Haines - Land of the Bald Eagles

Its hard to believe that we have been in Haines for 2 weeks now.  We arrived to great weather but of course, this is Alaska and it didn't hold.  We have had many rainy days with low visibility.  Today is good so far, just cloudy, windy & chilly (our highs have been in the high 40's to mid 50's) but we are supposed to get a big storm in tonight and the snow levels are dropping to 800 feet of elevation on the passes.  We are safe as I would guess we are about 10 feet above sea level. 

Overall the weather has been typical for Alaska and we are still planning on staying through the Bald Eagle Festival in mid November.  At latest guess, there is somewhere around several hundred bald eagles in town now.  By the time of the festival, there will be anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 in town enjoying the feast of the late salmon runs here.

Matt has been enjoying photographing both eagles and brown bears while we have been here.  I wanted to share some of his great eagle shots with you.  I will do a post in a couple of days with some bear shots that he has also.

Coming in fast, this Bald Eagle makes an aggressive landing in the Chilkoot river enjoying the late Salmon run of Silvers.

A Bald Eagle is proud of his catch of a Silver Salmon in the Chilkoot River of Haines, Alaska.  (All I can say is "EWWWW...  YUCK!!!")

Coming in fast, this Bald Eagle makes an aggressive landing in the Chilkoot river enjoying the late Salmon run of Silvers.

A Juvenile Bald Eagle shakes off a water landing on a dry rock

A young bald eagle waits patiently for his choice of the salmon run.

A Bald Eagle is enjoying of his dinner of a Silver Salmon in the Chilkoot River of Haines, Alaska.

31 Strangest Places to Sleep

Ok, so its rainy and yucky here in Haines so as I was cruising around the internet, I happened upon this article.  Somehow, none of these look too appealing to me, although Pinkie might enjoy #4...

 Special thanks to excel distributors for this great reading material... 

31 Strangest Places to Sleep

Road warriors are accustomed to hunkering down in some unusual places. Wal-Mart parking lot? No problem. In a random guy's driveway? Even better. We can get forty winks anywhere, anytime.
But have you ever stayed in one of these wacky, outrageous, and totally strange locales? From odd RVs and weird RV parks to the just plain uncomfortable, our list of the 31 strangest places to sleep makes dozing off on a park bench seem perfectly normal.

1. Inside the Amphibious RV
   
   
   Source: http://babble.com/CS/blogs/droolicious/archive/2008/06/30/now-that-s-what-i-call-an-rv.aspx
   
   You've been asking for years: "When are they going to make an RV that floats?" For 1.2 million dollars, you can take to the high seas in your Amphibious RV, where you can fish all day from your couch.
2. With 20 Strangers
   
   
   Source: http://everypictures.blogspot.com/2009/12/art-of-extreme-sleeping.html
   
   Want to sleep strange? Curl up in this tour bus – it's like a frat house on wheels. We recommend not being the first person to pass out.
3. Inside this Crazy Camper
   
   
   Source: http://www.campingroadtrip.com/weird-rvs
   
   Settle down for a nice nap in this camper. It might be bumpy, but getting your friend to pull you along while you snooze in the back is worth the rough ride. We hate to see what happens if he gets rear-ended.
4. At the Trailer Park Taj Mahal
   
   
   Source: http://www.everyjoe.com/uncovertheinternet/funny-photo-trailer-park-taj-mahal/
   
   It's the third wonder of the RV world (right behind Kadie the Cow and Corn Palace. The RV Taj Mahal stands five Winnebagos high and features 8 satellite dishes, 32 lawn chairs and a flock of plastic pink flamingos. Running water coming soon.
5. At the Flintstone Campground
   
   
   Source: http://www.yelp.com/biz/flintstones-bedrock-city-williams
   
   Yabba-Dabba-Doo! Rock out like Fred and Wilma at the Bedrock Campgrounds in Williams, Arizona.
6. In Slab City, On-Top of Salvation Mountain
   
   
   Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonstarbuck/2416150679/
   
   Salvation Mountain in California is a strangely beautiful (albeit garish) tribute to Jesus. It's said to be one of the only RV campgrounds left that are completely free.
   
   Leonard Knight, the eccentric creator of Salvation Mountain, will happily give you a tour.
   
   Claim to fame: This strange place to sleep was featured in the 2007 film Into the Wild.
7. In the Buff at the Pines, a Nudist RV Park
   
   
   Source: http://www.thepinesrvp.com
   
   Think you've seen everything on your travels? Think again. Sleep in the buff in a pine bluff at the Pines RV Park. Don't worry about closing those blinds. Naked is normal!
8. Next to Yogi Bear in Jellystone Park
   
   
   Source: http://www.campjellystone.com/
   
   Bring your RV and camp with Yogi and Bobo! Surprisingly, Jellystone Park locations stretch across the country, making them the second largest campground franchise in the United States.
9. In a WalMart Parking Lot
   
   
   Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wandering-yxy/252237295/in/pool-1231130@N21
   
   Sleeping in the Wal-Mart parking lot is a rite of passage for road warriors. But it's definitely strange to those who have never RVed before.
   
   Tip: Most Wal-Mart stores welcome RV overnight parking, and many have security. It is good etiquette to ask the store manager for permission, and don't rollout the awning or put out lawn furniture: low key is the key. http://www.cruising-america.com/rv.html
10. Where Lord of the Rings was Filmed
    
    
    Source: http://www.top10.co.nz/parks/franz-josef-holiday-park.html
    
    You won't be catching ZZZs with Frodo, but you can sleep in the shadow of where Lord of the Rings was filmed, at the Franz Josef Top 10 Holiday Park on South Island, New Zealand
    
    That's not the only unusual thing about this RV Park. It's surrounded by glaciers, kiwis, kayaking spots and near the highest peak in New Zealand.
11. Siberia
    
    
    Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12535240@N05/3998639880/
    
    Pokrovskoye, Siberia the hometown of Grigori Rasputin. In Siberia you can camp anywhere on the side of the road, but there is apparently lots of trash, and sometimes isn't very safe. So lock your RV door!
12. With Ghosts
    
    
    Source: http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_6381.shtml
    
    Sportsman's RV Park in Libby, Montana is haunted. "It is said that many aimless souls lost their lives waiting for work at the site, camping in the woods when they could not afford a stay at the Inn. There is also a tale that every spring, thunderstorms bring about the shadowy figure of a ghost that wears a hooded poncho as he floats above the ground." Boo!
13. Where the Buffalo Roam
    
    
    Source: http://goss-travels.blogspot.com/2009/09/antelope-island-balloon-and-kite.html
    
    Antelope Island, in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. It's an island. With buffalo. In Great Salt Lake. The chances that you'll wake up to a beast that's almost the size of your RV makes this one wild locale and worthy of our sleep strange list.
14. At the Feet of a Giant
    
    
    Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/493287872/
    
    Take a rest under the protective eyes of Jolly Green Giant. Boondock for 48 hours at the Blue Earth, Minnesota fairgrounds. Wake up refreshed and craving green beans.
15. At Turn 4: The Daytona 500
    
    
    Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/travel/news/story?id=2346804
    
    People wait their entire lives to hitch up at turn four of The Great American Race. Bring the earplugs - stockcars whiz by turn four at over 150 miles per hour for 200 laps.
16. Have Nightmares at Camp Crystal Lake
    
    
    Source: http://revealthescience.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-never-too-late.html
    
    Established in Starke, Florida since 1948, Camp Crystal Lake is known for its canoeing, rope climbing and camp counselor slaughtering from a machete-wheedling maniac. One would think being associated with the camp from the Friday the 13th horror franchise might hurt business, but camp directors say attendance only falls a few brief weekends a year.
17. In the middle of the desert
    
    
    Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slworking/2443912516/
    
    Strange things happen out in the desert in the middle of the night. You're practically guaranteed one weird experience, whether it's a UFO landing on your rooftop or meeting the Mafia.
18. Place with the Strangest Name
    
    
    Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscuitsmlp/3874402195/
    
    Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales. Fall asleep counting letters and counting sheep in the town with the longest place name in Europe. You'll live to tell the tale. But you will never be able to pronounce the name.
19. On the Edge of the Grand Canyon
    
    
    Source: http://www.rvtravel.com/blog/weirdrvs/2007_04_01_archive.html
    
    Fantastic views; not awesome parking. Bring a deck of cards because you're not doing much else when you make it to the top of this Wile E. Coyote cliff.
20. In a Capsule
    
    
    Source: http://kshore.com/news/news.php?id=134
    
    And you thought sleeping in an RV was cramped! Wait until you try the Sleep Boxes in the Dubai Airport. These 12' x 9' x 15' walk-in coffins offer WiFi, an LCD TV and nearly enough headroom to stand.
21. In a Capsule, on Water
    
    
    Source: http://capsulehotel.info/images.html#
    
    Think you'll doze delightfully in a capsule? How does sleeping in an oil rig survival pod float your boat? This hotel in The Hague is not for the claustrophobic-aquaphobic.
22. Sleep Sacred
    
    
    Source: http://www.oldchurch.eu/
    
    You may have fallen asleep in church before (be honest!), but that doesn't count. Touted as an "uplifting experience," the Old Church of Urquhart in Scotland is one sacred place to dream.
23. Doze Off on the Door to Hell
    
    
    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze
    
    Bunker down on top of the "door to hell" in Uzbekistan. You won't need a blanket.
24. On the Side of a Truck Car
    
    Don't they look comfy?
25. While Hunting
    
    
    Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgucLml_0KRw7agI9BU6x_m5xrgzEEgFz4sylYHZ0RAqQwFUqAUhK5kXCcHjk9eIdL2SNe2jafJ3gwWxQrC06UizxgKhyxmgSnz9HfyP9wHJnzNLzyrFJTne2rrcwnFEVU8Bwh3_cCjpW3P/s400/funny-deer-picture-sleeping-hunter-outdoors-smart-animal-stealing-food.jpg
    
    You should decide early on if "hunting" means actively looking for animals to shoot. Or catching a wink while an animal preys on your lunch.
26. On a RickShaw
    
    
    Source: http://www.sleepingchinese.com/
    
    It's not an RV. But a rickshaw makes a good napping place.
27. On a SeeSaw
    
    
    Source: http://www.sleepingchinese.com/
    
    There's nothing like a good nap after a hard day's play.
28. Inside a Beagle
    
    
    Source: www.UnusualHotelsoftheWorld.com
    
    You've heard of the beagle that snoozes on top of the dog house. But did you know you can conk out inside of a giant beagle?
29. Inside a Tauntaun
    
    
    Source: www.ThinkGeek.com
    
    Check out the light saber zipper! Slice open your favorite creature from Hoth and crawl into the intestines imprint liner.. Now you can finally find out how bad they smell… on the inside.
30. Inside a Submarine
    
    
    Source: http://www.carolhipperson.com/Chapter10RadiomanBonusPhotos.html
    
    Sack out inside a submarine. It's pitch black. Pretty cold. Probably boring .The perfect place to sleep!
31. While CliffHanging
    
    
    Source: http://www.piotrwojcicki.pl/
    
    Don't toss. Or turn. Just stay completely still.

Haines Alaska at last

We made it into Haines Alaska this afternoon. Not a bad spot for camping, huh????





We will be here for over a month waiting for 3000 - 4000 bald eagles to arrive.

The long dusty road...

We just returned from a fantastic trip to Denali National Park. Unlike our visit there earlier in the trip, we had beautiful blue skies, sun and 60 degrees during the day. We saw Denali (Mt McKinley) every day. We won the road lottery and were among 400 lucky winners to be able to drive our personal truck on the road. Overall we logged in 240+ miles on the dirt park road, numerous animal sitings (including 2 Lynx) and the most fantastic sunset on the mountain. Talk about priceless since less than 30% of all visitors to the park even see the mountain let alone see it in blues and pinks at sunset.

Pictures will be up in a couple of days when we reach Haines Alaska. We have about 12 hours of driving over the next 2 to 3 days.

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Anchorage, Alaska

I am so far behind on posts, but just a quick one to update you on our location...

We left Seward on Wednesday, the 1st, and drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Anchorage.  We are doing some restocking and some truck maintenance as this is the last large town that we will be in until we get back to the lower 48 sometime in October or November.  We will be here until Monday, Labor Day, and then we will actually be starting our trip south.  We are kinda sad as we will start working our way out of Alaska by first stopping in Valdez and then continuing on for a long stay in Haines.  We are still unsure of exactly what our exit plan will be (other than hoping for good weather and not too much snow).

Preliminarily, we are planning on staying in Haines until the weather runs us out (too cold and snowy).  We will then make the very long drive down through Canada in as quick a time as the weather permits.  We hope to stop in Denver for a visit on our way down south.  Overall, we plan on getting the RV back to South Texas in time for our January reservations at South Padre Island.  We are also planning on a Christmas trip to see my family and a visit to Chicago in January with Matt's family.  Still nothing too firm, but at least we have some idea of where we are headed (other than South).

I'll post our final Seward photos and an update on our activities there in a couple of days.

Life in Seward Alaska

Just a quick update as we pack up and get ready for a two day kayaking trip in Kayakers Cove in Resurrection Bay here in Seward.

We've had great weather for the past couple of days and are now enjoying a beautiful campsite right on the bay. Today we went back to the Alaska Sea Life Center to do their mammal encounter tour. We got to feed and pet several harbor seals and watch them with their trainers. I will post a couple of photos in a couple of days when we get back from sea kayaking. We wanted to keep feeding them as they looked at us with those big black eyes.

We will be out of touch as the camping cabins are across the bay with only boat access and no electricity.

Here Matt enjoys the beautiful weather at our beachside camping spot today.



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Puffin Mania.... well maybe Puffin Encounter

We have had a couple of great weather days.  We took a quiet day yesterday and never left the RV and spent the day relaxing.  Today, we rode our bikes into Seward from our campground and had a quick lunch in town.

I thought I would post a couple more photos of the wonderful little Puffins that Matt and I encountered at the Alaska Sea Life Center.

Incoming!!!!  Not too graceful in flight, but graceful in the water.

Puffins at the Sea Life Center in Seward, AK

As many of you know, my favorite bird is the Puffin.  We spent today at the Alaska Sea Life Center where we had a "Puffin Encounter" where we got to hand feed the sea birds at the Center.  It was so great!!! 

Above is a quick video I took of a Horned Puffin as he swam around his habitat at the center.  He definitely succeeded in splashing the lenses of our cameras and getting us wet.  If you receive this in an email, don't forget to click on the above to be taken to where you can view it.

I'll post some more photos of us later today.

Tutka Bay Kayak Trip Details

Just a quick post to share some details and photos of our last couple of days in Homer, Alaksa.

Matt did the "man thing" and hunted (well fished) for our food.  He went on a Halibut fishing trip from Homer with Inlet Charters.  He caught his limit of two halibut and described landing them as "pulling a sheet of plywood from the ocean floor".  The halibut were about 20 pounds (and yield about 60% of their meat to eat) each so it provided lots of great fish for us and for mom and dad.

Here he is with his and several other fishermen's catch of the day.

That;s a pretty small boat...  Glad I wasn't on it...

We left for our kayaking trip across Kachemack Bay on Sunday, the 15th.  We woke to lots of wind and rain (surprise, surprise).  We met our guides at True North at their office on the Homer spit and took a water taxi over to Yukon Island and their base camp to pick up our kayaks.  The seas were pretty rough on our boat ride over, but thankfully dramamine did the trick and I didn't get sick (although we would learn that it is possible to get sea sick in the kayak).  We watched playful sea otters and harbor seals all around us while we toured the rocky coastline of the island.

Here we are all bundled up against the wind and rain on the water taxi ride over to Yukon Island (pictured behind us).

Since this is our first time in a sea kayak, we signed up to paddle around Yukon Island with a guide so that we could learn how to manuver the boats.  Lets just say that we now want rudders on our whitewater kayak boats... talk about being a lazy paddler and you still just go straight - Incredible!!

Me paddling around Yukon Island with this really cool plant life in the water.

Matt kayaking around the island.

Now thats a big grin...  just figured out the rudder...  NICE!!!

Rafting up for a quick picture

Matt taking a photo of the group as we kayaked around the island - I'm in the green boat just ahead

Once we determined that we could safely make the channel crossing and the weather had improved, we set off on our own to make the 5 mile paddle into Tutka Bay and our yurt for camping the next two nights.  We were a bit nervous as the seas were a bit rougher on the crossing and we had to watch out for large boats in the main channel of the bay. 

Me cooking dinner in the yurt - Well, OK, boiling water for our freeze dried dinner.

We woke the next morning to howling wind and driving rain...  Needless to say, we were not all that much in a hurry to head out to paddle in the kayaks.  We had a great morning lounging around the very warm yurt before deciding to take a short sheltered paddle to the Tutka Lake Lagoon.

The next morning, I was served coffee while still in my sleeping bag...  Talk about spoiled...

This is the yurt - It was a beautiful location and very warm with its wood stove.

Matt taking some photos of some eagles on our paddle

Our boats...

The opening of the lagoon of the lake that was very sheltered

Me on our beach as we returned from our paddle in the afternoon.

Our last day of the trip, we woke to light rain and dead calm seas.  For most of our paddle out, we would have seas of glass that made it so great to spot star fish, otters, seals, crabs and lots of fish on our way out of the bay.  However, in the afternoon as we neared the main channel for our crossing, the wind and waves kicked up.  We would make the crossing with about 2+ foot waves.  Not very large, but looking much larger from our kayaks.

The view from our camping beach the morning we left.  It was so beautifully still.

Paddling out of the bay - Still very calm waters.

Matt paddling down the bay on our way out.