For this week’s blog, I — Emily — will be telling our story. On Tuesday, we drove to Homer. This is the view from an overlook on the way to Homer, AK. (That small strip of sand called the Homer Spit was where we camped that night).
Halibut is a really delicious fish. I look forward to when mom will make it. :)
This is our scenic campsite on the Homer Spit. The view reminded me of the Oregon coastlines with the rocks and cliffs, the mountain ranges of Colorado, and the ocean of New Jersey (except the Alaskan Gulf is much colder) all mashed together.
Natalie spent most of the 24 hours here playing by the water.
We decided to take a walk on the beach later that evening. This picture was taken at about 10:00 pm.
It was Mom and Dad’s 19th Anniversary on Tuesday. They went to a little restaurant and ditched Carrie, Natalie and me. Mom had fresh halibut.
While they were gone, we made a sign and cleaned the RV. They said it was a great gift! :)
Before we left Homer, Dad took this picture through the windshield of the RV. It makes me think of a scene someone would paint.
On Wednesday, we met Tracy, the woman who gifted me the flight lesson in Fairbanks. She was in Moose Pass, AK, getting her license to fly float planes. Here she is showing us around the docks. I wished I could try one out.
We ended up camping at another harbor town on Wednesday named Seward. Almost everything here has to do with fish.
There were boats of all kinds, from a single-person kayak to major cruise ships.
Here is the end of the Alaskan pipeline system. It stretches about 800 miles taking oil from its source to this port.
We noticed this special feature on many Alaskan cars. It warms the engine in the winter when it gets down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
On Thursday, Carrie, Natalie and Mom went horseback riding while dad taught me how to drive the Jeep. Here’s what Natalie had to say about their ride:
From Natalie: “I had been wanting to go on a horseback ride ever since we had left on the trip. Finally, my mom found a cool two hour ride that we could do. We got to see some bald eagles up-close and that a was pretty cool. I thought this was an awesome riding experience because the first thing our guide did was told us some safety tips (only put the balls of your feet in the stirrups, etc.) and then she asked us our riding experience, so she knew what horse to put you on. I got a really gentle horse named Frisco. I had a ton of fun, but oh man, I am so sore now.”
From Natalie: “This is me and Frisco, he was so sweet and gentle. I love horses.”
It started clearing up in Seward on Friday morning, enough to take a nice picture. :)
We took a hike up to Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park on Friday. I think it’s amazing how glaciers are melting yet shaping the land at the same time.
These are scratch marks made from Exit Glacier when it was moving across the rocks.
I prefer these ranger-led hikes because we learn more than when we take hikes on our own.
It’s funny how we see beautiful scenery during the day and end up camping in a dull parking lot.
The next morning, we left dad to work at the RV and took off to go watch planes (at my request). There was a wide variety of airplanes, mostly cargo though.
One very special highlight-of-the-day was seeing this 747-8F (these are newest 747s that have serrated engine cowlings like the 787 Dreamliners.)
This old 737 was used as a prop in the movie Big Miracle and has been used for many other things such as transporting a herd of live caribou.
The fireweed plant is very common across Alaska, and some people here say the first snowfall will come when these are in full bloom. The park rangers say that should be in two to four weeks.
We are now heading out of Alaska and are gradually making our way to our final destination: Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for Airventure 2014! :)