7/21 - Went to Homer via Anchor Point. I made a couple of stops along the way to check out the views of the volcanoes and checked out the campgrounds. Nothing impressive, so I continued onto Homer.
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| Sandhill Cranes |
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| Bald eagle and the view |
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| I didn't see a lot of peonies. I got a map of where they were supposed to be and I expected to see so much more. I guess I'll have to go visit a peony farm. |
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| I love this bus! |
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| Harbor |
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| Swell tacos. So yummy! I ended up going here two nights in a row - even with so many choices in town |
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| The two on the right are so good. |
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| I agree. Swearing does seem to help! |
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| Views from Homer spit |
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| The famous Salty Dawg Saloon |
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| Beautiful gardens |
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Had to stop in for a drink.
Dollar bills everywhere. I wonder how much money is attached to the ceiling and walls.. |
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| I wouldn't mind living in one of those! |
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| This looks like someone could have lived in this |
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| View from Mariner Park campground. Basically just a parking lot for $30/night, but great view. I ended up staying here all three nights. |
7/22 - Zoe and I took an expensive ferry ($49 each way for me and 10 each way for Zoe, plus taxes) to Seldovia. Doesn't $135 for a round trip ferry sound like a lot? I guess they only have a few months to run it, so they need to charge a lot. I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth it, but I'm glad we went. It is a super cute town and I could see living there in the summers. Actually, maybe year round since it isn't as cold as other places in Alaska. We walked around town, had some awesome clam chowder at Linwood Bar & Grill, where I sat with couple from Wisconsin. Then we did the Otterbahn hike to Outside beach. It was another 2+ miles with some fairly steep climbs, but Zoe was a trooper, as usual! I got to watch an otter hanging out in the water thru my binoculars. Also saw a couple of otters on the ferry ride.
Zoe's limp seems to be getting more pronounced and I can now see clearly that it is her right front leg. I'm not sure what to do about it. I've been giving her salmon because Mark and Pan said it really helped their dog, but she has had a couple of bouts of diarrhea since I started, so I wonder if it's from the fatty salmon... It didn't start right away, so who knows...
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| Various stages of Bald Eagles |
Approaching Seldovia
Boat trip back
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| Zoe saying hi to a super tall Russian Wolfhound |
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| Fishing vessels in Homer |
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| Cute buildings on the spit with a beautiful background |
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| From my site |
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| Cool gate! |
7/23 - After hanging out at the site/beach this morning, we took a hike on Alpine Meadows trail in Eveline State Rec Site. Beautiful views of a couple of glaciers. Also some nice flowers, but way too many cow parsnip. It isn't listed as invasive, maybe it's native, but it certainly has taken over everywhere!
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| Dixon Glacier |
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| Portlock Glacier |
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| Dixon and Portlock Glacier |
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| Getting Zoe to rest in the shade. Even though it was quite cool and breezy, she was panting and slow. 😓 |
7/23 - I've been thinking of taking a water taxi to the Grewingk (yes, that's how it's spelled) Glacier hike, but the winds have been pretty bad. I was chatting with Kristin, who used to drive the water taxis and suggested that if I won't be able to do the hike from the Glacier trail dropoff thru to the Saddle trail pickup, then it's probably not worth it. She is the owner of the place I would drop Zoe off at if I go. Obviously she doesn't care about the money she'd make from having Zoe, so I really appreciate her input. I'll call tomorrow and see what it looks like, but it's not looking good. If the winds are bad, then they drop off and pickup at the same spot, which makes it an out and back hike, rather than the preferred/typical loop hike.
I had amazing fish and chips at Harbor Grill tonight. I rarely eat fried food, but figured I should have a proper serving of halibut before leaving the Halibut fishing haven. I'm so glad I did. I was going to go to Hook and Cook (great reviews) last night, but decided on going back to Swell Tacos.
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| I ate at the bar at Harbor Grill and they have this live stream of the bears and salmon at Brooks falls. I was mesmerized! |
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| What a cool bus and beautiful garden, right on the boardwalk, overlooking the marina. I wonder if she drives it away |
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| It looks like someone lives here. Cool! |
7/24 - Because I really wanted to see the starfish at the pier with the negative tide, I decided to stay another night. It was going to be -3.3' low tide (which apparently is a super low tide and typically only happens once/year, making me feel very lucky!), making the starfish visible on the pilings. I had seen some incredible photos and I wanted to see it for myself.
While walking on the beach with Zoe, I met Jason and Nicole, an incredibly nice young couple who've been on the road for several years with their dog, Charlie. We hung out for quite a bit and I told them about the starfish, so they offered for me to join them so I didn't have to find parking for Big Bertha.
After paying for another night, I headed up to drive Skyline Drive where I got another great view of the glaciers. And then revived myself with a shower at Washboard laundry. Great shower!
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| That's the spit of Home Spit. |
Jason and Nicole had invited me to join them and their friends for dinner, but I passed, but said I'd love to join them for the starfish. The love tide was at 9:45, so not too bad for us (me and Zoe - especially Zoe) to get up in time for.
7/25 - OMG! The starfish were so super cool! So many and many different colors! When we first walked down, I didn't see them and was bummed thinking it wasn't going to be a good viewing, but I was wrong! I often think that I don't really need to see it myself, since I've seen photos, but it never is really the same. I started to think that about the bears and the salmon and looked for flight availability, but thankfully (very expensive) they didn't have any available. 😆
My NZ friends, Sharon and Gary, had told me about Norman Lowell's gallery and I'm so glad they did. I doubt I would have gone otherwise. He was a prominent Alaska artist, who worked in many mediums. He went almost blind and was still painting. How does one paint when they're blind??? He did it all by memory of scenes, so must have had a photographic memory. I just loved his work. I took a ton of pictures, mostly of stuff he painted in oil with a knife (I assume a palette knife). I've never seen this before and I love the effect.
Arrived at the campground and was quickly presented with adult and juvenile bald eagles. They flew around a lot while I was there. They liked to perch above Bob and Anja's site where I spent most of my time while I was there. I had only thought I'd stay one night, but ended up staying 3! It was just too nice to chill and hang with my travel pals (who I met at Boya Lake on the way up through BC)!
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| 1945 Westwood camper. Super cute. |
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| View of Ninilchik village with Mt Redoubt in the background. |
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| 😂 |
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| Also Ninilchik village |
I left Ninilchik and headed north. I really didn't have a plan other than gas, grocery, shower, water. When I got closer to Soldotna, it was hot! I'd gotten really used to being chilly much of the time and it was in the low 80s and very sunny. Ugh. After getting gas and groceries, I headed towards the Russian River area. I stopped along the side of the Kenai where there were lots of vehicles to see if there was a big line of fisher people, but I only saw a few on the other side of the river. I must not have gone far enough to find them. I'm sure the people on the other side of the river didn't walk across as the water is very fast moving and probably pretty deep. The water color is so amazing here.
I continued on and ended up in Cooper Landing again at Quartz Creek campground again. I went back to the Princess RV park for my $2 shower and they allowed me to fill my water tank too.
7/29 - Visit to Whittier. Not much there, but the 2.5 mile one way tunnel is cool. It's open every hour each way to vehicles and the train goes through at various times as well. Glaciers everywhere you look around here.
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| View from Williwaw campground where I stayed the night. I selected a site before heading to Whittier. |
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| Huge waterfall behind that building, which is housing for most of the town. I actually didn't see any houses anywhere. |
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| We took the pedestrian tunnel to the other side, but quickly turned around due to the black flies and nothing really to see. Why the black flies were so much worse on that side I don't know; it's only a couple hundred feet across. |
From the Williwaw campground, Zoe and I hopped on the Blue Ice trail, hoping to see some wildlife. I had been talking with a couple who showed me a photo of a HUGE bull moose they had seen on the trail. No wildlife for me though... 😞 We came across these pretty ponds that look like they must be manmade, but filled by the glaciers.
7/31 - I was going to meet Jerillyn in Anchorage today, but for some reason she decided she was going to head south, so I told her to come here for the night. I doubt I'll see her again on this trip, so it was good to catch up one last time.
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| Looks like a tree stump graveyard |
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| Super clear water |
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| Ahhh. The sun started to come out. |
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| Jerillyn loves having campfires, so she setup a fire ring behind this rock hoping to tame the wind. It finally calmed down. |
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| It kept looking like it was going to rain, but it stayed east of us. Lucky us! |
We cooked up some salmon we had gotten a couple of weeks ago at Funny River for dinner along with some mashed potatoes (I guess they're from a box, but super tasty), corn, and a spinach salad.
Tomorrow, Jerillyn will head south towards Homer and I'll head north towards Valdez. Tomorrow will be a shower and laundry day. It's supposed to be rainy for the next couple of days. I want to do a kayaking tour and another boat tour in Valdez, but I'm not sure about Zoe since there doesn't appear to be a kennel. That seems like such a great business - at least in the summer.
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