Life is a Journey

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.