July 28th - August 3, 2024 Travel to Anchorage and Friends

(NOTE:  Apologies - I am so far behind in the blog.  As you know, I take lots of pictures and it does take time to go thru and pick what to publish - plus do some research.   

We did so much in Seward and I will post that later as I get caught up.  But for now I am trying to be near real time so I don't forget - easy to do now a days..LOL!)

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July 28th, 2024

We woke to a cloudy day, stopped by the dump to empty our tanks and away we went:

The drive out of Seward into the mountains is beautiful.  Sadly, the pictures do not do it justice!  We went past many glacial streams:

And beautiful waterfalls:

Clouds in the mountains:

The train!:

I don't think we have any fear right now:

I love the way the clouds hang on the mountain tops:

This lake is still reflecting:

WOW!

And another WOW - we are near the Turnagain Arm area.  This area sank 8 - 12 feet during the 1964 earthquake.  Cannot even imagine the flooding!

Starting up the Seward Highway by Turnagain Arm:

This area of the Seward Highway is considered one of the most scenic drives in Alaska and one of the most dangerous highways.  It hugs the mountains on the one side and the water on the other side, with the road and railroad in between.  The scenery is dramatic and my pictures do not do it justice.  (On another note - there are so many beautiful and scenic roads that it would be hard to pick my favorite - not only in Alaska but all of the U.S.)

Anchorage in the distant and the Alaska Range in the far distance:

We made our way to the Golden Nugget RV Park where we will be for the week.

July 31, 2024

The highlight of our week was to see our friends, Jack and Rita, who are living here. We met them in Benson Arizona in 2009.  They were so great to us and have been throughout the years.  They are now off the road so it was great to see them and get caught up. Thank you Jack and Rita.

I have to give a shout out to their story.  They homesteaded in Alaska before it was a state and have written books about it.  (Their books can be found on Amazon - search for Jack Stoudt Alaska. Very interesting!)

July 28-August 3, 2024

We did not do any sightseeing for our week in Anchorage.  We spent time doing some maintenance, fixing some things, cleaning, shopping, planning and relaxing.  I have been touristed out!  I know that is not a word and I need to explain.  There is so much to see and do here and much of the scenery and experiences are incredible.  But sometimes, I get sensory overload and then do not really enjoy what I am seeing.  So, hence, the break.

Our plans for the next few weeks are Palmer, Talkeetna, Denali, and Fairbanks.  I am very surprised I got a place in Denali for 5 nights - Hope to see the mountain.

Tomorrow we head to Palmer so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 128 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Alaska:  Ballaine Bvd; Seward Highway AK-3; E. 15th Avenue/ Debarr Street; Hoyt Street

July 8th, 2024 - Travel to Homer

We got our act together this morning, said our "see you laters" and documented it with pictures:

Love this picture of us being silly!:

We filled with great water at P/L and then dumped at the local park and headed south.  Love this mailbox:

It was very foggy so not many pictures cause all we saw was Fog - LOL!:

We made our way to Homer, where the weather did clear up a bit:

Coming up over the pass to Homer - Look at that mountain:

Mountains and Glaciers and Sea - OH MY!:

That piece of land in the middle is known as the "Homer Spit" and that is where we are staying:

Going on the Homer (Downtown) By-Pass and this is the view:

This is the area between the mainland and the Spit - it is mostly a protected Wetland:

On to the Spit:

Where the tide is low:
 

The Homer Spit:

We made our way to the Fishing Hole Campground.  I really wanted a spot where we could face the Kachemak bay.  As we were unhooking the truck, a vehicle left and this is where we are.

Now - a few things..  it is narrow and it is pricy for what we get (but really cheap compared to the other campgrounds on the SPIT).   But the VIEW - OH MY!

There is an app where you can find out what ships are in the bay.  This is Dubai Diamond.  "It is a Crude Oil Tanker built in 2007 (17 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands."

That is all I could find out.  Very interesting.

The tide is out:

Andy is their newest Harbormaster - LOL!:

After enjoying our view and after lunch, we decided to do a road trip.  The Homer Spit has many hike/walk/bike trails and many of them are lined with blooming lupine:

We decided to drive the East End Road to see what we could:

The Grewingek Glacier:

Lupine Everywhere:

After 20 miles of paved road, it turned to dirt.  We went about a mile and the road went downhill - Really Downhill!

There was two pull offs with cars parked but we continued.  When the foliage got thick, we stopped and I took a walk.

 The picture does not show but it was STEEP and around the bend it was even STEEPER.  Andy stayed back and when I got back...told him "NO WAY!"!

So we went up the road to one of the lookouts.  Meet some great folks there and the views were AWESOME!

Heading back:

Back home, tide was in..  Two pictures.. One with the tide out and one with it in - AMAZING:

The wind picked up so we did not have a campfire...  Bummer, but maybe tomorrow.