Stopin 'long the highway - the Seward Highway!!

Took the Seward Highway to Turnagain Arm. Had many stops along the way.

Overlook: First stop. Stopped very close to the edge of the city. Saw some wildlife - birds. (Off in the distance, hard to tell what they are.)

Saw the flat tidal areas. Ground has much algae growing on it. Very swampy, dangerous.

Beluga Point: The tide was out so there was no chance to see a whale.

Went on out first bump road - known as a Dipsy-Do Road. Stopped to see Dall Sheep. These were just a Dall spot on the mountain. In AK when a group of cars are off to the side of the road - it is usually because they are viewing wildlife. It can cause a real traffic jam.

Saw areas of dead trees at the base of the Mts. Cause: The earthquake of '63 caused the land to sink, then the salty sea water flooded the roots of the trees.

Portage Glacier: Most visited attraction in AK. Very clean glacier overall. Took a hike on one of the trails. Saw many flowers/trees - all stopped to identify - Kevin was a big help. Saw more on the road. At the visitor center we watched a multimedia presentation on glaciers.

Alyeska Ski Resort: The ski resort is owned by Japanese people. Cost something like 200 million dollars to build. Took their tram to the top - altitude is about 2700 ft above sea level. Climbed through the snow to get to the peak. Very cool view. Saw the ski lifts, glaciers and a small airstrip. Also saw the Bore Tides coming in around 3:00pm. View was cloudy only at the true peak of the adjacent Mts. Came down the Mt. To a snow ball fight. (Yes, in June!) Ray had already gone down - left Louise (wife) at the top! He was in the dog-house. Saw the lobby of the hotel - awesome - made of mahogany - expensive interior, nice displays (of bears).

Candle Shop: Nice people, gave "tour" of their products. Lots of candles. Small trailer. Left our "mark" (pin) on the map.

Dad saw a bear 1/3 up the Mt. We went a little way down the road turned around and came back. SAW A BLACK Bear! 1st black Bear of the TSU trip! Just caught a glimpse of him for about 10 seconds. It was incredible to watch all the cars stop to watch - just because we stopped. Further down we spotted 3 dall sheep. While watching we saw a 4th. The sheep was only about 50 feet away. Many climbed to get a good picture of it.

The Bird House: Enough said. A very unique bar. Has momentos from travelers all over the world - from business cards to underwear. Jodi left her mark - her bra. This is an ak only type of place.

Potter Marsh: Uneventful - saw large King Salmon. Long boardwalk. All was getting tired.

Went to an Alaskan Baseball Game: College teams. Alaska Bucs vs. San Francisco. Got a drink/hot dog. Got into the park for free. Saw only 1 inning. ak Bucs won by a score of 4-1 but San F. Tried to make it exciting - had 2 out w/ runners on 2nd/3rd but the guy popped out. Let the kids go out onto the field to get autographs. Nice atmosphere. Take note MLB.

Back to the Westmark Hotel. Went to bed after the longest first day in the TSU trip history.

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Not Much Fun...Sick

Gassed up the vans and left for the Seward Highway.

Matanuska River Valley: Very widespread, saw a dead moose calf.

Matanuska Glacier: This is a privately owned glacier. You have to pay to get in or else (it is rumored) that he will slash your tires. It is a long rocky road to the glacier. Glacier: covered by rocks/stones, varied sizes. Very Dirty - changes your views of the "pristine look" of the glaciers. It is not very slick. Has some small streams running through it. Closer to the "top" of the glacier is slick - there is little/no stones so you are walking on ice. I was too sick to go any farther so I went back.

Drove to a small store/cafe in Palmer. Sick, did not see it. Stayed in the van. Many of the group were concerned and bought me different medicines. It was great to see how nice they were. Later I threw up and felt better.

Small Alaskan farm. Nice folks. It was just a stand by the road. The old guy showed us his greenhouse full of tomato plants. Also showed some his bees. Got some AK honey ($5).

Musk Ox Farm: Sick, did not really enjoy it. Robyn got one of there hats. Supposed to be very warm. She liked it. (Made of the Musk Ox fur.) Got a tour of their facilities. Saw all the male/female/baby musk ox. Was Drizzling, not much fun.

Drove back to the hotel. I went to bed. Everybody else had the welcome dinner at the Sourdough Mining Restaurant.

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Resurection Bay Boat Ride

I am feeling much better. I am still waiting for the mosquito bites on my hands to heel. My hands are just a little swollen.

Exit Glacier: The glacier is in the Kenai Fjords National Park. The only access road to it is a modified dirt road. As we traveled to it we encountered part of the Seward Highway being repaired. It was really torn up. Here we encountered our first pilot car as well. The glacier was spectacular!!!! - it had many crevasses and a nice rich blue color. The overall appearance of the glacier was clean with little "Debree" on it. A park ranger stood guard at all times to keep people off the glacier. Walked some of the trails then left.

Drove to Seward: Seward is a small town that is large on fishing and shipping. They have a large port. (2 ships were docked at the time we saw the port.) We walked down main street, got a pizza to go, and boarded the Kenai Fjords Boat.

Resurrection Bay Cruise: From the Seward Port - Left at 1:15pm for the 4 hour journey. Weather was awesome - no rain, which is very unusual, sunny, little wind. The crew was great - very friendly.

On the Water: We saw a couple of coves - Thumbs cover, etc. There were about 3 puffins in the coves flying and resting on the rocks. Other species of birds were viewed. Watched a rockfull of sea lions !! At least 30-40 small sea lions were there - then a large sea lion - about 1 ton - showed up. He was the bully of the bunch. Four Mt. Goats were seen - they were in the distance and hard to view. It was 3 large male/females with a baby. Then we watched as an eagle soared over the water, circled around, then swooped down and picked up a fish off the water!! This was neat. Total, we saw about 15 eagleseagles today, many of them were around the port. But the highlight was seeing two different sittings of humpback whales. They were huge - the tails were very wide and powerful. The one stayed close to the surface - the other took smaller dives and came back up about 3-4 times. I saw them diving and also as they "spouted the water." As the cruise came to a end, the crew let us visit them in the pilot house! We saw the boats navigational/communications instruments. This was a nice touch to end a great cruise! Definitely a keeper!

As we left Seward Kevin was pulled over by a police officer! He talked his way out of the ticket. (By the way-the female officer said she clocked him at 47 in a 35 mph zone.)

We traveled back to Anchorage. Had supper at a Chinese restaurant then went to the Westmark Hotel and went to bed.
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First Glimpse of Mt. McKinley

Eklutna Village: This was our first stop of the day, just 30 minutes from Anchorage. We were given a tour of the Indian village by Paul who is a native Indian/Alaskan. We saw the religious buildings, graveside and items of the Russian Orthodox people. (Previously the Athabaskan Indians but converted to Russian Orthodox.) Our guide, Paul, almost knocked over a sacred candle - and seeing the look on his face was hilarious.

Iditarod Trail Headquarters: Saw a video of the Iditarod race/people involved. They had a chart hanging of all the winners/losers/places of the 1995 Iditarod race. Many pictures and gifts etc. Aunt Carola and others took a dog sled ride. Linda Platnerlinda was the one giving the ride.

First Glimpse: On our drive into Talkeetna we stopped to look at Mt. McKinley. This was my first glimpse of the "big one." Needless to say, it was spectacular. The view was only slightly cloudy - after we waited for about 10 minutes the peak of the mountain was visible! It was a shock just to be able to view it at all. The odds are that you will only see McKinley 1 out of 3 days. The Mt. Is 20320 feet high. It was an unparalleled sight.

Talkeetna: Small Alaskan town - reminded me of a West Virginian town. We had little time to see the town as we needed to catch our flight. After the flight (see below) we came back and had lunch here. (Meatloaf sandwich and ice cream to go. In the town we saw the ranger station were all the hikers must check in/out before they climb McKinley.

Mt. McKinley Flight: I was the co-pilot on the K2 Aviation Flight. We had an excellent pilot. There were many great views of Denali and of course the Mt. We saw Moose's tooth, Great Gorge, Big Bowl and Mt. Hunter - just to name a few. We saw some of the base camps and some of the people climbing McKinley. Because we took the grand tour we saw both the North and South faces of the mountain. The visibility was superb!!! Viewing the Mt. Was sensational and is hard to describe. Its beauty is exquisite. On the way back to the airport we saw swans, a moose and calf but no Bear. Feel very lucky just to see the Mt. This plane trip was great. Another keeper!

Denali: We drove the 3 hr. Drive from Talkeetna to Denali. The vegetation took some major changes as we drove. We saw the boreal forest then the tundra then taigataiga . Arrived at Denali at about 8:00. All were tired. Just down the road was a pizza place - excellent pizza! Got pizza with Ray & Louise and then went to bed.

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Hiked

Denali Tour: ...We toured the first 17 miles of public access to the park. This is the only access road. Saw the changes in the vegetation. Close the entrance to the park we saw up close and personal a red fox. He/she was not scared of any of us. He/she was only about 10 yards. From us!! We took a short hike at milepoint 17 - over Indian head rock. We were back to the motel at noon. Had a piece of pizza for lunch then went on another hike.

Mt. Healy hike: Because we had to be back at 5:00 and it was 3:00 now, we had little time to hike the 5,059 ft. Mountain. We did the whole thing - round-trip - in 1 hour and 40 minutes (normally a 3+ hr. Hike). From the top we could view our motel - from the motel we could see the top! It was a great view. (It was a shame we were rushed.)

Dinner Theater: Excellent food (ribs and halibut). The atmosphere was great (down-home style). Good program/music as well. Complete Alaskan theme (of course).

Went back to the motel, packed to leave, caught up on my journal and went to bed.

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Denali National Park

Denali Bus Tour: The tour was a guided bus tour through the 63 miles into the park. We did not see much wildlife on the trip in - only a grizzly - or a grizzly dot. It was far in the distance. Saw some dall spots and a northern harrier bird. At the end, at Elision visitor center, we saw 3 caribou up close. They were lurking around looking for food. Two rangers (finally) got them away from the center. On the way out we were privileged to view a female grizzly with her 2 cubs! All three Bears were only about 75 yards from the bus. They walked around, crested a hill, came over the other side and played some. Two more caribou were viewed - not nearly as close as the two at Elision. Most of the bus slept most of the way down. It was about a 4 hour trip. Driver told some Bear storiesBears. Finally we got back at 3:30pm.

Nenana: Stopped at the Railroad Museum. Got information on the ice classicicec of Nenana. Ate at the Monderosa. Their motto is "the best hamburgers in Alaska." And yes it was very good.

Fairbanks: Traveled the 80+ miles from Nenana to Fairbanks. Got in at a descent time to the Westmark Hotel of Fairbanks.

College Baseball Game: Saw the Anchorage Bucs play the Fairbanks Goldpaners. The game was 6 to 1 in favor of the Bucs going into the 9th. The Goldpaners scored 4 unearned runs (6 to 5 now) and had 2 runners on, 2 out. The person at bat had a 3-2 count and watched strike 3 to end the game!! Excellent Atmosphere at these games.

Went to the hotel and to bed.

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Arctic Circle

Dad & Granddad & 5+ others went to the airport. The rest of us (Carolyn, Dickey, Oliver stayed behind. Carolyn's brother is getting operated on and she wants to stay near a phone.) packed and started for the circle.

Joy, Alaska: Small store/house run by a family of 23 kids - most all adopted out of "bad" families. We looked/shopped around a little but then a bus load of "boat peopleboatp" showed up. We left.

Trans Alaskan Pipelinepipeline: Very awesome design. Huge Pipe (like 48" in diameter). Too detailed to describe. A couple of us got our pictures on the pipe. Along the way we saw more of the pipe - it parallels the road to the circle. Stopped once more to see the pipe. Saw one of the pumping stations for the pipe.

Yukon Riveryukon: Drove over the river (bridge of course). Stopped at a dingy store/restaurant/motel/gas station/garage by the river. Had lunch at the Yukon Riveryukon! The owners dog came down - Jay fed it Turkey from his sandwich. Some got their feet wet in the water.

Arctic Circle: Finally got to the farthest point (to the Arctic Circle) at about 2:00pm or so. Took many pictures - scenery was pretty good. Our group was the lone group there. Kevin was anxious to "walk through the marsh/swamp" so we did not spend a lot of time (also there was not much to do!).

Back-To-Fairbanks: stopped to see some of the rocks imbedded in the permafrost and the layered rocks (from the immense pressure). Also stopped in a marsh/swamp to walk around - saw some birds - they must of had a nest around the area. Back to the Yukon Riveryukon Restaurant. Had supper (grilled cheese/chili - good milkshakes, bad facilities.)

MooseMoose: When leaving we saw a moose standing under the pipeline eating. He was content eating and stayed for a while - got some good pictures (I hope).

Back-To-Fairbanks: stopped at Joy. Got an Arctic Circle tee-shirt and certificates. One of the 23 kids, Ben, came over and talked to us. Went back to Fairbanks (got in at about 9:00-9:30pm. Some went to a baseball game but only saw an inning.) I went to bed.

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Riverboat..Um..Loveboat!

Toured the U.A.F. Museum: (U.A.F. = University of Alaska in Fairbanks). Museum was really good. Heard a multimedia presentation on the people and ways of life of Alaska's interior residents. The museum was nicely done - lots of animals and furs. They had a Musk Ox on display. Some weather events, etc. Did not have too much time.

Weather: Started to drizzle a little but nothing too bad. So far the weather has been great. This is the first "bad" weather since we arrived. Jay was supposed to fly this morning but due to weather that was canceled.

Drove around Fairbanks: Got out and walked around the city. Went to an Art Gallery. Huge place - lots of expensive artwork but had some really great pieces. Stopped/Shopped at a dinky little corner gift shop. Across the street was a bakery shop. They had some really good food - some original Alaskan recipes as well. Lots of sweets. I got a bagel (garlic) with chicken salad on it. It was excellent (I ate it on the boat.)

Riverboat/Loveboatboatp: 3 words describe the trip - "What a Joke." The ride was a first for the trip (and the last). The boat was a huge riverboat (with the large paddle wheel). As soon as we started off the trip, a bush pilot on the airstrip beside us, took off - circled around - then landed right away. Then, just upstream a little, we saw Susan Fletcher (an Iditarod Dog Musher) [See Also Linda Platnerlinda], her husband, and another boat captain - all casually were waiting for us to by so they could talk to us! Each had wireless mikes on! It was definitely all staged. At an Indian village we got off and lectured about the Ways of Life of the Indians. Even that was staged and all the lectures were memorized. We saw 2 reindeer - only 1 problem - they were caged! The whole trip was a joke. (When we got off there was 12 busses waiting for the people!) Mike was kidding around and said he had an apt. With Dr. Kavorkiandrk when he got off!

Unfortunately Dad+Granddad did not get to go on the Riverboat. Their flight from Barrow was 1 hr. Late. When we got off the boat, Oliver went and picked them up from the U.A.F. Museum.

Bowl Factory: The rest of the group went to the Bowl Factory. They make wooden bowls from the stumps of trees here. It Is both the factory and store.

We then gassed up the vans and went to eat at an Italian restaurant with Oliver. Went back to the hotel, packed, and went to bed.

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Too Many Stops. Too Much Time.

Santa Claus house: (of course, it was at the North Pole! Seriously.) Wrote a ton of postcards and sent them - each got stamped with the North Pole postmark. On our way out we drove through the town.

Knotty Pine Shop: Almost all items here are made of wood. They had a large mosquito (the state bird) & caribou (both made of wood) out front on display. Ray/Louise got a nifty little clock. The shop had a taxidermy shop and many furs. As we were ready to leave Michelle figured out she had left her hat back in Fairbanks - 30 miles back. Instead of having the motel ship the hat forward, her and Greg went back and got it. Took them about 2+ hrs. Before they caught up with us. Mike+Oliver made up a song for her. See "I Gotta Go Backgoback"

Alaskan Mt. Range: Weather is now foggy and drizzling. Hard to see. Visibility is low. The range is across the Tenana River. Saw more of the pipeline.

Big Delta: on the way we saw a moosemoose feeding in the water. Was pretty close. Got to Big Delta (weather cleared some). Toured the houses that were used as motels and restaurants for the early goldminers. Ate lunch here, saw the gift shop and fur house. (Ate at Ridda's Roadhouse - good pie)

Alaskan Highway Visitors Center: Saw Black Rapids Glacier - retreating for 50 years. In the past it was close to the road and almost overtook it. Gulakama Glacier - Beautiful, did not stay long. Weather: got nasty again. Started to rain and got foggy.

Bison Point: Viewed 3 bison in the distance. The only way to see them was with Kevin's high-powered scope.

Break: stopped for gas and bathroom break + food. Valdez is still 104 miles away. Traveled through Thompson Pass - extremely foggy, visibility was 0. Saw the Lowe river that we will white water raft on.

Valdez: Finally arrived. All were very tired. Went to hotel, to bed. It had been a long day - too many stops.

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Alyeska & White Water Rafting

Weather: Foggy, Rainy, About 60 degrees

Alyeska Tour: Got information from the people at Alyeska - VIP Package and Video. Karen was very nice. Got on the bus - after going through security. They checked all bags and we had to go through a metal detector before we boarded the bus. Also, once at the terminal ,we could not get off the bus until we reached the top overlook.

Alyeska Terminal: Saw the 4 berths (where the ships dock). Two tankers were coming through the Prince William Sound to the terminal. It was cloudy and hard to see. Passed the water treatment plant - all the water is taken off the ship, around the ship and treated before being introduced back into the ocean. (See Also Alyeska Pipelinepipeline)

Free time was given for an hour - to eat lunch.

White Water Rafting: Class 3 on the Lowe River. Weather has really improved. No rain. Visibility OK. They provided us with rain pants/jacket. We suited up and got "safety" instructions before boarding the raft. (Raft: 6 people + 1 guide. We choose to paddle instead of having the guide paddle.) The ride was about 1 hour. Dad, Me, Greg, Kevin, Jodi, Ray and 1 Guide were the passengers. The water was cold but I did not get very wet. Waves were good. Many people were on the shore watching. It was an awesome ride. All helped to load the bus and then we went back to their headquarters - then back to the motel.

Free time was given for the rest of the evening (until 7:00 when they were going to take a trip back to Thompson Pass if the fog had lifted.)

Dad went over and did laundry. I took a shower then Granddad and I went to the Valdez Museumvaldezm. Granddad wanted to have supper at the Chinese restaurant so that is what we did. We also looked around at the Prospectors store before going back to the motel.

Some in the group, including Dad, went back to Thompson Pass. I did not go because I thought it was still foggy. Unfortunately I was wrong. They said it was a really good view.

Packed - Bags have to be out by 5:00am. Went to bed.

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Travel Via Land & Air & Sea

Took the 1 mile trip down to the terminal/ferry. We had to wait for almost 30 minutes until we drove/boarded the "E.L. Bartlett" boat/ferry. (Drove the vans onboard.) It is a 7 hr. Ferry from Valdez to Whittier. We had breakfast on board. I slept for about 3 hrs. While en-route. It was very relaxing. The ship floated through a glacier. At 2:00pm we docked. There was free time given for 1 hr. To eat and see Whittier (which was not very big - it took about 20 minutes to see it all). Got an ice-cream and a buffalo burger for lunch.

Ferry Train: at 3:00 we drove the vans straight on-board a flatcar!! It was the most unique ferry trip I have ever seen. They did not tie down the vehicles or secure them in any way. We stayed in the vans, on the train, for the 30 minute ride into Portage. On the way we saw the Portage Glacier. There were 2 tunnels we went through before getting off at Portage.

Kevin took his van (which I was in) back to Girdwood (12 miles back) to put air in the back tire. It needed it.

Onto Homer: We caught up with the group and hour or two later. On the way to Homer we saw combat fishing, 2 Mt. Goats (in the distance) and a moosemoose in the water. Before getting to Homer there was an overlook where we could view the Homer Spit. Got some good pictures. An older couple that went with the Towson State University Group a couple of years ago, loved Alaska and moved here. Now, they live in Homer. They had put out a sign welcoming the group (Jay and His Band Of Gypsies!). We went on down into Homer and on the spit. Our motel, the Lands End Resort is the last building furthest on the spit. The motel was right on the waterfront and we had an excellent view of the water with the mountains in the background. Granddad and Dick's room was small - it only had a single bed in it. After much confusion Granddad came to sleep in our room. Dick was happy by himself. I walked on the beach a little, took some pictures, went to bed.

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Downtown Homer to the Islands of Homer

Center for Inner Coastal Studies: It is a unique setup here. The center is on an island. To get to shore, you pull yourself across. Four volunteers were on duty today. The volunteers live on the island for periods of about 4-5 days before going back to the mainland.

Grand Tour: At about 10:00am, Scott - our tour guide, began his "R Rated Tour of the Woods!" In the woods we saw many different species of vegetation - such as: Devils Weeddevweed, and Sun-Dosundo. We walked along the beach and viewed starfish, jellyfish, very small unidentifiable creatures, mussels, etc. The beach was littered full of mussels! Interesting sight. They told us about an old Indian hut that used to stand on the property. The only way to identify it, was that the hut was buried halfway under ground. Today, the whole is still there. Neat. We boarded the Rainbow Tours boat at about 5:15pm for their tour.

Rainbow Boat Tour: 1st stop was to see "Gull Island." This island is one of three that is grouped together close the Center for Inner Coastal Studies. It is aptly named! On "Gull Island" there were literally hundreds of birds - many meugulls and a couple of puffins. At one point we saw 4 puffins together sitting on the top of the island. Two puffins were swimming on the sea. Next stop was back to shore.

Because we had spent much of the day walking, we went back to the motel and took a hour nap. We changed and then took a cab into downtown Homer. Checked out a couple of the shops + and got some ice cream for dinner. Walked the Main Street and Pioneer St., the main "drags" in town. Took the cab back to the motel.

Crashed, and went to sleep - it was really late and we have to get up early tomorrow.

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Halibut Fishing

Got our lunch and license from Captain Mikes. Only 7 from the group are going - Robyn, Rick, Mike, Greg, Me, Granddad, Dad. Now we are ready to go.

Tomahawk II: Boarded the Tomahawk II, captain was Shane. Me, Granddad, Dad, and two men from Anchorage were on board. We left dock at about 6:30am. (The rest of the group went on another boat with Captain Mike.

The scenery along the spit and out to sea was beautiful. Went quite a ways out before we set anchor. It was about 2 hours out. I slept most of the way. The water was very rough with swells up to 5-6 feet! There were tons of fisherman and boats around us. Combat fishing on the water. With the tides the way they were, it was hard to stand up and keep your balance.

Ready to Fish: Shane showed us how to do it, it wasn't very hard. Basically no techniques were involved, just let down your line the reel them in. Each line had 4 pounds of weight on it - just so it could reach the bottom. We were in 250 feet of water so reeling in the fish was a hard and long chore. Used codfish as bait. I brought the first fish in. It was about 20 lbs so we kept it. From then on out it was just a matter of throwing out your line, then reeling it in. If the fish was big enough we kept it, else we threw it back. Very early in the trip the two men from Anchorage got sick (rail hangers). They did not fish much. We ended up catching 2 of their 4 fish. About 11:00 I got hungry and had to eat. Granddad caught the biggest fish - about 30-35 pounds. All fish sizes were very very close. Had alot of fun. Since each of us had now caught our limit of fish (2 each person) we were ready to go. Shane (our captain) had trouble getting the anchor in, had to pull it in by hand, but got it in after 30 minutes. Started back to shore at 12:00pm. The boat was really rocking and rolling. It was very tough to keep your balance.

Back on shore: Docked at about 2:30 or so. We were met by a member of Captain Mikes crew. He took our fish up to their store, hung it, and then we got pictures. They cut up the fish, filleted it, then took it to the packing factory. Between me, dad, Granddad, we had 63 pounds of halibut to take home.

Fishing Notes: Here was our Location: LAT..59.deg-18.min-24.secs. LONG..152.deg-1.min-43.secs. After getting back to the hotel we found out that Mike W. Had caught a 140 lbs. Halibut! It was a nice looking fish.

Took a nap once back at the motel.

Farewell Dinner: (at the motel restaurant) The appetizers and dinner was great. (Rick was too sick to come, like me and the welcome dinner!) The main entree was halibut and chicken. It was great food! Cooked in a good sauce! Dessert was even better: it was a large cake - like a white cake with poppy seeds and in between each layer was jelly! The icing was a very thick sugar icing. It was all great food. After dinner Oliver had a presentation - jokingly making fun of people. (See AwardsAwards )

Checked out Mike and Beth's room then went to bed. It had been a long day.

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Back to Anchorage

Anchor Point: This was our first stop after leaving Homer. Anchor point is the most westerly point (that is accessible by a highway system) in the North American continent. The visibility was low so not much could be seen.

Russian Orthodox Church: The church is in the town of Ninilchik. We spent only a few minutes here. Not much to see or do. The actual church building is "basic" nothing fancy. There is a grave yard site next to the church.

Traveled past Kenai Lake. Even with the weather poor, many men/women were out fishing. Combat fishing that is. Stopped just for a minute so that I could videotape them.

Back to Alyeska: Many wanted to go back to Alyeska for bread, so we made that our lunch stop. Got a bowl of soup and sweet roll. All was good. Looked around at the Jade shop and gift shop. On our way back out to the main highway we stopped at the candle shop.

Kevin: At this point he is turning from naturalist to tourist! We finally converted him. He stopped to photograph a Deer Creek Realty sign then bought many gifts from the Jade & Candle shop!!

Anchorage: After checking into the hotel, Kevin took us to Borders Bookstore in Anchorage. Spent about 1 hr. Here before getting pizza and heading back to the motel. We repacked everything then went to bed.

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Goodbye Alaska, I Will Miss You

Shopped at some of the gift shops. Granddad got a flag and other little items.

Pratt Museum: We walked over to the museum. Their flower arrangements were awesome. Inside - they are noted for their large artwork collection. It is definitely something to see. They have everything from modern art to traditional Alaskan paintings. On the second floor was a large time-line display of the building of Alaska. From the early Indians to the technology of Alascom (Alaskan Satellite service that provides much of the communications for Alaska) the museum had it. It was well worth the walk.

Land's Building: This building is a government run facility that shows some of the animals and artifacts of Alaska. After spending some time looking around here, we walked over to the Saturday Market.

Saturday Market: The Saturday Market is an outdoor flee-market type place. Many booths specializing in everything from food to crafts were set-up. Dad talked to a guy about his honeybees and honey. I got a poster autographed by Tommy Moe! It was almost time to leave so we headed back to the hotel.

Last Look: We left the hotel at 2:00pm to head to the airport. Each of us checked in our bags and fish (which had been stored overnight at the Delta Freezer). The plane was on-time and we left without any problems.

ANC to L.A.: The trip from ANC to L.A. was problem free. They showed the movie "Outbreak" which was real good. The food was well Airline food - what do you expect ? It was some type of weird colored noodles in a spaghetti sauce. OK I guess.

L.A. to Atlanta: Before we could board the plane we had to show some form of Photo I.D.! The security was very tight in lieu of the "uni-bomber." Well, I would describe this flight but frankly I slept the entire time! It is about 10:00pm. They showed the movie Judicial Consent - never saw it, slept. The plane was a super-wide body. Fortunately I had a seat on the side not in the middle.

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Back to BWI

BWI: Finally home. We got our bags and were met by a friend who took us home. Said good-bye to the group - we will see them in August for a picnic.

It was nice to be home, but frankly, as soon as I get the chance again I will head to Alaska. The state and the trip was superb. Good-bye Alaska, I will miss you.

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Alaska - The Last Frontier

On July 7, 1958 Alaska became America's 49th state. Alaska is by far the largest American state. It is twice as large as Texas! Alaska is not crowded, but it is growing. Since 1940 its population has more than tripled. Several of Alaska's larger towns and more than a third of its people are in the narrow southeastern strip. The climate here is mild, and there is much rain.

Alaska has mountains and glaciers. The highest mountain in North America is there - Mt. McKinley. The scenery is beautiful.

- Source - The Golden Book Encyclopedia.

Flat Tidal Areas

The tidal areas are the areas where the tides from the Alaska Gulf come and go each day. High tides bring the waters in to the area, and low tides take them out. It is amazing to realize that these huge areas of land/swamp are filled with water, many feet deep, and then the water recedes each day. (Called bore tides.)

Dipsy-Do Road

These roads are aptly named - the road is very bumpy. The cause: Permafrost. The AK DOT spends much of the summer repairing these roads - to ready them for the next winter.

Pilot Car - Seward Highway

A pilot Car is a DOT vehicle/operator that guides the traffic through the torn up road. We had to wait about 20 minutes for our pilot car to come.

Definition: Taiga

Taiga means Little Sticks

Turnagain Arm

This is the inlet where Captain Cook sailed into with his fleet of ships. When he found that there was no outlet, he turned around, hence the name.

Trans Alaskan Pipeline

After discovering oil in Prudhoe Bay (1968), the Alyeska Pipeline Company was formed. The company was founded in order for them to find an economical way to carry the oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. They choose to build a Pipeline system. It was the largest privately financed construction project in history. It was also a engineering nightmare. The pipeline could not be buried in many areas because of the permafrost (permanently frozen ground). So more than half of the pipe was built on stilts. [It cost Alyeska $8 billion dollars to construct the pipe.]

The pipeline system covers 800 miles of rugged Alaska terrain. It has a capacity to carry 1.7 million barrels of crude oil to Valdez each day!! Needless to say, it is the largest pipeline system in the world.

Yukon River

The Yukon River extends 2,300 miles from Canada to the Bering Sea. It drains an area of approximately 330,000 sg. Miles from Southeast Alaska to North of the Arctic Circle. In some places the river is 20 miles wide!

Today, many tour's and cruises are conducted on the river.

Valdez Museum

The museum in Valdez was satisfactory. The big item to see was a restored 1930's fire truck. A nice display on the earthquake and rebuilding process was presented. Displays on the Alyeska Company and the Pipeline were OK.

Sun-Dew Plant

The Sun-Dew plant is a carnivorous (meat eating) plant. Our guide at the Center for Inner Coastal Studies, Scott, Told us it is only 1 of 4 carnivorous plants in Alaska. It was growing in a swampy area. The one we saw had trapped a fly in it.

Devils Weed Plant

The Devils Weed plant is like a briar. It has the same prickly branches on it but if your skin comes in contact with the plant, it will cause an infection.

Ice Classic of Nenana, AK

Nenana, an Alaskan town of under 1,000 residents, holds an annual competition called the Ice Classic of Nenana. This competition is to see who can guess when the river will thaw out. They place a large tower in the river attached to a rope, attached to the shore. When the river thaws the tower moves and breaks the rope. At this point in time the river is considered thawed out. You can purchase tickets and take a guess at when this time will be.

The jackpot in 1995 was over $310,000. Half goes to the city the other half is split among the winners.

Eagles of Alaska

Eagles in Alaska are very, very common. By nature, the eagle is a scavenger, not the clean bird that we think of it as. To the citizens of Alaska the eagles are a pest. There was a story (true story) of a couple that was camping in Alaska . With them was there small poodle. This couple was outside of there RV, with the dog, when an eagle swooped down and took the dog ! The women screamed in horror, but here husband went to the other side of the RV and screamed in Joy !

Bear Story:

Our bus driver at Denali told us this bear story.

A girl came upon a bear once. It startled her and she went down into a sleeping position. (This is normal procedure that you should do if a bear is close to you.) She tried to fool the bear (thinking she was asleep) but instead the bear laid down beside her and went to sleep! He slept for about 20 minutes before getting up and walking away. Later, she told reporters that the hardest thing was to stay calm and alert - why - because the bear stunk so bad! She was OK.

Moose:

The moose is the largest member of the deer family, and the biggest wild herbivore in North America. Moose also have the largest antlers of any deer - sometimes reaching over 80 inches in spread. Bull moose may weigh up to 1,600 pounds!

Boat People

Boat People, Bus People, LoveBoaters - these are just a few of the names that Jay gave to the "high class tourists" in Alaska. These are the people that see Alaska from just a cruise ship and bus. They are funneled through the state and do not see the "real Alaska" as we saw it.

Linda Platner

Linda will be running in the 1996 Iditarod Race. She is in training now. On display was her "official" gloves and dogsled. Some of the dogs that were at the headquarters will be running the 1996 race.

"Hello, Do You Have My Hat ?"   "Guess I Gotta Go Back!"

After forgetting her hat, Michelle decided she needed to go the 30 miles back and get it. For the rest of the trip she was teased about it. Oliver and Mike made up a song for her: ... TeNeNaNeNa ... Was Packing Last Night ... TeNeNaNeNa ... Packing My Hat ... TeNeNaNeNa ... Forgot To Pack My Hat ... TeNeNaNeNa ... Gotta Go Back !

Delta Flights: BWI-ANC

Depart	Arrive	Notes
BWI 6:25a	Cinci 7:50a	Fog in Cinci
Cinci 9:00a	SLC 10:26a	Olympics!!
SLC 11:37a	ANC 2:25	Long Flight

Farewell Awards

At the Farewell Dinner (Day #14) Oliver (Van Moose) was chosen to present the "Farewell Awards." These awards were a means to tease members of the group about something funny or crazy they had done. All awards were nominated by somebody in the group.

Nominee	Award
Michelle	Losing her hat
Justin	After the wet Raft ride, not a hair had moved!
Robyn Jay	Boosting the Alaska Economy
Ray Louise	The 3rd set of Grandparents everybody wants
Beth	The most "Nature Walks"
Oliver	Driving the most miles of anyone
Carola	Best hairdo
Greg	Dr. Jekly/Mr. Hyde award (for his beard)
Kevin	Using the most CB Air-Time!

About the Program & Programmer

This Journal Has Been Created & Compiled entirely by Justin Hall.

After spending 17 days in Alaska I decided to "computerize" my journal of events. I have spent many hours making it easy and enjoyable for you to read. Please Read Over my Alaskan Excursions and Enjoy!

Travel Group: Towson State University, 1995 Ecotour, Led by John Morgan.

Copyright 1996 Justin Hall