Homer on the bay

Homer is on the shore of Kachemak Bay on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its most distinguishing feature is the Homer Spit, a narrow 4.5 mile (7 km) long gravel bar that extends into the bay, on which is located the Homer Harbor.

Much of the coastline as well as the Homer Spit sank dramatically during the Good Friday Earthquake in March 1964. After the earthquake, very little vegetation was able to survive on the Homer Spit.

Our campground was right on the "spit" with a view of the bay from our front window. The original "Salty Dawg" bar is on the south side of the spit. Those of you that watch "The most dangerous catch" will recognize the bar as the "watering hole" for many of the captains.

We were amazed by the number of eagles. They seem to be so used to people that you can approach them. I got within 20 feet of an adult bald eagle on the beach, it simply looked at me while I took pictures and walked around it and it's mate. They even allowed us to approach their young eagle that was learning how to hunt.

The caravan members that went fishing on a charter came back with their limit of Halibut, which we promptly enjoyed during an evening fish fry.

The salmon were beginning to run, and our tour leader caught a big one. They use a technique known as snagging. Rather than use bait, which would not work since the salmon don't eat once they have entered the rivers on their way to spawning grounds, The fishermen  use simply cast into the group of fish to "snag" them.

Some of the fishing boats don't have access to docks, they are launched and picked up by giant earth moving equipment that, at low tide, often drive as much as a quarter mile into the bay with the boat trailer to launch and pick them up. It is quite a sight.

We were heartbroken to leave Homer, but are looking forward to our next major stop in Valdez AK.

Seward

This last three days we have been in Seward. The town is a small (3,000) fishing and tourist destination, on the Kenai fjord. Named for the Secretary of State that negotiated buying Alaska from Russia, it is the home of the Exit Glacier.

In 1964 Stewart, and much of lower Alaska, was hit by a earthquake 9.2 on the scale. That combined with a tsunami at speeds over 400 miles per hour. destroyed the waterfront and much of the commercial fishing and coal industries.

The city has slowly recovered, becoming a tourist destination. Beautiful harbors with the fjords providing deep water access, allows the large cruise lines access.

We walked up to the Exit glacier, named because it was the only exit point for people traveling across the ice field. The ice is almost a luminescent blue. This is caused by the tremendous pressure the ice is under.

During the walk up to the ice field signs designated where the glacier was in the past. In the last decade it has retreated about 200 yards.

Our campground is on a river where salmon are available for fishing, and a number of them were caught by our group.

A family of eagles fly around and above the campground looking for a fish dinner. It is an odd pair, a bald eagle with a golden eagle.

 

We are off to Homer Thursday morning.

Anchorage

We arrived in Anchorage Friday night, June 19th. Had a couple of days to catch up on laundry, cleaning and a little sightseeing. Anchorage is Alaska's largest city so we made sure we stocked up on some items we could not get at other places.

The second night we had an evening out at "Wild Berry Park" We all had a great dinner there and then watched two movies about Alaska in a "Imax" style theater. Both movies were done in HD and the photography was amazing. The first picture dealt with Alaska history and geography. The second was about the annual salmon run. It is uncanny that the salmon, in order to spawn, must return to their birth site. They are capable of laying their eggs within three feet of where they were spawned.

The trip up the rivers is legendary. You have all seen movies of the salmon swimming upstream and the struggle they go through. What you have not seen is the underwater journey. There is a shark known as the "Salmon Shark" They migrate from Hawaii each year to intercept the fish. That along with bears, humans, eagles, seagulls, and competition from other salmon cause as many as 30 to 50% of the fish lost before they can spawn.

Once the young eggs are hatched more than a third never make it back to the ocean.

The eagle you see with the young lady has been rescued after tangling with a high tension electric line. He lost 1/3 of a wing, can never be returned to the wild. Alaska has a program to place the injured animals with caretakers, who have access to facilities that will care for them.

We are off to Seward.

Fairbanks and Denali

We arrive in Fairbanks on June 15th, a three day stay. We took a Riverboat cruise to view life along the Yukon river. Watched demonstration of sled dog training, and life at a native Alaskan village. Had tour of the famous Alaskan pipeline and visited the Fairbanks Ice museum to see examples of the ice art from the annual competition. These were not your "party" ice sculptures but were, in some cases, nearly 75 feet long and 20 feet tall.

From Fairbanks we traveled to a campground just outside of Denali National Park. We took 8 hour bus tour through the parking traveling nearly 90 miles inside. Private cars are only allowed 13 miles inside the park.

The tour guide was a women who had been driving the tours for nearly 17 years, and had hiked many of the trails. She split her time between Denali, Oregon, and Antarctica. All this and she is 65 years old. She was a treasure chest of information about the park, animals, and plants. We observed several grizzlies, included cubs, eagles, mountain sheep, and moose.

Unfortunately the day was too overcast to get a good look at the 20,000 ft high mountain.

It was a great couple of days, and a must see if you like national parks. The park is kept in it's natural state. Park officials do not interfere with fires, sick animals, or water migration, unless the public is in danger. They have managed to bring back the natural "balance" between predators and prey.

 

The only “downer” was the campground.  Basically a big parking lot, office was a shack and power was provided by diesel generator in the park.  Shortly after we arrived and hooked up our wagon master told us not to run our refrigerators on park power due to possible damage to electronics.  He should have told us before we arrived, I had already plugged our coffee maker in which was “toast” due to the power problems.

 

When we visited the park we found a beautiful campground nestled in the woods near the Denali entrance.  No hookups, but would have been far superior to where we were.  If you go via RV stay in the park!

We are off to Anchorage.

End of the Alcan

We completed our Alcan highway "tour" near Fairbanks AK. All bone jarring 1,500 miles. Construction is taking place all along the route.

This year they will have replaced all of the original highway paving. Because of frost and the heavy traffic the paving must be replaced or reworked about every three to five years. Construction goes on 24/7. We drove from Watson Lake, to Destruction Bay, Stopped in Whitehorse then on to Tok.

Destruction bay is a community of about 30, with about twice as many dogs. It got it's name when it was a Corps of Engineers construction camp. One evening 100mph winds took the entire camp out, camp was renamed Destruction Bay. There are many tiny towns along the way that got their start as construction camps. We bought a bowl turned from a section of tree that was a large knot. The owner had a shop about the size of a kitchen with dust from his original works on the floor.

Whitehorse is a neat town, lots of history. We attended a vaudeville show, feasted on the best haddock I every had, and toured the town. Whitehorse is a key juncture for the annual salmon run. They constructed the worlds longest "fish ladder" in order to allow the salmon to bypass the dam and continue their journey upstream.

Tok is another town that grew out of a construction camp. We met a local performer/historian who told us they have no taxes, no government, no law enforcement and no building codes. Things are just the way they want them.

We are now touring Fairbanks, two observations, lots of neat history and more mosquitoes then we have ever experienced. The locals tell us that the good news is no termites, fire ants, or fleas. They cannot survive the 50 below winters. But the mosquitoes come back every spring.

The first day we dined at the pioneer village, with restored homes, exhibits, and an outdoor restaurant that serves grilled salmon, haddock. The food was great, watched another vaudeville show that evening. Second day we took riverboat cruise on 100 year old paddle wheeler. Stopped at "first nation" village for lecture on Indian history, and watched dog handler training dogs for "mushing".

The Caravan has had couple of mechanical incidents. One truck broke down in Whitehorse, bad fuel injector. The folks who run the tour were great. They arranged for extended stay at campground, expedited delivery of parts needed, and offered the couple to meet up with next tour- which comes through Whitehorse in about a week.

Fortunately they were able to get back on road in a couple of days and caught up with us yesterday. One of the motor homes was loosing power, they were able to get it into the local Cat dealer here in Fairbanks. The dealer plugged into the engine computer port, which allowed the engineers at the factory to diagnose the problem. Took a couple of days for the part, but they did not have to stay behind. So far, knock on wood, our rig has been great. Had to repair "umbilical" cord between rig and car, but that was minor.

Yesterday we toured the ice sculpture museum and the history museum. Fairbanks hosts a world class event every March for ice sculpture competition. We saw a movie, toured a facility where they keep some of the best works (cold) and watched a small ice sculpture being made.

Today is "down" day for the caravan, cleaning, laundry, rest. Tomorrow we head off to Denali National park for a couple of days. Really looking forward to that.