Year Four - Day Ninety-Four

Sam’s View

Today we went to Pioneer Park to eat and do mini golf.

Summer’s View

We had a lazy morning around the camp today, just preparing for the trip out of AK tomorrow. A good hour of  that time was spent by Sam and Jim just washing all of the mud off the car - LOL! Sam played with Joseph after he came home from school, and we all went out to eat at the Alaska Salmon Bake one last time!

Afterwards, Jim stayed with the boys to let them play a game of mini-golf, even though it was windy and pretty cold! Sam ended up sleeping over at Joseph’s place for the night so they could hit the xbox!

Year Four - Day Ninety-Three

Sam’s View

Today we drove to the Arctic Circle! We saw plants, burnt plants, dirt, mud, and rivers! It was awesome!!

 

Summer’s View

We drove up to see the Arctic Circle today – about 200 miles each way along a mostly narrow and muddy road – whew! Along the way, we stopped at a BLM Station and got some cool literature on the area. The pipeline ran alongside the road most of the way, and the fall colors are starting to show here!

It was very remote, with only a few trucks and semi’s for traffic, carrying a mud cloud around them as they passed. Our car is unrecognizable with the layer of dirt on it! J But, we made it to the Arctic Circle – woo hoo!

We also stopped for a couple of miles of hiking to a landmark called Finger Rock.

We were thinking we may have to stay overnight, but we made the drive in one day, arriving home to a happy Buster around 11:00 pm.

Year Four - Day Ninety-Two

Sam’s View

Today we drove to Fairbanks and got to see my friend Joseph! Yay! We played all day. Also I caught an Arctic Grayling fish! Yay!

Summer’s View

Today we finished the drive into Fairbanks, and we are staying at the same campground we were at before. Sam’s friend Joseph is still here, so they played as soon as he got home from school! On the drive in, a huge moose crossed the highway – narrowly avoiding an rv in front of us! Yikes!

Year Four - Day Ninety-One

Sam’s View

Today we traveled about 200 miles.

Summer’s View

Finally got the windshield all sealed up for the bumpy trip back down through Canada! Yay! We drove out toward Fairbanks, stopping about 200 miles south to spend the night at a wayside campground. No hookups, but a beautiful sight for the night!

Year Four - Day Ninety

Sam’s View

Today we went to do glow in the dark mini golf and eat.

Summer’s View

We were supposed to have our windshield sealed today, but it is raining – still! We had to schedule it for in the morning. Another lazy day, but we made it out to play a game of indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf at Putter’s Wild, and then have an early dinner at Red Robin.

Year Four - Day Eighty-Nine

Sam’s View

Today was a rainy day.

Summer’s View

Today was a rainy day, so we were all lazy and laid around the rv. Paperwork and shopping day.

Year Four - Day Eighty-Eight

Sam’s View

Today we went to the Alaska State Fair! We saw giant vegetables, which is a 100lb cabbage! We also saw rabbits, chickens, ducks, cows, goats, alpacas, sheep, and even a baby chick hatch! Later we went to see motorcycle and quad racing and freestyle. I ate pizza, and it was really fun!!

 

Summer’s View

We went to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. It seems that the entire city of Anchorage had the same idea, as it was lined up for about 5 miles just to park! It had all of the usual fair stuff, crazy rides and fried food, but we were on a mission: to see the giant vegetables! J

We made our way to the agriculture exhibit, and got to see lots of vegetables and flowers on display, but the hit was the Giant Vegetable section – Sam was excited! LOL  The biggest was the cabbage that weighed in at over 102 pounds! Wow!

 

We also checked out the animal exhibits, and saw lots of different kinds of chickens and rabbits – including some adorable Mini Rex rabbits with velveteen fur. An incubator was set up with some newly hatched eggs, and Sam got to see one pop out if his shell!

 

We finished up the day by watching some motocross bike race and freestyle competition. That was Sam’s favorite part! And Jim said the turkey legs were the best he had ever eaten! J

 

Year Four - Day Eighty-Seven

Sam’s View

Today we drove about 120 miles to Anchorage, AK. On the way we stopped at an animal center and we saw deer, fox, lynx, owls, bears, bison, a porcupine, and some elk!

 

Summer’s View

We left the Kenai Peninsula today and headed back to Anchorage. We are scheduled to have our windshield sealed on Monday morning. On the way through Girdwood, we stopped for a few hours at the Alaska Wildlife Center, where they house animals for rehabilitation and education.

 

 

They have a population of wood bison, which are native to Alaska but had almost reached extinction. They have been building up the population, and have some scheduled for release in 2015. While we were standing along the fence looking at them, one of the bulls took a dislike for Jim, and charged him! That was a good video moment! LOL

 

They had an animal ambassador – a porcupine named Snickers – who was a funny creature! He was snacking on some fruit and veggies while the guide talked about him. They also had a couple of moose calves who were all legs. It was a cool place to visit!

Year Four - Day Eighty-Six

Sam’s View

Today we did a hike to Fort McGilvray! We saw old bunkers, Stellers Jays, and when we got there we took pictures inside the water control room and we saw ghost orbs! Yayyyyy!

 

Summer’s View

Our last day in Seward, we went on a hike in Caine’s Head State Park. This is the site of Fort McGilvray, a fort that was built during WWII to protect the bay from invaders. The fort is in ruins now, and can be explored by hikers who travel the 2 ½ mile trail to check it out.

The hike through the woods was gorgeous! It was a rainforest environment, with mosses growing over everything. The fort was at the top of the bluff, and we used our flashlights to explore the inside and take some “ghost” pics.  Some of the pics captured some orbs, so…..who knows??!!

 

 

It was a good hike, and Sam and Jim had a good time back at the beach skipping stones while we waited for the water taxi to take us back.

 

Year Four - Day Eighty-Five

Sam’s  View

Today we went to the aquarium and we fed puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, and murres! While I was feeding them, the guillemot poked me in the back. After that we did a behind the scenes tour! We saw cool stuff!  

 

Summer’s View

Today Sam and I went to the Alaska SeaLife Center to take a Behind-The-Scenes Tour and also to enjoy an interactive tour that allowed us to feed the seabirds in their aviary.  We got there just in time to go to the aviary, and it was really great. The guide was very nice, and she was informative about the birds and their habitats in the bay area around Seward.

After a cool tour, we got on our gloves and got a bucket of fish to feed the birds. It was so much fun! The cutest birds were the horned Puffins, but it was so interesting to see the different types of birds and what fish they each preferred. The Puffins were the pickiest, and they only wanted to eat the “cake” fish in the bucket, something called Houlie.

Some of the birds were nesting, and had chicks in their burrows to feed, so they were collecting fish to take back to their chicks. One little horned Puffin named Nemo was the cutest, stacking up the fish and waddling away to his nest. Sam and I both just loved this!

 

Later, we took a tour behind-the-scenes to see what kind of research was being done at this facility, and to learn about a lot of the animals that had been cared for and released. Again, the guide really knew her stuff, and it was fascinating to see how much work they do there!

Year Four - Day Eighty-Four

Sam’s View

Today we went geocaching and taking pictures of the 16 murals in seward! We saw all of them.

 

 

Summer’s View

Today we spent a quiet day around Seward. It was another nice, sunny day so we strolled around town, taking photos of the murals they have painted on several of the buildings here. We also did a little geocaching around the area for a while. During one of the geocache stops, we checked out some salmon going upstream at a weir.

After a stop in town at a local restaurant for a late lunch / early dinner, we went home to relax.

Year Four - Day Eighty-Three

Sam’s View

Today we went on a Kenai Fjords tour! It was 8.5 hours long! I got a little seasick. We saw sea otters, seals, sea lions, birds, glaciers, bergy bits (which are baby icebergs), icebergs, and water! It was all amazing!

Summer’s View

On the first sunny day this town has seen in 10 days, we went on a popular tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. Part of the tour we signed up for stopped at a private island owned by the tour company where we got a great meal of salmon and prime rib – yum!

We had some good sightings of sea lions on the rocks, along with lots of Puffins in the water.  We saw some humpback whales feeding along the islands, and one calf jumped out of the water in a full breach – awesome!

 

The seas were pretty rough when we crossed the bay, and several people got seasick, along with Jim and Sam feeling a little green! One man was so violently ill that he convinced the tour boat to return to Seward so he could evacuate as a medical emergency! A fireboat met us at Fox Island to evacuate the man and his family, so we continued on with the tour after that.

 

The boat took us close to Holgate Glacier, and it was a lot colder near that wall of ice! We saw a little action with bits of ice falling here and there, but no calving. On the trip back to Fox Island for dinner, we toured alongside several islands that were bird breeding grounds, and I got to add a few more birds to my list! Also one spot was covered with some harbor seals, lazily enjoying a beautiful sunny day.

 

The beach at Fox Island was covered with small, flat, smooth rocks that were great for skipping. The tour operator said it was the rock skipping capital! J

Year Four - Day Eighty-Two

Sam’s View

Today we did a long drive around Skilak Lake, we saw lots of stuff. It was amazing.

Summer’s View

We drove the Skilak Lake Loop Road today, even though it was another rainy day (off and on). We hoped to see some bears fishing for salmon, but no such luck. At one point when we were in between rain clouds, we pulled off for a nice overlook of the lake below. Jim set up the spotting scope and caught a bald eagle perching on a tree top across the way.

On the way back, we stopped for dinner at a local restaurant in Coopers Landing. Everything around the area seemed to be closing up for the season, but we had a great meal. They had smoked salmon chowder that I thought was awesome!

 

Year Four - Day Eighty-One

Sam’s View

Today we stayed home and daddy went to do a 8.2 mile hike up to the Harding Icefield!

Summer’s View

Sam and I spent a rainy day at home in the RV while Jim hiked the trail to the Harding Icefield. It was a pretty difficult hike up a mountain, and then down again on the return, so Jim was pretty tired when he got back!

Year Four - Day Eighty

Sam’s View

Today we did a 2.5 mile hike to Exit Glacier, the smallest glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. The glacier was really big.

Summer’s View

Another rainy day in Seward (it has been raining since we got here), but we hiked up to see Exit Glacier at the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was a nice hike, and the glacier was pretty cool to see so close. Along the trail were signs that showed where the glacier used to be through the years since 1815.

Year Four - Day Seventy-Nine

Sam’s View

Today we went to an aquarium! We saw seals, sea lions, fish, birds, sea otters, and jellyfish! It was really cool.

Summer’s View
We went to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. They had some cool animals and sea creatures to check out, but the best was the bird aviary. There were sea birds from the area, which included kitty wakes, common murres, and Tufted Puffins and Horned Puffins.  Because they allow people to buy an experience with the sea birds and interact with them, they are really used to people and come right up to you. I got some great pics of the Puffins just inches away!

 

 

Year Four - Day Seventy-Eight

Sam’s view

Today we traveled about 170 miles to Seward, AK.

Summer’s View

We drove away from Homer today, and headed down the road to spend a few days in Seward, AK. The sun was actually shining when we left and for most of the drive! Our campground, Stoney Creek Campground, is back a winding road, about a mile from the main highway.

Year Four - Day Seventy-Seven

Sam’s View

Today me and mommy went to do a tour the shows stuff that lives under the dock. We saw crabs, anemones, mussels, starfish, shrimp, salmon, and even a harbor seal about 15 feet away! He was eating a fish. It was amazing. After that we went to an ocean institute and saw lots of stuff it showed how much the tide could change. It can change 26 feet! It was awesome too.

Summer’s View

Sam and I took a guided tour of the boat docks at the Homer Spit, sponsored by the Institute of Alaskan Coastal Studies. Our tour guide, Ashley, was very knowledgeable about the sea creatures that live in the waters in Homer. Like Sam said, we saw several dock dwelling creatures, but the highlight of the tour was when a harbor seal decided to eat his fish catch just a few feet away while we watched, fascinated! I had forgotten my camera, but I took some pics with my phone – they aren’t the best but you can see that he was very close! Sam said he was eating was a burbot.  He was so cool!

After a lunch at McDonald’s (the first one in a long time!) we headed over to the Visitor Center to see their displays and read some interesting info about the area. It was a really nice place with cool displays.

Year Four - Day Seventy-Six

Sam’s View

Today we went geocaching and later daddy went fishing.

Summer’s View

Quiet day today, as we strolled along toward the harbor, finding the local geocaches. We met another couple from Austin, TX that were doing the same thing.  Sam and I spent a lazy afternoon in the coach while Jim went fishing later. He saw hundreds of fish, but none took the bait.

Year Four - Day Seventy-Five

Sam’s View

Today me and daddy went kayaking! We saw sea otters, kelp, rocks, birds, and lots of jellyfish! Some were big and some were small. We went all the way around Yukon Island! It was big. Also we saw a rock called Elephant Rock. It looked like an elephant!

Summer’s View

While Sam and Jim went kayaking, I took a boat through Rainbow Tours to check out Gull Island and spend the afternoon in Seldovia, AK.  At Gull Island, I saw several new birds to add to my list, including Tufted Puffins!  As we were on our way to Seldovia, we passed Sam and Jim in their kayaking tour around Yukon Island – lol.

Along the way to Seldovia, we spotted a small humpback whale, and rafts of sea otters swimming along. They are so cute and curious! The guide said they spend 90% of their lives in the water.

 

In Seldovia, I strolled around the boardwalk area and took some beautiful pics of the homes and businesses along the water’s edge. I had some lunch at a local diner, but I was really struck by how quiet it was on the island. It didn’t occur to me what noise was missing until I saw a car go by, and I realized it was street noise from cars! People have to bring over their vehicles by a special ferry to get them to the island, but there is no regular ferry service, so visitors do not drive here. While I was having lunch, a sea otter was sleeping in the harbor, just floating along on his back, the epitome of peace and quiet.

 

On the ride back to Homer, we spotted another humpback whale, this one was huge! It put it’s huge fluke into the air as it went into a deep dive – beautiful!

Year Four - Day Seventy-Four

Sam’s View

Today we did a water taxi over to Kachemak Bay State Park. On the way we saw sea otters and birds! When we got there, we saw a harbor seal really close to shore! He was cute. After we got off we started a six mile hike! On the hike we saw trees, rocks, and berries. There were even some turnoffs where they had other cool stuff like a hand tram and even a lake with icebergs in it! Since there was a huge glacier behind it, some fell off a long time ago. There were some small ones really close to shore so we got them up on land and broke a piece off. It was really clear. Then I cleaned it in the water and licked it. It tasted good. On the last mile, we had to go down, and I almost slipped since it was muddy! We should have had cardboard boxes to slide down on! Wee! On the way down we saw willow ptarmigans! They were so close! At the end of the trail it was a steep staircase. When the boat got there, we got on and went back to Homer. The hike was really fun.

Summer’s View

We took a water taxi over to Kachemak Bay State Park to hike over to Glacier Lake. The hike was spectacular, taking us through so many different types of forest environments along the way! We took a detour on the hike to check out a hand tram that went over a river – the water was really rushing by!

At Glacier Lake, we could see the Grewingk Glacier on the other side of the lake, and there were icebergs floating in the lake! It was so beautiful! A group of folks on a tour were hanging out by the lake eating their lunches, and Sam spent some time playing with a boy from that group, pulling ice balls out of the lake.

On the last leg of the hike, we went over a trail called the Saddle Trail that took us over a rise, and right down a muddy trench to the bay! LOL It was raining all day, so the trip down that trail was pretty slippery! Along that stretch of the trail, we walked right by some Willow Ptarmigans that were almost close enough to touch! We walked about 7 ½ miles that day – whew!

Year Four - Day Seventy-Three

Sam’s View

Today we went to two visitor centers and did a two mile hike! We saw lots of flowers. After that, I stayed home and mommy and daddy went to eat.

Summer’s View

We drove out to the Carl Wynn Nature Center to walk along some of their trails. It was a beautiful area, up a steep road to look over the spit. Although we didn’t see any wildlife on our trail, the guide had given us a flower guide to take with us on the trail, and we identified almost all of the flowers listed on it. It was almost like a treasure hunt! We also saw some really colorful lichen.