Seward/Alyeska

Alyeska resort. 900 + inches of snow each year. This is Alaska's largest ski area. We rode the 60 passenger tram to the top. No skis this time of year.

Horse and rider statue that reflects the history of the native Alaskan sits in front of this elegant hotel.

Beautiful flowers surround the statue and are everywhere on the grounds of the resort. Amazing colors and the size WOW. These peonies were huge.

Great views from the ridge over the ski area. Amazing amount of snow.

Lots of snow still on the ground. Enough that Dick and I could have one more snowball fight. No contest here. Dick knows my aim even at 10 feet, he was safe.

Seward/ Kenai Fjords National Park

Exit glacier. We hiked to the area but could not climb it unless we wanted to risk falling into a crevice as the glacier is considered unstable and unpredictable. .

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Exit glacier is about 3 miles long. It is believed that this glacier once extended all the way to Seward

Scenic waterfall just outside of Seward. A great hike from our campsite.

All of the trash containers are painted with great artwork and memorable remarks. "Do the right thing every dog gone day"

Kenai Fjords National Park

KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK

We boarded the Glacier Express for a day long tour out Resurrection Bay through the Harding Gateway, the Chiswell Islands to the Holgate Glacier, Aialik Peninsula and back to the small boat harbor at Seward.

Aialik Glacier views. After so many days of rain we picked a great day to get on the water.

We saw lots of sea otters, murres, puffins, Kittlitz's murrelets and seal lions.

Stellar sea lions grow to an average 8 feet long and weigh about 1500 lbs.

Gulls circle and gather in the middle of the waters awaiting their fish feed.

Whale boil. 5 to 6 whales travel together and gather large amounts of fish. The whales surface for these amazing views.

My camera could not capture this phenomena.

Six whales surfacing.

My best whale tail.....

Glaciers galore in the 700 square mile Harding Icefield, the largest icefield located entirely within the United States.

Another great summer day in Alaska

Peaks of the Holgate Glacier.

This glacier has been receding since the ice age 800 years ago.

There is constant activity at the glacier, sounds of popping and the roar of Calving of the glacier.

Our crew picked up ice from the glacier to make these special blue margaritas. Yes the ice actually is blue.

The end of a beautiful day.

Seward is located on Resurrection Bay, east coast of Kenai Peninsula. We camped at the start of the Iditarod Trail in the City Campground looking right out at this view. .

The campground is next to Small Boat Harbor. Lots of cruise ships and small boats in and out of this harbor.

The town is filled with beautiful gardens. These tiger lilies were seen in front of many of the homes.

View out our front window of these little sea otters. They float on their backs and hold their shells in their paws to crack for a tasty meal.

They are so darn cute.

The town has murals painted on many of the businesses. I loved the wildflower scenes.

Another mural . All of the trash cans in the town were also painted and had great inspiring messages. Seeing such artistry, makes you want to clean up the area.

A trip to the Seal Life Center, an ocean wildlife rescue center houses nearly 2000 invertebrates, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. These little moon jellyfish just free float.

The horned puffin is such a cutie. He dives to get fish and then keeps consuming food until he can' t fly and if he does, he may drop from the sky like a potato. They actually fly better underwater. It was fun to watch them diving for food.

We spent 4 days in Sodotna on the Kenai Peninsula. The Kenai river runs right through town and has tremendous fishing spots. In this pic you can see how close the fisherman stand next to each other. Casting and snagging their lines. We were fortunate to camp at a spot just a 5 min. walk to the Kenai. Yes, another free campsite.

Hoping for the big one. Visitor Center in Soldotna. You can fish right behind the center on one of the fishwalks.

A big smile....After standing in thigh deep freezing water, I finally got my salmon.

What a thrill to land this one.

Our friendly bald eagle appears out of nowhere for a visit. He just hangs around and poses for us.

A ferry trip to Seldovia a quaint little fishing village and tourist attraction. 265 residents here. Travel around town is easy on the boardwalks and hiking trails out to see the salmon swimming upstream , the puffins, and sea otters.

Beautiful glass window in the visitor center.

Loved the little houses set up on the pilings. Yes this is a real lived in home.

Dick with Sharon, pup Molly and Gary , camping neighbors and new friends at Homer Spit. 2 days of sunshine........amazing

Dick with his bud the EAGLE. Seldovia has a wood carving event each Memorial Day weekend. The carvings are displayed throughout the village.

Relaxing with my fresh catch in Soldotna on the Kenai River

Camped a night at Deep Creek. Tractors pull boats in and out of the ocean waters. There were 105 trailers on the beach, lots of work for those old John Deere tractors.

BRR.....

Our winter clothes are getting lots of use. Long Johns, hat, gloves ....all the layers to keep warm. Red boots getting lots of use.

Homer Alaska

We're still here.... Great views and the resident eagle flies in to our front yard everyday. He is something special to watch.

Taken from the Skyline view. You can see the spit,

This is our home for now. Who could move from this view.

Farmers Market

Fresh peonies and lots of nice produce. We're enjoying.

Another fishing day reaps great rewards.

No comment on the bad hair day but check out the red boots. They've kept my feet dry while fishing and picking up mussels. Who knew 1/2 a bucket of mussels would take hours to clean... They are yummy, though.

We now have 51 lbs of halibut. Neighbors brought us salmon last night so we had what Dick calls his trifecta dinner: salmon, halibut and mussels. The smiles tell it all.

Out on our first fishing trip at Homer.

Three ORCAS played or hunted as we

motored to our first fishing hole.

Intent on catching the big one.

3 lb weight and it felt like I already

had a fish on. Yes, it does feel like

I'm pulling up a barn door.

WOO HOO!!

Landed a big one.

The smiles tell it all.

We came home with our limit of

2 fish each and a total of 32 lbs of

filets. Our freezer is full and we've

just begun to fish.....

Our bucket of fish...

Guess what we're having for

dinner and probably breakfast

and lunch. Fresh Halibut is sooo

good.