Stan Stephens Cruise to the Columbia Glacier

Well our last hurrah in Alaska was taking a cruise to the Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound. Even though the day was a bit overcast and rainy at times, we had a great time. The views of the Glacier and ice fields were amazing....we even saw some wildlife! Unfortunately both our phone batteries died on us at the same time, so we were not able to get too many wildlife pictures. But the pictures of the Glacier are incredible. For those of you who are saying, "Gee, I think I have heard of Valdez, Alaska but can't remember why".....does the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 ring any bells? Yes, indeedy.....we passed by where the accident happened off of Bligh Island (this island was named after Captain Bligh...of Mutiny on the Bounty) Another tidbit of information is that the 800 miles of Alaskan Pipeline ends in Valdez and this a picture of the terminal.

Alaska is happy to report that the beauty of the Sound, its wilderness quality with the glaciers, high mountains, lush forests, thousands of bays and many islands is almost back to normal....however complete recovery is a natural process at this point which will take years.

The boat we were on was only a year old...it was luxurious. It made the six and half hour cruise delightful complete with comfortable chairs, a dining table, lunch and beverages. A Korean couple joined us and even though we could not communicate with words, we made ourselves understood....they even had me try their Korean Noodle Soup. I even tried eating it with chopsticks... Here is a picture of our traveling companions!

We happened to have seen more wildlife on this tour compared to the rest of our time in Alaska....we saw harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions, a humpback whale, a bald eagle, mountain goats, and puffins.

I was disappointed with so few wildlife pictures but don't worry...here are those amazing pictures of the Glacier and ice fields!

After the cruise, we went back to the Motorhome where I prepared our first salmon dinner compliments of Fisherman Lee. It was a pink salmon fillet and it was delicious...what a wonderful way to end our Alaskan Adventure!

Now we are ready to go home!!!! I wonder what our next adventure will be????

Welcome to Valdez

We had a lovely ride to Valdez yesterday..we had great views of the Worthington Glacier...according to state rangers, this is the most visited site in the Copper River Valley. A paved path leads to Glacier viewpoints and warnings about not approaching the Glacier due to falling ice is clearly marked. This is a National Natural Landmark.

We also saw water cascading down the steep hillsides of Keystone Canyon...here is a picture of the Horsetail Falls.

After settling in at our campground, we took a walk down to the harbor and watched the fishermen return with their catch. We had beautiful views of the mountains as a backdrop.

Tomorrow we are taking a 6 hour Columbia Glacier cruise...hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will have more pictures to share.

Fishing on the Kenai River

Lee also had the opportunity to fish for salmon on the Kenai River….I have to say that he has been pretty lucky. He caught his minimum of two silver salmon which yielded another 10 lbs of filleted fish for my freezer. Wow!

Hey Lydia, Braydon, and Sophia, what do you think about the fish Papa caught?

Fishing Success in Homer

Lee went fishing yesterday and was very successful…He caught two halibut (the limit) and one pink salmon. One of the other fisherman gave Lee another pink salmon to keep. Woohoo!

When they got back to shore, Lee brought his catch to the Homer Fish Processing Plant where the fish was filleted and vacuum packaged in one pound bags…..they were frozen as well.

We picked up the fish this morning….we are very glad to have had space in our freezer! There will be some great grilling opportunities! Can’t wait!

Homer, Alaska - Halibut Fishing Capital of the World

We had a lovely day driving to Homer...enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery. We even passed the Keanu Pennisula State Fair for their Salmonfest. Here are some pictures!

When we arrived at our campground, we were greeted with some spectacular views right outside our window.

We went into downtown Homer (the Spit as it is called) to grab a bite of dinner. Tomorrow, Lee has made some reservations for a full day of fishing! Let's keep our fingers crossed! 🤞

Anchorage

Did you know that Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, is a pennisula surrounded by the Chugach mountains on the east and the Cook Inlet on the west? Did you know that in 1964 Anchorage suffered an enormous earthquake, magnitude 9.2, lasting 4 minutes? It was the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. How did we know this?.. Lee and I took a one hour trolley ride in the downtown and learned this very interesting information.

We passed by Earthquake Park which is beginning of the North American fault line...here is a picture of land that had dropped about 25 feet and has homes buried underneath.

We passed by the Lake Hood seaplane base and saw hundreds of seaplanes. Twenty five percent of all small aircraft in America are here in Anchorage and about ninety percent of all planes are handed down through the family. You can be 15 years old and fly a plane, yet not be old enough to drive a car...Wow!

After that tour, we did a quick trolley ride to the Ulu Factory where they make the ulu (Eskimo woman's knife) which is an all purpose traditional tool with a flat, fan-shaped blade that is used for cutting and scraping. I had to get one to use at home...it will be a very memorable souvenir.

Another highlight of our day was to watch salmon fishing from Ship Creek behind the Ulu Factory....it was an amazing sight to see all the fisherpersons (there were ladies fishing as well) casting their lines and hoping to catch a fish. We were lucky enough to see someone catch a salmon! Here are some pictures.

To end our day, we met up with new friends, Ron and Jeri Ritter, for a late lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse where we enjoyed Bering Sea King Crab Legs and, of course, fabulous Alaska Amber beer.

It was a great day!

Denali National Park and Preserve

Today we took a six and a half hour bus tour of the Denali National Park.

This Park and Preserve was established in 1917 as Mount McKinkey National Park. It was renamed Denali in 1980. The mountain was officially renamed Denali in 2015. This park and preserve covers 6 million miles. Yesterday we had beautiful views from above...today we had views from below (so to speak)! One of the first things that happened to us was that we found ourselves on the wrong bus...as the driver pulled away from the depot, she started to talk about the 8 hour ride we were going to experience...uh oh! We had purchased tickets for the 6 and half hour ride. The driver said that we might be able to switch to the correct bus at the first rest stop. All I could think about was our poor dog Sammy being left alone for over 9 hours...not a happy thought...but it all worked out well since we were able to make the switch. As I was getting on the bus, this young woman looks at me and calls me by name...I did not recognize her at first since she was wearing a baseball cap....she introduced herself and it wound up being Rebecca who we work with at Lebel and Harriman's back home in Falmouth. She, her husband, and daughter were visiting family who live in Anchorage. Well, we all had a great laugh and caught up about our vacations. What a coincidence, don't you think? Here is a picture of us

During our travels, we saw a couple of owls flying in the distance, a moose and calf in the distance, but no bears, sheep, or elk/caribou to speak of which was disappointing. It was interesting to see the terrain of the park by bus juxtaposed to the views we had yesterday. The rivers were all a result of the glacier melt. The Toklat River was one of the largest we had seen.