epiloge

It is hard to belive our trip was 2 years ago....All we have to do is fix our knees and we are off again........

Home

We boarded the plane at 8:00 Sat. night Alaska time and got into Daytona around noon on Sun. We're all back home and safe. The only glitch was that 3 pieces of our luggage didn't make it. However, our cooler of frozen salmon did make it!!. We had visions of it sitting in the airport defrosting. Luckily all 3 suitcases were delivered this morning.
We had a fabulous time in Alaska. We can't thank Barb, Bob and Paula enough for making our trip happen.
Our trip was not expensive because of Bob and Paula but we found that everything else was. The gas was about the same as prices in Volusia but the food wasn't. Nancy and Patty were use to 5 dollar breakfasts. They were 10 dollars in Alaska. Not taxes in Anchorage but were in other parts.
Highlights of our trip:
Bears in Brooks Camp
The grandeur of Denali and Mt. McKinley
Flight over Mt. McKinley
Float trip to Spencer Glacier
Kenai Fjoyd cruise to N.W. Glacier
Seward
Portage Glacier Cruise
Dipnetting for Salmon
Beauty of Anchorage's flower gardens
HOSPITALITY of Bob and Paula (Thanks again)
I don't have any pictures at this time.....but some will come later.

I've had some picture problems so I am not able to show the giant crabs we had for dinner last night. :(

We are getting on the plane in an hour....The first thing I want to see is DARK. We will be getting in about 10:00 a.m. EDT tomorrow at Daytona Beach airport.

We had a wonderful time... a Hearty thank you to: Paula and Bob Pawlowski for the lodging, food, transportation, touring, and friendship ...Katie for frappes in the morning... Shawn for the conversation, dipnetting, camp taker downer and super father....Gavin for the super soccer game and box game maker upper...And Michael, the future Governer.

Also thanks to our friends that supported us in preparation for this trip. Here's hoping you get to explore this great state!

Thanks Chuck!

PS--You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

We're down to the count!!!!

As Gail said, we took a train to Spencer Lake/Glacier. There are NO roads to it so the only ones to see if have to come and raft. The icebergs were huge!!! We had seen many but from a big ship. We were eye level with these. It's hard to imagine that 90% of the ice is under the water.
We had worn our frogg toggs pants and we were glad because it was cold and rainy. We all bought frogg togg outfits because they are wind and water proof. They came in handy several times.
The next day after Portage Glacier, we drove south to the Aleyska Resort in Grinwood. It is the largest ski area in Alaska. We took the gondola to the top to check it out. It was beautiful looking over the mt tops and Turniagain Arms (water). We had a drink in their lovely lounge overlooking the community. Grinwood is a small town, mostly for skiing, adventure tours and etc.
Thurs. we drove north. Soon after leaving Anchorage, we spotted 3 moose on the road, a female and her two babies. We were able to get some good pictures of them without getting too close. We went to Thunderbird Falls where Patty and Nancy walked 2 miles on a good but mostly steep trail. Then we all took in the Musk Ox Farm. These are domesticated wild animals that are raised for their quivet. It is much warmer than wool. They remind you of a bison with longer hair but is not related to them. We went to the Eagle River Nature trail next and Patty and Nancy saw a black bear.
Friday (today) We all tried to get our bags packed this morning. Then Patty and Nancy set off on a long walk on the Coastal Trail. It runs along Cook Inlet. The tide was out so there was alot of shore exposed. Their beaches have dark sand and glacier silt. The shore exposed is mushy and NOT to be walked on. We were told that in some places the silt was 2,000 feet deep. All of the beach sand/silt reacts like "quicksand" when you step on it. When we got to town, we have a leisurely lunch at a sidewalk cafe and then caught the bus back to Paula/Bob's. We would have walked back but smoke from fires in Kenai and Fairbanks filled the air so it was hard to breathe. When the girls get back from the Alaska Heritage Center, we're all going to the Chocolate Factory. There is a choc. waterfall there. Can't wait to see that!
Everywhere we have seen gorgeous flowers. They really take advantage of 20 hrs. of sunlight.
As Gail said, we're going to have a farewell dinner tonight. Tomorrow we will hit the Sat. market and go to the base for some final shopping. Our plane leaves tomorrow evening at 8 and we get home Sun. morning. Hope you'll have enjoyed our trip as much as we have.

n-ICE & cold

It is almost over....only two days to go. Every breath is cool and dry and the temperature has been up to 76 degrees--except for yesterday.

We took the train from Anchorage to Portage by way of Whitter for a glacier rafting trip to Spencer Glacier and Lake. As usual we dressed in 6 or 7 layers of clothes so we could take it off and put it back on depending on the weather. It was raining the entire trip until the moment we docked.

Don't you think we look like four yellow barrels?

The glacier ice is blue as that color is not absorbed but reflected back from the ice. Our lips and fingers were blue too. It took over two hours to go about 4 miles from the glacier lake and snake around the river.... There are no fish in the lake or river as the glacial water is heavy with a silt of "glacial flour". The river flowed into Turnagain's Arm.

Tuesday we went South to Alyeska and to Portage Glacier. We had freebee coupons to take a cruise to that glacier and to visit a wildlife refuge. When you see the next photos....they were done the safe and easy way -through a fence.
Tomorrow Barb and Paula and I are going to the Nordstrom Birthday SALE and then to the Native Heritage Center. Patty and Nancy are going to walk along the Cook Inlet.

We are going to have a huge seafood dinner of Dungeness crabs, king crab legs, scallops, shrimp and escargot. It will be the gourmet finale to our great trip. Jealous?

Check back for Patty's blog for more on our travel and great pictures. BLESS THE BEASTS!
Gail

BEARS!!!!

Bob's first salmon while dipnetting at the Kasilof River



Grizzly at the falls

A week ago Friday, we flew to King Salmon on the Katmai Pensiluar then took an Otter float plane to Brooks Camp. When a bear is on the beach where a plane land, it has to wait until the bear/bears move on. That's also true when a plane want to leave the camp. Many passengers waited hours to take off. We had to attend "Bear School" when we first arrived, then carried all of our jear to the campground. Nancy and Patty in one tent, Gail and Barb in another, Bob and Paula in a larger one. We set up our tents, cots, sleeping bags with Bob's help. Before we could go see the bears, we had to put all of our food and equipment in caches. We were told that we couldn't sleep in the clothes we ate in because of so many bears in the area even though we had an electrical fence around us. We had a portalet but no running water for a bath. Then we set off to see the bears . There was a bridge over the river then a 1 1/2 mile walk on a path through the woods to the boardwalk at the falls. There were rangers positioned to "stop traffic" if bears were in the area around the bridge. BUT no rangers on the path through the woods. There were 70+ bears (grizzlies or brown) in the 1 1/2 sq miles so the chance of meeting one was pretty good. The bears were focused on the salmon not US but we still had to make noise so they knew we were there. Patty and Nancy ventured off on their own one morning. They had to get off the path and go into the woods when they saw a grizzly coming down the path. They waited til the bear settled in for a nap in the woods. They were so busy keeping their eyes on that bear that they didn't see the two larger ones until they were only feet from them. Needless to say, they didn't venture off by themselves again.
After the first day of "bear gazing", all of us were bitten up by white sock flies. We had been taking brewers yeast so the mosquitoes didn't bother us. Patty go bitten the most especially on the face and around her ankles. Bob gave her a net to wear over her head for the rest of the stay.
Another day on the way back through the woods, 9 of us had to run into the woods twice to escape two subadults (teenagers). They were playing on the path and knew we were there but continued to play. On our second time going back to the boardwalk to wait for them to get off the path, Barb noticed that there was a larger grizzly chasing the two. Now we had 3 bears running down the path right behind us. Paula yelled, "Move fast into the woods BUT don't run". The problem with that was that she and Barb went to the left and 7 of us went to the right. The big bear stopped and stared at them instead the 7 of us. The purpose of staying together is to look BIG to the bear. Paula and Barb weren't as big as the 7 of us. Paula said, " Good bear, go on down the path." We were glad that he was focused again on the 2 subadults and went on down the path. Us ladies bought fishing licenses. Bob tried to help all of us but we weren't too good at casting. As Patty was fishing on the river, the ranger yelled, " a sow and her baby is coming down the path and to get into the woods". The bears decided to go through the woods also and came out only feet from Barb, Nancy and Patty. The sow just looked at us and continued into the river. We had several other "heart stopping" encounters with the bears but we know how lucky we were to have had this experience (thanks to Paula and Bob). The lodge's bathroom was the only place we could wash our hands with warm water so we stopped by there often. Paula and Nancy, at different times, ran into to bears going there. The bears were given "free reign". Unless they were a threat, the people were the ones that had to move. Our last day while sitting by the fireplace in the lodge and waiting for the plane to arrive we saw many bears walking down the paths in the lodge/cabins area. We flew back to King Salmon on a Beaver float plane with Patty as the co-pilot. We could see the vast amount of land that was bog and unhabitable. We had a hamburger and beer there and got back to Anchorage around 10 that night (daylight just like it was noon).
Again we saw how nature takes care of itself, the salmon coming to spawn, the bears coming to eat the salmon, the birds coming to eat some, then the river taking back whats left.
We saw courting and mating rituals. Hierachy was seen as the smaller bears moved
out of the way of big boars. We saw even some big ones give a sow and her cubs wide berth. Grizzlies are blonde and various shades of brown. There were no black bears here.
We flew back to King Salmon on a Beaver float plane with Patty as the co-pilot. We could see the vast amount of land that was bog and unhabitable. We had a hamburger and beer there and got back to Anchorage around 10 that night (daylight just like it was noon).At 8:30 the next morning we were packed again and ready to leave for Johnson Lake to see dip netting . We rode with Bob and saw again how beautiful Turniagain Arm area and the Kenai Pen. was. While Bob set up the camp, we headed for Homer, a beautiful area on the coast. There were 10 of us this time. Patty and Nancy, Gail and Barb had the tents on the lake. It was wonderful to wake up and have your coffee overlooking this beautiful lake. Patty and Nancy went canoeing then walking around the lake. Only Alaskans can go dip netting for salmon. The head of the household can get 25, all others can get 10. We went to see them once from the bay and the other from the mouth of the Kenai River. It was fun to watch hundreds of people standing chest deep in COLD water with these huge nets bringing in salmon. Tonight we will help with the processing of the salmon.
We have had so many wonderful experiences, thanks to Paula and Bob. We continue to thank them.

Bear-ly Enuff Bears

Katmai was a once in a lifetime experience! I wish I could give you the whole thing in "sensoround". We landed on the beach in a floatplane near a grizzley sunning himself on the beach. There was some bantering between the pilot and ground crew about landing to close....but we were to get alot closer in the next two days......

We each had a back pack with a change of clothes, some of the gear and food. We set up camp and stashed the food in a cache separate from the the gear and away from the tent. The camping area has only 16 spaces and a 5 string electric fence to keep the bears away. There is a outhouse protocol for protection from bugs and bears.

Otherwise the critters have free range and the humans are given a lecture of what to do when you suddenly come up on a bear.......and When it happened....we were lucky to have Paula, Barb's sister, to calmly escort us through the situations. We had several encounters on the path where we were backed into the woods so the bear could walk by.....less than 20 feet from us. The adults are more used to the presence of humans....but teenage bears are more unpredictable...and a Mom with a cub is definitely dangerous.

We watched them sleeping, playing, fishing, swimming, wrestling,and making more bears for next spring. We learned to tell a lot about a bear from his skat (poop).

And we brought out some red, swollen and bleeding bug bites. Barb and Patty were bitten on opposite eyes...which made them look like they had been in a tussle with each other. They are still itchy and big like our chiggers or dearflys.

We flew home overnight and then we went out to look for Salmon....That will be the next blog. Please continue to pray for our safe travel and leave a comment so we know you are following us...

"BEAR" footin'

We got in from Brooks Camp at Katmai last night at 10:00 and we are already on our way to Homer and then to do dip netting. Will write later...Bears were beautiful and scary.