Alaska 2024, Part 2- Day 4 and Day 5

We sure do love Alaska!

Alaska 2024--Day 4...We decided to take our time getting to Seward and drove to Cooper Creek Landing South campground on the way to Seward at mile marker 68 to boondock for the night. Cooper Landing is a very small town, population 224, but swells in the summer due to the amazing fishing available in the summer. One of our goals this trip was to stay less at expensive campgrounds and boondock more. SCORE! 

Cooper Landing South, AK

This campground had a rushing creek that looked more like a raging river just at the back of our site. There was a little path down to the river from the site. It was another USFS (United States Forest Service) campground, so fee for the night with a senior pass was 11.00. No hookups, but we were doing great with our water supply and propane. We had a great campfire with no one else around. Sites were very far apart and level. We could run our generator which we needed it as temperatures were in the thirties for that night. We encountered a few mosquitoes but nothing we couldn't handle. We had a wonderful campfire that night.

Day 5....Our next destination would be Seward, a distance of 48 miles from Cooper Landing, easy peasy.  The drive there was uneventful except we did see the ravages of the Swan Lake forest fire (caused by lightning) that happened in 2019. It burned from June that year until fall.The fire burned 170,000 acres and was considered a megafire. It was awful to see the damage. 

We also saw extensive moose fencing along the way through the Kenai wildlife refuge. It was very interesting to see not only the high high fence line, but moose "jump out" points. Guess there were so many moose car crashes they had to come up with something to reduce the number of collisions. A big moose can STEP over a 4 foot fence easily. Not sure how these work, but the idea is that IF a moose gets on the road side of the fence, the "gates" steer them into the corridor where they jump down below...they can exit this fencing from the roadside, but cannot come through it to get to the highway. Or so they say....They have also constructed a couple of corridors that go underneath the highway at some points.

Since it was too early to check into Seward (1:00 PM) we drove to the Exit Glacier trailhead. There was bear poop in the middle of the highway, but we had yet to see a bear anywhere. Sparky hiked to the glacier on the Exit Glacier easy trail hike. 

Because that was pretty easy, she then decided to hike the primitive Resurrection Bay trail. That was much harder and a little scary going it alone. Sparky met a hiker who said there was a lot of fresh bear scat. He had his dog with him and it didn't seem to bother him about the scat, but Sparky did not have bear spray and didn't want to chance it. Even though he said he saw a moose about a half mile further up the trail. A mile in on that one, and back out was enough for the day. She hiked a total of 7.8 miles today. Even with regular biking before the trip, the knees were complaining!

We planned to stay at the city's municipal RV lot right on Resurrection Bay for two nights. (63.00 a night, not on the water). It's just a gravel parking lot on the bay. If you have a front row site right on the bay, it's fantastic. If you are in the middle of the lot or towards the street, not so much, and it fills up quickly and tight all around you on the weekends, as the locals come in to camp.

River next to us set up on the wrong side, sigh...

Walking along the path along the bay

When we first pulled in, there weren't many rigs around us and we had a nice view of the bay, even though we were in the middle section and middle rows (#434) of the campground. There is a nice walk way for everybody down at the water front. The weather was cloudy and rainy...One thing about Alaska weather, it changes from minute to minute. One minute it's very cloudy and raining, the next minute the sun is trying to come out. We settled in and Sparky checked things out. Well, I'll be! If it isn't our neighbor with the donkey wheel cover, from Homer, following the same travel route! He's got a prime site on the bay. 

Sparky LOVES all the murals in Seward. They are all over town, some of them are Native American stories with artists' illustrations about the Raven and its significance in their cultures.

Downtown Seward

There is so much to see in Seward...the harbor, the murals, the cute shops, the bay, the marine museum there, the Iditarod sculptures of two men, Jujiro Wada and Alfred Lowell, who worked on establishing trails and the Iditarod route throughout the Seward area....

Jujiro Wada, Iditarod pioneer & renowned dog musher

Sparky LOVES the library facade in Seward. It's made of iridescent tiles that change colors throughout the day, depending upon the angle you look at it and the changing position of the sun. It reminds her of the Aurora Borealis, something we've never seen up north, but most certainly is on our bucket list for sometime in the future, maybe!

At the side of the library is a beautiful little garden, lovingly tended, and there are sculptures that have changed in the past several years that weren't there the last time we visited. Sparky LOVES these fish, they look like spawning salmon swimming upstream. Here is one of them at the left, and a photo of all them...very cool!

What made Sparky's downtown excursion more interesting, is that all of a sudden, the police were swarming everywhere and blocking off the streets surrounding the library. There was a BOMB THREAT at this beautiful library! False alarm but upsetting all the same to see this happen in a beautiful harbor town. 

What else can you see in Seward? A cute, Alaskan guest house....

Magpies...everywhere...Boy, are they noisy, and their bird chatter is like they are having a conversation...They don't sound like usual birds chirping, that's for sure. Sparky understands better the expression, "chattering like a magpie" after hearing these birds!

If you are lucky, you might see a Steller's Jay, one of the most beautiful Alaskan birds. Sparky saw this one at the Exit Glacier visitors center in Kenai National Park.

We tried a couple of restaurants in Seward which were very good but very expensive...Gold Rush Bistro and Sea Salt Grill. How about 24.00 for a simple hamburger and fries? Eldo's favorite--fish and chips--33.00. We didn't dine out much this trip as we found the prices a little daunting.

Seward Municipal Campground

Sparky met a little buddy while out walking. She loved his sweat shirt so much she asked his mom if she could take his picture. She said sure! In five minutes, Sparky knew who all his cousins were, where and how long they were staying and everybody in his family, including the dog. He was really cute! (Sparky is a kid magnet, don'tcha know? explains Eldo).

And in Seward, there are beautiful flowers blooming this time of year...These are elephant's-ears, also known as Siberian tea or winter blooming bergenia. They were gorgeous!

We were supposed to spend two days there, but got so socked in on all sides with RVs that we no longer had a view of any kind. One neighbor pulled in in a big motorhome right next to us, the wrong way. She was supposed to back in, and have all her "living area" (rugs, chairs, etc.) on the other side of her rig from us, which is the correct way to camp. But she had to have a view, she said, so she pulled in forward so her front window overlooked the bay, moved her picnic bench over to our living side, set up her rug and chairs inches away from us and thought that was ok, even though she fussed about her hookups because her cords were too short and she had to pass them under her rig. For a seasoned RVer, she knew better, but even after Sparky had a kind discussion with her about why her cords weren't reaching and how and where everybody's living space was supposed to be, (she knew perfectly well she parked and set up on the wrong side) she wouldn't consider that she was being rude by intruding on our camping space. With several kids and a dog right on top of us, no view, dirty bathrooms and showers, we decided to move a day early to a different campground, the KOA outside of Seward. Wow, what a difference!

Beautiful spacious sites, amenities of all kinds, beautiful showers and bathrooms, and an active bald eagle's nest right outside our door in the campground. Yes, it's a bit expensive, 93.00 a night, but the facilities were amazing, and the KOA was much closer to Kenai National Park and Exit Glacier. We loved it so much we extended our stay there for three days and that's where we would end our Alaska trip before heading back to the airport.

More hiking trails coming up, a nicer stay, with more news on our last couple of days in Seward...See you soon!

                              Sparky and Eldo

Alaska Bound 2024 Part I, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

With the heat of summer coming, Eldy decided to research way ahead of time for a trip to Alaska, without telling Sparky. He watched and watched flight pricing go up, come down, go up, come down, and finally, about three weeks ago, said, "Hey, flights to Alaska are under 500.00 round trip!" which meant that he was seriously thinking about us going once again to Alaska. Then, he researched renting RV's which is how we have done our trips to Alaska the last three times, flying to Anchorage and renting an RV from Great Alaskan Holidays company. We feel that Great Alaskan holidays is THE BEST company to rent from and we have rented from them three times. Later in the story, we'll explain one reason why.

The rental prices had been well over 200.00 for awhile for a small (22 ft) to a bigger rig (31 ft). When the initial price came in under 200.00 a day, we both jumped on everything and decided to book.  This time we booked a 22 foot Winnebago Minnie Winnie, it has one bedroom slide in the rear and a wraparound dinette instead of chairs or a couch....They come in different lengths up to 31 feet, but we wanted to go smaller this time to have more maneuverability around boondocking spots and maybe crowded RV parks and to save money. In hindsight, we wished we had gone for the 31 footer...more seating room with a living room slide out. Be sure to check out floor plans if you are thinking of renting one. For two people, we felt the 22 footer was crowded and we had nowhere to sit but the dinette with the table right in front of you, or in the captain's chairs up front. The bed was a full size as far as we could figure and anytime you wanted to take the rig to go somewhere, you had to yank back the sheets and fold the bed in half and tuck in the blankets and sheets so the slide could come in. The slide comes in along the sides of the bed, so very little clearance around the bed. The top cushion half of the bed was very heavy to lug forward to put it over the front bed cushion. Sparky got a lot of good exercise with making the bed and taking it apart daily.

The Milepost "atlas"

Renting an RV gets a little   complicated. You start with the base price which was about 185.00 per day for this size RV, then you decide if you want unlimited mileage for a set price, OR you go with price per mile charges. It ends up being very close in cost usually, for us. We usually take unlimited mileage so we can feel free to travel whenever and wherever we want to go in the RVwithout worrying about going over mileage. We have traveled over 1,000 miles in the past, making the most our 8-10 day stays in Alaska, but this time we wanted to go more slowly and stay in an area longer. Then you add in extra charges for collision insurance (a good idea for windshields and bad roads and moose!), a coffee pot (Keurig or regular), camping chairs, and a bunch of other options should you decide to choose. In addition to renting an RV, we HIGHLY recommend getting the Alaska Milepost "atlas/road map" for your trip to Alaska. It has every pull out, every gas station, every bad section of road listed, where you might see moose or bears, and every mile marker tells you where camping and other interesting history bits or road stops you might want to make. It's about 30.00 on Amazon.

Alaska airlines

This time we were going to stay in southern Alaska and explore the Homer Spit for the first time. We would stay in the southern part of the state and enjoy Alaska a little more in depth, rather than driving all over the place and covering a LOT of miles which we have done in the past. We booked for a day time flight out of Chicago non-stop on Alaska Airlines and got excited! For previous trips all about Denali and traveling more north in Alaska, type in Alaska in the search bar on the blog, and our trips will show up.

One more addition to saving some money....Since we were flying out of Chicago, Eldy researched a great deal to find a sleep, park and fly option that was reasonable. We found that at the Wyndham Hotel in Des Plaines, IL. For a set price, no matter how many days from 2-14 days, the price to stay overnight one night and then park your car for those days was one set price. If you stay away longer than 14 days, then you pay additional parking fees. Some hotels only offered two days park and fly. There are many different deals out there. You really have to read the fine print to figure out the charges and details, which Eldo did. Eldo said you really had to go looking for park and fly options on each hotel site. We liked it that Wyndham offered a shuttle to and from the airport. The cheaper fly and drive rates said you had to take an Uber or a taxi.

We checked the weather....looked like it would be in the fifties to low sixties for highs during the days in the Kenai Peninsula, and high thirties to low forties at night. Sparky LOVES those kind of temperatures. 

And so, off we went! We are so happy and excited to get to visit Alaska once again!

Day 1...We arrived in Anchorage early afternoon. Plenty of time to get checked in with Greater Alaskan Holidays. We went over our rig, checked to make sure we had everything they said we should have, check for dents and scratches in case they were not listed on their check in sheet (we found two significant ones) and then, a trip to the nearest grocery store (Fred Meijer--highly recommend!) to stock up on some essentials. Some of the things we purchased that are NOT provided were extra toilet paper, dish detergent, bar soap, and some snacks and sandwiches for quick eating for dinner that night. 

The drive along the way headed south was as spectacular as we remembered it, driving along the Turnagain Arm and the Cook Inlet on the Seward Highway.

We drove to our first stopping point for the night, Bertha Creek Campground, located at mile marker 65.4 of the Seward Highway.  We saw two dead bull moose by the side of the road while driving there. Sad to see that...Time to be super aware of them while driving at later times in the day and you are reminded constantly with moose signs. There have been 172 auto crashes with moose on the Sterling Highway since last July.

Not only do you need to be aware of moose while driving Alaskan highways, but bears as well, more so at campgrounds than the highways. Because this was a USFS (United States Forest Service)  campground, we were able to stay here for under 10.00 a night, half price because of our senior pass. There were lots of bear precautions at the campground.

another site #7

No hookups at the campground, but that was just fine--we could use our generator, had a full tank of propane and a full tank of water. It was a beautiful campground! Bertha Creek has only 12 sites...we think this campground may not be as well known, or that it was so early in the season, there were only two other campers there when we arrived. At site #6, our site, there was a frozen waterfall! In a couple of weeks, we think it would be amazing to be at that site. It was so peaceful and no mosquitoes! Sites were level and beautiful views at any one of them. There was a creek running in the campground. The campground had a water pump if you needed it....

Here we are, settled in for one night...It was great, wind rustling through the trees, quiet as can be...

Sparky was excited to see moose poop(!) on the drive into the campground...a sure sign that moose pass by here occasionally. (Only Sparky would get excited about moose poop, laughs Eldo. She looked for it everywhere she went in Alaska. I bet she has about fifty photos of moose poop on her phone). Uh, no-o-o-o-o-o...maybe about twenty, haha. Do you want to know what moose poop looks like? (Uh, no, they don't! exclaims E.) Just in case.....

Day 2....The next morning, off we went headed towards the Homer Spit. We have heard a lot about the "Spit" and wanted to see what the hoopla was all about. The Homer Spit is a 4.3 mile piece of land that juts out into the Kachemak Bay, the second longest "spit" in the world. Homer, AK, population 5,876, is home for the fishing boat, "Time Bandit", made famous on the "The Deadliest Catch" TV show. Wildlife cruises of Kachemak Bay and King Salmon fishing are offered year round. Homer also has bear viewing adventures to Katmai National Park, home of the famous Brooks River Falls where all the bears you might want to see are catching salmon if it's the right time of year. If you are inclined to spend quite a bit of money to take one of those tours, they run from 250.00 for walk in tours to 900+ for fly in tours. Homer also has the "Fat Bear Week" contest in which people vote online for the bear that has accumulated the most fat reserves over the winter. There were over 1.3 million participants last year!

Nootka lupines

Homer is dotted with quaint little tourist shops (expensive of course) and expensive restaurants, there is a heavy fishing/fishing charter presence, a fishing hole nearby and a 4 mile walking/biking path from one end of the spit to the other that was lined with just beginning to bloom with purple Nootka lupines, which even though they are very beautiful, they are invasive AND both the plants and the seeds are poisonous.

Heritage RV site right on the bay

We booked two nights at the Heritage RV Park, a really nice campground on the Homer Spit with level, spacious, full hookups for about 83.00 a night. We chose not to go into the city of Homer, but instead enjoy the beautiful environs of the spit. This was overlooking the small harbor...It was consistently VERY cool and windy while we were in town. 

Sparky spotted this cute RV van with the donkey wheel cover (above). She thinks it might be a photo of those donkeys out in Yellowstone (?) or Custer State Park where the donkeys come up to your car and pester you for food.

Here was our site overlooking the bay. The weather was great the days we were there. Mostly sunny, and the eagles were out and about. This one thought he would steal a fisherman's catch, if he got lucky. He didn't.

The Salty Dawg Saloon is a bar/restaurant everybody says you have to go and try but we didn't because parking was very limited and the restaurant seemed very small...It's a hot spot for locals and tourists. It started out as one of the first cabins in the area, built in 1897. It's been a post office, a railroad station, a grocery store, a coal mining office, and a school. It has thousands of dollar bills signed by visitors and tacked to the walls.

Speaking of restaurants, Sparky found a little coffee shop on the Spit, called Harbor View. Tiny little building on the way to the tourist shops and boy, did they have THE best breakfast burritos! Check them out if you visit there in the summer. 

Hiking in Homer

more moose poop!

Did Sparky do any hiking? Yes! Sparky did TWO trails in one day in a misting rain AND we had a BIG mishap the next day. Sparky hiked the Calvin and Coyle Trail which was 1.2 miles, and the Wynn Nature Center, a 1.4 mile loop. Any time a trail description says "watch for moose", Sparky is IN! Both trails mentioned moose. Sparky saw a bull moose in the brush on the first trail--YIPPEE! Both trails were beautiful but muddy because of the rain at the time, even though they both had boardwalks in some areas. Both trails had LOTS of moose poop, some fresh, some old, so these trails are known for moose to travel in and around them, and they were really beautiful, even in the rain. There are eighteen trails in and around Homer, so LOTS of levels of difficulty and the choice is yours to make.

pipe fell off the sewer!

And here comes the mishap....Eldo had pulled into the trailhead parking lot, quite small but no one was there, so Sparky could get out and hike. (Eldy is still recovering from hip surgery so he chose to stay in the rig, especially since it was misty rain.) Although no one was there when we pulled it, it quickly filled up and started to box Eldy in. When Sparky got back from the hike, she directed Eldy to back up in tight quarters. He was just getting ready to turn around and pull out of the lot, but the very back end of the RV (not the tires) was in a low muddy spot, and while pulling out, the entire black water/gray water plumbing line, a "U" shaped section of piping, got sucked right off the fittings of the black and gray tank from the suction of the mud. It just popped right off, being held onto the pipes by those dryer connection type of fittings. Luckily, we had almost nothing in the tanks yet, so we stopped in a nearby parking area to assess the problem. With the connection/fittings totally off, we cannot run any water, can't use the toilet, nothing. We panicked. Both of us crawled under the rig, with bad backs and bad knees and tried to push the pipe back up on to the fittings so we could limp back to the campground. We couldn't do it. The piping was hanging by brackets kinda low so we decided to limp back to the campground. By this time, it was about 4:30 PM. We checked with the office, are there any mobile techs in the area? Nope. Not a single one. We called Great Alaskan Holidays. They checked around. Nope, NOBODY in the entire Kenai Peninsula was a mobile tech. We had visions of having to return the rig back to Anchorage and cutting short our trip. After several phone calls back and forth and explaining in as precise terms as possible what had happened with the plumbing, Great Alaskan Holidays seemed to think it was fixable, and sent a tech named James, all the way from Anchorage, FOUR HOURS AWAY, to come and try and fix the plumbing. He arrived at 10:00 PM, crawled under the rig, and says, "Yep, I can fix it." With a LOT of grunts and groans from underneath the rig, he got the piping unit hooked back up to our sewer and gray tanks and fixed it in about 15 minutes! He was the nicest, friendliest guy. He turned around and had to drive another four hours back to Anchorage. Great Alaskan Holidays fixed our plumbing issue at NO CHARGE to us. How's that for tremendous customer service?

While you are in the area, you can also take AMAZING wildlife/whale watching cruises from the Kenai Peninsula. We did a couple of cruises in previous visits so we did not do that this year. We HIGHLY recommend doing that, it was an incredible experience. You can see our experiences with that documented in previous Alaska blogs if you type in "Alaska 2021" in the search bar on this blog post. Overall, if we had to rate Homer on a scale of 1-10, we rate it as about a 5. It just didn't seem to be the great tourist destination we thought it was going to be, and maybe that was because we didn't do any major excursions that so many others have been so enthusiastic about. It's an incredible area, and it deserves anyone's attention for some amazing experiences on the Kenai Peninsula and the Katchemak Bay area.

At any rate, we are REALLY seeing Alaska, and thanks to Great Alaskan Holidays for above and beyond service, we were able to continue with our trip....until next time...

                           

                                     Sparky and Eldo