Wood's Prairie Travels

You know sometimes  you just have "those  days"! We haven't had really any of "those" yet on our journey, but today was one for turning around. That is most likely because most of the towns we have traveled in through British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska are relatively small. The "large" ones are maybe eight blocks square. Today we traveled into Anchorage seeking the magic fluid for diesel trucks, DEF. Our Costco ALWAYS carries it, so we thought that would be the case in Anchorage too. Missed our turn into the parking lot, so at the next interesection Pat made a U-turn in our crew cab, long bed truck... no easy feat! However, did Costco have DEF? Nope. Our next stores of choice for DEF are Fred Meyer or Walmart, but where are they? The last time I had wifi I looked up Costco's address. In this day and age of instant "google" access are there even phone books to actually look up addresses anymore? So, we drove through Anchorage, ...

We are pretty sure those are claw marks, a black bear and cub had been in the area. Another stop on the Kenai Peninsula was the Seward area. First off we stopped in to see the Exit Glacier. Lots of bear evidence on the nicely groomed trail. This glacier currently is advancing a foot a day - VERY fast for geologic things! Signs warn that if you get too close you could get trapped under it. The seaport of Seward is the original "Mile 0" for the Iditarod trail. Now known for the dogsled race, the original trail was for supplies and mail. This little town is nestled literally at the base of the surrounding mountains! One thing we found interesting is that the highway connecting Seward to the interior (Anchorage) wasn't completed until 1959. The port boat basin had pretty teal blue water.        The busy port had a number of fjord tours and charter fishing boats coming and going. One sea otter was enjoying a halibut carcass right alongside the...

After our relaxing time on the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula, we drove up the peninsula to Soldatna to visit some friends who have a family cabin there. In addition to their excellent hospitality, we enjoyed having them share their experience regarding how to fish for Reds (Sockeye salmon)  on the  Kenai River! The Kenai River at this point in its course is fairly swift and approximately a few hundred feet wide. The teal blue color is opaque, hiding the rocks, logs, and of course the fish. During our time here there were times when the fishing was fast and other times when it was slow, but there were always people fishing! And there were always fish! Often jumping clear out of the water just feet from us, even if those picky beasts were refusing to bite our tempting lures! However, we did get enough salmon to fill half our camper fridge (which we then shipped home), had some delicious meals... fashionably late (which means AFTER we stopped fishing for the...

We've travelled just short of 3,500 miles so far. Now that we are at the terminus of our travels, we thought Ninilchik would be a good place to rest a few days. (notice how I snuck in the glacier term?). And, we actually saw a sunset... at 10:55 PM, but it did go down in a glorious ball of flame over the top of Mt. Redoubt. We settled in to our campsite at Deep Creek Beach a couple days ago and it suits us to a "T". Our camper backs up to the dune grass and beach. The dunes here are only about 10 feet across, unlike those in Washington that are often a quarter mile or more.  We figured this would be a nice spot to rest with eagles and other sea birds flying overhead, beach cobbles that make an unusual clacking noise when the tide goes out, and a beach with agates and other nifty rocks to gather! Also, of interest is the launching of fishing boats off the beach. They use tractors to first back a boat into the water (people and gear are already on board), the boat...

Chugach Mountains in the background Yikes! We are back in civilization again. In parts of Anchorage there were sections of 4-lane highway with overpasses, we hadn't seen those since crossing the border into Vancouver. However,  you come to a screeching halt due to a traffic light and pedestrian cross walks. Then on the Kenai peninsula in Soldatna, the grocery store was crazy busy. I didn't really mind that since there was cantaloupe for $2, as opposed to the $6 price in the Canadian stores. And then there is the Homer Spit... On a narrow spit of land at the southern end of the Kenai peninsula is a busy fishing-ferry landing-tourist center. A very full marina sits in a sheltered cove surrounded by tourist shops of all kinds. There is a funky old boardwalk by some of the shops and new boardwalk made to look old by other shops. Interspersed with the souvenir shops are charter boat offices and places to snack, drink, or eat. Jam packed gravel parking lots, the closest to th...

Ninilchik is another tiny fishing village in Alaska. This one is located midway down the Kenai peninsula on the shore of Cook Inlet. Across the water there is a row of snowcapped volcanoes. I had heard of Mt. Redoubt because it erupted fairly recently, 2009.  The other two large peaks are Mt. Iliamna and Mt. Spurr. There is an interesting mix of cultures in this village. The first nations, Athbascans, live alongside practicing Russian Orthodox church members, and together they are swarmed with tourists from near and far. Russian Orthodox church, still active It is easy to see why this would be a good location for a fishing village. Salmon run up the little rivers as they return from the ocean. And Cook Inlet is a fairly calm large body of water. As a result, fishing for saltwater species like rockfish, lingcod, salmon, and halibut is rather easy when compared to some other locations. Eagles enjoy fishing here too, Adult eagle teaching a juvenile the art of patience....

As we've traveled through Canada and Alaska, we've seen so many glaciers and evidence of glaciers past. Some have been advancing and others retreating. We see them around every other corner. Some glaciers are relatively short and others wind for miles toward the mountain flanks of their birth. We have seen miles of U-shaped glacial valleys, hanging valleys, mountains of moraine gravel, and rushing rivers that are laden with glacial silt. We feel miniscule in their presence. Mother Nature does things on such a grand scale. Earth's huge plates constantly move crushing together to form mountain ranges or volcanoes. Sometimes those plates flip all the way over. We were wondering what that would show on the Richter Scale? Whole continents were covered with ice at times. Did you know that Olympia used to have a glacier over a mile high sitting on it? Other eras on Earth had most of North America covered with ocean. The deposition layers of the Grand Canyon of Arizo...