Day 720- Alaska Trip-Homer-Valdez

Sunrise Homer, Alaska

Tom and Buffy's first halibut fishing trip

Salty Dawg Saloon on the Homer Spit is one of Alaska’s most iconic landmarks. Operating as a bar since 1957, the building began as one of Homer's very first pioneer cabins in 1897 and previously served as a post office, schoolhouse, railroad station, and grocery store

Rodney and Tom

Tom

Valdez 1898 

Founded as a tent camp during the Klondike Gold Rush, Valdez served as the "All-American Route" for prospectors. 

In 1964 the original town site was leveled by the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. The survivors rebuilt the entire city four miles to the west on safer, bedrock ground

Alaska has informed us that the travel season is over (I think it came by dog sled). The Northern Lights made an appearance last night, the fall colors surround us and the fireweed has turned to cotton. We will start the next couple weeks driving back to the lower 48. We still have a couple key spots to hit along the way. Pictures do not do the beauty justice.

 

Day 695- Alaska Trip- Kenai Fjords tour Seward

Kenai Fjords tour combines breathtaking glacier and wildlife viewing with deep-rooted Indigenous, geologic, and industrial history. Today, cruising these icy waters out of Seward remains the premier way to experience the area, with 6- to 8-hour tours

Sea Otters

Orca

Orca Pod

Bear Glacier is the largest outlet glacier of Alaska's Harding Icefield, located in  Kenai National Park Named in 1909, it has retreated over 4 miles since its Little Ice Age in1888

Steller sea lions, the largest of the eared seals, are a massive presence in Alaska's marine ecosystems. Adult males can reach up to 11 feet in length and weigh up to 2,500 pounds. In Alaska, they rely on nearly 500 remote, rocky "haul-outs" and "rookeries" along the coast to rest and breed

Aialik Glacier is a massive tidewater glacier in Alaska that drains the Harding Icefield. While actively calving, it has remained relatively stable over the past century, retreating less than 1,000 feet since first documented in 1909

Seals

Glacier calving is the mechanical breaking away or detachment of large chunks of ice from the edge of a glacier. This dramatic process typically happens when a glacier flows into a body of water (like an ocean or lake) and forms massive ice cliffs, with the resulting fragments forming icebergs

Rodney, Buffy and Tom 

Iceberg 

Humpback Whales

Dall's Porpoise Often mistaken for orcas due to their striking black-and-white markings, these are the fastest small cetaceans in the world. They are highly active and notorious for riding the bow waves of boats

 

Day 692 - Alaska Trip-Talkeetna-Seward

Talkeetna, an Indigenous Dena'ina word meaning "where the rivers join," is a vibrant Alaskan town located at the confluence of the Susitna, Chulitna, and Talkeetna Rivers. Founded in 1916 as a district headquarters for the Alaska Railroad, its frontier character, historic downtown, and role as the gateway to Denali make it a legendary destination

Founded in 1903, Seward, Alaska is a historic, ice-free port town named after William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State who negotiated the Alaska Purchase. It served as the southern terminus for the historic Alaska Railroad and is Mile 0 of the Iditarod National Historic Trail.

Watching a family of eagles grow from fluffy chicks into majestic fledglings is a rare treat.

The Resurrection Roadhouse is not a historic building itself, but rather the premier, award-winning restaurant located within the modern Seward Windsong Lodge. Opened as part of the lodge complex, it is celebrated for its tide-to-table Alaskan seafood, gourmet pizzas, and sweeping views of the Resurrection River Valley

Exit Glacier is a massive, easily accessible glacier located in Kenai Fjords National Park, just a 10-15 minute (8.4-mile) drive outside downtown Seward, Alaska. It is famous for its up-close viewing and is the only part of the national park accessible by car

Mile 0 of the Iditarod National Historic Trail.

Authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1914, the federally funded Alaska Railroad was completed in 1923 to connect the ice-free port of Seward to the deep interior of Fairbanks. Its construction established Anchorage as a railroad camp, opening up Alaska's rugged wilderness for mining, commerce, and settlement before the territory even became a state

Riverboat Discovery 3-hour sternwheeler tour in Fairbanks, Alaska, operated by five generations of the Binkley family. Since 1950, it has evolved from a small missionary boat into a massive 900-passenger vessel, offering visitors an immersive look into Interior Alaska's rich pioneer and Native heritage

Sled dog summer training lesson

The chance of viewing Denali is infamously low; only about 30% of visitors ever see the peak clearly. Because of the microclimates it generates, the mountain hides behind clouds roughly 70% of the time, earning those who manage to see it the playful title of the "30% Club"