For the first week of July, we flew out to Alaska to visit my sister and her boyfriend in Anchorage, then do some slightly mortifying RV-in' with my family for 5 days south in the Kenai Peninsula to Seward, Cooper Landing, and Homer. Here's a map to orient you since one doesn't hit up Alaska all that often:
We spent the first day in Anchorage getting oriented, going out to breakfast, and buying supplies for the RV trip. We decided to go RV-style because it's way more cost-effective when traveling with 7 people - $45 a night per person and you don't have to keep hauling luggage in and out of hotel rooms. Not so awesome is having to maneuver a 30-ft. beast of a vehicle around to various museums and restaurants, hookin' it up, un-hookin', dumping the awesome "grey" and "black" water, making breakfast in a 4-ft square kitchen, and having to take showers in public campsite restroom facilities. So as you can see - it has it's plus's and minus's.
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| My sister and Parker walking to breakfast in Anchorage - Snow City Cafe |
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| Excellent museum with kid-friendly "imaginarium" and amazing exhibits on Alaskan natives - wish we could have spent more time here |
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| What Parker thought of the museum. He passed out at lunch. |
Once we loaded up the Grizwald RV, our first stop was Seward where they have a very do-able, informative Sea Life Center complete with birds that can swim more than 100-ft deep (Puffins), Sea Lions, Octopus, an aquarium with lots of fishies, and an exhibit on the life of Salmon (to name just a few things). We also went on an ocean life cruise where we saw whales, dolphins, sea lions, and lots of birdies. My husband and sister's boyfriend went Heli Ice Climbing which was the highlight of the entire trip for them.
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| the 30-ft RV - My sister, Kelly, and her boyfriend, Andy, at the helm |
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| Octopus at the SeaLife Center - Seward |
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| The Seward Harbor |
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| Whale! |
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| Fishermen cleaning the day's catch in the afternoon - they toss the remains int he center pit onto a barge (bluck!) |
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| Andy & Eric hiking the glacier to the crevaces they belay into and climb up out of... |
Second stop was Cooper Landing for 1 night - it's in the middle of the Kenai Peninsula where the Kenai and Russian Rivers meet. We went on a river raft float for 2 hours and saw many-a-bald eagle. What we didn't see: Moose or Bears on the entire trip. Bummer.
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| Gearing up for the river float |
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| Floatin' - gorgeous there, isn't it? |
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| my husband actually took this picture of a bald eagle - awesome! |
Last stop was Homer. One of the boats on the TV show "The Deadliest Catch," the Time Bandit, is based out of here. It's a cute, sort-of Bohemian town with a long "spit" where the harbors are. The man-folk went deep sea Halibut fishing (we flew home 50 lbs of frozen Halibut!) while the rest of us hiked to a glacier and visited the Pratt Museum (another excellent native and local Alaska museum well worth visiting)
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| Deep Sea Fishing for Halibut (captain is in the center) |
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| the whole boat's catch - over 200 lbs of fish! |
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| My sister at Two Sisters Cafe & Bakery - a MUST visit place |
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| The Homer Spit |
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| A boy and his sticks, hiking through the woods behind the Pratt Museum |
By the time we got back to Anchorage on the last day of the trip, I felt sea sick from bobbing around in an RV all week - then we had to take a red eye flight home which was no treat either. Sleeping sitting straight up is not a skill I possess. However, it was overall a fantastic trip! We saw a lot, learned a lot, ate a lot, and had an amazing time together as a family!
