July 4th

We had a great time last night sitting around a campfire with our new Alaskan friends.  They told all kinds of stories about their lives in Alaska.  Some of them were very funny.  We shared a few of our Florida tales also.   We sat by the fire until after 1:00 AM.  Kids were still playing volleyball when we went to bed.  This daylight thing is really weird.  

Al told us about his father who lives in a very remote part of the state.  You can only get there by plane, boat in summer and snow machine in winter.  He and his dad built the cabin years ago.  They cut spruce trees and hand fashioned the logs themselves.  His dad has no electricity other than a generator he uses to charge some batteries for DC powered lights.  I can't imagine living in such a remote place.  I would get very lonely.

Today we awoke to a sunny warm day.  Our friends said they thought it would get hot before noon.  That means it would be up over 70 degrees.  We visited with them for a few minutes before we left to continue our trip.  I can never share how much our meeting meant to Darlie and I.  They gave us a window into life in Alaska we could not get anywhere else.  

We traveled on down the Parks Highway through Willow and Large Lake.  We stopped in Wasilla to pick up some things at Fred Myers.   I sure wish we had those in Florida.  They are great stores.  Wasilla is a clean busy little city.  All the brand name stores are there so you can find anything you need.  We were surprised the place was as big as it was.  We thought it would be a small community like most we have passed through.

From Wasilla on to Anchorage you feel like you are back in civilization.   The scenery is absolutely awesome.  Snow capped peaks rise up from rich green valleys.  Water is everywhere.  We drove on through Anchorage to go down to the Kenai Peninsula.  It is the holiday weekend so things are busy there.  Traffic on the Seward Highway was very heavy with people returning to the city after the holiday.  We will stop and spend some time in Anchorage on our way back up through.

Turnagain Arm

The drive along Turnagain Arm is spectacular.  The boar tide here is one of the largest in the world.  It comes in with a wave as high as six feet.  The tide varies from high to low by over 33 feet.  Turnagain Arm at low tide is bare mud flats made up of gray glacial deposits.  They say if you were to walk out on it you could sink out of sight.  There are warning signs at pullouts advising you not to venture out on the mud.

We turned off the Seward Highway towards Whittier.  We hope to take the boat out to the Portage Glacier.  We found a beautiful National Forest Service Campground sitting right below a glacier.  The mountains have snow and ice on top then are blanketed with rich green foliage down to the valley.  A crystal clear stream runs though the park.  It is the spawning grounds of the salmon.  The water originates from the surrounding peaks.  Many waterfalls cascade from the heights above.

The forest around us is moist and rich.  Ferns, wild strawberries and other beautiful plants that we can't identify cover the forest floor.  Sunlight filters down through the boughs of tall spruce trees.  Unidentified bird song fills the air.  We are camped in the home of the bears.  A notice at the entrance warns us of their presents.  This is a wonderful place.

Where salmon spawn