We reluctantly left the Ninilchik area today and moved on down to Homer. We had such a good visit in Ninilchik that we hung around for another walk on the beach, another look at the eagles and boats coming and going that we were nearly noon leaving but no problem as Homer was only 40 miles to the south.
Saying good-bye to Deep Creek in Ninilchik
We checked into another boondocking site on the spit in Homer right next to the docks and a lot of fishermen returning to clean their catch. Since we only planned to spend one night (we'd already been there for lunch earlier) we needed to make the most of it.
Harbor in Homer Alaska
We headed out by automobile in search of a scenic drive we'd read about called skyline drive. Being not very well marked and poor cell data prevented the GPS from working we rode a bit in order to find it but when we did it was worth it for the nice view of the Homer Spit and surrounding mountains. We did see another female moose on that trip but didn't even stop for pictures....we are over them and leaving that to "newer" tourist ;-)
Skyline Drive view of Home Spit
Later that evening we enjoyed a one mile walk down the spit (past shops and restaurants/bars) to a nice dinner on the water at a restaurant called the Chart House at Land's End...the southernmost point of the spit. The view from our table was really nice and the hostess said they had seen a few humpback whales from there the night before. She said they are just starting to arrive and from now thru the end of August it is not unusual to see humpbacks or belugas. We didn't see any whales but were entertained by some otters. On our return walk we had to have a beer at the Salty Dawg bar.....there must have been thousands of dollar bills tacked up all over the inside of the bar with people writing different things on them....pretty interesting place.
Ceiling in Salty Dawg Bar
11 July - Homer to Seward
Leaving Homer around 8:30 we are now backtracking up the Sterling Highway on our way to Seward which is approximately 170 miles. It was a pretty nice 65 degrees with a few clouds in the sky but really good driving conditions. We made a stop in Soldotna for some much needed groceries and had lunch there as well.
We arrived in the Seward area around 3:30 hoping to stay at the Waterfront Park which is a city run campground with over 500 sites...first come first serve but no reservations - we were too late.....nothing available. Then calling a couple of the commercial parks also found nothing available. We went in search of another park on the waterfront that we never even found and finally did find a place with no services but we are good for two nights here.
We were pretty worn out by the time we got set up so we just sat outside (nice weather) and enjoyed a couple drinks and grilled some hamburgers. It was even nice enough to eat our dinner outside which was a pleasant change. After dinner we played cards again (outside) but it began to get a little chilly by the time we were done. Can't remember who won the card game.....OKAY, the girls won, there I said it!
12 July - Seward
We had been doing pretty good from a maintenance perspective but had a few hiccups today....the day started off with us noticing (about 50 degrees overnight) that our heater would not come on. We usually just use it to get the chill out in the morning...not a big deal. I am working on a repair if I can get it done....if not, when we return home. Ed and Kay loaned us a space heater to get us thru the Alaskan summer :-)
On top of that, word from home that our roof received some damaged shingles during a rough Georgia storm the night before. We are very fortunate to have the neighbors and neighborhood that we do....the repairs are done already and we can continue our trip without worry...Thanks to the Lindgren's and the Houseman's.
We began this day with a visit to the Kenai Fjords Park and a hike to the Exit glacier which is part of the Harding Ice Field. The hike to the glacier is about 1.25 miles each way and we opted to take a ranger guided hike (first time) which was a nice change. We learned a lot from him. The bugs were pretty bad (flies) but thank goodness they were not the biting variety. Funny thing, I had insect repellant in the back pack but took it out just before going in order to lighten the load....won't be doing that again.
Exit Glacier in Seward
Much focus on the rate the glaciers are receding - in the photo here you can see where it was in 2005 compared to where it is today. They had year markers back to around the 1926 timeframe.
Happy Hikers
After the hike to the glacier we were all ready for some lunch. We ended up getting a good tour of Seward driving around looking for some place to eat lunch. We ended up at the Alaskan Gold Rush Bistro which was quite nice.
The restaurant was very near the Alaska Sea Life center which was our next stop on the Seward touring agenda. We spend the next few hours looking at the ocean life there....it was an aquarium but not near as nice as the Atlanta aquarium in my opinion. They had a movie there too so Ed got a good nap :-)
The Sea Life Museum was at the waterfront (Resurrection Bay) so afterwards we walked for quite a ways down the waterfront just looking at the ships coming and going and a few otters playing in the water. One full day in Seward was enough to see all we wanted so we are packing up camp and getting ready to move on in the morning. Our next featured stop is Valdez but we will likely take a couple days (including a laundry stop) to get there.
Seward waterfront boat traffic
13 July - Travel Day
We left Seward after a good visit there and are now heading to Valdez in no particular hurry with a couple of stops planned along the way.
First stop at road side pull out where we park the Culpepper's truck and trailer and drop our trailer in order for all four of us to ride together on a 16 mile (each way) detour to a little town called Hope. It is across the water on the Turnagain Arm from Anchorage. It was a very small but neat little town that had some camping spots near a river in the town where we watched and talked to some folks salmon fishing.....that looked like fun.
After that detour we were back on the road and headed to Anchorage where we planned to stop for a park that someone in Homer told us about. We went to the park/overlook that was quite a narrow uphill run for the campers but we made it. At the top there was quite a view of the city of Anchorage and this was going to be our last opportunity to see Denali although almost 200 miles away. Since the day was clear we thought we had a chance - and it was visible but only the top portion of it....the lower and middle was covered in clouds. At least we can say we saw it....kinda!
Back on the road and continuing in the direction of Palmer where we had tentatively identified to stopover on the way to Valdez. We get there early enough and not too tired so we decided to keep going. Beyond Palmer the road has more construction and slower travel but we did make it to a community called Mountain View where we saw the Matanuska Glacier. We stop in the community of Grand View at a roadside RV Park called Grand View RV Park and café. We grilled some chicken and enjoyed an after dinner hike to a bluff to view the glacier.
Matanuska glacier
Home for a day
A couple more shots from this part of the trip:
Ed and Kay at Exit Glacier
Darrell and Kathy at Exit Glacier
Highway view
On the road again
Matanuska Glacier
Highway view
