Quite a Start to Our Second Month on the Road

 Wednesday June 22, 2022 - So today was a crazy day.  I'm not sure I can get every detail in this blog, so you'll just have to ask for the complete story the next time we see you.  Here's the cliff note version:

1. Jen tested positive for COVID (I feel fine, just 1 day of a little bit of a runny nose)

2. The Smiths rental RV had lots of things that needed fixing before they could pick it up 

3. When we got to our campground for the night it was closed for some "emergency"

4. We had to pay $58 for a spot in a parking lot, next to the Seward Highway

5. After several failed attempts at dinner, we ate Wendy's at 10PM

5. Plus a whole lot of other issues

Luckily we had a few bright spots in the day along with all the problems.  While we were trying to pass the time until the Smiths were able to pick up their RV we went to Ship Creek Overlook, hoping to see some Salmon.  It was a nice spot to hang out for a bit, but there weren't any Salmon, so we decided to head to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  This was a really great museum.  There were replicas of different buildings used by native Alaskans during different time periods.  It was really well done and a beautiful spot to spend a few hours.  We're looking forward to starting over tomorrow. 

Yay, Janet and Bob are here!

The Ulu Factory

Lunch at Ship Creek Overlook Park

Sunglasses made out of wood

Outside of the Yupik Men's Lodge

Metal Sculpture along the trail

Whale skeleton

Bob & Kevin on their phones

the mountains are everywhere you look

I love the totem poles

Bob going in the cool door of the Wooden Clan house

carvings covering the support posts

A spot for the Smith's stuff while we waited for their RV to be ready

"dinner" at 10PM

Thursday June 23, 2022 - Today we drove 1 hour outside of Anchorage to our campground for the next 3 days.  Williwaw campground is part of the National Forest and has beautiful wooded campsites that are nicely spread out, and it of course has lots of great mountain views.  It is in the middle of a trail system, and has a boardwalk and Salmon viewing area (we looked there aren't any Salmon, yet).  On the drive to Williwaw we stopped for some views of the Turnigan Arm and then had a picnic lunch and a beer at the Girdwood Brewery.  Janet & Bob decided to take the Alyeska Tram to the top of Alyeska Mountain and we headed to the campground.  We enjoyed a relaxing evening. 

The guys figuring out the Walkie Talkies

A hike around Potter Marsh Wildlife Viewing Area

Turnigan Arm at low tide

Love those iconic yellow and blue Alaska trains

Tiny on the Seward Highway

Girdwood Brewery

lunch and a beer

Snowboard Bench

Dinner at Williwaw

A walk around the campground after dinner

 

A Few Days in Anchorage

 Saturday June 18, 2022 - We went into Valdez for a few things today and spent some time walking around the wharf.  Valdez is certainly a pretty little town in the middle of the mountains on the Valdez Bay.  

Bear carving at the wharf

pretty poppies

Sunday June 19, 2022 -  Happy Father's Day!  Kev woke up this morning feeling great!  He was happy to have a pancake breakfast and then get to Video Chat with the girls and Ian.  We had a 4.5 hour drive today to Palmer and on the way we stopped for lunch and a quick walk at Wrangell-St Elias National Park.  The majority of the park is inaccessible by car.  There are only two roads into the park, both gravel roads.  The park is huge...the size of both New Hampshire and Vermont.  We got to see some beautiful views of the mountain range and stopped into the visitors center.  Hopefully we can one day make the trek in on the McCarthy road, which is supposed to be an adventure in and of itself.  

 

Father's Day breakfast

Video Chat with the kids

cloudy morning over the Valdez Bay before we left for Palmer

Views of the mountain range in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

View of Mount Wrangell, one of the largest active volcanoes in North America

A view of the Matanuska Glacier on the drive to Palmer

Mirabelle was happy to finally have some grass to lounge on

Our campground in Palmer was called Mountain View and we really enjoyed the mountain view while we were there

Monday/Tuesday June 20/21, 2022 -  Today we drove 45 minutes to Anchorage.  We are meeting Janet & Bob there on Wednesday for the next phase of our trip.  They are flying in from NJ and renting an RV, so our caravan will be a little bigger!  Uncle Gene was in the military, so he got us two campsites on the Elmendorf Airforce base for the next two nights.  The campground was great, with full hook-ups and laundry.  We have enjoyed watching the planes of all sorts fly over our campsite.  We will spend the next two days, getting ready to meet up with the Smiths (oil change, groceries, laundry, fixing the chip in our windshield, washing the RVs, really fun stuff!)

morning mountain view

of course there were more mountains on our drive to Anchorage

we're back on some gravel roads as we drive the scenic route, that google took us on, through the base

We drive the gauntlet when we leave the base

Black Spruce Campground on the base

Getting pics of the jets flying overhead

Cheers to Tony!

Lep getting some TLC

Cleaning off the solar panels

getting ready for the fourth of July?

love the jets over the campground