Bidding Farewell to the Seashore

You know how those video travelogues always have the cruise ship sailing out of the harbor and the guy with the British accent says, “As we bid farewell to …………….”? Well, I think that tomorrow we will be leaving the fabulous southeastern shores of Alaska and will be headed for the “interior”.

In Valdez we were on Prince William Sound and in Homer we were on Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay, in Seward we are on Resurrection Bay and the Gulf of Alaska in the North Pacific. All are wonderful and have distinct personalities but if I had to choose one it would be Valdez.

We left Homer on Wednesday and drove slowly up the Kanai Peninsula stopping often to check things out. The Milepost (Alaska Travel Planner) makes it possible to anticipate upcoming attractions and alert RV’s to pull-outs big enough for their rigs. Alaska has bad roads but lots of pull-outs. The law requires motorist to pull out when they have five vehicles behind them. This isn’t always possible but it does help. Wildlife sightings are a different ballgame. Everyone just leaves their vehicle in the road and takes pictures.

We missed our turn and took the Kalifornisky Beach Road out to the town of Kenai. This proved to be providential since we passed a great seafood retailer at Snug Harbor. We bought fresh King crab legs, deep sea scallops, smoked halibut, and frozen chowder. We also saw a herd of caribou on this road and we visited the excellent museum in Kenai.

We are in the City of Seward municipal campground right on Resurrection Bay. The City has 10 cg’s spread out along about two miles of shore behind the town. There is a paved walking trail with fire pits every 12 feet or so. It is easy walking to everything and in the evenings is like a promenade with folks and kids and dogs strolling along. We can see the boats coming and going to the port. Last night everyone gathered to watch a huge cruise ship back out of the harbor and get turned around in the bay. It is also Very noisy here. At 3:30 this morning I took Percy out and there were still campfires and conversations going on. It has been a fun experience but I think we are ready to move on.

On Thursday we spent the day on a Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise. We saw three glaciers, (one of them calving), and lots of gorgeous cliffs and islands and waterfalls. Also saw whales and seals and birds. It was a fantastic day. Yesterday we went to the Exit Glacier section of the NP and did a Ranger-led hike up to the Edge of the Glacier. We also visited the Alaska Sealife Center, a marvelous aquarium. My favorite part was watching the Puffins “sail” under water. Today we went back to the NP and walked along the flats of the Resurrection River.

Night before last I steamed the crab legs. We ate them with fresh corn-on-th-cob and drawn butter. Last night I sauteed the scallops in a white-wine, herb, and olive oil marinade served over linguine. We have wonderful bread from Three Sisters Bakery in Homer. Would you believe we have both lost weight?  

"The ourside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man." (George Wherry)

When you travel weeks just to get to the border of Alaska and then you still have days to get to Anchorage, it is hard to imagine that you are barely there. Most of Alaska isn’t accessible by road and there are long distances from point A to point B. It is no wonder that airplanes are everywhere.

We drove the 226 miles from Anchorage to Homer Saturday on the Seward and then the Sterling Highways. The Kenai Peninsula, with the Homer Spit at the very end, is south of Anchorage with Cook Inlet to the west and the Aleutian Range to the southwest. From our campground we can look across the inlet to Mt.Iliamma, Mt Redoubt, and Mt. St. Augustine. All are over 10,000 feet and all are active volcanoes. Redoubt blew last in 2009. Across Kachemak Bay, we see the glaciers and endless succession of peaks of the Cugachs.

We are on the shores of Bishops Beach and due to the Solstice have had “minus” low tides. These are  tides that are far below normal and they expose miles of mud flats, tidal pools and rocks and allow access to bluffs and “heads”. Butch and I took advantage of this yesterday and walked four miles (roundtrip) out to Big Bluff to search a coal seam for fossils. We only found one micro amber and he gave it to a little boy. With more time and effort I think this could be a rich load for tiny fossils.

On Sunday I went to St. Augustine Episcopal Church which is within walking distance of our CG. It is a contemporary building with three huge windows behind the altar that look out onto Cook Inlet and the volcanoes. What with the magnificent view and the sea planes swooping by, I don’t see how anyone concentrates on the sermon. There were 12 of us, the Usual Episcopalians, and we recognized each other immediately. I felt right at home.

Last night we joined another couple from the CG and took the Kachemak Ferry (the Danny J) across the Bay to Halibut Cove. This is an amazing village built on stilts along the cliffs of Islamof Island and the surrounding mainland cove. All transportation is by the 12 blocks of boardwalk and by water or sea plane. Dinner was at the Saltry. We sat outdoors on the boardwalk by an open fireplace. Since there were only 10 of us on the boat and several of us were from the CG, it was like a private party.  This was indeed, a Peak Evening.

We “did” museums, galleries, and the wonderful Ocean Visitor’s Center today.  I think we may leave in the morning and plan to spend a day or two at Soldotna and Kenai before going on to Seward for the weekend. Or maybe not! It is unbelievable how little a schedule matters to us. We just sort of wander around, marveling at the magnificence.

 

Not All Who Wander Are Lost (we just look that way)

This past week has been a blur of good times, good friends, and good food.

After leaving Tok last Thursday (6/13), we traveled down the Richardson Highway to Valdez. I had visited Valdez in 1995 and found it to be one of my favorite stops on the Alaska tour. It is a fishing town on a beautiful harbor surrounded by the peaks of the St. Elias-Wrangle NP and by magnificent glaciers and waterfalls. As we approached Thompson Pass, the absolute glory of the Worthington Glacier, the icefield, and the 14,000 foot peaks shown against a clear blue sky. It was heart stopping. One of those moments when you know you have never seen anything like this before.

We stayed in Valdez until Sunday. Our CG was typical Alaska Gravel Parking Lot style, but it faced right on the bay and was within walking distance of everything. We went out to the Columbia Glacier on the Lulu Belle, a beautiful yacht that provides a wonderful tour.  We bought huge prawns and wild sock-eye salmon fresh from the fish market and cooked up some great meals.

We spent Sunday night in Palmer and arrived in Anchorage before noon on Monday. My friend Carol lives here and we were beyond excited to see each other again. We have been friends for over 50 years and she is godmother to my two older sons. So we have spent the week tearing around sightseeing, visiting, and drinking lots of wine! As an added bonus, Carol’s husband knew my old friend, Lulie Williams, from Apalachee Canoe Club days. (Anchorage is not such a big town.) Lulie came out in the summer of 1980 and has never looked back. We got together today.

We are off to the Kenai Peninsula tomorrow as we hope to spend a few days in Homer. We will have over 19 hours of daylight in Anchorage today. Happy Summer Solstice to everyone.

 

Hallelujah.......Tok at last!

We passed through customs back into the US this afternoon and arrived at Tok, “the main street of Alaska” about 4 p.m. (ADT). Everything you have heard about the Alcan Highway is true. We crept along mile after mile with broken to nonexistent pavement, swells, potholes, and frost heaves. Very rarely we would pass, or be passed by, a fellow sufferer.  That is why Tok is such a happy place. Everybody is just so glad to GET here!

In the Yukon and Alaska the roads are so few that they are not referred to by their numbers but by their names. The Cassiar, the road we came up on, is not just a way to get from A to B, it is an experience. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway or Going to the Sun Highway, it is staggeringly beautiful and full of history. The awfulness of the road itself is readily acceptable because it is so scenic. The section of the Alcan that we did had some wonderful views but fewer opportunities to pull off and was more tedious.

We camped at Dease Lake on the Cassiar, mostly a gravel parking lot with RV sites. When we left we filled our extra gas can for the first time. On the Alcan we camped south of Whitehorse on a lake that was so high some of the sites were in the lake.  Last night we were at one of the prettiest campground ever, right on Kluane Lake at Destruction Bay. Our site was about four feet above the water with a fabulous view of Kluane National Park.  Kluane Lake is as beautiful as Tahoe with turquoise water surrounded by mountain peaks.

Tonight we are in a spruce grove in a place much like a state park. We have a very private site and an excellent place to walk Percy. We also have secure internet and cell phone service. The sun will set at 11:43 and will rise at 3 am.

I may sound as if all we do is drive but that isn’t wholly true. We leave whenever we feel like it and stop often. We stop in late afternoon and have long evenings to enjoy our surroundings. We see museums, visitor’s centers and historical markers along the way. The only thing we don’t do is laundry and that is getting to be a problem!  Off to Valdez tomorrow.

Day by Day

Tuesday: One month and one day after leaving NC we are finally in Canada. We crossed at Sumas this morning in about five minutes. We took CA 1 and 97 through the Frasier River Canyon to Clinton BC. This is very rugged, almost desert-looking country that is called “Canada’s Hot Spot” because summer temperatures sometimes exceed 100 (F).  Highway 97 is also called the “Cariboo Waggon Road” as it was the main drag to the gold fields. After passing Cache Creek the hills softened somewhat and everything is green and lush. Truck farming is big in the narrow valley but it is too early in the season for the roadside stands to be open.

Friday: Butch has put in a couple of days of hard driving to get us to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK. We are staying on the BC side at Bear River. We continued north on CA 97 to Prince George where we turned west on 16 (the Yellowhead Highway). Most travelers continue on 97 to the ALCAN but we wanted to go counter-clockwise and try 37, called the Cassiar. It has only been paved for a couple of years and just last week was closed for three days because of flooding. It is an 80 mile rt spur to Stewart-Hyder, but the road is called the Glacier Highway and is said to be one of the most beautiful in British Columbia. For one who has been to the Canadian Rockies and to Vancouver Island, this was hard to imagine but it is true!

Saturday: Wow and double Wow! We drove three miles into Alaska at Hyder and then out & back on the Salmon Glacier Road (44 miles). This is the most spectacular scenery we have seen on this trip. The road is an active “haul road” used to service the mining industry and is interesting to say the least. We followed the road from Fish Creek (where the bears come in late summer to catch salmon), along the river and then beside the glacier to the summit viewpoint which overlooks the entire range. The glacier was blinding and there are hundreds of waterfalls. It is like Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier NP but a lot more up close and personal.

 By the time we reached the top there was snow piled on both sides of the road and we almost turned around twice. The first time we actually had the truck turned when an old Land Rover piled high with stuff roared by. On the back was painted, “Live Once-Live it All”.  We kept going!  Other than the mining company trucks, we saw only two other cars and were alone at the summit. What an incredible experience.

We will return to the Cassiar Hiway tomorrow as there will be closures on it on Monday. Hope to be in the Yukon Territory by then. Sorry no photos with this post. We are on CG internet connection and it is not allowed.

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places”. (Psalm 16:6)

We are in Birch Bay WA, which is just about as far as you can go and still be in the contiguous USA.  We plan to cross into British Columbia tomorrow and head to the Yukon Territories. It has been an amazing week. We have truly “happened” upon some marvelous places and experiences. I posted on FB about our accidental meeting with John and Paula that resulted in a canoe trip on the Rogue River. They took a chance on a couple of geezers in an ugly canoe and we had a terrific day. In the manner of paddlers everywhere, they urged us to stay longer and they would take us further upriver. It was very tempting.

After leaving Rogue River we stopped for the night at Sequest State Park near Silver Lake WA. The setting for the park is lovely; the facilities were not so good. They may be experiencing budget problems or just poor management.  We did have time to drive up to Johnstone Ridge to get a good view of Mt. St. Helens. I saw it in August of 1979, just nine months before it blew. It is very humbling to look at what used to be a peak and see a flat place. The drive up there is pretty spectacular too.

Yesterday (6/3) we arrived at Birch Bay which is one of the most beautiful parks ever. We are parked in a grove of sequoias overlooking the bay. To the north is Vancouver BC, along the western horizon is Vancouver Island, and behind us is Mt. Baker. We had an early dinner last night so we could get down to the beach before sunset. After beachcombing for a while, we settled down on two huge driftwood trees to wait. We were seated on one log and leaning back against the other as the sun slowly set. It would have been romantic except that Percy was intrigued by the opportunity to walk along the back log and lick our ears. Since she had just been sniffing dead crabs and wet seaweed it sort of spoiled the mood.

Since this is our last day in the US for a while and we are unsure of future internet connections, we had lots of business to tend to. Best of all, we had dinner tonight in Birch Beach with my wonderful friend, Helen. She drove over from Ferndale. We had years of news to catch up on and lots of photos to share. Magnificent places and fabulous scenery are great but dear friends are the real treasure.

 

North to Alaska.....sort of.

We were in Sparks/Reno for over a week, the past few days awaiting a package. We enjoyed visiting with relatives, shopping, and getting the truck and TT ready for the long haul north. When we left yesterday morning, we weren’t even sure which route we would take after Susanville, CA.  It was a lovely drive up through the Lassen National Forest;  the ponderosas, meadows, lakes, wild flowers and in the background Lassen Peak and later Mt. Shasta. We skirted the east side of Lassen National Park and saw lots of evidence of the 1915 eruption. The road into the park will not open until June 6.

Reports from the Washington DOT re: detours around the Mt. Vernon bridge are positive so we elected to merge with I-5.  We had no camping plans but I found Valley of the Rogue State Park in our waterlogged Woodalls’s.  Ah, finding Joy in unexpected places! This is an Oregon SP that is a three mile greenway between I-5 and the Rogue River. Fortunately the River is louder than the Road and we have a great spot. I am sitting under a mature Cottonwood tree looking at a very lively river. There are nice hiking trails here and the flowers are outstanding. The park itself shows evidence of the spring flooding but everything is clean and convenient. Percy is sleeping under the picnic table on real grass. She hates Astroturf!

This being Oregon Parks Day, we can camp for free so we are staying another night.  At this rate we won’t get to Alaska ‘till August but the weather and road reports from up that way are not good. We have been so blessed with great weather that we hate to leave it behind.