Kenai River/Girdwood/ParaGliding

***I know it's hard to see the pictures in the grid like this but if you click on the grid, it will expand the picture into larger images so you can see them more clearly.***



Here are some pictures of the Kenai River (where I'd like to spend some time) and Again Kenai Lake. We then stopped in Girdwood. We had stopped on the way to Homer to take the tram to the top of Mt.Aleyska, but a cloud was in the Mountain, so the viewing wasn't great. We took a chance on the way home and it was perfectly clear. While paying for our tickets, Blair noticed that you can ParaGlide down from the top. Well, he has wanted to sky dive for a long time and could hardly pass this up. Next best thing, right? It's about a 2,200 foot jump. He loved it. And lost his shoe in the process.

Girdwood's Aleyska is just stunning. The ski resort is definately high class. Big Time. The tram operator said they got 115" of snow in May. Can you imagine? So normally they don't have snow at the top (as you can see from the pictures of Blair getting ready to run off the mountain) but it's been a much cooler spring and summer. So between that and getting 155" in May (not normal) there was still snow there.

Coffee Shop Alaska Style

These little drive up style espresso places are literally everytime you turn the corner. Most of them are TINY buildings or an old bus, or 1/2 a trailer or something. They will be in random locations. They are designed to just drive up and get a steaming cup of Joe. I tried one, actually the first picture w/the colorful mug declaring 'espresso' and it was just delicious. The girls and Blair got smoothies here and it must say, they were delicious. I wish I'd taken more pictures of these. I bet I saw 50 different ones, painted in everything you can imagine.

The bottom two were 'restaurants' The one at the bottom looked like they cooked in the bus. Weird.

Last Day in Homer

It was quite chilly in the evening in Homer. I bet it was in the lower 50's. These tent campers made me say 'brrrrrrr'. The clouds are often so low...I loved the 2nd picture. It was just so beautiful.

Camping

We roasted hot dogs and smores, played dutch blitz and taught Natalie to play cribbage. (which is her new favorite game) Blair and Luke played catch on the beach and we went to a local nature center in Homer and learned about the Aleutian Islands, saw a presentation on Bald Eagles and another on Sea Otters. From there we did a nature hike to a preserve to watch cranes.

Just for the Halibut!

Blair caught the most fish on the boat and the guides asked him if he wanted a new job. But...a girl caught the biggest on----a 118 lb. The boys were fascinated with the cutting up of the fish and watched it w/delight. We thought Natalie would hurl at any time...but we were all quite proud of her...she did good. The guides were great to explain what they were doing and show us the parts of the fish as they cut. One guy cut the eye out and then took the lens out of the eyeball for the boys to see.

A halibut starts out with two eyes on the side of it's face and then the one eye migrates to the bottom next to the other eye. It's a pretty UGLY fish. The white side of the fish faces the bottom of the ocean and the dark side on top. It swims like a stingray. He also cut the top of the fish off and took out one of it's ears (on the 118lb fish) It was just tiny.

While dad chartered we painted

Blair went out on a halibut charter on Wednesday and the kids and I shopped and the kids did a pick-a-paint ceramic. We had ice cream, painted, walked the shoreline and played games while we waited for the charter to come in.

Homer

We all loved Homer. Karen's Uncle and Aunt had spent 3 1/2 weeks here a couple summers ago and loved it. We took their word and trecked down here. The 3rd picture at the top is a better picture of the spit.

The Homer Spit

This is where we spent 3 days. It's a 4 mile strip
(very narrow) strip of land that juts out into the ocean.
Actually Kachemack Bay. We parked the camper right at
the end of the spit; right on the water. It was great. The spit is maybe
a 1/4 of a mile wide. So we could walk from one side to the
other easily. It had fun little shops and of
course charters up the wazoo. It is considered the Halibut
capital of the World.

Signs and Wonders

Well, we saw some funny sights. I wish I had thought to take more pictures of the signs. There were some VERY funny and unusual ones. I didn't. There housing industry is something. Alaska is very expensive. We found that out in short order.

You will see a beautiful home and then a really dumpy one next to it. It'd be a real estate nightmare. Another thing....we saw often....a bus or van or car would be the "basis' for the home and then they'd just build off the vehicle to make the living quarters. Something else...many of the yards we saw were just piled with 'stuff'. Anything and everything you can imagine.

Tuesday--Destination Homer Alaska

We left Tuesday morning in the motorhome for Homer, Alaska. It is about a 5 hour drive from Anchorage through some of the most breathtaking scenery.

I would love to go back w/Blair and spend some time exploring the area after we left the Seward Highway and cut across the Kenai Peninsula heading toward Soldotna. The Kenai River runs through this area, which is World Famous for Salmon Fishing. There was scenery too breathtaking for even pictures to describe. The river itself was awesome. God is truly a master designer and creator. Alaska reeks of His power and might.

(Um...lame is the word I'd use to describe Canton Michigan after seeing Alaska.)

Anyway, we started our drive, stopping at anything along the way that caught our eye. We climbed down a little, steep path, (1st and last photo)that led us out to gorgeous views of Kenai Lake. (the 3rd and 4th photo) Photo's 6,7 and 8 are looking across the bay at a volcano and other mountains.

End of the Line

This was taken at the end of the line.
Back in Anchorage after a really long day.
Believe it: This picture was taken about 10:30 at night.

Bay/Train Home

Here are some more shots. Sawyer, Tayler and Luke did a program on the ship called Jr.Ranger program. We had a National Parks person on board explaining things as we went. Here are pictures of Sea Lions from the boat as well as the last 6 pictures are from the train. The icebergs from the glacier were SO cool and here is the black bear we saw on the way home, I didn't have my camera ready for the Grizzly and then another glacier.

Animals

Here from top top bottom are the following:

Puffin in Flight, Radom Birds covering a big rock, Whale Tail and Whale surfacing, then some gorgeous waterfalls and the bottom middle, a mountain goat.

Ressurection Bay Tour

Alaska Railroad and Ressurection Bay Cruise

This started our really LONG but amazing day. We got up at 4:30 and left the house by 5:15 to get to the train station by 5:45. We took a 4 hour train ride to Seward and then got on a boat for a 5 hour cruise of Ressurection Bay. Then took the train 4 hours back to Anchorage. It was exhausting but worth it. We saw on this trip; Mountain Goats, Dall Sheep, Grizzly (this was my highlight, it was ENORMOUS), black bear, moose, eagles galore, puffins, 100 lb. beaver, Humpback Whales, Minkie Whales (?), Sea Otters, Sea Lions, and many other birds. The picture to the right of the boys at the top is part of the sand where the bore tides come in and out.

1st Moose

We were driving back to Bev and Larrys from getting the motorhome packed w/groceries and this moose meandered across the road. We pulled over and snapped a few pictures. This was the first of many, many moose we saw.

Family Day

Bev and Larry had the cousins (Blair's cousins) and families over on Saturday for a barbecue. None of them really remembered eachother b/c it's been I think they said over 25 or so years since they'd seen eachother. Ryan and Blair played catch, the kiddos played badmitton, David gave the kids rides on his motorcycle (which Luke thought was the BEST thing in the world) and the Uncle Larry let the girls play in the fountain at the end of the day. We taught Brittany and Audrey to play Pickle (the baseball game) and it was a really fun day.

Portage Glacier

The boats in Whittier, waterfalls and Portage Glacier (I think) with Portage Lake and floating icebergs.

Whittier

I have no name for this place. But it was I think, the most breathtaking place. It was this gorgeous spot where you walked down a bunch of slate and shale (?) and you could feel the temperature dropping with each step down. There was this little inlet that was just amazing that went out to the bay at Whittier with trees on either side of the inlet and then mountains in the backdrop. As we turned the corner to walk up along this raging stream (they streams are almost all glaciated streams; melting glaciers or snow from the mountains melting) the cold air hit me in the face. The water was frigidly freezing (thats for you Janelle, Nikki and Kim)

4th of July; Whittier Alaska

These are some shots from our day trip to Whittier. You go South toward Seward and then through this tunnel through a mountain, that is a one way tunnel. We did some hiking along a very rugged shoreline and viewed some gorgeous waterfalls. The inlet in Whittier is a port that takes cargo and people into Prince William Sound. It's first designation was a military base.