Seward, Homer and Anchorage

The Kenai Peninsula







In Seward we were fortunate to find an ocean front site in one of the several RV parks provided by the town of Seward. Most were "dry camp" areas, meaning no services such as water, sewer or electricity. The cost was $15.00 per night, if you prepaid for 6 nights the 7th was free. The term "dry camp" really hasn't been appropriate this trip!



The site we were at, the Iditarod RV Parking, is tiny--only eleven spaces, seven of them facing the beach. The stone monument in the left of the picture marks the original starting point of the Iditarod Trail from Stewart to Nome. Trekker had to try his new pulling harness here. The trail in now commemorated by the Iditarod Sled Dog race from Anchorage to Nome.


Art took his bike off the rack in order to sight-see via the bike/walking path only to find that the free-wheeling mechanism had failed! Heave it back onto the car and go looking for a bike repair shop. He found one but were unable to look at it the same day. Maybe Hyder or more likely Anchorage.

In front of the campsite there were frequently a couple of sea-otters feeding and playing very close to shore. Very cute and entertaining.



We stayed 2 nights in Seward, time enough to see most of the town and spend some time in the Alaska Sea Life Center which was very good.Of course the day we left the weather dawned sunny and bright!. This has been the main theme of this trip!




As we left Steward we made a small detour to view Exit Glacier. While Art and the dogs waited in the rig Gillian hiked the short trail to the face of the glacier. To her disappointment she found that walking up and touching the ice face is no longer permitted due to the danger of falling rock.






The glacier is shrinking quickly--we were driving on paved road where the ice had been during our lifetime. We missed those signs but this gives you the idea of how far the glacier has retreated in (geologically) recent times.

From Exit Glacier to Homer

The trip was sunny for the most part but of course as we approached Homer the clouds slowly began to threaten rebuilding! The scenery was much the same as it has been for the last while, very beautiful and relaxing.

Approaching Homer we stopped at a view point for a photo across the hayfields and Cook Inlet towards Mt Iliamna (left and Mt Redout (right) in the Chigmit Mountains. These mountains are over 10,000 ft high and are in the Aleutian Range which begins a chain of mountains and islands that extend 1700 miles west to divide the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Mostly hidden in the clouds but a nice view any way. Mount Redoubt had a major eruption in December 1989 which lasted through the spring of 1990 and became active again in the spring and summer of last year (2009) All quiet so far!

Entering Homer we stopped to take our mandatory "AbqL" photo then drove all the way through town and out to the end of the spit checking out the campgrounds along the way.

We turned around in the ferry lot and and retraced our path about half way where we pulled onto a dry camp site near the Homer Fishing Lagoon. Most campers were here for the fishing—lots of boats and fishing charters and guides. The only waterfront site left was right beside the fish cleaning station. Not surprisingly we were surrounded by very well fed gulls! Hopefully the rain will wash off their calling cards!

We didn't stay long, just the one night. Again the term dry camp being an oxymoron, the weather remaining cool and damp, the propane furnace was on a large part of the night.

Art switched on the satellite dish but it was unable to find a signal. In fact it refused to search! Although it had found our position and displayed the latitude and longitude it wanted to know which country to set up for, Canada, United States or Mexico! We believe this to be an installer setting and we had no way to enter that information! Unable to watch the news from home Art settled in with a book, blanket and a glass wine while Tia curled up at his feet.

July 24 We had rain overnight, the day began cloudy then turned to rain. As soon as we had fed and watered ourselves and the dogs we hit the road. We were retracing our route most of today, only the last bit going into Anchorage being new road.

Anchorage

We arrived in Anchorage around 4:00PM and pulled into the Golden Nugget RV Park where we planned to stay three day. Our 1st night we had electric power only, no water or sewer connections but we could move in the morning to a serviced site. But the Starchoice satellite worked!

Art says that if the rain keep up the RV Park itself will become an Anchorage!

We had lucked out here, being Saturday there was a campground hosted pot luck where the owners provided and cooked burgers and hot dogs and the campers brought various dishes. As usual for such affairs the selections were varied and tasty. The big surprise was the promised entertainment by the "house band". Several band members were employees and the rest were friends and volunteers. The quality of the music was excellent and wide ranging in style though mostly rock. We had a superb time, the crowd insisting on an encore before it was over.

In the morning we were given a choice of spaces with water and sewer connections so Art wandered about check them out of obstacles to the satellite signal and chose the most promising, thought was a tree very close. Sure enough, we couldn't get a signal so Art turned the rig around and we pulled in frontwards to clear the foliage. This meant that the power and sewer lines had to be run under the coach but they reached the appropriate connections without difficulty. This set up had the advantage of our front door now facing the street as we were on a corner space.

Being Sunday Art was delighted to find a bike shop that was open and after getting the motorhome in its new space we were off to town to attend to that. There was a nice pub or roadhouse style restaurant next door where we had an excellent lunch and a pint of excellent Alaska microbrew ale to accompany it.

Returning to the RV Park it was laundry day and time to do a bit of house work. We had to go into the laundry room for our internet, so we got a bit of that take care of as well.

On Monday we went into the Visitor's Center which was a disappointment far too commercial with guided tour ticket sales, gift shop and an (unmanned) information counter. From there we checked out a nearby brewhouse and had an excellent lunch and 52 deg F cask aged ale!

Next on the list was the Anchorage museum which we enjoyed, hosting a display of artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian. The jacket on the left is made of animal intestine! Light weight and waterproof. The original Gortex?