South in Alaska

Well - after all that activity and animal sightings we all needed a little ‘down’ time. So, we took a day of ‘investigating’ the cute little town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is claimed to be VERY international as all of the 1200 adventure seekers (per year) from all over the world who wish to start a climb up Denali (only half make it) must check in here with the National Park Service before they can begin their climb. Perhaps some of the shots will look a little familiar to any of you who watched “Northern Exposure” - and none of us saw any “Men in Trees” -

Really good pizza at the Wildflower Cafe.

Elizabeth in a chocolate shop. Does a bear s.... in the woods.

Dusty and Kacy skipping rocks in Talkeetna.

Next stop was a beautiful NP campground which was our home for two nights (unfortunately no pictures of this beautiful site;-( ) while we explored Gridwood and Whittier.

In order to drive to Whittier one must travel through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel - a very unique experience. This is the longest highway tunnel in North America, is ONE lane and services not only traffic in both directions BUT, also the train!! That is right - you drive right on top of the tracks. Needless to say there is lane control - on the hour in one direction and on the half hour in the other - when the train is not scheduled. All scheduling in the town of Whittier evolves around the tunnel schedule as NO ONE wants to get ‘stuck‘ in Whittier for an extra hour;-( It is REALLY small and there is nothing to do except board a ‘Prince William Sound Cruise’. And those cruises provide more beautiful scenery and sea life picture opportunities -

Heading into Prince William Sound.

This shot makes Whittier, AK seem larger than it really is.

Yo bear

This is MY rock.

Sea otter and pup

Approaching the Surprise glacier.

BIG ICE!

Snoozin' seal.

Big ice, little boat.

No big calving this trip.

After a wonderful day cruising - we enjoyed a very pleasant evening with Joslyln, Chris and their new little one, Passage Ray (friends in Girdwood). If there is a baby, Elizabeth is there -

We had a very nice dinner with Passage Ray and his parents Chris and Jos.
Sorry that Mom and Dad didn't make it into the shot.

Then it was time to move on down the road one more time to Homer - as far south and west as one can go in a car in Alaska. Again, we had one of those picture post card views out the front ‘living room’ window across Kachemak Bay as we ‘parked’ on Homer Spit - with a resident eagle not too far away.

I couldn't take enough of this majestic bald eagle.
Kudos to Dusty for spotting it hiding in plain sight.

Gives meaning to eagle eye.

Another lousy view out of Magic's picture window.
Shot at night. Need to work on my technique.

One of our daily excursions here was to take the Danny J 45-minute cruise to Halibut Cove where lunch at the Saltry, galleries and the cutest little town awaited us -

Puffin, kittiwakes and ???

On the way to Halibut Cove

Our transportation to Halibut Cove, the Danny J.

Halibut Cove is a small little island community across Cook's Inlet from Homer, AK.

Kacy and Dusty taking in the sights.

This loo has to be cold in the Alaska winters.

The Saltry, our lunch spot (also the only lunch spot) on Halibut Cove.
They were out of halibut and serving cod instead, imagine that.

I wonder if this otter ate all of the halibut in Halibut Cove

There are more days in Homer - will have to see what they bring our way in the next posting.

XOXOXOOX to All - E & G