BILL'S, JJ'S AND ANITA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES
ALASKA TOUR
SEPT 18-28, 2015
(CLICK THE THUMBNAIL PHOTOS FOR A LARGER IMAGE)
Alaska's Denali National Park, located about 240 miles north of Anchorage, is well know for its rugged wilderness, animals and home of Mt McKinley (now just Denali). There is a single, one way road through the park and that road is usually open for park buses. However, at the end of September the Park opens the road to private vehicles for people who are lucky enough to have won the "road lottery". Anita was a winner with a date of 20 September for her time to drive into the park. It was this event that prompted Bill and JJ to join her for the Denali experience. Anita had arranged the Denali trip as well as all the other sightseeing for our trip. She did a great job!
18 September, 2015 FRIDAY TALKEETNA
JJ and Bill arrived at Anchorage after a 7.5 hour flight from San Diego with a stop in Seattle. Anita was waiting for us and we were soon off for our Alaskan tours. We stopped overnight at the village of Talkeetna and stayed in the Roadhouse, a 1917 vintage lodging with shared baths and comfortable rooms. A highlight for us was the Mountain High Pizza Pie restaurant.
19 September, 2015 SATURDAY DENALI NATIONAL PARK
We departed the Roadhouse about 10am and continued north along highway 3 arriving at the Park about 3:30 pm. Anita collected her pass for tomorrow's drive and we strolled around the Park headquarters and bought some sandwiches for the coming drive. The weather was chilly (low 40s) and wet with light snow and lots of clouds.
Finally we headed back down the road and checked into the Denali Mountain Morning Hostel for a three night stay. There was a well equipped communal kitchen for preparing our dinners and breakfasts and very clean showers and toilets. We actually managed to get our luggage and three people into the tiny cabin shown below and were OK with the bunk bed (double below and single on top).
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20 SEPTEMBER, 2015 SUNDAY DENALI PARK
In the morning we headed back north to the Park for our drive on the park road. The weather was unchanged with clouds, rain and some snow but the road was open and easy to drive. The road was not crowded and we made frequent stops for photos and viewing. Anita was very attentive and looked for animals but we saw few. We did get a good look at a Dall sheep and saw one moose and one grizzly bear at great distances. We were disappointed to see no caribou.
I had expected Denali to be heavily forested and similar to the Sierras in California. Instead much of the terrain is open tundra with white and black spruce forests at lower elevations.
The park road extends about 90 miles from the visitor center to Kantishna where it ends. We turned back at mile 60 because it was getting late and we feared the road might freeze and make for treacherous conditions. Finally, at about 6pm we exited the park after a full day of truly spectacular scenery. The weather was clearing and we got some great photos of snow covered mountains.
21 SEPTEMBER, 2015 MONDAY ANCHORAGE
We decided to ditch our third night at the hostel and to head back south for an overnight at Anita's house in Anchorage. The weather was clear and we had a chance for photos of Denali in all its 20000 feet and snow covered splendor. Also, the Fall colors mostly from birch trees was lovely and reminded me of the similar views Buck and I had seen from the Trans Siberian train as we were crossing Siberia.
We took a short hike on a water front path near Anita's house in Anchorage. There were great views of downtown Anchorage, a moose grazing by the water and a visit to the Earthquake Park. This park included an area that was devastated by the 1964 earthquake that caused massive damage in Alaska.
22 SEPTEMBER, 2015 TUESDAY SEWARD
We departed Anchorage at 0945 and headed down to the Kenai pennisula and towards the city of Seward. Along the way we stopped to see some beluga whales in the Turnagain Inlet and lunch in the tiny village of Hope.
We stopped for a walking tour of the Exit Glacier which is a few miles north of Seward. There were signs in the park with dates indicating the glacier's location at times in the past. President Obama had recently visited these same sites during his Alaska trip.
23 SEPTEMBER, 2015 WEDNESDAY SEWARD
Last night we checked into the pleasant Seward Resort for a two night's stay in a townhome. Today's event was a 6 hour tour by boat (Major Marine Tours) of the Kenai Fjords National Park. We cruised south from Seward in the Resurrection Bay and then hooked north into Aialik Bay. At the head of the bay we viewed the Aialik Glacier as it was busy "calving" off hunks of ice into the water. This glacier and most of the others we saw were spilling out of the massive Harding Ice Field which covers hundreds of square miles in the higher mountains. In some spots the Harding Ice Field is up to several thousand feet thick!
We discovered that the same boat we were on, The Viewfinder, was the boat used by President Obama when he visited the nearby Bear Glacier. Indeed, our Skipper Joshua was the captain for the Presidential tour.
24 SEPTEMBER, 2015 THURSDAY SEWARD
On our second full day in Seward we decided to check out the Alaska Sealife Center which is a natural history museum and aquarium featuring the local sea life and history.
Again, following in President Obama's footsteps we stopped at "Sweet Darlings" for ice cream selecting, of course, the same type the President had eaten-coconut and cookies/cream. Yum!
25 SEPTEMBER, 2015 FRIDAY HOMER
At 1000 we departed the Seward Resort ( a military recreation center-we used our retired Department of Defense IDs) and headed for our next destination, Homer. Our lunch break was at Odies Restaurant in the town of Soldatna and at 2:15 we did a photo stop at the Russian village of Ninilchik. Finally, at 4:10 we stopped for views of the Kachemak and Cook Bays and the Homer spit. The cloudy skies precluded the spectacular views of mountains east of the Kachemak Bay.
After checking into our motel we drove down to Homer and out along the "spit" under windy, cool and cloudy conditions. We saw two humpback whales feeding very close to shore.
26 SEPTEMBER, 2015 SATURDAY HOMER
We spent two nights in the unique Kenai Peninsula Suites in a subterranean unit! The unit was single room with two beds, a small kitchen and spectacular views of the bay from the front window. A spiral staircase descended into the ground and an entrance to two units via a circular building on the lawn. Anita had learned about the place from a friend in Anchorage
On Saturday we drove a few miles north of Homer to visit a unique Russian village of Nicolaevsk. This village is the home of a sect of "Old Believers" who had split from the Russian Orthodox church many years ago. According to my travel book the main reason for visiting is to have a meal at the Samovar Cafe. When we arrived the cafe was closed but soon a van drove up and out jumped Nina, the owner. Soon the three of us had the cafe to ourselves and after sort of negotiating some high prices Nina began preparing our meal. We were soon treated to borscht, sauerkraut, sausage, dumplings, bread, dessert and Russian tea. It was the best Russian meal I have had since Buck and I were in Russia!
A part of the meal was entertainment with photos and dress up in authentic peasant outfits with Nina barking out orders for picture taking!
Later in the day we visited the Pratt Museum which has displays of the local history and Katchemak Bay natural history. Finally, we finished off the day with another great Alaskan meal at Two Sisters Restaurant following our visit to the famous Salty Dawg Saloon on the Homer spit. The interior of the bar is decorated with one dollar bills posted everywhere.
27 SEPTEMBER, 2015 SUNDAY ANCHORAGE
At 11am we departed Homer and started the 220 mile drive back to Anchorage. Near Girdwood we drove a few miles to see the Portage Glacier but the rain was heavy and visibility very limited. We had one more night at Anita's home before our flights on Monday
28 SEPTEMBER, 2015 MONDAY SAN DIEGO
Our flight left Anchorage at 1pm and we were back home in San Diego by 11:30pm local time. This excellent adventure was over!!