Blogs from Alaska, United States, North America - page 219

Damp cool weather continues, with strong winds blowing off the water and low clouds hanging over the mountains. We left Homer and drove back through Soldotna and stopped at Fred Meyers for a repair kit for the tent. We have a small hole in the boot that goes around the hatch. The scenery today was mountains and clouds dampened with showers. We arrived in Seward, which we found to be a quaint port town. There was a cruise ship at the docks and lots of other boats including site-seeing boats that take you to see wildlife and glaciers. We had lunch in town and then spoke to a ranger at the National Parks Office about seeing Kenai National Park. We have been trying to determine if we want to take a boat out of Seward or ... read more

So after a 3hr flight from Seattle I finally arrive in Alaska. My taxi driver takes me to my hostel in Anchorage, along the way he cracks open what looks like a can of beer...after seeing the horified look on my face he explains in broken English, that it is actually an energy drink! Upon depositing me outside the hostel he proceeds to give me his mobile phone number. I'm not actually sure if he is trying to pick me up or wants more taxi work! The hostel is fine and full of Eastern European's. The guy at the reception recommends a place to eat in town called 'Humpe's' Un beknown to me this is the start of Alaska's sense of humour with names. I am sharing a room with Linda on my trip...she has already ... read more

Anchorage is a bowl surrounded by mountains, except for the water of Cook Inlet. It is a beautiful city, the largest in Alaska. In the morning we were greeted in the campground by Arnold and Peggy, the couple from Saskatchewan who we haven’t seen since Whitehorse. When we left the campsite, we checked out some fishermen in Ship Creek, very near our campsite as we heard there were salmon running there. We also drove out to Earthquake Park which commemorates the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale. It devastated a large area of the coast from Anchorage all the way down the Kenai Peninsula. Alaska has approximately 30 earthquakes every day. Fortunately most are 3.0 or less. There is a website that shows a map of where the quakes were and ... read more

Our cruise itinerary was departure Vancouver 24 May 4.45pm through the Seymour Narrows, 25 May pilots disembarked and we continued on for 1 day at sea passing the Canadian boarder to the USA at 10.30pm. Arrived at Juneau Alaska on 26 May - we were in the Pacific Ocean that night, the Captain said when in the Ocean expect a bit of Motion which we did, 20 knot winds and fog. I didnt sleep but Barry did. Tuesday 27 May at Skagway - you will note that I have spelt Skaguay in two different ways but I think we are meant to write it with a 'w' but in the town it is written with a 'u'. In Skagway we took the White Pass Railway to the Summit which was another neat train ride - photos ... read more

Monday 26th May 2008 Alarm went off at 3am (how did that happen?) got up at 5.30am. Packed up and walked to the ferry to cross to the airport. Ketchikan has an agreement with the federal government for them to build a bridge from the mainland to the airport , which is on an island. But for 40 years they have been waiting for this to happen. So you have to pay $5 each to cross on the ferry which takes all of 3 minutes, but its the only way you can get to the airport. Over we go to wait. Were very hopefull at a couple of points as once they called us but that was to unlock Mikes bag to search it and the second time they called "Fitzgerald, party of 2" we thought ... read more