On to Homer

July 5

Onward to Homer. Actually, it would take us a few days to make it to Homer. There is only one main road to Valdez so we backtracked up Hwy 4, the Richardson Highway. Generally, we don't like to backtrack but this time it's welcomed since this stretch of road offers such a spectacular scenery with the mountains and waterfalls. We joined the Hwy 1, the Glenn Highway, that would take us to Wasilla where we stayed with friends for a few days.

We had promised Sofie, a long time friend of Carolyn’s parents, that we would make it to Alaska and stop to see her. Sofie has been in Wasilla for twelve years. She moved here to live with her son and daughter in law after her husband Dick passed away some fifteen years ago. It was great seeing her and even better to see the joy we brought to her. We received a bonus of a great halibut dinner Larry cooked for us. Thanks to Sophie, Larry and Jean for your hospitality.

Since our hometown Bowling Green State University Falcons play University of Alaska Anchorage and U of A Fairbanks, we decided to take a look at the rinks where they play when they come north. We found the ice rink on campus and talked to Josh (one of the assistant coached) and learned this was only the practice rink – games are played at the Sullivan Arena which is only a couple miles away so off we went to find the Sullivan.

Mission accomplished so we headed south on Alaska 1, the Sterling Highway. The drive took us along the Cook Inlet, a drive we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. We took the cutoff toward Whittier to take a peak at the dual tunnel. Dual tunnel? Well, tunnel expensive to build so this single tunnel serves both trains and motor vehicles. They take turns. Who’s going to argue with a train but the system seems to work pretty well. It’s $13 toll each way for cars and smaller RV’s such as our Roadtrek but we decided to pass on the $26 round trip. Instead, we became aware of the numerous glaciers around us so we stopped at the nearby Begich-Boggs Visitor Info Center at the Shugach National Forest.

The Ranger told us the area is a natural rain forest which had created and sustained hundreds of glaciers in the area. Some are diminishing, but others continue to sustain or even grow a bit. With the information we just learned, I stood in the parking area could see a half dozen glaciers from that single spot.

Next stop Seward. We wanted to see the town, visit the Alaska SeaLife Center and walk to Exit Glacier which is just a few miles out of town. Seward turned out to be quite a tourist town and everything was packed with people. We found a place to park in the lot right on the water and walked over to the SeaLife Center. It is a two story aquarium with fish and some sea animals such as a sea lion and seals that had been injured. It is a good aquarium but we’ve been spoiled by the brand new aquarium at the Toledo Zoo but there were a few displays that were quite good and different than we have previously seen.

The final stop in Seward was Exit Glacier. It is just a few miles out of town and only a mile hike from the parking area. It was a nice hike up to see and learn about Exit which is one of the glaciers that has receded a lot in the past one hundred year. We spent the night just a couple miles down the road at a rest area along the melt-off stream.

We were too late to book a tour but we talked to some folks who had a wonderful experience on a whale watch tour out of Seward. They had some great pics of their trip. We should have taken a a whale watching tour, we missed on that decision.

On we go to see what we can find next.