Anchorage

July 10th to July 16th

Thursday, July 10th - Seward to Homer

After our time in Seward and a lack of shower facilities, we spent the day doing laundry, showering and cleaning up. We are staying at Ship Creek RV Park right in downtown Anchorage. We are only 0.5 miles from Ship Creek which is full of Salmon. We headed out in the early evening to look for Salmon, we stopped at the Ulu Factory and bought a Ulu (a curved knife used by the Athabascans) which is amazing. We then went to the 49th Street Brewery to listen to music and have a beer. It was a nice day.

Friday, July 11th - Goodbyes, Golf, and Boar Tides

We started the day by stopping of to say Hello and Good Bye to Caitlin McGinn - one of Jessie’s besties. We had plans for a few days with her, but she got a new job in Provo, Utah flying for Alpine Air - yeah for her :). We then came back to camp, organized and sent a box of goodies home (including our beaver pelt that we can’t take into Canada and lots of goodies for Lucy). We then went golfing at the Anchorage Country Club. It was a beautiful course with the hardest greens ever. We were paired up with a nice couple named Steve and Jackie who are Alaskan Natives and live in Wasilla. We had a great time, even though the scores were not good. We ended the day by heading down to Buluga Bay to watch the Boar Tides. This is when the tide comes into a small area and you get a crazy amount of waves. When they are really big people surf. They weren’t big, but we did see the tide rise over 3 feet in less than 30 minutes and the waves were crazy! It was pretty cold too as we sat on the rock in the rain.

We ended the night by staying up late waiting for Jessie. Her flight was about an hour and a half late and she got in around midnight. We will be a cozy bunch, but it will be a fun four days!

Saturday, July 12th - Zombie Apocolopyse, Glenallen, Kevin & Abby’s Cabin!

We headed off to South fo Glenallen to Abby and Kevin’s Cabin. It was a beautiful drive and we left the Jeep at home. Jessie kept saying we were in the Zombie Apocolpyse as there were so many businesses that didn’t make it and were just abandoned end. The drive was beautful!

We made it to Kevin and Abby’s cabin and helped them by putting in all of their windows for them. Mike made Arctic Grayling for dinner and we had salad and potatoes. We ended the night with a night cap in the top of the cabin! It was a fabulous day and we were so happy to help them.

Sunday, July 13th - Thompson Pass, Waterfalls and Valdez

We were blessed with a blue bird day. We left Abby and Kevin’s after a hearty pancake and bacon breakfast and headed to Worthington Glacier. K & A told us we could go and touch the glacier, but of course that meant going off hte marked trail. We headed up the trail and made it very close and I had to tap out. Mike stayed with me and Jess forged ahead - she got to the glacier and touched it - it was quite the scramble but she did great. We then headed down the glacier melt to the lake and stuck our feet in the lake - brrr it was like needles.

We left Worthington Glacier and headed up to Thompson Pass. This is the spot where the famous back country skiers heli-ski. We sang “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music” several times and had a snow ball fight. The mountains and high alpine fields were beautiful. It was just so massive and beautiful and pictures will never do it justice.

We even had a snowball fight!

We then headed down the mountain toward Valdez and hit the abandoned train tunnel and Bridal Falls. The train tunnel was the sight of a big gun fight over ownership of the tunnel which was the only access from Valdez to the gold fields in the Yukon. In the end no one finished the tunnel as the pack trail was created. We moved onto Bridal Falls and at one time we could see five waterfalls at once. We enjoyed a great lunch and headed off for a hike. We had been hiking all this time with no Bear Spray or poles. This time we had both and it was the easiest hike we hade ever done. We hiked along the old pack trail to across from the water fall.

We finally reached Valdez and were blown away with the beauty of the town and the harbor. We got a great camping site, went to the harbor, hit the brewery, an outdoor store and had dinner at hte Fat Mermaid. It was a fabulous day.

Monday, July 14th - Long Drive Home from Valdez & Jessie’s Friends

We headed back to Anchorage on our 300 mile trek. On our way back we stopped at a wayside to buy a Burrel Bowl. Burrell are large knots that occur on Aspen and Birch. This man was selling these bowls on the side of the road. I was driving so of course we turned around and I purchased a bowl - sketchy but amazing! We got back and set up camp. We ended the day by meeting all of Jessie’s friends (Conner and Maddie McCaren, Abby and Kevin Fox, Kit and Ayshia). It was a great dinner and the kids went out after! It was so fun we don’t even have any pictures.

Tuesday, July 15th - Gold Panning, Alyeska Ski Resort, Golf at Moose Creek and Moose Steaks

Tuesday was a massively busy day! We began the day with an early departure to Girdwood (about 40 min south of Anchorage). We went to Crow Creek Mine Camp. It is a historical camp where we could see the actual building form the late 1800’s then go gold panning in the creek. We all found gold in the sack was that guaranteed gold. Mike then found 8 pieces in the creek and I found one. Jessie found none. We decided Mike is just more patient and the girls :). It was so fun and we all could see how’s you could totally get caught up in it.

While leaving hte gold mine I came across this view - I think it is just gorgeous.

We then headed othe Alyeska Ski Resort. We rode the tram to the top of hte mountain and it is so steep. Mike and I decided we could maybe do the green. Jess and Haydn could probably do the blue. It is so steep and they do avalanche mitigation all the time.

Back to camp and we went fo an early evening round of golf at the Moose Creek Gold Course. This a golf course at the JBER base which is a joint base in Anchorage. the course was amazing and so extremely difficult. We lost at least 9 balls between the three of us. We ended our time with Jess by having delicious Moose stakes compliments of Kevin!

It was a busy day but a super day!

We were so blessed to have Jess with us for a few days!

Off to Barrow tomorrow.