Monday August 3, 2009

We left the Russian River Campground headed in the direction of Anchorage.  Mark and Susan once again, grrrrrrr, had a problem with one of their “new” Atwood jacks so Bob and I left to go and dump our tanks and fill with fresh water.  Can you believe we have made it for 7 nights dry camping?  This is the longest we have ever gone.  We drove only about 50 miles to Portage and pulled off into a turnout to spend a couple of nights.

It was a beautiful, sunny day so we drove to Whittier…a deep water port.  They get no direct sunlight for 3 months in the winter. We had to wait in line to go thru the tunnel into Whittier.  The tunnel is shared by motor vehicles and the train so they carefully orchestrate time for each to use it. The tunnel is 2.5 miles long.

There was one cruise ship in the harbor…the Princess Lines Coral Sea.

This group of kayakers were just coming in.

This is the Forest Service office.

Notice the water supply on this rental cabin.

This is Jolie…she is a reindeer…if she were in the wild she would be a caribou.

A glacier overlooking one of the storage tanks.

Random shots…Bob is trying to name each of the glaciers…right!

After leaving Whittier, we drove a few miles to Girdwood.  The town itself was destroyed in ???? (who knows) by the effects of an earthquake.  It only took a few minutes to see everything in the small town.  They are known for the Alyeska Resort and Ski Lodge.  It is the ski area with the lowest elevation in the world.  We also drove out to Crow Creek Mine…it was closed but we were able to see some of the structures at the gate.  This is a gold mine and people had been panning that day. 

Moving on.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

 

First of all, you should ignore the date of Monday, August 3 on my post about leaving Soldotna…that was actually a week ago Monday, July 27 (I think).  I hardly know what month it is much less what day or date!

JoAnn and Bob Srutka arrived today from Soldotna.  After they got set up we all headed to Seward for the afternoon.  Sandy and Curtis, a couple that JoAnn and Bob had been traveling with off and on met us there. We all went to see Exit Glacier which is part of the Harding Icefield. Bob and Vicki, Mark and Susan, Curtis and Sandy and Bob and JoAnn.

Bob, Mark and Sue and Bob Srutka went on to the Sea Life Center.  JoAnn and I opted to walk around Seward to see the

shops.   

Seward is a very small community on the Gulf of Alaska.  We learned some things about fish when we wandered to the dock where the fishing boats come in.  Got a picture of some people and their guides who had been out fishing for silver salmon.  The silvers are just starting to run now.  We also saw guides cleaning Ling Cod and Halibut that their clients had caught. 

We checked out prices in the fresh seafood store…king crab is going for $24.00 a pound.  I had thought we would be able to get it really cheap up here but no…it is only caught in the winter in the Bering Sea and cooked and frozen immediately.

On the way out of Seward we stopped at a fish weir (I think that is how you spell it).  The salmon are still trying to swim upriver to spawn in the lakes.  The Fish and Wildlife people have these weirs set up where the fish can be counted by sonar (I think).  They use these figures in determining when you can fish and how many you can keep from time to time.  It is a miracle any of the salmon ever make it…the odds are so stacked against them.  I think Bob or someone told me today that only 1 in every 4 makes it to the spawning grounds. If you look real close you can see one salmon in the air.

Not sure he made it but the next one appears to have done so. Look between the two poles on the right.

We drove into the park we were staying at to see one of the fishing areas.  This was the Russian River.  Notice the rifle on this young man’s back.  I guess he got his limit one way or the other.

Yesterday, Saturday, 2 more Tiffin coaches pulled into our parking area.  The couples were from Florida.  We all got together for a potluck dinner last night.  It was nice meeting them and it looked like we were having a Tiffin mini-rally in the parking lot.

Mark and Sue and Bob and I left Cooper Landing this morning headed north for Anchorage.  We are backtracking a bit but we did not stop in Anchorage on our way to the Kenai.  We had to stop and dump our tanks and take on fresh water since we had been boon docking for the past week.  We did not get an early start so we decided to have lunch at Sunrise before hitting the road.  It is a cute place and again, the flowers are beautiful.

This one is sort of long but I am playing catch up now that I have internet for a few hours at least.

Moving on.

Leaving Soldotna

Monday we left King Salmon RV Park in Soldotna and drove about 60 miles to Cooper Landing.  We are boon docking in the overflow parking lot at the Russian River National Campground.  We have great spots for only $4.00 a night.  This area is actually paved!

We had time Monday afternoon to drive just a few miles to the Russian River Ferry.  This young woman was getting gear ready to do some trout fishing as were the people in the boat next to her. This man and his family are from Houston, Texas.

It just amazes me that no one ever wears any type of flotation device even if the rivers are not very deep.

The handicap area for fishing on the Russian River.

As the sockeyes travel further upriver to spawn they start to deteriorate and turn red.  Once this reaches a certain stage they are not good to eat…I could not believe this man kept this fish.

And here is the ferry…this is the only way, other than boat, to get to the other side of the river.

We drove to another access area to the river.

It was a short hike to get to the area of the river we wanted…we passed the route to the restrooms.

Monday afternoon we drove to Seward, about 60 miles, to say goodbye to Chuck & Loraine, Tom & Dorothy and Rob & Norma.  We probably will not see them again on our travels.  The group said it had been raining the whole time they were in Seward…about a week, and it was still raining while we were there.  We had dinner at Ray’s that included Alaskan King Crab…our first since arriving in Alaska.  We were right on the waterfront but I was unable to get any real good pictures.

Moving On.

Friday July 24, 2009

We left the RV park in Kasilof on Wednesday morning and moved to King Salmon RV park in Soldotna.  Our friends Chuck & Loraine, Rob and Norma and Tom and Dorothy were leaving Soldotna on their way to Seward…we pulled into 2 of their spaces just as they left.  Later that afternoon Bob and Joanne from Texas, also Phaeton owners, pulled into our RV park.  Mark had been in touch with Bob so they knew we were here.  On Thursday, Mark, Bob S. and I left the park at 5:00 am and headed for the Kenai River to fish.  We thought we would get there early enough to be able to get a good spot in the river…wrong!  We ended up having to fish off of the boardwalk which isn’t made of boards but metal.  We fished until noon with little luck.  I was able to catch 2, Mark caught 1 and Bob caught 2 1/2.  We worked hard and long for 5 fish. 

Here are the 3 that Mark and I caught.

This is Bob S. with 2 of his catches.

We were so tired on Friday that we took the day off.  Mark, Susan, Bob and I went to the movie, The Ugly Truth, and then we drove out Funny River Road to check out fishing places on the Kenai River that we had not seen before.  We saw some beautiful patches of fireweed.

We stopped at a small camping/fishing area that is part of Alaska State Parks and met the park hosts, Dan and Pat.  In talking to them we found out they winter in Mission, Texas and know our friends Dan and Rita Desmond.  Small world.

Upon returning to our campground Susan spotted a mama moose and her 2 young ones just a few yards from our coaches.

We are told these guys are regular visitors in the park.  The little ones were so cute.

Well, tomorrow we leave the park at 4:00 am hoping to be able to get a decent spot to fish.  My license expires Monday morning.  Wish me luck!

Moving on.