Fairbanks

Ah, Fairbanks. We ♥ you Fairbanks! We bellied up for the 'full Montey' at River's Edge RV Resort on the banks of the Chena River. La-dee-dah. We've got full hook-ups, high speed Internet, cable TV, trees, grass, and a man servant named Ralph. Ok, I lied about Ralph. A good place for a  bit of decadence and an opportunity to 'dry dock' the trailer for some TLC before we start down the Alaskan Highway towards home.

You probably thought all this rolling stock just keeps going along without any issues. Not! The first order of business was to improve the trailer's braking ability. I pulled and cleaned the ground wires on the trailer and replaced the electronic brake controller with a new, improved unit. Next we open all the windows while we were away at the Fred Meyer Store buying about one of everything and got the humidity down from 65% to 30%, no more mold growing in the corners of the bedroom for us! Too much rain will do that ya know.

Tomorrow the truck gets an oil change - our beast of burden now has 134K miles and still doesn't burn any oil. Tomorrow afternoon is also a ride up to Chena Hot Spring for a long, hot, soak. Such is the life of a tourist.

We're not on Deep Creek Beach anymore Todo!

We are on the Chena River and final approach to the airport!

Denali N.P.

We're camped in Cantwell about 25 miles south of Denali National Park. We drove up from Eagle River on the Parks Highway yesterday in a steady rain. No rain today, so we nibbled around the edges of the Park a bit. We took the shuttle bus out to the kennels and saw a sled dog demonstration and rather then ride back with the teaming masses we hiked two miles on the Roadside Trail down to the Visitor Center. It was nice to get out and walk.

Perhaps.

Yellow and reds of fall?

Fog Cruise

We did a seven hour boat trip out of Seward today with Major Marine. It was a rainy/foggy day, but we got to see killer whales right next to the boat, and Steller sea lions. It was a rough ride when we passed out into the Gulf of Alaska, but nobody had to "try for distance" from the back rail of the boat. In fact the rowdy conditions deterred nobody from the salmon and prime rib lunch.

A moody day on the water.

Steller sea lions being rudely awakened.

Exit Glacier

Holy Moley batman! Exit Glacier is in full retreat. When we were here in 2006 the toe of the glacier was about 100 yards further down hill just out on the level ground behind Joyce in the first picture. I put a person in the second picture to give you a sense of scale; I was going for the blue color of the cravasses.

We had a very nice hike and we were careful to avoid what Sewardians call "eye poison" i.e. the sun.

Joyce on the Exit Glacier out-wash plain.

The trail crew member with the yellow hard-hat gives a sense of scale.

Seward - A Visual Tour

Adieu Deep Creek Beach

Click on the picture for a Hi-Res panorama.

Time to Roll

Thursday morning we retire as campground hosts and go awandering. It is time to travel and find some warm, sunny days before summer slips away on us. Ninilchik set a record for rain in July and the trend continues. It's been a great stay and we've been able to see and do plenty, but the travel itch needs to be scratched.

First stop is Seward for a day trip on a boat out to see whales, puffins, and glaciers. Then we point it north toward Fairbanks via the Parks Highway and Denali as they've been hitting 80+ degrees most days. Chena Hot Springs is big on our list of stops too.

Sarah Palin showed up here for an over-nighter with her entourage to film a segment for her "reality show" i.e. Sarah and family dig for clams. We stayed well away, but were amused that for the scene where "Sarah cooks a wholesome dinner for her family" she had to borrow a skillet from a fellow camper. Reality indeed!

Silver salmon are running up Deep Creek now and folks are doing pretty well on the incoming tides. The run is on!

Engine room --- make steam!

Alaska Fishing Charters - Halibut Trip

Today it was up early for a 5:30 AM halibut charter with Afishunt a.k.a. Alaska Fishing Charters. We had perfect conditions, it was dry and calm the whole time with very little wind, so the 30 minute run out to our fishing spot was very smooth. We had two hours of almost constant action, and we all got our limit of two fish each. Joyce hauled her fish up from 150 feet without stopping for a breather each time. As a bonus we saw otters, a seal, a whale, and a porpoise.

Captain Aurthur and mate Erin were terrific and kept this boatload of rookies squared away in a warm and friendly manner. At times we had three or four fish on so they had to scramble to keep up!

"Oh-dark-thirty" start to catch the tide change.

Rich inspecting our 32' boat, before the tractor launch.

Lin landed the biggest fish in our group at 38 pounds.

Lin goes to reload the bait, while Rich works a fish.

Janet seems pleased!

 A pretty good morning of fishing, with a very professional outfit.

Herring Islanders

Our friends Jane and Tim, and their two boys Logan and Bridger invited us out to their isalnd in Kachemak Bay for an overnighter. It was a fanstastic trip. We left Homer Harbor in sunlight and very calm seas for the crossing, once on their island they treated us to grilled salmon and fresh salad. Jane and Tim commercially fish salmon, so after dinner Joyce, Jane, and I went out to check the nets. On the way out the outboard engine decided to  act up. A pin had fallen out of throttle linkage so we were idle only for a while -  I was able to fish the necessary bits out of the bottom of the case, re-secure the likage, and get us going again. We got up close instruction in identifying the different varieties of a salmon an and their quality as Jane pulled the catch out of the nets.

We spent the night in their guest cabin and after breakfast we motored over to Jackolof Bay and walked along the road picking salmon berries in just a light rain.

A blustery front was moving through, so after lunch Jane took us back over to Homer before it got any worse. It was an e-ticket ride in the skiff with really good wave action right off the Homer spit. We rolled up the Sterling Highway back into Deep Creek just as the rain really started to pour down.

Captain Jane passing out PFDs and prepares to shove off.

Tim and Jane's cabin.

Still life, cabin porch.

Joyce and Jane clearing the net.

Island view.

Good friends, good food, warm and dry.

Playing frisbee-golf with the boys on the beach.

An Egg McMuffin, Ninilchik Style

We've been hearing good things about the Boardwalk Cafe down at the mouth of the Ninilchik River just before the boat harbor. We decided to try them out for breakfast. The "Sunrise Sandwich" is a fresh ingredient homage to the Egg McMuffin. We can report that the burgers are pretty good too - the other night while Joyce did the laundry up at ranger central I surprised her with some "take out" from here.

A fishing fleet works out of Ninilchik Harbor, this is a pretty tight anchorage, and boats need to come and go only on the high tide. We often see them sitting offshore waiting for an incoming tide.

Joyce is ready for breakfast.

Ninilchik Harbor.

Whiskey Gulch

The sun came out and so did we. Joyce and I scurried off to the beach at Whiskey Gulch for some beachcombing. As you can see the tractor-launch there is on a different scale entirely then what goes on commercially at Deep Creek.  Whiskey Gulch is a few miles north of Anchor Point off the Sterling Highway - it is a very nice, laid back place to wander. The road down is quite steep, we had to stop and put the truck into 4x4 on the way back up.

Glorious sunshine.

Gratuitous architecture photo from the ride home.

Rain

We've had three straight days with a variety of rain. Everything from misting, to sprinkles you could ignore, to driving downpours, but mostly just plane, old, steady rain. Anchorage set a new record for today with .75" of precipitation (the old record was .50").

The weather has emptied the campground and the outhouse I clean each morning has stayed pristine - I'm good with that. The trailer does seem to be shrinking. Ha! In self-defense we fled last night to the one excellent Mexican restaurant in Homer. Don Jose's was a good time - warm, dry, and nice Kodachrome colors to the decor. The seafood enchilata was fresh and excellent and the steak fajita would feed two people. The margarita was good chemo-therapy for the rain, it wasn't watered down (oh my gosh, reduced to rain puns).

We roll out in just over two weeks so we're cleaning and organizing and getting ready to become road warriors again. I found an excellent blog by Sue Thomas that is chock full of Yukon/Alaska/BC travel lore, including places to boondock. Her photography is top-notch so I'm enjoying that greatly.

Some cheery news: An article I wrote for a British ham radio magazine telling of my operating exploits here in Alaska is being published this fall and I'm lead to understand one of my pictures will grace the front cover. Cool beans!

The really big news is that Joyce and I took the plunge and booked a month long stay in Kona, Hawaii for mid-November. It was great fun using the Internet to research, read reviews, and book the condo and flights. I guess three days of rain does have expensive side effects! So dear reader if you have Kona/Big Island tips for us please email or comment - we're rookies and appreciate any guidance/suggestions.

The hat! I must have that hat!

An Oklahoma couple cleans clams in the rain. Say that three times fast.

Kasilof River Dipnetting

Today we drove to the end of the North Cohoe Loop Road and walked over to the mouth of the Kasilof River to get a look at the dipnetting action. The reds (sockeye salmon) are running! We saw probably 25 fish landed in the time we were there.

Dipnetting is for resident Alaskans only, and they're allowed to keep 20 fish plus 10 per additional family member. The nets can be a maximum of five feet across. The specifics are here.

The variety of nets and people were really interesting. There were round ones, square ones, oval ones and rectangular ones - the nets of course. There was a festive, family atmosphere, with ATVs, coolers, tents, trucks and cars scattered just above the high tide line. Folks would wade out with their nets about five feet from the next person and be chatting away until a salmon trying to reach the spawning grounds at Tustumena Lake decided to run the gauntlet. Then the lucky netter would lunge back up the bank and haul the fish clear of the water as fast as he or she could move in their waders, thump the fish on its head, clean it, and plop it into a cooler of ice.

A note: Waders do make your butt look bigger.
 

Dipnetting on at the mouth of the Kasilof River on an incoming tide.

High summer fun, that's glacier fed water folks are wading in.

A good look at the action.

Another 'red' hits the cooler.

Skilak Lake Loop Road

Today we packed a picnic lunch and headed north up the Sterling Highway to the Skilak Lake Loop Road. it was a great 20 mile tour on a very good dirt road with decent views of both the lake and the Kenai Range. Some big fish come out of this lake. Don't believe me? Check it out.

A bonus was finding the Hidden Lake Campground, a neat place tucked into the tree. Later, Joyce and I took a short hike down to the Kenai River just below Jim's Landing and had fun seeing salmon jumping as they worked their way up the Kenai River. There was enough bear scat on the trail to keep us talking with our "bear voices" as we went to and fro. No mosquitoes this year!

Skilak Lake and the Kenai Range

Mount Redoubt's Plume

Our volcano 'neighbor' about 50 miles away across Cook Inlet is putting on a show today. A pretty good sized steam plume showed up this morning and kept growing as the day wore on. Redoubt last erupted in the spring of 2009. Here are a few links to the professional volcano watchers. The web cam and the web site.

Mount Redoubt venting.

On a much smaller scale we're starting to notice the first few fireweed blooms showing up. This is a sure sign that summer is rolling on. In another week we should have quite a show.

A sign that summer is slipping by.

A Full Day of Salmon

We were given several sockeye salmon today. So Rich and Les worked their fillet knives, and then we vacuum packed the results and pop'ed them in the freezer. Yum! Later in the day we had several helpings of slamon kabobs from the fund raiser the Ninilchik Health and Wellness Center put on. Boy was that a treat! Full stomachs and full freezers and plenty of Omega-3.

Rich and Les getting after it.

  The Food-Saver vacuum packer in action. Janet checked me out on her machine and then let me solo.

Tacky tourist shot to see if you're paying attention. That's a fiberglass fish.

Eveline State Recreation Site (Homer)

Just 20 minutes out of Homer on the East End Road is the Eveline State Recreation Site. There are two relatively short loop trails on this 80 acre parcel and both have stunning flowers this time of the year. If you're in Homer and only have time for one hike I'd recommend this one. We've been out to this little gem of a hiking spot three times because of the flowers and the views across Kachemac Bay to the Kenai Range and its glaciers. The pictures tell the story, but you can sense Edmund loved Eveline very much.

Directions: Out of downtown Homer (not the Spit) on East End Road for 13.8 miles past the McNeil Canyon School, take the left onto Alpine meadow Drive and go .3 miles to the trailhead with good parking. There are usually trail maps and a flower guide at the trailhead bulletin board

At the trailhead.

Joyce on the trail checking out the lupine.

Somebody's dream house sits above the Alpine Meadow Trail.

 Click on this one for a hi-res treat.