Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

(written on July 19th)

Steve and I are in Homer. We’ve been here since Friday. We had a bear trip scheduled for Saturday, with a back up date of Sunday. Neither date worked for us, as the cloud cover and visibility (fog) was poor enough that Chris and Ken called the trip on both days for weather. This makes the third year in a row that we’ve been weathered out. It’s getting pretty old… We’re both extremely disappointed, but since we’re old hats at this weathering out we just took it in stride. I guess when the time is right, it’ll happen. We’ll just keep on trying. We’ve briefly discussed coming back in September, but it’s a long drive to make based on chance.

We have a single soldier staying at our house while we’re gone. (Steve knows him very well, and he’s not the type to have wild parties! *grin*) He lives in the barracks, so he jumped at the opportunity to stay in a comfortable home, in exchange for keeping an eye on our house while we’re gone. We asked him to keep our vegetable plants and flowers watered, and to take care of Sushi (my Beta fish).

Well, “fish-sitting” was removed from the list because my dear Sushi died the day before we left town. I was both shocked and saddened to find his lifeless body floating in the tank when I woke on Wednesday morning. I even got a bit teary eyed, when Steve sent him swirling to the ‘big septic tank in the sky’. My poor Sushi! I only had him for four months. Who knows how old he was - or if he was sick - when I brought him home from WalMart. I’ll be adopting another fish when we get back, and I hope this one lasts more than four months.

The drive from Fairbanks to Palmer was long and uneventful. We stopped in Wasilla to check out the new Target store. We don’t have a Target in Fairbanks. In fact, the only big box department stores we have in Fairbanks are WalMart, Fred Meyer, and Sears. We have quite a few smaller locally-owned shops, and we have several other big-name stores (Old Navy, Barnes and Noble, Sports Authority, etc), but not much else if you’re a diehard shopaholic (which I’m not). So, the addition of Target to both Wasilla and Anchorage has been big news for those who consider retail therapy a sport. Quite a few folks are keeping their hopes up that one comes to Fairbanks.

Well, my experience in Target wasn’t all that great. It wasn’t anything like I remember the Targets of the Lower 48 being. There weren’t any of those big sale racks with clothing marked down to ridiculously low prices. And the sale racks that they did have, weren’t all that ‘cheap’, nor were the sale items plentiful. The regularly priced merchandise was up-priced for Alaska like everything else in this state. Needless to say, I could care less if Fairbanks ever gets a Target. All it will do is cause even more traffic congestion to an already busy part of town.

We stayed at Homestead RV Park in Palmer. The park is nice, in that the gravel RV sites are surrounded by tall birch and cottonwood trees, to give a more woodsy feeling. And the sites are very level too. There’s no cable TV, and the antenna didn’t pick up anything but snowy channels, so we popped in a movie to put us to sleep. WiFi is available for a price: $2.00/day, with additional options for weekly or monthly service. The showers are nice, and there are laundry facilities. There’s a community building at the RV park, and while we were there, a group of folks were using it for some square dancing. I stopped to watch through the windows for a few minutes while walking Sedona.

I didn’t take many photos between Fairbanks and Palmer. The sky was hazy with smoke in some areas, and the mountain (Denali) wasn’t out. We did stop at the Alaska Veterans Memorial at mile 147.2 on the Parks Highway to stretch our legs and make a sandwich, and I took a few photos there.

The next morning, we packed up the camper and continued our trip to Homer. As always, we made a stop at the Fort Richardson Commissary to pick up perishable food, as well as a stop at the gas station to fill our gas tanks. Gas was $2.88 on post - two cents more than we paid in Fairbanks. Why is it that gas prices go up when the weekend comes?

The views along Turnagain Arm were pretty, but not as pretty as we have seen it. Clouds were low hanging, and the sky was a hazy gray color, but still it was a beautiful drive. I didn’t take many still shots while we drove, but I did play with Steve’s new video camera (bought for the bear trip that never happened).

We stopped at Turnagain Pass to walk Sedona, stretch our legs, and have some lunch. We always stop at the rest stop there, as it’s absolutely gorgeous! The fireweed is blooming here on the Kenai Peninsula, but the flower petals are only about 1/3 of the way up the stalk. We’re at least 1/2 way up (if not more) in the Interior. It is said that once the flowers are all the way to the top, and the plant goes to seed, winter is only six weeks away. We’re not going to think about that…

Here are photos that I took on our drive from Anchorage to Homer:

When in Homer, we camp at Oceanview RV Park, and we’ve always loved staying here in the past. But lately, we’ve become more and more disenchanted with the place. They began catering mostly to Caravan RVers - which is fine, except that the spaces are really tight together, so you can barely put your awning out without hitting the rig next door.  At least our site was the very first one in the row (overlooking the bay) so we only had someone out one side and had clear views of the water and mountains. RV parks in Homer are limited, with several of them having no hookups, so we don’t have much choice unfortunately.

(written on July 20th)

After arriving in Homer on Friday night, we set up the camper and then drove down to the Spit to see what was going on (and to take some photos). I was curious to see what had become of Jean Keene’s little spot on the spit, and was sad to see that her trailer is now gone, and all that remains of the Eagle Lady’s presence is one of the ‘upside down’ drift trees where the eagles used to perch. There’s also a huge flower pot filled with blooming flowers. I didn’t see any memorial plaques, but then again I didn’t get close, as there were people camping there.

As for eagles, we saw a handful - if that. They perched high on buildings, antennas, and the weather alert towers, watching the world go by.

Steve and I decided to have dinner in the Chart Room Lounge at the Land’s End Resort. We found a table overlooking the bay, and chose light fare from a bar menu. It was good, but the view was better. After eating, we walked down to the water and watched folks fishing.

Here are some photos I took on Friday afternoon/evening in Homer:

As I wrote yesterday, our bear trip was weathered out on Saturday. After Ken Day (owner/pilot of Emerald Air Service) called the trip, the four of us went out for a cup of coffee.  I’m beginning to think we’re just bad luck. Despite our disappointment at not flying, it was nice to sit and have coffee with Chris and Ken and catch up with each other.  A little while later, we were joined by Mike McCann - author of two books: Give Me The Hudson or The Yukon and Return to the River. We really enjoyed talking to him; he had us in stitches with his stories. Before he left, he gave us a copy of each of his books. What a wonderful thing to do! I’ll probably start reading one to Steve on our way back to Fairbanks.

Ken told us about an alpine meadow overlooking Homer and the bay, and gave us directions to get there. We decided to drive up and hike one of the trails, even though the weather was quite overcast and it threatened to rain on us.  It was beautiful! Fireweed, delphinium, monkshood, cow parsnip, and several other species of wildflower were blooming. Some were past their prime, but they still added to the rainbow of colors that stretched out over the hillside.  We enjoyed the short hike (about a mile) through the flowers, and it didn’t start to drizzle on us until we were near the truck. Perfect timing!

Photos from the alpine meadow:

Coming down from the meadow (I love the mountains across the bay!):

Steve grilled us a couple of NY strip steaks for dinner. We also had baked potatoes and rice with broccoli and cheese. It was so good! Nothing beats a steak cooked on a grill - especially when you’re camping.  We settled in to watch a movie (OK, so we don’t ‘rough it’) and I think we were both asleep before 11pm!

The next morning (Sunday), we headed back to Emerald Air with the hopes of being able to fly. It didn’t look promising. Rain was falling, the fog in the distance was thick, and we could barely see the mountains across the bay. We didn’t even bother putting our waders on, and we left our backpacks in the truck.  Again, at 10am, Ken called the trip for weather.  *sigh*

This time, the four of us went out for breakfast - to Sweet Berries Cafe . I had a cheese omelet (made from local organic eggs), and home fries (made from Alaskan potatoes) with toast (baked on site), while Steve had biscuits and gravy (bisquits made on site). Chris and Ken had biscuits and gravy too. Everything was delicious!

With the weather being rainy and overcast, we took a leisurely drive around town, checking out the side streets, and admiring some of the houses, while raising an eyebrow at others.  We love the diversity of Alaska. We even picked up some info sheets on houses for sale. One home had the most gorgeous view of Kachemak Bay and the glaciers across the water. A log home, it listed for $269,000 - certainly falling within the average price range for a good size home in Alaska.  We’re not planning to move out of North Pole anytime soon, but it’s nice to see what’s out there and spend a few moments fantasizing about waking up to views of gorgeous mountains and water.

After our drive, we came back to the camper, and took Sedona out for a walk on Bishops Beach.  It seems everyone who owned a dog was out walking at the same time.  Unfortunately, not everyone believes in keeping their dog leashed. While I certainly understand the pleasure of taking a scenic walk with your dog, and letting him/her run free, I can not do that with Sedona if there is any chance of encountering a strange dog.  She is, and has always been, dog agressive (until she gets to know the dog).  As soon as we got on the beach, three strange dogs came running towards us. Sedona’s hackles raised and she began a low grumble in her chest. She only sees three dogs running towards me - and she’s quite protective. The owner yelled to me “It’s OK.. they’re friendly!”, and I had to yell back, “It’s NOT OK - because mine is NOT friendly!”.  He was finally able to get their attention; they made an about face and trotted back to him.

Photos from around town:

This pano of Homer Spit was taken from up on East End Avenue:

These photos were taken from the beach, when we went for our evening walk:

The view from our campsite:

Steve’s going on several fishing trips while we’re here in Soldotna. My friend Linda and her husband will be coming into town later this week, and we plan to drive up to Captain Cook State Park together. (Steve will be fishing).

Steve and I will be stopping at the Russian River Campground after we leave here, for a hike up to the falls. The bears like to fish up there, so hopefully we’ll see some bear action on this trip despite the cancellation of our trips to Katmai.

Well, we’re heading out for a walk in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (which is right next door to our campground). The rain has stopped and the clouds seem to be blowing out. Sedona’s ready to go exploring.

Until next time…