07/24/2010 - Home again

Here it is Saturday evening, 07/24/2010, and we have finally completed Our Alaska Travels. The prior 3 days were spent driving across several of the north-central states. Our evening of 07/22 was spent with our son and his family in South Dakota. Friday, 07/23, was spent driving across the balance of South Dakota and most of Iowa. When we stopped in Iowa the area about 20 miles of us was having heavy rains and flooding. Saturday afternoon we arrived home at 3:00 pm. The vehicle odometer read exactly 29000 miles, meaning that we traveled 10,525 miles on this trip.

Our only real bad experience was when we were driving by Jackson, MI, on the interstate and we received a stone crack in the windshield, just below the drivers normal sight line. We were surprised as we traveled all across the northern area of this country and Canada, over dirt roads and roads that had 'loose gravel' because of patching and road reconstruction going on with no problems, and then here in a busy highly traveled area we had a problem, only abut 100 miles from home.

During the last few days as we were just traveling we discussed many of the new and exciting experiences we had during Our Alaska Travels. As you re-read the postings in this blog you will also remember them.

If you enjoyed traveling along with us electronically you may also want to consider seeing our state of Alaska in person yourself - it is an experience that you will never forget, and one that you will want to share.


Signed:
The Wayward Traveler and
the 3 Weary Wackos

(p.s.. - that is their own nickname).

07/21/2010 - Wednesday

Today was a day of travel, with no photographs taken.

We left Banff, AB, Canada this morning a little before 7:00 a.m., and crossed the border into the USA at Coutts, AB, Canada, just north of Shelby, MT., at 11:00 a.m.

We followed the TomTom 'quickest routing' to Billings, MT, arriving there at 7:00 p.m. We traveled slightly over 700 miles today, with most of it at 75 mph, the posted speed (it was 60 in Canada).

As the four of us discussed at our supper today in Bozeman, MT, this is the most stressful time of the trip, just driving to get home as the vacation sight seeing is over (we stopped between here and home on the way out). And, it takes time.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/20/2010 - Tuesday

Today was a somewhat relaxing day of touring. We drove from Jasper to Banff in a little over 6 hours, stopping at many wonderful natural sights. Unfortunately the only wildlife we saw today was a coyote that ran across the road in front of us as we were still in Jasper.

The photos above are (left to right, top to bottom) Athabasca Falls, Lake Moraine and 4 tourist standing in front of a waterfall along the road, blocking our view.

Today is the last day of vacation / tourism, as tomorrow we start our homeward travels, stopping in South Dakota to visit our son.

I will still attempt to keep the blog going until after we arrive home, so keep checking it.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

07/19/2010 - Monday

Today was our travel from Dawson Creek to Jasper, and took about 6 hours (300 miles) to Hinton (just east of Jasper National Park), and then another 1 hour (45 miles) to the town of Jasper itself, where we are staying tonight.

On the way, between Grande Cache and Hinton, a motor home in from of us had some problems. The hitch bolted to it's frame came loose and the car it was towing kept banging into the back of the motor home until the driver could pull over. There was a motor home following it and pulled over to help so we did not.

Once in Jasper we did some sight seeing. First photograph is of Maligne Canyon. And then of course are photographs of some of the animals we saw (deer, elk, black bear).

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

07/18/2010 - Sunday

Today was a short travel day. We left early this morning for the 280 mile drive to Dawson Creek. the weather was clear and somewhat warm. It started in the mid 50s and got at high as 71.

When we were in the Ft. Nelson visitor center yesterday they gave us a document of about 5 or 6 pages containing points of interest between Ft. Nelson and Ft. St. John (just north of Dawson Creek). Unfortunately the document listed the mileage from Ft. Nelson but there were no mile / kilometer markers along the road. Some of the places listed appeared to be on 'restricted' side roads.

We did see the bear above along the road.

When we arrived in Dawson Creek we stopped at the visitor center which is at the start of the Alaska (AlCan) Highway, i.e. Mile 0. See the photo above. The other important part of this is that we drove the Alaska Highway the entire length. The official starting location is at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and the official ending location is Delta Junction, Alaska. We just drove it in reverse, with a side trip to Skagway. Also, on our way up we drove it from Haines Junction, Yukon, through Delta Junction, to Tok.

That is about it for today.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

07/17/2010 - Saturday

Today was a somewhat short day of travel. We had scheduled a road distance of around 330 miles between Watson Lake and Ft. Nelson. I had chosen Ft. Nelson and the relative short distance by looking at larger towns along the way for hotels.

We left somewhat early and headed mainly east, but having to travel South than east following the Alaska Highway and how it winds around the mountains.

Our first stop was at Liard Hot Springs, a provincial park containing two hot springs. This was about 2 hours, or 120 miles from Watson Lake.

The highway today had several 'repair' locations where either there was a flag-person and having to follow a pilot vehicle or just pebbles spread on top of tar, with the normal traffic pressing the pebbles in to the tar. There was also a large number of places with loose stones, from prior repairs, just laying on top of the road.

Large wildlife we saw along the road today included:

Bison (several individual ones and one large herd blocking the road),

Caribou,

Moose (one cow with calf, one cow, and one bull unfortunately I was not able to)

(take a photo of the bull),

Black Bear.

See the photographs above of some of these animals.

We arrived in Ft. Nelson around 2:00 pm today. When I was planning this trip I felt the distance between Watson Lake and Dawson Creek (our stop tomorrow) was too far for one day.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers.

07/16/2010 - Friday - the beginning of the end

Today we traveled from Skagway to Watson Lake, Yukon. As mentioned in yesterday's post, we are leaving Alaska and starting our ride home. There are a few things to stop and see along the way home, just not so much here in the Yukon.

After leaving Skagway this morning we stopped at the top of the hill (approx. 66 miles from Skagway) at a little town named Carcross (shortened from Caribou Crossing). The photo top left is of the oldest trading post / store in the Yukon, which is in this town.

From here we headed northeast and turned onto the Alaska Highway. We stopped for the evening in Watson Lake, on the border with British Columbia. When we stopped at the motel that I called for reservations, they nor their second motel could find them. In addition the rooms where not yet cleaned because, as the person behind the counter said, the crew did not show up today.

Anyway, we decided to cancel the room reservations and started a search for two rooms in a different place. The visitor center gave us a few names. When we mentioned where we did have reservations the look on their faces more or less said 'bad decision'. We did find rooms at the second place we stopped at. There is more to say about this place, but there was not a whole lot of choices in this town. We stopped here because it was over 300 miles to the next town of any size.

This motel, 'Air Force Lodge', is a remodeled barracks used during WWII when the Alaska Highway was being built. We talked with the owner who said he got the building for nothing when he purchased the land. He refurbished it and has been open for 5 years. However, the down side is the rooms are somewhat small, there are no bathrooms in the rooms, but they are down the hall. There are four separate rooms: Men's bathroom, women's bathroom, men's shower room, and women's shower room. In addition, shoes are to be taken off at the door. I am glad that I wore socks today.

The most notable thing about Watson Lake is that it is home to 'Signpost Forest'. I am sure that we have all seen signposts with distance to various towns (for example, 999 miles to NYC, 2000 miles to Los Angeles, etc.). The practice supposedly started in this town during the construction of the Alaska Highway when one of the soldiers posted a signpost with the mileage to his hometown. Now there are over 6,000 signs here (see top right photo).

Well, tonight early to bed, early to rise - as there is not much else to do here.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers.

07/15/2010 - Thursday (Posted 07/16/2010)

Today was another exciting day, in two different ways. First we took the morning tour / train travel on the White Pass and Yukon Route (see photo above), and second it is our last full day in Alaska.

The rail excursion lasted a little over 3 hours, even though it was listed as 3.5 - 4 hours. It left Skagway at sea level, and traveled uphill to the White Pass summit at an elevation of 2,8888 feet. Most of the rail line was on the edge of the mountains (see photo). I missed mentioning, and will now before I forget, that the road down into the valley and Skagway was much the same, cut out of the edge of the mountain.

The rail line is fairly well know and on weekends uses steam power on the line. The rail line of 20 miles up these mountains was built in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days and was built because of the gold stampede.

The train returned shortly before noon so we spent the rest of the day walking around town (other photo is of one of the town buildings - all are of this era).

Signed:

The Wayward Traveler.

07/14/2010 - Wednesday (posted on 07/16/2010)

I must apologize as somewhat the normal it seemes. The hotel today did not have free WI-FI wireless Internet so I did not update the blog, nor will until I can get free access. I hope you understand.

Today was to be a long travel day, slightly over 500 miles. from Tok to Skagway. the majority of today's ride and drive is on the Alaska Highway. having driven on most of this portion of the highway when we left Haines we know that it will be somewhat slow going with all the non-repaired road damages.

I did not take any photographs today as there was nothing out of the new ordinary. We crossed into Yukon, Canada near the town of Beaver Creek. We eventually crossed into British Columbia and headed south to Skagway. The road from Whitehorse down to Skagway is a mountainous and curvy road, passing over and around many mountains, avalanche areas, small mountain lakes and even some very long ones.

We arrived in Skagway almost evening time. After getting our rooms we walked around town for a little. It was windy and quite chilly. As soon as the cruise ships left the town was almost empty and most of the stores closed.


Until tomorrow:

Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/13/2010 - Tuesday - Excitement! (updated 07/16)

Today got off to an unusual start. Once you read the following you will understand why I did not include any photographs. (p.s. I added photo taken at Delta Junction, the northern end of the Alaska Highway, on 07/16).

We got up at our usual time, 3 hours after sunrise, but I bet still before a lot of people where even thinking about getting up.

Since we were leaving Fairbanks and driving to Tok today I took somethings down to the car as soon as I got around. Judy and I then waited for Frank & Karen. They are usually up early as well. Last night we set a time of 9:00 to leave since it is only about a 4 hour (200 mile) drive).

While waiting for them I started reading the paper in the hotel lobby. Low and behold, the road we are to be taking tomorrow, from Tok to Dawson City, was closed because rain washed out several sections of the road and a few bridges. Now the excitement started.

I contacted our travel agent to reschedule several hotel reservations and one tour, moving everything closer by 3 days. We had to remove the two nights in Dawson City and one night in Whitehorse. This will shorten our total trip by 3 days. When I called the agent I had to leave a voice phone message, and I followed up with an e-mail. Excitement #1.

The four of us then took a walk several blocks for breakfast since that is all we were able to do at the time.

As we were approaching the breakfast cafe our agent phoned us back - the hotel reservation cancellations and the new changes in Skagway (hotel and tour) were changed - all this in less than an hour.

After breakfast and before checking out of the hotel we all went back to our rooms to finish packing and brush our teeth, etc. The water department shut off the water because of some work being done outside of the hotel. Excitement #2.

There was another interesting item this morning. When we got out of our room and to the hotel lobby we could smell smoke. It turned out that over the weekend there was a small forest fire near Fort Wainwright (on the eastern edge of Fairbanks). The fire was put out, but not completely. Over the night last night the wind evidently re-ignited some hot spots. The was the odor of burring wood as well as wood ash all over the car. Excitement #3.

As we were leaving Fairbanks, between there and North Pole (yes, there is a North Pole in Alaska) there was a blue-gray haze covering the road that we had to drive through.

Along the way we stopped at a pipeline viewpoint where the pipeline crossed a fiver on a suspension bridge. this was just a few miles north of Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway.

After arriving at Tok and checking in at the hotel I phoned the hotels that I made reservations for (from Watson Lake to Belle Fourche), a total of 5 hotels. I was able to move the reservations 3 days sooner. So, if you are following our schedule you can take the two days at Dawson City and the day at Whitehorse out (3 days).

Well, that was enough excitement for today.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/12/2010 - Monday

Today was another day of leisure activities.

We stopped at an Alaskan Pipeline Information area alongside the highway just north of Fairbanks. There were two examples of 'pigs'. These are 'bullet' shaped items that are pushed through the pipeline by the oil and they clean the inside pipe. There were also information boards about how the construction of the above ground pipeline was designed, mainly to prevent damage to the permafrost.

Next we drove about 60 miles east of Fairbanks to an area named Chena Hot Springs. There are hot water springs in the area, now on private land. Karen availed herself of the opportunity and went in the hot spring pool.

Next stop was the mandatory shopping at North Pole, a small community just southeast of Fairbanks.

From here it was back towards Fairbanks and looking for a place for supper. We settled on a small restaurant named 'The Cookie Bowl'. It is a small family style restaurant. the food was good as were the prices.

This evening Judy and Russ are planning on attending a show at the Fairbanks Visitor Center about the Asthanbasan natives.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/11/2010 - Sunday

Today was an easy day, one with no previous plans except to determine what we wanted to do.

The hotel only had a buffet breakfast so Judy and I drove over to a 'Fred Meyer' store and had a coffee and pastry at the Starbucks counter. Frank and Karen decided to walk around town to see what they could find.

We started by catching up on the laundry. After that I went and had the oil changed in the car. So far we traveled just under 6,000 miles.

Judy and I then drove along 'Farmer Loop' road which was listed as prime Moose spotting area. Yep, we did not spot any.

We also caught up on our paperwork - travel notes, etc., and cleaned up the back of the van a little. We also planned our activities for tomorrow.

Mid afternoon we drove over to a Denny's for supper.

Late afternoon we took a local free shuttle up to the 'Museum of the North' which is part of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. The museum has many displays of the Native Alaskans, by area of the state (lower east, central, southwestern, etc.) and well as historical items from the modern settlement of Alaska.

OBSERVATION:
I do not remember if I mentioned this before, especially in the last few days. It is different living in an area where there is so much daylight. I know that it is only at this time of the year up here. For example, today's times are:
Sunrise 3:35 am
Sunset 12:15 am
Amount of sunlight 20 hours, 40 minutes.
Amount of 'dusk' type light 3 hours, 20 minutes
(It did not really get dark)


We get busy in the evening, but cannot tell that it is somewhat late when we look out the window, we need to look at a clock. Another example. This morning (?) I woke up around 3:30 and it was bright. I looked a the clock and went back to sleep. If I was home I probably would have gotten up with as much light as there was.
The people who live here all year long must have an interesting time adjusting to the major swings in day light and nighttime.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/10/2010 - Saturday - Denali to Fairbanks

Today was an easy day.

We took our time this morning to get ready for our drive to Fairbanks as it is only around 120 miles or so. There was a light rain as we were leaving, but it stopped shortly after. However, it remained cloudy the balance of the day.

Within a few miles of leaving we stopped to take photographs of the two different moose with calves that you see in the photos above. They were the only wildlife we saw today.

After checking in at the hotel and stopping at the visitor center we went to Pioneer Park, a city park that had historical buildings moved from Fairbanks and the surrounding area to this area. some of the buildings were 'museum' in nature and some were set up as stores (food, crafts, etc.). The majority of the buildings were of log construction.

From here we went to the LARS facility, a working area of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

LARS stands for Large Animal Research Station. Here were Musk Ox as well as caribou. Unfortunately if you wanted to see other than a few Musk Ox they keep by the road you had to take a tour that they charged you for. we passed on that.

We then drove about 2 miles to another UofA facility where some reindeer (versus Caribou) are kept by the road. I did not take any photos at either of these two places because of the fences.

Back to our hotel and supper at Big Daddy's B-B-Q. Our recommendation - skip this place - the advertised 'fall off the bone' B-B-Q ribs were very crispy and tough.

A sign in the hotel lobby had the statistics for today:

Sunrise: 03:35 a.m.

Sunset: 12:15 a.m.

Hours of sunlight: 20 hours, 39 minutes, 48 seconds.

As of now it appears that this area of Alaska is loosing about 5 to 6 minutes of sunlight a day.

Signed:

The Wayward Traveler

07/09/2010 - Friday - Denali (Posted 07/10)

Today was a busy day. We got up at 5:00 a.m. so we could have our continental breakfast at the hotel and be ready for our tour bus at 6:10 a.m.

We had signed up for a 13 hour bus tour, Kantishna Roadhouse, that takes one through the park, from the park entrance to a private lodge 90 miles into the park, a lunch at the roadhouse, and then back out.

I included only a few photographs today. Most of the photographs of animals that I took were at a distance and I need to work on those photographs on my other computer since that is where my better photo-editing software is.

The photographs above are (in order):

Moose (Bull) in a pond,

Karen and Judy panning for gold,

Sled dogs in action,

Mt. McKinley / Denali from about 75 - 80 miles away, and

Mt. McKinley / Denali from the last visitor's center, approximately 45 miles away.

In summary, following are the animals we had the opportunity to see on our travels today:

Moose,

Grizzly (not close), one with two cubs,

Golden Eagle,

Caribou,

Dall Sheep,

Wolf (only Karen in our group of four saw it, several others on the bus did as well).

At the Kantishna Roadhouse we had the option of either gold panning or a sled dog demonstration. Judy, Karen and I chose the gold panning, Frank just watched. Both Judy and Karen found some gold in their pan, I did not.

The road out and back was very narrow and winding. Parts of it were also on the edge of steep drop-offs.

We were returned to our motel about 7:15 p.m. - a long day.

For supper we went back to Denali Gulch, but ate at Prospector Pizza - a much 'safer' eating place.

Signed;

The Wayward Travelers.

07/08/2010 - Thursday (Posted 07/10/2010)

Today was another day of easy travel and sightseeing.

We started the 130 mile ride today easy. We made several stops along the road at 'scenic views'.

The first photo above is of Denali, also known as Mt. McKinley. This photo is from about 100 miles or so away.

We arrived at our lodge for the night too early for check-in so we continued on to Denali National Park. Shortly after we arrived there we were able to take the park shuttle bus to the dog sled demonstrations. The second photo is of one of the dogs. Notice the blue eyes.

We went back and checked into the lodge / cabin / motel (there was a little of everything there). we ended up in what one would call the motel section.

For supper we drove 7 miles up the road (1 miles past the Denali National Park entrance) to an area called Denali Gulch. It is an area of several motels (mostly owned by the travel companies like Princess, etc.) and tourist shops. We had our supper at a place named 'Salmon Bake'. It was an interesting building, almost falling down. The floor and walls were leaning and the ceiling / roof was canvas, as in canvas tent. Good thing it was not raining. There were sings around that in effect said that the entire area closes down in winter, that is, the area is only open May through September.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

p.s. Please accept the delay in posting this as the motel we were staying in had poor Internet capabilities. They had wireless access, however I ended up trying over a half an hour each night we were there to access it. I sometimes got to our e-mail home page then the connection would drop. My apology.

07/07/2010 - Wednesday - SPECIAL

Just a short special note.

After we walked around Talkeetna this evening we walked back to our cabins. It is really just one large cabin divided into four cabins. Judy and I were sitting on the wood swing on the cabin porch and Karen and Frank were in their room. We heard a noise and felt the the porch move. A few minutes later Karen asked us if we felt anything. We joked about what all was going on.

While we were watching the late news there was a report that an earthquake occurred at 7:15 pm, at 5.3 on the Richter Scale, centered near the town of Willow. We drove through the town today when we came across Hatcher Pass. That road intersected with the Parks Highway at the town of Willow.

I guess one can look at this as either we were about 5 hours to soon (i.e, we were there around 2:30) or the earthquake was too late.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers

07/07/2010 - Wednesday

Today was an enjoyable day.

We drove around 165 miles today between Anchorage and Talkeetna, although not in a straight line as we took a few side trips.

First we stopped near Eklutna to take the 1 mile (2 miles round trip) hike to Thunder Bird Falls (see photo). Next, a few miles up the road is an Orthodox church with some old churches. the graveyard has 'spirit houses' above the graves (see photo). The Athanbasans believe that the spirit floats above the grave for a year. The spirit houses are to shield the spirit in this time period, and are also used to house / store the tools of trade of the deceased.

We then headed a little northeast then west. We took a mountain road up to Independance Mine - an old gold mine, high in the mountains. Then proceeding west we crossed Hatcher Pass and traveled on anohter long (approximately 35 miles) dirt road down to the valley. Two of these photographs are also included.

From here it was highway driving to the town of Talkeetna. Yes, that is us enjoying our supper. We talked the waitress into taking our photograph.

The photo of the mountain, less it's top, is of DENALI, THE GREAT ONE. It is over 100 miles from where the photo was taken.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers.

07/06/2010 - Tuesday (posted 07/07/2010)

Today was another interesting day in Anchorage. I did not take any photographs today as we spent most of our time walking around the old town section, window shopping and purchasing a few souvenirs.

Our hotel in is the area of the original settlement of Anchorage, in an area names Ship Creek. There is nothing old here. It appears that the town is trying to change this area into a transportation hub as it is in this area that the tourist trains and buses seem to gather. The trains, run by Alaska Rail Road, not only have their own 'domed' passenger cars, but the other major tourist companies (Princess, Holland America, etc.) also have their own 'domed' railcars. We saw several trains leaving or arriving, each with 3 to 4 railcars from each of the major tour companies.

We did walk up the creek a little from our hotel to a dam. Here, we were told, is a good place to see the salmon swimming up stream. Well, this evening there were no salmon to be seen. During our trip so far we have been generally told that the salmon rums this year are about two weeks behind because the water is too cold.

That is about it for today. Sorry about no photographs today. You will have to wait until we get home and sit through all of them :-)


Signed;
The Wayward Travelers

07/05/2010 - Monday

Today we spent in and around Anchorage. I will apologize ahead of time - NO PHOTOGRAPHS TODAY.

After breakfast at the hotel we went to Kincade Park, a section of land set aside as park lands just on the edge of the Anchorage Airport. We took a walk of approximately 4 miles on one of the trails that went near the coast. Several people told us that they saw a bull moose, and some even said that they saw it and when they came back (they were on their bicycles) the moose was no longer there. We were also not fortunate, we did not see it.

We then went to the Alaska Zoo which is on the outskirts of Anchorage.

We arrived back at the hotel late in the afternoon. After a short rest we walked back to town and did some tourist shopping and found a place for supper. We have been finding out that the price of meals is high, but the plus side is that the serving sizes are big.


Signed:
The Wayward Traveler

07/04/2010 - Sunday (posted 07/04)

Today we drove from Homer to Anchorage.

Once again the mileage driven were close to 250 miles.

On our way today we stopped again at several wonderful sights. We also stopped at Portage Valley, home of several glaciers. Unfortunately the main glacier is no longer viewable from the parking lot and you must take a boat to it. we opted not to, but chose to take a walk to Bryon Glacier.

The photographs above are in a somewhat reverse order. The bottom photograph is from the deck of the cabin in Homer, taken about 11:15 last night - I have not touched the lighting, it was still bright enough to take a photo. Actually the light lasted most of the night. We were up until after midnight and it was still light out. Homer gets somewhere around 19 hours of 'sunlight' this time of the year.

The top left photograph is of Bryon Glacier. the remaining photograph is of the two ladies in our traveling party playing 'snow angles'.

We arrived in Anchorage late afternoon, and after checking in did a little walking around of the old town.

Signed;

The Wayward Travelers

07/03/2010 - Saturday (Posted 07/04)

Today was a free day in the little fishing town of Homer. We took our time relaxing and driving around. The photograph above was taken near the beach.

We did visit the Aleutian Islands and Ocean ???? (I do not have my notes in front of me for the proper name). The facility displays and informs people about the studies being done in the Aleutian Islands and the surrounding sea life.

There were a number of motorcyclists (bikers) in town. Evidently this is the first year of a charity ride. The motorcycle challenge started in key West and went 7,000 miles to Homes, with the bikers needing to arrive Saturday.

On the north side of town there is a drive, Skyline Drive, that has terrific views of Homer, the bay, and the many snow capped mountains on the other side.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

07/02/2010 - Friday (posted 07/04)

Today was a drive of around 250 miles from Seward, on the Southeast corner of the Kenai peninsula, to Homer, on the Southwest corner of the peninsula. The road does not go straight there, it is drive north, then west, then south (think of an upside down "U"). There were many wonderful sights to stop and look at. Just west of the town of Soldotna we came across this cow moose and calf along side the road.

The middle photograph is of the cabin we had the use of for two days and nights.

The bottom photograph is from the deck of the cabin, across the bay.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

07/01/2010 - Thursday (posted 07/04)

Today was a free day in Seward.

We visited several local attractions, including the Ocean Sealife Center (I may have the name wrong). This center was set up to display and inform people what types of studies are being done in Alaska.

In town this Sunday there is a Mount Marathon race. It was the talk of the town and was even on the Anchorage news. It is a race from in town at sea level, 3,000 feet up a rocky mountain and back down. This is the 83rd year for it. The trail up is different than the trail down. One of the problems encountered is that the runners in the lead often loosen rocks as they are running, and the rocks roll downhill onto the runners behind.

Later in the day we drove out to Exit Glacier, a short distance from our cabin. We did see a brown bear across the stream, but it ran into the underbrush when it saw us.

The photographs are of a pair of Puffins and of Exit Glacier.

I forgot to mention that on Tuesday, after we arrived, we visited a sled dog kennel near our cabin. the owner won the Ididarod in 2004.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

06/30/2010 - Wednesday (Typed 07/04)

Today was an all-day boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. The boat left at 10:00 a.m., and returned at 6:30 p.m.

Many different types of sea life were viewed, including mammals, birds and fish. We also was VERY close to an active glacier. I have only included a few photographs here that I thought you would like.

From top row, left to right, they are:

Fin Whale (2nd largest whale)

Sea Lion

Glacier (caving if you look close)

Seals

and

Sea Otters

It was a long but enjoyable tour, which included a picnic-type lunch as well as an all-you-can-eat Prime Rib and Salmon dinner near the end of the tour.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

06/29/2010 - Tuesday (typed 07/04)

Please excuse the slight delay in this posting and those through 07/03 as the places we have been staying did not have wireless Internet access.

Today, Tuesday, 06/29, we drove from Wasilla to Seward. Seward is south of Anchorage, on the Kenai Peninsula. Along the way there were many places that deserved a photograph. You can see them later.

The road went from sea level along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet, across a small width of land, then up and over some snow capped mountains.

We arrived in Seward, mainly a fishing town, but also know for the tours of the Kenai Fjords operated out of here.

However, the photo here is of the cabin we stayed in on the outskirts of Seward.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers