Alaska, the last frontier

Here's one of many glaciers we will see on this trip. It is hard to imagine the magnitude and size of these ice flows. These glaciers are located in the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Icefield.


Watson Lake, the famous Sign Post Forest, located along the main street in this little town. It was started in 1942 by a homesick Army GI, Carl K. Lindsey of Danville IL. Company D, 341st Engineers. While working on the Alaska Highway he erected a sign here pointing the way and stating the mileage to his hometown. Others soon followed his lead and are still doing so to this day. There are more than 10,000 signs there, I am not sure who counted them.



Dawson Creek is located in the northeast corner of British Columbia in the centre of the Peace Region. This is the city that is located at Mile '0' of the Alaska Highway, this is the beginning of our adventure to the new frontier, Alaska. This is our first big trip after our retirement on June 1, 2000. We expect to stay the entire summer exploring and filling our eyes with Alaska's awesome beauty and will come out around the middle of September before the first big snow.

One of many beautiful lakes throughout Alaska's awesome scenery. Notice the homes on the opposite shore. How would you like to wake up to that scene every morning? And all the fish you want is in that lake.

Our boat trip into the Prince William Sound and the glacier ice fields. Alaska’s Prince William Sound is ringed by the coastal mountains of the Chugach Range and situated in the midst of the Chugach National Forest. Its’ 2,700 miles of coastline is home to the towns and villages of Chenega Bay, Cordova, Tatitlek, Valdez and Whittier.

In March 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, rupturing its hull and spilling nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil. It remains the largest oil spill ever to occur in U.S. waters. Exxon paid 287 million dollars in actual damages and 5 billion dollars in punative damages.

By the time we got there in the year 2000, it was pretty well cleaned up, however the shoreline was still contaminated with 26,000 gallons remaining in the sandy soil declining at a rate of 4% a year.

Governor Tony Knowles dedicating the bike trail that would run from Anchorage to Seward. We were at the Turnagain Arm on the Seward Parkway. This road is considered to be America’s most beautiful and scenic road, crossing mountain passes and majestic valleys. Along the way we will try to spot moose, caribou, eagles and other wildlife.

Another view of Turnagain Arm Lake and mountains, this is a spectacular 127 mile drive between Anchorage and Seward. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula for which it was designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.



Oh, wow! Coming into Homer is really pretty incredible!! First you climb a steep hill then swoop down into a wondrous sight of the beautiful Kachemak Bay surrounded by glaciered alpine mountains. Ocean View RV Park was “all that”. We woke up each morning to this great landscape. Homer is known as the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World" famous for their "barn door" size halibut that are caught in the nearby waters, also famous for the awesome tasting fish & chips located on the "Spit". No time to fish today so Gene, Dana, Donna and I went to Young’s Chinese Restaurant for dinner. No matter where you go in the world there is always a Chinese restaurant.



What did I say about the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World"? That dude is bigger and weighs more than I do. If halibut is not in your palate, there are plenty other fish in Alaskan waters such as salmon rockfish, lingcod, dolly varden, steelhead and more. Homer even has non-traditional “fishing”, such as clams, mussels and oysters! Close by was great clamming in Ninilchik, we were able to get the hang of it and came home with about 30 large razorbacks.


This is the boat harbor in Haines Junction, this is a great and wonderful stop for gas and food, however, the mosquitoes ate me up. The local guy told me to spray myself with vinegar which I did, it didn't keep the mosquitoes away but I did smell like a salad all day.

There were many eagles in this area and we were thrilled to see them up close. The Chilkat River valley is home to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and to the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world.

More of our trip to Alaska in another blog.