A Hoover Visit - Part III: The Kenai Peninsula

In the business, we call this "sprint photography".  You set
the camera up on the hood of a pickup (hence the reason it's
crooked and not centered properly), hit the timer button, then
sprint up the small, steep hill between the truck and everyone
 else, and strike a pose.  We should probably just bring the
tripod next time...

After the exciting but exhausting Denali marathon, we only had one real destination left (well, four actually within that one overall destination): the Kenai Peninsula.  Since we spent a whole year surviving in a tiny apartment in the Moose Pass area, with only our next-door neighbors keeping us sane, we thought it necessary to show Kelvin and Kathy where we had lived, introduce them to the friends that we made while we were there, and show them the places that we had grown fond of after a year in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.  Our first stop was the Moose Pass area.  Well, actually we just drove straight through Moose Pass and headed on to Mark and Yoly's place, because that was much a much more meaningful location to us than Moose Pass.  We walked around Kenai Lake, ate some great food and simply enjoyed the company of good friends.  The next day we headed into Seward to do some exploring.  One of our first stops was the Seward Harbor.  It may not be the biggest harbor in Alaska, but in our opinion it is certainly one of the most beautiful.  As Mark Ifflander says, people often get off of the boat onto the dock and exclaim, "Wow!  How high up are we?!?"  Mark looks down at the water and replies nonchalantly, "Oh, about three feet or so..."

Homer might be a little bigger and out on the spit, but Seward Harbor is still our favorite...

We had to make a stop at the Alaska Sea Life Center to check out the fishies and seals and what-not.

It still boggles us just how fat Woody is...

Fully wild or not, they are still tun to watch...

 

Not sure why, but this guy would sit there, upside
down, for minutes at a time...

Of course, because of it's proximity and the fact that you can't go to Alaska without stopping to check out a glacier, we made a brief stop at Exit Glacier to check out a giant piece of packed snow that doubles as perhaps the most erosive force on the planet.

Exit Glacier from a distance.

A bit closer...

The Hoovers in their majesty!

And there she be!

After a couple of days in Seward we headed over to Homer.  We took a walk on the beach, checked out the Homer Spit, visited some old friends of Rachel's grandmother and checked out their shortwave radio station, and Rachel's grandmother still has some land back there that we had to make a small pilgrimage to (to be honest it turned out to be not so small, and we have no idea how they made that drive in to town every day for work while they lived there).

A socked-in Katchemak Bay greeted us...

We've never been able to get over all of the eagles.

Homer has quite a harbor, but it's no Seward...

We didn't realize we would need bear suppression
to get out to the homestead.  Based on the signs
all over the camper though, it was a "better safe
than sorry" situation.

That's more like it.

A Hoover Visit - Part II: Denali

After showing the Hoovers around the Anchorage/Wasilla area a little, we set off to see one of the most distinctive and touristy sights that Alaska has to offer.  However, it is so popular for good reason.  After all, even though Montana, which is a place that we both love, is known for its "big sky" (which Ben finds funny because with those mountains sticking up the sky is actually smaller than it would be in, say, Nebraska), Alaska is the true state of "largeness"; it is the largest state, has the largest wilderness areas, and of course has the largest peak in all of North America, Denali (by the way, if you are in Alaska, don't call it Mount McKinley, it's Denali).  Denali National Park was the next target on the Hoover marathon vacation.  In the afternoon we made the three-hour drive to stay in a small cabin, and by the time we got there we were a little apprehensive about the fact that there was no way we were going to get a full night's sleep before we spent the whole day touring the park, and then make the drive back to Wasilla.  However, we were also energized by the incredible view of the mountain that we were greeted with on the way to the park.  Ben actually thought that he was seeing huge clouds over the mountains, but they turned out to be Denali itself!  After a mere four and a half hours of sleep, we got up and headed down to catch the shuttle because a reliable source (Dan Trice) told us that if we wanted to see the wildlife, then we wanted to be on the first shuttle.  He was right about that.  However, we were also told that in all likelihood we would see either the mountain, or wildlife, but not both.  Well, we definitely saw both!  Although we were definitely exhausted by the end of the day, and were sick and tired of sitting on a bus (the tour ended up lasting 12+ hours), we were satisfied in the knowledge that we received a very thorough initiation into what the park has to offer.  However, Ben also spent a fair amount of time staring at the peak with eyes envious of all of the climbers making the summit that day...

Yup, totally thought that white mass above the mountains on the right was a bunch of clouds...

Such a happy tree!

Lookin' pretty good considering we were all incredibly sleep
deprived and it was about 5:00 AM!

Doll sheep on the mountain!

Doll sheep in the valley!

Ptarmigan!  That's Alaskan for "chicken" and "delicious"!

Fox!  (And a pretty one, too.)

And the mountain looms ever in the background.

Caribou!  Alaskan ungulates are so goofy lookin'...

Big Mama Moose!  Hidin' in the willows!

Still in their finest Spring felt!

These skulls were found in this position.
Apparently one moose, as it was fighting with
another over the fine lady moosies, not only
stabbed the other in the eye, but got tangled with
him and was unable to get away.  So, they both
died.  Bummer for them, but I bet there were some
happy bears that Fall!

Everyone likes a bear!

He was a little guy!

And lazy too!

"I'm just a bear, lookin' for food..."

As close as we got, but still oh so far.  Ben looked on with envy as more than 200 hundred climbers attempted to make the summit that day.  The day before was considered a 4-star day for viewing the mountain, and today was definitely a 5-star day.  We just got really lucky!  Oh, and the next day the mountain was socked in and completely hidden...

A parting view that same day.  That's it!  Denali!  At 20,322 feet, the tallest peak in North America (and still growing)!

A Hoover Visit - Part I: The Arrival

As part of our summer adventure we had a visit from Rachel's parents.  We had a great and exhausting few days with them, and the fun only ended when we went to sleep because the day was just so packed full of it that we could have no more and needed solid rest so that it could start again right away in the morning!  We started our adventure around the Wasilla area, taking them around to various little places that we had found/been introduced to, and cruising into Anchorage to show them around there a little bit.  We spend some time just checking the are out, took them out the Experimental Farm for a little hike, went to the new Star Trek movie.  They just never got enough of all of the sunlight!  At this point in time it wasn't even getting close to dark until midnight to 1:00AM, and it wasn't getting completely dark at all, and it felt weird to come out of a movie that ended after 9:00 PM, and still see the sun.  One of the stops that we really wanted to make was at Potter Marsh, where Rachel spent more than a few days of her first summer in Alaska, and where we often stopped to take a break on trips to/from Seward.  It was a beautiful afternoon at Potter Marsh...

Not sure what this guy is, but there were a lot!!!

Just your friendly neighborhood beaver here!

Always fun to watch the geese and their nesting activity.

What a fine lookin' family!

Potter Marsh...'nuff said.

Old Friends and Old Haunts

It was a great summer to visit the Kenai Peninsula!  We got to see and catch up with old friends and visit old favorite places, as well as check out a few new ones.  Unfortunately, in true Kenai Pen. style the snow was not yet gone from the mountains in the middle of June, but that didn't stop us from having some fun anyway.

Nothing like months-old snow to cross frigid water!

Oh how we miss the epic mountain views.

Need a bridge because the trail has become a creek?  Yup!

Yoly and Koda leading the way...well, behind Naomi anyway.

This cut across trail may have to be a new haunt...

Had to squeeze in a little fishin' too!  Lilly was worried...

Bear tracks!  Big ones!

Muddy trail, dreary sort of day, but still a great jaunt in the woods!