Back to Anchorage for the trip home, with a little religion thrown in – 8/1

We left Denali this morning for the trip back to Anchorage, stopping again at the Matsu Restaurant in Wasilla for a late lunch.  Between Wasilla and Anchorage was a quick stop in Eklutna to take a look at a Russian Orthodox church built in 1830.  We’re spending the evening in our RV on the lot of Great Alaskan Holidays until taxis take us to the airport at 9pm tonight.

Altogether, we traveled a total of 1,045 miles during our trip and as the pics have proven, we had a great time doing it.

Thanks again for checking our blog and we’ll see you soon back home!

Gold, Golf and Helicopters – Fairbanks back to Denali 7/31

 

Our last full day in Alaska!  We started out at the El Dorado Gold Mine just north of Fairbanks.  We began on a replica of an old steam locomotive that takes us through the old mining operations and equipment.  We were then given a demonstration of the proper way to pan for gold – the trick is to use the gold’s weight to keep it in the pan while washing away other stones and dirt.

Zac was the big winner, with $25 worth of gold at the end, with Liam coming in at $22.50, Joe at $15 and Rian at $10.  All kept their vials of gold to bring home.

We then drove over to Pioneer Park, which is in the center of Fairbanks and includes reconstructed ships, settler cabins, shops and museums all having to do with the history of the area.  It also had a miniature golf course, so the guys took advantage.  After either Joe, Rian or Liam won, we visited the air museum that included many different types and ages of aircraft, like the Army helicopter the boys climbed into.  After stopping at a few of the shops, we picked up some souvenirs and then drove back down towards Denali.

We were all looking forward to a last big dinner and the clerk recommended a restaurant at the Black Diamond Golf Course.  While eating steak and halibut, Will and Zac decided they wanted to golf in Denali, so they, Joe, Rian and Liam rented two carts and started their round about 30 minutes ago (7pm).  It stays light until midnight, so the course operates pretty late.  I watched them tee-off, and all had at least a 100 yard hit to start (including Liam!).  Joe, Will and Zac have bets in place, and the hope is Joe is either very good at golf, or good at negotiating out of losses.

We spend tonight at the Denali RV Park, heading towards Anchorage in the morning for our flight back tomorrow evening.  We’ll make a stop at the South Denali viewing spot if the weather is good in hopes of getting a last look and photos of Mt McKinley.

Every evening we all read the comments that many of you have made and have really enjoyed them.  Thanks for following us on this adventure.

Fairbanks – 7/30

Hello Everyone -

Blogging from Fairbanks tonight.  The first few pictures are from Liam’s birthday party last night in Denali Park.  We also managed to get a group picture including one of Grand-dad.  Following a good night rest  we began another great day in Alaska.  We started with a short drive from Denali to meet Dave Miller for a boat ride and BBQ.  We met Dave at the boat launch started our trip down the Tanana river and ended up at Dave’s Moos camp our in the wilderness of Alaska.  After checking out the camp we head back down the river with Joe and Liam driving the boat.  Both did an excellent job and we made it home safe and sound.  Oh, and on our way home we came across a moose right at the waters edge grabbing a drink.  It was so close that we almost hit it with out boat as we came around the corner of the river.  The moose was too fast though and we were all unable to get a photo of it.   After our boat trip we shared many good stories from past and present.  Roberta, Dave’s wife, as well as Dave served us all a fish feast including breaded halibut, gilled King Salmon, grilled Sockeye Salmon, and smoked Salmon.  Roberta also served the best homemade potato salad ever.  Following dinner Joe, Rian, and Liam took a trip to the Alaskan Oil Pipeline and took many pictures.  Our day ended at the Rivers Edge  RV park where we got the best RV parking spot in the whole park!  Big day tomorrow panning for gold so going to need some good rest tonight.  Talk to all soon.

Zac

The last night at the campfire in Denali

Denali Grizzlies, Caribou and Mountains – 7/29

 

Cooking s’mores right now – saw 8 bears, 1 fox, many caribous – a very nice Birthday!  — Liam

Had a good day saw a lot of animals we have never seen before. And now we’re eating s’mores and celebrating Liam’s birthday .    —  Joe

Our trip deep into Denali was a long ride, but as the pictures show (and only a fraction of what we took), the scenery was amazing and we ended up seeing more animals than expected.  The animals included dall sheep, fox, caribou and close encounters with about 7 different grizzlies (the close encounters were between the bus we were in and about 10’ to the bears).  You can see we got some great photos of mothers with cubs.

The boys just finished the ranger’s presentation for this evening where Liam played the role of a hare and Rian was a Lynx (Will played a Caribou).

Liam’s birthday has really gone well….we are yet to celebrate it officially with a party including cake (chocolate covered donut, actually), candles and ice cream.  To Fairbanks in the morning.

Rafting the Nenana River in Denali – 7/28

Dear friends and family

Today we went white water rafting it was lots of fun. Joe, Liam and I got drenched.  Then, back at the RV we did our campfire and Will made something like chicken cordon bleu with cheese and salami on the chicken, which was pretty good.  After a ranger presentation about animals in Denali during the winter, we will watch the movie SandLot —From Rian

 

It was sunny early and then clouded up during the raft trip.  From the pictures you can see that we saw some great scenery.  The parts of the river we traveled weren’t too crazy, although everyone got hit a number of times by big waves.  The guide let Liam row, and he did pretty well, especially since those oars are really heavy.  We didn’t see much wildlife along the river, but we did see a moose (you’ll make it out in the pic of it in the brush).  We stopped for lunch on the shore surrounded by mountains.

Liam’s 7th birthday tomorrow!  We’ll take a Denali shuttle through the center of the park, about 90 miles in, and hope to see lots of animals.

Kenai Fjord – Glaciers and Whales

Wow, a great day.  We saw three kinds of whales (Orca, Fin and Humpback), sea otters, puffins, porpoise, mountain goats, glaciers that were groaning with sounds of small explosions and big pieces falling into the Gulf of Alaska.  We left from Seward ship port and spent 6.5 hours boating through the Gulf and Fjords of the Kenai Peninsula.  We then stopped for dinner on Fox Island – all-you-could eat salmon and prime rib…the boys took great advantage.  Zac added king crab legs just to make us jealous.

A park ranger, Anna, gave a presentation during dinner that covered the history of the Kenai Peninsula – geology, development, the Russians.  She brought along about 8 different animal skulls, of which the largest was from an Orca whale.  Once she was done, Liam was the first one that approached her about the skulls.  Anna was impressed enough with Liam’s enthusiasm that she invited him to complete a book about park rangers in order to be certified as a ‘Junior Park Ranger’.

On our way to Denali and Mt McKinley tomorrow morning for a big travel day (8 hours).

The Orca we saw are very rare in these parts as well as the Fin Whale.  We saw a Transient Orca which means the type of Orca feeds on other mammals.  The Resident Orca, which we are used to seeing at Sea World are seen more often and feed on fish.  The Fin Whale is the second largest whale next to the Blue Whale.

Liam wants everyone to know we had a campfire and since he ate mostly salad and Salmon he had another S’more tonight!

7/25/11 – Fishing The Upper Kenai RIver

We started off a little anxious about all the rain this morning, but luckily as you can see in the pictures we were very water proof. We fished on the Kenai River in Cooper Landing. It was different fishing than we are all used to doing so it was more difficult to catch the fish, but thank you to Liam for providing us with fresh Alaska Sockeye Salmon for dinner. Rian and Zac also caught a big Salmon, but they were too close to spawning to keep.  For those of you who want to know you can tell by the color.  If the Salmon’s scales are very red, then they are ready to lay their eggs.   After fishing we headed South toward Seward and set up camp.  We are now having a camp fire where Liam will get his long awaited, promised by grandma, S’mores.
- Will

We went fishing in the morning it was lots of fun and Liam caught us dinner. Then we headed down to a different camp site. We cooked out and now we just finished with the burgers and the salmon. And now we are having s’mores to cap off a great day.
-Joe

To all of our followers ~

Day 2 of our Alaska adventures brought us rafting down the Kenai River with Mike and Cliff. Although many great salmon were seen and even caught all were not kept. At the end of the day it was Liam, the youngest of our crew to bring home dinner. After our fishing and rafting adventures we traveled further south to Seward, Alaska for night 2 at the Stoney Creek RV Park. Movie watching, blogging, grilling dinner, and roasting marsh-mellows by the camp fire. Miss everyone back home. However, tomorrow brings more adventure stay tuned for more posts and pictures.

-Zac

The bald eagle was watching over the river, and that last pic is a big can of high-powered bear spray with Liam and Joe in the background

Made it! So far, so good

We arrived in Cooper Landing about 8pm on 7/24..stayed light until midnight.  About 59F and raining, but everyone was pretty excited to be here, so not too much sleep.  Ready for fishing in the am.

Liam’s Pre-Trip B’Day Party

Liam, Robbie and Norah