A day trip to Seward 7-15-2012

We decided to take a day trip to Seward. It was a drizzly overcast day and the fish weren’t in a big run yet so catching would be slow. Seward is about 95 miles from Soldotna. Our plan was to see the Alaska Sea Life Center & take a walk out to the Exit Glacier. When we got to Seward we took a short drive through town. It’s not a big town & easy to get around in. We were attracted to this private home with Beautiful art work on the side of the house. Someone sure is creative with wood. The 3rd pix is of the Alaska Sea Life Center. It is a marine laboratory & aquarium that was partially funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Settlement Fund, it opened in 1998. It’s a large facility with first-class displays of Alaska marine mammals, fish & birds. The entry fee is only $20 per adult & we had a discount coupon. There are also some teaching encounters you can book for additional fee. Besides the visitor aspect this is a teaching facility & if needed a rehab location for injured sea life.     

    

I think we got there @ nap time for the birds. They had several different types of birds. And except for the Puffins I don’t know what the others are. 

   

This is a Murre

     

The building is 2 stories high & you can see the animals from the second story like they were on land. & then on the first floor you can watch them swim & dive in the water. There was also a hands on pools for touching starfish etc.

       

In this 3rd pix over is an Octopus and it has a nest of eggs under her.

   

When we left there was a Golden Eagle on a post by the water. It’s so beautiful. We don’t see these as much. 

   

Steve & I at the Mile ‘0’ of the Iditarod Historic Trail. The Founders Monument & a look down 4th the main tourist shops. & the street ends @ the Sealife Center.

   

Exit Glacier A view from the road coming up to the Glacier Visitor Center. And a sign that shows how far the glacier has receded. 

   

Yes I walked all the way out to the Glacier. That’s me in the red coat on right. Along the trail out they have signs that give the years of where the glacier was. It has been receding pretty fast the last couple years. 

   

Steve @ the glacier And the last pix is taken from out on the rd. that you take to the glacier.

 

It was a great day & fun drive. We did stop in town & had some good Halibut & Chips @ a local pub before heading back to Soldotna.

Since this trip Steve has been fishing in Soldotna on the Kenai & we have enjoyed some nice weather & some drizzly days. Friends Mark & Renita from Wyoming & Mike & Sandy from Minnesota have joined us & are fishing too.  

Soldotna 7-11 to 19-2012

A flag on the road to Soldotna. And our new home for a while.  

    

Just a few pix of Steve combat fishing on the Kenai. I just don’t understand what all the hype is to this fishing craze. It’s very busy here in Soldotna & yet not  hectic except for the extra business in the stores. Even though there are people here from all over the world there’s very few out of state licenses. We have come to realize it’s because of all the rental RV’s & cars. Whoever owns the rental places there doing a booming business.  These next 6 pix are of Steve in the line of other fishing people

   

   

There are several cleaning stations along the river & nice steps down to access the river. They have done this to help keep erosion down & keep the fish mess in the river.   I still need to research what this bird is but there just outside our window. And these are Moose tracks. There’s a Mom & 2 babes that come around. 

   

Finally we see the Mom & her Babes.  And another bird to research.

   

Sunset taken between 11 & 11:30 The Sun was glowing a yellow Orange. Yes this is the sun not the moon.

   

As you can see we haven’t done a lot in Soldotna. My next post will be a day trip we took to Seward. And will be doing another on Soldotna since we’ll be here a little longer.

Today is the 22nd & new friends Mark & Renita from the Escapees class of 2007 have joined us & Mike & Sandy are now back here too.  

Deep Creek 7-10-2012

While parked @ Homer we visited with a family from Michigan. The dad told us about a very nice place on the ocean side between Homer & Soldotna. It turned out to be an area I had highlighted in the Milepost book called Deep Creek. It’s a State Campground for $10 a nite.We decided to stop & ck it out. This area is very popular with the locals. It’s a closer (but expensive I think $60) place to launch a boat to go out into Cook Inlet. They fish for Halibut & salmon there. The beach @ Deep Creek is good for clam digging when the tide is low.

We followed this boat into the park. It was a charter on it’s way to launch. Steve had to take the pix of our GPS as it showed us 18ft below sea level. :-?

     

This is what the park looks like. It’s very open. The sites to the right can look out over the grass area & there are a lot of Birds. The eagles are more over by the hill as that’s where the creek enters the ocean.

      

As you can see here were  18ft below sea level…Yah right “lol” The next pix is the launching area for the tractors to launch & retrieve the boats. They also do this @ a small community called Anchor Point. Also not far from Homer. It was very cool to watch.  

    

This is one being retrieved in the next 2 pix & one being launched.

   

Some guys with smaller boats can launch right on the beach. These guys went out & when returned they brought down a table to clean there Halibut. And then he took the table into the water to clean it. I wonder how long the table will last as it has metal legs & that’s Salt water. But what a great way to do dishes

   

Before we left Homer Steve went over to get some fresh Glacier Fed Real Alaskan Oysters. He had them for dinner that nite @ Deep Creek.

Homer is surrounded by the Pacific Ring of Fire. There are 4 volcano’s across Cook Inlet. Mt. Douglas Volcano, Mt. Augustine Volcano, Mt. Iliamna Volcano & Mt. Redoubt Volcano. Below is Mt. Iliamna Volcano peeking above the clouds.  We could see it from our spot @ Deep Creek.   

 

We only stayed there 1 nite and then moved up to Soldotna. My laptop died & Steve was ready to go fishing on the Kenai. But Deep Creek is a Beautiful place to spend some beach time in Alaska.