Friday, July 31, 2009

Canada Revisited

We've decided to go back into Canada and see some of the sights we missed on our way to Alaska. Canada is a very pretty country and has a lot to offer the tourist. There are beautiful lakes, high mountains covered in snow and above all lots of wild life.

We're hoping on this trip to be able to see some wild life we missed before. At any rate we took a couple of pictures of things we did see and hope you enjoy them.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Trip To Palmer, Alaska

Today we thought we'd go to Palmer, it's a farming town but it was established about 1916 as a railway station on the Matanuska branch of the Alaska Railroad..

In 1935 Palmer became the site of one of the most unusual experiments in American history. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, on of the many New Deal relief agencies created during Roosevelt's first year in office, planned an agriculture potential trial in Alaska. They picked 203 families from the northern counties of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to join the colony.

The growing season in Alaska averages 100 to 118 days with long hours of sunlight, about 22+ hours per day and this helps them grow some prize vegetables. They have grown cabbage and lettuce about 50 to 60 pounds each.

As luck would have it, the rain came back and put a damper on most of our plans for today. However, we still got to take a few pictures which we hope you'll like.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Just Taking A Ride With No Special Place To Go

Since the rain had finally stopped we decided to take a ride around the area and see what we might bump into. There is a lot of nice small towns around us that we haven't seen yet.

As we wandered off the beaten path we found the roads were terrible, they were full of pot holes, frost heaves and just plain rough roads. Thanks goodness the scenery was nice and that made up for the road conditions.

We hope you like the pictures we took, Jerry took a lot of them but I also took some too.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Russian Orthodox Church, Kenai, Alaska

Jerry became so interested in this Church that she wanted me to do a Blog on it.

The Orthodox Church is Evangelical, but not Protestant. She is Orthodox, but not Jewish, She is Catholic but not Roman, She isn't inter-denominational, She is pre-denominational. She has believed, taught, preserved. defended and died for the Faith of The Apostles since the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago.

The Three Bar Cross. This cross existed very early in Byzantium, but was adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church and especially in the Slavic countries. The upper bar represents the superscription, "Jesus Of Nazareth, The King Of The Jews" (John 19:19). The slanting bar represents His footrest, for those who do not believe in the humanity of our Lord, in his extreme pain twisted the footrest. Two thieves were crucified with Him . The upward slant represents the repentance of the Good Thief who said, "Lord remember me when you come into Your Kingdom" (Luke 23:42). The downward slant represents the thief on the left who mocked Him saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us", Luke 23-39.

The Domes on the roof of the Orthodox Churches are usually onion-shaped. In the early history of the Russian Church, especially in Kiev, Ukraine the domes of the churches followed the typical Byzantine rounded style. Later, especially after the Mongol period Russian churches tended toward the onion domes which, in many places became quite stylized.

Where do people sit? In order to express to God our reverence before Him and our worship of Him, during prayer we stand and do not sit; only the sick and elderly are allowed to pray sitting down. Standing while at prayer is an ancient and God-ordained tradition. Therefore Christians, according to apostolic teachings, stand through the Divine Services, where it is often proclaimed, "Let us stand aright" or "Let us attend".

The present Church structure was built in 1895 to replace the first one which had fallen into disrepair. A $400 grant from the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg, Russia provided the funds for building materials. This Church has remained an active Church since then with Vesper services every Saturday night at 6:00 and Diving Liturgy (Mass) on Sunday mornings at 9:00. There are a couple of dozen who attend on average each Sunday.

Father Thomas Andrew, Resident Priest told us a lot about the Church and it's history. This is a place to visit if you come to Kenai, Alaska.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The City Of Kenai

Today, we took a pleasant drive to the City Of Kenai. The City of Kenai is located in the heart of the Kenai Peninsula and boasts wonderful views of the Kenai River, Cook Inlet, sandy beaches, two mountain ranges and four active volcanoes. Kenai is the largest and oldest city on the peninsula.

We went mainly to see Old Town Kenai which in some cases dates back to the early 1800's and although some of the buildings have been relocated, they are carefully moved to retain their original look.

The lobby of the visitor center is filled with hundreds of birds from the area and they look like they could fly.

Get the popcorn ready and enjoy the show. We hope you enjoy the pictures of the Moose.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Homer, Alaska

Today, with the weather a little better, we drove to Homer, The Halibut Fishing Capital Of The World. They have really caught some "whoppers" there, they throw back the little ones, those of about 50 lbs.

Homer is nestled among rolling hills and overlooking Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountains, the seaside community is really a fishing Mecca.

Of course we had to drive the Homer Spilt, a 4.5 mile narrow finger jutting into Kachemak Bay. It is lined on both sides with gift shops, sea food restaurants and of course tons of charter boat companies.

We took a couple of pictures which we hope you enjoy, we did.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Soldotna, Alaska

Today we took about a 40 miles drive into Soldotna, the nearest large town to us to do some shopping and maybe some sight seeing as well.

As luck would have it the weather did not want to cooperate, it rained most all the way over and back.

Soldotna, located just 140 miles from Anchorage is the central hub of the Kenai Peninsula, Soldotna borders the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and is home to Moose, Caribou, Brown and Black Bears, wolves, ducks, geese and many other types of wildlife. You can fish the world famous Kenai River, home of the world record 97 lb King Salmon. Whatever you choose, Soldotna has it all.

We did get a few pictures but not as many as I would have liked. Hopefully the weather will improve.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Ninilchik, AK

We left Seward this morning after having seen all the sights worth seeing. We saw Orca and Hump Back Whales, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, Moose and the best of all Grizzly Bear. We really had a good time and the owners of the RV Park were great and really made us feel at home.

We drove about 130 miles to our destination, The Alaskan Angler RV Park. It rained all the way down and Jerry was not able to take more than four pictures on this trip. Oh well we'll take more now that we're here.

Ninilchik is a Russian fishing village whose name means "peaceful settlement by the river". Founded in the mid 1800's. there are about 300 permanent residents here. Cook Inlet has the second highest tidal changes in the northern hemisphere, and is ringed by active volcanoes, Augustine, IIiamna, Redoubt, and Spurr. Deep Creek and Ninilchik River are famous for Salmon fishing and the local beach is excellent for razor clams. We're looking forward to doing a lot of sight seeing around here.

Friday, July 17, 2009

A Little Side Trip

Today we took a little side trip on the roads around the park to see what might be there. One thing we were told about was a "Salmon trap" and we wanted to see how that worked.

As we were heading to it a man stopped us and said "there is a bear in the creek ahead". Well we had to see that, and sure enough there was a full grown Grizzly Bear in the creek catching Salmon. I slowly eased down to see him and he looked up at me as if to say, "don't bother my fish". I stood quietly and took several pictures of him since I hadn't been that close to a "Griz" yet.

At the Salmon Trap we took some pictures of a few Salmon they had caught and they were sure pretty. If we had a way to clean them we might have bought some, but we passed on it this time. We saw a pretty lake and a few of the Alaskan float planes there.

I stopped and took a picture of a sign advertising food and drink, it's funny.

Hope you continue to enjoy the pictures. We're leaving Monday heading to the Homer, Alaska area in hopes of seeing Bears feeding on Salmon and also some Bald Eagles.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Kenai Fjords National Park Boat Ride

Today, we embarked on a day long boat trip to the Kenai Fjords National Park to see some beautiful glaciers and hopefully lots of wild life. We departed Seward Harbor at 11:45 AM and were not expected to return until 7:14 PM. Today the weather was perfect.

The 600,000 acre park offers majestic views to visitors, lessons to scientist and inspiration to artist ,but what it offers to its animal residents is something far more tangible. Whales migrate thousands of miles to dine abundantly, sieving the cold food-rich currents that quicken around the headlands and islands.

Alaska is a magnificent state and it has over 10,000 glaciers of all sizes. The Harding Ice field is the largest ice field located entirely within the United States. It covers approximately 1,000 square miles. Estimates suggest the ice field receives about 400 to 600 inches of fresh snow each year. Most of the glaciers located within the ice field have a "face" of about 400 to 600 feet high.

Our trip not only offered us an opportunity to see some beautiful glaciers "up close and personal", but also provided us with a wonderful meal. We had "all you can eat" prime rib and baked Alaska Salmon with all the trimmings, boy what a feast.

We hope you enjoy the pictures of our trip, sorry I can't share the meal with you.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Kenai Fjords Seward, Alaska

Today we took a short drive to the Kenai Fjords to see the Exit Glacier. This is one of the very few that you can almost drive right up to. From the parking lot, the trails to the Glacier are not long but boy are they tough, they go almost straight up and the trail has a lot of large rocks on them.

The Exit Glacier is about 30 miles long and in some places the ice ranges from 600 to 1000 feet thick. Each year the area gets about 600 to 700 feet of new snow so it continues to grow even in spite of "global warming". The blue ice is clear clean ice and the white ice is called "cover" ice.

While Jerry was waiting for me to return from a hike to the Glacier, she and some other people saw a baby Black Bear. She didn't get any pictures because she was afraid to move, after all where there is a baby, there is a mother bear near by.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Going To Anchorage...Not

We had plans to spend three or four days at the Ft. Richardson FAMCAMP, they have full hook-ups with 30 amp service. I called them to make sure they had open sites and the park manager said all she could guarantee was "dry camping". That means no water, electricity or sewer and the price was $10.00 We had already checked with the Air Force Base and they had nothing open either. Oh well.

We decided to drive 169 miles to Seward since we could get a 30 amp site with full hookups and WiFi as well. Jerry has to have the WiFi for her bridge games.

The Seward Highway's outstanding scenic, historic and recreational resources have given it a triple designation; National Forest Scenic Byway, All-American Road and Alaska Scenic Byway. It really lived up to all three of these, hopefully the pictures Jerry took will prove this to be true.

We plan to be in Seward for a week and maybe two, rest assured, I'll take a lot of pictures so I'd recommend having lots of popcorn on hand.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

On Our Way To Anchorage

After a couple of enjoyable days in Denali we hit the road heading to Anchorage for a few days before going to Seward, Alaska.

We drove about 160 miles through some pretty countryside and of course we had some rough roads too.

We stopped and spent the night in one of our "favorite campgrounds, Wally World" In Wasilla, Alaska. This is the home town of the soon to be ex-Governor, Sara Pallin. I'm not sure if she was home or not but we didn't even try to see her.

Jerry had some stale bread that she wanted to get rid of and she found a good way of doing it. Take a look at the pictures to see how she did it. Not a single crumb left either.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Denali National Park And Preserve

Today we got up early to take a 91 mile drive into the interior of Denali National Park. Yesterday we had rain and clouds all day long and even some rain last night. When we got up, the sky was clear and the sun was bright in the eastern sky. We had high hopes that we might be lucky and get to see "The Mountain". On average it's only visible about 35% of the time.

When an Alaskan says, "The Mountain is out", there is no doubt which mountain is filling the horizon, it's Mount McKinley or "Denali" s most Alaskans call it. The 20,320 foot massif is the tallest mountain in North America. It is often covered by clouds but when visible, it is a magnificent sight.

The mountain is not the reason Denali National Park and Preserve was created, however. In 1917 the park was created to protect the wildlife. Eventually expanded to six million acres, the park is home to moose, caribou, Dall sheep,wolves and bears.

More than 650 species of flowering plants eke out a living here, along with a variety of mosses and lichens. In addition, Denali is home to 39 species of mammals, 167 species of birds, 10 species of fish and one amphibian, the wood frog. There are no reptiles recorded in Denali National Park.

We saw some of the most beautiful scenery that I've seen in a long. long time. Denali was out and we were able to see it in all it's beauty. I know some of you will ask "why did Bob take so many pictures of Denali"? As I said before, the mountain is only visible about 35% of the time and I knew we probably would not be back again so I wanted to record as much of its beauty as I could.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

On The Road To Denali

After being in Fairbanks, AK for two week and enjoying seeing all the great sites, we headed on a 112 miles trip to Denali, the home of the Alaska "Big Hill".

Normally Jerry takes a lot of pictures on our trips but today the weather was cloudy and it rained off and on the entire trip. Oh well she'll make up for it on the next drive.

After we got to the RV Park and got all hooked up, we drove to the Park headquarters to get our bus tickets for tomorrow. We have to be there at 8:15 AM and the bus will leave at 8:30 AM. The trip will cover 91 miles into the National Park and we really hope we can see a lot of different animals. I guarantee you, we'll take a lot of pictures and I hope the weather will cooperate.

At the visitor center I took some pictures you might enjoy and Jerry took some good pictures on the way back home.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska

Today we went to see the Pioneer Park. It's a city park run by the Fairbanks Parks Service and the admission is free. The 44 acre historic park was created in 1967 as the Alaska Centennial Park to commemorate the 100Th anniversary of the U.S. Territorial status and to provide a taste of Alaska history.

Most of the pioneer buildings were relocated from their original locations. Pioneer Park is home of the renovated SS Nenana, a historic landmark. The nenana, know as the "Last Lady of the River" is the largest stern-wheeler ever built west of the Mississippi and the second largest wooden vessel in existence.

It was indeed a pleasure to visit the park and go back in time when Alaska was still just a frontier.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Alaska, The Land Of The Midnight Sun

Alaska is called "The Last Frontier" and that is a proper name for it. However it's also called "The Land Of The Midnight Sun".

On June 21, the longest day of the year, Fairbanks, Alaska recorded 23 hours and 30 minutes of "daylight". The sun never really set, it just dropped below the western sky and then came right back up in the eastern sky.

Last night at 11:45 PM I took some pictures to help prove my point. I believe when you look at them you'll agree with me that it's rather hard to know when to go to bed cause there is still daylight until the early hours of morning. It takes some getting use to and for those of us fro the "Lower 48", it's difficult.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Chena Hot Springs And Aurora Ice Palace

Today we took a drive of about 60 miles north from here to the Chena Hot Springs and the Aurora Ice Palace. The trip seemed longer than we had planned but the scenery was beautiful with Spruce forests, rivers and streames and of all things, we saw seven Moose. We were able to take pictures of six of them because the seventh one was way up in front of crossing the road.

Chena Hot Springs is Alaska's only year round hot spring and has been operating for over 100 years. The water is crystal clear and nice and hot, I believe the temperature is about 110 degrees.

Also there is the world's only year round ice structure. Each winter they hold ice carving contests and the winner as their sculpture placed on display till the next season. They keep the temp at 20 degrees year round and they ice sculptures are perfectly intact. I took a few pictures but because of the lighting they have it's hard to get a flash picture to come out good but I did the best I could.

I hope you like the ice pictures but I know you'll really like the pictures of the moose. One of them is a baby.