Not all of our wandering is to far away places like Alaska or the Yukon. Sometimes we wander close to home. On Monday, we hitched up the Titanium for a road trip to Auburn, Alabama to watch the south’s oldest football rivalry between Georgia and Auburn this coming Saturday. We decided to take a few extra days and explore a new to us Corps of Engineers park on West Point Lake in West Point, Georgia just off of I-85 near the Georgia/Alabama line. It’s great traveling during the week during the off season. We are almost the only ones here.
R Schaefer Heard COE Campground on West Point Lake Site 113
View out the back window site 113 R Schaefer Heard on West Point Lake, GA
We spent three relaxing nights in site 113 in the campground with no other campers in our loop. The trees were wearing their fall colors and the sunsets were spectacular.
West Point Lake, Georgia
Fall Colors on West Point Lake, Georgia
Beautiful Fall Colors across from our campsite
Sunset on West Point Lake, Georgia
Foggy morning on West Point Lake
Morning Fog
West Point Dam is a short drive from the campground
Looking at our campsite from across the lake
Floating dock next to the boat ramp
Another beautiful sunset on West Point Lake
Our only neighbors were the geese.
Gathering of geese behind our campsite
Geese on West Point Lake
The geese swam by our campsite
We watched the geese in front of our campsite
R Schaefer Heard Campground on West Point Lake is one of three Corps of Engineers campgrounds on the lake. Our site is about 40 feet from the lake and like most COE parks we have a large site with plenty of room between our site and the ones on either side. Our site is a paved, back in site with water and electric hookups, a tent pad, fire ring, picnic table and a beautiful lake view. For more information about the park or to make reservations you can go the Recreation.gov site for R Schaefer Heard
Although we left Tok, Alaska almost a month ago, our memories of Alaska will never leave us. Here, in no particular order, are a few photos of some of our favorite places and adventures.
Our favorite place was Oceanside RV Park in Haines, Alaska where we could sit and watch for whales, watch eagles fly by, and watch the ferries and cruise ships sail by.
Cocktail hour whale watching with Ted and RuthyBald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AKDeadliest Catch!
The most exciting and most memorable experience of the entire trip was the South Face McKinley flight-seeing tour and landing on Ruth Glacier with Talkeetna Air Taxi.
We went really close to Mt. McKinleyLoving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier
We loved all of the boat trips we took.
Whale Pectoral Fin on day trip to JuneauStellar Sea Lions on day trip to JuneauSeeing ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from SewardA pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from ValdezSea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
Driving to the Coldfoot, sixty miles north of the Artic Circle was a drive to remember.
Wandering Dawgs at the Arctic Circle
Catching Halibut and watching the sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska.
Four of these fish are ours!Mount Redoubt Sunset
Denali National Park.
Moose beside the road on the way out of the parkLukor liked it on top of his houseBeautiful green valley at Polychrome OverlookAnother group of Caribou up on a ridge
Driving the Top of the World Highway, panning for gold, going for a train ride on the Alaska Railroad, watching for wildlife on the side of the road, seeing the Fireweed blooming everywhere, seeing glaciers off in the distance and up close are all highlights of the trip we will never forget.
Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular.
Our original plan was to spend 3 nights in Valdez and then start heading back home. We liked it here so much we ended up spending 5 nights.
We couldn’t pass up our last chance for fish and chips so we had lunch at Old Town Burgers. My halibut and chips were delicious and Henry enjoyed his fish tacos.
Blondie and the salmon
We met a great group of folks on the boat yesterday who told us there was a mama bear with four cubs on the way to the fish hatchery. Of course we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see a bear so we took a drive back to the hatchery. We took Blondie down to the water and she wasn’t sure what to make of the fish.
As we drove back from the hatchery Henry spotted a black bear on our side of the road. We pulled over to the side of the road and watched the cub follow his mama back into the woods. With her cub safe and sound mama made several trips to retrieve dead fish from the creek bank to take back to the cubs. While this was all going on a Bald Eagle was preening on the top of one of the trees. After watching the bears for a long time we got ready to leave and saw a golden eagle fly overhead.
The cub followed his mama back into the woods
Black Bear Cub
Mama bear eating a fish on the ground
Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez
A Bald Eagle was pruning while we watched the mama bear
Mama bear carrying a fish back to her cubs
It was a great day to end our stay in Valdez. We will now begin our journey back home with one more night in Alaska before entering Canada to head south.
The day was overcast with a chance of rain but it was our last opportunity to take a cruise so off we went on the Glacier Spirit with Stan Stephens Cruises. The boat had a nice, warm comfortable cabin and plenty of viewing areas outside. We left the Valdez Harbor about noon for our 6 hour cruise.
We went out on the Glacier Spirit
One of the crab boats from “Deadliest Catch” tv show
A boat heading out of the harbor
Foggy day for a boat ride
The scenery was breathtaking and there was plenty of wildlife. As we cruised close to shore we saw too many eagles to keep count. A pod of Dall Porpoise bow surfed for a while. They’re too fast to get a picture but beautiful to watch.
Sea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
We stopped to watch the sea otters on our way out into the bay
We spotted this pair of Bald Eagles as we cruised by on a wildlife and glacier cruise from Valdez
Henry enjoying the view from the bow of the boat
Hundreds of juvenile Stellar Sea Lions
Puffins on the Columbia Glacier Cruise from Valdez
The highlight of the day was seeing a pod of Orcas with a calf.
Pod of Orcas with calf
We finally saw Orcas!
A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
The captain navigated through huge chunks of ice to get into Columbia Bay for a close up look at 10 mile wide Columbia Glacier.
Chunk of ice from the Columbia Glacier
The Columbia Bay was full of ice as we approached the Columbia Glacier
We were about two miles from the Columbia Glacier when I took this photo
This piece of ice from the glacier is big enough to be called an iceberg
A small sailboat sails around the ice
A chunk of ice from the glacier
The ride back to Valdez was just as spectacular.
We saw waterfalls as we went by
An oil tanker leaving Valdez
A couple of the small rocky islands we passed
Do you see the profile of a face on the right side of the rock?
This waterfall looks like it is coming out of the clouds
Day 73: Saturday, July 27, 2013. Ninilchik, Alaska to Homer, Alaska. Baycrest RV Park Site 44. 35 miles traveled.
Delicious lunch at Captain Pattie’s on the Homer Spit
Foggy skies greeted us as we drove south to Homer, Alaska, our next destination on the Kenai Peninsula. We had chosen a campground for its spectacular views from a bluff overlooking Kachemak Bay. The fog was so thick we couldn’t see anything so we drove to the Homer spit for some lunch at Captain Pattie’s. The Homer spit is a long, narrow piece of land with several campgrounds, a small boat harbor, and many restaurants, shops, and bars. Tourists were everywhere on this Saturday afternoon and parking spaces were rare but we found a spot in front of the restaurant and enjoyed a lunch of halibut and clam chowder.
After a stop at Safeway for some much needed groceries we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our view from the campground. Several eagles were soaring over the bluffs. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better
Our campsite overlooks Kachemak Bay
Beautiful day in Homer, Alaska
View out our back window from Baycrest RV Park, Homer, Alaska
Loved this cloud over the water
Eagle soaring overhead in Homer
Day 74: Sunday, July 28, 2013
The fog rolled in over the water early in the morning. It was eerie looking down over the fog.
Early morning fog rolling in over the water
Henry went up on the RV for a better view
We were above the fog
More fog
After a home cooked breakfast of sourdough french toast and reindeer sausage we took a drive to Anchor Point, the western most point reached by highway in North America. We stopped at the beach to watch the tractors bring in boats from the water like in Ninilchik. It was so foggy the tractors beeped to help the boats find them.
From Anchor Point we took a drive on the North Fork Loop Road where we saw hillsides covered with fireweed and views of two volcanoes.
Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America
Tractor at Anchor Point bringing in a boat in the fog
Bringing in another boat. It was so foggy we couldn’t even see the water.
The volcano Mount Iliamna is in the distance
We dropped Blondie off at the RV and took a drive down to the spit. We stopped at the Baycrest Overlook where we could see our campground. As we drove along the road a bald eagle was flying at eye level over the beach close to my window. He stayed beside us for a while. What a treat.
As the former owners of several boats named Salty Dawg, we had to stop at the Salty Dawg Saloon for a beer. We finished our tour of the Homer area with a stop at the small boat harbor.
View of our campground from Baycrest overlook
The sign says it all.
A perfect day for a beer at the Salty Daw Saloon
No dawgs allowed at the Salty Dawg Saloon. We went in anyway.
Beth at the Salty Dawg Saloon
Homer small boat harbor
Small boat harbor at low tide
Henry had just built a fire when Ted and Ruth Ann arrived from Ninilchik. They had been on a halibut fishing trip in the morning and were pretty exhausted after each catching their limit. We visited with them and some campers from Missouri while watching more eagles and enjoying our fabulous views.
Wandering Dawgs 