Has it really been eight years since we bought our RV and took off on our first adventure across our beautiful country?
We purchased our Titanium fifth wheel on June 29, 2006 and spent a couple of nights in the dealer’s lot to get familiar with our new home on wheels. After returning home to Georgia it took about two weeks to pack and get ready for our maiden voyage. With no reservations and no set itinerary we set out on our two month adventure across America and into the Canadian Rockies.
Here are a few highlights of that first amazing journey:
Grand Canyon North Rim – Vista Encantada (Arizona)
Bryce Canyon Hoodoos (Utah)
Capitol Reef National Park (Utah)
Canyonlands National Park (Utah)
Arches National Park – Delicate Arch (Utah)
Elk in Yellowstone National Park (Woming)
Old Faithful (Wyoming)
Lower Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)
Bison in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)
Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
Glacier National Park, Montana
Columbia Icefields, Jasper National Park, Alberta, CanadaDevil’s Tower National Monument (Wyoming)
Mount Rushmore National Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota
We were hooked! We knew this was the first of many amazing trips to come.
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
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.
Our Alaskan Journey continued in Seward, Alaska where we spent three nights in the Seward Waterfront Park.
Day 63: Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Palmer to Seward, Alaska. Seward Waterfront Park, Resurrection Campground Site R5. 132 miles traveled.
Our drive took us through downtown Anchorage and then south along the Seward Highway. There were spectacular views of Turnagain Arm and mountains most of the way.
Turnagain Arm at low tide
Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage
Henry and Blondie enjoying the view
Gorgeous scenery every where we went
Resurrection Campground City of Seward Waterfront Park
Small boat harbor in Seward, Alaska
We arrived in Seward and searched the city campgrounds for a waterfront site but had no luck so we picked a site in the fourth row from the water and then took a walk to the small boat harbor to check things out.
Day 64: Thursday, July 18, 2013.
A van picked us up at 9:45 and drove us to the harbor for our 7 1/2 hour sightseeing cruise on the Spirit of Adventure with Major Marine Tours. Our trip took us through parts of Kenai Fjords National Park and there was a park ranger on board to tell us information about the wildlife and glaciers we were seeing. We had comfortable seats inside a cabin where we stored our gear and then went outside to see the sights. As we traveled through Resurrection Bay we could see our RV when we cruised by the campground. There were sea otters in the water and we stopped to watch a mother and calf humpback whale.
Our campground from the water – we’re in the middle on the back row
The buildings on the top of this rock are bunkers from WWII
We saw sea otters all day
Sea otters enjoying the day
So relaxed
Humpback Whale
There were Puffins in the water
The cruise continued thorough Ailiak Bay to the Holgate Glacier for a close view of the half mile wide Holgate Glacier and Surprise Glacier. Captain Nicole turned off the engines so we could listen for the sound of ice breaking loose from the glacier before falling into the sea. When the ice breaks loose and falls it is called calving. We heard and watched about four or five calvings before moving on to the next glacier.
Henry and Beth at Holgate Glacier
Holgate Glacier
Surprise Glacier
Ice fallen from the glacier floated all around us
Our next stop was at the mile wide Ailiak Glacier where we witnessed more spectacular calvings. There was complete silence on the boat as we waited for the roar of ice. We were fortunate to see several more chunks of ice fall into the water including what our captain said was one of the biggest ones she has ever seen. Take a look at the next sequence of pictures to get an idea of what the ice falling looks like.
Calving on Aialik Glacier one
Calving on Aialik Glacier two
Calving on Aialik Glacier three
Calving on Aialik Glacier four
Calving on Aialik Glacier five
Seeing ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward
Hearing and seeing the ice fall was simply amazing. I could have sat there all day but the cruise continued as we traveled through the Chiswell Islands and saw more humpback whales, puffins, and other wildlife. Captain Nicole got us back to the dock right on time at 5:30. What a great day.
It was our anniversary so we drove about four miles out of town to the Salmon Bake restaurant for a Salmon dinner to celebrate. I just can’t get enough of this salmon!
Day 65: Friday, July 19, 2013
After a day at sea, some of it being in very rough waters, we were both sore and exhausted. I think 2 months of travel and sightseeing tours finally caught up with us. We both slept late and took it easy all day. We took a last drive around Seward in the afternoon.
View across Resurrection Bay from Seward
The Iditarod Trail starts in Seward
The tiles on the Seward library are designed to look like the Northern Lights
Our search for wildlife continued as we boarded our bus at 9:40 am. The 120 mile round trip to Kantishna and back took us all day. Our bus driver and tour guide Wayne kept us informed about each area we went through. The weather was overcast and rainy all day.
Our first two wildlife sightings were Grizzly bears. The first was close to the road, the second farther away.
Our first wildlife sighting was a Grizzly Bear
Second Grizzly sighting of the day
Next, we saw two different herds of Caribou before stopping at the Toklat River rest area. There we saw Dall Sheep on two different mountains. The Dall Sheep look like white dots on the mountain without binoculars or a telephoto lens. The pictures aren’t too good but you can tell they are sheep.
Caribou grazing in Denali National Park
We watched this Caribou herd as they moved quickly through the field
Beautiful view from Toklat River rest area
Three Dall sheep. The two rams are butting heads
Four Dall Sheep
Close up of one of the rams.
There were Caribou grazing on top of a ridge before we stopped at the Eileson Visitor’s Center for a stroll in the rain on the Tundra Loop Trail.
Another group of Caribou up on a ridge
Eielson Visitor’s Center
Wildflower on the Tundra Trail at the Eielson Visitor’s Center
Another wildflower on the Tundra Trail
Arctic Ground Squirrel, otherwise known as suicidal ground squirrels because they run out in the road right in front of vehicles.
And then there were moose.
Our first moose sighting was this cow by a pond
A big bull moose in the bushes
The Denali Park Road ends in Kantishna where several gold mines once operated. One of the mines was owned by the Quigleys. When the couple got divorced, Fannie Quigley built a cabin and lived there alone. When the national park expanded its boundaries the several privately owned lodges located there were allowed to continue to stay open.
Fannie Quigley’s cabin at Kantishna
We were on the bus for almost 10 hours
As we began our return trip we stopped at Wonder Lake where on a clear day there is a view of Mt. McKinley. In Denali National Park the chance of seeing Mt. McKinley is only 30% and the chance of seeing a bear is 90%.
A young bull moose
Moose in a pond in Denali National Park
We stopped at Wonder Lake where on a clear day you can see Mt. McKinley
Other than stopping to watch some Dall Sheep far off on the side of a mountain we didn’t make many stops to view wildlife on the return trip.
Total wildlife count for the day: 13 Caribou, 12 Dall Sheep, 2 Grizzly Bears, several Arctic Ground Squirrels, and a Ptarmigan (the state bird of Alaska) flying low to the ground by the bus. A great day!
Wandering Dawgs 