Last day in Alaska

Saturday was our last day in Alaska so after yet another breakfast of champions we headed out to downtown Anchorage for the shopping.  You can't do a trip like this and not go home with Ulu knives, hats, t shirts, sweatshirts, and many other Alaskan treasures.

After our shopping Mike, Paul, and Sue headed out for some hiking to the top of Bear Mountain.  This was no walk in the park.  There was lots of climbing:  2 hours, 15 minutes up; and one and a half hours down, with a 15 minute rest on top for hydration and pictures.  There was a variety of terrain, some wet and muddy, some steep and rocky, and everything in between.  It was all worth it when we got to the top and saw the view.  The picture just doesn't do it justice.  It was breathtaking.

At the top of Bear Mountain we found a pile of rocks and assumed that when you reach the top you add your own rock to the pile, and we did that.  Then we found a tin box tucked into the side of the rock pile.  It had a notation on it that it held the cremated remains of a man that was placed there in 2001.  Hmmmm.....shades of the Bucket List.

We headed down the mountain, sliding, running, skidding, and hoping for the best at times.  We got to the bottom and what a great feeling it was to take off those hiking boots!

We went back to Mabel and Steve's for our last dinner of fresh seafood from our fishing trip.  John cooked his own halibut catch, deep fried in beer batter.  The shrimp was grilled.  We were all in seafood heaven, even Mike agreed that the halibut didn't taste like fish.  We feasted on it until we couldn't eat anymore.

And that's the way to fully enjoy an Alaskan vacation.

We are back home, dead tired from an overnight flight, and a 4 hour drive from O'Hare.  But we are full of the memories of family and friends, sights and experiences that seem foreign to us at home, the taste of seafood that can't get any fresher, and exhilarating panoramic views.  And as we drive down our rural roads here we can't help but keep an eye out for moose alongside the road.

                                                  

Back from Denali

Another night at the Grande Denali Lodge after our bus tour yesterday and we were back in the motor home today to head back to Chugiak for one last night at Steve and Mabel's.  We turned in the motor home and moved back into Flodin's Bed & Breakfast.


We took our hosts to dinner at Club Paris, a phenomenal place in Anchorage that specializes in steaks.  Our meals were delicious, and Mike in particular was happy to have a meal that did not include seafood.  (He is not a lover of anything edible from the sea.)  The dinner was small payment for our hosts feeding us and hauling us around while we were in between side trips.


So the guys must have been rather disappointed that they were not with the girls when we visited Knight's Taxidermy because they went there late this afternoon.  I think they really enjoyed it.  Of course Tina was willing to pose again for more tourists.

Tomorrow is a shopping day at the Anchorage Saturday Market where vendors set up booths and the city comes alive with shopping.  We will have the chance to make some last minute purchases from this great state.  Some of us plan to do some hiking on Bear Mountain in the afternoon.

It feels pretty good to relax and wind down tonight.  The cribbage games are ongoing, and our feet are up on the recliners.  It has been a long fun week.

 Tomorrow night our dinner will be fresh halibut and shrimp from our fishing trip with Steve and Mabel.  It will be our last meal of the freshest seafood ever.  Then we will head for the airport at about 9 pm for our 11:25 pm overnight flight to Chicago, landing at 8:30 am Sunday.   Yawn.......

Denali

Today was our bus tour through Denali National Part.  We got the latest tour out at 7:30 am.  Last night we ordered our boxed lunches for the 8 1/2 hour bus tour.  There were some bathroom stops but other than that we were on a school bus for a long time.

Our driver narrated as we went and he was quite informed about the park.  We did not see a lot of animals but the few that we did see were pretty much off in the distance requiring a good set of binoculars and some sharp eyes.  We saw a few caribou, a fox, a coyote, some gulls, a pica, some Dall sheep and a bear.

It was a beautiful sunny warm day and the best part was that we saw Mt. McKinley clear and free of any clouds.  This is a rarity.  One of the drivers said that in his six and a half years driving it is the clearest he has ever seen.  It is a majestic mountain. 

Tonight we will eat, drink, relax, and get ready to head back to Steve and Mabel's tomorrow.  We turn in our motor home tomorrow afternoon, then take our Bed and Breakfast host out for dinner.  Saturday is our last day here and we will go the the Anchorage market for shopping during the day.  We leave for home Saturday night.

We are all wishing we could see the Northern  Lights but not happening in the summer with the midnight sun.  We may have to come back in the fall or winter, or just find some pictures of them.

Fishing on Prince William sound

WOW!  What a day!  Yesterday we got up at 4:45 am, got fed by our wonderful hosts, Mabel and Steve, and headed south to Whittier to take out their boat for a day of fishing and shrimping.  Again, a very picturesque drive for 1 1/2 hours to Whittier, where you have to time your drive to coincide with times that the tunnel is open.

Whittier used to be a town that was only accessible by boat, plane, or train.  The train tracks go through a mountain for a couple of miles and just in the last few years the tracks have been adapted to have vehicles travel on it also.  However, it is only one lane and only opens to the town every half hour.  It is only open leaving town once every hour, unless there is a train, then the train has the right of way anytime.

We  got there and loaded up their boat, Amadeus, and headed out to Prince William Sound.  The day was sunny and windy and as warm as it probably gets on the water.  We set the five shrimp pots and headed out to 500 feet depth to fish for halibut.  John was the one who got a halibut, even though there were a lot of bites all around.  We headed back to the shrimp pots and got a pretty good catch for the day, about 70 huge shrimp.  We sat and snapped the heads off and cleaned them. 

Steve and Mabel are quite at home on the boat fishing and shrimping.  The whole operation ran very smoothly as the Captain and First Mate worked tirelessly.  We just tried to stay out of the way for the most part when the shrimp pots were being hauled in.   Mabel donned her rubber pants to work in and we were quite impressed with all she did as the first mate.  Our captain was phenomenal also.  During the rest of the time we sat around on the deck chairs with the cooler nearby as Steve took Mabel aside and hosed her down after her work was done.

We headed back to the boat slip and unloaded.  Steve cleaned the halibut, we ate at a seafood cafe and headed home to the Flodin Bed and Breakfast.  We got there and immediately went to bed sometime after midnight, all of us dead tired.

This morning the girls headed out to shop for a couple hours with Mabel while the guys stayed at the B & B and readied the motor home for the trip to Denali National Park.  Mary refrained from buying yet another new hat, but we did try some on.

One of our first stops was Knight's Taxidermy, sight of the TV series "Mounted In Alaska".  We had a picture taken with Tina who greeted us, then wandered into the back room where the action was.  The guys looked up and said "Look. they are here!"  We thought someone was behind us, but they were more clear, "The tourists are here!"  The guys were very friendly and joking with us, even let us do some stitching on an elk.  How would you like to pay to have your elk mounted professionally and have some tourist working on it?  Anyway it was a very fun stop, the shop is unbelievable and they were as fun as on TV.

A few more gift shops to buy trinkets and we went to grab the guys and head for Denali.  We headed out of town for a 4-5 hour drive (our main driver, John, is doing an awesome job as our motor home driver!)  The drive was picturesque and we saw Mt. McKinley in various locations.  Our hotel is located on the face of a bluff near Denali National Park, actually on the face of the mountain.  The view is not for the faint of heart.  (me)

Tomorrow will be the bus tour through Denali National Park.  Tonight was a great view of Mt. McKinley!  Bring out the bears!

Wasilla

Today we were in Wasilla.   There was a parade in town and lots of 4th of July stuff going on so we did not hit too many shops there.  Sarah P was nowhere to be seen so we took off to explore.

We knew that the Alaska Distillery was in Wasilla.  Mabel had sent us some salmon flavored vodka last year, and we knew there were some other flavors we wanted to check out.   We never found the distillery but found a store where we could buy other flavors.  We bought blackberry, blueberry, and rhubarb vodka to take home.  Then we stopped at a local bar that promoted the Alaska Distillery products.  There we had some rhubarb vodka on the rocks with a splash of cranberry juice which was excellent.  We also tried the birch flavored vodka straight  on the rocks which was very smooth.

After this it was time to head back to Chugiak.  We visited Paul's nephew Ron Flodin, his wife Hanna, and their girls Emalie and Laura.  Then it was time to visit Paul's other nephew Dan Flodin, his wife Debbie, and their children, Noelle, Ryan, and Alyssa.  They had us for a 4th of July barbeque with some other family members.  It was great to see family that we haven't seen in years, and even more fun to finally meet their children that have arrived since we last saw them.

After a delicious meal and lots of family visiting, we headed back to Steve and Mabel's to get ready to go out on their boat tomorrow.  The plan is to drive to Whittier where their boat is on Prince William Sound.  Shrimp pots will be dropped and then we will head out to catch halibut and salmon.  We will hopefully pick up some large shrimp on the way back in.  Hoping for great weather and lots of seafood!

Eating whale

At the Redington's house before we left we were treated to a snack of whale, harpooned by an Alaska native at Whale Fest.  The picture shows some pieces with the thick black skin attached to the blubber.  The pink is the actual whale blubber.  It is very oily and is apparently very healthy to eat.  Not sure I could have a steady diet of it, but apparently the Natives thrive on it.

We stayed at the Wasilla Best Western hotel on Lake Lucille - just two doors down from Sarah Palin's house.  We have looked and looked but we cannot see Russia from here.
Today will be a liesurely day as we will hit some shops and see what Wasilla has to offer.  Then it will be off to Paul's nephew Dan Flodin and his family's home for a 4th of July BBQ this afternoon.

Saturday July 2

 

On Friday we picked up our motor home rental and headed for south for Seward.  This has to be one of the most picturesque drives anywhere.  There were lots of scenic turnouts for photo ops, beautiful mountains on one side and the Turnagain Arm waters on the other side.  We looked for Dall sheep, eagles, and moose.

Upon our arrival in Seward we found it quite populated for the 4^th of July weekend with many campers, tents, and motor homes.  The 4^th of July is the annual race up Mt. Marathon.  This is a very steep mountain right in Seward and is the 2^nd oldest foot race in the world after the Boston Marathon.  The trek up looks pretty rugged but nothing compared to the very steep way down.  Too bad we will be gone by race day.  It is said that racers are usually quite banged up, scratched, and covered with mud from sliding much of the way down.  The town is pretty crazy right now.  I don’t think these racers are the fitness people but more of the wild and crazy genre.

We dined at Ray’s Waterfront and had spectacular fresh Alaskan seafood once again.  Later we sat on the waterfront and watched a sea otter dive for food, then come to the surface and eat.  He kept us entertained for a long time.  

Finally we all agreed it was bedtime even though it was still as light as it was at noon time.  This “midnight sun” thing is a very difficult concept to live with.  It is hard to go to bed when the sun is shining – we just aren’t programmed to do that.

Saturday we arrived at the Kenai Fjords dock for our cruise – 8 ½ hours on the boat seeing all kinds of wild life:  we saw sea lions, otters, seals, puffins, eagles, dolphins, LOTS of whales, and spent time at Aialik Glacier watching it calve (parts of the glacier face break off and fall into the water).  The whales are very entertaining – they seem to know they are being watched and put on a great show.

The cruise culminated with a stop at Fox Island for a dinner of fresh salmon, King crab legs, and prime rib.  We all agreed this was a phenomenal trip.  Everyone was tired after a long day on the water.  It will be impossible to show anyone all the pictures we took.

Finding internet to post the blog is not quite as easy up here.  Wireless internet is not as convenient as going to the coffee shop, even cell phone reception is very spotty.

Sunday July 3

Today we got up and had our breakfast of bagels, cereal, juice and bananas.  We  checked out of Harborview Inn in Seward and started on our way north to Wasilla.  

As we were driving we saw a moose running alongside the road right next to us!  Took a lot of pictures of him as he left the roadway, jumped into the river and continued running on the other side.  We were up close and personal to a very large animal!

Just out of Seward we stopped at Exit Glacier and did some gentle hiking to the Glacier.  On the way down we stopped at the riverbed of the water melting off the glacier.  Mike and I took our shoes off and stepped into the icy waters – colder than Lake Superior!

When we got to Wasilla we went to the Iditarod Headquarters as the entire Flodin family has been involved in the Iditarod for years.  We got cart rides through the woods behind a team of dogs, and then went inside the headquarters to learn lots about the Iditarod and see many of the trophies and bios of the mushers.

After that we were invited to Paul's niece and goddaughter Julia and her husband Ray Redington's home in Wasilla for a delicious dinner of Moose stew with snacks of moose sausage.  They have approximately 50 sled dogs and 9 puppies, and two small children, Isaac and Ellen.  They breed, train, sell, lease, and race the dogs.  Julia and Ray met in the Jr. Iditarod, and Ray races every year in the Iditarod, finishing 7th this past spring.

 Be sure to follow the Iditarod next year!

We are in ALASKA!

OK so we were supposed to leave for O'hare Thursday morning for a liesurely drive to Chicago for an evening flight nonstop to Anchorage.  Found out late Wednesday that our flight had changed and Orbitz hadn't bothered to notify us.  It was a mad scramble to finish packing and get up at 2 am to leave to catch our 9:40 am flight from Chicago to Anchorage.

Other than not much sleep our flight was uneventful and only about 6 hours.  We arrived in Anchorage to a partly cloudy 68 degrees, and were greeted by Paul's sister Mabel and her husband Steve with two large vehicles to haul us and our luggage.  Stopped for lunch at the Sourdough Mining Company and visited out first gift shop here.  We saw the world's largest chocolate fountain and Mary bought a new hat.

We saw some sights and drove to Flattop Mountain for a fabulous view of the Anchorage area and surrounding mountains.  We did not hike to the top today.  Drove through Anchorage and went past the Great Alaskan Bush Company and Mike has vowed to make that a stop later in the week.

We got back to the Flodin's house and Mabel and Steve grilled our dinner:  the largest fresh shrimp we have ever seen and fresh red salmon.  Great Alaska seafood!

After a great night's sleep we are ready to hit the road today to pick up the Motor Home and head for Seward.  This morning's weather is cloudy and 53 degrees but going up to mid 60's.  Our bed and breakfast hosts are preparing a great breakfast to send us off.  It doesn't get any better than this.  Our hosts: