Early Tuesday morning, we got up and drove to Whittier, 90 miles North of Seward. The little town is only accessible via the Alaska Railroad. A 2 mile long tunnel through a solid mountain.
A few years ago, they fixed the tunnel, so that cars and the train...share the tunnel. At an appointed time, the cars are lined up, and released...then they are stopped and the train goes through.
I was fascinated to find out the Whittier was originally a secret military installation. There is cloud cover,most of the time, it is surrounded by mountains and Glaciers and no access, except by hidden tunnel. The entire town is not touched by direct sunlight
from November through February. Pretty wild, huh? Anyway, we loaded onto the "Emerald Sea" for our 5 and a half hour cruise to see wildlife and Glaciers (hopefully calving)....we saw bald eagles, rafts of sea otters and all kinds of birds. There was one cliff-dwelling bird in particular....there were thousands of! We were in Prince William Sound, a very protected, calm area of the sea, where we saw about 10 or 12 Glaciers.....2 in particular, that were active in calving.They served a Prime Rib or Salmon Buffet, which was really good, and cheesecake, carrot cake, or brownies for dessert. A very enjoyable cruise, one of the best things we've done. Afterward, we got back to the bus and Jimmy decided to drive, for awhile. We ended up stopping, for the night, in Mt.Pinnacle RV Park, so I could do some laundry (very overdue!) We may just chill here tomorrow.....plan to be in Valdez (pronounced val-Deez) on Thursday.

While we were driving around , we saw a boat driving down the street, and the Alaska Railroad train go through town.

Good evening!Sorry I didn't get around to posting, yesterday.....was just too tired out.

Jimmy and I went to Exit Glacier....One of the only Glacier's you can drive within a mile or so to, then walked up a path the rest of the way. However, yesterday was a sunny, hot day for Seward (upper 60s), so there was a lot of melting of the Glacier and the path right up to the foot of the Glacier was covered in water, about ankle deep, so we opted not to go any further.

Then we decided to just walk around town...(not a very big town, mind you), and a nice man took our picture at the small boat harbor. As we drove home, Jimmy noticed that someone did not have a very good day....when he saw a boat motor....propeller, shaft and all....without the boat body, on the shore as the tide went out. Then we went back to the bus and Jimmy grilled pork chops and bratwurst,While I cooked rice pilaf and baked beans.

Tide's out this morning......

Sunset out our windshield!

Today, we got up early and drove into Seward, so we could get settled in time to watch the Nascar race (hey, I gotta have a little civilization)
and we ended up driving through town, on this 1 1/2 lane road, out to the end of the point of land. Miller's Landing. The RV Park (I use the term loosley) had our reservation, but the people were still in the spot. The had no dump station, but directed us to one in town, so we figured they'd be gone, by then.....they weren't, so we had to basically run 'em off. We got settled into our 30 amp spot... with no water, no dump and minimal power (it flashed on and off several times) and we began wondering what, exactly, were we paying for? But the view is more than spectacular, especially at midnight (sunset). The ocean laps just outside our window and the tide comes in and out, within feet of our windshield. We drove into town and found a Safeway, (yea! skim milk!) and a Wells Fargo Bank. Then we went to the Alaska Sealife Center and saw Puffins, Stellar Sea Lions (endangered) and harbor seals, along with many kinds of fish, starfish, salmon, eels, even jellyfish. After we left, Jimmy set up with his dish, again and sat comfortably with his binoculars, on the beach.
Tomorrow, we plan to go to Exit Glacier and actually walk up to it and maybe walk on it....

We stopped at a viewing park, right above town and I got some great pictures! some of the "Spit" and some of the mountains. Jimmy tried the Internet on the Hummer (of course) and Voila! It locked on! So, naturally, I had to take a picture of the Hummer in Homer, Alaska!

The mountains were starting to get topped with snow, the doggies were crashed out and we saw on old lighthouse along the way. The Russian Church was really out of a little town named Ninilchik. We drove past Anchor Point and arrived at Homer about 4 pm. We kept seeing signs for Dip Nets......what is a dip net? Well, it seems that there was a competition going on in Kenai, where people wade out in the water, and literally "dip" the fish out in a net...instead of fishing. Anyway,
Homer was really neat...the main shops, etc. were out on "the spit" and there were homes built up on the side of the mountain. A town of about 3900 people. Jimmy and I walked down the boardwalk, through a bunch of shops, even saw a couple of fresh Halibut, that had been caught. We left about 9, headed for "home" at Cooper Landing, so we could get back by midnight. Even though it wasn't dark yet. (ever)

Saturday, we left the Bus at the campground and decided to do a day trip to Homer, Ak. The southwesternmost city that you can drive to. After some more beautiful scenery....Nikki decided that she needed to play in a lake. Shadow felt a little left out.

As we drove along, we were amazed at the people, in their waders, out in the freezing water.....fishing! EVERYONE FISHES here! We continued on to the town of Kenai...where we saw a Russian Orthodox Church...you can really see the Russian influence here, even the street we had to turn on was named Kalifornsky Blvd.!
Then on to Soldatna, a pretty large town, by their standards....1700 people! They even had a McDonald's! But we stopped and had a Chinese Buffet (pretty good!)

We left Anchorage on Friday headed down to the Kenai Peninsula,(after Jimmy walked Libby, the cat, in the parking lot of Sam's) down the Seward Highway, around the Portage Glacier and Whittier, through Moose Pass....(these are all fabulous mountains!) and eventually stopped and spent the night at Cooper Landing. We had been recommended the Kenai Princess RV park....but thy were full, so we stayed at the Kenai Riverside RV park. (down in a hole....no possible view for the TV or the internet). Jimmy and the dogs and I loaded up in the Hummer and went exploring. We went way up the hillside and found the Kenai Princess Lodge. Stopped on the side of the mountain....tried the Internet dish and lo and behold....it worked!! Downloaded some email, then went to the lodge and had a WONDERFUL dinner. Split King Crab legs, with drawn butter and Jimmy had Prime Rib, yum!We drove around and just could not get over the COLOR of the water in the Kenai River.....it was turquoise!

Now, call it Dumb Luck or something...but we saw THE MOUNTAIN ( Mt.McKinley or Denali and some call it) on the first day we got here! We met people who had been here six days, waiting to get a view. There was a tour (Buses filled like sardine cans) to drive all day, into the park, to get a better view (if you were lucky), but we didn't want to be gone that long. It is pretty fabulous....20,000 feet tall! We drove a little down the road to see if we could get a better view, but when we stopped for the night, it was engulfed in clouds.We spent the night at the South viewpoint of Denali National Park, but the mountain was never to be seen again. They say that out of 105 days of summer, it is usually only seen about 5 days!
From there, we headed to Anchorage, with a stop at Wasilla to eat at McDonald's and call our former Hummer Club President, Linda North, to see if she was home.(she lives here)....but she was down in the "lower 48". We made it to town, but there are NO RV parks with any vacancies!
Jimmy decided to drive through town, all the way to the water's edge, to see where we could dry camp. After meandering through town, getting lost on smaller and smaller streets, fearing that we would have to unhook the Hummer and back out of the neighborhood....he lucked out and found a road that lead us back to the local park.
After parking there for awhile, to get our plan figured out. We pulled out, and some kids that were playing soccer, kicked the ball, right under us....I didn't know that happened, I just saw Jimmy cringe hit the brakes and heard a loud POW! I thought "Great, another tow bar just broke", but one of the kids just picked up the ball behind us, and put it on his head....like a hat! ha!ha! poor kids!
After trying the Fred Meyer parking lot (it was packed with RVs), we drove South in town, to the Wal-Mart. Several Rvs were parked there...but there were signs everywhere...NO OVERNIGHT PARKING! Sure enough, a little security guard came and ran us off...but said the Sam's, across the street would let us park there. So that is where we are now. Don't know if I'll be able to access internet or not for the next few days, but we plan to be here until tomorrow, going to the Kenai on Friday, then Seward on Sunday. I'll post, if I can.

Just thought you might like to see Midnight on the road from Fairbanks to Denali National Park. It never really gets dark here, the sun goes down, but it is just below the horizon for about 4 hours, then comes up again.....so it is twilight from 12:30 to 4:30am.....good thing we have black out curtains in the bedroom!

On Monday, the replacement tow bar came, Jimmy fixed it, then we went to the University of Alaska museum. Went to an interesting short movie about the Winter, here..then to look at the exhibits....pretty school....sort of Frank Lloyd Wright looking architecture.

On Sunday, the 8th, we took a ride on the Riverboat Discovery. It was probably, on of the highlights of our trip. We first saw a bushpilot in his floatplane, take off and land on the Chena River, then stopped off at one of the Kennels that raises Iditarod sled dogs (cute puppies!) learned about how they are raised and raced. after awhile, we turned onto the Tanana River, where they meet, the water definitely mixes and chanes....really cool to see! Further up the river, we stopped at an authentic Native Indian Village, where we saw, and later got to pet, caribou (reindeer). They have soft velvety antlers....the vegetables they grow are HUGE,because of the long daylight hours, then saw some native parkas and muclucks made from skins and the beautiful beading they put on it!

After heading back to the dock...they pointed out that the dock was made from sections of the Trans Alaska pipeline bought as salvage, years ago. Really nice tour, on a sunshiney day.

6 Moose in the pond! Quite a sight!

After the Gold Mining...we drove round Fairbanks and found a back road into the airport.

We saw some old C46's and Jimmy thinks that one of them ma even be one of our old ones we had, years ago at Atorie, in El Paso. At least maybe the sister plane.

Saturday, we drove out to Chena Hot Springs.....a real nice Resort (they've made it into), with some of the natural geothermal springs made into pools...saw lots of "cow"moose along the road, cars stop on the side of the road, people jump out and wade through the trees, etc. into a clearing with a pond (slapping mosquitos all the way). I got some really nice shots.

Then, Nikki and Shadow had to play in the Chena River....so we went down to an area where we could access driving on the banks and let them play.

These are pictures of gold mining dredges working in Alaska somewhere around 1948.....they got a lot more gold then! They estimated by today's price....the gold dredge that we were at (#8) brought in about.....wait for it.....$ 1.3 Billion (with a B)!

I think I will post some of Daddy's photos, taken in 1948, or so.....pretty amazing....

Friday, we went panning for GOLD! Lots of interesting facts about gold dredges....and I realize that many of Daddy's pictures, I have, are of these Gold Mining Dredges, and how they were done. Jimmy and I panned, and got over 17.00 worth (combined) so I put them together and they made a charm on a necklace for me....so I can show it off!

We left the White River RV park and went up the Haines Highway, through Desconstruction Bay where, if you weren't careful, the Frost Heaves in the road could really....DE-Construct Your Motorhome! That was the worst road, so far, that we have had to run on. Back and forth through the US and Canada a couple of times, then to the us border at the main part of Alaska. We got to Tok and had lunch at Fast Eddie's.....much like a Chili's or Applebee's (they want to ease the Americans into the Great White North)! Stopped in Delta Junction and got our certificate saying that we had "survived" the Alaska Highway. This was the official "end". Then, as we were pulling out, the towbar pulling the Hummer broke! Jimmy called the Blue Ox people and arranged for them to send us a replacement, under warranty, and then "Jimmy-rigged" it so we could at least make it to Fairbanks. We stopped at the North Pole and saw Santa, ate at Taco Bell (really surprising it was there! it was new)....then witnessed a hit and run in the parking lot at Santa's House! We met some people from New Mexico and demo'ed the RoadHog...they were really interested, might buy one.Well, it finally happened.....we made it to Fairbanks for the 4th, and lost the internet! We checked in at the Riverview RV park and Jimmy washed the bus, of course! Most of these parks have a wash area....I guess they realize how dirty you can get. There were fireworks....but we had no idea where they were, since it was still light at 12:30 am! The big satellite dish could no longer get internet, but the smaller dish, on the bus, still got TV. There were some local channels on the regular TV, however, not very good reception.

We waved good bye to our nice campground in Haines......if anyone plans to do this, in the future, I suggest driving into Skagway, but catch the ferry to Haines to go to the Haines Hitch-up RV park. Then, once you are settled, take the Fast Ferry, for a day trip to Skagway. It's a great little town, but really caters to the cruise ship tourists. Also, the campgrounds are not really wonderful....the Pullen RV park in Skagway, is ok...but the Haines one is much nicer...they have 50 amp power, available, which you don't need, it's so nice and cool....however, if you want to do laundry.....that's important. There's grass,and it's very well kept, and town is right down the road.

Jimmy wrapped the Hummer up, to avoid any stray rocks, chipping the paint or breaking the windows. Then we saw a couple of girls, kayaking way out on one of the many HUGE lakes we passed.

Then....the neatest thing of all....a mama Grizzley bear and her cub, eating dinner on the side of the road! We stopped at the White River RV park, just short of Beaver Creek, it's pretty nice, we can still get TV and internet, I really can't believe it....I expect to lose it, any day now, we're so far North.

Today,Monday, We drove over to Fort Seward....a decomissioned army base, then drove out to the bald eagle preserve, however, were disappointed...saw no eagles, but did see a fishing machine....really interesting to watch, it is tethered to the shore and the river flowing, makes the arms move. The baskets gather up fish and dump them into a holding tank....no electicity, unmanned....pretty neat! Then, of course, Jimmy had to see if his satellite dish would work....it did. Tomorrow, we will be headed toward Tok. We have heard horror stories of the road being bad.....we'll see soon!

We woke up to a nice, lazy Sunday morning and Jimmy decided to cook breakfast, outside, on the grill. Then we watched the NASCAR race until about 2. The Flightseeing people called us and said they would be by to get us at 4:30, so we hopped on the Road Hog and went into town to grab a bite. We had to stop and watch some poor guy whose boat had fallen off the trailer, as he was backing down the boat launch ramp. We had a pretty good lunch, albeit SLOW SERVICE. So we had to eat fast and hurry back to the bus. Sure enough, not 5 minutes after we got there.....they were there to pick us up and take us to the airport. There was another couple...so 4 of us, and the pilot, squeezed into a Cessna 172 (I think). The flight was really amazing....besides Glacier after Glacier, we saw sheep, on the mountains, a couple of crazy groups of people.....CAMPING on the Glaciers and then we landed on the beach. Jimmy was in charge of the video camera while I took pictures. We got some great pictures and video...but it would have been better if the plane had glass! (the windows were plastic). I was fine until the final leg of the trip, the pilot swore that there were bears on this one mountainside so he turned, pretty hard and the plane dropped a few feet.....that did it, for me......I turned green and grabbed the sic-sac. (remind me not to eat before I go up in a small plane)!