Driving from Girdwood down to Homer was one of the most stunning trips I've ever taken, scenery-wise. My riding companion and I took a 30 mile detour to stop at Hope, a tiny town on a dead-end road that is a popular spot for bikers, fisherfolk and gold rush history buffs. Here are some folks salmon fishing at the mouth of a river where it meets Turnagain Arm. They were catching them too...water isn't very deep and salmon are pretty big.
Much further on the trip, we stopped to visit a Russian orthodox church in Ninilchik. This involved a drive a couple of miles on a gravel road and then a hike up a hill with a path and some rough steps. This town marked our arrival on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula, and we were met by incredible fog..it looked like a forest fire at first. It gave the whole place a kind of shroud, and it seemed appropriate for what was there. We stopped into the church and observed some women with their heads covered coming in, and a very elaborately dressed priest appeared. I felt distinctly non-orthodox at that moment and stepped outside. When the bells started ringing I knew I'd ducked out right before a service.
Here's the house you'll see towards the end of that video. It's surrounded by fireweed, the ubiquitous Alaska wildflower that is seen nearly everywhere in southcentral, and marks the passing of summer...when it's done blooming, summer is over.
so the purple stuff is called fireweed? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]
This is the view from Hatcher Pass, up in the mountains above the Matanuska-Susitna valley. There's an old gold mine up there and a lake. This picture is of the road up and a river adjacent.
This a mushroom I came across one day....never saw one quite like it before.
These are sled dog puppies. Their owners, the mushers, friends of my dad, race "short runs" of just 2-5 miles (as opposed to long ones like the Iditarod that lasts for days). The puppies were awesome and the whole operation - dogs, food, training, all of it...was really cool to experience.
This is at one of hookah's shows. Most all of the venues had dogs wandering in and out...some of the most well behaved cool dogs I've ever seen. This particular place, the Fairview Inn in Talkeetna, dates back to gold rush days.
Here is a part of "downtown" Talkeetna. The town is the closest point to Denali's most popular climbing route so the town is full of wacky adventurous mountain climbers who fly out of here to the base camp area. Lots of artists as well. The street you can see here is the only paved one.
After the last show I stayed at a friend's house near Homer, some other friends did also. It's in the country (even for Alaska) on a fair bit of land with chickens, a large veggie garden, etc.
We arrived at the house in the dark, around 1AM or maybe 2.
We all sat around a campfire for a couple of hours and when the sun came up (only around 4AM or so), this was the view that greeted us.
It is possible in Alaska to fly to and from certain places pretty cheaply. There are "walk up" fares that are great if you are flexible. Going into "The Bush" always costs a lot, but Homer to Anchorage, a 5 hour mostly highway drive, costs $99 to fly - a half hour in a small plane. Taking such a plane on a "flight seeing tour" would cost more like $300. I took that flight, and took this picture of the area near Homer. The house I stayed in is not in the photo, it was a lot further "out", though accessible by road.
This was from that plane ride too - I think this is the Kenai River but i'm not sure, there are 3-4 different ones running through this unroaded uninhabited area.
i am in alaska now,where in alaska do you stay? i am in chugiak on birchwod loop. i devide my time between alaska,arizona& montego bay [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/proud_jamaica.gif[/img]....love the woods and the jungle
This is Susitna, the sleeping lady. Some conflicting info as she looks like she is shrouded - dead, not sleeping - but she is beautiful nonetheless when we can see her. She didn't hide as much as Denali but she is a fair distance away.
One day I took my dad on a ride up a river, the Twentymile River near Girdwood. We rode a jetboat, which is a boat with a jetski engine (it can go in just 2 inches of water - no propeller) and a heavily reinforced steel bottom so it can go over boulders and ice without damage. It's perfect for an Alaskan glacial river...right through the rapids, over the rocks, right next to (and sometimes over) the icebergs.
Here's the boat:
...and here is our ultimate destination, Twentymile glacier:
I'll give you the youtube version of how we got from the first photo to the second in a few....
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