Happy Father’s Day to Andrew and all the
other exceptional daddies out there. We
got to talk to Max who was at the San Jose airport after a “conference/school/symposium”
this week and John-Paul and family who are sweating it out in
Indianapolis. We are bit confused
sometimes as to what day it actually is!
I had to check my phone to see what day and date it was!
It turns out we were not going to leave
early anyway, as it started to rain during the night and it was still raining
when we got up. It was forecast to be
rainy the entire day so we did a switch of our plans and decided to just drive all
the way down to Homer. Rainy days in
Alaska are actually cool and we didn’t have anything specific planned except to
travel and restock.
We were making good time when all of a
sudden a random thought ran through my head.
Dad, ages and ages ago, talked about the Russian cemeteries that he’s
see that have little houses built on top of the graves. I Googled that and it turns out we were driving
right by the exit we needed to! Since we
were right past, we took the next exit to turn around, and, WHOA (!) a family
of black bears darts across the highway right in front of us! Andrew had to break and pull over to the side
in order for them to pass. The momma and
two of her cubs made it and the 3rd cub darted back onto the other
side from where it had come. I hope that
it made it across later and the family was united again!
We visited the Russian Orthodox cemetery
in Eklutna. It was an interesting site,
to say the least. Little houses,
brightly colored and about the size of large dollhouses. It was sort of sad as the cemetery itself was
really overgrown and the many of the houses in disrepair. The information center was closed so I had to
Google for more information. It turns
out that it is still an active cemetery, and the people buried here are
actually part of the native tribes merged with the Russian traders that settled
there as well. They die and are buried
with a warm cover over the grave and then 40 days later the house is put on
top. It is okay that they rot and fall
apart as they are destined to be put back into the earth, as are their little
spirit houses.
We drove to Anchorage and stopped by a
Bass Pro shop to get me some new socks.
My socks bunched up in my hiking boots so my toes were very crampy last
night! I got new “hiking” socks and some
new insoles to try out in our next days.
We have a big hike planned for Seward and Yosemite for sure. We also stopped by Walmart and picked up a
bigger tarp to reach further to the ground as our rain fly. The other one works fine except it “flaps” a
bit.
We stopped by the Flight Deck to say “Hey”
to Marlene. She was a very good friend
of Dad’s back in the day. He used to go
to Hawaii twice a year to help her with some upkeep on her property there. She primarily lives in Alaska so it was nice
to see her. There were also a few guys in the bar that remembered Dad, which is
a bit surreal since Dad died 11 years ago now and it was a Sunday
afternoon. But they were sitting around,
discussing tourists in their fine state.
We took our time and drove to Alyeska and
took the tram to the top-what a view!!
We made snow angels and just took in the view. They opened their trail just today and Andrew’s
eyes lit up when he said that—2000 feet up, and only 2 miles. It looks like we may be stopping there on the
way back through!
We were going to drive to Hope (we decided
against Homer—we are lucky these next days are very flexible!) but found a
campground closer after our incredible and extremely filling meal at the Double
Musky. The restaurant is owned by people
that came from Louisiana so the recipes have that Cajun flair! I had the halibut and Andrew, the
salmon. AMAZING FOOD! Someone did walk by with the pepper steak and
it looked great too, but we can get great steak at home. We actually had dessert this evening: Double
Musky Pie—a delectable pie made from a pecan crust, brownie-type of filling and
whipped cream. We waddled out to our
truck and drove south just about 13 miles.
Our campsite is just below a glacier gully. It is gorgeous. We are the only tent campers here now but
there are many RVs, and we aren’t too far away.
As I type this we are sitting under a 1/2
gazebo with a full roof-meaning it is a huge gazebo with a full roof full of
twinkly Christmas lights encircling the entire space. The back walls are
stacked with wood, the front ½ is open to the campground, and a fire is burning
brightly and warmly in the center fireplace. Andrew is sitting on the rocks,
thoroughly enjoying someone who thought to bring his guitar and is singing
quite well. There is a family from Bejing
enjoying their first trip to the USA and their little ones are enjoying their
first ever S’Mores.
Commentary from Andrew added here à Guitar player from Lancaster, PA, playing
mostly country (good stuff)… he did CCR Old
Cotton Fields Back Home and then l hummed him a few bars of Proud Mary and he nailed the rest, and
the gentleman from Bejing went back to his RV and brought a bag a beer from
Walmart and shared with all…the spirit of Alaska.
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