Friday, July 8, 2022 - We drove for about three and a half hours to Anchorage, Alaska to the Black Spruce Campground at Fort Richardson Army Post on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) just north of town. This is a huge base and there are three RV camping areas on the installation. The air force has an RV park, but it is not as nice as the Army park. The other park is at Otter Lake and is a little farther away from the main base on a dirt road. So, we are staying at the best of the RV parks at JBER.
As we pulled into the campground, we met Doug Linebaugh, who is the new camp host. Doug was in the Army and was a cook. Today was his first day on the job. He was extraordinarily helpful and friendly. His wife, Nancy, is a photographer and a Latin dancer since she is from the Mexico City area. They were extremely helpful in getting us settled in a nice site just across the road from their trailer. We were also able to wash the rig at this location so we jumped right to it. With Lisa's help, we were able to wash the trailer in about two hours. This made a big difference since we had so much road dirt on the trailer after pulling it through rainstorms on the dirty roads.
Saturday, July 9, 2022 - On this day we drove into Anchorage to check out the town. There are very few high-rise buildings in Anchorage. It is pretty easy to navigate around town and we did not have too much traffic to make driving harder. We even drove to the international airport to see how to get there since Bob and Charlotte Capp with be flying into this airport on the 20th for a three-week stay with us. After this drive to the airport, we went to Bass Pro to look for water shoes for Lisa. We left her nice set of Keens at the RV park in Edmonton. We also ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant next to Bass Pro. We then drove to the base to go to the Commissary. They have a great commissary/base exchange complex on the JBER. Then we returned to our RV where Lisa decided to go for a walk while I went to the Warrior Lounge (where they have WiFi) to work on the blog. I posted about six sets of photos. Then it was back to the RV to take a break.
Sunday, July 10, 2022 - Yesterday, Doug, the Camp Host, told us about Major Marine Tours in Seward and how they had gone on a great tour with them. So, we went online and purchased tickets for the three hour tour on the SS Minnow with Captain Gilligan. Just kidding, it was a four hour tour and the boat Captain was quite capable and had been working in this area for over 11 years (after 10 years in Hawaii). The drive to Seward is 123 miles and takes 2.5 hours to complete. As we were leaving the base, we looked off to the west and saw a huge, snow-covered mountain. Wow! Mount Denali was exposed "as clear as a bell!" We drove all over the base looking for a place to view the peak, but mountains and trees blocked our view. We also saw it on our drive to Seward, but we did not have a good vantage points. The road to Seward travels along Turnaround Arm (a huge bay in the ocean) and is very scenic. Beautiful mountains while driving along the shore of the arm. There were tons of flowers alongside the road and scenic mountains in all directions. The skies were overcast and we did not get any rain until about ten miles outside of Seward. It rained for about 30 minutes and then the skies began to clear. We had to check in for the tour at 11:30 for the 12:30 departure. We were early, so we drove around town to check it our (which did not take long) and then found a free place to park. We then walked into the main part of town to explore. We checked out the nice marina and then went to a pastry shop to have cinnamon rolls before checking in for the tour.
THE TOUR OF RESERRECTION BAY; We left port a 12:30. On the way out, we saw and photographed a bald eagle perched on a floating bouy. While out on the bay, the weather began to improve and before long we had clear skies and sunshine. Also, the water was very calm. Two days before, the swells in this bay had been up to 15 feet. On the way our we saw a sea otter that was floating on the surface with a clam in its front paws and its flippers up in the air. I got some pretty good photos of the sea otter. Next came a pod of Humpback whales. There were no breaches, but the whales spent quite a bit of time on the surface. WE followed the whales for quite a while and it was fun seeing how large they are. After the humpbacks, we motored over to some cliffs that had quite a few puffins on the cliffs and in the water. It was hard getting good photos of the puffins since they are so small and it is hard to get the camera to focus exactly on the bird. I did get some photos that will be posted to the blog shortly, but I am not happy with the focus, and I need to work on my technique. We then went to see some stellar seals sunning on rocks. There was a male and about 15 females on a large rock. They seemed to be watching us too. After the seals, we cruised to an island on which a bald eagle had made a nest in the top of a tall tree. The eagle was perched next to the nest, and you could see the young eagle inside the nest. I was able to get some good photos of the eagle pair. It was about time to head back to the docks, but the captain heard radio reports of a pod of Orcas (killer whales) in the bay, We motored to where they were seen and we came across the pod of about eight whales. They were not jumping, but the were on the surface cruising along. We were able to spend about fifteen minutes with them and they came very close to the the boat. I got some very good shots. After the Orcas, we motored back into port. It was a great day on the water. Even though it was pretty calm, I did manage to become a little bit queasy on the cruise. I did not "feed the fish," but just enough to not feel good in what I was doing. I did take some seasick pills before I left, and they feel that they did help. Lisa did not have any problems on this cruise with seasickness.
After the cruise, we began the drive back to Anchorage. Just after we got started, a large male moose lumbered across the road in front of us. We were not closed enough to hit it, but we sure got a good view of it. These animals appear to be lumbering as they run, but they are covering ground pretty quickly. The drive home was as beautiful as was the drive to Seward.
Monday, July 11, 2022 - I worked on the blog after getting up. This took me until near noon. We then decided to run some errands. Before we left, we talked to Dou8g and Nancy and asked them to come over for dinner. We then went down to the local Verizon office to see about getting me a new IPhone. I opted for the IPhone 13 Pro Max. We were trying to finalize the deal, but the Verizon computer system nationwide would not accept a new purchase. The clerk, James, an ex-Army member, worked hard to get the system to work, but we finally decided to go home and come back when their computers were back up and running. We then went to Walmart for a few quick purchases and the went home to prepare for our dinner guests. Doug and Nancy came by and we had a great dinner and conversation together. Nancy had prepared some empanadas the we also heated in their air-fryer. They are really good empanadas with meat, raisins, onions, sauce in them. Nancy is a great cook as well as a great photographer. She owns some advanced cameras and lenses. I really enjoyed talking to her about photography, especially with the wildlife available in Alaska.
After our dinner visit, we prepped for bed and had just settled in when the entire trailer began to shake. It seems that there was a 4.5 earthquake located about 50 miles south of us that only lasted for about five seconds. It really was an 'attention-getter." It has been a long time since I had experienced an earthquake and reminded us that this area is located on the "Pacific Rim Ring of Fire" and is subject to volcanoes and earthquakes. We have heard no reports of any damage.
Note: Lisa also found out from Doug, that there had been a bear attack on base when some military members were on drills and they were going through the forested area of the base and accidently came across a grizzly bear's den. The bear exited the den rapidly and charged one military member who did not have time to react even though we had a rifle and bear spray. The bear attacked and killed the soldier. The other soldier "played dead" and the bear scratched him somewhat, but left him alone. We have been told to watch our for any bears on base and to carry bear spray when out and about.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 - Lots of chores to do around the RV today. We did all of the laundry and I ordered new suspension parts for the RV. New equalizers and wet bolts that will be installed in August before we return to the States. I also added the photos to the blog for our tour of Resurrection Bay near Seward. We are also cleaning the RV and trying to stay ahead of the dust and dirt that can accumulate in the RV.
Wednesday, Jull 13, 2022 - We drug out the kayaks and headed for Mirror Lake near Eagle River, Alaska. Mirror Lake is a gorgeous little lake that sits in a valley between some high mountains. When the Sun is out, the reflection of the hills on the lake can be like a "mirror." There were picnic benches and lots of kids playing around the lake. Some kayaks and canoes were on the lake as were many pontoon float planes that were parked at docks near their respective homes. We decided that the lake was a little small for us to kayak and that we would circumnavigate the lake in about 30 minutes, so we decided to move on over to Ekluntna Lake. Ekluntna Lake is a glacial lake with pretty jade-green water. We had to haul the kayaks quite a ways down to the water, but it was good exercise for both of us. We began to kayak the edges of the lake. This lake is a mile wide and seven miles long with fairly steep rocky shorelines for most of the lake. Where we started, the short was more flat with lots of green grass-like plants that really looked pretty. We spent three hours on the lake and then returned to our starting point. The water was mostly calm with just a little breeze when we were the farthest from our launch point. Three hours of upper-body work and we felt it when we returned. It was a lot of fun. We headed back to the RV after the kayaking.
Thursday, July 14, 2022 - One event for today was to go to Best Buy to see if I could get a belt-clip holster for my new IPhone 13. Seems that they do not make one for the fancy, waterproof case I bought. Now I have to go to the store to buy some sort of cargo pants that have a pocket where I can carry the phone and secure it properly. We did chores the rest of the day and then at 7:00 pm we traveled with Doug and Nancy Linebaugh, our Camp Hosts, to Guido's Pizza Parlor for pizza and listening to one their friends who is part of a group of musicians who play there on Thursday nights. It is basically a jam-session for blue-grass music. It was fun. There were about six of them and they had a guitar, mandolin, bass fiddle, banjo, guitar, and violin/fiddle. It was fun. We stayed there till about 10:00pm when Doug and Nancy departed to go wait for sunset (ll:30pm or so) and moonrise (2:15am or so) so Nancy could take some photos of the largest moon of the year.
Friday, July 15, 2022 - We head for Whittier. We start the day at Costco for diesel. When most prices for diesel in Anchorage are running at around $5.99, Costco is selling diesel for 5.29 per gallon. When you are buying 100 gallons or more of diesel, you are saving over $70 by going to Costco for one fill-up. After the fill-up, we hit the New Seward Highway on our way to Whittier. We were driving along the highway when we came up upon the Alaska Train heading for Whittier too. We took some video of the train and it is in the video gallery clip on Whittier. The road and the train track follow the shoreline of the Turnagain Arm which is a large bay that travels east from the Pacific Ocean. It is a very shallow arm and we have seen it literally full at high tide and empty with sand all the way to the middle during low tide. Apparently, you don't want to walk on this sand during low tide because it is very unsafe. We then continued to Whittier and as we got close, we came upon a couple of state parks and we checked out some of the hiking trails there. We then drove past Portage Lake and decided that we would take a tour of this lake later in the day after seeing Whittier. Then, we came to the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. This is a one-way tunnel that takes you through a huge mountain and into the town of Whittier. Be one-way I mean that the traffic in the tunnel only travels one way at a time. The tunnel is a single lane. It also has train tracks set into the center of the tunnel, so there are times when both directions of traffic are stopped so that the train can make its way through the tunnel. The tunnel was begun in November of 1941 and finished about two years later. It was part of the World War II effort to supply Anchorage. It seems that the arm of Prince William Sound that Whittier is one that never becomes ice-bound. Since it never freezes, it was a perfect place to send cargo ships and their cargos could be loaded on trains and taken to Anchorage; even in winter. We had a very nice lunch at the Whittier Inn dining room. The halibut in their fish and chips was very fresh and had been just caught in the local waters. Whittier only has 200 residents although about 700,000 tourists visit Whittier each year. Virtually every one of this 200 residents live in one large building that was a military barracks that was built in 1974.
After lunch, we drove through the tunnel and traveled about five miles to Portage Lake where we would get tickets to take a one-hour tour of the lake and see the Portage Glacier. We got the tickets which cost $45 each ($41 with our military discount) and we boarded the boat just before 3:30. The tour was very good and we saw streams flowing into the lake, small icebergs bloating in the lake, and the glacier itself. We had light rain for the first 45 minutes of the tour, but then it cleared and the rain stopped. The tour was well worth the money and the glacier was pretty impressive. The glacier is not receding at this time since the snowfall on the mountain is sufficient to keep the glacier in place. During 1915, the glacier was five kilometers farther down the lake and the entire lake was ice. Also, the water in the lake is greenish in color due to the sediment that is washing into the lake. It blocks the light that would allow food to grow for fish to eat. There is no food, so there are no fish in the lake either. After the tour of the lake, we hopped into the truck and drove back to Anchorage. We found a UPS Store to mail in my old, used IPhone. We then went back to the RV.
Saturday, July 16, 2022 - A very rainy day, so we stayed in the RV till about 4:00 in the afternoon. We did chores and I worked hard on the blog. We went for a four mile walk to get some exercise. We then had dinner and lounged around the RV.
Sunday, July 17, 2022 - We stayed around the RV waiting for the rain to stop. We are getting a little "cabin fever" from sitting around waiting for clearer skies. We are going to have to get out even if it is raining.
Monday, July 18, 2022 - We ran errands in the morning and I got a haircut. After lunch at Subway, we came back to the base. The weather cleared, so we went for a 17 mile bicycle ride on base. The ride was our first in quite a while and it was a lot of fun. We then stayed around the RV during the rest of the day.
Tuesday, July 18, 2022 - Rain at night and during the day. We just stay around the RV today due to the rain. We should have gone for a drive, but got lazy and stayed home. Going fishing tomorrow with Doug Linebaugh.