We leave the workshop by
6pm Friday. Due to so much daylight we can still get a few miles covered today.
We head south past North Pole & Delta Junction before stopping by 9pm. The
next morning we wake to rain. That means there is no point driving the picturesque
Denali Highway, so we continue south to Glennallen, then turn & head west
towards Palmer & eventually Anchorage. It is another gorgeous drive,
especially the gorge passing Glacier Manatuska. Nearly at Anchorage we stop at
Reflections Lake where we see a young family. The father has the baby on his
back & to our amazement a shoulder strap holding a row of bullets & a hand
gun! To date the USA seems to have more guns than anywhere else we have travelled.
We are hoping there will
be Equinox festivities in Anchorage, but apart from a band playing not much is
happening. So we try to find a Walmart near the centre. It has closed, so instead
we settle right beside an RV dealership (on a little dead end road surrounded
by RV’s). The next day we pop into church for the Sunday service before
visiting the weekend craft markets in town. Here we bump into our motorbike
friend, Johan & his wife Ann.
Then it is time to head on
towards Seward. Our route takes us along the Turnagain Arm towards the
mountains. Here would have to be the most traffic we have seen anywhere since
leaving Seattle. The weather is great & everyone is out enjoying it. Eventually
we find a great spot right beside Upper Trail Lake near the tiny town of Moose
Pass. I could go on again about the scenery, but it must get a bit tedious –
just look at the photos instead.
On our way into Seward we
stop at Bear Lake to watch salmon racing upstream & jumping up a weir (very
hard to catch on a photo) & then walk to Exit Glacier along with lots of
other tourists – it is a tad dirty & unexciting. Then Seward – a pretty
port town, with motorhome camping all along the waterfront. We book a
glacier/wildlife boat trip on the Kenai Fjords for tomorrow on a small boat –
25 people. Fingers crossed for fine weather as today is gray & cold.
Perfect weather! A magic 8
hour cruise stopping every time we spot Whales, Sea Otters, Orcas….. We finally
cruise towards the highlight - Northwest Glacier. The ice is cascading into the
ocean & large chunks are calving. Hundreds of seals are sitting on icebergs.
Magic. We sit and watch before heading back to Seward. We even get a porpoise
escort – about 10 of them riding our bow waves. For dinner we head to a
restaurant to meet Johan & Ann. A perfect day.
The following morning is
gray. We have one final stop before we leave town – the Alaska Sealife Centre
to take a closer look at Puffins, seals etc. Then it is on through the Kenai
Peninsula, passing the “combat fishing” area of Russian River. (So named
because the fisherman are in such close proximity to each other that their
lines frequently get tangled). By the time we reach the coast north of the
petroleum based town of Kenai it is so cloudy we can’t see any mountains. We
pull over for the night at Captain Cook State Recreation Park. It is raining in
the morning – such is life in Alaska. The saying here is if you don’t like the
weather wait 15 minutes.
We head along the coast to
Homer stopping to look at the Russian fishing village of Ninilchik. & the
Russian Orthodox Church with its onion spires. (Like being back in Russia –
even the weather! Mind you this country
did once belong to Russia, but they sold it to America for $7.2 million (about
2cents per acre) in 1867). Another quick stop at Anchor Point to inspect all
the Bald Eagles sitting there waiting for an easy meal. Eventually we wind
downhill to the spit at Homer. We can camp right beside the fishing hole for a
mere $15. Fishing is serious business in Alaska. There are rows of anglers
fishing this small pond catching good sized Salmon.
The first thing we do is
book a fishing trip for John. Then John wants to check the radiator because we
have developed a leak. The long & short of it is that he takes the whole
radiator out & plans to hitch into town tomorrow, as it is Friday, to get
it fixed. Fortunately we can change the fishing trip until Saturday. The end
result is no one in town can help, so John buys Bars Leak & fixes it
himself. In the evening we meet Laura for dinner. We met her in Cuba.
Saturday John heads off at
5.30am on his fishing trip. The day is magnificent. I go back to bed &
generally laze around all day (apart from a few chores) & John has a fun
time getting his 2 huge Halibut (the max he can have). Crazy system – one has
to be over 29” and one under. In all he caught 15 (13 lucky ones went back) the
hardest was to catch one under 29”- what a fisherman’s problem. Our freezer is
now full of frozen fish – much to Johns delight. Finally it is time to leave
town. All the mountains are clear, so we take the scenic route & finally
end up camped beside a pretty lake. The next day is an early start as we are
due at the ferry terminal in Whittier by 9.30am. The start of our Alaskan
Marine Highway adventures.
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