Alaska with the Stocks 2009

July 10, 2009 Day 49 Kenai, AK

We went to Anchor Point Tesoro because we knew gas there was 11 cents a gallon less than in Homer, but they pump it really slowly. 
While we talked, Dean told me he had received a "senior discount" at Safeway.  We dug out the receipt and he got 10% off for being 62 or over-available only in Homer!  Good thing we saved money at Safeway, because we discovered that gas was another 11 cents cheaper at the Tesoro in Ninilchik.
We took the Kalifornsky Loop Road because we'd been down the Sterling before, and I told Dean for the 100th time, "Maybe we'll see a moose."  WE DID!  My first wild moose!  He was just standing a few feet from the side of the road chewing his cud-do moose have cuds?  I was thrilled. 
My map was very general, and I thought we had to return to the Sterling to be able to get to the Kenai Spur, when there was a sign that said, "Welcome to Kenai".  Our park is at the end of the road-so easy to find.
It's a good thing we got in early.  It had been hazy all day, even in Homer there was like a fog rising off the water and blurring the mountains.  There are fires burning in the Kenai, as well as the Anchorage area and Denali.  We don't smell any smoke, but we saw black clouds floating by.  As we entered the park, we could see fishermen in the bay, boats, and lots of birds.  By 4:30, we were totally socked in by fog and we couldn't see the bay at all.  We'll have hot clam chowder for dinner tonight and stay cozy.

High temp:  Mid 60's for most of the day, followed by cool fog.

Miles traveled:  87

Overnighted at:  Beluga Lookout Lodge & RV Park, $50.88, great TV through a box with lots of channels, great WIFI, 50 amps ($3/day), FHU, small sites close together, but not scary close

Wildlife:  1 MOOSE, 3 bald eagles-I think I may have completed my Alaska Big 5-but I can't find where it says what they are.  Does anyone know?

Linda, I am SO jealous.  We have not seen a moose yet.  I'm really starting to believe Tim's theory that there is only 1 moose in the entire North America and it roams around.  It's in your area now.    Congrats!!!

Marsha~

Marsha/CA said:

Tim's theory that there is only 1 moose in the entire North America and it roams around.  It's in your area now.     Congrats!!!

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Tim's right. The moose's name is Bullwinkle and he has a radio collar. He wandered out to Hovenweep (Utah-Colorado border) while we were working there. Then the DOW guys came and got him and took him somewhere else.

Wendy

Linda - Well, hot dog - er moose.  Mission accomplished!  They have faces only a mother and people like us could love. 

Marsha - Your turn will come.  We saw a lot in Newfoundland, especially in the western side around Gros Morne.  If you take the hike and boat tour at the northern end of the park you're bound to see some.  We also saw coyotes in the northeastern end.  A ranger told us that about 1950 some coyotes from the mainland floated over on ice floes and have been there ever since.  Coyotes seem so very southwestern U.S. and we never expected to see them there.  We saw a family and the kits were having a great time playing in the road while we stopped to watch.

ArdraF

Marsha/CA said:

Linda, I am SO jealous.  We have not seen a moose yet.  I'm really starting to believe Tim's theory that there is only 1 moose in the entire North America and it roams around.  It's in your area now.     Congrats!!!

Marsha~

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There is hope, but be careful what you wish for.  It's addictive.  Now I want to see a moose mama with her calf.  We're going out looking for wildlife tomorrow in spots the locals have told us about.  Maybe Wendy's moose got transferred up your way.  Keep looking, and I'll bet you'll find one or Tim will get so tired of hearing "maybe we'll see a moose" that he'll get you a stuffed one.  Dean just quietly smiled every time I said it. 

Linda

If you really want to see a moose, you need to do the Canadian Maritimes and spend at least two weeks in Newfoundland. They figure the population there to be in excess of one moose per sqKM. Not only will you see "mooses", but the scenery and the people there are GREAT!

Chet18013

Chet,  we are in the maritimes now, heading to Nova Scotia tomorrow and then onto Newfoundland on Wednesday.  I'll have my camera at the ready!

Marsha~

July 11 Day 50 Kenai, AK

Beluga Lookout RV Park has a great view of the bay, which is loaded with fisherpeople in waders trying out their luck.  Kittiwakes and seagulls fly by, giving Sherlock a free show. The cg sits atop a bluff, and there is a pretty panorama out our windshield each morning.
We started our day with a trip to the Kenai Saturday Market, which was small but had interesting merchandise and people.  We followed this with brunch at the Burger Bus, a recommendation from the Brewers.  It was the best burger and fries we've had on our trip. If we were here longer, we would definitely go back.
We went to the Visitors Center, which had 5 informative half-hour films, a wonderful art show celebrating Alaska's 50th birthday, a gift shop, and a good history museum.  I was so fascinated by one artist's work that I am trying to track him down and find out where he displays his art. A very informative young lady behind the information desk gave us good maps, but Kenai is really small.
We stopped by the cute little Russian Orthodox church.  It still has services on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings.
Fog had already rolled in when we exited around 6:00, so we went to a movie.  Bingo (to support the Little League) is also available on Saturday nights.

Interesting Fact:  Every time I call home, everyone asks about Sarah Palin's resignation.  Tonight on ABC news the Anchorage station had asked their viewers, "Do you agree with Sarah Palin's decision to resign?"  46% said, "NO, she left the job undone."  37% said, "YES, it's OK-she can do good for Alaska outside of the governorship."

July 12 Day 51 Kenai, AK

We went into Soldotna because we'd done all there was to do in Kenai.  We had a nice lunch at the Grand Burrito (buy one lunch, get one free coupon), then went toward Sterling and found "the wood carver".  We really enjoyed seeing his beautiful carvings and the wooden carousel with Alaskan animals to ride on.  Rides were $1.  Scott got started carving when the birch trees started dying of bark beetle.  He had seen a small carver's shop, and he thought, "I can do that!"  He now has 3 or 4 assistant carvers. 
On Scott's recommendation, we went over to the Black Jaxx bar-b-q and asked for a free sample.  It was the best bar-b-q I've ever had anywhere, and we have eaten at many bar-b-q places, sometimes traveling far out of our way to do so.  We will come back tomorrow and buy 2 pounds of brisket and pork.
We stopped at the Soldotna VC. It was very tiny and the lady inside was overwhelmed by too many people, the phone ringing often, and trying to ring up sales.  For information about the Kenai Peninsula, the Kenai VC is much, much better.
We went to see "Ice Age" at the Soldotna theatre ($6 each) because we wanted to see it and we needed to hang around until later, hoping to see wildlife.  There is a herd of Kenai caribou that is usually in a specific area where an observation deck has been built, but there were none there tonight.
We went to Soldotna Creek Park and strolled along the rushing Kenai River.  We enjoyed talking with the fisherpeople, and they enjoyed showing off their catches.  There is an elevated boardwalk, but the city has kindly erected staircases to allow those fishing easy access to the river.  Almost everyone had at least 1 fish. Many different wildflowers grew near the path, and we saw our first significant fireweed.  It was a fun evening.  The weather was beautiful and sunny, with a gentle breeze.
As we drove back to Kenai, it became foggier again.  I am amazed at how different the weather is, although Kenai and Soldotna are only about 10 miles apart.

High Temp: 66?F

For those of you ( like me) who enjoy your daily fix by following "Alaska with the Stocks"  I have  a news update.  Linda called me and left a message on my cell phone to ask me to  post a note here letting you know they are not in any wifi range for the next 3 days.  She knows  how I look forward to my daily report from them and did not want me ( nor anyone else) to be disappointed when they found no post.  I will attempt to  call her cell phone tonight to see where they are and what's new.  I don't get cell phone service here at the cabin in Northern Idaho but on my way into town her message popped up.  Isn't technology grand?

She is not only a very informative  and entertaining writer, she is reliable and always concerned about others!

Betty

Betty,

If you get to talk with Linda tell her that her fans may go through withdrawal. 

ArdraF

July 14 Day 53 Portage, AK

First thing this morning, we moved to Williwaw Campground.  It was just too pretty to pass up-Dean says it is the prettiest site we've ever had anywhere, with trees surrounding us, fireweed in bloom, and a glacier out the window.
What a gorgeous day for a glacier cruise!  I just can't believe how sunny it is.  I met a lady today (I'd guess she was in her 40's) who has lived in Alaska all her life, and she says she's never ever seen so many beautiful sunny days.  Last year they only had 6 sunny days all year long!
We went on the Portage Glacier cruise today ($29-buy one/get one free coupon) in Portage Lake.  The Ptarmigan was only about 10% full, so there was lots of room.  First, we went to see Burns Glacier (named after Robert Burns), a pretty hanging glacier.
Then we motored over to Portage Glacier, a freshwater glacier because it calves into a lake that it created 100 years ago by a build-up of silt called a moraine. The moraine formed a dam and trapped the glacial ice and water.  That lake is now over 600 feet deep, and it is a "dead lake" because it is so full of silt scoured off the mountain that nothing can live in it.  I felt the fine silt, and it is grey, smooth, and silky, kind of like baby powder that has been put in a blender, turned on high, and left for an hour.  The ice on the face of the glacier was 75-100 years old, but if you went to the extreme back of the glacier and drilled down, the ice would go back to the time of the Ice Age.  We saw all different shades of blue from a soft baby blue to a deep royal blue in the crevasses.  A deckhand told me that on overcast days, it is even more brilliant.  Hard to imagine!  We were told that the ice isn't really blue.  The snow has been compacted by the weight of snow on top of it, changing the shape of the ice crystals.  This process takes about 10 years.  It absorbs all the other colors, and the blue is the only color reflected back to us because it has the most energy and the shortest wave length.
We saw many pieces of glacial ice afloat.  90% of each iceberg is below the waterline, hence the saying, "just the tip of the iceberg."  We heard groaning, but there wasn't any calving.  It was relaxing and very enjoyable.
One hour later, we returned to the terminal, which has interesting history of the area.  On level ground, they receive 40 feet of snow on the average.  On the peaks, they get as much as 400 feet!  When they returned this spring, they had to shop vac out 88 gallons of water from their building, and the Ptarmigan was almost covered totally with snow. 
On August 3, 2006, just 3 weeks after the Brewers visited, they had winds of over 85 mph.  In December, 2002, the nearby weather station was destroyed by winds last recorded by it of 149 mph.  Locals on their own anemometers measured them at over 200 mph.  The wind comes from 3 different groups of mountains, so a typical weather report might be, "Rain today, North winds @ 17 knots, East winds @ 10 knots, and West winds @ 14 knots." 
We went to the Boggs-Begich Visitor Center (Mile 5.2 on Whittier/Portage Glacier Access Road) and saw interesting exhibits and a good movie on glaciers.
The Chugach National Forest is the second largest national forest, behind Tongass.  Just as the glacier was every shade of blue, the vegetation is every shade of green.  We really love it here!

Interesting Fact:  The Alaskans treat their seniors well-free car registration, free driver's license, first $150,000 is exempt from property tax, attend classes at University of Alaska for free, free ferry rides anywhere in Alaska or Canada anytime, and every Alaskan, regardless of age, receives an "oil check" of thousands of dollars each year!

Temperature:  High of 70?F, slightly breezy

Dry camping at Williwaw Campground--$9 with Golden Age Pass--$18 without-absolutely beautiful, secluded site.  I hope our site is far from where the brown bear ripped apart a tent in this same campground 5 days ago.

Betty Brewer said:

  I will attempt to  call her cell phone tonight to see where they are and what's new.  I don't get cell phone service here at the cabin in Northern Idaho but on my way into town her message popped up. 
She is not only a very informative  and entertaining writer, she is reliable and always concerned about others!

Betty

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  Thanks, Betty, for the kind words and putting up the message.  We stopped in Portage to go on the lake cruise, drove around the first night just to get the lay of the land, and fell in love with Willliwaw CG.  We realized that if we did the Whittier cruise while staying in Portage, we could save over 100 miles roundtrip from Anchorage and get to stay among trees instead of among other RVs.  So, at that point, I called for your help.
  You always knew how to motivate your staff. You set high objectives to be "informative and entertaining."  I wrote a lot over these 4 days because I wanted to share the wonder of what we were seeing.  Last night, by the time we went through all the pictures, it was really late and we were really tired.  So, we made mistakes.  We ended up posting the same thing twice, and not getting  the other 3 days in at all.  We'll work on that this morning.

Linda

ArdraF said:

Betty,

If you get to talk with Linda tell her that her fans may go through withdrawal. 

ArdraF

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Ardra, you'll have to let me know which is worse--withdrawal or overdose.  The last 4 days have been so amazing that I wrote and wrote--just couldn't seem to stop.  Editting the postings for these days to try to make them shorter than a novel and editting the pictures was really tough!  Each moment there made my heart sing.

Linda

July 15, 2009 Day 54 Portage, AK

What an incredible day!  The sun was shining as we drove 5 minutes to the Anton Anderson Tunnel, which leads to Whittier, a town of only 190 year-round residents. The 2.2 mile-long one-way tunnel is shared by cars and the railroad, and it would be open at 9:30-9:45 for traffic going our way. The toll is $12, but you only pay one way.  The tunnel was built by the Army Corps of Engineers for the railroad to supply troops who were protecting Alaska from a Japanese invasion during World War II.  A group of engineers started at each end, and when they met, they were only off by 1 (one!) foot.  That was accomplished with the tools and knowledge of almost 70 years ago.  Drops of water from the roof fell on our car.
We got to the offices for Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises at 9:45 for the 11:00 cruise.  Sometimes they cancel a tunnel opening (It's only open on the half-hour) because of trains, and you could miss out on your cruise if you waited for the 10:30 opening. The boat had easy access doors, railing all around so you could go outside and view without crowding, spacious booths, and plenty of room.  This boat was just the right size and was very comfortable. We went up to the second level and spent the day there. We were served a main dish (good crab cakes, good chicken, or vegetarian, wild rice, veggies, and a roll).
We saw many rafts of otters really close up, a salmon fish hatchery with the salmon jumping high out of the water, Dall's porpoises, lots of bald eagles, including two that were flying in circles, a rookery with lots of kittiwakes, sea lions, both a piedmont and a tidal glacier, and ice chunks with seals and baby seal pups. We could hear the "bergie seltzer", a fizzing sound ice makes when it moves, but there was only tiny calving down low.  We felt otter fur; it is so soft and silky that I understand why the Russians hunted them.
I came back so exhilarated by this fabulous wildlife cruise that I signed up for another one tomorrow with a different company which goes on a different route.  The captain was very knowledgeable, the waters were calm, and I would highly recommend this cruise. ($107 + tax, buy one/get one free coupon)  This company offers 3 cruises; we took the longest one because we wanted to see everything.

High Temperature:  70?+, sunny

Overnighted at:  Williwaw Campground

Interesting Fact:  a 7-pound goose poops 4.5 pounds daily (USFS)

Linda:

I'm really enjoying all your posts from Alaska.  There's no such thing as overdosing on your interesting writing.  I'll cheerfully read all you have time to post.  Willawaw was one of our favorite campgrounds, also.  It was nice to be off the "gravel line-up" for a change.  We also liked the state park near Anchorage -- I think it was in or near Eagle River.

Margi

Tom and Margi said:

Linda:

I'm really enjoying all your posts from Alaska.  There's no such thing as overdosing on your interesting writing.  I'll cheerfully read all you have time to post.  Willawaw was one of our favorite campgrounds, also.  It was nice to be off the "gravel line-up" for a change.  We also liked the state park near Anchorage -- I think it was in or near Eagle River.

Margi

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Thanks for your nice words.  As you can see from my references to others' logs, we have  to thank those who came before for giving us such great information.  As we've gone along, other Forum members have given us hints that have caused us to change our plans.  I have an ex-student in Eagle River whose family has kept in contact with me for over 20 years, and I was planning on seeing her--making that a day trip from Anchorage.  I will try to track down the state park.  So many of the state parks have had sites that were 15 x 30 (that seems to be a standard size for all of them), and we don't fit.  We're 37'.  If it works, we'll stay there when we visit Trisha and possibly while we visit the cities of Eklutna and Palmer.  I'd love to try it.

Linda

July 16, 2009 Day 55 Portage, AK

Last night I wished for an overcast day so we'd be able to see an intense blue at the glaciers.  God answered my prayers tenfold with an overcast that came down to the ground (fog).  Oops!
We went through the tunnel at the 10:30 opening, hoping the fog would burn off by the 1:15 sailing time.  As we waited, we saw hundreds of passengers marching onto the Phillips 32-glacier catamaran, and we were glad we weren't on that one. 
We had booked the Major Marine cruise, and the Emerald Sea was smaller than yesterday's Prince William Sound Glacier Cruise boat.  Yesterday's boat had the passengers spread out over two levels and felt very spacious.  Today's boat had tables for 4 that were VERY crowded together and fixed to the floor.  Everyone was talking about the lack of space.  You could go outside, but the walkway was so narrow that it was difficult to go past another passenger.
This boat had a USFS (Forest Service) guide, and she did tell us some interesting facts, but she didn't tell us as much as the captain did yesterday.  She told us that the very large grey building in Whittier was built to house 1000 soldiers during WWII and was a city within a city, with a bowling alley, movie theatre, and stores, as well as apartments. Whittier was chosen because it was an ice-free port and has a lot of fog, which acts as a natural camouflage.  Their one building was grey so it would blend in with the grey weather, which would help camouflage it. It has since been replaced by another building where 90% of Whittier residents live.  They have a K-12 school with 34 students. There are no snow days, despite having 190" of rain and 20' of snow each year, because everything is in the same building. 
We saw a rookery of kittiwakes, one raft of otters, pigeon guillemots, which are related to puffins, 3 seals, and 3 bald eagles. Yesterday we saw much more wildlife, and we saw it from much closer.
But the glaciers were a different story! Today we saw more glaciers, they were much larger, and they were more active.  There weren't any huge calves like we saw when we visited 10 years ago, but they were larger than yesterday's. These are the bluest glaciers we've seen on our trip, and they had interesting waterfalls in addition to the typical outflow at the bottom of all tidal glaciers.  Major Marine is the only company that goes to Blackstone Glacier.  We learned that a glacier carves a "U", and rivers carve a "V".
There was a lunch buffet of salmon & prime rib, salad, wild rice, carrot cake, cheesecake, jello, and brownies.  Dean thought his well-done prime rib was delicious, and he is hard to please.  They had something to please everyone.
Cruises have been our favorite activity, second only to seeing bald eagles grab fish from right in front of our RV.  We ranked the cruises separately, and we totally agreed.
* #1--Stan Stephens' longest cruise in Valdez
* #2--Renown's longest cruise in Seward
* #3--Prince William Sound 6-hour cruise in Whittier
* #4--Major Marine in Whittier
However, each cruise was a joy, and we would go on all of them again.
NOTE:
There are five pictures of the front of the glacier.  If you look at the center of each one you  will see it calving.

High Temp:  Mid 50's, heavy, heavy overcast with drizzle, breezy

Overnighted at:  Williwaw Campground

Interesting Fact: 1" on a sea otter pelt has as many hairs as an entire adult German Shepard dog

Linda:

I finally found the trip log from our Alaska trip.   I had made this notation about Eagle River, AK, July 13 and 14, 2000.

"Another super dry-camp campground -- Eagle River Campground in Chugach State Park.   All roads and campsites are paved and plenty long and the foliage is thick and beautiful."  

As I recall we had a "side of the road" type pull-thru site, but it could just as easily have been a back-in.  Too many years of CRS have passed.  We could hear a creek rushing by down a slope from the campsite.  Our motorhome is 36 feet and we had plenty of room.   The campsites are well spaced, but no hook-ups, of course.  

Margi

Day 55 part 2

More photos.