July 2, 2008 The Road to Denali & the Dome Home

July 2 Leaving Seward heading for Healy and Denali

We were told when we put the fish in the freezer that it would be 48 hours before they were completely frozen. We had to leave in the AM to get to Denali and our B&B for the night in Healy, an all day drive. So we cut the freeze time about 12 hours short and picked them up, placed in a styrofoam freeze box. I had called the Dome Home to make sure they had an adequate freezer space to stash the fish while we were there and they said yes. I did not get the message that we would have to unpack them oujt of the box, though, but that turned out to not be a problem.

We headed back up to Anchorage by 8:00 or so and got to a little settlement called Moose Pass before we stopped for breakfast. It was a picturesque village that had a small lake with a float plane parked at the dock and mountains on several sides. The restaurant was rustic but the food was good. We had a full reindeer sausage, egg, toast, potatoes, etc for the standard price of about $10.+ I think coffee was extra. Anyway, we got behind a caravan of RV huge motor homes as we came out. The law in Alaska is that if you have 5 vehicles behind you, you are to pull off and let them pass. This did not happen, but they were up to a good speed and it did not slow us down. We went back up along the Cook Inlet same as on the way down and got to Anchorage in roughly 2 hours road time as before. We gassed up in Anchorage at $4.39/gal but that did not seem so bad as we were averaging over 30 mpg by the onboard computer.

Going out of Anchorage, we headed toward Denali. It was a four lane divided highway past Wasilla and good highway all the way to Denali and Healy. The typical view was miles of trees ahead parted by an asphalt road and about a 1 in 5 ratio of motor home/campers to passenger vehicles, a fair percentage of the passenger vehicles were pick up trucks. It is a beautiful but somewhat boring drive. About half way to Denali (or McKinley), you start seeing references to Denali here and there. People apparently stay as far away as 100 miles as counting for being "near the park." Even at 94 miles away Taleneka claims to be the place to stay at Denali. At about 50-60 miles out, you see peaks of Denali and there is a state park called Denali State Park which has a view place beside the road with chemical toilets, etc. where you can stop and stretch and take pictures. We were very fortunate to have a reasonably good view both days when we arrived and the day into the park as statistically, there are usually less than 20 days per year that the mountain view is clear from bottom to top.


We drove on to Denali and made our way to Henly just 11 miles past the entrance to Denali. We checked into the Dome Home and got our fish in the freezer and luggage stowed in the room by time to start thinking about food and also we wanted to get the lay of the land for 15meeting our shuttle bus the next AM at 7:15. First we went to the Denali Park Entrance and Visitor Center. It seemed rather new and was well staffed. I bought my Golden Eagle passport which gives me free access for any National Park and all those traveling with me for $10, one of the best bargains available. It saved us $30 for park entrance the next AM as I found that the bus tickets I had purchased via internet from NC did not include that fee. The government shuttle bus tickets are $40 all ther way to Wonder Lake 90 miles into the park. You are not allowed to take your automobile into the park past the first few miles where the park lodge and camp grounds areas are.

We then ate at an unusual restaurant (Salmon Bake-See below) that the Park ranger had mentioned to someone else as a variety of food at not "too overpriced." We had stopped at a place accross the street and there was a 2 hour wait without reservations and their menu looked really, really pricey. They had a partially captive audience as many of the people there had ridden in on large tour buses and did not have other transportation. The restaurant was on the side of a hill/mountain beside the main road and had lots of people but we did not have to wait over 10 minutes. The menu was certainly varried and overpriced but not extremely so. They had an unusual mix of staff. There were several male waiters who took orders, served and cleaned tables, and seemed to be local people. They also had several female staff that seemed to be summer hires from out of town that did not seem to have a clue as to what was going on. Mainly, they walked back and forth to stay in motion but did not seem to accomplish much. We then went down the street a tenth of a mile or so to a Subway that is open 24 hours a day and put in our orders for a sandwich, etc. for pick up at 6:30 AM for lunch on the trip to Denali as there is no food provided and none for sale on the route. Meanwhile Jeff went back to check on my cap which I thought I had left at the restaurant and much to my embarassment, I recalled, and found I had tucked it into the back of my pants so I would not forget it! A symptom of something!


Back to the Dome Home. The Dome Home is a geodesic dome that has two wings that were added; one a garage and the other a common area and kitchen. The Miller's who run it live there year round and it stays open year round. They have a garden, really big on rhubarb again. It was early July, but the crop was about to the May stage in North Carolina. However, due to the long days (22 hours of sunshine) and rich soil, the crops grow and mature really fast. Normally, they have problems with moose coming in and eating more than their share, but this had not happened much this Spring. The area covers several acres and has a rustic feel as there are lots of stumps which they are removing, from where there were woods previously. The town of Healy is not much to talk about. The town hall and fire department are across the main road from the Dome Home and there are some other houses on down the road a bit. There are a couple of service stations ($5.33/gal) and a place to eat at a truck stop and another restaurant at a small motel. The second night we ate at the restaurant next to the motel and it was quite good and not expensive - real good pork chops for under $15. It was more of a "down home" kind of place.


The accommodations at the Dome Home were better with more room than we had in Seward. We had a very large room in the partially underground area of the layout which rose to 3 levels above us under the dome. It had a queen bed and two twins. Jeff drew the queen and Charles and I each had a twin. The bath had a sauna included, but I did not actually use it. I think Jeff may have tried it out. As usual, we went to bed with it nearly day outside, but with thick drapes to darken the room.

July 3 - Into Denali and back. We got up before anyone else, including the hosts to go catch our shuttle, but they had shown us where cereal, toast, muffins, fruit and other premade items were so that we could help ourselves. The coffee was on a timer and was ready for us. We ate and got organized to go by about 6 AM but by the time we got to the Subway and picked up our lunch, got to the shuttle and checked in, we were some of the last to b oard the bus before it left.

The shuttle was basically school bus like vehicle with a Freightliner Cab/chassis. It held 58 people, I believe. The driver (Michael from Vermont) was working in Denali for his 13th Summer, 11 of those driving the shuttle bus. His wife also drives a shuttle and they meet in passing twice a day. They work there in the summer and then go to Mexico for the winters and spend them there. He was familiar with every gravel on the road, but having driven for so long I was fearful that he would not have enthusiasm or that he might doze off to sleep, but he was very energetic. He was originally from Vermont. When we boarded the bus, the first two seats behind the driver were open so I got the outside seat and Jeff took the inside. This turned out to be fortunate as Jeff detests riding next to a cliff side view; and it did not give me warm fuzzy's either.

We got underway finally and headed out to what we thought was a 11 hour ride. It turned out to be more like 12, including stops every hour or so for 10 to 45 minutes. The initial 20 plus miles is on a paved two lane road. The bus lumbers along at 40 plus mph for most of the time but stops frequently to view various fauna. One of the first things we swaw were two young moose who came down the hill and across in front of the bus.
We got several lectures, especially around the grizzleys, not to make loud noises and to talk only in a whisper as they do not want the animals, especially grizzleys, to get familiar with the human voice. Several times there was the loud shout of STOP as we were instructed when someone saw animals. The call was often for Dahl sheep. To me they were mere specks or less on a mountain side a mile or more away and I could not really tell often when it was sheep or patches of snow or rocks. Some had apparently really good video cameras with zoom and steading software that helped them get some pictures. By the end of the day on a couple of occasions, Jeff leaned over and said, don't say anything but there are some sheep up on that ridge. We got tired of stopping for specks in the distance.
(Left is a shot of the Polychrome Mountains)

The paved road ran out about 20-30 miles into the park and turned into a two lane dirt/gravel road. It was not bad bumpy but was not exactly smoothe. The buses passed with ease. At this point, we started going uphill more also. The mountains generally had a valley below with more of the flat rocky stream bedss with a smaller meandering channel with water down though the middle or one side of it. No fish lives in these as the milky water is laden with sediment and little or no oxygen.Soon, the elevations get higher and we begin to get to spots where there is a glimpse of Denali or Mt. Mckinley. There continues to be debate politically, and culturally about what the proper name is or which it should be called. Denali in native language means great one or something like that. It appears that there is a good chance that the name question will not get cleared up for generations. The mountain is a little less than 21,000 feet so it looms large even when it is 50 miles or better away. The view below was taken by Jeff at about 45 to 50 milesin the distance. Along about this distance the road narrows from a two lane dirt road to a one lane dirt road. The bus drivers have a system that I did not fully learn to appreciate to allow them to pass on the periodic wide spots.
The one going up hill seemed to always have the right of way not to stop but on other occasions, it was not fully clear as to how they decided who would stop and wait for the other to arrive and pass. As you can see the road was cut into the side of the mountain and had no guard rails protecting from going down a vertical slope that was probably 1000 feet or better in many places. It would not be a good place for a driver to suddenly have an accute health problem!


Starting up the steep slopes is where we began to get into bear sighting country. We saw what we counted as 11 sightings, though some of them were repeats of the same bear on the way out that we saw on the way in. As seen above, several of the bear were just beside the bus. We could not get of the bus, nor did we wish to, but we were close enough to hear them breathing and eating the grass and other vegetation. Bear eat about anything but prefer to eat rabbit which they usually don't catch and the little ground squirrel which they dig out of the ground with their long clawed toes. Though they are inded quite large, in such a vast surrounding they seem a bit shrunken from what I had envisioned before seeing them. I certainly would not want to encounter one in open land when they were hungry or had a reason to be vengeful. Normally, they will apparently not bother people and if you see one close by you should not run as they can move on much faster than you. Stand still and hope that they will ignore you and go about their business. Make loud noises as you walk about before you see one and chances are that they will get out of your way and you won't encounter them.

Views of Denali became better and better at the last couple of stops before we departed for Wonder Lake, which is at the end of the 90 mile trek. The view on the left was taken at one of these stops and the mountain is still about 40 miles or better away. Although the mountain was crisp and clear, the white clouds in the background, coupled with high winds on top blowing the snow there about, made it difficult to get a 100% clear picture of the very tip top. By the time we came back by this point just a few hours later, it was getting a bit more fuzzy. Jeff, Charles and I all took similar pictures from near this spot but Charles got the best composition with the road and this one by Jeff has some of the best clarity. At the last stop before the hour to Wonder Lake, there is a major visitor center. This is where you get time to eat and to take good pictures of Denali. Many folk make changes in buses at this point and head back to the main entrance instead of the 2+ hours round trip on to the lake plus the time sp;ent with the mosquitoes there. The visitor's center does not have food, but there are rest rooms and drinking water/fountains that allow you to restock your water bottles.
There are also a few tables with a huge picture window overlooking the valley and Denali beyond. Being air quality oriented people, Charles and I could not help but to spot the rather large and elaboratge met station just down from the center. There is also radio communications here, but the buses also have radios between buses and the central station from here. I did not mention before but the "government" shuttles are run by an outside contractor.

Once you get to Wonder Lake, there is a 30 minute stop with restrooms and a short walk down to the lake. The first thing you notice is everyone brings out their mosquito repellent as they are flying all about and love fresh blood. Even with a good spray, they are not fully deterred. The views of Denali from the top of the hill near the bus parking has some good views of Denali. However, the views you often see photographed with Denali being reflected from Wonder Lake have to have been taken from the far remote side of the lake which would be a several hour trek. Needless to say, we passed on that option. It had already been 6 hours and we had to retrace our steps back to the park entrance.

The trip back to the entrance was a bit anti climatic in that it was a repeat for the most part with a bit different placement of light, though even that was not great in the northern latitude. The mountain had begun to fuzz up a bit on the way out so it was good to have gotten the pictures and views on the way in. Jeff moved to the outside, window side, as we would not be overlooking the drop offs as we did on the way in. Jeff got some more good pictures of the animals, including the fox and caribou that we saw. The fox was quite uneffedcted by the bus. He/she seemed enchanged with a mouse or something in the bushes and then just trotted along in front of the bus as we inched along the road. It finally decided to head up the hill and disappeared into the bushes, still not in a hurry. We took a longer stop at the point when the paved road resumed as there was a small gift shop there. When we reached the park entrance, a good 12 hous had passed and we were a bit weary. Unless one has a stong wish to see Wonder Lake, I would recommend changing directions at the visitors station and saving that 2 and a half hours ride as it was not as spectacular country and not much in the way of animals on that stretch. It is a tough trade-off, though. We did see the large quail on that leg that is the Alaskan state bird that we would not have otherwise seen.

July 4 Last leg coming up. Anchorage and home. On the way back, it was July 4and as we passed through the small community of Willow, they were having a July 4 parade. There were about 5 or 6 firetrucks, floats and the whole 9 yards. It seemed quite a patriotic affair. Downside is that it never gets dark enough to appreciate fireworks.

July 1 Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward AK

July 1- Following the Sealife Center

The Kenai Fjords National Park is headquartered in downtown Seward, but covers a vast area of the Kenai Peninsula. It has almost 670,000 acres. Exit Glacier is just two miles back toward Anchorage (130 miles) from Seward and 8 miles further inland. It does not touch a body of water other than the outflow generated by its own melt. It is one of the most accessible glaciers in Alaska or anywhere. You drive up to a rather limited paved parking lot bordering a fuel-cell heated visitor welcoming building, pay no fee, and hike maybe a quarter to a half mile up the paved pathway (until the paving runs out and the steeper climb begins) and walk almost up to the face of the ice with only short stretches with mildly strenuous grades. There are about a quarter of a million guests per year to the park as a whole.When you reach the top of the ascent, there is a series of rope or fence barriers to deter people from doing stupid things, but that probably still happens. Exit Glacier makes no audible manifestations, is not calving off or any of the other exciting things of those that are flowing into the sea. It is rather tremendous in size, however when you are standing near it. Normally, you can walk to the end/base of the glacier and actually walk up and touch the face of the ice. For some disappointing reason, there was a barrier keeping us from taking that fork on the trail and our views were tremendous but only from a side view with the glacier ever so slowly flowing by us. There were signs however, marking where the glacier had been receding over the past 100 years or so that gave a better sense. of the warming and not so warming that had occurred over that time period. There was not a definite acceleration noticeable, though the volume of iced melted would not be necessarily a one to one relationship to the length melted.

The views from beside the flowing glacier were outstanding. Exit dumps into a large valley with mountains seeming to surround the whole valley. The small stream from the melting glacier was cloudy with sediment, but flowed into this hugely wide river plain where the small meandering stream was contained and constrained. The green trees offset by the snow and elevations (probably no more than 4,000 to 6,000 feet at peak) made an elegant sight. The one range of mountains separated us from Seward on the other side. The expanse of the rocky deposits would make a stone/gravel supplier green with envy, something a civil engineer must notice. Having this expanse of small stones already in one place and accessible would lend themselves to rapid screening, trucking to a highway or other construction site and immediate wealth - if only it was located near someplace that needed such resources. Of course, this would never happen in a National Park, but even if it were not a park, it is so far to a place where such masses of stone could be used, that transportation would be many times the worth of the stone.

Near the parking lot and Visitor's Center the rangers and an outside person had set up a display of various animal furs and bones (mainly skulls) of animals found in the area. There is an abundance of animal life in the area though a casual visitor such as us would not often see these small critters, such as mink.

On the same road as Exit Glacier was the summer camp of the Ididerod dog sled family; the Seavey's. The father has competed for many years and has actually won at least once and placed several times. The son is married to a former member of our youth group here at White Plains United Methodist Church in Cary. Joan and I were chaperones for the group to the beach when she was a teen. She went to Alaska with her brothers (Jones) after school and the brothers made their fortune and she married the Seavy son (not to infer that was not or does not equate to a fortune). Now their son is competing in the Ididerod. Anyway, we stopped by the summer camp there but Jeanine had gone into Seward for a time and was not there to greet. Basically, the camp serves several purposes. It provides conditioning and training for the dogs (they sell -wheeled- dog sled rides), they make cash to pay for the dog feed at about $60 per hour-long sled rides. They live up further North someplace but compete each year in the contest which runs about 1000 miles and started to commemorate a trip to deliver medicines to a remote area during the cold of winter. EVERYONE in Alaska knows the Seavys it seems. With such a beautiful valley and the surrounding mountains, it is also a wonderful place to be in the Summer. The only downside I noticed against doing that in the short time we were there looking for Jeanine was that there is a constant roar of barking dogs! That would soon get on my nerves, I surmised.

We considered taking a ride to Homer, but determined that we would not have enough time. Our interest in Homer was sparked by hearing of the halibut that was caught there the day before we went fishing (319 pounds!) and a bumper sticker spied by Charles. It said Homer, Alaska: a quaint drinking village with a fishing problem. In reality, it must be quite similar in ways to Seward but I would not mind a visit there someday to reassure myself that this is the case.


Next - Road to Denali and the Dome Home.

July 1, 2008, Alaska Sealife Center, Seward, AK

The Alaska Sealife Center is right at water's edge as you complete the drive through town, a shining anchor for the main street through Seward. Go past it and you soon come to a waterfall and the street that becomes more and more rural/rugged as you go along the coast out of town with boat yards, camping areas and just plain folks living near the sea and apparently having a life in a rugged place. The photo at left is from down town looking toward Resurrection Bay from the street in front of the Chinese breakfast buffet (really a custom "whatever you want to eat we will fix" kind of place with a Peruvian waitress.

The Center (below) is an impressive looking structure from the outside (especially noteworthy having early Spring flowers blooming in July!), as well as from within. I heard a rumor, which I never confirmed, that Exon paid to build it after the Exon Valdez mess.
Admission is normally $20/person, but because of military, AARP and/or AAA discount, I got them for $16. As you enter, there is a relatively large and gift shop with good quality merchandise. Many native craft items are included. There is also a small snack shop/short order restaurant that seemed to be quite popular. It is one of the main attractions that people want to see when they come to Seward, and rightly so.

The trip through the center starts by going upstairs to the second floor and traveling through a hallway with windows into various sea creatures in aquariums and copious explanations posted on the walls and displays. These initial aquariums are fairly small compared to the much larger ones later where the sea lions and the general fish tanks are. I did not pursue or confirm but assume that the make - up water for the tanks comes from Resurrection Bay, just yards away; however the salinity of the bay may be below that needed for this purpose due to all the influx of fresh water, in the Spring especially. At the end of the first hallway you come into an open area with choices to be made as to what you do next. There are hands-on displays of urchins, anemones, and other creatures that you can touch.
At the end of the hall, there is a theater/room where various programs are presented throughout the day via film and/or staff or outside experts on various topics. We only had time for one non-continuous session about salmon and their habits. I recall nodding off during the talk due to time and schedule catching up with me. Put me in a darkened room with someone talking, and that is a common occurrence!

I did learn that each of the six or so types of salmon has a different life span and habits. All are spawned and hatched upstream in some remote (except for those fly fishers who flew in to the lodge in float planes and try to catch them) location where both the female egg layers and the male fertilizers die (they certainly must make quite a mess and stench) as they decompose and return to the earth from which they came. Each type of salmonhowever, as they head down stream and go from minnows (salmon have different names during their life span, but I use the term minnow for convenience). They eventually over a year or longer will get down to sea water where their system transforms such that they adapt to sea water. As they move out to sea, they go out to sea thousands of miles for their maturing cycle. On a species specific cycle which varies from 1 to 4 years, they will come back to go back up stream and repeat the cycle.

As you go through this area of the center, you can look out the windows into sections that are obviously not for the public to go into, but where staff and researchers study, work with and rescue animals and other critters which need attention. There appears to be different levels of research underway. IThe center is staffed by many local and outside experts who come for temporary or long-term research projects. It is an impressive and quite worth-while center, even without the tourist aspects.

Exhausting the options in this central decision area of the building, you will eventually make your way into a larger room/area with a tank with all sorts of swimming fowl, including puffins and other colorful and diverse forms of duck-like sea birds. This is about the only place you can get up close to these birds. You can see from the harbor and/or on the sea cruise where they are flying all about but then they are at substantial distances that you need hawk eyes to determine the details of color and structure. The birds are in a relatively natural looking area and are unconfined, seeming to have retained their abilities to fly if they desire.
From this area, you can progress to the outdoor area where the sea lions and the like are. They had seal and the Stellar sea lion which can get to huge sizes (1100 lb bulls, I believe). I still can't tell a Stellar from a normal one, but then I have never been "biologically exposed" to the degree that I recall some of the differences, besides size.

They are swimming in large tanks and seem oblivious to the human eyes watching their every move (or non-moves as is the case when they are lazing about). You then progress back down to the first floor where you are priviledged to see these same creatures and more tanks from down under in a rather large open area which also gives access to larger tanks for the fish that are swimming about in simulated habitat. You can see the sea lions much closer and better from down under than from the topside except for a few moments when they may come right by. One of the fish in the fish acquarium was the Ling cod, like the one I caught on the fishing trip which I had to turn back because the season did not open until the next day. From this area, you eventually, and reluctantly can wander out the hall and doorway back into the large foryer area through which you first entered, get something to eat, buy gifts or just leave.

Next: Exit Glacer and then The Road to Denali and the Dome Home

Monday June 30, 2008: Gone Fishing, Just for the Halibut!

June 30, 2008: Seward, Alaska; Army Resort




Seward Military (Army) resort - Main building and deck area. Sleeping quarters (motel rooms with microwave and small refrigerator on both sides of flag pole. Townhouses (hard to get) are further away and the fish cleaning area is 150 feet back of the main entrance. The "bar and grill" is just in back of the building where the flag pole is.





















Above left- boats in Seward Harbor; right above is Resurrection Bay on way to Harding Straits out of the Harbor.

Jeff and I rose about 5:30 AM, not long after Charles had already risen and gone outside. Of course, it was daylight! Did not see darkness the whole trip!

Seward Harbor with mountains surrounding
We were supposed to be at the main deck or meeting room at the Army Resort by 6:15 to take the shuttle to the boat. Of course, this was a typical Army thing as could have been expected (Hurry up and wait!). Though the assigned herder/deck hand was there only about 10 or 15 minutes late, we did not get ready to board the shuttle for the 5 minute ride to the boat until after 7 AM. It took us to the docks where the 5 Resort-owned head boats were. Each would supposedly handle 28 people handily, but they usually kept it to 14 fishers + 4 deck hands, including the Captain. This was a special day. There was a large family from Kansas in the group and they had children (youngest was 7 - who acted like 2!). So the group grew to about 18 + deck hands, I believe. We stopped at the "bait shop" next to the boats and were tempted to purchase all sorts of things that we did not need. We persevered and bought only a pair of gloves, one of the best for fishing that I have seen. They were about $5 which is unheard of in Alaska to buy anything for $5.
We finally boarded the boats and cranked up and left. Much of the route out of Seward was the same as the tour boat the morning before but we were much earlier, even though we were late. The water was calm as glass and the skies were crystal clear. The temperature was in the 40's and was comfortable in our bundled state until the boat got in motion. Then it was difficult to stand outside for very long, though some "tough guys" stayed out there the whole time. It was a difficult choice to be cold or exposed to a 7-year old throwing a temper tantrum! So there was a lot of back and forth in/out during the trip.

The captain was a year-round "boat driver" and one of the deck hands is his son. He fishes out of Hawaii in the winter and Alaska in the Summer. I don't know if he owned the boat in Hawaii or not but doubt it. Totally different kind of boats, fish and people to deal with he said. He was a colorful guy but did not seem to be much over 40, if that. We had 3 hours going out to the fishing grounds. Basically, when you left Resurrection Bay, you swing a left and keep on chugging. Along the way, as we neared the end of the 3 hours, we all broke out our sandwiches etc. that we had bought at Safeway the night before and had our lunch so that the fishing would not be underway when we got really hungry. We saw a whale or more on the way out but on the way back saw another colony of sea lions. Even when we reached the fishing grounds, the mountains were so high/near (probably at least 3,000 feet, with a steep drop off at water's edge, that we were always in sight of land. In NC, we would have been way out of sight of land at the distance we were.

When we got to Chaos, the name the captains or someone has given the fishing spot, we got a short fishing lesson. The lines/rods were all baited with something resembling mullet and were set up with 2 lb (yes 2 POUNDS) of weight. The 100 lb test line was let out till it hit bottom and then pulled back up a little ways and bobbed op and down. It did not take much bobbing until you had a fish. We were in prime halibut fishing grounds. The halibut, which I was not very familiar with before this trip is like a flounder on steroids. The smaller halibut are in the 15-20 pound range whereas that is a very large flounder. Otherwise, they grow up the same, swimming as a vertical minnow with an eye on eacy side, then like a flounder, as they mature they turn and swim on their side and the two eyes end up on the same side of the head. Weird fishes! Anyway, the record halibut is in the 700 lb range! Most of the ones that are caught by regular fishermen are in the "under 100 pounds" range but while we were there there were articles in the news about 200 and a 319 pounder being caught out of Homer which is just a few hours away and over on the Cook Inlet side of Kenai Peninsula. There was a 90-something pounder caught by one person on one of the 5 boats that day, but most of us caught 20 pounders, give or take a few pounds. The limit of halibut is two per day and the fish are tagged when you pull them up. You decide if you want to keep the one you catch or release it and try for a larger one. When you keep two, you quit fishing. The deck hands are very careful about this and if you (the boat) catch more, the captain gets a stiff fine. Since all the fish seemed in the same narrow size range, I gave up early and kept my two and quit but Charles and a couple of other guys would have stayed all day! They finally kept their two and it was time to go looking for salmon. Total, Jeff Charles and I caught our total limit of 6. We figure that the dressed weight is about half of the caught weight. When you pull them out of the water, they are flapping a bit still trying to escape. The deck hands help pull them in. The sequence is to yell "One on," followed by "I see color," and then the deck hand will either come to help or repeatedly say hold him just under the surface while he is helping someone else. It was indeed chaos at times. We all caught our limit in substantially under an hour. When the fish were taken off the line, they used a small wooden stick resembling a shrunken baseball bat to whack them in the head and put them out of their misery and cut down on the flopping. It is fairly humane.
Picture above Jeff and Charles on way out 60 miles to the fishing spot "Chaos"

During the fishing frenzy, I thought I had caught a sheet of plywood or something, it was so difficult to pull up. When we got it to the surface, it was one of the ugliest fish I have ever seen. It had eyes that looked like horse eyes, they were so large; and it had a large under belly drooping down under.
The deck hand identified it as a Ling Cod - it was about 30 pounds (grows every time I think about it). There was a consensus that it was one of the best tasking fish you could eat. However, I had to throw it back because the season did not open for another 12 hours! I teasingly suggested we could tie it under the boat and I could "catch it" in the AM, but the deck hand would have nothing to do with that idea. Too bad, it was an interesting looking fish. No one else caught one of them that I saw.

Deck hand helping to "handle" the fish.
We moved about 20 minutes to a new spot looking for salmon. Everyone started catching rock fish (black sea bass) which is OK, but the AK regulations say you can catch up to 5 per day, but you are not to "target" them. Since we were not catching salmon, the captain kept moving the boat as he was expecting to get a $100++ fine for "targeting" them as he obviously must have been fishing for them as he did not have other fish. Someone did catch a couple of silver salmon which could not have been over 5 pounds. After moving about 4-5 times and not finding salmon (and there are about 6 kinds of them!), it was time to return to Seward.

Curiously, while we were not finding our salmon, further south in Ketchikan or someplace down that way that has canneries had to tell the commercial fishermen to stop fishing for two days while they caught up canning them, they were catching so many Coho Salmon! I don't remember many details, but each kind of salmon has a unique life span and habits. They are all hatched way up stream (spring fed only - as the gray looking glacier melt has too much sediment and not enough oxygen for them to live) and life there for a time and gradually move down stream, eventually becoming a salt water fish. Depending on the type, they will be gone way out to sea someplace from 1 to 4 years. As dictated by their kind, they will magically head home and back up the stream they came down. They fight their way against currents, dams, falls, bears, fishermen and all sorts of other barriers back to the headwater streams from whence they came. By this time they are exhausted in many ways. The females lay the eggs, the male fertilizes them and they all just hang it up and die. They are good for only one cycle! Must be a mess with all those dead smelly fish when this happens.

The trip back to Seward was very pleasant and the temperature had warmed up to the 70's and was still a bit brisk on a moving boat, but was bearable for much of the 3 hour return trip. All 5 boats which we had hardly seen all day collected at the mouth of the Bay and we came in as a fleet the last half hour or better. The picture I got of Seward in the afternoon light is one of the better ones that i took, I believe. By this time, a young (teen) lady who was with her dad (or there was a huge age spred!) who had been sick and in the bed most of the day came out and looked to be feeling better. She was supposedly sea sick, but the waves were not such that that would have normally been the case.

We caught the shuttle back to the resort and the deck hands followed a few minutes later with bins of our fish. All together Charles, Jeff and I caught 6 halibut and 11 rock fish. They dumped everyone's out together on a concrete slab and sorted them according to the tags. We neglected to string ours up and take a picture in that fashion, but we took pictures of them on the cleaning bench. The "gutting facility" was very accommodating to the chore. They had high pressure running water hoses every few feet, a Corion top and a "dump hole" in the back board where the unwanted fish parts went away outside to some container never to be seen again. We started cleaning the fish ourselves, but the deck hands were available for a "whatever you think it is worth" tip for helping. Charles and two of the deck hands did most of the work. Charles was much better than me but the deck hands made it look like short work. We tipped them for helping. They are paid hourly salaries on the boat and are "off the clock" when they leave the boat. So, it works out for everyone. They don't accept tips for their deck handing while on the boat. Above: "Finest gutting facility in Alaska"

I packed the steaks/slabs into plastic bags which we purchased for a nominal price at the front desk. Jeff was the chief vacuum packer (nice device that sucks out all the air and seals the bags) ; then we packed the sealed bags into a plastic "box" and took them to the freezer check in where they went by id card to make sure they got back to the right person, etc. The two large walk in freezers were nominally at -6 F. They recommended 48 hours for a thorough freeze.
Left below is the outside of "the finest gutting facility in Alaska" according to the staff; right is Jeff and Charles on the way out 60 miles to the fishing grounds named Chaos.


We finished up, washed up and went to eat at a Greek restaurant downtown in Seward in the older part of town. I got a pizza and it was one of the best ones that I can recall having. Jeff and Charles got Greek/pasta and other dishes that were equally good. The price was almost reasonable! It was a great experience. The waitress knew the Seavey's who are the dog sled people. Jeannine, who was in the youth group that we chaperoned in the 60's went to Alaska after school and married the son. The father was and Ididerod musher and has since won. Her husband is also a musher and has won, I believe. Now her son is in the competition. They have a summer camp in Seward where they charge a fee to take people for a ride on a wheeled sled. In the winter, they live someplace further North. They use the sled operation to keep the dogs in shape and to train them in Above: Our catch 6 halibut, 11 rock bass
the off season. We stopped by their place on the way back from Exit Glacier, but she had gone to town for some reason and was not there. Anyway, in a small town of 2000 locals, everyone knows everyone, especially the folks that run a tourist business from which many of the town people earn their living.

The fishing trip was certainly a highlight of the trip, though some of the views were similar or the same as some of the tour boat the day before. I don't think the scenery can ever get old or wear one down such that it is something to "get tired of."

That is about it for this session. I will be back with more in Seward about the Museum and the Exit Glacier.

An Alaskan Adventure - My 49th in the 49th on the 49th Anniversary of Statehood

Friday June 27, 2008: The long ride from Portland to Dallas to Anchorage

On this Friday, I had to pay the piper, so to speak. I had used American Airlines "Anytime" frequent flyer miles. This means I had to pay twice as many points as normal to get a seat and avoided all the restrictions of normal ff. However, the catch turned out to be that I had to fly from Portland all the way to Dallas (3 1/2 hours) in order to catch American Airlines ONLY flight to Anchorage (one in, one out each day). A bummer indeed, but it allowed me to avoid getting an extra flight on Alaska Airlines (normally American's partner on "normal" frequent flyer) and an additional $400 or so. I reasoned that a retired person had time to spend at that rate to sit on an airplane - a 757.

I got up around the "crack" of dawn - I think I heard it- and got my bags, checked out and left the Hotel just a couple of blocks from the light rail. I caught it about 6 AM for the 20 minute ride to the airport and my 8:00-ish flight. Friends from Cary, Leo and Linda Stander had agreed to take my light "dress-up" clothes back to North Carolina with them and this allowed me to have only one bag in Alaska which turned out to be a good thing upon the return when I needed to use that bag allowance for a box of fish. The 20 minute ride to the airport was smooth and allowed me once again to use my status as "honored citizen" with an 80 cent ride - amazing!

I got on the flight with no problems and no bag fees. The persons in the seats next to me (I had a window in anticipation of the flight up the AK coast) were a judge from Lufkin, Texas and his mid-20's daughter. He was already "garbed out" in fly fishing vest and other paraphernalia of a fly fisherman. They were to take a sea plane from Anchorage to wherever the lodge was (rather far away) and be ready to fish the next morning. They were friendly but not particularly talkative to me or to each other. We flew over Cook Inlet as we landed in Anchorage and it was approaching 7:30 PM (one hour time difference from Portland, 4 from NC).
The sky was a bout cloudy and overcast with an intermittent drizzle. It looked fresh and green, but I was sure it was a forewarning of a rainy week to come. As it turned out, that was just a bad thought!

We landed in the Ted Stevens airport in Anchorage. It was a bit dreary looking inside; reminded me a little of the Moscow Airport. At the time I did not appreciate who Ted Stevens is. Maybe the old rule of not naming buildings, etc after living beings is a good one. Apparently, he has brought a lot of gold back from DC to Alaska over the years in the Senate (Bridge to Nowhere?). Since I was going to a B&B for the night and just waiting till 2 PM the next day with no plans or sights to see (I had originally planned to arrive on Saturday but opted for the security of being the first one of the three of us to arrive), I took a cab. The lady (Irene) at the Alaskan/Europpean B&B had told me it was just a little ways and would be about $10. I learned two things - a "little ways" to an Alaskan can be many miles! Also, that those who don't ride cabs, don't normally have a clue what the cab costs (about $24 with tip, in this case!). However with the high cost of rental cars, (about $80/day plus insurance, gas, fees, etc.), it was still a good choice. I arrived there by 8:15 or so and Irene told me that there was a good place to eat "just down the street" a short walk. It turned out to be about 1 1/2 miles!

When I got to the restaurant she recommended (The Moose's Tooth) there was a Friday night crowd waiting and it would have taken about an hour to get a seat. Same at two Itallian places nearby and the Subway had closed for the evening. So, the golden arches called me and I walked over to their establishment and had a McKinley Burger. It was three stacks of meat and was huge! Apparently, they were not used to anyone ordering it without the french fries, but once we got that communicated, we were OK and I had a tummy filler to say the least, topped off with a small dip of ice cream (custard). I got back to the B&B by 9:30 and it was still plenty daylight and no sprinkle. Actually, I never saw it dark the whole week in Alaska as it was always daylight when I went to bed and daylight when I got up. On the way to eat, I passed an office of CH2M Hill, a consulting firm. I had occasion to talk to some of their people in Portland that I knew and they mentioned they had an office there. In a city of 300,000 or so (almost half the total population of the state) it was ironic that I was "just down the street."

Apparently though, there is a bit of dark sometime after midnight for sometime. I sat and watched TV and talked with a young pair from Minnesota who were going opposite ways on a working trip. He was going from some remote lodge to Minnesota and left that evening. She was going from Minnesota to that same lodge. They were apprently staff and I believe from the same high school in Minnesota. Another guy was from Michigan and single and was heading down to Seward on Saturday by train to catch the cruise ship leaving to go South. A rather large Japanese family had arrived at some awful time that day from Japan and were leaving about 4 AM to go someplace else, but I never really saw them, just a glimpse down the hall. I don't think they spoke much English. However, Irene speaks 7 languages (not Japanese) and grew up in The Hague, Netherlands.

My room had two twin beds so I picked the one that looked most comfortable. I rearranged some of my clothes so that I could keep a jacket handy (temps were in the 40's and 50's when I arrived. I pulled the rubberized (light killing) drapes and went to bed early (late by my body clock).

Saturday, June 28, 2008 A day in waiting and then transport to Seward

I slept well and arose before the rest of the crew. I made the coffee (pre-set) and sat down to read the paper but it was only minutes before people began coming and going. Irene appeared about 7:30 (not sure where her husband was at the time) - they winter at their place near Phoenix, AZ - and began making custom breakfasts. I had a simple egg/toast breakfast with some of her rubarb-mixture jellies. Before the week was over, I realized that there must be a fixation on rubarb in cold climates as I saw it in several places, including the B&B in Denali.

The Michigan guy and myself walked over to a nearby mall. It was not unusual, but had a Fred Myer store with a Starbucks inside. I gathered that Fred Myers is a west-coast and Alaska equivalent to WalMart. It had everything. I bought a few extra lithium batteries for my camera which seemed to be sucking batteries dry in short intervals. Though I had coffee earlier, I could not pass up getting another cup of black bold coffee of the day at Starbucks. I walked separately back to the lodging as the MI guy had gone to do some other chores in the mall. I was surprised that they were paving and doing construction on some of the residential streets on a Saturday, but I reasoned that since they don't have many Summer days, they probably have to make use of all of them that they get. I did not know what their hours are but wouldn't be surprised if they did not work extra while they have daylight.

The young lady from Minnesota needed to be at the airport a little after noon and since I did not have anything specific to do, we shared a cab back to the airport. It was a couple of dollars cheaper on this trip, maybe because the driver knew the short way. I got something (bleh!) to eat and waited for Charles (former fellow co-worker) to arrive on Delta. When he arrived about 2:30 PM, we took the shuttle over to the Budget rental place and picked up the car; just before 3PM when it was reserved for. We got a Ford Fusion which was a fairly good size for the three of us, and got just over 30 mpg for the week (mix of road, city and mountain).
We then drove back to the other terminal and parked and waited in the terminal for a while till my son Jeff arrived on Continental. As it turned out, all three of us came on planes that were on time, and perhaps more importantly, no lost bags!

I had the ticket for the parking and tried to use the automated machine to pay so we could exit quickly. Nearly an hourlater and after talking to several people "over the phone" and the security guard outside, they told us to go on to the gate and they would just let us out. My machine was still flashing my name and causing me to be concerned as to how many times my credit card was being charged the $2, as it flashed about every 10 seconds. When we got to the parking lot gate, the guy was oriental and did not speak good English, but he had a strict sense of following procedures. Although we told him what we were told to do and he accepted what the end action would be, he would not short circuit the bureaucracy and let us out. We had to pull out of the way of others exiting several times while he was on the phone and I was getting pretty aggravated by this time. Finally, the dam broke, he said OK, the gate raised and we left. I never did get overcharged for the parking, but was really concerned till I got that bill a few days later. Off to Seward!

The two hour drive to Seward from Anchorage starts out along the Cook Inlet which normally has about 12 foot tides. The Alaskan Railroad runs from Seward to Anchorage, to Denali, to Fairbanks, so would be a great train ride and it is used by many tourists, especially those who come/go by cruise ship to Seward. You can walk from the ship to the train. The drive was beautiful! Many mountains had snow, either on top, or sprawling down the sides in drivels of white against a green or dark stone gray background. We were told that the Cook Inlet (Yes, Captain Cook was here as well as the South Pacific) has conditions once or twice a year where the tides reach 30 feet or so and come in within a 15 minute period. They call them the "Board Tides" and during that time, there are lots of people who anticipate them and take their surf boards out and surf the tide up the inlet - several miles. The Inlet has many pull-offs and places to take pictures. There are also apparently many whales that come in here but not during the time we were there. Signs were posted to discourage (fines) anyone from irritating the protected Belugas. The drive was intermittently clear and then cloudy.

We arrived in Seward about 7 PM and checked into the Seward Military Resort, which I have access to by merit of being a retired Commissioned Officer in the USPHS. It is kind of like a nice summer camp for adults. It has camping and a few Yurts, but primarily motel rooms and a few two bedroom townhouses. It is about 1/4 mile from down town Seward harbor area. We had a motel style room with microwave and small frige and was quite adequate. Another twin bed and room to put it could have made it a bit better, but we were well accommodated. The fish house is here and was described to me as "the finest gutting facility in Alaska." Who was I to argue; it certainly was nice and provided what we needed. What it did NOT have was a good place to eat beyond a small "bar and grill" which specialized in things like burgers.

By this time, we were ready to get something to eat. No one had had anything but snacks since breakfast, wherever that might have been. The resort staff made a good recommendation (Ray's on the harbor) and we were off. A short wait and I had opportunity to order the infamous halibut cheeks. Jeff and Charles had their choice and this turned out to be the best meal we had all week (in my estimation). We sat there looking out the window at (hundreds?) a fleet of all sized boats. The Seward Harbor never freezes, so it stays open all year.

We pulled our creaking aching bods back to the room and pulled the heavy drapes to keep out the light and then we hibernated for a few hours. A long day!

Sunday June 29, 2008 - Off to the Fjords!

We soon learned that Charles remains an early riser (He comes to work at 6:30 AM) no matter what time zone he is in. Jeff likes to catch a few extra winks, and I am someplace in between. So, ultimately, we were fairly compatible in our needs for shower, and other facilities. We all like to eat at most available occasions.
We decided to go get something to eat and look around Seward a bit before our 10 AM tour boat that we had scheduled. There were only 10 who had signed up for the resort's boat tour on Sunday so they arranged a commercial tour instead from a choice of 3 or 4. They were similarly priced to the captive one, so that was OK. And, instead of having to pack and bring a lunch, the commercial one provided a lunch.

We ate breakfast at a Chinese Restaurant which had a large breakfast sign outside. We were a bit leary of what it might be, but the Peruvian waitress who came to greet us said that there was a buffett that consisted of a few items that were pre-prepared and that whatever we wanted they would cook it for us fresh. We had a variety of food, with central focus on sausage and eggs, but it was interesting and good. We got "fresh" French toast and more coffee as a chaser. It turned out to be very nice and probably about as cheap for breakfast as can be found in the area. A bagel and cream cheese is on the order of $6-7 alone in the places we visited. Though we did not get back to this place, we would recommend it. And you don't have to fight a crowd.

We meandered down to the docks, parking in a dirt lot a block away to save the $10 paved lot parking - cheap skate, but it paid for our breakfast. We had extra time before the boat loaded (The Glacier Express) to go on the day's tour and walked about looking at the other boats. The one parked next to the Glacier Express was Polar something and was from New Zealand (no explanation). It was just recently delivered and had two 20 foot or so dingies on deck for short term marine transport. It had 4 visible deck hands shining chrome, cleaning portholes, and generally putting on the spit shine. The Glacier Express (GE) would hold about 350 tour passengers on three decks, and this boat/ship was larger! The word on the dock was that it was just the owner and his wife and that they had just taken delivery at a price rumored to be over $4 Million! Nice bath tub toy!

We loaded on the GE finally and got on the front inside next to the door that leads on to the bow deck which is open with railings and very "non-level" in general shape. They only let people out there when the boat stops so that they can see better (e.g. whales) and get good vantage points for picture taking. As we got underway, the local born/raised captain gave us a lot of information. For example, the body of water that comes into Seward keeps the temp above freezing most of the year and when President Harding visited the area in his term, they had told his staff that they were going to name a landmark after him, but whatever that was he did not think it was grand enough but has the word dribbled back to them that "Harding Straits" would be a good substitution. They made it so. However, while there (or perhaps before) Harding got a cold which progressed so that when he got to Seattle for the next leg of his trip, he died.

Whatever you call it, the exit (several miles) out of the inlet is very spectacular. On the right going out is the Kenai Fjords National Park. It is accessible by land from an entrance just out of Seward about 10 miles and from another entrance further back toward Anchorage. The Park headquarters is actually in downtown Seward right by the Harbor. It is a "fee-free" National Park with lots of wildlife and hiking, at least in the summer. But in the harbor inlet, and on the way through the Harding Straits, snow-capped mountains come right to the water forming a spectacular adhesion of earth to water in unison with the earth then kissing the clouds and Carolina Blue sky. The captain informed us that a river/water-formed valley comes to a "V" shape. However, the harbor and straits, having been formed by glaciers are in the shape of a "U." All tour long, the captain was spouting forth much good information and insights such as that. We found that he was particularly into birds (puffins, and other such). Of particular amusement was the commentary on the sea otters. These little beasts (maybe 4' long) like to float on their backs with all fours sticking up and watch the silly boat people float by. They seem aloof! They also carry a stone on their chest. When they get hungry, they dive down to the bottom, get a clam or whatever bivalve they choose, and assume their "4's up" position, progressing to crack the shell on the rock on their chest in order to eat it. Pretty clever little gremlin!

Our first glacier spied was the Bear Glacier. It looked huge, but since we were going to a larger one, we passed it by at a distance. By this time, the overcast/drizzle was beginning to pass. We spied several whales. Since I don't know the names that go with the right whale, I dare not say which is which, except the Orca, the black and white ones are also known as the Killer Whales, I think. It was pretty hard to tell which kind they were as they were not very playful that day. They showed their tail up out of the water, but they did not dive to the bottom and come up out of the water as you often see in pictures/videos. The captain said that meant they were not hungry. During the trip we saw several, on different occasions. Some could have been the same ones, but the captain seemed to recognize them by their markings. They opened the door and stopped the boat when we saw whales and sea lions, etc. We also passed several dens/groups/herds(?) of sea lions and Stellar sea lions. To my knowledge/recollection, we did not see any seals. From a distance, though we were close by cruise ship terms, they all look quite similar to a novice. And birds, birds, birds everywhere. Some cliffs or rookeries were full of nests and presumably eggs. The overwhelming abundance of birds was sea gulls, but the captain seemed to be able to distinguish beak differences, etc. somehow. I sure couldn't tell one from the other.

On the way out to the glaciers, we had a lull in scenery and the meal they provided was served. It consisted primarily of a bagel with cream cheese and a big chunk/slab of smoked salmon. Normally, salmon is a bit strong for me but this was excellent! It was informal but filling and tasty. The apple that came with it was pocketed for a later bite. The boat would hold about 350 maximum, but we had just over 200 on board, so the line was not bad and it did not take long to collect the snacks. Coffee, hot chocolate and soft drinks were always available and complimentary ($included in the ~$150+ ticket!).

Off in the distance we began to see the speck of another tour boat. It was in front of the Alysia Glacier and Pedersen Glaciers which at one time formed one glacier. The Alysia is larger and is 1000' high and 3/4 mile wide. As we got closer the scale unfolded and it was obvious how large it was. We circled a bit and then the captain got the boat very (few hundred yards) close to the glacier and shut off the engines so we could hear the groaning and bursting sounds when the calves dropped. They were not huge chunks relative to the face or to an iceberg, but still were sizable chunks of ice. When they popped off and into the water, it was almost like a distant cannon went off. One side of the glacier is black/dark with sediment as it makes a stiff turn a ways before the face. Up on the side of the wall above the dark sediment were a small herd of Dahl Sheep. Goats are prolific in the area also, but they are both very hard to see as they become mere specks up on the side of a mountain. They prance around as light footed on the rocky surface as a ballet dancer on a flat stage.

We got back into port by a bit after 3 PM, having a full viewing experience of what

Next after a break - Monday June 30, 2008: Gone Fishing, Just for the Halibut!