July 1 to July 7

Wow, I didn't realize I was so far behind.  It's been almost 3 weeks since I blogged. 

We stopped at Haines Junction, Yukon after we left Tok for one night and decided to drop down to Haines, Alaska since we were close and we wanted to be in the good ole USA on July 4th.  Another highway experience, they are all so scenic in different ways.  We stayed in a park on the water looking out over the bay, the spaces were very close together (like most in Alaska) but the view was wonderful.  We had planned to leave on the 5th but while we were there we decided to ferry from Haines to Skagway and the ferry on the 5th was scheduled for 4:15 a.m., didn't take us long to opt for the 6th leaving at 12:45 p.m. 
Part of the fun of this trip has been making last minute decisions...keeps you on your toes (or off of them, don't know which)

I am stuck with a problem at the end of this blog, I will publish this one and continue on the next one beginning with July 4th to finish our stay in Haines.

View from the road

Darlene found a purse she couldn't live without

Judy bought Larry coffee to keep him awake

                                                

We had a great view of eagles soaring, sea otter playing and cruise ships passing through going to Skagway.  This is the only cruise ship coming into Haines.  It arrived around 6 a.m. and left after the fireworks show around midnight.

View of cruise ship docked shot from our
motor home

Cruise ship going to Skagway

                                             

The first night, the owner of the RV Park told us she was hoping to have crab for dinner ($6.00 per person) and everyone bring a side dish.  Turned out the crab pots were empty so she had grilled salmon instead (punish me!)  It was a great meal and fun.

The town really celebrates the Fourth of July, starting early with a parade and all kinds of events through the day until the fireworks ended around midnight.  Here are some pictures of some of the activities.

Then they got the kids involved

Fire Dept. pushing the ball with hoses.

Mud volleyball was one I have never seen before.  I missed the parade because I was in search of fresh salmon located several miles from town at  Haines Packing....Yum!

This car was in the parade

Continuation of last post:

I had wifi problems and couldn't complete our journey:

Here are more of the random shots from Palmer to Tok

I didn't get a shot of Judy and Larry's
finished product of Cottom

Judy had to make her mark. This is
Alaska's answer to graffiti, writing
in rocks.

June 25 to July 1

From Kenai, we went to Seward, it was cold and rainy but we made a reservation to go out the next day aboard The Spirit Of Adventure for a 7-1/2 hour cruise to see glaciers and wildlife.  They served a buffet lunch of salmon and prime rib (very good) cranberry horseradish was a new taste treat.  Around 4 pm they served a dessert buffet of cheesecake, fruit and rich brownies.  The day was overcast but dry.

Spirit of Adventure

Ice calving off glacier

Ice glacier

Ice from glacier for margarita's

Darlene & Roy with ice glacier

On June 27 we headed to Wasilla/Palmer.....Darlene was on a mission to find Sarah Palin's house and Roy can tell you she gave it her ALL.

On the way we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  It was a drive through affair and they said we could do it in the motor homes, tricky but it was do able.

The Iditarod Race Headquarters is in Wasilla and open for visitors.  Joe and I went there and ran into Roy and Darlene.  We all rode the ATV pulled by the dogs.  This is the way they keep them in condition and they really love running and pulling.



Of course we had to hold the puppies

Too bad they grow up

 From Wasilla we were on the road back to Tok with a stop at Eureka for a late breakfast with Patty and Doug Richardson.  The Batty's and Bybee's had met them while we were at the Southwest Regional Rally in Pahrump in March and they had just returned to their home in Anchorage for the summer.  They were boondocking with friends in that area so we met up for a visit.

Doug, Patty and Roy

Judy, Larry & friends of Richardson's

Patty, Roy and Darlene

Patty & Doug with their ATV's

Stopped for a short nap after the big
breakfast.

Here are more random shots from the road while leaving the Palmer area toward Eureka.

Matanuska River

Glacier, can't remember name

June 20 to June 24

Drove to Homer June 20.....what a place!!! It is Alaska's version of Florida's Key West and I love both places. Relaxed and kick back. First thing we drove to 'the spit' and shopped around for a charter boat to go halibut fishing. We made a reservation for 12:30 the next day. Darlene said "fishing? are you out of your mind?" Needless to say she did not participate. The weather was picture perfect, it took about an hour to get out far enough to fish. We all caught our limit and it was just so much fun (and work) 

Where we booked the charter

Our boat named Jackpot

Roy and Joe on the way out

Max's bed, this dog was so cute and
mannerly.

The Captain and his dog Max

Total catch

My catch, they are so heavy.

Joe's catch

Judy and Larry on the way out

Our view from our motorhomes


Joe went to the local True Value Hardware store and bought a vacuum sealer with extra bags so when we got back we all got busy preparing our fish for freezing.  The next night we had grilled halibut!!!  Sooo good!  You can see why I loved this so much, isn't it beautiful?  We stayed an extra day just to soak up more of it (partially from the laundromat) but was nice anyway.

From Homer we went to Kenai, Larry and Judy have friends from their car club who live here and they had said we could use their address to forward our mail, very nice people.  Here is a picture of their home they are in the process of completing (I stole the picture from Judy's blog)



 

Larry, Judy, Sylvia & Steve

June 15 to June 19

We are at Denali RV Park and Motel for 3 nights.  After setting up we went to the tours center and booked for the next morning an eight hour bus ride into the park.  You can only drive your private vehicle about 15 miles into the park.  It was a grueling bus ride and we weren't able to see Mt. McKinley, too many clouds, but we did see a lot of wildlife.  Moose, one mamma with a calf, Caribou, Grizzly Bears, and Dall Sheep so it was worthwhile

Caribou cooling in the snow

Top of Mt. McKinley

Sunday morning we made breakfast for the guys for Father's Day and later that night went to a dinner/theater.

Happy Father's Day!!!

 Waiting in line for the dinner show to open and begin.

Since it was family style the rule was..we all had to wave our napkins in the air and yell JOE, JOE and they would bring what ever you were short on.  I have some of it on video and have tried to upload it but wifi is just not strong enough.

Random shot

On Monday we traveled to Anchorage, and stayed at the Ship Creek RV Park for 2 nights.  Once again we had Costco, Walmart, etc. to do some shopping and then try to figure out where to put it because you don't know where you might have the opportunity again.  We did so much museum stuff in Fairbanks we passed on them in Anchorage.  Joe and I went to the visitor's center downtown.  There was a woman giving a one hour presentation called Mushing 101, we listened to that and it was very interesting.  She and her husband have 36 dogs and they feed them fish, costs them about $2,000 per month.  They start training in early September, using an ATV in neutral for them to pull until the snow and cold cover the ground for winter.

NEXT INSTALLMENT...............HOMER, ALASKA............LOVED IT