Drive to Glenallen

Today we drove from Anchorage to Glennallen. Beautiful drive, very scenic until it started raining. We then pulled over into a pullout for the night. Having numerous pullouts in BC, YT and AK is wonderful. A very economical way to camp if you are set up for boondocking, which we are.

Fox crossing road

We have yet to see a river not flowing strongly

A placid lake

Mountains and views everwhere

New camera can take panoramas, I'm learning

Rest Stop and Packages, Eagle River, AK

We have now wandered to Eagle River to an Elks Lodge. This became a challenge. We were following the GPS to the lodge when we saw signs that the road was closed due to a parade. We were directed to make a right turn and the GPS navigated us through all sorts of back streets until we saw the lodge. We were expecting in a package with medications so this became a rest stop, kind of. We are getting tired so are slowing down the trip a bit until we catch up.

Anchorage is only 10-15 miles from Eagle River so we went in to find some safety cables for the car. Ours were getting beat up on this trip. No one carried them so we went to Costco, did some shopping and called it a day. We ended up ordering safety cables from Amazon for delivery to Valdez, a week away or so.

The next day we did a stock-up trip to Walmart and Carrs(Safeway) since this was our last big town until we reached Prince George, BC in 3-4 weeks.

Did our laundry and the next day our package arrived. I need to accuse the postal service of package abuse. This started out as a box and ended up as a bubble-wrapped blob that no longer resembled a box. The postal clerk opened it up so I could make sure everything was in the package. The entire package was damp. Package Postal Abuse!!!!

Soldotna, Whittier and Girdwood

Today we drove from Soldotna to Waliweep NFS Campground near Portage Glacier. This was a phenomenal campground. Most NFS campgrounds are gravel, smallish sites, not very level. This campground had all paved roads, all paved and level campsites. Usually, there are very few pull-thrus. We prefer pull-thrus so when we get done touring for the day we can hitch up and be ready to go first thing in the morning. I went around the loop and the very last campsite was a pull-thru and no one had reserved it.

Campground urrounded by mountains and glaciers

 

Once we were settled we drove to Whittier through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. This tunnel is a 2.5-mile tunnel that was a train tunnel. Still is a train tunnel but was expanded and enhanced to support car traffic and allow Whittier to be connected to mainland AK. There is a toll and the tunnel is open from 5:30 AM to 11:15 PM, an enforced curfew for the town. Going through the tunnel is similar to riding a ferry. Everyone lines up in specific lanes, car, RV, truck. When th time comes the gate is lifted and off we go in lane order. 

All lined up, ready to go through tunnel

Tunnel Entrance

Train waiting to go through

Driving thrugh the tunnel

Driving through the tunnel is different and challenging. Lighting isn’t the greatest, you need to stay off of the train tracks and it is not the widest tunnel. Traffic to Whittier goes through the tunnel on the half-hour and back on the hour. A train throws the schedule off.
 

Whittier is known as the wettest town in AK. Dark and dreary while we were there for the afternoon. We did find a Fudge shop for Tom and I found an ice cream parlor and had Huckleberry Ice Cream. Tasted like a cross between a weak Black Raspberry with some Blueberry thrown in.

 

The next day we went to the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge what takes in and cares for injured wild animals. We went early and this was a good thing. As we were leaving 2 tour buses were pulling in with more coming down the road.

Such a pastoral scene

Magpie

Elk seem interested in the cart

Scenery is always great

Ah!!! Feeding time

From there we went to Girdwood and thought about taking the Gondola to the top of the mountain but it was very smokey so gave up on that. Did some basic shopping and went back to camp for lunch. 

This store knows its true self

 

After lunch we went to the Begich Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Glacier. A very interesting museum that walked you through the history of the area and cumulated with a movie about the glacier. At the end of the movie, the curtains open up for a view over the lake to the glacier. Years(many) ago the glacier was much closer. This was impressive but if the glacier had been closer this would have been spectacular. 

Visitor Center Greeter

Portage Glacier

 

Last Day in Seward

After yesterday we just rested and enjoyed Otto(and he brought some friends).

Otto and Friend

What Seward looks like on a clear day!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Whittier and the Portage Glacier. An easy drive.

Boat Ride and Drive to Miller's Landing

Today was the day of our boat ride. We would be on the water for 8 hours. The ride started pretty normal and then the Captain announced we were going to divert and go to a different location. She had been in conversation with other Captains and had a treat for us. Wouldn’t tell us what. This was my downfall, we went out into the Gulf of Alaska and the ride became very rough. I decided to get seasick but the crew was very good all of us(I wasn’t alone) and was handing out Ginger candy, Dramamine, etc. The Dramamine took me out of it and I was very tired and kept falling asleep. I did wake up enough to see the “treat”. There was a pod of whales bubble netting fish. This is where the whales circle the fish, blowing bubbles to “corral” the fish. Then the whales eat. This is a very rare occurrence for people to see but we were lucky. In the end, this detour took us 26 miles off our normal route so we had to move a high speed across the Gulf to get caught up with our planned trip to Kenia Fjords NP and Alalik Glacier.  The reason for rushing back was that we had people who had to catch the train back to Anchorage. 

We took the tour by Major Marine, first we had a coupon and second there was an on board NPS ranger. The tour was very interesting and we had someone we could ask questions of very easily.   

We did see lots of seals, puffin, otters, sea lions and, of course, glaciers.

We came back very tired and hungry. We didn’t sign up for the meal on the boat and that was a good decision based on my being sick and the rough ride. We had stopped at Subway and picked up sandwiches but didn’t eat them due to the rough ride.

Our Welcome to the Tour

Our First Eagle

Stressed out Sea Lions?

The Bubbles from the Whales

The Little Black Spot is a Whale

Some More Stressed out Sealife

First Glimpse of Glacier

A Raft of Sea Otters

The Glacier is Huge when you have a Boat to Compare it to

Nothing affects the Otters

A Bear just strolling along

Some Puffins

And back to Seward

When we all arrived back the CG(we had a car full, other campers from our campground were on the same boat) there was a huge MH in the CG(this is a very small CG). The MH should never have even pulled into this small CG. We also had a police car and everyone was out and milling about.

We just pulled over to the side since we couldn’t get to our rig and watched things sort themselves out.

We found out later the guy in the big MH was a wild driver(I call them Yahoos!!) He backed into someone’s MH and the camp host’s car. Minor damage but even so. The camp host called the police so reports could be written. This ticked off this guy even more. He then proceeded to get a ticket for whatever.

After he left everyone was discussing him. Normally you have the driver's window open so you can hear someone yelling if needed. He didn't have his wife out as a spotter. Overall, he broke a lot of basic, RVing protocol. We felt he shouldn’t be driving the MH. The police followed him down the road, I guess to keep an eye on him. 

Tomorrow is a rest day. We will sit around, enjoy the view, talk to neighbors, enjoy Otto the Otter.

On our rest day, Otto brought a girlfriend so we had double the entertainment.  We also took a ride out to the end of the peninsula, Miller's Landing. Nice drive, of course, a dirt road.

Otto and his Girlfriend

Finally, a clear day!!

 

Fireweed at Miller's Landing

Some more cedar shake art