The life and times of Libby Withnall

Before we set off this morning I took a photo of our MH next to the BUS that came in beside us. It was at least twice the size of ours. I would not to be driving that all over the country.

We left the MH park around 8.30am and drove to our hotel – the Historic Anchorage in downtown – to drop off our luggage.

We then drove out the RV Rental place, stopping to refill petrol along the way. They then gave us a life back to the downtown area.  Unfortunately we now discovered the shared food drop table too late and we’d already thrown up quite a bit of food, excepting totally sealed items. I thought it a shame we hadn’t been told about the table when we arrived.

We had a bit of an explore around some shops, and tried to work out if we could get this dog or moose home to Australia. I think not!

I picked up a couple of tops in Nordstroms and we had some morning tea.

This cake was delicious.

I was Gymberee buying some clothes for Christy when everything shook. I asked the sales girls “what was that?” and she said the workmen doing  renovations next door. We later found out it was indeed a 5.2 earthquake.

We then went looking for an extra suitcase in JC Penny. They had some lovely Samsonites and the best part 60% off. We’ve been wanting to upgrade our bags for some time so this was a great opportunity. We saved over $1000 and probably another $500 than if we’d bought them in Australia. Amazing!!!

We wheeled them back to our room which was now ready. And boy, oh, boy and is it fabulous. I treated us to the Juniour Suite as it wasn’t much dearer so we have a seperate lounge area. I’m thinking we’re going to sleep like babies in this bed tonight.

Since we’ve got an early start in the morning I repacked our suitcases. Aren’t they so cute?

And the tag? It was meant to be .

We headed out to get some lunch and found this Thai place just around the corner.

We shared Ginger Tofu which was delicious.

This is was time for our Segway tour of Anchorage.

Kevin has done one before but it was my first time. It took me a while to get the hang of it – especially turning – but it was lots of fun. And a great way to see some of the sights. It’s a lovely town and I especially love the flowers EVERYWHERE.

A statue of Captain Cook.

A beavers den.

And the Railroad Depot where we’ll be bright and early in the morning.

And Kevin being a moose…. no idea why!!!

After our tour we enjoyed an ice cream and I gave my feet a bit of a rest. I then went to the souvenier shop next door to pick up a few things then uploaded some photos before we headed out for tonights event. Can you guess what it involves?  Yep, more sled dogs.

We had such a good time at the Seavey’s place in Seward, we decided to also see the Wildride Sled Dog Rodeo run by son, Dallas Seavey.

Over dinner we got to talk to Dallas and here about how he plans for the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. His love for his dogs and his sport is amazing.

Dinner was yummy. They forgot my vegetarian so it was bought out late. But I was happily enough having bits from the other dinner. When they did remember my meal it was a beautiful pasta filled with ricotta. Yum.

And then there was desert. Goodness me this baked cheesecake was the best I’d ever had.

We then watched a short video about the Iditarod – which was actually the one we’d seen at the Headquarters the other day. Then it was outside for the show. This was really well done and we both enjoyed it. So different to our experience in Seward that it was definitely worth doing both of them.

This beautiful pup actually got to be the musher – too cute.

They showed us the strength of the dogs.

And here a full team of 16 pulled a loaded truck (oops, I forgot to photograph the truck)

After the show we got to meet some of the dogs. Including one of our favourites…

Check out the size of those paws.

This beauty was in the movie Snow Buddies, and is a pet, not a sled dog.

And there was, of course, more puppies. But these babies were just 5 weeks old.

Just look at those eyes. She had sharp puppy teeth too I tell you

Then it was back to the hotel for a shower, blogging and hopefully a fantastic nights sleep.

Tomorrow : Train to Seward and the start of our cruise. It also means a likely ending to blogging for a while. So if you’re keen to keep up make sure you’re my friend on facebook.

First stop today was Subway in Denali to get some breakfast. Kevin wanted a change from cereal and I was out of bagels.

I had a flatbread with cheese and egg. It was quite nice.

Then we hit the road for the 5 hour drive back to Anchorage. As you can it was not the best weather this morning – and we were very glad we weren’t going on the tour of Denali National Park today.

We had driven this same road on the way up so we enjoyed listening to some more of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as we drove.  We did go past this giant igloo which is for sale. Any takers?

At Wasilla we stopped in at the Iditarod Headquarters.

I was excited to see they had some dogs there (from the Redington kennels). We debated going on another ride but decided it wouldn’t be as good, or as memorable, as the one we’d done at the Seavey’s. This is how they transport lots of dogs.

I was really excited to visit the headquarters. We watched a film about the Iditarod and I bought some things (including this years Iditarod DVD). We then saw some of the puppies. I loved how two were asleep and 2 were trying to escape. I wonder which will made the best sled dogs .

LOVED these 2 – so cute – one sleeping on top of the other.

Statue of the Father of the Iditarod.

We stopped at a Walmart to pick up a few things, then drove on to Anchorage where we went to Wild Berry Products.

I think Kevin wanted to dive right into the world largest chocolate fountain.

You could see them making chocolate (of which we bought some) but it was basically a big shop geared for tourists.  They did have some reindeer out the back though.

It was getting on towards 2pm and we were hungry so we went across the road to the Sourdough Bakery.

Loved the flowers outside. Like the UK there are hanging flower baskets everywhere.

And inside was very cute and rustic.

The only thing wrong with the place was that there was NOTHING vegetarian on the menu. So ordered the cobb salad with cheese instead of bacon & turkey.

It was huge (I barely made a dent on it) but was really yummy.

We then drove onto tonights RV park.

I had a lot of trouble finding a decent (according to reviews) park in Anchorage but this one is lovely. Just check out all those flowers.

I spent the afternoon doing some laundry and getting some bags packed. Then it was dinner (another Amy’s meal), blogging and catching up on some blogs while we have good internet access.

Tomorrow : Goodbye to the MH and a day exploring Anchorage.

NOTE : A quick post today – lots of photos and not much journaling.

Today we a full 12 hour day tour all the way to Kantishna (at the end of the Denali National Park Road) and back again. We boarded our bus at 6.30am and were given our lunch bag – which included 2 bottles of a water, a bottle of orange juice, 2 cookies, chips(crisps), nuts and a nut bar. Later we were given a wrap as well. We ate on the bus whenever we wanted to.

It was one stunning view after another.

Unfortunately Mount McKinley was not to be seen today .

Unfortunately when we got the end of the road, where we got do a little walk with a Park Ranger, it was a little drizzly and there were LOTS of mosquitoes (though it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected). Ours was the only tour to go out this far but we were really glad we did it.

We got to visit the house where Franny Quigley (sp??) lived in the early 1900s. She must have been one amazing woman to have lived out here (even when her husband moved to Seattle).

There was a number of animal sightings including hares, squirrels, moose, caribou, dall sheep, eagles, grizzly bears (including cubs) and the rarely spotted wolverine.

Kevin took lots of photos but found it hard to get good shots as the animals were often far away in a bad position to photograph.

He wasn’t happy with what he got, but I was pleased.

The dall sheep, with 2 lambs.

The wolverine – which ran up the road in front of us for ages. Our guide said it was the 5th one she’d seen in 20 years and the first in over 5 years. So we scored big time.

I managed to photograph quite a few of the beautiful wildflowers.

This is a wild rose…

This is what our bus looked like at the end of the day.

We headed back to MH, which was parked at the Wilderness Access Center, and was amazed to find a moose and her calf in the middle of the car park!!!!

Kevin & I were so excited. The baby was sooooo cute.

We drove back to Riley Creek and hung out in the car park again so I do this post .

Tomorrow : Headed back to Anchorage and our last day in the motorhome.

Our RV site in Talkeetna backed right onto the railway line but I’d read it wasn’t too bad. There was a train around 11pm and another about 3am so it didn’t bother us too much. A bit of a relaxed morning and we were off by 8am. Lots more beautiful scenery. We’re seeing more and more wildflowers each day which is lovely.

We had a brief stop for petrol.

And arrived at Denali National Park around 11am.

We got checked into Riley Creek, where we are staying. And went to choose our spot.

I chose the one with the most wildflowers .

They have a system here whereby you leave your name/check-in slip clipped onto a stump to identify your site – you get to choose your own. We did this then drove to the Visitors Center.

Kevin wore his rain jacket. I didn’t bother as it was only spitting. When we came back out, so had the sun. We were just in time to watch the short film before having a look around.

I loved this little fella – how cute is he?

You know you’re in bear country when they have serious bear proof bins like this.

Kevin wanted lunch from the cafe. He got the kids burger. I stole a couple of this fries (which were really yummy) and made a cheese & coleslaw wrap later on.

We went back to our site for a while. Kevin had a nap. I ate my lunch and read a few magazines.

This was my view .

Just before 3pm we headed over to the Merchantile where we were picked up for our Rhino ATV tour.

This was lots of fun. Kevin had a ball trying to hit every rock, every dip in the road, and make the biggest splashes.

We had a number of stops with the most gorgeous views. We really lucked out with the weather this afternoon. Out of the wind it was actually warm.

Okay, you get the idea. We were surrounded by beauty. Our last stop was down by the river.

More stunning scenery.

And one thing I did not expect to see on our tour.

At the end I was reunited with my normal glasses – which I didn’t even know were missing. Kevin must have knocked them out of the bag when he got out his jacket. Boy, was I lucky! We were then returned to Riley Creek where Kevin had the brilliant idea that instead of sitting outside the Merchantile to get wifi that he drive the MH around to the car park. And that’s exactly what we did. Once I get this posted we’ll head back to our campsite.

Tomorrow : An day trip through Denali Park.

We were up very early this morning so decided to get ready and hit the road around 6.20am!!! We enjoyed the some tea along the way and stopped in Soldotna’s Fred Meyer to get some more groceries.

I was looking at this cute desert when I realized it was might for dogs!!! Wow they really do have everything in USA.

This is the organic/healthy frozen section – in a remote Alaskan town….. so not fair….

I prepared a bagel in the MH which I ate on the way. As you can we had splendid weather today and it was actually quite warm.

Around 11.15am we arrived at the Alaskan Wildlife Preserve (which had been recommended to us by some locals).

It’s a drive around park but you can get to see the animals and in Kevin’s case take photos.

This Mummy bison with both this years and last years calf was my favourite.

We then drove a bit further up the road to the Alyeska ski resort.

where we caught tram up to the top of the mountain. Kevin was happy because he got to stand on the snow.

It was so beautiful and surprisingly not at all cold.

We had bought lunch with our lift ticket and we both chose soup – Kevin had meat chilli and I had tomato with raviolli. So yummy.

Made ever better by the view we had.

We then caught the train back down. We apparently went over a bear and her cub but neither Kevin or I saw them .

There aren’t a lot of wildflowers out yet but those that are so so pretty.

As were the potted flowers around the resort.

We continued on our way – up past Anchorage and Willow. Kevin got a bit sleepy around 3pm we pulled into some little down and he had a sleep for an hour. I took the opportunity to give the MH a bit of a tidy up and read some magazines.

At 4pm we were on our final leg of today 7 hour drive and arrived in Talkeetna just before 6pm.

We got set up and then walked into the town. It was such a lovely day and still wasn’t cold yet. Talkeetna is the town that inspired the TV show Northern Exposure (which I have never actually watched).

It really is an odd little town – just a handful of shops and restaurants – which I’m sure are all here to cater to the tourist.

After a quick tour we walked back to the MH. We didn’t have any wifi in the MH so I went over to the office area and sat outside to upload photos to flickr. Unfortunatley some mossies found me but I suffered for the sake of the blog . Once the photos were done I went back to the MH to write up the posts and have some dinner. Another Amy’s meal – tonight was Mexican Casserole. It’s probably just as well I can’t get Amy’s – I might never cook again they are that good and taste just like what I’d make myself .

As soon as I finish eating I’m going to post this and then do a bit of reading before bed.

Tomorrow : Headed to Denali.

Today started with breakfast at the Broadwalk Bakery out on the spit.

The owner was lovely and encouraged us to put a pin in Wollongong.

Upon her recommendation we order some waffles to share. There was only outdoor seating (and it was cold) so we ate in the MH.

Outside we found this cute pup.

Then it was time for todays adventure – a plane trip to hang out with some grizzly bears with Alaska Bear Adventures.

After being fitted for hip-wadders (a difficult process for me due to my big leg due to my previous DVT), we had a flight briefing and were then off for the 1.5 hour trip. After we went through quite a bit of cloud we flew over mountains and volcanoes, which was pretty awesome.

When we touched down on the rocky beach we had a short walk … then we spotted what we came to see… bears. There were 2 young males (around 2-3yrs old) and behind them in the distance you might be able to make out a mother with her cub.

Kevin got right to work with the big camera.

As you can see it was rather chilly…but at least it didn’t rain…

We watched these cubs for some time, then moved up the beach to admire/laugh at this young female. This time we were nice and close.

She was fast asleep when we arrived and didn’t care at all that we were close. Check out her claws!

She eventually propped herself up to check us out, but was so tired she could barely keep her head up. I never thought I’d see a bear this relaxed in the wild. It was so cute and so funny.

Love this photo – it looks like she’s looking right at Kevin.

Eventually she moved off to get a drink of water.

Then as we waited on the beach she we walked right in front of us.

Then she spotted the two males and took off after them – chasing one of them up the beach, around the rocks and all the way over to another field. She sure had plenty of energy after all that lazy around. The guides didn’t know why she was chasing them so it will remain a mystery.

You could their paw prints on the beach.

As we headed back it was lucky we were wearing wadders…

Unfortunately Kevin’s had a hole (in both) so his feet got wet! Next stop was the very rustic toilets – which us girls were very greatful for.

Then time to see another field with lots of bears (off in the distance) grazing….including this mother and cub.

The beach was covered with rocks and shells. I would loved to have bought back one of these blue shells for the girls.

Then it was time for some group photos.

The two guys standing beside Kevin are from Australia and have just started a 8 month motorbike trip from Alaska to Antartica called Circle to Circle. Needless to say Kevin enjoyed chatting with them and is VERY jealous of their trip.

Sadly we had to leave the bears and head back to Homer. We ate lunch on the way…

and enjoyed more beautiful scenery.

The houses are so cute in Alaska and instead of having a row of shops joined together, every building is seperate & unique.

Back in town we drove out to the spit again to see the Salty Dawg Saloon. It’s world famous and most people will buy a t-shirt – but we were happy to take a photo from outside.

The best thing about the drive out here was that we spotted our very first Golden.

And were able to give him a pat. So cute.

We then headed back to RV park for some afternoon tea and do some laundry. Around 6.30pm we headed out to find some dinner. I had noticed this cute building this morning.

It was opened but it was full – which is a good sign I guess. Instead of waiting for table we opted to get a takeaway pizza. Which still meant we had to wait. We sat outside in front of the bookshop part.

We took our pizza back to the MH were we enjoyed it. It was double cheese and so very good.

Later I showered, blogged and actually caught up on some blog reading.

Tomorrow : A BIG drive to Talkeetna (inspirational town for Northern Exposure)

Both of us were very reluctant to get up and moving this morning (because we’ve been staying up late because of the light) but we did as we had a booking to go and meet some puppies.

It was quick 10min drive to the Seavey’s Iditaride Sled Dog Tour.

We completed our booking and had a short wait till our tour started. Then we went to see the dogs. They were so excited. Barking and jumping and desperate to get some pats.

It was amazing. The dogs got so loud when they saw the harnesses. All wanted to be one of the 16 picked to run. The sled is anchored to the ground and we quickly found out why when they all started pulling before we were ready to go. This white one was particularly keen.

Finally they were all harnessed and we were off. Such power. The musher actually keeps the brakes on to stop them from going too fast.

Such a fun experience. Even if we don’t get to experience this on the ice I’m now happy . When we got back we were able to pat the dogs. This one was especially demanding with his need for pats.

And I just love this one lying on his kennel – too cute.

You could tell the dogs were very well looked after – not a dog poo in sight and the water very clean. Nearly 100 very happy and well cared for dogs.

Next up was meeting the new puppies.

How cute is this little face?

And then there was Chinook – the only pure Siberean Husky. And about twice the size of the other dogs.

After a truly wonderful 90mins here we headed out for a quick look at Exit Glacier.

It’s apparently the most accessable glacier in Alaska and only takes about one hour for a return hike….unfortunately we didn’t feel we had enough time…

as we had to get to Cooper Landing for our scenic float on the the Kenai River. We arrived in plenty of time and had a lunch of wraps before making our way down to the water to get into our lovely waterproof clothing. We only took the waterproof camera and for some reason some of the photos didn’t turn up.

It was a lovely trip down the river and we spotted our first bald eagle and Kevin spotted our first moose.

After we finished floating down the river to Jim’s landing (which took nearly 2 hours) we were driven back to our cars (which took 15mins). On the way our guide recommended Sackett’s as a good place to eat. Even though we’d had lunch at 12.30pm, it was now 3.30pm and we were hungry enough to share a meal.

We got a grilled cheese and mushroom sandwich. Sounds a little weird but boy was it good. Unfortunately I took the photo too quickly as Kevin was itching to get his paws on it – hence you can’t even see the cheese & mushrooms…..

Then we were back on the road for the 2.5 hour drive to Homer. We quickly headed into a very flat countryside – which was so weird after being having surrounded by mountains since we arrived.

But towards the end of our trip the mountains came back into view – although they are across the water. This is view coming into Homer – the land you can see jutting out is Homer Spit.

Our RV park is actually in town (the one on the spit was twice the price). But we’re happy with our location.

We got settled for the night, showered, blogged and had another frozen dinner.

Tomorrow : We go on a small plane to go see some bears.

After a bit of rough nights sleep we had a somewhat lesiurely morning. We did venture down to Stoney Creek to take some photos.

Around 10.30 a shuttle came to pick us up for our Kenai Fjords National Park Tour. We didn’t see a lot of the town of Seward but we liked what we saw.

Here’s a pic Kevin snapped of me updating facebook before we boarded our boat .

Kevin spent most of the day like this…

and all the great animal close-up shots are thanks to him.

It wasn’t too long before we had our first wildlife encounter. Two very cute sea otters floating around…as they do…

Then some small orcas…they didn’t hang around very long though…

Lunch was served… I got hummus and lettuce wrap which was really delicious (Kevin said his chicken wrap was okay).

We saw some sea lions and learnt that the light coloured ones have been out of the water for a while and are dried off.

We then headed to a glacier – boy was it cold out here. And windy – don’t you just love my hair?

I was amazed you could hear the ice creak and groan and we saw little bit carve off. I was also amazed to see chunks of ice in the water. I know you see it in brochures but it’s still a surprise in real life.

I had to move inside fairly promptly as it felt like my ears were turning into icicles . I could still see great out the window though. As we left here we came across the rare sight of a black bear swimming.

We watched as he swam then climbed up the rocks. So cute.

We saw lots of puffins.

And quite a few mountain goats – there’s a little baby in the middle.

Then, what we’d all be waiting to see, a pod of orcas – actually we saw two pods. The first included a mum and baby.

And the baby was kind enough to show off for us.

We saw lots of birds and their nesting sites.

Another Mum and bub – though the baby (on the nest) is nearly as big as the Mum).

And more sea lions.

Love these two fellas.

On the way back to Seward we were given some delicious warm cookies.

We arrived back around 5.30pm totally thrilled with all we had seen. I think we saw everything I ever saw pictured or described in relation to this cruise.  We bought a few things in the gift then got the shuttle back out to Stoney River.

I was happy to discover we had great internet connection (it’s a bit patchy) so I was able to get my blog up to date and upload todays photos. I made us pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Then I blogged, while Kevin watched some TV shows, before going to bed.

Tomorrow : Sled Dogs and a scenic river float trip on-route to Homer

Luckily we set the alarm as it woke us out of a deep sleep at 5am. We got and dressed and packed our final things before saying our farewells to our lovely room.

Our driver was waiting for us when we got downstairs and we were soon on the way to the airport. Traffic was just starting to build so it is a quite a quick trip to LAX. Once there we finished checking in (couldn’t do it all as we couldn’t print up a boarding pass) and waited in the rather long security line. It moved along though and spend time chatting to the lady in front of us. Here we had to take off our shoes and jackets but luckily we didn’t have to do the full body scan.

We spotted a Starbucks so Kevin was excited to get a proper coffee and I got tea and bagel (which I ate half off).

We didn’t wait too long before our flight on Alaskan Airlines started boarding.

Then it was a pretty quick 5 hour flight to Anchorage. I watched the last two episodes of Glee season 2 and read some of my book.

You had to buy your own food – I got a cheese platter and Kevin got the vegetarian snake pack – both of which were very yummy.

Kevin had the window seat so got to see our arrival into Anchorage.

And what I could see of the snow capped mountains looked awesome.

Once at the airport (which was really lovely) we collected our luggage and called ABC Motorhomes who came and picked us up and drove us to their offices – about 2mins away. We had our first glitch about insurance. I assumed we’d paid it as part of the cost (since we had to have it) but it was sorted out easily and cost just $10 a day which is the cheapest insurance ever (who knows what we’re covered for though!!!!).We had a little wait and were then shown around the MH (motorhome). It looks really good and I think we’re going to be very happy here for the next 8 nights.

Finally we were on our way….

not that we got very far before stopping for groceries at Fred Meyer. This store is HUGE!!!!! Nothing like it in Australia. The supermarket section would be 2-3 times the size of most Aussie supermarkets, then there’s other section (like k-mart/target).

We were really hungry as it was around 2.30pm (or 3.30pm Anaheim time) so we bought some lunch and got tea/coffee in Starbucks. We decided to buy some travel cups so we can enjoy tea as we’re driving around

Because the store is so big it took us forever to get our groceries. Such a selection!!!! WOW!!!

It was after 4pm before we were finished, had put away the groceries and were on our way…again…

Within 10mins we were surrounded with gorgeous views. Wow, oh, wow is all I can say.

We had a brief stop to make sure all vents/window were shut – they were – as the MH is rather noisy.

About half way into our 2.5 hour drive we stopped for a break. beside the river.

And made a cup of tea, which we enjoyed with a red velvet cupcake. More stunning scenery…

We got a little lost trying to find the RV Park – some signs were missing and the road sign covered by trees. But we did see our first husky – old puppy that he was.

Then finally around 7pm we pulled into the Stoney Creek RV Park. We got checked in and parked on our site.

It’s in a beautiful location surround by the snow capped mountains – which we’re in love with.

I got our luggage unpacked, played on the computer with my limited internet access and finally got myself some dinner around 8.30pm. My first Amy’s frozen meal was delicious – tasted just like homemade.

It’s so light that it doesn’t feel late but I made myself go to bed around 10.30pm. I think it finally got dark around midnight and we getting light again by 3am. Unfortunately the MH does not have block out blinds – only ones for privacy. It was also quite cold overnight and the bed is a little hard. But I got a reasoanable nights sleep.

Around 5.30pm we headed back to Disneyland for the 6.30pm parade. If I’d known there were so many benches only the parade route (at Main Street) I would have gotten there earlier. As it was we found a good spot but had to sit on the curb – which was not so good for my back. We got some popcorn (as you do) and waited.

The new parade is really good.

We were headed to Small World when we stopped to take a photo a the partners statue. Luckily a nice cast member offered to take a photo for us.

The park was rather crowded tonight and since the parade had just finished there was a quite a line up for Small World. It did move quick though.

We had a quick wander through Innoventions, then went to watch the Captain EO Tribute. Oh, it was bad – I’m really surprised Disney are still showing it. I can’t imagine anyone, perhaps a real die-hard Micheal Jackson fan enjoying it. Still it was an experience – a very bizarre experience.

It was hard when we came out and we walked over to Adventureland to get some skewers for dinner. Kevin had a beef one and I got 2 veggie ones which I shared with Kevin. It was not as expected – the veggie pieces were huge. It was very good though.

The castle is so beautiful at night but photos do not do it justice.

We sat on a bench while we ate our dinner then went to find a spot on Main Street for the fireworks. I had suggested we move further back towards the entrance – which we should have as a tree blocked part of our view . Even standing on the other side of the street would have worked.

Not to worry. It was a very magical end to our time at Disneyland.