Anchorage - Week 14

June 23^rd – June 28^th 2014

WRITTEN AND POSTED ON OUR LAST DAY IN ALASKA.

OUR LAST WEEK IN ALASKA.

SUNDAY (29^th) WE START OUR TRIP HOME.

Monday: return from Homer, half of our visitors leaving for Michigan (via Phoenix).

Tuesday: downtown, Ulu factory, Thunderbird Falls, Moose's Tooth Pizza, the rest of our visitors leaving for Michigan (via Seattle and Minneapolis).

Wednesday: Rainy, cloudy, and gray. Some more sorting, packing, cleaning, and planning. Well, we had to clean after our family left and the landlord was showing the place to some other people as well. Few phone calls about J.'s job options. Hospital, town, store, home. Really not much – the rain was annoying. Relaxed afternoon. J. went out to meet some friends from work – time to say good bye. Fare well. Auf wiedersehen.

Thursday: More rain. Pretty much nothing – some errands and getting ready for our departure.

Friday: Somewhat cloudy and gray but not really raining (great). Some phone calls and other “monkey business” for J.'s Michigan job (she will be driving to Ann Arbor). Breakfast. Final decision to spend some more money on the train ride to the glacier (the train is called Glacier explorer). Drive to Portage (an hour). Train tickets. Wait some. 1.25 – 5.15: train trip. About 20 minutes ride through really nice country, Whistle stop: walk towards the lake with the glacier. Six more people and the ranger. Incredible view of the lake with huge chunks of ice and the glacier in the back. Decent weather. Walk back. Drive back. To pack between the seats in the car.

Saturday: OUR LAST DAY IN ALASKA. Georges weather (sunny and warm). Breakfast with J.'s friend K (really nice person). Native Heritage Center – some presentation about lands and people. Presentation of native sports (kicking ball, jumping, etc.). It was quite remarkable. Small exhibit hall with few artifacts and bunch of information about people and their history. The loop outside presenting six dwellings of native people (some of them had guides in them – the same young people who were showing different sports – very versatile people. Really nice day. More cleaning and packing. We still have to cancel and return internet (modem). Finish as much packing as possible and leave at about 8:01 am. It is really happening. It was really nice end of our adventure in Alaska.

Homer

Homer

Saturday June 21^st – Monday June 23^rd 2014

Three days. Seven people. Two cars. 225 miles = 4 ½ hours. Weather: mixed, unreliable, and goofy. Wildlife Conservation Center near Portage Valley (nice surroundings, bunch of baby animals, bears). Several small stops. One car lost – stayed on the road to Seward for few miles. Soldotna – visitor center and quick walk to the Kenai river. Many people fishing – no fish seen. Slow drive. Homer – dinner – house: 8:17 pm. Sunday: two groups. Sleeping in, winery, town shopping, relaxing. Charter boat: fishing (5:00 am – 9:00 pm = 16 hours on a small boat). Fishing: legal limit of king salmon, halibut, and rock fish. Nice scenery, calm ocean, wildlife (whales, sea otters, jumping salmon fish, eagles). Seldovia (across the bay from Homer) – evening stop for fish cleaning. Monday – slow start. Rain. Sun. Rain. Sun. Etc. Oceans and Lands visitor center. Breakfast in Homer. Few stops along the way – slower drive. Anchorage – dinner – house: 9:31 pm. Half of the visiting party leaving Alaska at 1:40 am. Good visit.

Anchorage - Week 13

June 16^th – June 22^nd 2014

Monday, work day, prepare for family arrival.

Tuesday, work day – LAST DAY OF WORK, pick up family, the city, Ulu factory, Ship Creek (salmon fishing), dinner.

Wednesday, switch day, we left for Eagle River nature center. Road construction. WE SAW A BEAR running across the road (my third bear). Young moose standing by the parking lot. 3 mile loop – nice view, good weather, pretty pleasant. BBQ lunch. Home. Slow and quiet and lazy couple hours. Some monkey business in the evening.

Thursday, family day. Portage Glacier Lake – visitor center, hike (1.6 mile) to one of the glaciers – nice. Good weather. Girdwood – lunch (good one). Slow drive back home. Detour to Flattop Mountain trail head: great views of Anchorage. Back home. Get rental car and the rest of the family, quiet evening.

Saturday + Sunday: Homer (whole family). Described above (or coming) – depending when you read this.

Anchorage - Week 12

June 9^th – June 15^th 2014

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – work and switch days, nothing special. Weather kind of gray, sad, rainy, cloudy, and moody. Some errands, small car repair, bookstore, walk, school work done for our trip home, packing, planning, and some doing nothing. Getting close to our departure day. On Thursday we did (second try) our Kenai Fjords National Park cruise (described below). It was really great experience. http://www.nps.gov/kefj/index.htm Friday the 13^th (June, 2014). Nothing horrible or scary really happened. The work on the car was done. I dropped the car on the rainy morning (8:00 am) and walked home (about 2.5 miles). In small wooded area between the hospital and college campuses there was pile of crap – it was very likely left by a bear. Crossing the UAA campus I found a temporary sign informing about “bear sighting” in the area. J. actually got work email saying that there was bear sighting near the hospital. We also saw on the television news that in the middle of the day the bear with two cubs was seen crossing busy street. We want to see a real bear but it looks like we are just being teased. About noon I went to pick the car up (there is a picture that has J.'s description of the events written down) and asked J. to come with me – she did not want to. I crossed one of the busy roads (Northern Lights Boulevard from Bragaw street) and saw a bear by the garbage bin about twenty yards from me. If I would not pay attention I would almost walk into him. After few seconds I called J. to tell her about that. For few minutes (standing back) I was watching the bear walking around, digging in the garbage and then slowly leaving into the park. I SAW A REAL BEAR (and I was really close)!!! We can go home now, I saw a bear. The rest of the day was fine, relaxed, and peaceful. Saturday and Sunday: not much. J. has her last 4 days of work, her family is already in Alaska (still enjoying the cruise itinerary), and we are slowly packing and getting ready to leave. Weather is a bit strange: clouds,rain, sun, one never knows how it is going to look like in few hours. Life is good.

SOME INFORMATION FROM ALASKA'S DNR ABOUT LIVING WITH BEARS:

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=livingwithbears.main

THIS IS AN EMAIL J. GOT AT WORK (ABOUT BEAR SIGHTING):

From: E-Mail BulletinsSent: Monday, June 09, 2014 11:52 AMTo: _ANMC HospitalSubject: Bear Sighting on Campus - Monday 6/9Please be bear aware around campus

A black bear with two cubs was recently spotted on the ANMC campus behind the Inuit going toward University Lake.  Please do not approach the bears and exercise caution when traveling on foot or bike around campus.

If you see a bear on or around campus, please contact ANMC Security at x2915. They will report the sighting to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

According to the Department of Fish and Game, black bears do not pose a huge threat to humans but here are a few safety tips:
Do not run from the bear, stand your ground, wave your arms and talk sternly (not yelling). Bears are predators and a running object indicates a food source.

• Give the animal plenty of room. Do not try to follow, corral or corner the animal.

If the animal returns, contact Fish and Game (267-2185) during weekdays or Alaska State Trooper dispatch on weekends (907-352-5401). The quicker the call is initiated the better chance they have at locating it.

More useful information can be found at the Department of Fish and Game website: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=livingwithbears.main. 

Kenai Fjords N.P.

KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK

Thursday June 12^th 2014

Less than two weeks ago we had to reschedule the cruise to Kenai Fjords (it was raining, the sea was wild and there was a chance the captain could turn the boat around). It was about 123 miles one way but … what the hell. It is really nice drive there, it is the same drive back but that drive is just long and tedious. Partly cloudy morning, it was possible the day could go either way. We left at 8:20 am and were heading to Seward (fifth or sixth time on this road). More traffic. Nothing really special – same drive, pretty but we saw all this several times. 123 miles and almost 2 hours and 30 minutes. Some drizzle along the way but it never (luckily) lasted. Seward. Parked. Walked to the tour office/store to check in. Almost 11:00 am (time to start boarding). Two story boat, top was already occupied. Stayed on the main level by the windows. And … wait, wait, and wait (till departure of 11:30 am). I saw some small fishes. Weather stayed more less the same – overcast, no rain, no sun. Small lunch. Narration from the captain – informative, nice, and good. Relatively smooth sea – there were some bumps but nothing really bad. Apparently we went out of the way to see some Orca whales. We were quite close and it was really incredible to watch those animals swim along the way.

Wildlife seen:

Stellar Sea Lion

Sea Otter

Harbor Seal

Dall's Porpoise

Humpback Whale

Orca Whale

Fin Whale

Bald Eagle

Common Murre

Horned Puffin

Tufted Puffin

Dall Sheep

It was a lot of going in and out of the cabin. It was windy and cold outside. At one point the boat was surrounded by bunch of Dall's Porpoises and they were playing in the boat's waves. It was really great. The captain was saying that it was great weather for the wildlife viewing and she was right. Apparently we saw a lot of animals. Some glaciers along the way. Well, again it is hard to describe the whole trip without actually experiencing it. The mountains around us were mostly visible, even though there was fog and clouds. The boat slowed or even stopped to watch the animals. Aialik Bay with Aialik glacier was the aim of our cruise. Our boat was named Aialik Voyager. More glaciers along the bay, some more animals, and calmer sea. At the end of the bay was huge blue glacier, bunch of ice pieces in the ocean – hitting the boat, and also bunch of animals – mostly in the distance. There was one seal sleeping on the ice and floating in the sea. The boat stayed next to the glacier for quite a while (almost half an hour). We even saw several pieces of glacier to fall down into the ocean – it is apparently called glacier calving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_calving It was really great. The ride back was more laid back and there was plenty of people who fell asleep or were taking quick naps (I think I fell asleep for a minute or two as well). We saw some more animals and even stopped for Fin Whale – apparently those are quite rare to see. Some islands with tons and tons of birds – it was pretty cool. Some more whales, birds, and even some bald eagles – the captain was saying that it was like National Geographic. The islands were nice and green, and on one of them we even saw two dall sheep. One of those islands had some structures on the top – second war military post. Back in Seward. We just drove home. We were quite tired – we did not do nothing but we were so tired. As I said before, the landscape is really pretty but to see it again during the same day – quite hard to be really excited about it. After arriving to Anchorage we stopped by BBQ place for late dinner. J. got (they did not do it right first time) big container of fried pickles. I had half slab of baby back ribs – coleslaw was subpar, cornbread really good, and ribs were really great. It was good day with good end.

Anchorage - Week 11

June 2^nd – June 8^th 2014

Monday and Tuesday were normal, gray, uneventful, same, and work days for J. Our time in Alaska is rapidly approaching its end. It is somewhat strange – within a month or so we will be back home trying to settle. Strange. J. was asked about extending the contract (not really possible for us at this time). Our trip home is planned and ready. In few weeks we will also get a visit from J.'s family – that will be quite interesting. Life goes on. On Wednesday, J. had her switch day – we decided to drive up to Denali that day. Normal good looking morning, get ready, J. was up by 11:30 am and we left by 12:21 pm. Sunny day with mostly blue sky – great. We already drove on this road (few times, actually) so it was not really new. There was difference of “the season” - it was mostly green with some flowers – quite different from the first time when it was all gray and boring. Few stops along the way, Denali State Park – South View Point (really great views of Denali – weather permitting). Pretty nice weather = pretty nice views. Otherwise just driving. Parked outside Talkeetna (half way between Anchorage and Denali) J. called flight seeing company to reserve the flight (on special with glacier landing). Either morning or afternoon (we went for morning). Driving and thinking about it (Talkeetna is about three hours from the motel) we realized that 8:30 am was perhaps too ambitious – we called back and changed it for the evening. Drive by the Denali Park entrance, small Denali village (the sad one) and get to Healy to our motel. Both tired – quiet evening with bunch of daylight.

Thursday morning – cloudy, gray, rainy. Excellent day for a bus trip into Denali National Park and Preserve. Our purchased tickets were for 9:00 am bus departure. The park is closed for private vehicles, there are tour buses (go in, see, go out on the same bus) and there are shuttle buses (buy ticket, go in, get out and see, get on another bus … and get out). We had shuttle bus tickets. Old school bus. Rain. Very few animals. Funny and strange comments from the bus driver (they do not narrate the ride). Greener then on our first visit but unfortunately not that much. Spring is still trying to come into the park. Some other people from Michigan. It took about 3 hours and 40 minutes to get to Eielson Visitor Center (mile 66 – from the park entrance). Rain. Great views of Denali Mountain – weather permitting – this time we saw only clouds and fog. Sad. It was interesting experience but (partly because of weather) we were quite disappointed. Some funny comments from the driver (unintentional humor) – there were bear droppings on the road (that was the closest we got to seeing a bear on this trip). We stayed on the same bus because there was not much we wanted to do – weather was horrible for walking around. Again: sad. 5:00 pm we arrived back to the visitor center. We heard some people talking about seeing bears, some even said they saw bears in the middle of the road (probably those that left the droppings for us). It is very different experience and I have to say that it was not our cup of coffee, sadly (we were still glad we did it, it was somewhat interesting). We drove to Denali village and had fish tacos and fish and chips for dinner (very good). End of the day – kind of tired and worn out. Friday – we had our flight seeing tour at 5:00 pm (it was about three hours drive from our motel). Plenty of time, slow morning, drive to Denali – we almost missed the bus to sled dogs kennel for the demonstration. Bunch of dogs, some in cages and some next to their dog houses (on chains) – just being lazy because they do not like the heat (sun and 60 degrees). Walk around, pet some dogs, listen to some of the staff (they retire the dogs at the age of 8 – 9 and people can adopt them, there can be apparently up to 100 people listed for one dog). Listen to the ranger talk about Denali, dogs, and traditions. See dogs lined up to the sled and run small circle – pretty cool. A bit more walking around, pictures, and bus back. Slow drive south. Again few stops along the way. Few clouds but mostly sunny and very pleasant (where was this day yesterday???). Byers Lake (in the Denali State Park). Guy with two lake trouts. About 3 miles walk mostly along the lake. Really pleasant and peaceful place. Denali South View Point (I guess our last time). Drive to Talkeetna. Some extra time so we drove through “the town” (apparently the real Alaska) – many more people = tourist, still sad and kind of strange. Airport and Denali flight (described below). We were done at about 7:20 pm and drove home (about two hours). Long day. Saturday – day off – pretty much nothing (it is nice to do that sometimes). Sunday – J. was switching for the work so she stayed up and slept through the day (cloudy, mostly). Another week gone...

Denali - Flight

DENALI FLIGHT

Friday, June 6^th 2014

Talkeetna. We got to the airport. We paid almost 480 dollars for an hour long flight with landing on the glacier (it was special discount price). We were told to wait on the back porch. We got glacier shoes. Bunch of other people. Nice and sunny. As we waited (about 25 minutes) there was about 7 other planes taking off (two different companies) and several landed. Busy. Quite small planes. We were last left on the porch with some typical (couple with two children) family from Miami. Small plane (the picture above). We got in (six people plus pilot) and it was full plane. I ended up sitting next to the pilot – it looked pretty easy to fly that thing (it looked that way but I am pretty sure it is not). I was somewhat uncomfortable (for about ten minutes) as the plane was shaking and so on. We reached about 6500 feet elevation. The top speed (made in Canadian Beemer plane – no idea how it is spelled) was about 105 miles per hour. We saw Denali Mountain from distance (some clouds around). Incredible view of the landscape (rivers, mountains, road, train track). It was awesome. We got into the mountains, had a look at Denali (for picture taking) and flu between the mountains (above the glacier). We got to about 5700 feet elevation and the plane actually landed (on skies) on the glacier (cover with a lot of snow). There was a “landing strip” marked. On one of the close by mountains was a small cabin – apparently possible to rent and stay there. Denali not visible – too cloudy. Standing on snow, mountains around, small plane – at least for me it was the least exciting part of the flight. Flying back – same amazing views, another look at Denali, boats on one of the rivers, train going to Talkeetna. Approaching airport and landing. That was well worth it and amazing.