North to Alaska

Day 27 More Photos

Once again in awe

Shayne:

C'mon up, there's lots of room. ;D

Day 28 Seward

When you live in a motorhome some days are just for relaxing instead of always behaving like we are on vacation. If there was ever a nice place to do nothing Seward is it!

We walked downtown for an ice cream and enjoyed checking out the local mural art show.  Sue went to Safeway and Jeff cleaned the windshield on the m/h before we drove out to the edge of town for firewood.

The waterfront was also a relaxing scene today as everyone enjoyed the great weather and watched the boats coming up the bay. Even being entertained by another friendly sea otter who was posing for everyone who walked by was fun.

The sun finally went down at 10:30PM this evening and lit up the hillsides across the bay.

With so much to do, it's easy to forget that just sitting can be fun too.  I am amazed at the amount of snow this year, much more than we saw last year at the lower elevations.

It's called 'Global Warming', don't you know. 

carson FL

Super.

Ned said:

With so much to do, it's easy to forget that just sitting can be fun too.  I am amazed at the amount of snow this year, much more than we saw last year at the lower elevations.

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Ned:

Valdez was bragging about almost 40' of snow this year and they had a late spring, we arrived just as the weather improved. The rivers are all full and muddy.

I guess last year's wet summer carried into winter.  I can't conceive of 40' of snow

Day 29 Seward to Ninilchik

Our last morning in Seward dawned clear and warm as two cruise ships arrived to add their passengers to the many who are here for an early 4th holiday. Seward is truly a beautiful little community on the Kenai that attracts many visitors and we have enjoyed being two of them.

Our next week on the Kenai is being affected by the 4th of July holiday. Since the holiday falls on Wednesday many people are taking a couple of extra days off to make it a long weekend before or after the 4th so it is already very busy holiday. The Homer Spit campground is full for the next ten days so we are spending this weekend in Ninilchik at the Alaskan Angler RV Park and then are going to boondock next week out on the Homer Spit over the 4th.

The drive today up the Seward Highway through Moose Pass and then across the Kenai was with clear skies and unlimited visibility. As we headed west on the Sterling Highway towards Soldotna we looked north and could make out Denali-Mt McKinley in the distance as well as other peaks in the Denali Range. When we get up towards the park in a couple of weeks We hope it is as clear.

At Soldotna we turned south along the shores of the Cook Inlet and looking across the Inlet got a magnificent view the Mt Redoubt volcano to the west.  The face of the mountain shows the evidence of the 1989-90 eruption that makes it the last active volcano as well as the highest peak in the Aleutian Range.

We are parked at the Alaska Angler and the sun is still out at 11:10PM, it sure is hard to get used to going to bed with the sun up.

Day 30 The Kenai Peninsula

The first white settlers to the Kenai Peninsula were Russian and it becomes very obvious as you look at the early churches in each community.  The Russian Orthodox Church were the early buildings as Russian trappers looked for places to settle down in communities such as Soldatna, Kachemak, and, Kasilof.   

We spent the day touring the west coast of the Kenai from Kenai to Ninilchik. Driving down the east coast of the Cook Inlet has demonstrated to us that that we are going into sensorary overload! We have seen so many beautiful mountains, inland waterways and seashores that it becomes almost everyday to make the drive we did today.

After exploring the Ninilchik area we headed for Soldatna and Kenai where we visited the Old Cannery where we had a delicious lunch at Sockeyes, crab bisque and grilled halibut! The cannery is located on the tidewaters of the mouth of the Kenai River as it enters the Cook Inet. Several canneries have been located in this area for over 100 years and the local fishing fleet still services two canneries at this location.

Returning down the coast we got views of another of the local volcanoes, LLiamna. LLiamna is at the foot of the Aleutian chain that was formed by volcanic action millions of years ago. Like Mt Redoubt LLiamna is considered an active volcano. A bonus was our first view of Caribou and Sue's first Moose sighting.

Tomorrow Jeff is going on a halibut fishing charter with Lee and Jeane Faust, RVers we met in Seward.

Wow  and thanks again

Day 31 Halibut

We are still at Alaska Anglers CG in Nilnichik and the weather has turn cloudy and cool, a perfect day for fishing! Jeff left this morning at the break of day (9:00am) on a six hour halibut charter out past Homer, about an hour and fifteen minute trip from where the boat was put in at Nilnichik. The campground owners also own a fishing charter business and the boats leave from the campground on trailers and are towed to the local launching point where large wheeled tractors launch and recover them.

Almost as soon as the bait was put over the side the halibut were biting and Jeanne Faust was the first to bring one into the boat. Everyone caught their limit of two after throwing the small ones back. While the group did not catch any of the large halibut Alaska is known for we all ended up with a couple of average or better size fish and had a great time. We were back early because we all had caught our limit.

The total catch could not fit on the rack but there were plenty for photos. Next time will be for the big ones!

The freezer in the m/h is now 17 pounds heavier and dinner this evening was fresh halibut and Sue?s Copper River Salmon, delicious!  We are going over to Lee and Jeanne Faust?s m/h for desert and to watch the Princess Di memorial concert.

Jeff, you're all set to go.

Thanks Tom.

Nice Rack of Halibut.

Jeff,  How did you like their method of boat launch and retrieve there at Ninilchik?

I attached a photo to show the folks how it's done... lou

OnaQwest said:

Jeff,  How did you like their method of boat launch and retrieve there at Ninilchik?

I attached a photo to show the folks how it's done... lou

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Lou:

Thanks,

We are down on the Homer Spit and when we go back through Ninilchik I intend to get a shot of the log draggers pulling boats. We were so busy getting on the boat and gone that I didn't get a chance yesterday.

Halibut makes great sushi!  Did anyone bring their wasabi and soy sauce on the boat?  Did all the fish make it to shore? 

Smoky said:

Halibut makes great sushi!  Did anyone bring their wasabi and soy sauce on the boat?  Did all the fish make it to shore? 

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Smoky:

YOUR halibut makes sushi, mine gets grilled with a light basting of butter and Maurers (WA) seafood seasoning. ;D

Or gets wrapped in foil with a pat of butter, slice of onion, and Maurers and put on the grill for 8-10 minutes or so.