June 29, 2007 – Mountain View RV Park, Palmer, AK

Our Alaska adventure is coming to a close, or at least we are planning our retreat to the south. Tomorrow our friends Ed and Nancy fly home to Staunton Virginia after sharing six weeks of our journey across Alaska. We will replenish supplies and relax here on Sunday and then hit the road on Monday.

We will be retracing our path to Tok in northeast Alaska on that day. From there we plan to continue northeast to the tiny town of Chicken near the Canadian border. We will stay there at least two nights and probably visit the even more remote community of Eagle on the Yukon River. Then we will cross into the Yukon Territory of Canada. There the town of Dawson City has been very popular with travelers. From there we will turn south to Whitehorse and then follow the Cassiar Highway to Prince George and then east to Jasper in British Columbia.

We have left the Kenai Peninsula and after a day’s stop here will continue north tomorrow to Denali National Park. On our last day on the Kenai we joined salmon fishermen on the Russian River ferry across the glacial milky Kenai River. Fishermen and women lined the south shore casting into the more transparent water from the Russian River tributary. Their objective was to draw the fly across the mouth of a sockeye salmon and hook it across the mouth. You see snagging is illegal and it is tough to get a sex starved fish to bite!

Our objective was not to see the fishermen, but we did enjoy seeing the salmon coursing over the cobbles. Farther upstream at the mouth of the Russian River the water was clear and full of the large salmon. Fishing is prohibited upstream of the ferry cable. We had come to see the bears that were making the fishing a bit dicey. It did not take long to find a big one. The shaggy red brown bruin appeared at the shore of a wooded island. We watched from the top of the bluff as the beast waded out and then swam back to shore a few times. It wandered the length of the island and then crossed to another smaller one. Our friends got great photos as it grabbed what were probably fish scraps from the fishermen.

I just ran across this group and thought you would enjoy their song Bill Me Anytime . You will need the real player to hear the song.

June 7, 2007 – Seward, AK

Rain falls this afternoon. Our friend Ed and Chuck work on chores in the motor home. Nancy and Anne are visiting the Sea Life Center in town. The Bear Creek RV Park is a small one about five miles out of town in the small community of Bear Creek along a stream of that name. It is not fancy, but has the necessary utilities and wireless internet. Varied thrushes chime in the surrounding woods. That is good enough for us.

We were happy to leave the Mid-town RV Park in downtown Anchorage. The location was great tactically and the price was good for a three week park during which time we flew to both St. Paul and Nome. The spaces however were too narrow and most of them were filled with folks who were barely making it in Alaska’s biggest City. We left our space much cleaner than when we found it. We could not do much to improve the rest rooms that could stand a good demolition and replacement.

We just wanted to post information for you about the Tupper Lake Resort Project after seeing your listing of the NYTimes article. You can visit our website to learn more - www.tupperlakelandowners.com Please share with others interested in Tupper Lake.

Another short update from the Anchorage public library. We returned yesterday from a week's stay in Nome. This "bush" town on the Bering Sea was rough and dusty but provided a pleasant base for birding the sub-Arctic tundra.

We flew in by Alaska Air, stayed in the Extra-Dry Bed and Breakfast, and rented a Ford Explorer from Stampede Ventures.

The flights were grand, but clouds on the way up hid most views after our crossing of the bay outside Anchorage. Our return flight had better weather and we stopped at Kotzebue above the Arctic Circle before heading south. Kotzebue Bay remained largely frozen. The patterns and colors of the composite ice surface were gorgeous. Patches of open water appeared as small blue lines and polygons across the frozen surface.

Just a short one today as we are in library and have just a few minutes left on the computer before the session runs out.

We survived and greatly enjoyed our birding ordeal at St. Paul Island. We birded through mist, fog, rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow with temperatures never exceeding 40 degrees and the wind chill 10 to 15 degrees colder. There is nothing like the sound of ice coated grass crinkling under your feet as you walk toward the sea cliffs.

We saw a number of extremely rare birds including a great knot and smew on this patch of tundra in the Bering Sea. Also cliff nesting species including puffin and auklets.

[img_assist|fid=1092|thumb=1|alt=Going into the Yukon|caption=Arriving in the Yukon Territory with Minnie.|width=100|height=75]

[img_assist|fid=1098|thumb=1|alt=RV Park Haines Junction, Yukon Territory|caption=Our RV Park in Haines Junction was typical of establishments in small towns. It had everything: clothes, convenience store, gas, and great for us- a terrific view of the mountains and access to a nature trail. You may notice that gas was $1.15, that is per liter, and works out to just under $4 per gallon, US currency.|width=100|height=75]

Well, we are international travelers sort of. Our Alaska adventure began with the ferry trip to Haines. There we enjoyed coastal scenery and many many sea birds. Trees were leafing out and snow was receeding.

On our last day we drove about thirty miles up the Haines Highway and found nesting trumpeter swans and enjoyed a "33 burger" at a country restaurant and gas station at mile-post 33. The road followed the Chilcat River that yielded sights of moose, dozens of eagles, and our first arctic terns of the year. The valley was beginning to show signs of spring, but several feet of snow remained around the thawing marshes and rushing river.