Valdez

14 July - Headed to Valdez

     After enjoying the breakfast special at the Grand View RV Park café we were back on the road again and headed to Valdez. The road from Glenallen to Valdez took us by the Wrangell-St. Elias national park where we stopped at the visitor's and cultural center. Among other native things on display, they had an interesting fishing wheel on display like one we'd seen in a movie earlier.

Fishing wheel

     Back on the road to Valdez we begin to get into some really beautiful (and very tall) mountains that require many stops to admire. One of these stops was at the Worthington Glacier which is close to the road and we take the short walk there to view it. Ed and Kay remarked that this glacier had receded significantly since their visit here 10 years ago.

Worthington Glacier

     We then traveled over the Thompson Pass which is the location in the US that receives the most annual snowfall....500 inches per year average and it holds the record for the most single day snowfall at 62 inches. It was downhill to Valdez from there and on our final approach into Valdez we went thru the Keystone Canyon where waterfalls were plentiful.

     First order of business in Valdez is dinner and laundry. Mexican....whaaaat? Yep, we had Mexican and as you might expect we were not impressed but we left there full and the beer wasn't bad. Finding a laundromat ended up being harder than expected but we did manage to get the laundry done.

     It's now 9:00'ish P.M. and since it's still light outside and we are curious to look around we drive over to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery.....what a treat. They raise pink and Coho Salmon and the pink salmon are making their annual trek.....coming back home to spawn and die....wow, an amazing sight. The fish were thick in the water and there were sea lions, sea gulls and eagles. The sea lions were quite entertaining, making guttural noises, playing and eating Salmon. When they would snag a fish they'd surface with it in their mouth and shaking their heads and the sea gulls would flock to them going crazy...quite an entertaining scene.

Pink Salmon were thick

Dinner

     We'd heard that there were some bears that frequent the stream to enjoy some Salmon so I decided I would try that spot a couple more times while here. With all the fish there, Ed and I can't understand why every bear for miles isn't there.

15 July - Full Day in Valdez

     Ed and I went back to the hatchery early in the morning hoping to see some bears feeding and giving the girls time to sleep in. We didn't bother to check the tide table and didn't realize what a different view we'd get of that scene at low tide. The fish (salmon) were still there but the water was so low that the sea lions were not. On the now dry land there were many eagles and sea gulls eating the fish pieces left there.

     Back at the trailers and since we have a cruise scheduled for Saturday we make our way to the LuLu Belle office to pay for our cruise. After lunch we do a self guided tour of the Old Town Valdez, visit a glacier lake that has huge ice chunks floating in it, and then visit the Valdez Museum.....all were good. The town of Valdez was destroyed during the 1964 earthquake and had to be moved to it's current location.

Glacier lake

     All the talk about earthquakes and Kathy woke up this morning asking if any of us felt what she thought was an earthquake around midnight.....we all laughed and said no. While we were in the Valdez museum she asked the lady working there and she confirmed that there was a 1.8 magnitude quake at 11:59 last night.

     At the camp this evening there was a community fire that I decided to go sit around, drink a beer and chat with the others. Just when I was about to leave (almost 11:00 P.M. and still light out), a fellow camper pulled out a ukulele and began to play and sing. He was quite good and entertaining so I was in for another hour and a half.

16 July - Glacier Cruise

     We had our first flat tire casualty this morning....Ed woke to find a tire going flat on his truck. After putting the spare on we learned just how small a town we were in....on Saturday there was not a place open to fix a flat tire. Since our departure tomorrow is Sunday, we opt to head out without a spare to the next place to get a tire fixed....100 miles away.

     Our Glacier/Wildlife cruise boarded at 10:45 on the LuLu Belle out of Valdez. When we bought tickets the day before we learned that Fred was the captain of the boat but his wife, who runs the ticket office, said SHE was the admiral. They have lived on the boat for 38 years. They spend summers in Valdez and winters in Port Angeles, Washington.

LuLu Belle heading out of Valdez port

     As we depart the harbor Captain Fred begins what will be a great narrative all day of what we see. First up was several otters floating on their backs just out in front of the Alaska Pipeline terminal....a testimony of the recovery since the 1989 oil spill. On the cruise he also points out the site where Exxon Valdez ran aground.

Otters in the harbor

     On the way out we pass an area where several fishing boats were anchored as they wait for their spot in the port and we see a few young boys (fishing crewmen) jumping from their boat swimming.....and the water temp is between 38 and 42 degrees. We could not believe it because the air was cool.

Valdez Polar Bear Club

     Throughout the course of the day we see many animals, eagles, otters, sea lions, doll porpoise, humpback whales, and puffins. The captain showed off his boat handling skills all day but especially at one point when he put the bow of the boat into a cave for us to see puffins that live in the rocks.

Open wide

Prince William Sound Humpback

Puffin

     The highlight (and a cold one), in addition to the overall scenery, was getting to within a quarter mile of the Columbia Glacier.....an amazing site. We had to navigate around icebergs at a very slow speed and when we turned the engines off we heard a loud noise that almost sounded like the "crack" sound of lightning to me and saw a large piece of ice calving from the glacier. We stayed parked there for 30-45 minutes enjoying the scene and taking photos. All in all a great day and experience!

Columbia Glacier Pano

Returning to the dock around 8:00 P.M. - hungry, and luckily our tickets were good for a 10% discount at a couple of the waterfront restaurants so we head on over to Mike's Palace for a great meal and a couple beers.
We got very tickled in the restaurant, here's the scene;
     Kay makes a trip to the lady's room first and Kathy said she too was gonna go before dinner. To that Kay says - "let me know what you think of it with a wry smile". At that point our curiosity was piqued. Kathy returns laughing telling us the toilet had four buttons - front, back, dry and stop. At this point we are really laughing and trying to get one of them to admit to what they actually did. Best I could do was get Kathy to go back in and take photos so we could verify the story and everyone could enjoy it.

Sorry, but didn't think you'd believe us :-)

     Back at the camper after dinner, almost 10:00 but still pretty light out, Ed and I decide that we want to give the bears one more try over near the hatchery. This is our last shot as we are leaving the Valdez area in the morning. We hit the jackpot this time, we saw a mother grizzly bear and her three cubs (likely two year old cub's we were told) making their way out of the woods and slowly moving towards the hatchery. A perfect ending to the day.

Grizzly Cubs

Mama bear and three cubs

A few more photos from this stop:

There she blows

Resting on return trip

Eskimos

Posing in front of the Columbia Glacier

Boat getting iced in

Iceberg inhabitants (otters)

As we approached the glacier waters

#1 Tourist

Sea Lions were plentiful

Homer and Seward

10 July - On to Homer

     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

Kenai - Halibut (Big ones, and Eagles everywhere)

6 July - Leaving Anchorage

     We departed Anchorage with some improving conditions and hopes that it will continue to improve for our upcoming halibut fishing trip in Ninilchik. The first part of the trip down to the Kenai was along the Turnagain Arm where we had driven the day before but this time it was a little clearer and more beautiful. We stopped at many turn-outs to admire the views and take some photos.

Turnagain Arm

Culpepper Duo

Beautiful Drive - Turnagain Arm

     Our plan for the day/night was to make it to the Captain Cook State Park up near Niniski which is north of the towns of Soldotna and Kenai....we did make it there but decided not to stay. I had read on another post describing the park and what we found was not as described or expected. The girls would have nothing of staying in that park and Ed and I were not impressed either. After doing a drive by and decided to continue on in search of a place to set up camp for the night. 

     We noticed a beach road on the map that ran along the Cook Inlet coast from Kenai to Kasilof, in the direction of Ninilchik which is where our fishing charter reservations were in a few days time. The beach road was a good (condition) road but did not offer the views or camping opportunities we had hoped....as we arrived in Kasilof we found a state recreation area called Johnson Lake that we decided to stay. It was a boondocking site (no water or electric) but we were prepared.

     We had a pot luck dinner while it rained outside and we decided to play cards for the first time this trip. We played hand and foot, like normal- the guys against the girls. I told them before the game if the girls won it probably wouldn't make the blog - so, you guessed it - Ed and I came back in the last hand to win by only 5 points. That is worthy of the blog, right?

     As we looked at the map we realized that we had driven to within about 20 miles of Ninilchik (closer than we planned or expected to do that day) when we arrived at Johnson Lake. So, with check-out not until noon the next day we rode to Ninilchik the next morning without campers to do a little recon on the camping opportunities there and stop by the charter company office.....I told them we wanted to "interview" our boat captain and the girls wanted to see the bathroom onboard.
    
     While riding around we found the perfect spot directly on the Cook Inlet called Deep Creek Recreation area....it is a first come, first serve campground (no reservations) so we needed to arrive pretty early on the 7th of July.

Our Ninilchik campground - Wonderful Place!

7 July - Deep Creek (Ninilchik)

     We left Johnson Lake and drove to Deep Creek arriving mid morning. As we pulled in (before setting up camp) we noticed Eagles everywhere....one was even sitting on a large rock near the road just posing....really beautiful.

Guarding the Campground

     The campground is directly on the water with magnificent views of snow covered mountains/volcanoes across the bay. The views are constantly changing with the clouds/fog and the mountains peeking in and out constantly. Between the eagles and the scenery views we are taking many more photos here.

Deep Creek campground view (Cook Inlet)

Cook Inlet view

     We went for a long walk on the beach where the deep creek empties into Cook Inlet.....another area with huge tidal changes. We saw many more eagles on the walk, some in or near the water eating fish. It looked like as the tide went out it may catch fish in small pools which makes them easy picking for the eagles.

Eagle having lunch - looked like salmon

He ordered Halibut

Flaps down - coming in hot!

     As we photographed the birds we learned (at least I didn't know) that the juvenile eagles were not born with bald (white) heads.....they are still majestic looking but they look different than the older birds. We also saw a nest near the road and I have gone there several times to photograph the birds on the nest and no one home.....when I ride by without the camera they are there.

Juvenile Eagle in flight

Juvenile Eagle Landing for lunch

     Ed and Kay grilled a great steak for dinner and we enjoyed sitting out with the weather getting nicer (upper 50's with sun). After dinner, since it doesn't get dark, I went out by the water where eagles were soaring overhead and seemingly playing games to try to capture some of that on film.....not much luck with my new telephoto lens but I met another photographer who shared some tips with me that seem to help.

     Since it doesn't get dark (completely) it is difficult to go to bed early and awe are always questioning what time it is. Just before going to bed this night Kathy noticed the sun setting behind the mountains and I went out to try to capture a few photos of that scene...it was 11:30 to 11:45 and it still did not get dark outside.

Cook Inlet Sunset

8 July - Deep Creek (Ninilchik)

     This is the day before our scheduled fishing charter and we decided to go to the company (Reel 'Em In) and watch the arriving fishermen from that day and just get a better idea what to expect for us. Hey, with a name like Reel "Em In, how could you go wrong.

     A nice group of folks were there unloading, weighing, and cleaning their fish so we had a nice chat with them. We even took some photos of ourselves with their fish....just practicing :-)

     After that we decided to take a ride down the coast looking at the beauty of it and ultimately ending up in Homer, Alaska where we had lunch on the spit. We wanted to check it out as that is our next destination, probably one overnight there and hopefully with full hook-ups.

     Getting back early and having an early dinner are important because we need to be at the fishing charter company by 5:45 A.M. the next day. An early night was necessary. We grilled out, readied our gear for the fishing trip and all went to bed early.

9 July - Reel 'Em In

     Arrived at the charter fishing office at 5:30 ready to go. Met our captain "Eric" and loaded up the gear. We expected to be on a boat with two others but turns out it was just the four of us.....nice!
Some notes about the fishing operation:

• Boats are all aluminum V-Hull boats with twin outboards. Ours was 28 feet but many were larger
• Boats are towed to the launch area where passengers board the boats via step ladder (still on the trailer) and a large tractor is used to push the boats down to the water (and retrieve them). Not sure if this is primarily because of the huge tide?
• Fishermen are limited to two halibut per day - one large but one has to be under 28 inches
• Fished with 3 or 5 lb lead weights (bottom fishing), 16/0 hook size, and large baits (salmon heads, herring, cod, and other cut baits 

Deep Creek Boat Launching

  

     The two previous days the bay was slick like a lake and we thought we'd hit a homerun if it would just hold one more day. Well, the weather wasn't bad (about 50 degrees and a little overcast) but the water was not as calm as the two previous days. Luckily we had our sea sick patches with us and were smart enough to use them. Seas were a little choppy going out (about 18 miles offshore) and once there, they were rolling 2 foot (estimated) swells. We survived the day without anyone getting sick.

First Fish Caught

     When we checked on the boat operations the day before the girls were more interested in what the bathroom facilities onboard were like than anything else.....as it turns out there was not one....only a little portable toilet. So, although I could not believe it, Kathy and Kay neither one used the bathroom for the entire trip (six hours).  Ed and I had no problem :-)

The Bets:
     A lot of talk about who would catch the first and biggest fish led us to place a bet on each. We didn't have baits in the water too long before Ed hooked and landed the first fish....estimated weight 40 lbs. Things were a little slow (waiting on the tide to turn) before Kay latched onto the first very large one - 81 lbs so she is in the running for the biggest fish. Kathy was next and bettered Kays weight by landing one that turned out to be the biggest of the day at 98 lbs. That left me, with pressure mounting and everyone watching....first about a 30 lb fish....the skipper (Eric) said we are on big fish, let's let that one go. You know you're having a good day when you throw back 30 pounders! A short time later I got maybe a 35 lb fish on one line and another one biting....we were holding the 35 lb fish at the boat until we could determine if the other line had a bigger fish. Both ended up getting off. Then after a long dry spell I finally landed my big one of the day...maybe 25 lbs. Hey, I caught MORE fish than anyone else but we didn't bet on that!

Biggest fish winner (98 lbs)

cell phone photo

     Then we move to another area where we will most likely catch the smaller fish. We were probably not there 30 minutes and all four of us caught them.....again they were waiting on me to catch mine.

     Back ashore and at the charter company site we hang fish and take photos with our own fish..... we look better in those photos anyhow! Eric also has the task of fileting the fish and we have them vacuum packed and prepared to ship home but not before we take several pounds for our RV freezers. Fresh grilled fish was on the menu tonight and it was good.

Good Day of Fishing

Total of 143 lbs filets

Moving to Homer tomorrow.....but Ninilchik was a very memorable experience !

A few more photos from this leg of the trip below:

Guarding the nest

Not the biggest but fun

That's a winner

Pro at work

She's a natural

Posing with other people's fish

Parent and child

Cook Inlet

Russian Orthodox Church circa 1900