We spent three days in Anchorage and it rained the whole time. Anchorage is as far west as the Hawaiian Islands and as far north as Helsinki, Finland. Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city and is home to almost half of Alaska’s residents. Established in 1915 as the construction headquarters for the Alaska Railroad, it is the transportation and business center of south central Alaska.
It is here that we got our first and only flat tire (so far). After traveling on all those unpaved roads, it’s a city street that gets us. We had to purchase two new tires to balance the tread pattern for the front or back.
On our first evening we checked out a tourist trap, but a fun place called Alaska Wild Berry Park and Village. It’s a large gift shop with junk (I mean gift items), berry products and fudge. You get to sample different kinds of candies and fudge. There is a large chocolate fountain at the entrance of the store. We had dinner at their restaurant; Sourdough Mining Co., and after dinner listened to a storyteller and singer called Dusty Sourdough.
There were ‘door prizes’ if you answered Dusty’s questions correctly. Dave won a nice pocket knife with an eagle carved onto the bone handle (actually it was plastic). The question was “Who discovered gold in California” (George Marshall) and “Who discovered gold in the Klondike” (George Carmack – he was actually one of four people who discovered gold, but he took credit for it).
Despite the rain we visited a few outdoor sites such as the Alaska Zoo; a small but very nice zoo. One of our travel goals is to visit all the zoos in all of the major cities we pass through. And we have visited a lot of zoos so far. This zoo had mostly animals local to Alaska; with most of them being rescued. With our umbrellas, we strolled through the Alaska Botanical Garden. This is a small, but colorful garden with lots of hiking trails in the birch and spruce woodland surrounding the garden. We found quite a few different types of fungi (mushrooms) growing in this garden.
We spent some time at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. The center is run by a confederation of all the native peoples in Alaska, complete with demonstration dances, songs and examples of various tribal villages and homes.
To get out of the rain we spent time in the Anchorage Museum. This is a very nice museum that focuses on art, history and cultures of Alaska. There are full-scale dioramas and a display about the Alaskan Pipeline. There is also a very nice restaurant where we and lunch.
August 15 – 17, 2009 - KENAI PENINSULA
After Anchorage we continued south going around the Turnagin arm and onto the Kenai Peninsula with very high mountains, lots of glaciers and waterfalls and heavily forested valleys. At Cooper Landing we stayed 3 nights at a very nice RV park that was part of the Kenai Wilderness Princess Lodge, (of the Princess Hotel chain). The first night we had drinks and food at the bar and worked on our laptop (the lodge had free WiFi) and enjoyed the fantastic view of the Cooper River and the mountains. We also planned out the next 2 days.
The next morning we went further southeast to Seward (end of the road). Here we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center; an aquarium and a marine mammal rescue organization.
On our way back to Cooper Landing we drove to Kenai Fjords National Park and hiked up to the base of Exit Glacier. There were several points on the national park road and this trail that had posts with dates indicating the glacier was at ‘this point on this date’. The day was a cool day with some rain and lots of mosquitoes.
The next day the weather cleared and it was southwest bound on Highway 1 to Soldotna. Here we found a combination bead & gemstone and used book store that we had to stop at. Didn’t buy any beads, but found some paperbacks that will keep us busy for the rest of the trip. During this trip we got hooked on Lilian Jackson Braun series of mysteries that involve a pair of Siamese cats. “The Cat Who……” series are fun books to read and we managed to get about 12 of the 25 books at various used book stores.
Our next stop was Kenai. Established as Ft. St. Nicholas by Russian fur traders in 1791, Kenai is one of the oldest permanent settlements in Alaska. Until 1953, the town grew under a squatters’ rights policy. We visited the ‘old town section’ and had an excellent lunch at Veronica’s. This coffee shop and deli is housed in a 1918 home built with hand-hewn logs by farmer John Oskolkof.
At the entrance to the ‘old town’ section, you are greeted by ‘Monarch of the Wind’; an 11.5 foot, 3000 pound, steel sculpture.
We continued on to the end of the road past Anchor Point (“North America’s Most Westerly Highway Point”) to Homer ( “Halibut Fishing Capitol of the World”). From Kenai to Homer we had impressive views of three of the four active volcanoes across Cook Inlet on the Alaska mainland.
Of all of the places we have visited in Alaska, we liked the Kenai Peninsula the best. The area is very scenic and we found the towns and villages ‘quaint and charming’. Two days was not enough time to thoroughly enjoy this area. This trip to Alaska was to explore the whole state and just see the highlights and look for places to return to and spend more time. The Kenai Peninsula is one of those places. So we will be back.
August 18 – 20, 2009 – TOP OF THE WORLD HWY - GOOD BYE ALASKA
Our time in Alaska is ending. We will take two days exiting Alaska by heading north through Anchorage and an overnight stay in Mendeltna where we stayed at one of the worst RV parks in Alaska. Take note…if you are the one and only camper at any RV park, resort or campground, there is a reason you are the only one. Pack up and run. At least the drive there was scenic and we saw ‘moose on the road’.
We continued north on Hwy 1 for another overnighter in Tok, a major crossroad in central Alaska. Dave had already stayed in Tok on his way to Fairbanks, earlier this month (see Vol 5). Some claim that Tok’s name came from the native word meaning ‘peace crossing’. Others say Tok was the name of a survey crew’s dog. A center for dog breeding, training, and mushing; Tok claims the title “Dog Capital of Alaska”.
Something we forgot to mention in our past blog volumes is the Fireweed that grows all over Alaska. Fireweed is a flowering plant or weed that has a bright pink flower that grows in cleared spaces in the mountains and elsewhere. It does not like the shade and therefore will not grow in the forests, unless there is a fire. Then it is the first thing that springs up in open spaces right after a fire. It dies when the frost comes, then grows again in the Spring. This plant is also seen in Canada and in other states, but it is very prominent in Alaska. It is everywhere….which also shows you how often there are fires in Alaska. It really adds to the beautiful landscapes you see all over this state.
On our last day in Alaska we traveled north on the “Top of the World” highway to Chicken, so named because the miners who lived there couldn’t pronounce the original name of the mining camp, “Ptarmigan” (the Alaska state bird). “Highway” is a really a misnomer because most of the 60 miles from Tok to Chicken is somewhat paved, but mostly gravel with wall to wall potholes. It was slow going but a very scenic drive.
<=Click on this picture to enlarge for easier reading. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx We spent about an hour in Chicken taking pictures, having a very nice lunch and visited the Chicken Pooper.
From Chicken to the Canadian border; the next 40 miles of road is even worse. The road is dirt instead of gravel, and even more potholes. Remember, we are towing our 26 foot trailer on this road. Actually, the few other travelers we saw on this road were also pulling trailers. The road is really at the top of the world, it feels like you can see all the way north past the Arctic Circle and south to the US. The country is tundra, very few trees, lots of flowers and fall color. At the border and into the Yukon the road improves to asphalt but has just as many potholes for another 60 miles into Dawson City, Yukon.
See the Fireweed?The weird part was seeing the US/Canada Border checkpoint set up on this dirt road “on top of the world”.
We said good-bye to Alaska. We are now headed south to ‘home’. But we will spend the next three weeks exploring the Yukon, Eastern British Columbia, a little bit of Alberta (Jasper National Park) and of course Washington and Oregon before heading to California.
Stay tuned for Vol 7 – Back to the Yukon.
