hour in the water but then had to head back. 

We decided to eat out before we headed to the ferry terminal.  We stopped at the Haines Brewery but they didn’t serve food but Andrew was excited that the beer was most excellent and CHEAP!  I did duck out of there while he was sampling as there was a yarn shop across the street.  I don’t always get time to knit but I love looking at yarn.  She has only been open a couple of weeks and nothing from the local area yet, but that makes sense.  They don’t really raise the right kind of animals in that area for yarn.She did have tons of great things, and I did find some yard for a hat (and a free pattern for said hat!).

Andrew found me and we headed down the street to a book store.  We love to browse local book stores as they always have local interest!  We found a couple of books by locals and even autographed by them so we we will have some reading material for parts of our upcoming journey. 

Then off to find food.  The book store owner recommended several places, one of which was closed (it was Monday!) and the other we couldn’t find.  Another looked closed (although we found out later it just LOOKED closed but it was really open), so we opted for the Fogcutter Bar.  The barkeep/waitress/only person on site doing everything wasn’t the most open and conversational and friendly but it was Monday and she looked to be the only person there.  The pizza was good and too much so we have leftovers for later.

We drove the four miles to the ferry terminal and Andrew checked us in and we were assigned a place in line at exactly the two hour ahead of time mark.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We struck up a conversation with Rick from Washington state who traveled up here on a vacation with his grandson.  They went fishing, and were also tent camping.  They decided at the last minute to take the ferry vs driving so they didn’t get a room but were relegated to either pitching a tent on the deck (you can if you have duct tape to tape it down!!) or finding a chair somewhere as home for the next three days.

It was so fascinating watching the vehicles disembark from the ferry.  Cars, trucks, campers, really really big RVs, construction equipment (!), etc.  Then it was our turn and we were motioned to get in line.  We drove ahead, stopped, drove ahead, stopped, drove ahead, stopped until we finally were right inside the boat.  That was really surreal!  We were told to fold in our sideview mirrors, and shut off the truck. We then went UP.  Yes, up to the next level.  We were on an elevator platform that we barely fit in (I am assuming we had plenty of room but it sure felt tight!).  Once up a “floor” we were told to back up and we were parked!  It is quite a good space as it was right by the door, so we grabbed our two bags and headed to get our keys to our room. 

Our room has a bunkbed, sink, and toilet/shower room.  Actually quite nice accommodations, and a window!!  We couldn’t possibly sleep so we went up to the top floor and just stared at the world. 

Driving this amazing landscape is one thing.  You see so much, but being on a boat is something entirely different.  You can go out further to see the even bigger picture.  We found where we’d camped the night before, and knew we were at the base of a mountain, but then we saw the glacier beyond that and the snow capped peaks beyond that and the rest of the glory that is our world.  It really nearly brought me to tears again.  Everyone should try to experience this once in their lives.

   

The sun “set” behind a mountain and OMG!  The water reflects everything so everything is twice as astonishing.  As we were moving along, it came back up again J, and then set again.  The mountains were of varying height so it was up and down for a bit. 

Eventually sleep called and we found our bed comfortable.  Ironically we’ve found we sleep better on our air mattress outside in a tent vs inside!  We’ll see once we’ve finished our trip. 

Day 21 (Sunday, June 26, 2016)

FYI: Tok is pronounced toke and Valdez is pronounced Val dEEz. 

Change of plans again.  It is a good thing Andrew had plenty of wiggle room if we wanted to change plans.  Actually the weather changed it for us.  Rain again so we opted to just keep on driving vs stopping.  Our Sirius radio was back!!  It went out ages ago as we moved north into Alaska – assume Sirius satellites not aimed that far north.  when we crossed over and went too far north. 

We crossed into Canada with the hope of kayaking at Destruction Bay (on Kluane Lake).  The water was the most amazing shade of blue, sort of like the blue you get on the Gulf of Mexico BUT with HUGE mountains as a backdrop!  We knew we may not get to go when we saw the flags flying straight out from their poles, and the water was very, very choppy.  It would have launched us right back onto the beach!  We drove a bit down further and drove through a campground to use the restroom (too much information, sorry!) and the outhouses were labeled #1 and #2.  I kid you not.  :)  Others were labeled #4, #5, etc.  

Same campground closed their tent camping option due to bears!  We haven’t seen many but we keep getting warned about them.  We did head to another access road to walk on the beach hoping for a calmer spot to kayak.  The beach walk was lovely, except when we were returning to our truck and I took us on the sandbar.  The sandbar was pretty soft and I sank to my ankles in sandy water! YIKES!  Andrew nearly had heart failure.  I fell forward but got out and kept on walking, albeit a bit faster.  Andrew decided perhaps to backtrack was a better option so that is what he did.  All in all a beautiful time on the beach, even if we didn’t get to kayak.

As we were driving away from Kluane, we saw what looked like smoke drifting over the lake.  It wasn’t dark enough for smoke or rain clouds for that matter.  Andrew thought perhaps it was dust from road construction and we’d most likely have to drive through it as we have encountered that quite a few times over our journey.  Well, it was dust but not from road construction but from the dried part of the lake!  It was really weird!  The lake on that end was completely dried and the wind was pretty hefty and literally blew dust over the road and out over the lake to where you couldn’t see through it!  Nature. 

We encountered a dead porcupine on the road and that prompted a discussion on the fact that we didn’t see much road kill; in fact, that porcupine (which is really weird to actually see dead on the road with all of their quills standing straight up) was only the 2^nd thing we’d seen, and the 1^st was something earlier in the day we couldn’t identify as birds had already gotten to it.  The signs alerting drivers to moose accidents show there are road kill incidents, but I guess they don’t remain on the road for long.  I do remember that Alaska (and maybe Canada??) has a roadkill hotline for if something gets hit and you don’t want the meat it provides as many depend on it for winter survival.  There really is such a thing!  Really! 

We also then talked that we have hardly seen any kind of police or patrol officers of any kind.  The roads are pretty scarcely populated so you think you’d see one once in a while just to check on travelers stranded or to make sure we are all following the rules for road construction crews.  We finally saw one today that pulled over the car behind us.  We think it was because said car did not have its headlights on and that is the law in Canada. 

We have arrived in Haines without seeing any wildlife at all today, except for some eagles, and that is good enough.  We had originally planned on stopping somewhere in Canada to spend the night but, with the rainy weather, we decided to just head here.  This is where we will catch our ferry tomorrow evening.  We are at a campsite that takes tents, has laundry, and showers so we can get organized for our next 4 days.  The kind lady offered us a site under their canopy and we have a magnificent view of Lynn Canal.  A cruise ship just sailed by and eagles are soaring overhead!!    

Day 20 (Saturday, June 25, 2016)

Saturday and we awoke to cloudy skies but no rain.  We broke camp, and took our bikes out for a tour of the town.  That is part of our journey, to see how other towns live and work and just “are.”  Every town is unique but these towns of these past weeks have the most phenomenal view of mountains or eagles or bays or oceans.  Don’t get me wrong, I love waking up and looking out our windows in Kyana as well, sitting on our front porch, or watching the sun set off our back desk.  The hills of southern Indiana will always be home (for some of you wondering if we’ll ever really come back)!! 

The cloudy skies along with the rain from during the night created fog, crawling down the mountains, and up out of the water and plains—adding another layer of beauty.  We drove down past the harbor and through the town itself, stopping to walk ½ mile up to a “viewpoint” even though every point is a viewpoint.  We passed factories that processed fish products and the accompanying dormitories for the workers (along with rec hall/laundromat and mess hall), the “small harbor” with TONS of different kinds of boats readying for the day or resting in the gentle waves, a group of rabbits nibbling on some grass next to the harbor (yes, regular small black rabbits-definitely not native to this area—assuming someone just let them go “free”), a pond that warned that no life guard was on duty (!), homes of varying sizes and materials, and yet another Thai restaurant (We have encountered zillions of Thai restaurants everywhere in the middle of nowhere!).  We heard the music that is fog horns letting the boats know where the harbor lies.  

A question that has come to mind several times this trip:  When towns are SO far from other towns, how do, or even do the high schools compete with one another?  That would be some really, really long road trips!  Valdez has a skiing team, and there were several high schools we’ve passed that have rodeo teams. 

We chanced upon a metal building “museum” (most buildings are made of corrugated metal or “Morton”-type) that had an inviting message to come see some of old Valdez.  March 27, 1964 was a day that changed many lives as it was the date of the Good Friday earthquake that rocked Alaska.  It was a 9.2 quake centered in Prince William Sound.  Many communities lost many and Valdez lost their wharves and 32 people, and the town was “shaken” so badly that it was deemed unsafe to live there so the town council opted to move it up the road four miles.  They did it in two years, many building new, and some opting to move the old.  They then burned the rest of what was left so really all that is “old” Valdez are some roads and the concrete slab that the library once stood on.  It was sort of surreal driving through it after seeing the detailed model inside of this museum and watching the video of the history of the area and the devastation of the earthquake.  The area has been abandoned since 1967, so that is 49 years of re-growth of trees and other vegetation, and memories.

We packed up our bikes and watched two eagles soar round and round until they landed in the field near the water.  Then another eagle got too close to a gull’s area so that gull showed him/her who was boss by chasing it away! 

We took the road that led us to the end of the Alaskan Pipeline.  It is hard to fathom we saw its beginning and its end! 

On the way to Valdez we noticed a restaurant touting “Authentic Russian Food”.  So, of course, since we’ve never had authentic Russian food before, we stopped on the way to Tok.  The owner is truly Russian, having coming to the USA 16 years ago and buying this lodge seven years ago.  The “original” lodge had been here for a long, long time before that and needed major updates and renovations and she found it was cheaper to build new.  The old one is still there, leaning a bit to the right, a testament to its former glory if you close your eyes!  She said she keeps really busy as they are the middle of the journey between Glennallen and Valdez.  The food was EXCELLENT!  People come from as far away as Anchorage just to eat there and just a few weeks ago she was sold out with bicyclists from Germany that stayed for several days.  She said they are open year round but it starts getting busy in February with snowmobiling, heli-skiing (she has a place for a helicopter to land and they take skiers up to the pass and drop them off and they ski down from there-my mouth dropped open at that!), and ice fishing.

People can do the DUMBEST things; today there is a truck parked in the opposite lane pulled over.  The shoulder isn’t very wide on this road so his driver’s side wheels are actually on the highway side of the white line.  He did have his flashers on-give him credit for that.  A semi comes around the corner and has to veer over the center line slightly to pass him and I saw this all panning out so I got closer to my white line.  I wondered if the guy in the truck was okay but then I saw him walking with a camera around his neck.  “Okay,” I think to myself, “surely not a wildlife sighting.”  It was a moose maybe 30 feet off of the highway, and this man was walking towards it!  I mean everywhere you stop there are warnings about not bothering the wildlife especially the bears and moose!  Moose are like freight trains and pack a powerful punch, and can run pretty fast!  And he wanted a picture.  Sigh.

And, speaking of dumb things people do, something else happened yesterday, and please, please, let me know if I am out of line I thinking this was dumb because just maybe I am overreacting.  When we were at the glacier that we could walk on, there were two other couples that were walking on the white part and were slipping around a bit.  When they got closer I realized that one of them was carrying a baby in a front pack, on the ice, complaining how slippery the ice was!  I realize that I am a worrywart when it comes to kids (Ask our own (!)) and the entire gammits of “What if..” but this was slippery enough for us on the white surface and she didn’t have the pointy sharp things on her boots!  I guess it takes all kinds.  Sigh.

Thanks for listening to my venting.   Andrew has had to listen to me several times already. :)

It had started raining while we were finishing up our bike journey and kept raining pretty consistently the entire drive.  We arrived in Tok and it stopped raining long enough to set up camp.  We are now 90 miles from the Canada border, our last night of sleeping in Alaska.  We will sleep in Canada tomorrow and then drive back into the USA to catch a 4 night / 3 day ferry to Washington state (Haines-Juneau-Sitka-St. Petersburg-Wrangell-Ketchikan – all ports of call in Alaska “panhandle” -then through Canadian waters to then end at Bellingham, Washington).

 

As we were reviewing this entry, I glanced over to our neighboring campsite.  He was wearing an Indianapolis 500 shirt from this past year!  Go figure!  He actually lives in Florida near his grandchildren most of the year and works for Amazon out of Kentucky for part of the year and then travels wherever he wants the rest.  It turns out he was in Seward when we were, and he walked on the same glacier we did on the same day.  Small world!

Unfortunately, I cannot get pictures to upload from my phone so my map will be coming later! 

Day 19 (Friday, June 24, 2016)

Plan B.  It was raining when we got to Anchorage and it was still raining when we got up, so Plan B.  We headed to the Alaska Fur and Ivory Exchange, per a recommendation from the same someone who recommended the glacier boat tour out of Whittier.  Interesting place!  You walk in and look up and a taxidermied moose is smiling down at you, and other animals are not necessarily smiling but have their own facial expressions.  There was so much tucked into that store.  It was actually a large store, but there was a lot of things there.  I could have bought animal skins, with or without the heads attached. Yes, you read correctly.  Ivory, jade, and other precious and semi-precious stones, but as part of jewelry and loose.  I could have bought leather made from a variety of sources by the yard, slippers, hats or scarves, the most intricately carved antlers and wood.  It was definitely worth the trip in to see what was in there.  There were actually fur trappers having a conversation in the back with I guess the fur buyer and they were discussing the availability of some and the prices of others. 

We took off towards Valdez by way of Lake Louise.  Everything is melting from the mountains so the rivers and creeks and waterfall are gushing.  It creates quite the scenery as you drive!  The names vary from native sounding ones (Chickaloon River) to plain ones (Squirrel Creek).  Some of the roads today were back to being extremely winding with the mountain directly to the left and a severe drop-off directly to the right.  All the roads have markers on them to show the snow plows were the roads end.   They are very tall and are bright orange at the top.  I can see why this would be very important on some of the roads we took today.

Then we had to use the restroom.  Nature called and there was a little “snack shack” off to the right.  We also wanted some jerky.  We went in and bought our jerky and noticed a sign that said glacier, so we asked.  The Matanuska Glacier was literally down the hill from this little place and “Yeah, you can walk right up to it.”  So, of course we had to.  The road kept warning us that is was a dangerous road but we kept seeing other vehicles coming from it.  One mile in and we had to pay for access and sign “waivers.”  Another two miles in and there she was!! HOLY COW!  The glaciers yesterday were amazing as we got pretty darn close, but these looked like you could really walk on them.  We drove and noticed some people had guides (there was that option but we opted out) and just followed the orange cones.  It looked like we were walking on fine rocks, and then you hear water running.  Then you look down and realize you are walking on ice.  YES!  ICE!  The rocks are part of what the glacier picked up and it keeps it from being too slippery.  We literally were walking across a glacier!  What a LIFE® card!  The water was running below the ice and there were crevices and cracks and such between large sections. It is so hard to explain and I am not even sure our pictures will do it justice.  Some people had crampons and walking sticks with pointy ends so they were going really far out onto the white/blue part.  We stayed on the clear dirty icy part and just got close to one.  Andrew found a rock that was pretty cool and was joking that he found gold.  A gentleman nearby said he was a geologist and took a look.  He really was one!  He and his professor were there for a few weeks studying glacier rocks and activity and the professor was taking pictures of the cracks and crevices and our young friend had his own backpack filled with rock samples.  He assured us we did have gold! Well, a gold-colored rock that was part of the granite.

On to Lake Louise!  We missed that the last time we were here so we wanted to see what the fuss was about.  It is down a roller coaster road about 20 miles, but it was a gorgeous lake.  There are several lodges there and we stopped in the Lake Louise Lodge and had a cup of soup and asked about taking our kayaks in.  We had been on the fence about going anyway since it had been raining most of the trip, but they said that a wind warning had just come in so they couldn’t allow us on the lake.  I guess we weren’t meant to be on it today.  He did suggest a short hike from a camping area down the road and it was a short hike; we saw several piles of moose scat but no moose, and the mosquitoes decided to pay a visit.  Again, only biting me and only landing on Andrew.  Lake Louise must be the place to go for fishing, as there are boats and boat trailers everywhere, waiting for their owners to put them out in the water.  There were also quite a few ice huts, waiting on sleds for summer to be over already and the snow to fly!  And snowmobiles making the same wish!  In fact there were signs alerting drivers to be aware of snow machines!  Apparently Eisenhower was there after the war for four days (He was supposed to only stay one but he loved it so that he stayed four!).  It turns out Dad’s friend Tree Farmer’s lodge closed a few years ago so we didn’t venture there at all.  We surprised a moose grazing on side of the road on our way out.  He sort of jumped back when we slowed down.  I was a bit worried as they are pretty powerful animals but this one was a smaller one and looked more interested in eating then knocking us off the road. 

On to Valdez and the amazing views. It occurred to use we hadn’t seen the Alaskan Pipeline and we knew this was the end of the line for it.  It was there but elusive, at the base of the mountains, just beyond our vision.  The trees were much taller along this road so it was probably there the whole time! I know it is hard to do it justice in just a blog.  But everything is so gorgeous here.  We pulled into Valdez and set up our tent. The tent lot is a side part of the parking lot so it was complicated getting tent stakes in, but we did.  Campgrounds aren’t too busy with tent campers-we are definitely a minority there!  We had to aim it away from the parking lot so we could have a view of nine glaciers, the bay, and wildlife (The attendant assured me that bears don’t usually come up to the campground!).  It rained hit and miss the entire way and was only spritzing when we set up camp.  Our neighbor this evening is from Illinois!  He came up to go fishing with a buddy with a boat but said boat needs a few repairs and they weren’t done yet, so he doesn’t know if he’ll wait it out or not. 

And miracles of all miracles:  Valdez has 4 bars LTE so I can actually use my phone as a hotspot and update this yet tonight!!  Tonight here anyway. 

Day 18 (Thursday, June 23, 2016)

We did not hike nor bike.  We packed up camp, checked in to our boat, and parked the truck and walked about a bit in “town.”  It really is a very basic place, built for the military. 

Question of the day:  Can you rent a U-Haul van to camp?  When we woke up this AM there was a U-Haul van parked in a camping spot.  I swear it was the same one we saw in a spot in Seward!  No tent or anything but an empty chair by the fire!  It says, “Rent me for $19.95 per day…” so maybe that is a great deal for a “rental!”  Put a mattress in the back and a cooler for meals and you are good to go!  Interesting idea!

The day was beautiful and sunny, which they say is unusual.  Whittier averages 15 feet of rain in the summer and 20 feet of snow in the winter!  Yes, 20 feet!!!  One of our captains said that in 2012 (and I think he said it was his first year) they had 40 feet of snow.  I can’t even imagine.  AND that is only on the ground.  The mountains average 100 feet, or more!  And this in Prince William Sound (aka Pacific Ocean) that doesn’t freeze because it is a fjord and they are “protected” by the surrounding mountains and more science that I didn’t catch.  It is also DEEP, as in most of our journey was 1,000 feet deep!  Andrew and I think it may be a future trip to see Alaska in the winter.  :)

The boat was a great adventure, suggested by someone we met at the Flight Deck.  We had lunch (basic Alaskan cod and chips (potato chips not fries) and their “famous” slaw so we had assigned seats to start.  It was interesting hearing the chatter as some groups were not sitting together.   Andrew had us booked awhile so we were fine.  A lady sitting next to us had just bought the last four available that morning and her family was split all over.  The gentleman across had booked the day before so his son was at one table, his mom at another, his daughter at yet another, and his dad at yet another!  

Once we had eaten we could walk around so we spent quite a bit of time outdoors.  It is just more natural when you are really out there, even though that boat could go really fast and the cold wind just whipped everything around.  The boat was fast-we covered 140 miles in 5 hours and go really up close and personal to three separate glaciers.  You can’t even describe them, and our pictures can’t do them justice.  You just have to experience them.  Their size, their history, their force, their scale, their color, their everything.  We watched one “calve” which means a large chunk broke off and crashed into the water below.  That same one also had several “slides,” which are basically “calves” that slide down the hill, looking like a waterfall but it is snow and ice. 

And the waterfalls!  Some small and barely visible, and some shooting out over the rocks and cascading down the sides of the mountains. 

And the otters!  There were rafts and rafts of them (that is what a group of otters are called, BTW!).  It was especially adorable to see them with little ones on their chests.  They just have that auto-smile thing going on, and they back float and flip and float some more.

 

We did see some kayakers near that really big calving glacier and wondered, “How did they get here as it is really far from Whittier or any other town?”  It turns out that a boat brought them and dropped them off.  Some will literally paddle and kayak and have made arrangements to be picked up on another day while some will kayak while the boat remains and head back the same day.  Andrew and I think that is something we may want to try someday!   :)

We did not get to see any other wildlife except the otters, eagles, and some other birds (kittiwakes).  Some saw a bear and some saw sea lions, but we did not. 

While we were swatting away bugs and  mosquitoes breaking down camp, we thought we might kayak the end of Prince William Sound upon our return to land.  It had buoys marking off a “beach” area and it was really very calm.  Unfortunately, it began raining while we were heading back to the harbor, and it was a cold drizzling rain, so we headed straight to the truck and got into line for the tunnel with everyone else. 

It is amazing how many people are in a town with hardly any permanent population, but the Alaskan train stops there and that makes for a bunch of tourists!  And there are those of us who randomly hear about Whittier and decide to check it out.

 

We are in Anchorage now, and are really roughing it in a Hampton Inn.  We have had such incredibly bad luck with our access to WiFi to upload our blog and catch up on some random things, we opted to use points and stay in a room with a view but also a connected bathroom with unlimited hot water!  We did grab a meal out of a real restaurant across the street from the hotel and as we were driving away Andrew pointed out a van lying on its side in the median.  It definitely wasn’t there when we went in.  No one appeared injured and there was an officer there already and others standing around.  You just never know.

We are heading down to Valdez tomorrow via Lake Louise.  We didn’t make that the last time we were here so it is on our list to make sure we get to it this time around.  

Day 17 (Wednesday, June 22, 2016)

Our campground in Seward was amazing in that is was the first one we encountered that didn’t have a single warning sign to watch out for bear or any other wildlife!!  We actually camped between two rented RVs (quite a few from the Great Alaskan Holidays company—Minnie Winnies, mini – Winnebago RVs; Cruise America RV Rental; etc.) and set up our tent in a little patch of grass beyond the gravel.  Our neighbors to one side were from Massachusetts!  The others never appeared from their RV, ever.  The Massachusetts folks actually flew into Fairbanks and then down to Anchorage to pick up their RV.  They’d had it less than 24 hours, but did a great job backing it up.  Andrew had to help with their water hookup as it was spraying everywhere, and then I had to unhook it as Andrew had it wound pretty tight, but all was good in the end.  Lovely people visiting a cousin that has been a teacher in the Aleutian Islands and Fairbanks for 30+ years as there weren’t teaching jobs available near her when she graduated.  She apparently surprised everyone by taking a job in Alaska and then staying. 

There are TONS of RVs out there, parking everywhere.  It appears that is the way to go if you really don’t want to drive.  It is amusing to think how much money Alaska is making on tourists.  We are a cheap date as we tent camp (last night was $10!), but RVs are more, and hotels are even more!!  When we were at the Flight Deck in Anchorage we were listening to a local complain about the tourists, with their RVs, and tour busses, and such.  I was just thinking to myself how much tourists are pumping into the economy; even we that are tent-camping our way do restock our food supplies and have done several guided things and will do more just to see more and get a larger experience.

Since our hiking plans fell through, we opted to ride our bikes about town-we did bring them along so we should use them.  It is a cute little community, as far as tourist communities go.  We checked into our boat tour office and then parked where we were supposed to park and then rode our bikes for about an hour, nearly taking out a few people that literally pulled their bikes onto the gorgeous bike trail (except for those annoying blue uprights to keep motorized things off-they are sure spaced tightly) right in front of us.  Then we had many walkers to traverse around.  All and all, great. 

The boat company suggested we dress in layers so we added a layer right before we left.  It was actually a hot day in Seward so we never really got cold at all, even out in the water.

We got to see sea otters doing their same cuteness.  Did you know that they have a million hairs per square inch on their bodies?  Us either, that is how they can stand the water and winters here.  AND they have special “pockets” under their armpits that they put rocks in so they can crack open crabs and such!  How clever!  They want to eat and that is the way to do it! 

Resurrection Bay is special as it is an actual fjord and never freezes. It is surrounded by mountains to keep the much colder waters of the Gulf of Alaska “out” so to speak.  It is also extremely deep; there is no gradual walking into this baby, as it drops straight to about 600 feet and is 1,000 feet in some places.  There was a ginormous cruise ship pulled into dock and lots of boats that could be chartered for one thing or another: wildlife tours (like us), fishing, kayaking (yes, they take you on a boat to a more secluded, less “wavy” area to kayak) and more.  There were eagles soaring overhead, so majestic. 

This tour is the same one we used ten years ago but this time lunch was included.  What was lunch?  A sandwich? No—salmon, prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans/carrots, and salad.  Pretty nice deal!  We ate outside and were joined by two gentlemen from Norway.  Actually one was French but was living in Norway finishing up his PhD on wolves.  J  I had to do a double take on that one too.  The other one has his PhD in bears.  J  Yep, that one needed a smile too.  It turns out they were in Anchorage for a bear conference and there were people from all over the world attending.  The “wolf” guy was actually studying wolf habitats and since they tend to hang out where bears do, bears sometimes work their way into his research.  The “bear” guy was doing additional research into bear communities, their genetic make-up, diversity, etc.  Very interesting conversation for sure.  They had rented an RV (!) with several other folks that had attended the bear conference, extending their USA stay for a week.  They were planning on heading back to Norway tomorrow. 

Back onto the Nunatak and we were presented a fluke. A beautiful whale fluke.  I love whales; just ask anyone.  They are just such majestic creatures.  We actually had a great whale viewing day, not all fluke sightings, but at least six different ones I think.  The birds were absolutely crazy!  There were HUGE schools of fish all swimming together, looking like a black spot right under the surface of the water, so the birds were excited and the whales were too as this was easy eating.

 

We also saw some Stellar Sea Lions (different from the California Sea Lions) and it was very interesting watching and listening to the big bull “boss” everyone around so he could get a better position on the rock.  They are apparently on the endangered species list right now and they are studying the area to see if they notice any patterns on why.  They think perhaps the things they usually eat aren’t as handy due to climate change and they are having issues adjusting. 

We didn’t get to see many birds roosting in the rocks because they were all going nuts over the fish.  The puffins (two different kinds!) were funny little fellows to watch fly.  Our guide even commented that they aren’t good flyers as they are really too heavy, but they sure give it a shot!  Some black birds (I can’t remember their “name” right now) actually sort of “stood up” in the water before they took flight and looked like they were mimicking penguins-black with white and upright!

Of course the mountains are even more beautiful every day, those dark scraggly cliffs and tops glistening with white snow!!  And those glaciers, Styrofoam blue, just settled in between the peaks.  Several were on the edge of the Harding Ice Field, which is where we hiked yesterday.  We’ll have to get a topographical map to see how it all relates.

On the way back to port we struck up a conversation with a couple that looked familiar.  It turns out they ate at the Double Musky the same time we did and stayed in the same campground that evening so they were around that magnificent fire in the roundhouse.  They are both in the military (Air Force firemen) and are here for three years, him stationed in Fairbanks and her in Anchorage.  They asked to be stationed here and came from a year in South Korea!  They decided to take a week and explore so rented an RV to explore (either the military gets good discounts or they rent them to their servicemen-I can’t remember now!). He had his first winter already and, even though it was very mild compared to “normal,” he said the complete or near complete darkness is unnerving.  It really only barely gets dusky for a few hours.  She just got here so is looking forward to it-NOT.  But they really wanted to explore something new so they thought they give Alaska a try. 

Dad talked some of a town called Hope so we thought we’d see what it was all about.  Interesting!  It is an abandoned gold mining town, literally at the end of the road.  There is a bar and restaurant that are in original buildings from the late 1800s, and some other shops from that time period as well but they were closed already for the evening.  There is a “new” Hope down the road a bit, mostly little shops of one kind or another.  A school, and churches, but really a small place. 

We then waited 35 minutes to drive 2.5 miles in a tunnel, six minutes traveling on a one lane road that trains also use!  Whittier is our next adventure for a glacier boat tour.  Someone at the Flight Deck recommended it as he “knew the guy” that runs it.  Thy boats apparently get right up to the glaciers so you can be up close and personal, and are guaranteed wildlife sightings (maybe more whales!).  Our couple from the military warned us that the mosquitoes were really bad in Whittier.  Yeah, right.  They can’t be as bad as they were at the Arctic Circle.  Yes, they can be just as bad.  It is amazing.  I grabbed some of my bug spray from Avon (Thanks, Christy-I used the silver bottle this evening but the green works too!) and sprayed and sprayed.  They didn’t land on me but they swarmed within millimeters from my face!  And they landed on my hat and hair.  Even after I sprayed my hat and hair, they landed.  IRRITATING!  They didn’t bite that I know of but they are literally huge swarms.  They didn’t even swarm Andrew!  Lucky!

We weren’t sure exactly where we’d be sleeping as there aren’t a lot of places to camp here in Whittier, population 220.  But we found a gravel lot designated as a campground on the end of Prince William Sound.  There are RVs here, as I said they are everywhere!  And there is one other tent!  And a U-Haul van?  Not sure if there is a bed in there or not!

We have a great backdrop of snowing melting off the mountains, ending in a gorgeous waterfall.  Lovely to look at but then we quickly dart into the safety of our mosquito-free tent.

We hope to bike or kayak in the morning before our boat tour.  We’ll let you know!

Day 16 (Tuesday, June 21, 2016)

The days are one.  Poor Andrew-I am constantly asking what day of the week it is!  Today was a great day, another one.  We awoke later than planned-sleeping nightly in the fresh night air? Or it never gets dark and we lose track of time? Yeah, probably that one.  Our guide we had at Denali said that he had to actually set an alarm to remember to go to bed!  I can completely understand!

It is interesting how a person’s mind can play tricks on them.  We visited many of these same places ten years ago, with the boys and the dog along.  I remembered more eagles in Homer!  I remember distinctly just staring at the poles and lines and they were everywhere.  We maybe saw a dozen the entire time we were there.  There were TONS of gulls, but not as many eagles.  Could it be timing?   We are a couple of weeks earlier than last time?  I feel the world is much greener as well.  Maybe I am just noticing it more.  Our guide at Denali did mention that Alaska is seeing, on average, a rise in its temperature by 6 degrees!  It may not seem like a lot but he said it has a lot of ripple effect for those that need those cooler temperatures. 

We took one last walk on the beach and there were otters playing in the surf.  They turned and turned and back floated away.  Joy!

The Homer public library saved the day.  Our campsites have all touted “WiFi,” but we haven’t had good WiFi at most of our campgrounds.  But you can always depend on public libraries to save the day!  We could go in, I could update the blog from yesterday, but I could not get all of my pictures to upload yet for our map, so please bear with us!!  Andrew could book some things we are going to be doing the next few days (harbor tours!!), and I could catch up on a few emails.  Most of the time was spent in trying to get the blog uploaded and pictures sent between my phone and PC. 

My phone actually takes great pictures, but it just doesn’t zoom like I’d like it to.  We see many people with their huge cameras, but we also see some with smaller ones and some of those have incredible zoom!  I can tell because I look over their shoulder sometimes, by accident, of course, while trying to take my own picture, and I notice how much more they could zoom in.  I may have to check into that.

While driving in and around Kenai, we looked for Dall sheep.  We didn’t see any but it is so hard to tell as they are white dots and there are still white dots of snow WAY up there.  They literally hang out beyond the tree/green line!  Another tidbit of info from our guide (He really had tons of info to share!) was that the Dall sheep are actually losing their safe zone because that tree/green line is shifting up higher and higher up the mountains, which means so are bears and wolves, their predators.  It’s getting harder for them to survive.

While we were driving towards Seward we came upon another sign for a Russian Orthodox Cemetery.  Hmmm, is it just like the one we encountered a few days ago near Eklutna, with the colorful spirit houses?  It was just off the main road so we checked it out. No spirit houses, but a great view of Mount Iliamna and Mount Redoubt. The cemetery itself was waist-high or higher with weeds and wild flowers and other vegetation.  There was a youth group working diligently mowing, weed-eating, raking, and more mowing, weed-eating, raking.  They had the same crosses, which are very unique, and many graves had white picket fences around them, with flowers planted within said fences.  There was actually a white picket fence around the entire cemetery and then smaller ones on the graves.  Interesting.  I feel I need to research why they were different than the one we encountered with the spirit houses.

Interesting tidbit about Mount Redoubt, besides the fact that it and Mount Iliamna are really lovely to look at!  Mount Redoubt apparently is a volcano!!  It erupted in December of 2008 and kept doing so for months.  It finally quite “perking” in September 2009 so then it was finally deemed safe for airplanes, etc. 

We turned right to check out Exit Glacier.  Andrew’s eyes light up like Christmas trees when he can get a good hike in.  Exit Glacier seemed to fit the bill, at 4.2 miles up, and a strenuous climb.  Well, we did do it, well, most of it.  We hiked up and up, stone steps, narrow pathways, muddy pathways, narrow muddy pathways, rocks to go over and around, more steps of stone, crossing water rushing downstream, and then we get to the snow.  Yes, we had to trek of a narrow trail on a hill of snow.  We did one, then another, and finally after four of these, we decide perhaps we should head back down.  We actually had hiked a little over 2 miles up already.  We only had about ¾ of a mile of strenuous up and then it was 1 ¼ miles straight so we could see the Harding Ice Field.  We looked up and wondered how we could do this and it wasn’t hard to say, “Nah.”  Several people were coming down from the cliff tops, and they were crouching and sliding and slipping.  We felt great about our climb-just short of 2000 feet UP.  On our way down, several people passed us and they said they could only go so far as well as the path was “literally a snow and ice torture path” beyond that “top.”  Another group came and they said they did it but knew what to bring:  spiky ski poles and spikes on their hiking boots!  Another group said they made it to the top but decided not to after they read the sign that said not to go further due to avalanche.  We forgot to ask if the sign meant there was a danger of avalanche if people cross or if an avalanche had happened to make it dangerous.  So we felt validated in our decision to just head back down.

Of course, we are leery of bears.  Everywhere you go you get told to watch out for them, what to do if you see them, and that they have been spotted.   Every tree or bush or rock seems to be one when you are walking by.  You do a double-take to make sure it really isn’t a bear.  I feel like a character in the book series “The Animorphs,” where the kids can morph into various animals.  I am for sure there is a bear, or moose, or whatever, but when I look back it is a tree, or stump.  I always check again to make sure. J  When we were closer to the bottom of our adventurous hike, a group coming up said that a bear had been seen on the trail, climbing up just 15 minutes before.  How they didn’t see it and how they heard about it we didn’t think to clarify.  So we talked loudly—that is what the forest ranger at Denali said works best.  He said that bear bells actually sound like birds so bears don’t really leave and can still be surprised.  Bear spray works but it is pretty powerful stuff and you really have to aim well or you will just have a really angry bear.  He said the rangers just walk around and once in awhile yell, “Ranger” really loudly.  So after the news of a bear sighting, Andrew and I talked loudly to each other, launching into various songs, and just calling our names out to each other.  We didn’t see rumored bear, so we either caused it to rethink climbing up the trail.  When we were leaving the area, there was a new sign posted on the notification board that warned of a “defensive” bear sighting!  What!!??!

We did also go to the base of the glacier and it was so much greener than I remember as well.  Of course, ten years is a lot of time for trees to grow.  The glacier itself was really back further.  They have signs how far it “reached” at its maximum, and each year it gets “smaller” and smaller. 

We are now in a campground in Seward, literally in town, but there are tons of RVs and many tents here.  Amazing.   We are going on a harbor tour in the afternoon and will bike around town before that.  We were going to hike Mount Marathon, but the signs repeatedly warn against anyone non-professional attempting that hike.