Thursday August 16, 2007 We left Seward this morning with Wasilla as our destination. It was a cloudy day with a little rain. The trip north was pretty with mist shrouding the mountains and the clouds breaking every once in awhile and showing blue sky. We stopped at Portage Valley Visitor Center which is about 45 minutes from Anchorage. The valley has multiple glaciers. We saw several near the center. Alaska has a lot of glaciers! Closer to Anchorage there’s a wetlands area that attracts birds and we stopped to see if any birds were around. We didn’t see birds or [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, We've been having a great time and I have lots to tell you. We've been to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. Mostly dry camping and not spending much time on the computer (have to save coach batteries to start the furnace). Then Travel Blog had a big problem and crashed. They were offline for a few days and have been unable to get all entries back up. I'm restoring my blogs, as I have them backed up, but sometimes, you'll get notices for blogs from the past, as I restore. Fortunately the pictures are still in Travel Blog and [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday August 1, 2007 Today we went out for breakfast; eggs, pancakes and sausage. What a treat!We visited the Iditarod Headquarters and took a “summer” ride on a carriage pulled by a dog team. It was bumpier than snow -- - but we got the idea. I was surprised how fast they went. During the race they average 12 miles per hour. Two people in Wasilla were instrumental in establishing the Iditarod race. The headquarters is actually on the property of the man who established the race. The mushers who run the race are really dog people and can own well [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday July 31, 2007 The day was cloudy so we couldn’t see much of the mountains as we headed into Central Alaska. We arrived in Wasilla around noon. Wasilla and neighboring Palmer are part of the agricultural area of Alaska. During the depression Roosevelt sent about 200 families from dustbowl states to pioneer and farm this area as an experiment. The undertaking was semi- successful since many families didn’t stay, but the area did become an important farming region. I was looking for watermelon and tomatoes - - not here! They specialize in cool weather crops (what else [View Full Entry]

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Hi. Will post more tomorrow after our Glacier sightseeing trip (columbia galcier 3 miles wide, tidal, 30 stories high.....6.5 hours on the boat). Wanted to note to you that the pictures so far are all in the first entry (maybe second) titled "Van heads home"...... sorry still learning. We are in Valdez camped by the Prince William Sound. A little rainy and cool but managable. Wiil try to get some more pics out tomorrow. All well and feeling fine. Looking forward to Julia's arrival in 4 days.\ Van still OK. Raeann cracked the windshield today... OK OK it was a vehicle [View Full Entry]

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Myers Lake: The lake temperature was 62 degrees and the sun was shinning. When I pulled in at the lake a man in a pickup pulled in ahead of me. He walked down to the lake ahead of me. I was still getting my equipment together when he came back he said their is no sing of fish. So he left and I took my gear and went fishing. It took me about half an hour to find the fish. I was fishing a muddler minnow and I caught enough fish that the fly became a muddler. The minnow part [View Full Entry]

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Wolf Lake: The lake temperature was 34 degrees I was cold and although I fished for 3 hours all I caught were 3 inchers. This lake usually produces large fish. Float Experience [View Full Entry]

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Junction Lake; The lake temperature was 36 degrees and the sun had come out. Still using the Hare's Ear Nymph I cough fish one right after the other. They were about 10 to 15 inches long. Float Experience [View Full Entry]

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Lake Ottis: The lake temperature is 34 degrees and trout like 54 degrees. Below 41 the colder the temperature the less the density. This means the fish are deep in the holes. If the sun warms the surface you'll find them in the shallows. I couldn't find any fish. This means they either winter killed or I missed them. Float Experience [View Full Entry]

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All great things must come to an end, right? Well, I had to give myself a couple days at home, to pack for Switzerland. [View Full Entry]

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