July 11 - Whitehorse to Dease Lake

We both woke up around 5am... seriously? We're in a warm, dry hotel room in a comfortable bed and both Lynn and I were wide awake at the crack of dawn. We were both thinking about a million and one things as we start to mentally transition ourselves out of our adventure and onto the many things that await our attention when we get back home. Sigh.... 

We finally got out of bed around 6am, packed up and had some breakfast. The day was overcast but with hopeful southern skies. For the first hour south of Whitehorse, the riding was great. The road was in excellent shape and we were making some good time. Gradually, however, the weather fell apart and, for the rest of the day, we were in and out of rain and several times, we rode through some brief but impressive gully-washers. 

We pulled into Teslin to the Yukon Hotel and Restaurant and it was PACKED - line ups at the gas pumps and in the cafe continuously. The gal at the till said that this is typical during the summer and sometimes it gets even busier! Hard to imagine... 

We made our way to the junction of Hwy 37 and started south. Soon after we made the turn-off, we arrived back in British Columbia. It always feels good to get back into your own home Province. Highway 37 is a much narrower road with lots of twisty corners and rolling humps and dips. It's also under construction in many places and a lot of the old pavement is cracked, frost-heaved and roughly repaired so the going became slow and a bit arduous. It cuts through a lot of heavily treed terrain so there isn't much to look at but... well... lots of trees. North of Dease Lake, there is a huge swath of burned out forest from a wildfire a few years ago. A lot of it is carpeted with bright pink fireweed, the flowers in stark contrast with the blackened, spindly trees. 

More rain and then more rain... the temperature dropped and we started to feel chilled. We pressed on because there isn't anything out there until you get to Dease Lake. Finally, about 30kms before Dease Lake, we got swamped by a torrential downpour and got thouroughly soaked. :( It was at this point that I wholeheartedly hoped that a warm, cozy hotel room would be waiting for us when we arrived and, what luck, so there was! We got one of the last rooms at the Northway Hotel (very nice hotel!) and, hot on our heels was a line-up of other hopeful, soggy motorcyclists. We're not sure if they all got a room but we're pretty sure the hotel booked out completely and the parking lot was full of motorbikes! 

We had a decent dinner at Rumour's Cafe beside the gas station and called it a day. 

July 9 - Glacierview to White River

Woke up this morning to low lying cloud - all our beautiful mountains and valleys of yesterday were all socked in. Boy, it sure does look different around here, depending on the weather. We had a fabulous breakfast at the cafe including the biggest and fluffiest pancake I've ever had - about an inch thick and as big as a dinner plate! 

We set out and almost as soon as you leave Glacierview, the mountains and valleys give way to tundra that reaches out forever. Ten billlion scrubby black spruce fighting for life on sparse stretches of tundra - a small layer of top soil above permafrost left behind from the last ice age. What amazes us are the number of little cabins hidden hither and yon in this vast expanse of nothing much. Many are run down and again, almost everything is for sale. We can only imagine that they must be hunting camps. 

We made it into Glennallen and had coffee once again at the Fireweed Cafe, fueled up, hung a left at the junction and then dodged off onto the cutoff headed for Tok. At this junction is an historic road house at Gakona. All that is left is the old log house from 1904 and some outbuildings people have set up shops etc. in. 

From Glennallen to Tok, the highway runs along the valley below the Wrangle mountain range. For the first 100 kms, the valley sweeps wide with the mountains on both sides far off in the distance. The valley itself is an unbroken carpet of black spruce. 

The land drops down to meet the Tok River and then the Wrangle mountains pull in closer. We stopped at the top of a rise at a nice pullout and had some lunch (some fabulous baking from Girdwood a couple days ago) and looked out on storm clouds pouring rain as they made their way over the vast expanse before us. The scale of things in Alaska is, without question, enormous - so big, in fact, that you often lose perspective of what you're seeing until you get a frame of reference; a pick-up truck or a  cyclist etc... 

After lunch, we were humming along when suddenly, a poor Robin skittered out onto the road in front of my husband. The bird zigged and zagged, not sure what it was doing and then it decided to fly but not soon enough. He had just pulled into the air as my husband ran into it. I was behind and suddenly there a huge puff of feathers exploded into the air like someone had broken a pillow. Poor little Robin... 

As we approached Tok, we could smell forest fire. There had been fires in this area a few weeks ago when we first came through. Once in Tok, we stopped to fuel up and we could see a huge looming black cloud north of us, heading our way. There  was also a lot of smokey haze in the air. We decided to try to stay ahead of it as best we could.

We left Tok and managed to dodge several isolated showers - either they were just ahead of us or to either side. We arrived at the Canadian border and fueled up again in Beaver Creek. Our camping neighbour in Homer, Chris, told us about the campsite at White River so we decided to make a run for it. From  the border, there are 60kms of REALLY rough chip-seal roads interspersed with REALLY crappy, old, frost-heaved pavement. Nasty business... we had heard that the Alaska Highway from Tok to Whitehorse was awful and today we got a taste of it.

At last, we arrived at the RV campsite in Whiteriver - a lovely little oasis after miles of remote tundra. We walked into the office and started chatting with Amanda, the owner, when my husband looked up and said, "Hey - those are my uncle's chaps hanging on the wall. That's his brand!" Turns out the previous owner, Bob, spent a lot of time with Lynn's uncle and came by the chaps. Bob is no longer here but some of his things are still on loan. Amanda phoned Bob on the Sunshine Coast and he and Lynn chatted for about half an hour about all the people they know in common with a promise, at the end of the call, to connect again in the future. SMALL WORLD!!!!! What are the chances that we would meet Chris in Homer who would have told us about this very isolated little campsite in White River only for my husband to find his uncle's chaps from the 1950s hanging on the wall. It's hard not to believe it wasn't meant to be....

We BBQ'd a steak for dinner and, mid-BBQ, a small black bear wandered down the road about 50 yards away from us, sniffing the air. I sure hope he doesn't come back! We packed everything up well but he was pretty close! I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight! Lynn casually decided to bring the axe into the tent... :) 

July 8 - Homer to Glacierview

We were up at really ready to back on the bikes this morning after a week's break for our boat trip. Both of us are a little bandy-legged and still trying to readjust our equilibrium for land. After 7 days on the boat with 2.5 days of big water, we are feeling like everything is still moving underneath us.

We woke up to high cloud but not much threat of rain. We packed up and hit the trail, heading for Anchor Point. 

We went down to the tractor launch at Anchor Point but alas, there wasn't much action. This boat launch is on the most Western point of North America (that isn't an island) so it was kind of cool - two years ago we were on Cape Spear, the most Eastern point of North America and today, we hit the most Western point! The launch itself is quite steep so there are two big tractors that move the boats in and out of the water. From the highway to the launch is a lovely country road along the Anchor River and there are a number of picturesque campsites and RV parks in and among the trees. We had hoped to find some breakfast in Anchor Point but we got skunked so we decided to "make a mile" and head to Soldotna. 

The ride up to Soldotna is not much to write home (or on a blog!) about - you would think it would be gorgeous as the road runs along the coast. Alas, the road was cut in just inland so you only catch glimpses of the water occassionally. Otherwise, it's just a road cut through trees with fish camp after fish camp along the way - most of them scruffy, mean looking little places that are hard to determine if they're abandoned or just look that way. Almost everything is for sale and everyone has a worn out sign offering halibut fishing tours. We couldn't find a cafe to save our souls along the way - the ones that are around are all closed down. This area is definitely showing signs of hard times... but I would expect if you want an ocean view lot, you could get one for a song up this way... 

From Soldotna (a small city we didn't care much for) on, the road gets really great right around Sterling.  You start to head into the hills and then into the mountains, following the spectacular Kenai River. The Kenai is a brilliant turquoise blue-green and sparkles and shines like gems through the trees. It's a highly sought out fishing river (along with the Russian River which joins it) and there are people fishing all along the way. Fishing lodges, cabins, campsites and RV parks abound and Cooper's Landing is THE hot spot. It's a really lovely area, all tucked into a twisty valley along the Kenai River. Many of the lodges have "No Vacancy" signs and there is a sense of prosperity and activity here. Lots of cute little cafes, an old school grocery store and beautiful spots to access the river. I would definitely come back and stay awhile in Cooper's Landing, even if you don't fish. It's gorgeous. 

From there, the road starts to head into the SERIOUS mountains - this is the Seward Scenic Byway and the mountains get fierce here - big jaggedy peaks that reach far above treeline with bare windblown rocky crests. It's a spectacular ride and by the time we got here, the clouds were starting to lift and the sun came out. Wonderful!! We made our way to Girdwood, just a Tesoro gas station and a small strip mall on the highway but it's home to a legendary bakery we had heard about from people on the boat trip. It's tucked around the corner from the gas station and it was everything that was promised! 

Onwards, the road to Anchorage runs right along the waterline of Cook Inlet and, if you're lucky, you might see some beluga whales on one side of you and some mountain sheep and goats on the steep, high hillside on the other! We didn't spy whales (this time) but we did see some sheep. This is a stunning stretch of road with breathtaking views of the ocean and mountains. 

We made a run for it through Anchorage - it felt weird to suddenly be in 6 lanes of traffic after days and days of remote isolation but we pushed through and out the other side. After skirting Palmer, we carried on with Glacierview in mind. Our camping neighbour in Homer told us about the Grand View campsite in Glacierview, giving it rave reviews, so we decided to head there.

From Palmer, the sun came out in earnest and the road follows a big glacier wash with a braided river running through it. The mighty Chugach Mountain Range runs along side providing an incredible backdrop as the road twists and winds it's way through the valley and along the sides of mountains. Just before you hit Glacierview, the Matanuska Glacier makes it's appearance in the distance - a gleaming frozen river of blue-white ice. This stretch of road, from Palmer to Glacierview, is one of the prettiest we've ever been on. We found the Grand View campsite and RV park and were not disappointed. We had a fantastic site overlooking some beautiful mountains. The cafe there is excellent and we had a killer pizza. 

After dinner, when we were leaving the cafe, a man jumped up (literally!) out of his chair and chased us out the door. He said to my husband "You must be an old time guide outfitter from up around here, are you?" We just kind of laughed and Lynn said no. He asked where we were from and he knew right away about he Chilcotin. He said he knew Lynn must be a cowboy of sorts - because of his Viberg boots and his belt buckle... ha ha ha... a 45 minute conversation ensued. Turns out HE'S an old time guide outfitter from that area and a biologist to boot. A very interesting guy. No doubt he'l end up our driveway at home at some point in the future... ha ha ha... 

After that, we did a hike up "The Bluff" that is well worth doing and provides panoramic views of Mount Wickersham, The Lion's Head, the confluence of Caribou Creek and the Matanuska River with the Matanuska Glacier on one side and on the other, a panoramic view of Blueberry Hill and the campsite itself. From our camp, we could saw a couple dozen Dall Sheep up on the hillside (with binoculars).

What a fantastic day! One of the best riding days of our entire trip on one of our favorite stretches of road with the good added luck of sunshine to boot! 

(Pictures to follow in a week or so...)

July 5-7 - Return Boat Trip from Dutch Harbour to Homer

I'm writing this collection of days as one entry because, quite frankly, these 3 days blended one into the next and memories from this return trip are hard to separate into specific days...

After we left Dutch Harbour, a major front pulled in and we found ourselves in the middle of a fairly significant storm. The fog was thick and low and dark storm clouds swarmed the sky and delivered torrential rain in fits and starts, interspersed with unrelenting drizzle. The ocean kicked up into a frenzie and for about 36 hours, we had 18-20 foot swells. The Tustumena heaved and rolled, bucked and tossed, to'd and fro'd and surged and dipped her way through open water, determined to deliver us safely back into safe harbours down the Chain. Needless to say, most of the passengers on the boat were royally sick. Vomit bags were disappearing from the racks with alarming speed and the once busy dining room was almost abandoned completely except for a few of us die-hards that everyone else shot daggerous looks at. Poor Lynn - he was valiant for so long but finally, he succumbed to the violent motion of the boat that seemed like it would never end.

We had a few hours of reprieve here and there when we pulled into False Pass, King Cove, Sand Point... but then we headed back out in that great roiling mess again for another round of stomach lurching fun. Meaghan, our lovely dining server, told us that many of the crew bunks actually have seatbelts in them to keep you secure while you sleep. We didn't have them in ours but there were a few times, during those couple of treacherous nights, that I wished I'd had one. The heaving of the boat was enough to roll you over in bed and I was on the top bunk! I was afraid I was going to roll right out of it!

FINALLY - by day three of the return trip, we found ourselves in some protected water and the storm had eased off. The waters calmed enough that people started to emerge, pasty-faced and wan but with hopeful looks, tentatively attempting soda crackers and hot tea...

Keven, another dining room server, told us that sometimes, the storms can REALLY get bad (!!) and can last for the entire trip. This is the reason why they only do the Aleutian run during the summer months, before the storm season really kicks into high gear in the Fall. Good grief... For those of you who watch The Deadliest Catch, you can see what THOSE storms look like. Many of those boats fish out of Dutch Harbour and in the wild Bering Sea. Working on those crabbing boats is rated the most dangerous job in the United States. We got a small taste of it during our three day trip back and I can assure you, it's not a job for me...

Major bonus - for those of us who were "brave" enough to do the complete round trip to Dutch Harbour and back,
we were invited up to the Bridge of the Tustumena. There, we met the Captain
and some of the crew. We stayed for about an hour, until all our
questions were answered. Fabulous!

Village of Akutan 

Village of Akutan - Note the white church with the graveyard in the centre.
All of these little villages, no matter how small, have a Russian Orthodox church
going back to early fur trading days in the late 1800s.

Another church (can't remember which village) and, of the only dozen or so buildings in
the village, it was by far the largest. It's right beside the pier.

As we neared Homer mid-day on July 7th, the skies cleared and the sun came out and shone brightly. The ominous, dark, forbidding ocean transformed into an expanse of diamond glitter and suddently, even though we'd just come through 3 teeth-gritting days, we were just a little bit sorry it was over. Throughout the trip, we'd met some great people and forged some new friendships as only one can during the trials and tribulations of a challenging adventure. Emails were exchanged and invitations extended to keep in touch and come and visit. You never know! We may make it to Cape Cod yet! Thanks Judy and Paul for your good humour, great stories and good laughs... Hope to see you some time soon again.

We pulled into Homer at 1:00pm, packed our stuff up and headed back to the Homer Spit Campground. We pulled our bikes and trailer out to our site and set up camp and headed back to the Mermaid for one last bowl of their fabulous fish chowder. Back at camp, we visited with our neighbours who gave us some good tips for campsites on our trip home.... our trip home... yes, starting tomorrow we will be on our way home now. There is always a palpable shift, on our big trips, at a certain moment when we are done with adventuring "out" and we start making our way home. Tonight I felt that shift. Now I'm getting excited to hit the trail tomorrow and start heading back. 

July 4 - Dutch Harbour/Unalaska

 Last night was a "roll-y" night - the weather has been deteriorating and the ocean became quite "lumpy" as the Captain called it. The swells had increased to 12-15 feet and the good ship Tustumena heaved and rolled through the night hard enough to wake us up and hang on to the bunk rails a few times. I'm fortunate - I don't get motion sick - but Lynn is another matter. I thought for sure he'd be done for but amazingly, he was OK!

We woke up this morning, excited to be heading into Dutch Harbour today. We had breakfast and went out on deck to watch the boat dock. The clouds had rolled in but were still relatively high and the rain was holding off. We arrived around 9:45am and we had until 5pm to be back on the boat.

Down town Dutch Harbour

It's July 4th today - Indepedence Day in the United States. For many people this is a BIG celebration day and for the past week, we've noticed a lot of bunting going up as well as a plethora of American flags, red, white and blue shiny spinny things in yards and people blinging up their vehicles and bicycles. We heard that Dutch Harbour would be having a July 4 parade today around noon. 

Dutch Harbour has a very interesting history. It's the only place the US experienced battle during WWII on home soil (other than in Pearl Harbour). The Japanese landed in the Aleutians and took the small islands of Attu and Kiska. Hostilities ensued and Dutch Harbour quickly became an American military base after the Japanese bombed it twice in June of 1942. Today, there is still much evidence of this point in it's history. Everywhere, concrete fox holes covered in moss still sit sentry on street corners, in yards and on beaches. Bunker Hill has a gunnery tower that can still be seen from the road below and you can hike a trail up to reach it. All over the island, WWII artifacts scatter the land, left behind after the war was over and the military pulled out.

Cement foxholes that dot the community, lying innocently in yards and beside roads, quiet reminders of the violence that WWII brought not that long ago.  

From the ferry dock, we walked a mile or so down the road to the WWII Visitor's Center but alas, because of the holiday today, it was closed. We carried on down the road another mile or so and came to a part of the town where the Grand Aleutian Hotel, Safeway and the Alaska Marine Supply Company are located. It was here we started to notice the eagles - here and there, they were sitting on light stands, roofs of buildings, tops of fences... and then we started to notice signs warning people to beware of them! We looked around us a bit more carefully and realized there were dozens and dozens of them... at one point, I counted more than 25 of them sitting along the roofline of Safeway. I've never seen so many Bald Eagles in all my life! And they're ENORMOUS!!! Apparently, they nest on top of buildings and can become aggressive to passers-by who happen to walk close enough to make them feel threatened, especially when they have young still in the nest! Locals complain that they've become so numerous that they're pests and they have been known to attack both people and pets, particularly small dogs. 

Enormous bundles of rope and nets for fishing. 

We went into Alaska Marine Supply just to check it out and it's a great store that sells everything you might need if you were a fisherman or had a boat of some other kind. Everything from groceries, hardware and marine supplies to kitchen appliances, furniture and outdoor gear including Helly Hansen rain gear and X-Tra Tuff boots from here to kingdom come. A very cool place to poke around in and, in the end, we bought a couple of awesome t-shirts and ball caps...

Dutch Harbour

Freezer containers to ship seafood worldwide. Note my husband standing in front of them. They're HUGE!
This was only one of several stacks of these at this one loading dock.

For over 20 years, Dutch Harbour has been the #1 fishing port in the United States. In 2007, the community was highlighted when the show "The Deadliest Catch" shone a light on the Alaska King Crab fishery and showed the drama and perils of fishing in the Bering Sea. 

The ubiquitous Xtra-Tuff gumboots, pride and joy of Alaskans everywhere.

A skiff sitting on the side of the road.

We headed towards the residential part of town and meandered past the museum, expecting it to be closed as well BUT - what luck! - they were opened for a few limited hours. It is a great little museum that covers the multi-faceted history Unalaska/Dutch Harbour has; the Aleut people, the Russian settlements, WWII, the commercial fishing history, the natural history and volcanic evolution of the Chain... We ended up sitting and watching most of a very well done documentary of the Aleut story during WWII - the American military evacuated the Aleut people from the islands when the Japanese arrived but had made no provisions for them so they just dumped them off in a remote location south of Juneau at an abandoned cannery site. They  were left to fend for themselves and the consequences were dire. Most were there for years and the poverty, sickness and mortality rate was astronomical. It wasn't until the 1980s that the US government finally acknowledged the atrocities... a very sad (but all too familiar) story... 

Russian Orthodox church built in 1896 when the Russians came for fur trading.

From the museum, we walked another couple miles through the active cannery district, over a big bridge at Captain's Bay and up the hill and down the other side into Dutch Harbour. People were gathered in big groups on and around the old wooden footbridge watching pikers guide toy boats down the small creek - the July 4 boat race! We crossed the footbridge and came to the small but very pretty municiple park and playground. From there, there are several square blocks of old houses, most looking very run down and weather-beaten. To the left was another old Russian Orthodox church, built in 1896, with it's classic onion shaped roof and today, it was surrounded by a carpet of grass loaded with tiny pink daisy-looking flowers. We followed the beach road and could see, in the distance, a collection of flags on flagpoles and what was clearly a memorial of some kind. We wandered to that end of the cove and, indeed, it is a memorial for many things - mariners lost at sea, WWII, the Coast Guard, there is even the enormous propellor from the SS Northwestern which was bombed in the harbour during WWII. 

Memorial Park

Propellor from the SS Northwestern
that was bombed in Dutch Harbour
in 1942.

By the time we finished here, the fog was rolling in for earnest. The air was saturated with damp and suddenly, the temperate morning was turning into a bitterly cold afternoon. Our hopes to go see some of the WWII sites were dashed as everything became buried in pea soup thick fog. We were also getting tired - we'd walked over 10 kms - and the soggy weather wasn't encouraging us to go much further. We happened upon a taxi parked in a driveway so we knocked on the door and the owner drove us back to the ferry dock. 

Random WWII propellor in the grass behind the museum. 

When we got to the dock, someone had thrown a huge frozen fish head onto the side of the road and several Bald Eagles were hanging around, taking turns at it. I've never been that close to a mature eagle and I couldn't get over how HUGE they were. Unbelievable. 

We headed back onto the boat and had a short nap before the boat pulled anchor and we started our return trip back to Homer. We had dinner and went to bed early because we were, by then, heading into open water and the ocean was getting pretty rough again. 

July 3 - Sand Point, King Cove, Cold Bay, False Pass

Due to the delay from rescuing the fishing boat, we didn't come into Sand Point until the wee hours of the morning so we slept right through that. The ocean picked up significantly in the night and the heavy rolling of the boat woke me up. Thankfully, I don't get motion sick but the boat bucked and heaved hard enough a couple of times to make my stomach lurch. I was worried about my husband who DOES get motion sick quite badly but he's been religious about taking his Bonine (a miracle drug!) and he was completely fine, thankfully!!!

I'm trying to find the name of this mountain - if you know it, please comment.
Just after this photo was taken, we saw a HUGE kodiak bear on the grassy knoll on the left.
Unfortunately, my photos of it didn't come out well... :(

Lupines in abundance everywhere!

We arrived in King Cove. Our time there was shortened up a bit because the Captain was trying to make up some lost time. Meaghan, one of our cafe servers, told us the crew refer to Chignik Bay as Cheeseburger Bay and King Cove as Hamburger Cove - none of these little villages along the way have any shops or cafes to speak of. When the ferry comes in (every two weeks in the summer only) it's a BIG deal. It's a floating restaurant! After the ferry passengers head out to explore, they open up the restaurant to the locals. Many come to eat but they also leave with bags and bags of take-away. Cheeseburger and fries and pies for days... they also buy supplies from the ferry - everything from caselots of food to toilet paper. The ferry tries to anticipate the needs and stocks up on extra supplies for this very reason. It's not intended to be a supply ship but it sort of works out that way anyway.

Cold Bay

Tustumena at dock in Cold Bay.
Amazing mountains in the background - this is typical on this trip.

Just making sure I know "The Plan"!

Sheds someone mounted in their front yard - Cold Bay

We headed over to Cold Bay. We had a couple of hours so we hoofed it through the town. There used to be a military base there (which is no longer) but the 10,000+ ft paved airstrip is still there and used at their airport. It also doubles as an emergency landing strip for commercial flights in the north and for the Space Shuttle (back when it was still operational). They have the smallest wildlife refuge in Alaska (this one is only 400,000 acres) and the refuge center offers a free bus tour. Alas, their bus only holds 20 people and over 30 of us signed up so they did a lottery for the seats. Between the two of us, we got one seat so we gave it up as we've already seen a lot of wildlife in the last month.The town is a collection of pre-fab homes, derelict commercial buildings and a very large Coast Guard base. No fishing in Cold Bay (not sure why) so there aren't any boats, canneries or marinas. It seems that the Coast Guard is the main purpose of Cold Bay (that we could see.)

Cold Bay - this village is typical of the villages along the Aleutians.

From Cold Bay, we headed for False Pass - the last point on the Alaskan Penninsula before we head off the mainland and out into the Aleautian Island chain. The weather deteriorated significantly after we left Cold Bay and soon, a cold, dense bank of fog engulfed us and it started to drizzle rain. The wind started to pick up and the ocean rose. During dinner, we surged and dipped over 10 ft. waves but, to our amazement, we weren't bothered by it much. I guess we've found our "sea legs" as they say. False Pass was a short stop - only 45 minutes - just long enough to stand on deck, watch people wander along the pier and the galley pack up and send out about 50 cheeseburger and fries to a waiting crowd and then we pushed on. We'll sail along all night and should hit Dutch Harbour around 9:45 tomorrow morning.

July 2 - Chignik

Our "Trust Tusty" - the nickname for the  Tustumena - chugged through the night and around 7am, we noticed that the engines suddently geared down and we were changing our course. The Captain came on the PA and announced that we were responding to a distress call. Apparently, a fishing boat was in trouble and we were the closest boat able to respond. We found the small fishing boat and some of the Tustumena crew went out in the emergency zodiak boat. Turns out, the boat had an engine fire and was out of commission. After some backing and forthing, we ended up towing the boat by 600 ft. of her anchor line behind us for the next 6 hours but, because of that, we were only able to run at half speed. This brought us into Chignik Bay about 3 hours later than scheduled but it was a fun bit of real-life nautical drama to watch.

Early morning rescue - the fishing boat had an engine fire.

Calm waters - NOT a sign of things to come!
The weather can change very quickly!

Coming into Chignik

Tustumena docked at Chignik

Chignik (like most of the small villages along the Alaskan Penninsula and the Aleutian Islands) are largely native villages and cannery sites. You could see that, at some point, Chignik was probably booming. Off the dock, we walked over a small bridge and then a network of boardwalks head off in several directions, leading to a number of now run-down and mostly abandoned homes, workshops, smokehouses, old canneries and other buildings. At the end of one boardwalk is a coffee house and a small bakery that makes homemade doughnuts for the community but, on Ferry days, they make an extra huge batch for the boat passengers. Whatever the passengers don't buy, the Tustumena crew buys up the rest. It's the "thing" to do on Chignik - go find the local bakery, buy some homemade doughts and buy yourself a good cup of coffee.

Chignik boardwalk - on the hunt for homemade doughnuts!
Chignik residents bake them just for the boat visitors and the Tustumena crew buys whatever is left.

Chignik general store

Slough in Chignik

We have been AMAZED at the terrain so far. The Islands are a brilliant emerald green and most of them are covered in grass and low growing Alder bushes. They look like something out of Ireland or Scotland and remind me of photos of the moors. I'm not sure where I acquired the preconceived idea that the Islands would be barren rocky outcrops (maybe from my experiences on the East and West coasts of Canada) but the Penninsula and the Islands so far are completely different than what we had expected and are stunningly beautiful. The other surprising things is that many of them have enormous, jaggedy snow-capped mountains that tower over the bays and dwarf everything around them.

The Aleutians are often referred to as the Emerald Islands because of their stunning green colour.

An example of the huge, jagged mountains that rise up from the peninsula and some of the islands.

The other thing that has been a wonderful surprise is the food on the ship. The Tustumena crew crank out some fantastic food from their galley. They have a decent menu and it's almost all from scratch. The portions are very generous and the prices are incredible. There is a strict "no tipping" policy because the crew are State employees and the taxes are included in the already modest prices so honestly, we have to say that overall, the food on the ship has been the best bang for the buck in all of Alaska! So far, my favorites have been the homemade clam chowder and the Shrimp Louie - a beautiful salad with a huge pile of fresh shrimp. Fantastic.

We spent another lovely sunny evening on the upper deck, watching whales in the distance and beautiful islands and mountains roll by. 

July 1 - Kodiak Island

After sailing all night, we woke up this morning about an hour outside of Kodiak Island after chugging across Cook Inlet and out into the Gulf of Alaska. We pulled into the town of Kodiak via a very narrow channel and into St. Paul Harbour.

St. Paul Harbour, Kodiak Island

Welcome to Kodiak!

St. Paul Harbour

We made a quick pit stop at the Visitor's Center on the dock and then crossed the street over to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Center. The Center is free to wander through and well worth the time. They have some excellent displays, complete with lifesized sculptures of Kodiak bears (the largest Grizzly subspecies in the world). They're enormous! The Center is run by the Fish and Wildlife folks and they do fieldwork as well so they're very informed hosts and have a lot of interesting information to share.

Updstairs is a skeleton of a Grey whale that the community salvaged and preserved. In  2000, the Grey whale died and washed up on the shores of Kodiak Island. A biologist found it and recognized the opportunity for the community so she gathered up some support and they dug a huge trench and buried the whale for 4 years to decompose. In 2004, they dug it up again and removed all the bones, cleaned them up and then a team of people reconstructed the skeleton on a metal framework and installed it in the Center in 2007. They have a series of information panels that tell the story and show photos of the 7 year project. Fabulous!

Grey whale skeleton in Wildlife Refuge Center

Panoramic of Kodiak

Kodiak marina

From there we wandered through the town and out along the walkway by the marina and along some canneries. We went out onto the small spit and watched the marina activity (including two guys who got caught unawares and got high centered in the marina when the tide went down) and then crossed town to the Monk's Rock Coffee House. The Monk's Rock is run by some Russian Orthodox missionaries and the funds they raise support youth programs on the Island. It's a warm, welcoming cafe with a small bookstore on one side. We had some fantastic borsch for lunch with a homemade bun and spent a bit of time talking with "Uncle John" from Boston who came out a few months ago to work in the cafe and help out. Upstairs is a thrift shop that has a lovely homey space with more tables for dining amidst shelves of books and thrift wares. I wandered around the shop and found a brand new pair of colourful wool socks from Germany and then I spied a gem! A book and CD set of Italian folksongs for children, recorded by Padre Paisii de Lucia who works for the mission but came from Italy originally. I haven't been able to listen to the CD yet but, thumbing through the book I recognized a couple (Santa Lucia and Funiculi, Funicula!) so I'm looking forward to learning them all (including the one about the ant and the cricket who were going to get married but then the cricket "broke his head" and was pronounced dead so the ant went and had a nice glass of wine!) to my grandsons! Who  knew, in Kodiak, Alaska we would find a lovely traditional Russian lunch, some wool socks from Germany and a book and CD of traditional Italian songs!

After lunch, we wandered over to the oldest Russian Orthodox church in Alaska. Outside, there is a rather large collection of bells, some of which were ruined in a large fire years ago. We noticed many of the windows were boarded up and thought they might be doing renovations but we found out later that several days ago, someone (with a bone to pick of some kind against God? The church? Who knows...) went into the church and set about smashing everything he could - windows, furniture, holy relics and other objects etc. He didn't steal anything, just tried to smash as much as he could, we were told. The whole community was devastated but are slowly making plans for restoration.

We carried on to the Branov Museum which is a turn of the century Russian house that was also used as a center for trade over the years. They have an excellent section about the Alutiiq people from this area as well as the Russian and European history. They also have a section dedicated to the 1964 tsunami that leveled most of the town of Kodiak and was a result of the 9.2 earthquake.

Branov Museum

Kodiak is a place of "Biggests"  - they have approximately 3500 Kodiak bears on the Island which are the biggest subspecies of Grizzlies in the world. The Island itself is the biggest Island in North America and second biggest in the US (only outranked by the big island of Hawaii).  The Port of Kodiak is Alaska's biggest and most diversified fishing port and it's consistently ranked in the top 3 commercial fishing centers in the United States. The country's largest Coast Guard base is located  there as well. The Island is home to almost 13,000 inhabitants and even boasts a small Walmart although it's about 4 miles out of town (not sure why...) Say what you will about Walmart - the locals are pretty happy to have it because other than it, the only other store is a TINY Safeway about the size of a small 7-11. Beyond that, you have to get to Homer (a 13 hour boat ride or a flight) or Anchorage (the boat ride plus a 6 hour drive or a flight) for supplies. There is also a Navy Seal training facility on Kodiak which is VERY high security - so high that someone, a few years ago, was shot for coming into the compound without authorization. A local young man told us that sometimes, they can hear the Seals in the middle of the night when they are doing survival training in the bay. They're all out in the water, arm in arm, and singing in the dark to keep morale up. He said it's kind of eerie to hear it...

Back on the ship, we set sail and enjoyed an excellent meal. The weather was picture perfect and, after dinner, we sat out on the deck and watched the islands go by. Around 8pm, we were absolutely delighted when a pod of about a dozen killer whales travelled in the same direction as our boat. The Captain came around to bring us a bit closer and we travelled with them for about 30 minutes. They were rising as they swam along and many of them would slap their fippers or slap their tails. It was so fun to watch! Shortly after that, we saw a Fin whale. What a GREAT way to wrap up the day!

June 28-30 - Homer

We pulled out of Kenai City. We got lucky that the rain held off while we packed up our camp (we've been lucky that way!) and then we set off. We headed down Kalifornsky Beach Rd along the coast. My God, there are some gorgeous ocean-front properties and almost everything is for sale. Some of the homes are magnificent and some are quite derelict and falling to wrack and ruin. Several looked like fishermen hoarders (hmm... maybe an idea for another bad reality-TV series!) had been staked out there for some time - no end of rotting boats, fishing gear and other nautical paraphenalia laid waste to the wind and rain. There were a couple of small villages along the way and then we found ourselves on the bluffs overlooking Homer, Cook's Cove and the Homer Spit that curves out into the bay like an enormous lobster claw.

We made it to Homer, Alaska! 

Lookout on highway. You can see the "claw" - the Homer Spit, reaching out into the bay. We camped
right on the end of that spit.

Home Spit

Through Homer, we followed the main road out onto the Spit which is several miles long. Before you get onto the spit, the road takes you by the Homer float plane base located on Beluga Lake. The road runs along the separation between the lake and the Beluga wildlife wetlands refuge and Bishop's Beach. Once on the spit, there are strings of nautical businesses, a boat graveyard, some campsites and then you get into the major tourist area which consists of several collections of reclaimed sheds, shacks and barn-like structures that have morphed into chic little gift shops, cafes, restaurants, tour operator offices, pubs etc. It's a hubbub of activity. Parallel to the Spit road but behind the shops is a walking/biking path that overlooks the Homer Spit marina.

Shops along Homer Spit

More shops along Homer Spit

Panorama of Homer Marina

More funky, cool shops on Homer Spit

This marina is one of the homes of the Time Bandit, one of the famous fishing boats from the TV series, "The Deadliest Catch." The Time Bandit spends part of the season in Homer and part of it in Dutch Harbour when they go crab trapping for Alaska King Crab in the Bering Sea. She wasn't in port when we were there but we might catch a glimpse of her later this week down the Chain. 

At the end of the Spit is the Homer Spit Campground where we stayed. It's a little worn out but the folks are nice and the view is second to none. Our site was next to the Mariner's Memorial on a little rise on the beach. The main reason we chose this site is that it's a stone's throw from the Alaska Ferry Terminal. I booked this campground in January and made arrangements with them to store our bikes and camper for a week while we take the boat down the Aleutian Island chain, leaving June 30.

After setting up camp, we walked down through some of the shops and got our bearings. We wandered along the marina and then had dinner at The Little Mermaid. Restaurants on the Spit are a bit "spendy" and the Mermaid was no exception BUT - the two chefs who run the place are AMAZING. We had quite possibly the BEST fish chowder on Planet Earth and their Halibut was pretty damned awesome too.

Funky RV that is permanently parked on the Marina walkway on the Spit.
VERY cool place to live - in the summer, anyway!

Homer is also a deep water commercial port.

The famous Salty Dog Saloon

Inside the Salty Dog Saloon

A cute little guy looking at the day's catch for one of the many charter boats.

Random stuff hanging off the shower shed at the campground.

Our camp spot beside the Mariner's Memorial at the Homer Spit Campground. Gorgeous spot...

The weather was on and off again drizzling rain but by the time dinner was done and the sun was dipping towards the horizon, it was cold and down right miserable. We headed back to camp and I pulled on all my warmest layers and hit the hay. I've finally got my cold weather sleeping outfit down to a science: fleecy tights, wool socks, long sleeve insulation shirt, fleece motorcycle liner jacket with hood pulled over head and drawstring tight. All of this under an army-issue, heavy down sleeping bag. 

June 29

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain. It poured down in fits and starts all night. We lagged for awhile and, sure enough, the rain stopped. We got up and decided to find some breakfast, Back down the road, The Spit Sisters Cafe was open - a warm and welcome sight on a wet, misty morning. Inside was warm and fuggy and packed with people. We ordered our breakfast and decided to sit out on the deck, overlooking the marina as, by now, the cloud was lifting and the sky had brightened up just a bit. We had a lovely breakfast and enjoyed the improving morning...

Back at camp, we took advantage of a window of dry weather and we spent a couple hours walking along the expanse of beach front that goes for miles along the Spit. This is an EXCELLENT rock hunting beach. There are miles of grey flat rocks that are perfect for skipping and then there are strips of smaller, rounder rocks that come in a myriad of colours, shapes and patterns. We collected a handful of little rocks I want to use for jewellry and I even found a pink rock in the shape of a heart... :) All along the way, we saw sea otters out rolling on their backs not far from shore and having their lunch, LOTS of bald eagles and some jumping fish.

The beach in front of our campsite. A tug boat is pushing a barge out of the harbour.

We made some plans for the transition to storing our gear and going on the boat trip. The weather forcast was for more cold, wet weather and I realized I had underestimated my cold weather clothing options. On the bikes, we have electric vests we plug in and heated hand grips but you can't take those on the boat! Back in Fairbanks, Lynn bought a light-weight Patagonia down jacket at Big Ray's. Alas, all they had for me there was bubblegum pink (not my colour!) so I opted out. I found myself coveting Lynn's jacket so we decided to see if anyone in Homer carried them. Lynn was coveting my long underwear. He forgot to bring his so we decided a little shopping trip was in order. 

We drove into town and went to Ulmer's Pharmacy which is a misnomer for sure - it's really a small department store that carries a little bit of pretty much everything. They were out of long underwear but, in the clothing section, they had fleece lined tights which were perfect. We each scored a pair of those. From there, we headed out East Road a few miles and found Redden's Gear Shed - a half acre warehouse of marine, hardwear, outdoor gear, boat repair stuff, clothing... it was unbelievable. It also has an extensive collection of game trophies (if you're into that kind of thing) from all over the world. I really don't like dead stuffed things for a bunch of reasons but they've got lots if you're looking...   We didn't find my jacket but we bought so great wool socks...

Across the parking lot is a fabulous coffee shop. We were ready for a break so we wandered over and discovered a beautiful little oasis in the middle of a fairly industrial area. We sat in the solarium and read the local paper and enjoyed some Irish Car Bombs. 

Oh. My. God.
It's worth going all the way down East Road for an Irish Car Bomb and a coffee. If you're in Homer, just do it. Seriously.

Our last shopping option was Homer Jeans and there, we hit the jackpot. They had one gun-metal grey Patagonia just my size... WOOP! I was so excited! I put it on and instantly, I could feel the heat start to collect around me - a rather LARGE slice of heaven when it's cold, wet and windy. BRING ON THE BOAT TRIP NOW! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of cold, wet wind, I shall fear no more!

From there, we hit Safeway. We'll be on the boat for a week so we decided to bring some food along - they have a cafeteria but we don't want to rely on it over much - we're not sure what to expect. We booked a stateroom so we'll have room for some groceries and our small cooler.

After we finished our town trip, we headed back out to the Spit and had dinner at Captain Pattie's. It was OK but not as good as the Mermaid and more expensive. The whole day was on and off again rain and the last week or so, we've seen highs of MAYBE 10 degrees Celcius with lows down to around 2 or 3. It's damp and sometimes, outright wet. It started to rain fairly hard so we hightailed it back to camp and hunkered down for the night. 

June 30

We woke up this morning to - gasp - patches of BLUE SKY!!! The sun peeked out now and again and instantly warmed us up. What a perfect morning for packing up after being assualted by rain again last night. We couldn't seem to work up much energy for it so we slow-poked along and eventually got it done. We went across the street to La Baleine Cafe and it was excellent and very reasonably priced - our Spit favourite recommendation for breakfast or lunch for sure. We went back into town and visited Old Town - the original Homer townsite which still consists of a few blocks of heritage buildings that house, among other things, a couple of nice cafes, a B&B, an Inn and an art gallery. We visited the gallery and wandered around a bit. We also visited Bishop's Beach but the wind was really kicking so we didn't stay there long. 

Homer's awesome Arts Center - a museum in the main part, a funky thrift shop downstairs, a lovely B&B
 and cafe on the left side. 

B&B and Cafe on the side of the Museum

Cafe sitting area

Wind sock at Bishop's Beach in Homer. Note the bird guy is wearing the ubiquitous Xtra-Tuff gumboots!

Thai restaurant and book store - Old town of Homer

We were back at camp by 4:00 so we finished up our gear reorganizing and then headed back over to The Little Mermaid for their fish chowder. Kathy, the owner, appologized profusely but said they were booked solid. When we said all we wanted was the chowder, she let us sit out on the boardwalk with our soup and a beer. Perfect.

After dinner, we moved our trailer and motorcycles to their storage location, locked everything up tight and covered them up and then we hauled our bags down the road to the Ferry terminal. We got there around 8:00 and, lucky us, they let foot passengers load right away. We were able to get our stateroom keys, drop our stuff and then spend the next 2.5 hours watching the rigamarole that is the Alaska State Ferry's loading process for the Tustumena. Believe it or not, they load the vehicles one at a time. The driver drives their vehicle onto a platform which is then lowered by chain hoists down into the belly of the boat. The platform then spins 45 degrees so the vehicle can be driven off to be parked and chained down to anchor points on the deck. The platform spins back into place and is hoisted back up again for the next load. Unbelievable. Each vehicle takes about 10 minutes to load. If you're lucky, they can put two smaller vehicles on at a time... No wonder it takes hours to load and unload the boat but it's a labourious process because they have to be able to seal the hold and everything has to be tightly secured because we go out into open ocean - a very different kettle of fish than BC's ferries that go through protected waters.

The "Trusty Tusty" - the Tustumena - one of only 2 open ocean rated ships in the
Alaskan ferry fleet. She's not big but she's reliable and capable.

Some ferry passengers forgo renting berths or sleeping in the public chairs.
Instead, they opt to pitch tents on the decks, securing them down with duct tape.

The Tustumena is a relatively small ferry. It can take 200 passengers and has about 30 staterooms. I'm not sure how many vehicles it can take but the boat itself is about 300 feet long. It's only 1 of 2 open-water rated ferries in Alaska. The boat finally pushed off 45 minutes late - we pulled away from Homer Spit at 11:15pm, leaving behind a spectacular sunset over the pier. 

Homer Pier

Pulling out of Homer and heading for the Aleutian Island Chain