Alaska with the Stocks 2009

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 16 Day 25 Valdez

This morning we did "Must Dos".  When we finished, we headed out to play and met our neighbor.  I've found other RV'ers to be a wonderful source of information, and this neighbor spends 3 months/year here.  As we were chatting, a chipmunk scampered under her coach, and I commented about it.  She said that they fed the chipmunks peanuts and the eagles fish.  I asked more questions and discovered that they feed the eagles every night at 5:00.
We jetted off to the Maxine and Jesse Whitney Museum, which other Forum members had recommended highly.  It did not disappoint.  It is advertised as being the largest collection of Alaskan artifacts in the world.  They had all the Alaskan animals in interesting poses, and the taxidermy was excellent.  They were magnificent specimens and looked alive! They had beautiful scrimshaw dioramas, fantastic seed beadwork, ivory ships with baleen sails, ulus, spears, clothing, homes, baskets, and a 11/2 hour series of movies about the earthquake, the building of the Alyeska pipeline, and Alaskan wildlife.  Admission was a meager $5.  The displays evoked many "oohs" and "aahs", and this is a "MUST SEE".  We tore ourselves away at 4:40.
We got home and parked the toad in front of the RV.  The neighbors came out and tossed fish in the air, one at a time.  A bald eagle swooped within 5 feet of me as he grabbed the fish off the road RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR CAR!  The skies filled with about a dozen bald eagles, 2 golden eagles, and 30 seagulls, who competed for the fish.  They must have thrown out 40 or 50 fish over a period of about 30 minutes.  The sense of wonder remained through the very last moment.  They were so close that it was hard for Dean to get the eagles from wingtip-to-wingtip within one camera frame.  Truly a "WOW! Experience".  We decided to stay another day just to relive this sight.

Wildlife: 2 chipmunks, a dozen bald eagles, 2 golden eagles, 1 magpie

Weather:  High of 54?F, thick low clouds

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

Day 25 pRT 2

more photos

Dean

 

[Wendy]

Glad to see you're quickly increasing that wildlife count !! Keep those travel stories and photos coming.

BTW, after TOTW road, doesn't Quartzsite look a bit appealing 

Wendy

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

Glad to see you're quickly increasing that wildlife count !! Keep those travel stories and photos coming.

BTW, after TOTW road, doesn't Quartzsite look a bit appealing 

Wendy

Quartzsite is still "the armpit of the world", but TOTW is "a stinky, rutted, rocky armpit of the world". Why are there 2 armpits and only one Garden of Eden?  No, Quartzsite is still very unappealing, but Dean says to keep trying!

Linda

 

[Wendy]

Quartzsite is still "the armpit of the world", but TOTW is "a stinky, rutted, rocky armpit of the world". Why are there 2 armpits and only one Garden of Eden?   No, Quartzsite is still very unappealing, but Dean says to keep trying!

Linda

Sure could use you to take charge of a Pizza Party in Quartzsite 

Wendy

 

[Ken & Sheila]

Linda,

>>Quartzsite is still "the armpit of the world"<<

When you get to Homer, tell me what you think of the "spit'. We loved it, but Sheila nicknamed it QS North.

Reading your travelogue makes us want to get back to Alaska, but that looks like 2011 for us.

Ken

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

June 15 Day 24 Valdez, AK

She told us that when she went to her prom, the temperature was -82?F, and they hired the freshmen to go out to their cars every 1.5 hours and start them up.

I think she was pulling the tourists legs. The coldest its ever been in Valdez is -23? F on February 4, 1968. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Alaska was minus 80 degrees at Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971.

 

[ArdraF]

Linda, you/Dean got some really great photos!  Isn't it the most amazing place!  Really enjoying your trip with you...

ArdraF

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 17, 2009 Day 26 Valdez

Today was a lot of ?can?t dos?.  The 4-wheel drive to Mineral Creek Canyon can?t be done.  The creek that Brewers forded is now under 4 feet of snow.  The Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery salmon run hasn?t started, so the hatchery is closed and there are no bears.  Most tragically, the Valdez City Council voted last night to fine anyone who feeds the eagles $300, so there was no eagle feeding tonight.
I would say this RV park is the best in town for us.  Eagles Nest was $10 higher, same amenities, and we look out on the bay; they are across the road behind us.  Our hosts are very accommodating, work hard, really try to please, and they stay open until 10 or 11 at night.  Betty mentioned all the water at Sea Otter RV park, whereas we have nice thick gravel, so no standing water, excellent drainage.  However, while we have had some rain each day, I think Brewers had a lot more. Thanks to Terry?s suggestion we are going counter-clockwise. Sea Otter does have a killer view. We planned based on others? logs, and I thank you all for making our trip more enjoyable with fewer problems. 
The ?airport museum? had been combined with the Whitney and is no longer in existence.  We made brownies as a ?thank you? for our neighbors. On the recommendation of our neighbors, we tried the Chinese restaurant.  Lunch was lots of food, $10, and OK taste, nice people.
We went to the Old Valdez Museum, located near the ferry.  It had 4 large tables with wooden models of the city, a spring-loaded chair from the old laundry, a Civil Defense jeep, a fire engine, an old well-restored juke box, and the biggest (8 feet long) wooden rifle I?ve ever seen.  The $6 admission includes the Valdez Museum, which was a nice, little museum.  If you have extra time, it has interesting items from the Valdez area.  They are having a raffle of 8 quilts, which benefits 8 local charities.  They were pretty, but we got to see the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, across the river from Metropolis, IL, and their quilts were absolutely awesome!  As we left the museum, we spied two bunnies munching on the grass `.  Could they be snowshoe hares?

Wildlife:  2 members of the rabbit family awaiting specific naming, 4 bald eagles, 2 chipmunks

Weather:  High of 52?F, thick low clouds, rain all morning

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 18 Day 27 Address is Palmer, AK, but we're really at Mile 109 Glenn Highway, which is actually about 60 miles away

I woke up to two bald eagles flying over the grassy area in front of our RV.  What a great way to start a travel day.
'The Milepost" is a super source of current information, and warned of possible nighttime closure of the Glenn Highway, so I went to www.dot.state.ak.us and clicked on "Traveler Info", then "road conditions".  They list all areas of construction, when, and to what extent traffic is impeded.  The same information is available by dialing 511 for recorded information or 907-273-6037.  Another source is on your CB, Channel 19 is the truckers' channel, and Channel 9 is the emergency channel.
We retraced our route back to Glennallen, again enjoying the magnificence of Worthington Glacier.  We stopped at the Wildlife Museum Betty had recommended, but it was closed.  We went next door to The Freeze, had a good fish sandwich, and learned that the museum owner only opened it a brief time last summer and has only been seen once this summer.  The young man behind the counter seemed puzzled as he said it had a great business 2 years ago, and he thought it was really good.  We'll try again when we return this way.
Today we saw lots of wildflowers-fireweed, dandelions, lupine, wild rose, and a light yellow flower.  We saw lots of road signs about animals, but no evidence of them.  But, we did see many pretty lakes covered in water lilies and many pretty views.

Wildlife:  2 bald eagles, 2 magpies, several seagulls

Weather:  High in mid 60's, light rain off and on, steady in the evening

Overnighted at:  Grand View R. V. Park, FHU, 50 amps, cable, free Wifi, view of Dall sheep is advertised, but we looked at the wrong mountain for 3 hours before we found out where they really are.  We'll look for them again tomorrow.

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 19 Day 28 Anchorage, AK, A CITY WITH NO SALES TAX!

We awakened to fog-shrouded mountains and light rain.  We waited until 11:00, hoping it would burn off so we could see the Dall's sheep.  It had rained steadily throughout the night and weathermen predicted another 48 hours of rain and lightning, so we decided to move on. 
We stopped at the Matanuska Glacier overlook at Milepost 101 so Dean could enjoy seeing it as much as I had been, sitting in the passenger seat.  The Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site is well-suited for big rigs, even though it doesn't look like it from the highway.  The glacier extends 27 miles to the northwest-truly impressive in size!  But...only until you discover that a few years ago it extended 53 miles!  There is a fairly easy 20-minute walk to a viewing platform, but it was drizzling and threatening to rain.
At milepost 97 all traffic came to a dead stop, and we waited about 35 minutes to be let through the 5-mile-long construction site, which is a truly remarkable human feat.  They are straightening and widening the Glenn Highway.  They send a pilot car through with a stream of RV's, then the men get to work for 20 minutes blasting, then the pilot car comes through the other way and the cycle is repeated. They have removed over 2.4 million cubic yards of material since they started in 2007, and it looks like it is close to completion.  The part they have finished is a gorgeous 4-lane highway.
When we got over the mountains, the skies cleared.  Protected by the mountains, Anchorage gets comparatively little rain each year; it's very temperate.  We bypassed Palmer because the ground would be too soggy and it was too rainy to enjoy the Musk Ox Farm and the reindeer farm; we'll do that when we come back through.  We stopped in Anchorage to take care of business, and they have every store we needed.  Today we went to Best Buy (we needed a converter box although our coach was a 2006 model and Dean had thought we'd be OK), the Mac Store (we needed a new power cord), the UPS store to return our defective RV inverter part so we won't have to pay for it), and then to see a movie at the Totem Pole Regal Cinema, a nice 8-screen theatre.  "The Proposal" was quite enjoyable.  They have $1 candy nights on Mondays and $1 popcorn on Tuesdays.

Overnighted at:  Golden Nugget RV Park, $45, FHU, 30/50 amps, TV svc, free
WiFi, free activities and food (hot dogs, chili) 5/7 nights, lots of space between coaches.  Thanks, Brewers, for telling us there was <12 inches between coaches at Ship Creek RV Park.

Weather:  Rainy, 40's to start, then clear, 60's

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Be sure to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center while in Anchorage. Preferably on a nice day, since much of it is outdoors.

 

[Ian]

Dean and Linda, thanks for sharing your journey with us. I look forward to the updates and especially the spectacular pictures.

In particular the shots of the eagles at Valdez. When you get somewhere with a decent bandwidth would there be a chance of emailing me the original of IMG_0654.JPG, the eagle soaring with just the foggy mountains behind. I would so love to have that on my desktop. No hurry, but that would look so cool on the widescreen.

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 20, 2009 Day 29 Anchorage, AK

It rained all night, but it cleared as we got dressed to start our day-mighty considerate!  We skipped breakfast as we were going to try one of the Brewers' recommendations, the famous Arctic Roadrunner, for a high-calorie lunch of a burger and fries.  The food was good, the restaurant has lots of interesting photos, sayings, mounts, and Campbell Creek was rushing by as country music played in the background.  But best of all was the other people that were there.  Alaskans are so outgoing and just plain nice.  The lady behind us heard Dean and me talking and she stopped by on her way out to let us know what she loves about the area-and she didn't stop talking for 20 minutes.  We did get lots of insider tips, one of which is that the newspaper says the mosquitoes this year are the worst ever.  They had the perfect amount of rain and warm temperatures to produce prolifically.  She also told us about neat places to go on Homer Spit.  Then we got out our map to plot our course when we finished eating, and the man behind us said, "Can I help you find someplace?", and he gave us great directions.
We went to the VC, our first stop always, and circled and circled and circled some more looking for any parking place anywhere.  It seems that they have had an influx of 10,000 extra visitors because of the upcoming Summer Solstice, plus they had a marathon which drew 4,000 participants.  We decided our funky map was good enough and left.
We drove to the Rasmussen Museum of Anchorage, which is an attractive art and history museum.  We saved $8 by using a coupon from our Toursaver book. They are putting on an addition (funded by oil revenue), so there is a lot of construction. They had interesting art using a variety of materials, and one depicted the glacier blue that is so pretty that we had to take a picture.  Large dioramas with lots of realia depicted Alaskan life at various times in history. We spent several hours there.  Dress warmly because it is chilly inside. We learned that we could have parked underneath the museum for free on weekends.
Then we went to Costco to re-stock our pantry.  Costcos are all arranged similarly, but this one had huge steel dipping nets for catching salmon ($120) as we entered.  They had woodcarvings of bears and moose, as well as reindeer sausage.  They surprised us by closing at 6:00, so we'll try a different store tomorrow.

Weather:  Rainy in the a.m., high of 66?F.

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

June 21 Day 30 Anchorage, AK

It only rained part of the night, but it continued well into the morning.  We used our Northern Lights coupon for a free breakfast at Denny's and 2 Grand Slams (oatmeal, eggs, sausage, toast) only cost $7.
We looked for something we could do inside, and Dean wanted to do the Alaska Aviation Museum. Admission was $10, and I got in free with a Toursaver coupon. Dean was a pilot, so he is much better at evaluating, and he says it was well-done, but small.  But, we have visited the space centers in Florida and Dallas, as well as the space museum in Washington, D.C., so any others are "small". They did have a film of the history of aviation that I enjoyed.  The aviation pioneers here were hardy souls, just like the miners, explorer and First Nations people.  The museum was dedicated to bush pilots and their planes.  It had lots of plane floats, skis, vintage planes and engines.  They did a good job of labeling.  Dean spent about 3 hours reading and looking, so it must have been interesting.  It is located on Lake Hood, and we watched seaplanes take off and land while many ducks paddled around nearby.
We stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Costco (to buy planks to cook fresh fish on, and the fish), and the grocery store.  Dean pronounced it too cold to barbecue the fresh halibut we bought, so we're having Ivar's clam chowder from Costco.  Ivar?s is a well known name from Oregon.

Wildlife:  Lots of ducks

Weather:  Supposedly 55?F, windy, very chilly

 

[Jeff]

June 21 Day 30 Anchorage, AK

Dean pronounced it too cold to barbecue the fresh halibut we bought, so we're having Ivar's clam chowder from Costco.  Ivar?s is a well known name from Oregon.

Linda:

Almost Oregon; Ivar's is a Seattle institution since 1938. ;D

Have fun!

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

I would so love to have that on my desktop. No hurry, but that would look so cool on the widescreen.

Ian, you started something!  When I read your note, I told Dean that I wanted it, too, because it is by far the most exciting event of the trip so far.  Our daughter also e-mailed us the same request.  Dean says it's too big to e-mail, and he has a plan for how best to do it.  We'll get to it today if it's rainy, which is predicted.  If it's sunny, it will be done on the next rainy day.  It sounds like his plan is something he hasn't done before, but he thinks he knows how to do.

This is the highest compliment anyone can pay a photographer.  Thank you.

 

[Dean & Linda Stock]

Be sure to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center while in Anchorage. Preferably on a nice day, since much of it is outdoors.

Nice day?  So far we haven't seen one of those yet in Anchorage, though they say this overcast/rain is unusual.  Our daughter and son-in-law are trying to arrange busy schedules so they can come up here towards the end of July, and they want to do Anchorage, so we are doing the "B" activities and saving the "A" things, like the Native Heritage Center, glacier cruise, Sourdough Mining Co. to do with them. 

Keep the suggestions of your favorite places coming.  I'd hate to leave a place and find out there was somewhere we should have gone and didn't.

 

[Betty Brewer]

Linda,

You voiced a concern in  Marsha's Canada log that you were afraid your log may be dull.  Your log is NOT dull.  It is wonderful to see how you make lemonaid out of the rainy weather.  We experienced the wettest summer in Alaskan history but it did not  deter our travels or learning.  I did not care as much about Valdez as many,  as we had 5 inches of rain in  one day.  The campground was a lake but I have wonderful new water shoes as a result. You seem to be doing the same.  I am reliving our trip through your eyes and it is a wonderful journey, please  keep it up.  
Betty  

 

 

[Tom and Margi]

Let me echo Betty - your travel journal is anything but dull.  We've been reliving our Alaskan trip (2000) through your travels.  I was so sorry the Top of the World highway was in such poor shape this year.  It was one of the highlights of our trip.  We were covered in dust when we arrived in Tok, but the road was relatively good (for dirt and gravel).  We were lucky, though.  When we arrived in Tok we looked back at the mountain and it was covered by ugly black clouds.  I'm sure whoever was on TOTW at that time did not have as much fun. 

There is a fun store in Anchorage (if it's still there) called New Sagayas -- and I may have murdered the spelling.  Pam Van Luchene recommended it.  It has all kinds of really fresh fish, many exotic seasonings, and all kinds of kitchen gadgets.  It's a neat place to wander around.  They also served a lunch buffet.

Keep up the good work, Linda.  Don't stop!    The photographs of the eagles were breath taking!

Margi