Day 9 – The Last Day in Alaska

Day 9 was our last and a very long day in Alaska… our flight wasn’t leaving until 2am the following morning so we had plenty of time to fill up with activities. We packed up in the morning and headed for Whittier to depart on our 26 Glaciers cruise. As you are probably already thinking… 26 glaciers are lil too many and we thought the same. But it was actually the shortest (only 4hrs) cruise they offered. We brought our leftover booze with us so we were nicely prepared to enjoy the sights. We saw many sea otters float all around us… and the huge glaciers with the little ones were just amazing. I have never seen anything like that. Also the rain, cold, and wind certainly added to the atmosphere. Brrr…. Chris had shorts on… what was he thinking? California boy!
From Whittier we caught the 6pm opening of the tunnel and started our trip back to Anchorage. There we hiked on the Earthquake trail where they have an exhibit setup about the 1964 9.2 earthquake and tsunami that devastated most of the area. Once again… I ate ton of berries along the way.
Oh.. and we saw mama moose with two lil ones grazing right by the highway. That was a nice touch to finish off our Alaskan adventure. Then all that was left was dinner at the Sleeping Lady (Anchorage Brewery) and off to the airport. Too bad it was so short… but hey… so far it looks like we are heading back next May, this time Juneau area.

Day 8 - Crow Creek Canyon

In Girdwood we stayed in a cabin very similar to something you would find up in Tahoe, I guess it only made sense since Girdwood is basically the base camp for Alyeska ski resort. In the morning we made a delicious breakfast with our selection of smoked fish (btw smoked scallops rock) and after that we departed for yet another hike. This time we did a part of the famous Iditarod trail – the Crow Creek Canyon. It was a solid 4 mile climb but yet again the views and the flowers all along the trail were well worth it. Once we got to the top we had a spectacular view of the mountain ranges below us. I was happy we took pictures right then since within 5 minutes from us reaching the summit it started hailing and storming… and the view was no more. But it has stopped just a suddenly as it started and we were able to enjoy a sunny decent and the pictures with all the clouds were incredible.
That evening we took the 2.5 miles tunnel to Whittier and yes… we did understand why nobody really visits that town. There is really nothing… nothing … there. But it is a good starting point for cruises to Prince William Sound and we did return the following day to do just that.

Day 7 - Homer to Girdwood

The arrival of the following morning meant our departure from La Caleta. Willie picked us up around 9:30 as agreed and dropped us off in Homer. We walked around The Spit for a bit doing lil shopping and bonding with local dogs that ruled the area. After that we hiked for a while on the local beach and had the best lunch and pastries at the Fresh Sourdough Express – the owner was the best, we truly liked all the Alaskans that we have met up there… very genuine and nice people.
Leave it to us to find the only winery in Alaska – before we left I found online the Bear Creek Winery in Homer… and of course we couldn’t miss out on wine tasting in Alaska… yeah… if you are thinking they can’t have good vineyards up there you are right… but they adapted and they are making their wines from berries. The wines were lil too sweet for our taste but it was a great experience just the same. We couldn’t miss it. Slightly drunk we departed for Girdwood (about three hour ride that Skoda slept right through… too bad as they missed out on some spectacular views all along the highway.

Day 6 - 8/6 - Kayaking Sadie Cove & Hiking the Big Bear Poop mountain

Today started rather slow in our amazing retreat away from the civilized world. After our breakfast and lil chill time we packed our sandwiches and headed in our kayaks to the mouth of Sadie Cove. It was about 5 miles one way and it took us about one and half hour to get there. Willie told us there was a trailhead right at the mouth so we started crawling through the thick underbrush trying to find the trail the Alaskan way. Eventually the boys were able to sniff it out and we started a mad rush up the hill through what looked like Jurassic Park. The speed picked up even more once we saw the ten pound scat on the trail. Unfortunately, for Chris I was lil scared of the lurking grizzlies so after an hour march through the jungle we made him turn around and go back down to our boats. He wasn’t too happy but Heather and I were relieved. On the way back we were able to catch the tide coming in and more or less surfed it back to the cabin. A few sea otters and soaring bold eagles kept us company on the way in. One salmon even attempted to commit a suicide by trying to jump into Skodas’ kayak. The fog finally lifted and we were able to see the beautiful mountains all around us. Not a bad view from the cabin.

Day 5 - 8/5 - La Caleta

On this day we left Homer for our two days in the wilderness.
We left the cabin in the morning and headed for the Small Boat Harbor where Willie (the owner of the cabin) was going to pick us up and take us to the cabin. We also managed to pick up a piece of halibut on the Spit in case the boys didn’t catch anything. Willie picked us up as agreed and took us on his open aluminum skiff to a piece of paradise that was our home for the next two days. La Caleta was the best place we have ever stayed in, very rustic and self sufficient. The electricity here was made from the stream coming down the mountain and all the cabin itself was made from drift wood that Willie himself processed. We had a wonderful time the first day just chilling and taking the kayaks to the mouth of the two rivers to watch the salmon fight their way up the stream to their breeding grounds with the bold eagle and bear intently watching. We watched the sunset at 11:30 from the deck with our glasses of wine.

Day 4 - 8/4 - Seward to Homer

We left Seward early in the morning and headed for Homer. On the way to Homer was stopped in Skilak Lake Natural Refuge and did a little hike up the Hideout Trail. The trail was rather overgrown and Heather did not feel her best that day so we end up doing just a short hike with beautiful views of Skilak and Hidden Lakes constantly yelling, talking, singing, whistling… you name it … any noise to keep the plentiful bears away. We arrived at our Highliner cabin in Homer later on that afternoon after moose sighting and after reaching the western most place reachable by road in North America - The Anchor Point. We toured ‘The Spit’ and skipped the stones at ‘The Lands End’ and dined out at the Homestead - one of the best restaurants…. period… especially since they had moose grazing at their front lawn…. RJ loved it. :o)

Day 3 - 8/3 - Hike of a lifetime

Harding Icefield hike @ Exit Glacier was by far the best hike I have ever done! We had some idea what was ahead of us… but it didn’t compare to what the hike was really all about. The hike was supposed to be 7 miles and 1500 ft elevation (steep but not too bad) but it end up being 10 miles round trip with 3400 ft of elevation. But it was awesome!!! It was a solid climb for couple of hours. Few times we even had to scramble up a rock face and crawl through snow - but it all sure was worth it. The views and the nature all around us was unbeatable and it only got better when we tried to feed Ron to the bears and skied down the mountain on our shoes. Heather and I hated the boys quite a few times when we were trying to keep up with them up the hill but we forgave them as soon as we got to the top. I only wished we would have brought sled with us to go down on. And the black bear sighting… amazing… 30 feet away…
Needless to say that we had hard time moving around once all was said and done…. It did take a toll on us, especially on Heather who was coughing her lungs out.

Day 2 - 8/2 - Anchorage to Seward

Once Chris succeeded with getting the car we stopped at local Costco and stocked up on all the food and drinks that we thought we needed and headed towards Seward. The ride was somewhat long so in order to break it up and stretch our legs we stopped for a hike at the base of Mt Alyeska in Girdwood. We did the Winner Creek Gorge hike with beautiful views and a hand tram crossing over the valley. After the hike we arrived downtown Girdwood (it was sort of hard to find as there is only a post office, clinic, and a restaurant). We thought we missed it… but in the end we realized that it really was it. Chair 5 - what appeared to be the only restaurant in town… had an excellent selection of food and we all said that it was the best food we have ever had. It may have had something to do with how hungry we were ;o) Once we satisfied our hunger we headed for our accommodation for the night in beautiful Victorian Serenity cabins in Seward. Luckily, they looked better from the inside than they did from the outside. And they were by the sea... you just had to walk to it a lil bit. :o) The light outside at 11 pm was (and still is) tripping me out.

Day 1 - 8/1 - Arrival in Anchorage

We arrived in Anchorage around 11 on Friday evening. We went to our car rental only to find out that our special coupon deal that Chris pirated from on of the coupon websites didn’t work and instead of $700 they were going to charge us $1,600. We left the airport that night in the shuttle bus to our hotel slightly stressed and not knowing how the rest of our trip was going to play out. Luckily, our very resourceful Chris was able to find yet another coupon for yet another car rental company and the next morning he came back with a $800 Highlander. The agent was slightly surprised how Chris was able to get such a great deal but he gave it to us just the same. Thank God… else our whole trip would have been somewhat different.