Homer, AK

A landmark in Homer is the Salty Dawg Saloon so we took a picture. Although we didn't partake of their offerings, we did look inside because someone told us the inside was covered with dollar bills. They were right and the inside ceiling, walls and just about everything was papered with dollar bills. The building was put together by moving other buildings to the site and connecting them. The lighthouse is actually an operating NOAA weather station.

Birds

Homer has lots of birds and we have seen quite a few on the tours around here. Top photo is a mother sandhill crane feeding one of her chicks. Bottom picture is a group of common murres which we saw on a boat trip around Kachemak Bay. There are lots of both sea birds and shore birds here.

Homer, AK

Homer is famous for fishing as you can see. Linda loves fish as the picture shows which is a joke, and the one in that picture is a fake. However, the next picture shows some halibut that was caught from one of the fishing tours. Homer supplies 25 percent of the halibut caught in North America. If you love to fish you would love Homer.

Alyeska Resort

These beautiful flowers were in front of the Alyeska Hotel so I thought that a picture of Linda by them would be appropriate. There were several people parasailing off the Alyeska Mountain above the Resort and it looked like fun. I tried to talk Linda into taking the leap but she wasn't game and I wasn't willing to part with $195. However, we did enjoy watching them.

Girdwood, AK

We had to back track to Anchorage to have some work done on the motor home. It seems that the throttle position sensor malfunctioned and this confused the motor home computer. Anyway, it is okay now and we traveled down to Homer. On the way we stopped at Girdwood to see the Alyeska Resort and Ski Area. They say that the Alyeska Hotel is the best in Alaska and it looked very very nice. We rode the tram up a mountain behind the hotel. The scenery was just great and we could see three glaciers at one time.

Mount Marathon

On the 4th of July Seward has a 3.1 mile race that goes up Mount Marathon and back. We walked a little on the trail and it is extremely rough and goes up about 45 degrees at times. The record for this race is about 45 minutes which is hard to believe. There are people who do this race year after year and we talked to some women who were there training. It was obvious that they spent quite a lot of their time on their bottoms during the down hill run. The first race was in 1915 when a bet was made that a man could go up and down in less than an hour. He almost won the bet but lost by 2 minutes.

Exit Glacier and Puffin

At Seward the Exit Glacier is popular since you can hike up to the edge. We went with a ranger led tour and learned more about glaciers. The hike was only about 2 miles round trip and was very easy. We also toured the Sea Life Center in Seward which we found very nice since it is relatively new. Their bird display was excellent and included some puffins which is an attractive bird.

Seward

We made the trip to Seward and was not too surprised that it is raining. Seems like this is normal for the towns on the coast. However, the scenery was just fantastic on the way here. The picture here is just one of the many mountain scenes we saw on the way.

Float Planes

Air planes are used a lot in Alaska since the state is so large and there are very few roads, and float planes are popular since they have many lakes and slow moving rivers which make good places to land. We got to see this plane take off and land on the Chena River. The plane is valued at about $100K and it takes $100 per hour to operate. It is said that Alaska has more air plane pilots than all of the lower 48 states combined. We are leaving Fairbanks tomorrow and it may be a couple of days before we can find Wi-Fi again.

University of Alaska Museum and Gardens

The University of Alaska Museum was a highlight of our visit to Fairbanks and is a new and modern facility concerning the history and culture of Alaska. We really enjoyed the Botanical Gardens at the University also where they do research on various agricultural items. Their growing season is very short here so things grow really fast with the 20 plus hours of daylight as the rhubarb plant shows. The last picture shows peonies which seem to do great here. The international market needs peonies for July and August and Alaska may be able to supply that need. They have plenty of sunshine but everything must be irrigated.

Panning for Gold

Yesterday we went to the El Dorado gold mine and they showed us how to pan for gold. The top photo shows the gold that the staff at the mine got on their demonstration on how to do it. Linda is showing off the gold we got from the little pouch of sand they gave us in a necklace. We are sure it was spiked since everyone got a little out of each pouch but we thought it was fun doing the panning.

Sled Dogs

Sled dogs are popular here in Fairbanks since they have so much snow. Pictured above is a Mom with pups and also a demonstration of how the dogs are trained to pull their load. The gentleman on the four wheeler is the husband of Susan Butcher (now deceased) who was famous for her success in the 1000 mile Iditarod race which takes place in March. Dave continues to train sled dogs and we were shown the house that he still lives in.

Salmon in Alaska

The boat trip today in Fairbanks was very interesting and educational. Salmon is the largest industry in Alaska and we were shown how the natives prepared them. A fish wheel shown above is used to catch salmon and is only allowed by individuals that live in Alaska. The salmon are fileted and smoked. We had samples of smoked salmon which was very good.

Fairbanks, AK

We have had beautiful weather so far in Fairbanks and we spent the day roaming around town to see a few things. They have a new Visitor Center shown above which is "State of the Art" and the staff there were very helpful. We visited a number of places but I wanted to show you a 1929 Model A Ford which looks somewhat like the one that my Dad and Mom had when they were young. A river boat ride is planned for tomorrow.

Alaska Pipeline

We traveled to Fairbanks today and enjoyed some tremendous scenery; however, you might be interested in the Alaska oil pipeline. It is a 4 ft. diameter pipe that runs 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. It is sometimes underground and sometimes above ground. The pipeline can handle several million gallons of oil per day and supplies about 15% of our nation's oil.

Leaving Valdez

We enjoyed our stay in Valdez as you can see by the smile on Linda's face as we boarded the boat tour. I thought that the pictures of the eagle and the eagle's nest might be of interest. We saw these on the boat tour. It is a little hard to see but we were told that there was an eagle on the nest. They use these nest year and year and keep adding to them until some get to weigh over a thousand pounds.

Hike at Valdez

We had a great hike along the harbor and the scenery was just great. There was a small Iris which was very much like those we have in the Elkmont area of the Smoky Mountains and this tree looked like it was either very old or had a very hard life. Tomorrow we are moving toward Fairbanks so you may not hear from us for a couple of days.