Anchorage (08/14/2005)

This week we did a lot of traveling; we were in Denali, Anchorage, Portage (Whittier), Homer, and Seward. We drove from Denali to Anchorage on the first day. It was a beautiful, sunny day, with great views of Denali (something we missed in the park). That evening in Anchorage we had dinner with my brother Fred & and his wife Barbara. We had a great Halibut and Salmon dinner (fish Fred had caught). We spent the next day walking around downtown Anchorage (we had great weather and Anchorage has a very nice downtown area).
The next day we saw Prince William Sound via Major Marine Tours. We drove from Anchorage to Portage and then on to Whittier via the Anton Anderson Memorial rail tunnel (a one way tunnel shared by rail and automobiles). In Whittier we boarded the ‘Emerald Sea‘ for the trip to Blackstone Bay, to see the Blackstone and Beloit Glaciers, to Shotgun Cove, and finally to the Kittiwake Rookery. We saw ice worms (they do exist), sea otters, sea lions, birds and Glaciers: Cirque, Valley, Hanging, and Tidewater (calving, although not as dramatic as I would have liked). It was beautiful day on the water.
We spent the next day in Portage. We went to the Glacier Visitor Center (well worth the time), took a bicycle ride to see salmon spawning, and walked to the Byron Glacier. This is a very pretty area. The next day we drove through Soldotna and Kenai on our way to Homer. Boy, has Soldotna changed in the 20 years since we lived there. So many shops and the traffic was awful. The drive to Homer was stunning. We had beautiful weather and the views of Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay were awesome. That evening we had dinner on the spit and walked around a little. The next day we went to the Pratt Museum and then walked the full length of the spit. They have some very nice shops, some very funky bars and some very big Halibut (in from the charter boats). Bob (and a million other fishermen) did some fishing for salmon in a fishing hole just off the spit.
Today we drove to Seward by way of Soldotna. This time we stopped in Soldotna to take a look at our old house. It had not changed much: a new garage, painted a lighter color, and better landscaping.