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

Back Home Again in Howe, IN and the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail

Howe, IN         High: 83   Low: 61        May 2021

Sparky is a little behind on the blog, so she will hurry up and catch up so she can start talking about our fabulous Alaska trip that lasted for two weeks and with her friend, Jeannie Garrett-Kelly who caravanned with us.

We are settled in for two weeks in Howe, IN. We love this area. It's rural, and it's the heart of Amish country. We love seeing the industrial Amish work their farms, ride their buggies, and get dressed up in their Sunday finest to go to church. The women put on starched white bibs over black dresses, the men all wear white shirts, black ties and black coats and then off they ride in their buggies early Sunday morning. LOTS of buggies on the road on Sunday mornings. Here, they are gathering at one of the farms on a Sunday, and they rode their bikes to get there.

We've seen them plowing their fields with big draft horses, pulling the plows behind them. We've seen them riding barefoot on their bikes on the bike trail. Sparky even saw an unusual situation yesterday. An Amish or Mennonite mom was riding her bike on the highway, two daughters were riding foot pedaled scooters behind her, and a third daughter was running barefoot behind all three of them, running as fast as she could to keep up.  She was running barefoot on the shoulder of the highway in her long dress and looked exhausted. Sparky immediately had the thought that maybe the last daughter in the line was being punished for something? It was different, that's for sure!

While we were here, some friends came to visit. Sparky's childhood classmate from elementary school doesn't live too far away, so we were excited to get together after many many years (Sparky won't say how many) of graduating from elementary school. It's always fun to catch up and see how we've all aged. A big thank you to John and Susan Dorrer, who drove to see us. We had a great time catching up on childhood memories and our RV travels. John and Susan travel in a truck camper with a dog! But they are not full timing, just part timing. Eldo and Sparky would never make it in a truck camper, but then again, you usually go a little bigger if you are going to live in a rig full time. It was great to see you, John and Susan! Safe travels...until we meet again!

We've also been visiting Eldy's son and his family. Brian, his son, put in a 30 amp plug for us so we can MOOTCH DOCK while we are in Alaska. Mootch docking is what RVers call being able to hook up and have electric and water at a friends or relatives and be able to stay for FREE! Thank you, so much Brian! And, we are getting ready to fly to Alaska and rent an RV for two weeks. My master researcher, Eldo, says that by renting:  

1) There will be no wear and tear on your own rig, 

2) You won't have to replace your tires on either truck or RV after several thousand miles of driving there and back, 

3) You won't have to worry about damaging your windshield which is apparently a common thing when RVing in Alaska, (from rocks flying up against your rig on some bad roads). However, we have found the roads not to be bad at all in having rented an RV three times before as long as YOU STAY ON THE DESIGNATED HIGHWAY ROADS FOR RENTAL RVS. Anyone would like more information about renting RVs in Alaska, just ask Eldo. AND we got very reasonable air fares which make it doable this year for us. Since the Canadian borders are closed, it made sense to fly and rent. So the next blog will be about Alaska! Back to this blog.....

Star of Bethlehem

Sparky has been riding the Pumpkinvine quite a few times. The Pumpkinvine in spring is absolutely delightful. The wildflowers are gorgeous. Sparky has been using the "Seek" app to identify some real beauties....That's a really cool app. You just hold your camera phone in front of the plant or flower, and the app tells you the name of it and the species if it can. Sparky has seen all of these on the trail so far: False Solomon's Sea, Amur honeysuckle, White Campion, Nannyberry, Jetbead, Spiderwort, Aniseroot or Sweet Cecily, Trillium, Morrow's Honeysuckle, Greater Celandine and Dame's Rocket.

Greater Celandine

Sparky in front of Dames' Rocket

Not only has Sparky seen some amazing wildflowers, but she saw a muskrat leisurely cross the trail today, along with several cats out hunting. This bunny rabbit met his untimely death shortly before Sparky came on the scene and the cat seemed to be quite proud of his catch, walking the trail to mosey along back to wherever he or she came from.

pink trillium

Sparky is still interested in the birds, but having lots of trouble with her Nikon P900 camera and its focus. So, for now, the birds will remain elusive in photos, but seen in Sparky's mind. Sparky has seen beautiful blue indigo buntings every time she has ridden, orioles, a scarlet tanager, a red bellied woodpecker, and tons of robins who strut their stuff on the trail and let you get pretty close before they fly off to the thicket. But hey--how about some beautiful wildflowers along the trail, like these flax?

Campion

You can ride Shipshewanna to Goshen and get a lot of miles in. Sparky does the ride from Shipshewanna to the part of the trail that takes a detour near Goshen onto a busy county road, where Sparky doesn't feel comfortable riding. It's 9.5 miles to that detour for a total of 19 miles if you get to that part of the trail, then turn around and come back. They are working on a new part of the Pumpkinvine Trail that will do away with that dangerous detour--terrific! Due to be finished fall, 2022. OH! Almost forgot--there are beautiful lupines blooming at this time on the trail at the Shipshewanna end.

Spiderwort

Today, Sparky rode all the way from Abshire Park in Goshen, to Shipshewanna and back, a distance of about 31 miles. That is a new record for Sparky, and boy, do her knees say, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, WOMAN!?????" But it was a beautiful cooler day today after being in the 90's with a lot of humidity yesterday, and Eldo was off playing golf with his brother, son, and granddaughter, so why not try for a personal best? Whew! The trail from Abshire Park to Shipshewanna and back is about 50% shaded, (Sparky's wild guess--that's what it seems like. Sparky is NO mathematician, (HAHAHAHAHA....Eldo is rolling on the floor with that one.) Sparky is TERRIBLE at math. You know those little algebraic equations they throw up on Facebook now and then? Sparky ALWAYS gets the wrong answer....sigh. (She decided to go into Special Education back in the 70's for her degree because it required less math classes in college, so that was a big influence back then. Sparky never regretted that decision, however. She loved being a teacher. But she digresses.....

Guess what, the cactus that was growing big time last year and marked with a humorous hand lettered "RARE SPECIMEN" sign on the trail, had been mowed down a couple of weeks ago. Oh, no! It was a cool cactus! Low and behold, when Sparky went back out on the trail for her marathon ride today, a little tiny one had sprouted, AND, it had tons of beautiful little yellow blooms on it, almost like it was defying the person who mowed it down. Woo hoo! You grow, girl! She knows plants have no gender, but what the heck! This one is going strong, so a girl it is!

Wanna hear all about Alaska? It's coming, it's coming. Sparky has to go through a bazillion photos and try to pick the best ones. She will also have to break the blog into about two parts, there's gonna be so much to share! Stay tuned, Sparky is excited to share where we went and how we did it. Bye for now!

RVing in Alaska

So you are thinking about renting an RV to tour Alaska? There are a couple of ways you can do that...You can drive a new unit from Iowa or Elkhart, IN. You are basically delivering the RV from Iowa or Indiana to Alaska and you have two weeks to deliver it. Any time after that, you pay about 100.00 a day, according to one such arrangement. So you are paying the RV company their shipping charges and getting a vacation rental RV out of the deal. You pay for fuel, you pay for insurance, but you get the use of a new rig to go to Alaska, along with any possible snafus that come with driving a new rig long distances. And we heard of such an instance when we picked up our rental. A couple drove a brand new RV from Elkhart, IN to Alaska and on the way, had some major problems with the wall and the slide out coming apart, and a few problems getting someone to fix it on their way. But they were able to overcome that obstacle and enjoyed their trip nonetheless.

We aren't familiar with the arrangements to rent and deliver an RV from the midwest to Alaska, but do know that Winnebago, out of Iowa, is one of the RV companies which you can do that.

Eldy did lots and lots of research on the second way to tour Alaska in a rented RV. That way is to rent directly from an RV rental place in Alaska once you get there. We are not going to name the particular place we finally chose, because of all the legal ramifications that are involved with rating or  discussing our experiences, but think you will be able to figure it out by the time we are done. We chose to fly to Anchorage and rent an RV from there....

Now when you research different rental companies, and there are LOTS of them, there are all kinds of different charges for different things. Eldy investigated FIVE companies. Some companies charge for EVERYTHING in the rental--they charge you for linens, they charge you for kitchen ware, they charge you for a coffeepot, they charge you for extra insurance, some will charge for generator use by the hour, lawn chairs, cleaning charges, etc. Eldy found a company that did not charge extra for any of those things, nor did they charge for extra mileage. The price included UNLIMITED mileage, which was fantastic. Their rate also was half price, 160.00 a day up until June 15th. That included EVERYTHING, except for 11% Alaskan taxes. Good deal! Be sure to ask what models the company is offering. Some say "all new 2016-2017" but you don't know exactly what you are going to get till you get there. We were excited and booked an RV for nine days! Eldy then researched and researched air fares and the best, most economical way to fly.  He found a fare from Orlando to Denver, then Denver to Anchorage, for around 250.00 per person,  then double that for round trip. We thought that was pretty decent. Coming back, we flew Anchorage to Chicago, then Chicago to Orlando. He managed to find a flight to Anchorage that got us there at 2:30 PM Alaskan time so we could get an orientation for the RV and then be on our way....When Eldy researches, he truly researches. He investigated flying out of different airports from different locations, from different times of day, from the same airline round trip, to individual airlines single trip one way fares. Baggage fees? No baggage fees, he explored ALL the angles.

Day I--We arrived at the rental place. We found we were getting a 2015 rig, class C, which was no problem, not a new model that we thought, but it was actually bigger than what we had originally signed for, for no extra charge. It had 15,00 miles on it, so it had been out on the road and we were hoping that the bugs had been worked out it! We told the guy we had been full time RVers, so our orientation was VERY short. He showed us where to find different switches, and we examined the rig for previous damage or wear and tear and documented it with pictures on the phone. The one thing he DIDN'T tell us was that when dumping the black tank, there were TWO valves, one valve where you normally expect it, and one on the OTHER side of the coach that you had to open before dumping. (We found that out when we went to dump the first time on our trip and nothing happened. A few minutes later, when we looked under the rig, wondering why the heck nothing was coming out with the first valve wide open, we discovered a second valve to the dump tank line on the driver's side!)  The rig came with sheets, pillows, plenty of blankets, a small pot and pan and frying pan, a set of silverware for two, some kitchen utensils, a coffee pot, a toaster. It didn't come with soap, or paper towels, or a dish cloth, or anything to wash dishes with, so we had to stock up before heading out on the road.

Back to the paperwork...We had to sign and initial all kinds of warnings...we were responsible for the tires, if something happened to the windshield, we would be responsible for the first 600.00 of the repair or replacement, if we didn't dump the tanks before returning the unit, there was a fine. There were fines if you didn't bring it back gas full, water tank had to be filled, the normal stuff. There were highways that we were NOT allowed to go on, (the rougher, gravel highways) and we were NOT allowed to enter into Canada. There was even a hefty fine for writing and or publishing a review without getting it ok'd first. But we finally were ready to roll!

Before we roll and fill you in on our marvelous trip which is coming in the next few days, day by day, we want to let you know that there are some resources that we found to be invaluable if you are going to RV in Alaska, whether you rent, or take your own RV. The first one is an atlas called Milepost 2016. It's available on Amazon for about 24.00 and you can see it here....

This is a fantastic resource....The main highways in Alaska are marked with mile markers. They are not always accurate as road improvements are going on all the time up there, (frost heave and tough winter damage you know), but for the most part, the mile markers are what you watch for constantly. This atlas covers EVERYTHING you need to know about traveling the Alaskan highways--where the roads are bad, where to find the best chances of seeing wildlife, where gas stations and rest stops are, where the pullouts for viewing and staying overnight are, 30 major routes, 60 side trips, 100+ maps, AND an E-book edition comes with it, also histories of cities, narratives of where to stay, narratives about the areas, the sights to see while you are in the area, they truly cover EVERYTHING!

Sparky sat with this book in her lap most of the trip, calling out cool stuff that was coming up along the highway...where the pullouts were, (and there were TONS of them, many you could stay safely overnight as long as you didn't mind a little road noise) and although we had the e-edition, it was easier to look at and navigate a real book. The only downside to this book is the pages are VERY thin and tear easily. (Ask Sparky how she knows that!)

The second resource we purchased before the trip was this book....Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail Guide, as we knew we were going to be visiting the Kenai Peninsula. It's about 9.00 and was a great little guide.

This book has 65 viewing sites located throughout the Kenai Peninsula. They are all of the Kenai Peninsula's major wildlife habitats. Each site has a notable species list, the key to the site icons located on the back flap, land ownership information (almost all are on public lands), field notes which are background information of the geological features, dominant species there, the habitat, helpful hints (like dress in layers for wind and rain), and a section called "getting there"--the specifics for accessing areas, in some cases only accessible by ferry or plane. In addition, some of the sites have viewing tips such as "park back by the ferry terminal and scan the entrance to the harbor. Bring binoculars or a spotting scope to observe off shore activity." There's also a wonderful chart of the 12 months of the year color coded as to when to see wildlife...Example: caribou can be seen grazing in the Kenai Flats in August.

So-o-o-o-o-o...the trip of a lifetime began....and by the way, this was Eldy's gift to Sparky--a celebratory triip to celebrate Eldy's full recovery from open heart, quadruple bypass surgery...Yay!

And in the next few days, you will see our itinerary which unfolded day by day. We didn't really have one for this trip till we got there. We knew we had 8 full days to explore, we wanted to go to Denali, and we wanted to see the Kenai Peninsula and we knew we'd be setting off from Anchorage...So off we went.....