Riding the Eastern Bike Trail in Maine-A Short Ride!

Wells, Maine is a seacoast town. It's a New England town. It's an old seaboard town. You want to do some nice serious bike riding? You are in the wrong place! But hey--so much is wonderful about staying here, it's ok not to have the great bike trails....(SU-R-R-R-E...says Eldo). Sparky has been spoiled with all the great rails-to-trails leading up to the point where they really aren't around here, except for the Eastern Trail in this southeast corner of Maine. Here's the thing....The Eastern Trail is a designated bike trail envisioned that will go all the way from S. Portland, Maine to Key West, Florida. Key word--envisioned. Right now, here in Maine, it's a mixture of off road and on road riding and many parts, especially the off road parts, which are being designed and constructed. 

Sparky has ridden the trail from Kennebunk, Maine to Biddeford, Maine, where the off road trail stops, and on road riding begins. It's a really nice ride. It's level, very little change in elevation, and the bike trail is wide, about ten feet wide. No drop-offs at the sides into ditches like you get on some rails-to-trails. No big pieces of gravel to rattle your bones. It's packed sand and dirt from what can be seen. It's about six miles one way, so the ride from Kennebunk to Biddeford and back is about 12 miles. The trailhead is behind Kennebunk Elementary School. You park in the school's parking lot, and the little trailhead spur takes you down to the Eastern Trail. It's a matter of yards before you get to the actual trail. Turn right, and you will only get to ride off road for about a mile and a half before coming out onto on road biking in Kennebunk. Turn left on the trail and you can get that beautiful ride to Biddeford and back thru gorgeous forests and shade all the way. 

After getting on the trail, you cross over I-95 on a special pedestrian/bike overhead pass. That's the ONLY big elevation change on this section. Shortly after that, you enter the woods, and a-a-a-a-h-h-h....Peace and quiet...Here is a link with lots and lots of detailed maps that show the different sections/cities of the trail. 

https://www.easterntrail.org/eastern-trail-maps/

Right now, it's bits and pieces. Just when you get going on really nice off road biking, the trail ends temporarily and there are gaps. Sparky does NOT want to ride on public roads that are so narrow with tons of summer traffic on them!

That being said, the section between Kennebunk and Biddeford is beautiful. Scenery consists of beautiful forests, a few New England homes and homesteads, and ponds, lots of them. 

It's shady all the way, and wonderful piece and quiet...just the birds, and you and nature. Sparky hopes that work continues on the trail so there are longer sections that can be ridden off road. It's a wonderful vision to behold, that's for sure!

Next up, the Rachel Carson Preserve and the Wells National Estuarine Research Preserve.  See you later!

  

Eating Our Way Across Southern Maine...and Other Pleasurable but Dangerous Activities

Bet THAT title got a few people's attention....First, the pleasurable. 

Oh, my goodness! So many great restaurants here! Our latest discovery was Fisherman's Catch in Wells Harbor. Eldo said that's where the locals go, but hey, the secret is out. We suspect that's where the tourists go, too, because it was BUSY!  And quirky. And cute. And delicious. There's a trolley bar right outside in front of the restaurant if you just want to get something to drink. The restaurant  has dine-in seating that overlooks the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge. Wow....

Eldy had fried haddock and chips, Sparky had great clam chowdah and shrimp tacos. Warning...they don't grill anything, it's all deep fat fried, so Sparky's tacos were filled with deep fat fried small shrimp. Which were delicious. Which she ate anyway.....sigh....

We've eaten breakfast at the Omelette Factory twice, it's that good. They don't dump over half of your plate with home fries like most places do. The portions are very appropriate and the food is just wonderfully good. Better than average breakfast fare, we think.

Ok, the dangerous part. If you want to ride your bike anywhere in Wells, Ogunquit, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, etc, you have to ride on the highway, in this case, Highway 1, a two lane roadway thru the New England towns. You are riding on the shoulder, actually designated as a bike lane. And sometimes the shoulder/bike lane joins the main car line. (Sparky sounds like she is in her grandson's after school pickup line!) And sometimes the bike lane is on both sides of the road, and then it disappears in town to one side of the road before starting up again. Yikes! If you are a young whiz kid like Sparky's brother, Rich, who is 68 years old and thinks nothing of riding 50-85 miles or more several times a week in Bedford, MA area, that wouldn't faze you a bit. BUT- If you are 71 with a mild balance problem like Sparky, riding on the highway (even though Highway 1 is about 35 mph on good days during certain times and about 10 mph most of the rest of the time), so close to cars and big trucks going by you, THAT is a big deal and a little scary. (But that doesn't stop Sparky yet!) Nope...just had to find the Marginal Way today and so Sparky went by bike. Down the highway. Marginal Way (named for how close the trail is to the seaside cliffs) starts in Ogunquit, off Shore Rd. right next to the Sparhawk Inn.

The bike ride down to Perkins Cove is pleasant but a little nerve wracking even after leaving Highway 1 to go on Shore Road. You are still sharing the road with cars. Along the way is the beautiful Ogunquit Memorial Library. 

You also pass this delightful stone wall with many many painted rocks decorating the ledge. Sparky had to stop and read just about all of them. Very inspirational! Thank you to the home owner and their family for doing this.

It's about a 1.4 mile paved trail one way, and a beautiful way to see the ocean, the waves, and the interesting rocky beaches along the way. It is a little hilly in spots, and VERY heavily trafficked in the summer. No bicycles, scooters, skateboards or dogs allowed, because the trail is narrow.

People say you can park your bike in Ogunquit, and then walk the trail but it wasn't easy finding a bike rack anywhere near the trail that wasn't on private property. There is a public parking lot across the street from the Sparhawk Inn next to a fire station but no bike racks, so Sparky decided to ride to Perkins Cove, lock her bike at a rack there, then walk the trail from that end to the other and back. 

It's a beautiful trail with LOTS of amazing scenery.

You pass the stately homes on one side of the trail, and the Atlantic Ocean is on the other side. A couple of the beaches in Ogunquit are quite small and very rocky. Sparky saw one with a lone lifeguard outpost on a rock outcropping. In the photo below, the lifeguard stand is on the upper right on the rock formation jutting out. She's on duty from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The lack of sand did not deter these visitors!

These beaches near Perkins Cove have stairs going down to the rocky beach. A few places where people were swimming in the cove inlets where there were NO LIFEGUARDS had this sign posted. That didn't deter them at all. Why wouldn't you choose the stairs after reading this sign, Sparky does not know. But of course, travelers know that wherever you go and there are a bunch of rocks and boulders, people will climb where they shouldn't. Click on the photo to read the dire warning!

Here is what another one of the little beaches in Ogunquit looked like, that you pass on the Marginal Way. There are also very flat sandy beaches in Ogunquit as well, so you can have your pick of beaches!

It was a very hot day, surprisingly, not much air moving at the beach.

Sparky enjoying the Marginal Way

People were sweating as they did this walk. There is SOME shade at the beginning in Perkins Cove, but it's out in the sun just about all the way. There are 39 benches along the way so plenty of places to stop and watch the ocean or the people going by on the trail. 

After Sparky got back to Perkins Cove, she promptly downed two delicious genuine lemonades (not the fake kind) at Barnacle Billy's, a cute restaurant at the cove. It was a really hot day, in the 80's so the lemonade sounded really great. Expensive, (4.60) but free refills. Sparky could have had 3, but thought better of it and headed back home on her bike for that harrowing ride back on the highway again. When Sparky got back to the park, there was a mom and her little daughter waiting for the trolley to take them to one of the Wells beaches. She didn't care which one! They were so cute sitting out by the park sign in their beach chairs, Sparky just had to get their photo. She wished she had gotten their names.

Note to self: There is a parking lot down at Perkins Cove and more shops and some additional restaurants. There are also lobster boat tours there and a cocktail cruise option. Parking is 4.00 an hour at the cove lot, so you could park there and do the Marginal Way trail and not have to negotiate car traffic on a bike. The earlier you go in the morning, the better to be able to find parking. The lot fills up by about 10:00 AM, the attendant said. The trail itself was wonderful and Sparky plans to go again with Eldy but not by bike. (Whew! says a relieved Eldo.) Highly recommend the trail, not to be missed! Bye for now.....

Things to do in Wells, Maine

First, there are the beaches....Moody Beach, Wells Beach, Ogunquit Beach, Footbridge Beach and more....Sparky has been walking to one of the beaches and back for several days. You don't have to walk, you can take the trolley. It's a little complicated--the route and the fee structure. Sparky hasn't quite figured it out yet. The blue line is free.. The orange line is 5.00 PER RIDE. You can get through several local towns by taking the trolley instead of walking but transfers sometimes occur cross lines, and the summer route is sporadic and slow due to crazy traffic so Sparky gave up figuring it out for now. The walk is very pleasant, no matter which beach you choose to walk down to. Lots of pretty homes (many for summer rental) with pretty gardens along the way.

She's not sure which one it is. Probably Moody since we are at Moody Beach RV Park. (Good one, Sparky! says Eldo.) The beaches are beautiful but not like the white crystal sands of Sarasota. The beach is brown, there are no shells, just rocks that get pushed up onto the sand. But the beach houses, oh, my! Sparky loves that they almost all have names...This one is called Noah's Ark. It's the house right off Bourne Rd. when you arrive at the beach.

From the park, it's about 1.4 miles one way to the public beach access off Bourne Road (no parking for cars there, just a pedestrian walk thru). You pass by the Rachel Carson Refuge marshes on both sides of you. If you go further into Ogunquit, you can access a parking lot (a nice sized one!) and for 4.00 an hour or 25.00 a day, you could drive to the beach and park at the Footbridge Beach parking lot.

Sparky LOVES that there is a river in-between the parking lot and the ocean on the Footbridge Beach. People were paddle boarding and kayaking. One of the local hotels near the campground rents kayaks apparently. They won't rent you one before the tide goes out, (well, THAT might be a predicament, now wouldn't it?) so just know your desired time to kayak may not coincide with the tides. Being it was July 4th weekend, the beach was busy but not jammed, as the temperatures only got up to the low 60's today. 

The water temperature of the Atlantic was 57 degrees. There were some hardy souls out in the ocean, body surfing the waves. Sparky used to do that as a kid on Lake Michigan. You'd need a wetsuit in those temperatures, wouldn't you? Guess these beach boarders aren't too worried about cold water. They plan on having a fun time!

A lifeguard was coming on duty and headed with her equipment across the bridge to the beach. That made Sparky remember her lifeguarding days at swimming pools, but never at a beach. That would be a whole different  ball game, and a much more difficult assignment. Rip tides, jelly fish, ray stings, sharks, big waves, disappearing and reappearing bathers, it's a tough job. Hope they get paid well!

Sparky is not a beach person any more, but still enjoys the walk along the sands. If you are not a beach person as well, there are so many interesting shops, interesting harbor towns close by, sailing adventures, whale watches, lobster tours, putt putt golf courses, nature preserves, a rails-to- trails in the area (Eastern Bike Trail) and beautiful walking trails, you will find plenty to do while visiting here. We will let you know more about all that soon...Bye for now.....

Moody Beach Thousand Trails RV Park and Nearby Attractions/Restaurants

Wells, Maine.     High: 60.    Low: 54.     Site: 23

Truck update: If you've been following us, you read about our truck overheating on I-84 thru the hills/mountains of Pennsylvania and New York. We took it to the dealership after limping to Maine, and the verdict was---wait for it---NOTHING WRONG! Thermostat was ok, radiator fine, no fluid leaks. It was a "perfect storm" of extremely high heat, an extremely long incline at one time, and towing a heavy load. We have the capability of towing 30,000 pounds and we only weigh about 16,000 pounds so the weight was not a factor. BUT--everything checked out ok. No codes, nothing we can really do any differently for the next time other than watch the heat index and check the physical demands of the route. But they did reset the fan temperature to a lower degree so the fan will kick on sooner if we are ever again in that awful combo again of high heat, a long steep incline and heavy towing.

We are at the Thousand Trails Moody Beach RV park for three weeks. It's not a large park--203 sites. It certainly is convenient to everything. There are THREE post offices within short distances of each other. One is right across the street from the RV park. The Hannaford grocery store is right up the street a few miles from the park, turn left out of the entrance.  The RV park DOES accept packages and mail there which a lot of Thousand Trails parks do not. (Uh-oh! that means more craft supplies coming into the rig, moans E.) Uh, well...yeah. He knows Sparky so well! Usually you have to use the local post office general delivery if you need your mail forwarded as full time RVers, so we really appreciate being able to get our latest shipment of mail to the park we are staying in! The RV park is right on Highway 1 in southern Maine and has a deluxe mini golf course in front of it called Wonder Mountain. You pull into Wonder Mountain, and Thousand Trails is right behind it further up the lane. Just about everything you need and want is on that Highway 1. The summer traffic is horrendous, and you can sit at restaurant exits and grocery store exits for a half hour or more before getting out into the main traffic lane. Here's the traffic NOT moving south very well this morning. 8 mph if you are lucky.

Very few intersection lights. It's a challenge to drive anywhere! We hope to figure out the alternative back roads soon....

We have settled in to a nice, shady spot in the wooded section of the park. It's tight, but we managed to get into the back in site. There are a wide variety of sites from heavily wooded to newer gravel sites out in wide open spaces. It was extremely hot when we first got here, but temperatures have dived, so it's more comfortable and Maine-like, but it's been quite rainy. Sparky supposes that is Maine-like as well in the summertime?

We are close to the ocean, you can walk there. It's about 1.4 miles to the beach to the closest access road that gets you on the beach, Bourne Rd. It's not a pedestrian friendly town, that's for sure. There are no sidewalks! And it's not an easy town to park a big truck in, nor is there much parking at many of the local access spots to get to the beach or to the shops or restaurants. Several public accesses to the beach are basically just pedestrian walk throughs between the big summer homes on the ocean. Where you can park a big truck is the big question of the day! (That's a blue sand mat in the photo. It traps the sand as you walk through to the beach!)

New England is older, streets are narrower, and the infrastructure is just different, that's all. Parking is a problem wherever you go in Wells, a small town at the southern tip of Maine, and it's an OLD town established in WHAT? 1643!

It is much for difficult for us to find an ok spot with a big dually truck than it would be for someone driving a car. So we need to walk more! That's a good thing! (Yes, if you don't have bad knees, sighs Eldo.) Kennebunk is about a 15 minute drive away, then Kennebunkport, which was the location of the summer family home of George H.W. Bush, it's just a little bit further north on Walker's Point. Ogunquit is a fabulous little ocean front town with terrific restaurants, shops and inns. Wells is a terrific little ocean front town with cute shops, inns, and restaurants, one of which is a donut shop--Congdon's Doughnuts, that supposedly rivals the "crack" donuts back in Indiana. It's the #1 restaurant on Trip Advisor for Wells. You have to get there at 6:00 AM when it opens and there is already a LONG line! We tried it, the donuts were meh, in our humble opinion. But that's because Mainers haven't experienced REALLY good donuts made by the Amish, lol. We are spoiled by those amazing donuts from Indiana. Sparky should have froze some. Did Sparky mention great restaurants? Sigh....There goes the food budget!

Sparky has been doing the walks to the beach. Locals watch for the walkers along side Bourne Road, one of the streets leading to the ocean, but it's still a little unnerving not to have any shoulder to speak of as you are walking. Traffic is light, so that helps.

Bourne Road also passes through the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, which Sparky plans on exploring on a nicer day. You can see part of the preserve, the saltwater marshes in the photo below. Sparky LOVES wildlife refuges and there are supposedly some nice trails in the preserve to explore later this week.

Sparky is not a sunbathing nut like she used to be in her college days on up. Those days are long over, due to sun sensitivities and heat sensitivity. But she sure enjoys walking the beach on a cool day! She loves seeing what the ocean brings in...There are very few shells at the shoreline...maybe that's an Atlantic current thing? But the flotsam and jetsom is still cool.....Nature's artwork is AMAZING! This was just laying on the beach.

Mainers are a tough lot, we all seem to get that impression from their winters and early pioneer heritage.....Here are some gals who are out for exercise and fresh air. That wind was ablowin' STRONG, and here comes a gal pushing an older lady in a specially outfitted wheelchair with fat tires for the sand. The woman in the chair was all bundled up, rosy cheeked and smiling ear to ear as she watched the gulls and piping plovers skitter across the sand....They did over three miles on the beach--Sparky knows because she was following them.

The Maine Audubon Society protects the piping plover's nesting grounds and chicks in the summer with fencing and signs just like Florida protects nesting turtles. 

Sparky tried photographing some little plovers but those little rascals travel so fast from spot to spot getting whatever it is that they eat from the beach, that Sparky had a really difficult time. Their little orange legs are just a blur as they nab something in the sand, look, run, then grab a bit and go again. But here is one little plover who managed to stay still for a moment. It would be a delight to see some chicks, maybe they will be out on a nicer day.....Maybe they haven't hatched yet? Plovers sometimes stick a foot out in the sand and vibrate it to shake up food, a technique known as "foot trembling". Adults sometimes fake a broken wing like killdeer do, if you do get too close to their young trying to draw you away from their babies.

The beach houses/summer homes range from very small holdouts from an era gone by to the big, ostentatious multi-family compounds. Sparky loves the fireplace on this big one as she walks by it on the beach.

And the weather vane on this one....There's a cool weather vane shop in Wells, Sparky is going to check that out, too.

The area Mainers love their flowers. There are beautiful plantings all over the place, and lots of flower gardens. Lots and lots of fire lilies....

There are northern high bush blueberries planted everywhere. It is a wild blueberry but is not part of the commercial wild blueberry industry in Maine.....These high bush blueberries can grow more than 6 feet in hight and are also called the blue huckleberry or swamp huckleberry. These pictured below are in the early stages of blooming...There is another kind of Maine blueberry that's called the Maine lowbush blueberry...It grows in large fields on mountaintops and in glacial outwash plains and in other areas. Blueberries are harvested in a two year cycle....The crop is harvested usually in late July and August, then the plants are pruned to the ground by mowing or burning. The year after harvest is a vegetative year, where the plants recover for a year, then bloom and produce berries in the second year. Maine is the largest wild blueberry producer in the world! The most abundant wild blueberry in Maine is the low bush sweet blueberry. And of course, blueberry pancakes are on the menu everywhere up here!

And then there are are wild roses called Rugosa roses that thrive by the salty ocean air and you see them all over the fences and along the roadways to the beaches.....

With that, we will leave you till next time....Restaurants to be discovered, more towns to explore, the Marginal Way scenic walk along the seaside, a Rails-to-Trails bike ride (the Eastern Bike Trail) from Kennebunk to Portland (but Sparky isn't going to go THAT far!), and much more....See you later....

The Great Alaskan Holiday Part 4--The Final Days

 Day 10--Sparky hikes the Mount Healy Overlook Trail, it was not far from the Denali Visitor's Center....She took a right at the train tracks instead of a left and got on the wrong trail. It was 300 steps down and on another trail and asking some hikers along the way, before she realized the trail she wanted was BACK up those stairs and the other direction, so back she went! The Mount Healy Trail travels part way up Mount Healy, a small mountain overlooking the entrance to the park. It's a steady mild uphill climb, then gets really steep near the top. It is NOT a loop trail, and is about 2.7 miles one way, with a 1700 feet elevation change, so Sparky got a good hike in today.

Mama Moose and babies at Riley Campground entrance!

Grizzlies 2021 tour bus trip

Day 11--The bus tour inside Denali National Park...it was FANTASTIC  as always...We have always seen grizzly bears (this time right on a hill right next to the bus!) moose, willow ptarmigan (the state bird), caribou, and mountain goats. Today was no exception, along with some new species we had not seen before--mew gulls. Along with the AMAZING scenery, we learned some new facts about the wildlife in the park. 

1.Mew gulls eat mice, then fly back to their nests and regurgitate the food to their young. EWWWWW! 

2. Hiking the tundra is difficult. It's moist ground and you can sink up to your waist sometimes.

3. Moose eat 15 out of every 24 hours. 80% of moose calves don't make it thru their first year. Moose are bigger than you think they are!n This we knew having seen moose up close and personal this time and times before. You do NOT want to encounter a mama moose with calves with trying to get close to get a photo. That is VERY dangerous and the moose will charge you. If you get close to ANY moose, they could charge you.

4. Grizzlies PRIMARILY eat vegetation! They eat fruits, berries and grasses mainly. They are omnivores which means they will eat meat occasionally like rodents or other animals such as downed caribou or moose.

5. Bighorn sheep attract a mate with the biggest horns or the "horniest" display, haha...the horns are more for display than fighting.

6. Taiga means "land of little sticks" in Finnish. The evergreen trees that you see in the national park are stunted and deformed because of the big winds and very dry air. The climate is very dry in Denali which surprised us. They only get about 15" of precipitation a year or about 2-3 feet of snow! There was an area of the park the driver called the "Drunken Forest" because the permafrost shifts the base of the trees all over the place. 

The scenery on the bus tour takes your breath away. The road the bus travels on is NARROW, one and a half lanes, it's scary if you look out the window on one side, so Sparky tries not to look. She always has visions of the road crumbling out from beneath the bus....

The bus stops several times for potty stops and photo breaks. There's the obligatory "try-on-the-antlers" look--caribou and moose antlers

and see how heavy these things weigh!

We had a wonderful bus tour, the drivers are all so very knowedgeable whether you go on the Green Transit Bus Tours, (not as complete and  full narration or guided tour information as the park tours) or the park sponsored tours. Jeannie was absolutely thrilled that she got to see this amazing place. We got back early in the afternoon, took a little nap, and decided to start heading back to Anchorage, cutting off some of the distance so we would have a little more time to sightsee on the way back and make one last stop in Seward before heading to the airport. We boondocked that night in a forested area/pullout about 98 miles from Anchorage. It was a mosquito laden area, the first really really bad experience of having mosquitoes ruin our stay. It was just one night but they swarmed in clouds, we kid you not--the quick in and outs of getting in and out of the rig let in a BUNCH of mosquitoes. They buzzed all around in and out of the coach all night and we slept poorly. We were killing mosquitoes from that one night stay for the next two days! We had not had a problem with mosquitoes the entire time we were in Alaska until that night.

Day 12--We drive to Seward on the Seward Highway by way of the Turnigan Arm, a spectacular scenic drive. 

We stopped for lots of photo ops....Trying to capture the beauty of Alaska one more time before we had to leave. The weather had turned gorgeous and so we made the most of the sunny couple of days that were our last.

The Turnagain Arm inlet has something called the Bore Tide. It's a wave about ten feet high that forms when there have been extremes in tides and the full moon is involved. People surf the tide, and sometimes the beluga whales follow the tide into the inlet to feed on the swarms of marine life that come in with the tide. You can read about the Bore Tide here: bore tide We wish we could have seen it, but the timing of our visit wasn't right. There used to be a water spigot on the Turnigan Arm drive where you could stop and fill a water jug with pristine glacier water, but we were not able to find it on the drive today. We think it's gone....On we drove to Seward....

Seward campground on Resurrection Bay

We arrived and got our spot at the Seward city campground called Resurrection Campground. It's right on the banks of Resurrection Bay in Seward. 50-55.00 a night with hookups, but no sewer, just electric and water. It was windy and COLD...but we loved it. Remember, we came to Alaska May 25th, so the warmer weather wasn't there yet. 

Seward Point on the bay

Seward is a beautiful harbor town, almost as beautiful as Valdez. Great murals on walls around town, along with Native American stories and murals, a great aquarium, great shops, a quilt shop (yay!) and good restaurants. Jeannie 1(Sparky) and Jeannie 2 (Sparky's friend, Jeannie G.), LOVED our meals. Eldy did, too!

So we highly recommend  Ray's Waterfront Restaurant. The food was terrific and of course the company, fantastic!

The view just outside the restaurant at the harbor is outstanding as well!

The Seward Library has the coolest, color changing exterior depending on where the sunlight is. As it moves through the sky, the colors on the library's facade change. Even on a cloudy day, it's amazing!

Day 13-Two days to go....and tomorrow is a travel day back to the airport....We drive to the Kenai Fords National Park right outside Seward to take the Exit Glacier hike. You can take a short hike close to the glacier, or you can take a longer hike (8.2 miles) up the mountain/glacier to the Harding Ice Fields, which Sparky decided to do. Eldo always worries when Sparky hikes alone, but hey--there are USUALLY other hikers on the trail, and Sparky USUALLY has bear spray. Eldy has bad knees and Jeannie G. is not used to hiking rugged trails, so Sparky went up on her own today. 

Eldo and Jeannie were waiting on Sparky, so we all agreed to a three hour window. An hour and a half up, same coming back down, and if Sparky wasn't back by that time, Eldo would be calling for the ranger. Deal! She had a blast hiking! Here is a makeshift section of the trail that was helpful once snow was encountered.

Sparky never made it to the top of the ice fields, but it was a strenuous climb, great exercise and the views were fantastic! Some day, Sparky hopes to go to the very end, a hike of 8.2 miles. She thinks that is one way. Whew! 

A spectacular view awaits the hiker who makes it to the end, a horizon of ice and snow. (photo from the internet)

Time to turn around and come back down.....Here is one more shot of Exit Glacier. If you look closely, you can see the tiny people who are out in the mud flats of the glacier deposits. They are just tiny little dots at the bottom between the water and the rocks to the left....The enormity of the glaciers is indescribable. You just have to see them to appreciate them. The glaciers are shrinking, most of them, and we have been so lucky to have gotten to see them in our lifetime.

And that, folks, was the last day of activities in Alaska for us. It was with great sadness, that we returned to Seward, and gathered our belongings and began to pack. Sparky just had to sleep in the upper cab bunk the last night before returning the rig. She can still climb the bunk ladder, so why not?

Day 14--traveling to the airport...We stopped along the way at Potter Marsh, in hopes of seeing one more chance of wildlife. Sparky and Eldo have seen a moose there before. It's a beautiful marsh with beautiful boardwalks, a nice, final stopping point before going back to the airport. We turned in our rental RV's back to Great Alaska Holiday and got checked back in. All was good!

The Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport is a beautiful small airport. It has Native American artwork, great restaurants, beautiful sculptures, taxidermied bears and is a very pleasant place to spend a lot of hours while you wait for your flight back to your home destination. Sparky's favorite artwork is the glass slivers panel of salmon swimming upstream and the mosaic tiled ceilings near the moose exhibit. There is often a LONG waiting time leaving Alaska for flights back home, it's just the way the airlines schedule their flights out of Anchorage. But we love the Ted Stevens airport!

taxidermied moose at the airport

It was SO difficult picking out the best photos, the best scenery, and trying to explain why Alaska calls out to our hearts to keep going back. We are not sure if we can go again, we sort of figured this was our last time because of our age and expenses (which really were very reasonable), but never say never, says Sparky! There is something magnificent about the scenery and the culture....no matter if it is raining or snowing, or it's a dreary day, the magnitude of the beauty of this wild frontier has a strong pull for us. It was even more enjoyable sharing this Alaskan adventure with Jeannie Garrett-Kelly, Spark's friend of over 40 years. She was so flexible and so appreciative of everything we saw and did, and she was in awe of this beautiful state. It was wonderful seeing Alaska again through her eyes....

We hope you enjoyed our visit to Alaska and that maybe we have inspired you to take a trip there, rent an RV, and go have the experience of a lifetime. Thanks for reading and following along with us.....

                                  Jeannie and Eldy