Kenai Peninsula - June 11 -

Saturday, June 11, 2011 – Off we go to Homer. We went along the Turnagain Arm to the very end and started down the Kenai Peninsula on the beautiful Sterling Hwy. We made a few stop along the way to stretch our legs and walk Kula. We stopped for lunch at the Fred Meyers in Soldotna because of the huge parking lot and we could all fit in. It was a great place to stock up on our fishing gear for our trip. We got to the quaint little town of Homer in the early afternoon. After we settled in, Spike took us on a tour of Homer and pointed out things to do and see while we were there. We stopped in and got our fishing licenses and paid for our halibut charter we were taking tomorrow. We went back to the RV park, had dinner and went to bed early since we needed to be up at 5:00am tomorrow morning to go halibut fishing.

Sunday, June 12, 2011 – Up at 4:45am. Lindy took us to the harbor on the Homer Spit where we boarded the “Jackpot” at 6:00 and headed out to Kachemak Bay off the Cook Inlet. Our captain cruised for about an hour and forty-five minutes to get to the halibut fishing grounds. While he was explaining and demonstrating how to fish for the halibut, he lowered his line, and immediately had a halibut on the line. Then it was our turn! We no sooner dropped our line and caught a halibut. The fishing was fast and furious. We both threw our first ones back, trying to hook up a bigger one. Kenny ended up catching 9 and I caught 6, but we each kept 2 (the limit per person). After about an hour of fishing, everyone caught their limit and we headed back to Homer with our catch. On the way back, the deck hands filleted our fish and put them into individual designated bags for us. Once we were back in the harbor and docked, there was a guy there waiting to take our fish to the processing place to get it vacuum packed and flash-frozen into one-pound bags. We came back to the RV park and napped for a few hours. Later, we went back into town to do a little shopping. We stopped at the famous “Salty Dog” saloon and had an Alaskan beer. We looked for the “Time Bandit” boat from the show, Deadliest Catch but they were out of port. They have a store on the waterfront, so we went in to check it out. What a great day! Had so much fun halibut fishing…a real “Alaskan” experience for both of us…one we’ll never forget.

Monday, June 13, 2011 – Off to Kenai at 10:30, but before we left, we drove back over to Homer Spit to the fish processing place to pick up our halibut fillets. We took an ice chest with us thinking it would be large enough to hold all of the fish, but it wasn’t. We completely filled it up and a large bag, as well.  We wondered where we were going to put it all. But, once we got back to the motorhome and rearranged the freezer, took some things out and were able to get it all in. Then, we packed up, unhooked and off to Kenai….very short drive today. We got to the Beluga RV park…beautiful place overlooking Beluga Bay. We got set up and at 2:30, we went for a walking tour with Spike to the Old Russian Church where we met Father Makary, a 90 year old Russian Orthodox priest where he told us all about the history of the church and his history here in Alaska. Very interesting man and in great shape for 90 years old. We continued our walking tour over to the Old Russian cemetery and went by some historical buildings. At 6:00, we went over to the pavilion and had pizza night hosted by the staff.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 – Our last day of the RV Alaska Tour with Spike & Lindy. Today we washed the jeep and did some shopping at Walmart…got our clam gun and bucket for clamming. We went back to the campground and prepared some snacks to share for our last night’s party. Spike grilled a bunch of halibut caught by the crew from the Jackpot halibut fishing boat. We all visited and shared stories about our adventures of the trip. Larry said “Grace.” And, we had a delicious potluck meal. One of the special things about this trip was before our group meals, someone always said “Grace.” After dinner, Spike had prepared skits for some of us. Then he went over the answers to the “quiz” and I realized that I was getting a lot of them correct. And then he announced the winner and it was ME! I couldn’t believe that I won the “gold” nugget. Bitter sweet evening…having to say goodbye to Spike, Lindy, Roger and Teresa, but excited about our the journey ahead of us.

 

Anchorage - June 6 - 10, 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011 – Off we go to Anchorage! We stopped at the Mt. McKinley view point. It was a clear, beautiful day to see the mountain. Fact:  Only about 30% of people that visit Alaska ever really get to see the mountain because its usually covered in clouds. Spike said in all the trips he has made up here, this was truly one of the best days he’s seen it. We pulled out at a few more stops to see the mountain and take pictures. Then we stopped at Sheep Creek Lodge to have lunch. Its an old log cabin, decorated with many large mounts, very nicely done. It was the kind of place you imagined to find in Alaska. From there, we stopped at the Iditarod Headquarters and Museum in Wasilla. We saw two videos on the Iditarod…very interesting to learn all this stuff about the “big” race from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. Its really a big deal up here. While we were still in Wasilla, we went by Lake Lucille. You could see Sarah Palin’s house across the lake and that was pretty cool. We arrived in Anchorage around 7:00ish. We sat outside because it was so nice out and had some snacks and a glass of wine and chatted with some of our fellow travelers.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 – Day of Tours! City orientation, tour of Old Town Anchorage. Stopped at Alaska Fur Traders, a small, cramped store with a bunch of really cool pelts, moose hides, ivory, mounts, antlers and anything else you could think of that had to do with Alaska were in this store. We bought a piece of a “Wooly Mammoth” tusk to show Noah. From there, we went to Black Elk Crafts, another cool Alaska store (not your typical tourist place). Then off to the Ulu Factory where they make the “authentic” Ulu knives. And, right by the Ulu Factory we stopped by Ship Creek where they fish for salmon right in town. We stopped for lunch, then later in the afternoon, we drove out to Turnagain Arm. It got its name when Captain Cook got lost here and had to turn his ship – again – to get back out to sea. We stopped at Indian Valley Meats and sampled smoke salmon and reindeer sausage. From there, we went to Portage Glacier and watched a video about the glacier that was excellently done. We had driven our jeep there, so before we left, we went down to the water and gathered some glacier ice for drinks later. Then, we went to the “Wild Animal Park.” This is a refuge for injured and orphaned animals and a drive through park (kind of like what Wild Animal Park use to be). We drove our jeep and so glad we did because we could get out whenever we wanted to and take up close pictures of the animals.  So far, this was one of the best things we’ve done so far on the trip. Just to be able to be so close to these animals was amazing!. We saw grizzlies, moose, musk ox, caribou and two grizzly cubs that were rescued from Kodiak Island as orphans. GREAT DAY IN ALASKA!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 – Free Day! Good day to catch up on housecleaning, writing out postcards, do some laundry. We got our mail and went through it and paid some bills, then went to Costco (yep! There’s a Costco in Anchorage…in fact, there’s 2). The sound on our DVD stopped working, and after trying everything possible Kenny could think of, we had to call a repair guy out to the RV park. He began checking things out when I mentioned we had switches for the speakers. Kenny didn’t remember turning them off, but apparently somehow, they got turned off. Once he turned the switches back on Walla! The sound was back on…yippy!  We got a recommendation from Spike and Lindy to eat at the Glacier Brewhouse Restaurant in downtown Anchorage, so we went there for dinner. As we were walking in the door, I immediately realized that we had been there before on our trip 10 years ago in 2001. Food was excellent…like we remembered.

Thursday, June 9, 2011 – Another free day and leisure morning…catching up on journaling. Kula started getting a rash the last few days, same side of his mouth that he had his surgery on. Worried, we called our Vet in So. Cal and she phoned in a prescription for antibiotics for him for 10 days and told us to keep an eye out on it. After picking up Kula’s prescription, we went to Petco to get some things for him, then to downtown Anchorage to do some shopping. While we were walking down the street, Kenny was attacked by seagulls as they swooped down over him and one of them, maybe two pooped on his head and it got in his hair. I was laughing so hard just as I am typing this and reliving it. It was an awful sight…I wish I had a picture hehehe! Kenny was laughing too, but wanted to get back to the motorhome and shower and wash his hair. Came back to the RV park and we all went to the pavilion to hear Kelly Griffin speak. She is another Yukon Quest and Iditarod musher. She brought puppies with that we all got to hold…they were so cute. Then, we all went to Sourdough Mining Co.for dinner and a show with Dusty Sourdough where he talked about his adventures,sang songs and told jokes. From there, we walked across the street to the Wild Berry Park and watched a great video on Alaska. They also had a reindeer outside so we got to visit him. Fun time again tonight!

Spike introducing Kelly Griffin, Alaskan Musher

Kelly sharing her adventures with us.

Kenny holding one of the future Iditarod Lead Dogs

Friday June 10, 2011 – Off at 9:30am to go on a glacier boat tour. We drove along Turnagain Arm and past Portage Glacier and through the Whittier Tunnel (a 3-mile long tunnel, only wide enough for one vehicle). Once we were through the tunnel, it opened up to the small town of Whittier. We boarded the boat and went for a relaxing 5-hour glacier and wildlife tour on Prince William Sound. We saw a lot of eagles perched up on the trees and flying around, seals and rafts of sea otters floating by. On the way to the glaciers they served us a wonderful lunch, buffet style of salmon and prime rib. It was delicious. The captain stopped at a couple of Glaciers and we watched them calving. It was truly amazing to be able to be there for such an event. It sounded like canons going off when they would break away. The size of the waves generated from the falling ice was awesome. This really was one of the highlights of our trip.

Off to Denali - June 4 - 5, 2011

Saturday, June 4, 2011 – Leaving River’s Edge (Fairbanks) at 10:00 heading to Denali. Stopped for a break in the small town of Nenana. This is the little town, famous for their “Nenana Ice Classic.”  They place a large tri-pod out on the middle of the river and you can buy raffle tickets and could win a lot of money depending on when the ice breaks. The tripod measures the exact date and time. It was a very nice drive today. We arrived in Denali at the RV park…not much more than a parking lot with hook-ups. The sites are very close together. Not what we imagined an Alaskan RV park to look like. But, of course we made the best of it. We set up. It was a lot colder and windier than the beautiful weather we’ve been used to in Fairbanks. We drove over to the Denali Visitor Center, got a map of the park and drove in. Not too far into the park, we pulled over because we had a great view of Mt. McKinley. Then we saw a moose, then a caribou. We came back to the RV park, went for a walk and then to Crow’s Nest (great view of Denali) for dinner.

Sunday, June 5, 2011 – Spike took us over to Denali Park in the vans, then we boarded a park bus (the only way to get further than the first 15 mile into the park is to take a park bus in) that took us into the park, a 59 mile ride. Really beautiful scenery…we saw caribou, Dall sheep, different bird species and a moose. We had the most boring bus driver…talked so slow with no personality. We stopped at the end of the 59 mile ride and had lunch and turned around and came back. On the ride back, most of the people on the bus fell asleep. But, we did see more wildlife, but sad to say…no grizzlies. That night Dot and Mike came by the motorhome and we had a nice visit with them.

Fairbanks, Alaska - May 31 - June 3, 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 – We didn’t need to leave until 9:30, so we went over to the restaurant so Kenny could get his “free” breakfast (sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage). We left Tok and it was a very pretty drive along the Alaska Hwy. through the Alaskan tundra toward Fairbanks, but there was smoke in the air…a forest fire near Dot Lake. We saw a moose alongside the road. At Delta Junction, we stopped at Rika’s Roadhouse, built in 1910 for lunch. Next stop was North Pole, Alaska…yes there’s really a “North Pole” where the spirit of Christmas lives year round. At the Santa Claus house (a Christmas store), we saw reindeer and Santa Claus. We did a little shopping and I mailed some postcards, postmarked with North Pole stamp.

We finally arrived at the River’s Edge RV park in Fairbanks (right on the river). We set up and went over to Fred Meyers to do some shopping and get gas in the jeep.

Rika's "beautiful" Roadhouse

At the North Pole!

Whoa! It’s Wednesday, June 1, 2011 – We met Spike at 9:00 and all piled in the vans and off for a city tour of Fairbanks. Went by the “Holy Roller Church” (they had to wait for the river to freeze up so they could roll it from one side of the Chena River to the other), and then to a viewing area of the Alaska Pipeline where Spike explained to us how it was built and what was entailed. At 1:15, we went over to the Riverboat Discovery for a cruise on the Chena River. We stopped in front of the late Iditarod Champion, Susan Butcher and David Monson's riverfront home where we got to see the champion dog team in action. Then, we got off at the Athabascan Indian Village where Alaskan natives shared their cultural traditions as they recounted how their ancestors hunted, fished and built shelters to survive for centuries in the harsh Alaskan wilderness. We got see a bush pilot take off and land on the river, how the Natives used the fur from the animals to make warm coats, a sled dog demonstration as well as salmon smoking techniques used by the natives for centuries.

Later, we all piled back in the vans and went over to Pioneer Park for a salmon Bake dinner. After we ate, we walked around Pioneer Park, a replica of an old gold rush town with historical buildings that had been moved there.

Thursday, June 2, 2011 – Today is a “free” day, so we went back over to the North Pole and got a few more things at the store there, then off to the Fairbanks Visitor’s Center. It had fantastic displays, and several vignettes set up of the “early” days of the Alaskan natives and early gold rush prospectors and trappers. From there we went by the University of Alaska and looked at the reindeer at the Large Animal Research Study, then toured the city on our own.



Friday, June 3, 2011 – Cleaning House Day!  Need to do laundry and mop the floor. It’s also a maintenance day on the motorhome, so Kenny ran into town to pick up an engine filter to replace in the motorhome. I had several loads to do, so I went to the Laundromat. It reminded me of when we were building our home in Montana and I had to use the Laundromat there. Since Spike knows David Monson personally, he invited our group after dinner to his home and dog mushing facility. He spoke to us about the Iditarod adventures, the dogs and mushing. He talked about his wife, the late Susan Butcher, winning the Iditarod four years in a row…a major feat for a woman. We had him sign the book we got for Noah, “Granite” that he and Susan wrote about her lead dog. After David spoke, we met Brent Sass, an up and coming Iditarod musher and just a really nice kid (he reminded me a lot of Justin and is the same age). We got to walk around the facility and play with the puppies and dogs. Brent introduced us to his lead dog, Silver and the other dogs he plans to use in the next Yukon Quest. Another fun and interesting evening.

Susan Butcher's Iditarod Trophies

David Monson signing the "Granite" book for Noah

Brent and his lead dog, Silver

Brent Sass

Brent Sass' Dog Mushing Facility