Sunday, July 30, 2017
Today we move to Tolsona Wilderness Campground as a stop on our way to Valdez, AK.
Our drive took us along the Matanuska River. Both the above and below pictures are from view points along our route.
About half way we stopped to see Matanuska Glacier.
This is our first view of Matanuska Glacier. We are seeing only a very small part of a huge glacier. Matanuska Glacier is a valley glacier. At 27 miles long by 4 miles wide, it is the largest glacier accessible by car in the US.
We were able to drive this close to the glacier at a cost of $50. If we chose we could even hike to and on the glacier. We did not have the proper equipment nor experience so this is as close as we got. Below is looking at the end of the glacier.
Tic was able to zoom in on these 2 hiking on the glacier. There were many more hiking on the glacier all with guides.
As we drove a little ways up on down the road, there was another view point. We could see a lot more of the glacier from this stop.
Both above and below are more beautiful views along our drive today.
On to our campsite for the night.
Tolsona Wilderness Campground was a very pleasant surprise. It was 3/4 mile off the main road, so was quiet.
This was our site for the night. Secluded and next to a stream.
Yes, being next to a stream did mean we had mosquitoes but we managed ok without bug spray.
One of our reasons for stopping here was to be able to go see Lake Louise of Alaska. This Lake Louise does not have mountains surrounding it, but it is absolutely beautiful and large with lots of small islands in it. Many of the islands have residences on them.
This is The Pointe Lodge on Lake Louise. This business is for sale if anyone is interested.
The road on the 20 mile to and from Lake Louise. Both above and below show the many frost heaves and whoop-de-doos as we call them. These roads gyrate in all directions making for a slow drive.
We have had a blessed day filled with so much beauty!
Saturday, July 29, 2017
I enjoy Farmer's Markets, so I convinced Tic to go into Anchorage to their Market & Festival. It happens every Saturday and Sunday Mid-May through Mid-September, 10 AM to 6 PM.
We arrived about 9:35 am so we could get a close parking place. We succeeded and were able to park just across the street from the market.
There were a few booths with vegetables. Look at the size of both squashes. They say these are small...there are still many more growing days.
There are many craft booths of all kinds...shells, rocks, jewelry etc
Above and below is a large fruit booth. I did buy a special melon. They were giving samples as seen below. It was delicious so I had to have one.
This booth had several kinds of T-shirts and this is one of 3 ragging on Texas.
It is true Alaska is bigger than Texas, but the size comparisons on this shirt are not accurate. Being a native Texan, I thought it was funny.
Above and below are a couple of wood carvings on display.
We got a kick from this moose with elk antlers. Cute!
The Alaska Railroad Corporation was behind the market. Below this little engine was out front of the building.
We saw this Russian Food booth and had to try a spicy beef piroshki. We shared it. It was rice and ground beef with spicy flavoring in a pastry. All that did was make us hungry.
So we after we left the Anchorage Market and Festival, we headed to an Italian Restaurant named Evangelos near our current home site in Palmer, AK.
Evangelos was much fancier than we expected. However, the prices were reasonable considering we are in Alaska.
Tic ordered spaghetti with meat sauce and Italian sausage. I ordered an individual size pizza. Both were delicious.
We headed home. We move tomorrow and I want to get laundry done today. Besides it is starting to rain again. We have enjoyed our relaxing stay here in Palmer, AK.
Friday, July 28, 2017
It rained most of the night again. We joke now and say the overcast sky is "Alaska Sunshine". I scheduled a haircut for myself this morning. It is my first haircut since April 25 just before we left to start our journey to Alaska.
As we were headed to my haircut we saw this glorious site! My haircut was an ok job.
After my haircut, we went to IHOP for breakfast. Tic has been hungry for a Belgium waffle so we satisfied that craving this morning.
After breakfast we headed to Palmer's weekly Friday Fling. It is a Farmer's Market with crafts and free entertainment.
I'm looking down the only row in the Farmer's Market, other than 4 food trucks in the street. This Farmer's Market was mostly crafts and only 2 booths with vegetables.
Just across the street from the Farmer's Market was the local flower and vegetable garden. This area of Alaska is known as Mat-Su Valley. Mat-Su Valley is know for their extra large vegetables due to their long daylight hours. Their growing season is only 100-118 days.
Above and below are some of the vegetables growing in the local garden.
Then I walked into the flower area of the garden.
These are all considered Alaska wildflowers.
Alaska is the peony capital of the world. They grow and ship more peonies than any where else in the world.
More gorgeous flowers. These pictures are just a small example of the flower garden.
We headed home to wait and see if the weather might clear. We had lunch and by 2pm it was still very overcast but was not raining. We decided to go to the Iditarod Trail Headquarters in Wasilla which is only about 7 miles up the road.
This statue is Joe Redington, Sr, considered the Father of the Iditarod.
This is the Headquarters building. Inside we watched a 30 minute video about sledding dogs. It was very informative.
Isn't this a gorgeous sculpture of dog sledding?!?!
This team of sled dogs was hitched up to pull a cart on wheels for a ride for anyone willing to pay.
The husky dog in the foreground looks a lot like our Samson dog we left with neighbors.
This precious little puppy, named Rogue, was a lovable and frisky little one. Her training is already starting with greeting many strangers including young children.
This art work was on the side of the highway wall. Tic says this may be the only moose some people will see here in Alaska. The only moose in the wild we have seen in Alaska was in Denali and we only got to see his butt.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
The forecast for today was partly cloudy. We had hopes for sunshine. We have seen more rain days than sunny days on this trip than we have seen in a long time. We decided we'd go ahead and take the drive to Hatcher Pass.
As you can see, we are driving in the clouds and there is a heavy mist.
The route took us along side the Little Susitna River.
We stopped in several places along the river.
The fact that the rocks were so round and smooth intrigued us.
Tic got some neat pictures along the way.
The rock walls are steep right next to the Little Susitna River in some places.
See the people on the upper left? They are panning for gold in this public gold mining accessible area.
After leaving Hatcher Pass it was almost lunch time. However we had made contact with some other RVers that were in Palmer. We called them and met with them. We visited about an hour and a half. It was fun meeting another full-time couple and learning of their travels. This is their 2nd trip to Alaska. When we left we went home for lunch.
The sun appeared to be breaking through the clouds. We decided to take the 2-mile round-trip hike to Thunderbird Falls which is on the Eklutna River.
On the trail we kept seeing this large plant with the red berries. We asked a local and they said it was Devil's Club. It is a very thorny plant. I researched it on the internet and it even has several medicinal purposes. There is a lot of this plant all round Alaska.
The trees and foliage was thick along the trail.
We reached the waterfall. It appeared to have an upper and lower part. It was a nice hike.
On our way towards Reflections Lake for a second time, we saw a turn for Eklutna Lake and decided to go see what we could see.
Wow what a beautiful lake. Until we got home and looked on the internet we did not realize how big this lake actually is. We are seeing only a small part of the lake.
There was a grassy area to our right. The grass was long and waving in the breeze.
Shortly after we arrived a young boy spotted this bear. He was wandering towards us. There have been many more maulings in Alaska this year so we get bear warnings everywhere we go. We decided we would leave since the bear was heading towards the trail head that was between us and our car.
Since the clouds seemed to be leaving and it was mostly sunny, we decided to go to Reflections Lake to see if Tic could get some reflection pictures.
This is one part of Reflections Lake. You can see some blue sky now. Yea!
We decided to take the 1 mile loop hike around the lake.
This viewing tower was in a marshy area on the outer edge of the lake. Even from the top we could not see any creatures, not even birds. We did not even hear any birds. Guess it was even too hot for birds.
As we continued around the lake, we found this view point. Look at this beautiful reflections on the lake.
At another view point along the trail, we saw this red necked grebe.
Wow another beautiful reflection picture!
I think the cloud reflections are stunning!
We started seeing these pretty blue damsel flies. The closeup shows they are not solid blue. They were pretty.
This is my favorite reflection picture Tic got!
The loop trail around Reflections Lake had a viewpoint of the Matanuska River and the bridge where Highway 1 crosses the river.
Thank you Lord for this beautiful day!!
