Category: Travel

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