Y’all know I’ve got my list of what is available to do in each place we will be going. On the way to Seward is the very small hamlet of Portage Valley. We didn’t think we were going to be able to do any of the activities I’d found in the Portage area because of time and the distance it ended up being from our base camp, but on a whim on the last afternoon we were in the Seward area we loaded up and went. We didn’t get to go to Whittier (which is also in that area), but we did get to go to the Portage Lake and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (which are the two things I really wanted to do anyway!).

Thought y’all might like to see what traffic can be like even here in Alaska. It’s always for road work. We sat here for maybe 15 minutes waiting. Not a bad view though!

We went to Portage Lake and the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center first. In the picture above you can see two of the six glaciers in the area. Five of those glaciers are hanging glaciers, but the Portage Glacier is a valley glacier that comes all the way down to the water. In the picture above you’ll see the Burns Glacier and the Shakespeare Glacier.

We saw several big chunks of ice floating in the lake. We didn’t get to see the Portage Glacier up close because you have to take a boat to get there. The boys had to see how cold the water in the lake was. It was cold and someone may or may not have been splashed…

We were a little disappointed with the visitor center. It was a little…lacking. There was a small museum you could pay to go through which we thought was kind of odd. So far, we haven’t had to pay to go through a visitor center. We passed on it and headed outside for a hike to the Byron Glacier.

Byron Glacier was beautiful. We stopped at the end of the trail, but you could venture closer. We thought about it, but The Harding Icefield Trail was still too fresh in our minds (and muscles) for anyone to really want to try and climb closer. So, we sat on the bench and enjoyed the view and watched as other people tried to scramble up the moraines to get as close to the ice as they could.

We turned to leave and got another beautiful view. It’s funny how on a hike you can be so single minded….you’re only thinking about getting to the end of the trail and seeing what’s in front of you. I don’t know how many times we’ve turned around and were just as amazed at what was behind us too. We’ve gotten into the habit of hiking for a bit then stopping and turning around to really take in the surroundings before moving on.

We stopped at a little turn out along the road to our next stop and found this little gem of a pond. You’ll see Explorer Glacier in the picture above. The water was that wonderful turquoise color and was as smooth as glass. The beauty of Alaska is unbelievable! You don’t have to go to the touristy stops to find the most breathtaking spots…In Alaska those postcard worthy views are everywhere.

Our next stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center! I had been looking forward to this stop for awhile. The AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals and works to rehabilitate them so they can be released back into the wild. It’s never their intention to keep the animals for the expanse of the animals life. For those animals that can’t be released back into the wild, the AWCC works closely with several facilities in the lower 48 to find homes.

All of the enclosures were huge and not crowded. I feel like the animals here are well cared for. The moose in the picture above is scheduled to be released next year. On all of the enclosures there was the story of the animal. Why it was there, if it would be released… This porcupine was munching on his dinner and didn’t worry about us gawking at him at all.

This big elk was cracking us up! He was snoring! All of the females were awake and watching while this lazy guy was just sawing logs. We walked back by later and the whole herd was up munching. Mr. Snoring Guy watched us walk by like he knew we’d been laughing at him earlier.

These two baby elk were having some fun in the left photo. There were also a few orphaned, Sitka black-tailed fawns. They were pretty skittish and stayed away from the front of the enclosure.

This black bear was huge! He’d just had dinner and was out prowling around. The bear enclosure was the biggest there…almost 19 acres! There was a boardwalk that takes you up and over a part of it so you can see the whole enclosure. There was a brown bear enclosure too, but she was hiding. It was a hot day for the animals so I’m pretty sure she was in the shade somewhere.

The elk herds were kept in separate enclosures. The AWCC rotate the enclosures for the grazing animals. There was a field that was empty that is worked into the mix.

This guy wasn’t part of the AWCC, but I thought he was too pretty not to include in the post. He was scavenging in the black bear enclosure.

At the back of the park is a boardwalk that lets you see the Turnagain Arm. We were there at low tide so we got to see the mud flats. The mud flats are a very dangerous mixture of the glacier silt and water that makes quick sand. People go out and get stuck and when the tide comes back in…well…it’s not good. Starting in Anchorage, we were warned against going out onto the mud flats. The tide here is a 20 to 30 foot tide and many people every year foolishly think they won’t get stuck. We had no desire to set foot on the mud flats, but hey were really cool to see!

There were four huge enclosures for the wood bison. All scheduled for release later this year. We saw quite a few of these big beasts out in the wild on our way to Alaska. Meet Chena the Lynx! Isn’t he gorgeous!! He and his brother Venetie have been at the AWCC since they were young kittens and won’t be released because they don’t have the hunting skills to survive. There was also a small caribou herd. We’ve been looking for caribou out in the wild, but so far we haven’t seen them. There have been a few places a herd was rumored to graze, but they weren’t there when we were.

We enjoyed the AWCC more than the Alaska Zoo. If you have to choose just one…I would suggest the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

See y’all down the road!

#alaskabound

While we were in the Seward area we decided to take a day trip over to Homer. We had no plans of actually staying over on that side of the peninsula, but we did want to see it.

I thought a map might help you visualize where we went. We started in Seward and went all the way around to Homer. It doesn’t really look that far, does it? We left around eight in the morning and got back just after midnight. It was a very long day, but we feel like it was worth the drive!

The first city we stopped in was Kenai. And, the first thing we did was get lunch. We were starving! We asked at the Visitor Center where a good place to eat would be and was pointed over to the Burger Bus which was within walking distance…so that was a plus because we were wanting to stretch our legs after the long drive. The portions were big and the food was hot! It was better than your typical fast food burger…you could tell the meat had been frozen…but it was a decent burger.

Once we were certain no one would wilt away from hunger, we set off to see Kenai and head toward Homer.

Kenai was the first European settlement on mainland Alaska when it was colonized by Russian fur traders. You can see the Russian influence in some of the buildings. The church and the chapel above were the prettiest and best preserved. You can still see quite a bit of what was left over from the Russians in certain parts of Alaska.

Welcome to the Cook Inlet. That big peak you see in the photo above is a volcano. I didn’t know that there are still a string of active volcanoes just off the Alaskan coast.

The entire beach around the Cook Inlet was covered with fishermen. Alaskan’s take their fishing seriously and the birds are always near to try and steal a catch. It was kind of crazy the number of fishermen that were lined up on that beach! I would be afraid I’d catch someone’s hook as they were wildly casting…No thank you.

We found this huge patch of fireweed in a park in Kenai. I wanted to show y’all how big this stuff can get!! I love this plant! And the fact that it’s my favorite color doesn’t hurt. Ha!

From Kenai we went back to Soldotna. Alaskan’s are serious about their fishing, but they’re also very serious about preserving their land. All around Soldotna and several of the other towns we passed through, there are fishwalks on the banks. The fishwalks are to ensure that the river banks don’t get ruined which would cause the fish to stop going there to spawn. You can see a fishwalk in the picture above. Notice there are even stairs that lead right down into the river. The fishwalk above is right behind the Soldotna Visitor Center. That’s the Kenai River you can see in the photos! It doesn’t really show up that great in the photo, but the water is turquoise! If you look closely, you’ll see all of the fishing docks along the right side of the river. Every available space was crammed with fishermen trying to get their daily limit. A lot of Alaskans live the subsistence lifestyle where they spend the whole summer preserving veggies, catching fish and hunting everything they can so they can financially make it through the winter.

And, of course, there were amazing flowers everywhere! Tell me I’m not the only one who takes pictures of flowers! Alaska is overflowing with amazing flowers. All of that sunlight does wonderful things for plants!

Right in the middle of Soldotna is one of the busiest places we saw. The Moose is Loose Bakery! We stopped in and got a few goodies to have the next morning! They were tasty…and big! The chocolate covered donut you see there…it was the size of a plate.

On our way out of Soldotna we stopped by the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. Above, you’ll see a life size statue of a moose. They get big! Everything in Alaska is big!! But the moose…wow! And moose are dangerous! They will run you down and stomp all over you if they feel the least bit threatened.

Nicholas and Alex worked for their first Fish & Game badge while we were at the National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. We walked down a short trail to a lake near the NGWR as part of their Junior Ranger requirements. The lake was calm and beautiful. I snuck out on the dock to get the picture above…we were pretty sure they didn’t want anyone on it.

I wasn’t there long…shhh…don’t tell anyone.

We spent about an hour there and the boys completed all of the requirements for the badge. This is one of their favorite badges so far. I really like that’s it’s blue and not just the standard gold that all the other National Park badges are.

This beauty is called Devil’s Club. We see it all over the place. It’s not a nice plant. Pretty, but not nice. Look at all of those thorns! And the berries are poisonous too. There was an abundance of Devil’s Club on the trail to the lake. We tried our best to avoid it, but it would reach out and grab one of us occasionally.

Our next stop was Homer! We stopped by the city sign for the obligatory photo. Alex and Nicholas don’t mind posing for me but Charlie doesn’t always want to…he’s at that age.

On the into downtown Homer we pulled off at Bay Crest Hill to get a view of the area. Not a bad view, right? We were told that line of mountains in the distance area all volcanoes. I don’t know if that’s true…but…dang that’s a lot of volcanoes! I got a picture of the Homer Spit from our vantage point. You can really see how it juts out into the Kachemak Bay…and looks so flat!

We drove all the way out to the tip of the Homer Spit to get a good look at Kachemak Bay. It was gorgeous! We haven’t found a bad view of coastal Alaska anywhere.

We headed back up the Spit to check out what else it offered. Now, we had heard from a few people about The Salty Dawg Saloon. Y’all know saloons are not really our thing, but we went to check it out anyway. The boys stayed outside while we stuck our heads inside. There’s a story about The Salty Dawg…I don’t know how true it is…but a long time ago someone went in and left a dollar for his friend who was coming in later. Ever since then, it’s a tradition to leave a dollar. It was neat to see all of those dollar bills posted up on all of the walls and ceiling. We didn’t leave a dollar…we didn’t get anything to eat or drink there so we didn’t really feel like we should.

There’s also a small boardwalk with shops along the Spit. They are, as you would imagine…for the tourists. We saw the highest prices yet while in Homer. In fact, we walked into a seafood restaurant, sat down and got a look at the prices on the menu and got up and walked out. We aren’t going to pay over $20 for a kids menu item. We just aren’t going to do it…even in Alaska. It wasn’t a fancy place so the prices really shocked us. We left and found a burger place that fit us much better.

The Spit looks flat from above, so I was surprised to see actual houses right in the middle of the Spit. I love the bright colors of the houses in front of the mountains.

The last thing we did on The Spit was walk by the Boat Graveyard…which ended up being someone’s privately owned property. So, we didn’t get to walk through it, but we got to see some neat boats. The owner of the Boat Graveyard actually lived in a huge, ancient boat right there on the Spit. I didn’t get a picture of it…I felt weird taking a picture of someone’s house.

On the way back to Seward, we stopped at Anchor Point to snap a picture at North America’s most westerly highway point. We’ll have to get one at the most easterly point too!

We stopped at a pull off not too far from Anchor Point because the sunset was too good to not get this shot. It was around 10PM and the sun was finally starting to make it’s way to the horizon. There was a small rainbow above the peak on the left…I believe those area called sundogs… We milled about a few minutes and headed back to our home-on-wheels.

We even saw a few moose grazing by the side of the road! This shot was taken just after 11PM. Dusk for this area.

We had a very long, very memorable day driving to Homer. We missed some of the things we wanted to stop and see, but there are only so many hours in the day.

See y’all down the road!

#alaskabound

#myalaska

We thoroughly enjoyed the Palmer/Wasilla area. It was exactly the combination of being close enough to the stores we need and being far enough from the rush of the city that we like.

One of the things I’ve been looking forward to doing is learning more about the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. We were able to go to the Headquarters in Wasilla for a few hours.

The Iditarod Trail started out as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps. Mail and supplies went in and gold came out all by sled dog. The Iditarod Sled Dog Race is a commemoration of the years mushers spent running desperately needed supplies to the mining camps.

You really can’t compare any other competitive event to the Iditarod. The Mushers and their dog teams have to go through a thousand miles of the roughest terrain Mother Nature has to offer. Jagged mountain ranges, frozen rivers, desolate tundras, and dense forest…lets add in the weather now…temps far below zero, winds that cause complete loss of visibility, and the long hours of darkness that make up the Alaskan winters. Sound fun? Yeah, you couldn’t pay me enough to do this race. Maybe that’s what makes me so curious about it. Why would anyone willingly do this?

The race starts the first Saturday in March when the racers line up in Anchorage and race all the way to Nome. Every year, people come from all over the world to participate in this historic race. It takes a lot of people to make this race possible, from the veterinarians that come to check each dog to the volunteers that help man the outposts that dot the raceway. It’s been called the “Last Great Race On Earth” and it’s easy to see why.

While we were in the main office of the Iditarod Wasilla Headquarters, we were told that we should go play with the puppies. That, in fact, playing with the puppies is a vital part of their training because it helps them get used to being around a lot of different people.

Well, OK…twist our arms…we’ll go play with your adorable puppies! I mean, look at that sweet little face…how could we turn down the opportunity to cuddle…I mean…help train Iditarod Sled Dogs?

We tried our best to wake them up. We passed them around, jiggled them, pet them, talked to them…and they slept and grunted through the whole thing. The boys hated every minute of it…can’t you tell by the looks on their faces?

After we got our fill of puppy lovin’ we headed over for our turn on the sled. Meet our dog team. Here we are on the…er…sled/buggy. The owner actually asks if you want her to take pictures. We didn’t have to ask, we didn’t have to pay… We thought that was a really great touch. The owners genuinely seemed pleased that people were coming to see their dogs and help them train them.

Our team was quick and nimble. One kept trying to lick all of the bushes and another one kept trying to jump over the dog in front of it. Hey, we did tell you they were in training. Nicholas and Alex spent the entire ride giggling and laughing while Charlie had a huge grin plastered on his face! All three boys talked about it for days. We had to do a little more Sled Dog lovin’ after our ride. They really are awesome dogs. I had four boys (you can see them in the picture above) who were wanting to sneak a puppy home. I would have agreed if I’d thought we would actually get away with it. *wink*

In the picture above you can see one of the older sleds used in the race. It really amazes me to think of what that sled has been through. How many races did it see?

That same day we went to the Matanuska Valley Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. Musk Ox is a descendant from the last ice age which means they used to roam around with woolly mammoths and saber tooth tigers.  The musk ox is known to the Alaskan Natives as “Oomingmak”, which means “The Bearded One”.

There was a great little museum with all kinds of touch and feel itmes for the boys to look through while we waited for the tour to start. The farm had around eighty muskoxen. We got to see maybe thirty of them. Apparently, muskox are twitchy little beasties with horrible eyesight. They think kids or someone bending down to take a picture is a wolf and they act aggressively. We actually got to experience this right at the end of our tour when a momma beastie tried to protect her baby from the kiddies (and me) looking at them through the fence. We moved along quickly.

You can see the momma beastie in the left picture above…and if you look very closely you can see the hooves of the baby beastie she was protecting from the wolf/kiddies. Moms…whattya gonna do…we protect our beasties. In a different area of the farm, there were some juvenile muskox who were all too friendly. The boys got to feed them some tasty morsels. Nicholas wasn’t to sure about his hand getting so close to a muskox mouth, but he did it and then thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The muskox on this farm are pampered and fed nicely. Their whole purpose is to produce as much qiviut (qiv-ee-ute) as they possibly can. Qiviut is the underwool of the muskox. It’s eight times warmer than wool, softer than cashmere, and stronger than pretty much any other kind of fiber out there.

It also cost $95 an ounce. Nicholas was extremely dismayed at this. He had been really looking forward to buying some to crochet a scarf for himself. He had to settle for a $5 sample.

We stopped at a pull-off near the Muskox Farm to gawk at this view. No matter how many amazing views we see…it never gets old.

See y’all down the road!

#alaskabound

Anchorage is one of those towns I was really looking forward to seeing. I had grand visions of seeing moose right on the streets of the city…bears waddling around our RV park. I mean, it’s Anchorage, Alaska…it should be rugged and wild and embody everything that makes Alaska…Alaska.

When we were in Valdez we struck up a conversation with a couple who live in Anchorage and they started telling us how unsafe the city is. Now, to be honest, we’d heard a few disconcerting things about Anchorage before that, but chalked it up to people visiting the wrong parts. Every city has good and bad parts, but this couple actually lived there. So, we changed our plans and decided to stay in the Palmer area. We’re very pleased with our decision. The RV park we stayed in is really nice. It was close enough to grocery stores but far enough from a city that we felt like we weren’t right in the middle of town. We’ve really enjoyed the Palmer area! I’ve been trying to do a post for each area we stay in, but I’ll have to break this one up into three posts!

So! Anchorage! We got to spend two afternoons exploring Anchorage.

The first place we went was the Information Center. It was a log cabin! I was looking for rustic…it doesn’t get much more rustic than a log cabin. The rest of the city was, well, very city like. So, I was pleased to see at least some of my Anchorage vision was true. This part of Alaska is always boasting about it’s huge vegetables. They even have some cabbages planted right by the info center. I loved all of the flowers!

There was this fantastic mural! I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it, but it was right beside a busy street.

Every Saturday in the summer, Anchorage has Saturday Market. It’s a farmer’s market plus craft show plus vendor market. We saw some of those huge vegetables there! Squash and zucchini twice the size I’ve ever seen them!

Totem poles are big in Alaska. Every town we’ve been in has had them. This one is the best one I’ve seen so far.

We found a beach and had to skip some rocks. All of the beaches we’ve seen have been rock beaches. We’ve seen tons of sand here…just not at the beaches! There was quite a bit of graffiti at this beach, but  the views were stellar.

The second afternoon we spent in Anchorage, we went to the Alaska Zoo! We really enjoyed this zoo. It was laid out a bit weird and some of the exhibits were empty, but all of the animals were healthy and happy and the habitats were all huge! Oh! And, all of the animals were indigenous to the Alaskan climate! We really enjoyed getting to see some of Alaska’s wild animals up close.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the zoo.

Leopard. *Picture taken by Charles. There was an entire wolf pack. The Dall Sheep seemed to be napping.

These two bear cubs are orphans. The zoo has an orphan center. We’ve seen tons of Trumpeter Swans in the wild, but we’re always driving down the road and I haven’t been able to get a picture of one.

Of course the Alaska zoo would have polar bears!! They’re getting ready to expand the polar bear habitat and it’s going to be huge! I’d love to be able to go back and see it when it’s done someday! Last but not least is the Bald Eagle! There were two of them in this exhibit and they were gorgeous!

Most of the animals at the Alaska Zoo are either orphaned or they were injured in some way and can’t be released back into the wild. We’re keeping a list of our top zoos. Houston still has the top slot, but Alaska is firmly in the number two slot!

Am I the only person who goes to the zoo and takes pictures of the flowers?

We ended our Anchorage adventure the only way any self-respecting tourist would…with chocolate. We went to the Alaska Wildberry Products store and got some chocolates made right there in the store! When you walk into the store all you smell is the chocolate from this huge chocolate fountain!

So, my overall thoughts on Anchorage…it’s the largest city in Alaska and just like any large city there will be good parts and bad parts. We saw both of these parts, but overall, we enjoyed our day trips there. You just have to be smart about where you go and when you go to some places. I wouldn’t want to stay there. We heard from several sources that there are a lot of shootings in Anchorage. We didn’t see any shootings…but, we did have a couple of people try to come up to us and sell us drugs (me and the boys) while Jerl was running back to the car. I gathered the boys close and gave them a look that told them that this momma dragon will eat you alive if you try to hand her baby dragons drugs. It’s best to not poke the dragon…or really any mother…when her babies are around.

My advise would be to stay in one of the surrounding cities (we love Palmer) and day trip into the city.

See y’all on the road!

#alaskabound