Denali – Anchorage – The Southern Coast

Denali - 7/11 to 7/14

On Saturday we left Fairbanks and headed for Denali NP. Not a long ride so once we settled in we headed out to the Park to get the lay of the land and also to pick up our tickets for the all day bus tour on Monday. We drove the 15 miles into Denali that they allow cars and it is beautiful. On the way back Lalia caught a glimpse of a grizzly bear in one of the dry river beds.

Only tour buses can cross this bridge

The next day Ray went to his fly fishing lessons and had a great day. He learned a lot about fly fishing, caught a few small grayling (catch and release only) and enjoyed fishing for 5 hours or so. He’s hoping to do some more fishing before we leave Alaska and then again when we get to the lower 48 next month. Lalia relaxed, worked on the pictures, and made a delicious shepherd’s pie for dinner.

On Monday July 13th, we were up at 4:00 to prepare for our all day bus tour of Denali. We had to be at the visitor center no later than 6:00AM for the bus pickup. 

The weather was really nice in the morning and we were able to see Mt. McKinley for 3-4 hours of our trip.  We felt lucky because Peter, our tour guide/bus driver said that only about 30% of the people who visit Denali get to see the mountain. 

Our first glimpse of Mt. McKInley

 

The smoke from wildfires and gathering clouds then started

 to obscure the mountain as we drove further into the Park.

The layer with the flat top is smoke from wildfires

It was a long bus ride, 92.5 miles one way, but the bus was comfortable, the driver/guide was very knowledgeable and the day actually went by pretty fast. We saw amazing views of a part of Alaska that only 1% of the folks who visit Denali take the time to see.

At the Eielson Visitor Center we met Nina Weisman the niece of our friends Fred & Barbara Berman. Although our visit with Nina was short, we enjoyed talking to her and she told us a lot about Denali NP. 

Just past Eielson our bus picked up Andy, a Denali Park Ranger, who rode with us for about two hours telling us much about the plant life, the history of mining in Denali, and some of the people that settled in this area. 

We got back to the bus drop off point at 5:35PM and although it was a long day it was well worth it. Great scenery and wildlife: grizzly bears, a bull moose, a porcupine, lots of caribou, Dall sheep, golden eagle, harrier hawk, and a mother moose and calf.

Tuesday it rained a lot so Lalia worked on the blog some more and then we went to the “downtown Denali” area to do some looking around and shopping. We bought some gifts for nieces and nephews. This area is pretty much a tourist trap, but what else are you going to do on a rainy day.

Part of Denali shopping strip

Anchorage - 7/15 to 7/17

Lots of road work near Denali

The next day, July 15th, we headed out to Anchorage. Anchorage is a city of about 400,000 people and by far the largest city in Alaska. Fairbanks has about 100,000 people and between the two major cities there are 500,000 of the 900,000 people who live in Alaska. It was a little strange being back in a city. Everyone in a hurry to get somewhere, lots of good shopping like Costco, WalMart, Fred Meyers, Best Buy, etc. 

Beautiful flowers throughout Anchorage

One day we drove around the city and went to Earthquake Park to learn the details of the 1964 earthquake that destroyed many communities on the Alaskan coast. Then we went to Humpy’s for lunch. Our friends Red and Marsha had suggested we try the crab roll at Humpy’s and we were not disappointed. Great sandwich. While we were there a young man struck up a conversation and it turns out he is from Fairbanks and his wife’s family owns the sternwheeler riverboat company that we rode on the river cruise in Fairbanks. It’s a very small world even up here.

We never went into the Mug - Shot Saloon where we understand that

the patrons have either been mugged or shot

On July 17th we went to the ULU Knife Factory where we learned about the traditional Alaskan knife that has been used by Athabascan natives for centuries, of course we bought one and it works great. 

In downtown Anchorage we also watched some fishermen catching salmon in Ship Creek which empties into Cook Inlet . That evening we worked on our itinerary for when we leave Alaska for the lower 48 states. We'll get some repair work done on the RV in Washington, so the itinerary helped to get an appointment.

It's a tidal creek that will fill with water soon

Seward - 7/18 to 7/20

Saturday, the 18th, we drove to Seward where we spent 3 nights. The drive, like most of our drives up here, was short, 2 hours and 45 minutes. After we got the RV settled we drove downtown to check out where we are to get our boat ride tomorrow and see what the town was like. 

Where you get your picture taken with your record catch

Seward is one of the nicest places we’ve been so far in Alaska. It's a stop for cruise ships and a working fishing harbor along with the tourist services, with lots of boats, a view of the mountains, and a couple of local breweries. Very nice for sure.

The next day we took our Kenai Fjords boat tour and it was amazing. Departed at 10:00 and returned at 6:30. Trip included a salmon/prime ribs buffet with all the fixings plus a Park Ranger talk about how and when this area was developed. 

The cruise itself was great. We saw humpback whales, orcas, Dall porpoise, sea otters, sea lions, bald eagles, tufted puffins, black legged kittiwake, and common murre. The scenery was also wonderful especially around Chiswell Island and Aialik Glacier where we watched chunks of ice break off.

 

On Monday we drove to the Exit Glacier which is in the Kenai Fjords NP and walked about 1.5 miles to a view point. Most of the area we walked in today was under the glacier as late as 1955. As you can see this glacier has receded a lot in 60 years.

Exit Glacier use to cover the spot we took this picture about 60 years ago

On the Exit Glacier Outwash

Homer 7/21 to 7/22

On the 21st we drove to Homer where Ray was hoping to do some Halibut or Salmon fishing. The scenery again was beautiful. As we passed through Soldotna we saw people all along the shore of the Kenai River fishing for salmon. Drove through a 8-10 mile section of construction. The RV is now black, grey, and muddy brown! It rained some on this trip but just after we got to Homer it cleared up some and we were able to drive on their Skyview Road above town and had a wonderful view of Homer and the Homer Spit.

Cruise ship on the Homer Spit

Two Sisters Bakery and B&B
Best Cinnamon Rolls EVER

Bishop's Beach near our RV

Because the forecast for the 22nd was rain, Lalia suggested we get up early so we could go down the street to a little bakery that had been recommended to us by a number of people. It was called Two Sisters and it was very good. Great cinnamon rolls, scones, and coffee. We then drove to the Homer Spit which was very interesting and Alaska-like. After we drove around the Spit it started to rain so we went back to the RV to do some more planning.

Homer Spit Harbor

Ray was unable to do any fishing here due to the weather and also the charter boats were all full. Tourism in Alaska this summer has been great for the local economies. Ray tried to schedule a combination halibut and salmon charter but they were all booked up. Because we saw so many people fishing in Soldotna Ray decided to book a charter to fish for sockeye salmon on the Kenai River and try to book a charter out of Valdez for halibut. 

Soldotna - 7/23 to 7/25

Ray booked a salmon charter in Soldotna with Chadwick Fishing Guides and it was wonderful. He left the RV around 7:30am and at 9:30am he had his quota (3) of sockeye salmon plus one pink salmon and was on his way home. The 4 fish totaled 10 ¼ pounds of fillets after cleaning so they were pretty good size. The pink salmon was a little small but I guess they always are. The guide was a very nice young man from Minneapolis who came to Alaska 3 years ago and plans to never leave.

In Soldotna we stayed at the Edgewater RV Park and they had their own Kenai River access so we were able to walk to the river and watch people fishing. Soldotna is a good size city for the area and they have a Fred Meyers store. Freds, as the locals call it, is similar to a Walmart Supercenter or for our Canadian friends a large Atlantic Superstore. We were also in Freds in Fairbanks and we noticed the selection was better than Walmart as were the prices.

So many fish to catch

On Friday we stopped at the fish processing plant to pick up Ray’s salmon, flash frozen, and some smoked then we drove to Palmer which is north of Anchorage on the Glenn Hwy. Nice quiet RV park. No planes or trains! On the 26^th we drove to Glennallen which is on our way to Valdez. The 27^th saw us arrive in Valdez. We'll tell you about Valdez in our next post.