So, back to the travelogue

Events sort of superseded the travelogue.  It seemed important to let everyone know about Pat, especially that she is OK and doing just fine.  The latest update on that story is that Monday we went to an orthopedic clinic.  They confirmed that the injury to her wrist did not need surgery and put a cast on her arm.  Originally we were told that the cast would have to go from her shoulder to her hand, e.g. her entire arm.  The orthopedic surgeon decided that such an extensive cast was unnecessary so her cast goes from her palm, around her thumb, and only halfway up her lower arm.  She has her elbow free to move which is a great thing.



Alyeska Ski Resort main run..STEEP

Our lodge (RV) and their lodge

When last heard from, the Carpenters were in Anchorage and heading for the Kenai peninsula.  We drove south from Anchorage along what is known as the Turnagain Arm.  It is a 60 mile long arm of water off of the Cook Inlet that is bounded by mountains.  As you would expect, a beautiful drive.  We stopped in a small town, Girdwood, that has a beautiful ski run (Alyeska Ski Resort) at its edge.  They were mountain biking which meant that a lift was running and the place was open for business.  So I went to the ski patrol hut where a ski patrol member is always welcome and had a nice visit with the people on duty there.  They gave me info on the area and on the operation of their ski run.  It's 3/4 double black diamond trails, wow...Phil and Marty would go nuts!  Weather permitting, they ski off of the snow covered ridge at the back of the first picture.
Girdwood is also the home of the Crow Creek Mine, a highly productive gold mine for many years. Today its a museum where you can go to the river and pan for gold.  I will do that later on the way back from further south. We drove up there and talked to the people running it and got the skinny on how they operate.

Resurrection Bay at Seward

Continuing south on the Seward highway, you round the end of Turnagain Arm and climb over Moose Pass.  After you cross the summit, there are three rivers where there are public gold panning areas.  Again on the way back when I am unhooked from the RV...get rich quick!  A little later the highway divides, the east side going to Seward and the west branch going to Homer.  We started with going to Seward.  What we found was that the Southeastern side of the Kenai peninsula is very mountainous and sparsely populated while the Southwestern side is much less mountainous and much more heavily populated.  Naturally, the drive to Seward consisted of your standard beautiful snow covered peaks, mountain streams and fine lakes. 

Seward campground full of rv's

Seward is a small town that is a fishing port, a port for cruise ships and the south end of the Alaska Railroad (the ONLY railroad) that travels up through Anchorage, Denali NP, and ends in Fairbanks.  If you ever take one of those land and sea cruises that the cruise lines sell, you will come here either to go to Denali or to join your cruise ship after being in Denali.   So the town has a good industrial base and prospers.  It sits at the top of Ressurection Bay.  Well, when we get there its three days before the 4th of July and the joint is jammed.  Come to find out that they have a widely attended mountain marathon race that brings people from all over the world to run.  According to the Anchorage newspaper this years winner was from Australia and he set a new record..it was referred to as being won by an "outsider".  We did manage to get a parking space on the waterfront municipal rv park.   We enjoyed wandering around the town, having a drink of the local beer and a pretzel.

Giant, road-eating waterfall

We discovered that the ladies running the cash register at the hardware store were the resident experts at where the fish were biting and what was catching them.  Armed with their best advice and several dollars worth of the best, hottest lures, we went fishing.  This meant a drive south of Seward down a dirt road to Lowell Point.  So, you turn the first corner and find a waterfall about to swallow you and the road.  The buildings on the left in the picture are one of the canneries in town.  When you finally get through the potholes and sort yourself out, you find a really peaceful state park to fish at.  The beach is gravel rather than sand and is stuff ground up by the glaciers.



Resurrection Bay at Lowell Point

Pat tried, no fish

So afishing we went,  tried all the tackle that they recommended.  Fished shallow, fished deep fished close, fished far.  You guessed it, no fish.  Oh well, we had a really nice day.  We left and went over to the other side of the bay to a ship dock.  We found people over there fishing who said that they had some luck about 10:30 the night before until four seals showed up and cleaned out the fish.  Now that's a new excuse to a guy from Ohio. 

Bo tried, no fish

 

 Remember those cruise ships.  This is a Royal Norwegian ship leaving harbor about 10:00 at night.  They are huge and absolutely silent.  They could go right by the rv and you would never know it.  I wanted this picture two days before when a Holland America ship was in port but it went completely by without us knowing it.  For this one, I waited by the shore until it started moving and then went to take the picture.

After a few days, we left Seward for the Homer area.  I wanted to fish three rivers on the western side of the Kenai peninsula that are famous salmon waters.  On the way out of town, we detoured to see the Exit Glacier, which got its name from the first explorers to go through the ice field that covers the top of many of the mountains here.  The ice field is 50 miles long and 40 miles wide.  When the people came to this glacier it made a good exit from the ice, so it was named exit glacier.