I'm Home!!

I'm home. We had such a great time, were treated like royalty in Alaska. Thank you to Lynice, Kris and his family for making our trip so great!!!  We drove 10,293 km!  And look at how lucky am - a greeting party!!

Grande Prairie to Saskatoon

Beautiful day for travel, sunny and warm. Canola flowering in fields all over the place. We are camped at Saskatoon, and Uncle Kent came for a visit!!  Brenda - you can use any pictures you want for Astonished!

Muncho Lake to Grande Prairie

Lots of mountain travel this morning. Nerve-wracking for mom but dad and I do fine. Something new along the highway just south of Fort Nelson - what was beautiful forest when we went to AK is now burnt tree trunks on both sides of the highway for miles. Alaska Highway was closed July 8-9 apparently, and we could still see smouldering.  We are stopping on the east side of Grande Prairie tonight. Mom says she's feeling like she's gonna make it home!  She's seeing fields, haying, combines.....😄

Whitehorse to Muncho Lake, BC

Rained off and on today but travel conditions were good. We saw Buffalo again, couple of herds and several lone Bulls. One pic below is of the sand/dirt pits they dig to roll in - it's funny to watch, they look like enormous dogs on their back with legs kicking up. We camped for the night at Muncho Lake, very pretty there. 

Tok to Whitehorse

Back over the worst section of the Alaska Highway today (Beaver Creek to Destruction Bay).  Had a beautiful picnic lunch at Kluane Lake.  Now at Whitehorse, camped for the night. 

First travel day home

We left Lynice and Kris this morning around 7:45. We were sad. Lots of fireweed blooming now, the ditches all look pink - pretty!  We just stopped for the night at a campground just past Tok, and we plan to get into Canada mid-morning tomorrow.  Lots and lots of construction and rough roads. 

Saying Goodbye

Just FYI, Seward was yesterday and we got home quite late. Mom helped me with the blog but we forgot to post it last night!

Today I helped Kris clean his truck, and we've been busy getting food back into the camper, laundry, and general road trip preparations. We also ran out to Grandma Joyces's to say good bye.  I gave her dog Max a good bye pat too!  We'll be on the road again tomorrow. 

Seward - another exciting day!!!

We travelled to Seward early today. It's about 2 hours from Kenai on the opposite side of the Kenai Peninsula. Mark and Colleen, good friends of Kris' dad, took us sight seeing and fishing in their boat. We saw sea otters, and they were carrying their babies on their bellies. So cute!  We also saw 6 orca whales - 2 of them were babies!  Then we stopped to watch a big group of sea lions sun themselves and play in the ocean.  And we saw a huge glacier that came right up to the water at Holgate Cove (Holgate Glacier). We watched as chunks of glacier fell, and it made a sound like thunder. There were big chunks of ice floating in the water all around us.  Then we went fishing - caught a lingcod and a halibut and a coho salmon, but they were all too small to keep. It was a great day!!!  Thank you Mark, Colleen and Chuck for making it happen!  They even modified their boat so I could ride in the cabin!!!

The Moose is Loose

We went to a bakery called The Moose is Loose. Look at the yummy doughnuts!!  But there is also a mama moose and her calf hanging out around mom and dads camper and Lynice/Kris' house!!  (That's our white truck in the pic, and Lynice lives at the one with the hanging basket).   And this is a pic of where Lynice works. 

Whittier and Mount Alyeska

Today was a busy day. We went to the town of Whittier - drove through a really long tunnel (4 Km) that only allows travel one way at a time so traffic has to take turns. Trains also go through, and have their own time. We drove right on the tracks! We saw a big cruise ship, had lunch in front of the harbour, and explored lots of cool little shops.  We saw glaciers too! Then we drove to Alyeska and took a tram over the trees up to a restaurant, where we had an amazing view of mountains and the tide coming in. 

Date night

I had a supper date with Lynice and Kris at Acapolcos.  I had a burrito, it was good!  Mom and Dad were supposed to go flight seeing but the weather didn't cooperate.  

And in answer to the question about what flipping is - you pull some line off your reel, then flip that line upstream and let it get carried downstream, then pull in the extra line and flip it upstream again.   The rivers here are lined with people every 12 feet or so, all flipping for salmon!

Fishing for salmon in the rain

First I need to say that yesterday we went to "the Spit" at Homer not the strip (mom says either autocorrect or dyslexia happened 😀.). 

Today we went flipping (which is a kind of fishing) for salmon. I got a license, but I didn't catch fish yet. It was raining but I stayed fairly dry because I had my rain poncho on. You can see me,  Dad, Lynice and Kristopher fishing in these pics. 

Homer

Travelled to Homer at the end of the Kenai Peninsula. The harbour is on a long, very skinny strip of land called "The Strip" (you can see it in the landscape pic below).  It has lots of tiny little shops. We walked along the boardwalk and took in the sights.  A man with a big dog came over to show him to me. 

BBQ with Kris' Family

Beautiful day for a BBQ!!  I met Kris' great grandma and grandma, and got to see the family I met at Kris and Lynice's wedding in Dec.  We had fresh halibut and all kinds of good food. This is Kris' moms Tonya and Sherri with Lynice and I. And Kris' great grandma with her puppy Max.  

A Halibut Day!!!

Another busy day!  Girls and guys split up - boys went halibut fishing with Kris' dad/uncle and friends. Lots of fun, and caught lots of fish. Limited out.  Girls went to the Kenai Wildlife Refuge. All kinds of things to see there as well.   The music in the park was great last night, enjoyed the music and we took ramps down to see the Kenai River.