Homer & Seward & Valdez--Oh, My!

Over the past few days, we have investigated two towns in the Kenai Peninsula--Homer and Seward.  We left Palmer (near Anchorage) and traveled the Sterling Highway to our next camping spot--the Kenai Princess Lodge and RV Park.  There are about 23 sites at the base of the lodge, and any campers can use the services of the lodge as if they were staying there.  Princess Cruise Lines calls this their "Wilderness Lodge," as it sits on a hill overlooking the Kenai River and Lake at a small town called Cooper Landing and is at least an hour from the nearest town with major services.  The lodge has a nice restaurant, and I'll post a recipe from the dining room manager for Smoked Salmon Dip-yum!

The Kenai is all about fishing.  Period.  Whether the salmon are running or not, people are out on the river, on the lake, on the banks of the river, on the banks of the lake, wading in the river and putting those lines in the water!  We are currently in between salmon runs, but people are still fishing!  Brad spoke to a fisherman in the motorhome beside us, and he said that today the fishing was lousy, but they saw a lot of bear, including grizzlies.  When you are trying to get salmon up a river stream, what you are really doing is snagging the salmon, so no live bait is used--artificial bait called flies are used. 

From where we are staying at Cooper Landing, we drove the Sterling Highway about 2.5 hours southwest to Homer, AK, at the end of the Kenai.  We drove through a small community called Anchor Point, whose claim to fame is that the Sterling Highway's most western point of any highway in North America goes through their town.  Homer has a small downtown area, but is really better known for something called "the Homer Spit," which is a small piece of land jutting out into a body of water where one side is salt water and the other is fresh water.  The tides come in and out of land areas, and there is a place called the fishing hole where halibut are caught at 200 to 400 pounds.  On the spit, there were motorhomes and campers everywhere, backed up to the ocean and bay.  When the tide is out, they rest; when the tide is in, they fish.  While in Homer, we toured the Pratt Museum and the Island and Oceans Federal Research Center. 

Another day we drove from Cooper Landing to Seward, AK, about 1 hour from our campsite.  About 10 miles from Seward, we stopped at Exit Glacier.  It was named because in 1968 a group of climbers were on the Harding Icefield, and they were trying to find a way to Seward after missing a boat connection.  That location seemed a good one to "exit" the Icefield.  Brad and I hiked the 2.6 mile round-trip to the face of the glacier.  It was very cool temperature-wise.  Blue ice as well as all the rocks and materials glaciers collect was visible.  An interesting note is that they have tracked the glaciers receding and have signs posted where the glacier began in 1815.  There is no doubt that this glacier is receding at an accelerating rate in the past 20-30 years.  Glaciers are moving ice with waterfalls and glacier silt coming under and out of the glacier, so it is obvious you can see it melting.  From Exit Glacier, we traveled on to Seward, which seems more of a port town with shops and museums.  There is a wonderful harbor and boats of all sizes were in port.  The Alaska Train also has a terminus there.  There weren't the individual fishermen everywhere like in Homer, but there were several fishing charters for hire to fish on the Sound. 

Leaving the Kenai Peninsula, we headed to our final seaside town--Valdez.  We are staying at Eagle's Rest RV Park.  Along the way to Valdez, we started passing bicycles somewhere in the area of Sheep Mountain on the Glenn Highway.  The further along we went, the more bicycles we saw.  We arrived at the Eagle's Rest RV Park on the outskirts of Valdez and found out that the Fireweed 400 bicycle marathon was occurring the weekend we were there.  By the evening, our campground was packed full of cyclists and their tents and their families, and their RVs!  It was a crowded camp!

Along the Richardson Highway from Glenellen to Valdez, we stopped at what may be our favorite National Park in Alaska--Wrangell - St. Elias National Park.  There is a very nice visitor's center near Copper River that is really worth a stop.  The park actually has the highest coastal mountain range in North America with many high peaks (only Mt. McKinley is higher).  Brad would like to fly over the park the next time we are in Alaska.  There is great potential here, but it is difficult to get into the park very far at this time.  The park was authorized in 1980, so it is very new and beautiful as well as being the largest U.S. national park.

During our drive to Valdez, we drove over Thompson Pass and through Keystone Canyon, both extremely scenic.  The town of Valdez is an ice-free port, so it serves as a transportation hub for ferries, freight, and oil.  The town was actually moved four miles from its original location in 1969 because of the 1964 earthquake damage.  The museums are excellent in Valdez and worth a stop.  Animals abound in the bay off Dayville Road and include sea lions and bald eagles.  We did not see any bear (black nor grizzly), but they often come near the fish hatchery for fast food we are told by the locals.

We enjoyed each of these Alaskan seaside towns--Homer, Seward, and Valdez.  We both agree that Valdez is our favorite of the three. 

We arrived back in Tok on July 10 and now feel we are headed back home via ferry as much as possible!

Jane and Brad

Pictures for this post

Denali "The Great One"

The Athabascan people who inhabit the area around the mountain refer to the peak as Dinale or Denali ("the high one" or "the great one").  In the late 1890s, a gold prospector named it "McKinley" as political support for then president William McKinley.  The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali, which is how it is referred to locally.  However, a 1975 request by the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board of Geographic Names to do the same was blocked by Ohio congressman, Ralph Regula, whose district includes McKinley's hometown. Members of the Ohio congressional delegation continue to protect the McKinley name, blocking attempts by the Alaska congressional delegation to get the Board of Geographic Names to change it to Denali. Thus, "Denali" is correct according to the Alaska state Board, while "McKinley" is correct according to the national Board.  (This paragraph was taken from the Internet and tour guide presentations.)

For many visitors to Alaska, seeing Mt. McKinley at Denali National Park and Preserve is a highlight of their travels.  Visitors coming here see the tallest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet, see many different types of animals in the park and preserve, and often experience the McKinley Explorer, a train with rooftop visibility to see the mountains.  Of course, our experience was a little different, but still worthwhile.  What's new!

The three days we spent in and around Denali were cloudy and rainy.  No "Great One" was visible any of the days.  We found out that Mt. McKinley is usually visible about 68 days/year.  We will add that to our list for next time.  We took the Denali National Park's Natural History 4-5 hour bus tour into the park with one of the best guides we have experienced; yet no animals other than birds showed themselves in the 4-5 hour trip.  We had more moose and bear clearly visible in the side ditches of the Alaska Highway from Whitehorse to Tok!  Thank heavens there were lots of wildflowers in bloom!

Although I had already seen Mt. McKinley over 25 years ago, Brad had yet to see it.  Our final day, we stopped at Talkeetna Air Taxi to see if flying was possible and viewing the summit above the clouds was any better.  They weren't flying that day at all because of the poor visibility and weather conditions.  We spent the afternoon in Talkeetna hoping for better weather.  What we got, however, was a feel for Talkeetna the town, which is a base for mountain climbers from around the world to Mt. McKinley.  It has a great national park office where climbers sign in and out, has great pizza at Mountain High Pizza and great chocolate at Talkeetna Chocolate Corner.  You can tell what we spent the day doing!

We did have a nice time at Cantwell RV campground, about 20 miles south of Denali where we stayed.  The campground owners hosted a sled dog presentation by Mike Santos, originally from Massachusetts, who owns Wolf Den's Kennel and races Alaskan sled dogs full time.  He has about 80 dogs, and they aren't Huskies, they are Alaskan sled dogs.  The puppies were adorable, and we enjoyed listening to his hilarious tales of training the dogs and running them daily (can you imagine exercising 80 dogs?)  His real calling should be as a stand-up comic.  

From Denali, we drove the Parks Highway to Palmer, AK, where we camped at Homestead RV Park over the 4th of July weekend.  When we arrived at the campground, they did not have our reservation, but they went ahead and made a space for us near the office where Internet was great.  We were in a handicapped spot and near the laundry, too.  It worked out fine for us.

We spent July 3 taking a six hour Prince William Sound Wilderness Explorer Glacier cruise.  We took lots of pictures of receding glaciers, including Portage Glacier.  The scenery was lovely, and the one-way tunnel at Whittier is an experience.  We loved the drive around Turnagin Arm south of Anchorage and will travel there again July 5 as we move on to the Kenai Peninsula near Cooper's Landing.  We spent July 4 at the Palmer, AK, musk ox farm (started by John Teal), which was really interesting and of all things, got the laundry done!  Ah, life on the road…isn't it great?

Jane and Brad

PS:  In Alaska, everything stays open for the 4th of July typically and fireworks aren't a big deal.  We didn't hear any firecrackers go off ($300 fine in Alaska) nor did we see any city fireworks because it is too light outside.  They do have lots of parades and picnics in the area.  Some towns do fireworks around midnight or later as that is the time it is the darkest.

Also… Notes to our camping friends….

We have tried both telephone and Internet reservations for campgrounds.  On this trip we have found over and over that having a direct telephone conversation with the campground person works the best.  If they don't answer, leave a cell number for return call.  Many have different people working the desk, checking Internet, etc., so there are fewer mistakes and complications if you simply give this information over the phone:

travel trailer, fifth-wheel, tent

pull-through or back-in sites (back-ins are cheaper overall by about $2-3/night)
20 or 30 or 50 amp electrical
full-hookups or W/E only or dry camping
day arriving
# of nights staying
some places have a gate that closes at a certain time--be off the road prior to 7 p.m. if possible
key to RR or key to laundry?  Some require a deposit for the key.
some have pay showers, have lots of U.S. and CAN quarters
credit card information - VISA or M/C - most don't take AmEx or Discovercard, especially CAN
Internet is not dependable most places, especially out of major cities


Pictures for this post

Alaska History Revealed

After a great stop in Tok, AK, we traveled the last bit of the Alaska Highway to Delta Junction.  At Delta Junction, the Alaska Highway comes to an abrupt "T" at the Visitor's Center.  The Richardson Highway takes over, running from Fairbanks through Delta Junction to Valdez, on the coast.  The Visitor's Center has an end marker for the Alaska Highway, a $1 certificate that is the official evidence that you have driven the Alaska Highway, and other tourist items for sale. 

One of the most historical landmarks, however, lies just across the road from the Delta Junction Visitor's Center, and that is the Sullivan Roadhouse.  Because the Richardson Highway follows one of the oldest Alaskan trails, many, many roadhouses were built about 10 miles apart from the late 1800s until the Alaska Railroad was completed in the 1920s.  Mainly during the winter, people from the interior wanting to reach Valdez to travel by ship, travelled over the ice using "stages" or big sleds.  They could travel about 10 miles per day, so roadhouses were constructed about 10 miles apart on the route.  A roadhouse was like an inn, providing hot meals and a bed.  The Sullivan Roadhouse was actually moved from another location to Delta Junction, because it originally was west of town 40-50 miles, near a swampy area.  It was found very much intact because its owner, Mr. Sullivan, had built the roof with sod as was the custom.  However, he added a second layer of tin roof above the sod, which kept the moisture from decaying the roadhouse from the top down.  We also stopped several miles out of Delta Junction to visit a second roadhouse, called Rika Roadhouse.  This roadhouse is now a state park and has a beautiful location right beside the Tanana River. 

Moving on to Fairbanks, we drove the Richardson Highway about 98 miles to Fairbanks.  Our campground was actually located in North Pole, AK.  When we reached the River's Edge RV Park, we did our laundry to the tune of $2/load to wash and $2/load to dry.  They provided a key to the laundry for $5 as a deposit.  When the key was returned, we were refunded our $5.  We believe this was because there were several hikers walking through the camp at all hours, probably because it was on or near a trail or maybe a hostel was up the road.  Perhaps the hikers wanted to use the free laundry?

Our time in Fairbanks was very busy and full of activity.  The weather was overcast and raining, but if you have been to Alaska, you know the sun doesn't always shine.  We first reserved two spots on the El Dorado Mining Train attraction.  Now, that may sound hokey, but it was really very well done, we learned a lot, and of course panned for gold.  This was a working mine, providing entertainment, a train ride, an explanation of how gold is mined, and a gift shop with free cookies and coffee!  We felt this was worth it.  We did not get to see Pioneer Park, which also has a great deal of history to it.  Those of you who have been to Alaska before might remember it as Alaskaland.  We'll add that to our list of what to see when we return. 

Following the mine tour, we decided to go downtown and find the Visitor's Center, a new structure which is on the river.  It follows in the tradition of the Canadian Visitor's Centers, which are marvelous structures, creatively built, with movies about the area, cultural museums, and visitor information.  The roads in Fairbanks were all under construction, so finding this took much more time than originally planned.  We asked our questions, looked around, and then drove to the University of Alaska--Museum of the North.  This is a must see.  We purchased tickets with headphone commentary and made our way around the museum.  It is a true treasure.  There are so many First Nation exhibits and fine examples of the various animals found around the state.  The exhibit everyone seemed to like was the giant grizzly (or brown) bear, which are now considered the same species, according to the signage.  We spent over 4 hours there and could have spent longer.  We also found the botanical gardens, where giant vegetables are known to grow.  With there being light here during the summer months of about 22 hours in Fairbanks this time of year, you can imagine what that does to the growing season for plants.  Brad saw that sunset was around 12:13 a.m. and sunrise was about 3:06 a.m. that day.  It really doesn't get dark at all even during the night hours.

The next morning, Brad and I decided to split up, so we rented a car for me while Brad took the truck.  He wanted to drive to the Arctic Circle, and I wanted to go to the North Pole.  Brad got up around 2:30 a.m., left the trailer at 3 a.m. (remember it is light outside), and drove to the Arctic Circle.  It is Mile 115 of the Dalton Highway, which takes off from the Elliott Highway north of Fairbanks.  So many people, travelers and locals, said to not take that road as it was too rough on the vehicles.  However, Brad said it wasn't any worse than what we drove from Whitehorse, YT, to Tok, AK.  One key to remember, though, is that there are very limited services.  There is one gas opportunity at Mile 56 at the Yukon River Crossing.  Another scenic overlook to the pipeline at Mile 86 at Finger Mountain, but other than that, you are on your own.  He returned to the camper at 11:03 a.m., just in time to pack up and move to Denali National Park.  While Brad was driving to the Arctic Circle, I took the car about 10 miles back to the North Pole, and shopped at Santaland, a small shop reminding me of Frankenmuth, MI.  Santaland has been at the North Pole since 1952, when a couple built a house which neighbors joked looked like something Santa Claus would build.  That started a family tradition that still keeps families coming back to visit, shop, eat, and pet reindeer.  Their slow season is now, but the shop was filled with people and no tour bus in sight.  They obviously have a following.

We left Fairbanks after hearing Reveille wafting through the campground.  Fairbanks is home to Eielson Air Force Base (visible from the Richardson Highway) and Fort Wainwright Army Base.  Next stop:  Denali National Park.

Jane and Brad

Pictures for this post

Pictures from June 25-27

Here are some more photos for your enjoyment:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103566755770288566930/Jun25Jun27?authkey=Gv1sRgCLSS0efIh5-RCw

The HIGHWAY

If there was ever a day that the Alaska Highway lived up to its name, it was today!  What a disastrous mess of a road!  For all its greatness and beauty, today was just ugly.  Let me explain...

First, we left Whitehorse, YT, this morning around 8 a.m., after seeing Frantic Follies Klondike humor/can-can girls, etc. last night at the Westmark Hotel in Whitehorse.  Whitehorse is about as close to an actual city as one gets in the Yukon Territories.  We ate at a real restaurant called Klondike BBQ Ribs and Salmon.  I had the halibut fixed with brie and wild berry compote while Brad had the orange-glazed salmon.  Both were excellent.  After such as nice night, what could go wrong today?  I had to ask.

First, within minutes of leaving the city limits, we were faced with all types of road issues, which we had been expecting to some degree:  erosion, frost heaves, construction delays, all gravel with no lines, some pavement with lines, potholes, and just a general lack of "smooth" anything!  If you have a chance to look at the pictures, they don't really describe the road because every time I tried to take a picture of the road, it would come out blurry.  I guess I should have left one of those pictures in the mix to prove my point! 

 

In terms of driving the road, Brad and I typically take two-hour shifts.  He drove this morning from approximately 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.  I then drove from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.  Today, however, we couldn't find any pull-offs at 12 noon.  If it was designated as a pull-off, we weren't sure we could ever pull back on!  I drove until 12:30 p.m. when Brad finally said, "Please pull off at the next turn in.  Your fingers are permanently curled to the steering wheel, you have one foot on the gas pedal, and one foot permanently glued to the brake."  He was right.  We ate a quick lunch, and then he took over, driving until 5 p.m. Alaska time, when we finally rolled into Tok, AK, RV Park.  Hallelujah!   That's the good news!  (The bad news is we have to cover that portion of the highway when we return from Valdez, AK, and drive to Skagway, AK.  I may call our travel agent and see if there is a car ferry from Valdez to Skagway!  Otherwise, I just can't think about that now.)

Our second major issue occurred prior to getting to Tok.  Within the final two hours of Brad's second time at the wheel, I began to notice a noise.  I know what you are thinking….women always hear "noises," and it is nothing.  Yeah, right.  It wasn't "nothing."  The noise wasn't heard by Brad, however, although he kept trying to hear it.  He finally pulled off the side of the road, walked around the camper and truck, saw nothing, heard nothing, and resumed driving.  But, I kept hearing the noise and offered many suggestions over the next two hours.  Could there be a chain dragging?  No.  Could there be a problem with the tires on the camper?  No.  Could there be an embarrassing RV hose of some type (you know what I mean) dragging.  We kept seeing those along the highway.  No.  Could something be sliding around in the back of the truck?  No.  Could something be rattling in the backseat, for heaven's sakes!  It sounds like something dragging or scraping.  Hmmm.  We stopped again.  Nothing.

The noise continued through U.S. Customs (where by the way I lost two red skin potatoes to the border guard, and I just know he is eating them with pot roast tonight for supper, you know?  That ticked me off to say the least as I had just bought them the night before AND made sure I had no fruit.  Guess what?  No fruit, no vegetables without labels, no meat without labels, and no plant or plant products are now permitted at the border.  There are just two reasons I can think of for this 1)  The U.S. is extremely picky about its food when compared to Canadian customs.  Or, 2) the border guards are 35 miles from any grocery store.  Hmmmm.)  Anyway, to continue the story, we were about 35 miles from our destination of Tok, AK, and Brad finally stopped at a highway truck stop.  He had me drive the truck, and he listened for the noise while I moved the truck ahead slowly.  In my mind I am thinking that if others are watching us, they are probably thinking, "What the heck are those two doing?  How crazy are those two loonies?"  But, it was worth the embarrassment as Brad finally HEARD it!  It was in the driver's side rear truck tire, and he thought it was a stone scraping the disc brake--not good.  Hopefully, he is wrong.  (Side note:  Those of you who know Brad, know that actually the odds are in his favor for a correct diagnosis.)

So, we hopped back into our respective seats, and we screeched into Tok, AK, finally around 5 p.m.  We got to our campsite, unhooked, and opened up the camper.  OMG!!!  It looked like a hurricane had gone through our trailer while we were driving it!  The bed had slid forward at least 8 inches, not allowing a single human being to enter the bedroom.  That was not good, because someone had to get in there to replace the drawers that had come out of the sides of the bed.  Books, jewelry, alarm clocks, magazines, etc. were thrown all over the bedroom.

As I went forward to investigate with Brad right behind me, I almost stumbled onto a kitchen drawer on the floor, which had come open, dropped to the floor, and dumped kitchen utensils all over the place.  (Will someone get me out of this nightmare?  Falling is the last thing I need to do.)  I tried to put the drawer back in, but saw that the glide was bent, so I laid it aside, still trying to reach the bedroom while tip-toeing through the utensils.  As I entered the bathroom to get to the bedroom, I noticed the shower door looked funny.  I went to unlock it, and the entire door came off in my hands.  Are you kidding me?  Brad came up behind me, stepping over the kitchen drawer as well as the utensils on the floor and grabbed the shower door out of my hands.  I stepped back onto a roll of toilet paper which had come unrolled from the holder at least one-half of the way.  Someone is going to see a footprint on that roll, and I can't help it.  I walked back into the kitchen while Brad was putting the shower door back on the hinge when I noticed bubbles of all sorts in the kitchen sink.  When I mentioned this, Brad said, "I think it's just soap suds."  I said, "From two days ago?"  We are still debating this, but Brad starting looking under the trailer again and noticed water is now coming from our fresh water tank.  If there is anything I have learned while RVing, it is that water should not come out of any tank anywhere unless you want it to.  Period.  Water should not be coming from our fresh water tank….this is not a good sign.  After thinking about this for awhile, he now believes that rocks from the highway  hit the tank and cracked one of the plastic valves.  Oh, boy.  WHERE DO WE BEGIN?

Lucky for us, there was a mechanic on duty at a Chevron dealership in Tok (population 400?)  After we described in detail what we had heard for the past two hours, he said, "No problem.  I hear this story about twice every day.  You've got a rock stuck in the disc brake."   Within 30 minutes, he took care of the problem with the rock, rotated the tires, and recalibrated them.  Brad had been right.  Yippee!  One problem fixed!

And, we are slowly putting the trailer back together tonight….well, Brad is really as I'm writing this blog.  The handyman (Brad) has put new screws in the shower door, straightened out the glides for the kitchen drawer, re-wound the toilet paper (with the footprint), moved the bed back onto its frame, put the stuff in the drawers beside the bed once again, and he just told me he took the end of a pencil, some duct tape and pipe strap and made a plug for the fresh water tank.  What a guy!!  

We're ready to roll to Fairbanks tomorrow!  It's rather unfortunate as we have to continue to drive the HIGHWAY!

Jane and Brad 

PS:  Brad wants to add that our truck and camper now look like the Jeep commercial where the Jeep shakes off the mud like a dog.  We are headed to the wash tomorrow a.m.

PSS:  Brad just reminded me that between Toad River and Whitehorse, we saw the most animals ever, and those photos are in our latest link.  By the way, no animals today; however, we were concentrating on the road so much, we could have missed them!

Alaska Pictures June 10 to June 24, 2011

https://picasaweb.google.com/103566755770288566930/BriggsAirstreamAdventures?authkey=Gv1sRgCJLE2da2rra0AQ&feat=directlink

Updated Itinerary - Alaska 2011

For an updated version of the Alaska itinerary, click: itinerary