Day 49 (7-19-12 - At the fish camp in Copper Center)

"I'll be glad to get back to Crossroads,  we have flow wells and are not rationing water"

It has been a gorgeous day.  We actually had on shorts and flip flops.  Finally, we are not freezing.

We went to the unisex restrooms and showers at the campground.  There are 2 showers and 3 toilets.  These are located in the laundry room.  We were able to wash our clothes and ourselves at the same time.

I have the luxury of blow drying my hair now that we  have an extension cord connected to the camper supplying our electricity.  A good shower and hair styling is a rare treat since we rarely have any hook ups for the camper.  I feel like a new woman, that is cleaned and fluffed.

Lauren successfully caught a salmon this morning.  He went back this evening and hooked two and lost them.  Not bad for a Redneck with no salmon fishing experience.

Ferny didn't come to bed last night. She was on night patrol.   Last night was the first night in a while that she slept solo.  She usually gets in the bed and steals our warmth.  It is a good thing.  With her fur and my hot flashes, Lauren would have probably been set on fire.

As usual, I have another favorite place in Alaska. 

Exhausted!!!!

Today's pics   https://goo.gl/photos/LVTQMF1pZPY9ZHEm7

Day 48 (7-18-12 - Copper Center)

Lauren's first salmon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANITA!!!

We traveled 180 miles today to Grove's Klutina Campground in Copper Center.  It was a gorgeous day.  We saw Matanuska Glacier and many more scenic views along the way.  We are camped on the river and listening to the water rushing over the bolders.  It is so relaxing.

Judy and Terry stayed here about a month ago and highly recommended this place.  We called and found out the salmon were running.  We told Mary that we were on our way. When we got here we had to wait for her to come back from fishing.  She said that she thought she would be able to catch a fish before we got here.  She did catch a fish.  It was the biggest salmon that we saw today.  We had no problem waiting on the camp host to catch a salmon.  This is our kind of place.

Lauren has cooked both meals that we ate today.  He cooked sausage and pancakes for breakfast and his wonderful grilled chicken this afternoon.  My man can cook!!

Lauren went fishing for a couple of hours.  The first fish he hooked, got off.  The second fish, broke the line.  The third fish, is in the fridge.  He is one happy fisherman.

I can't wait for him to cook his catch.

Pretty view from the CG

Pictures     https://goo.gl/photos/DHEwjH62UmnEzMyj8

Day 47 (7-17-12 - Anchorage)

We had a gorgeous sunny day today with the temperature reaching 70 degrees.  Finally we were able to be outside in short sleeves.

We took a ride to Anchorage.  I needed to do my monthly weigh in at Weight Watchers and this was the best opportunity that I have for this month.  I met the leader and a trainee.  The leader was from Lake Charles, (small world). 

The two weigh in stations were separate and private. This was the most impressive weight watchers facility that I have ever been in

 I told them that I have been a life time member for over 6 1/2 years.  The lady in training was very impressed and told me that I inspired her to continue with her training. I felt like a weight watchers superstar when I left. Oh, and I lost 3 pounds since last month, a total of 4 pounds since I left home. I think being stress free is a big factor.

The trainee apologized for the cold summer in Alaska. I told her not to worry, we have thoroughly enjoyed Alaska.

I knew I was long overdue for a hair cut.  I had Lauren in a "it's all about Kim mood,"  so I went a got a trim.  The hair cutter was as nice as everyone else that we have met in Alaska.  She also apologized for the cold summer.  I assured her that we are having a blast.

We went to Earthquake Park.  It was a great memorial to the 1964 earthquake.  It made me speculate about what must have went through their minds as the ground shook and broke apart for 90 seconds.  It goes without saying, that you need to live each minute to the fullest.

We took a ride downtown to Ship Creek where the salmon were supposed to be viewed from the bridge.  There were no salmon.  We took a ride closer to a hatchery, and found several salmon waiting under the bridge on their way to their birthplace for their last spawning.  Their story is like a Romeo and Juliet fish novel. 

After a great day in Anchorage, we are at the camp.  We have the back door down.  We are listenening to the sound of the generator and hearing and watching the rushing water in the river.   We have had another fantastic day in Alaska.

Pics are here: https://goo.gl/photos/Bct5XhisQMwjud8G6

Day 46 (7-16-12 - Eagle River Campground)

Coming out of the Tunnel

We woke up to a  foggy cold morning.  We took a ride through the famous train tunnel to Whittier.  We had a short delay waiting for a train to come through before we were cleared to enter.  We rode 2.5 miles through the hole in the mountain riding on the train track.  A very unique experience.

We heard the locals say the weather is sh_____ier in Whittier.  Guess what, the weather was prettier in Whittier.  It was a beutiful day except for the cold wind.  We walked around the harbor and through the pedestrian tunnel.  We took a ride up the mountain and found some more gorgeous views of Prince William Sound.  We took a hike up a trail to look at a pretty waterfall called Horsetail Falls. 

We went back to the campground.  The fog had lifted, but it was still cloudy and cold.  We took a walk on the Trail of Blue Ice that runs behind our campsite.  This was a very well maintained trail with a lot of boardwalks.  There were pretty views of Middle Glacier and the creek.  We finally saw the waterfall that we had been hearing at our camp site. 

We moved 65 miles inland to Eagle River which is a suburb of Anchorage.  We are camped at Eagle River Campground in Chugach State Park.  It is another nice campground.  We took a ride to Walmart  to restock.  We walked around the campground then sat around the campfire for several hours. Ferny Kat was as happy to be out as we were.  She loves it here. We were not getting rained on so I pulled out the mats from the truck and the rugs from the camper.   Everything, including us, needed to be aired out.

We grilled pork chops over the campfire and had corn and peas with them.  We really like cooking over the fire pit.  There is no clean up when you are done.

We are able to pick up TV channels tonight.  We have found that there are only oldies on air TV in Alaska. At least we will be able to watch the news in the morning.  With poor radio and TV reception most of the time, we have no clue what is going on in the world and we haven't missed it.

We have done a lot of relaxing, enjoyable, walks today.  The fitbit count is 8 miles today.  We were so caught up in the  beautiful surrondings, we were both suprised that we walked this far. 

Pictures https://goo.gl/photos/2GtcBsF6c3fGSBfD6

Day 45 (7-15-12 - Williwaw Campground)

It was hard to leave Quartz Creek but it was time to move on.  We relocated 55 miles to Williwaw Campground near Whittier.  It has been another rainy day.

We are camped at the base of one of the glaciers, Middle Glacier.  We have a good view from our campsite.  It is another pretty campground in the Chugach National Forest.

We went to the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center.  This center is named after Hale Boggs, U.S. House of Representatives majority leader, who disappeared in a plane when traveling to Juneau.  There were gorgeous views of glaciers and glacier ice floating in the lake at the visitor center. It was an honor to know that this center was named after a representative from my birth place.

We went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We wanted to see musk ox and porcupines.  The musk ox are really ugly and the porcupines need some good deodorant.   We preferred to walk instead of drive but it was too rainy.  It was okay, but too many people for us.

We took a ride to Girdwood on Seward Highway toward Anchorage.  We were going to ride the tram in Girdwood.  It was not running today.  It probably has something to do with the 45 to 65 mile per hour winds that are forcasted for this area tonight.  Turnagain Arm was not as pretty as a few weeks ago.  Sunshine makes everything look a lot better.

We cooked our hand caught, (muscle tired), halibut tonight.  We were going to grill it, but the weather was so bad we decided to cook it as fast as we could.  We fried it.  It is absolutely the best fried fish that I have ever ate.  I know Otha and Audrey are in heaven thinking, no way.

Ferny Kat was adamant that she was going outside. We thought that she would go outside, feel the cold and the rain and come right back in.  Wrong.  We took turns as she led us around for a while in the cold wind and the rain.  The locals have told us to layer up and continue with our plans. I guess Ferny Kat has adapted to the Alaskan way of life.  If you want to do something, go ahead, regardless of the weather.   

We are in for the night listening to the rain.  We need to go to bed early and get up early to go to Whittier tomorrow.  We have been sleeping until after 8:00 the last two mornings.  Oh well, who cares, we are retired.

 Pictures    https://goo.gl/photos/KbDcfKkYfJxNjDCr6

Day 44 (7-14-12 - Quartz Creek Campground)

The headlines are true, It's Cold!!

This is the warmest day that we have had in weeks.  We had a high of 63 with partly sunny skies.  It was nice for most of the day and then the rain set in.

We slept until 8:30 this morning.  We decided to cook lunch instead of breakfast.  We cooked hamburgers over the camp fire grill.  This is our last pack of Fortenberry meat.

We drove 19 miles on a gravel road to Skilak Lake.  There were some pretty views around the lake.  The only wildllife sighting was a coyote.  On the way back to camp, we stopped for ice cream at Wildman's.

Lauren went fly fishing in Quartz Creek.  He didn't last long.  It got cloudy, cold, and windy.

We had a nice visit with the family that we met at Deep Creek.  They happened to be camping at Quartz Creek Campground.  They were the ones that told us about Quartz Creek Campground.  They cooked a delicious cherry cobbler in a dutch oven over the fire pit.  It was great to see them again.

Pictures   https://goo.gl/photos/3cdLKn7nTYCZ8X7KA

Day 43 (7-13-12 - Seward to Quartz Creek)

We woke up to the sound of eagle chirps and Ferny Kat purring this morning.  This is the adventure we dreamed of.  No generators and no doors slaming. I think moving across the bay was worth the isolation for a least a good nights rest.

Lauren was slow to get up.  He had some sore spots, (probably a bunch of sore spots from snagging yesterday), on his body.  He looked really tired when he went back salmon snagging this morning.

Lauren must stick out like a, "I'm not from here,"  kind of guy because for two days, there have been several guys walk up and give advice.  They have offered him their fishing pole to snag with and even give him treble hooks.  The generosity of these guys is unbelievable.

After a couple of hours with no snagged salmon, we decided to move on.

We moved 46 miles to Quartz Creek Campground.  

Our friends that we met at Deep Creek highly recomended this campground.   We are glad that we went out of our way to stop here.

We were agravated by the ravons when we got here   We acted like we were picking up rocks and throwing at them.  They flew away. Now we know what to do.

We rode around downtown Cooper Landing.  We had a milkshake at Wildman's.  Lauren had a pineapple milkshake and I had a chocolate milkshake.  Lauren  reminisced about me fixing his pineapple milkshake at Zesto's.  He said that this was the second best milkshake that he ever had.  I think he is right.

We walked around at the Russian River Ferry.  We met a man who is the manager of the Russian River Ferry that is originally from Laurel, Ms.  He went to PRC in 1960.  It was pretty cool to meet someone that went to PRC in Alaska.  I bet that it is rare to have 3 alumni from PRC at the Russian River Ferry in Alaska.

Ferny is purring again.  The three of us are happy.  Only one of us purrs.  Gotta love it!!

Pics https://goo.gl/photos/Do6upBUzUMr7zaa1A