August 23, 2009

Jeff and I took a one day cruise in Prince William Sound out of Whittier. We had a great day of sunshine and sight seeing. Posted are a few pictures of the humpback whale we were fortunate to see, some stellar sea lions, and a glacier.

We also took a drive to Denali National Park. We saw the Alaska big five wildlife animals - a moose, several grizzly bears, lots of caribou and sheep and a wolf. I have posted pictures of the wolf, caribou and grizzly.

We also had a grizzly bear swimming in the pond off of our deck. I was able to watch her for about 45 minutes and then she left the pond and pushed down a few trees on her way back to the woods. That is the grizzly that has been living near our cabin all summer. I have seen her so often I have named her Brownie.

Take care and see you soon. Our time here is getting short.
Patty

More Pic's

Here are a few more pictures from our family vacation.

Family Trip

Hi Everyone

I thought I would post a few pics of our family vacation. Jason flew up and we picked up Chris at Moose Pass and promptly took a hike up to his secret Greyling Lake. We caught and released as many Greyling as we wanted and then hiked back down. We spent a couple of days in Seward and took a halibut charter, but the weather was to rough for good halibut fishing but we did catch some nice silver salmon and some pacific cod. Chris did catch a small halibut. We stayed at the military resort in Seward, which I would recommend highly. They had a fantastic fish processing facility that we used to vacume bag our fish. We then hiked into a cabin on the Russian river trail and spent two nights. It was a nice to be in a cabin as we had a fair amount of rain. We fished the Russian River on our way out and had a couple of bear encounters. We had a Black Bear sow with two cubs fishing directly across from us and then we had to take the high ground as a Brown Bear, (Griz) with two cubs came wandering down the creek. They were about 10 yards away when I first saw them and I thought we should give them the river bank so we just went up the hill and let them pass by.

We caught our red salmon and then came back to Bird Point where we were able to catch some Pink Salmon in Bird Creek. Pinks are on the low end of the scale in the salmon eating contest, but, are not bad if eaten fresh. We were also able to show the kids the bore tide and actually watched someone trying to surf the tide. Check out the pic.

We hiked up to Crow Pass and also up Mount Aleyeska and had a great dinner at the Double Musky. This restaraunt was named one of the 10 best in the nation on the food network. They have great food and an Alaskan atmosphere. It was fun to have the family together for a family vacation.

We dropped Jason off at the airport and then took Chris back to Moose Pass with another stop at the Russian River. The bears were even thicker. We saw a Black bear as soon as we got there and then saw the Brown Bear with cubs and a little later saw two juvenile brown Bears. The good thing was that Chris caught a Chum or Dog Salmon and now has caught each of the Alaskan Salmon, Red or Sockeye, King or Chinook, Silver or Coho, Pink or Humpy, and Chum or Dog Salmon. I am sure he has a picture of each posted on facebook for all to see.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

July 17, 2009

We just had a wonderful week with Jeff's mom and dad visiting us. We had great weather the entire week. I have posted some pictures of a few of the things we did which included, hiking up to the top of Flattop Mountain, fishing, touring a gold mining village, seeing wildlife, fishing with Chris, going on a picnic and watching the bore tide come in.

July 17, 2009

July 4th 2009

Hi to All

Patty wanted me to post some pictures of Flat Top Mountain. It is the most frequently climbed mountain in Alaska so we had to do it. We climbed it on the
4th. It was not a difficult climb and all sorts of people were doing it in all types of footgear. We only saw one person who was limping down, but you still have to be prepared for this climb.

We then went to church and out to eat with a Dave Rutz, a high school classmate and friend who has been up here since after college. Patty is holding a young beaver that Dave rescued. He works for Alaska Fish and Game in their fisheries section. I am holding an Alaskan brewed Amber with Dave in his trophy room.

Hope everyone is well.

Jeff

July 1, 2009

Jeff and I recently took a drive to Whittier. We passed through the two and half mile tunnel to get there. I have posted a picture of a cruise ship docked in Whittier which also gives an overview of the town. Also posted are pictures of glacial ice chunks that have fallen into the bay. You can tell glacial ice by it's blue color. I also had the opportunity to fly to Seattle this past weekend. On my return flight I had clear skies and took some pictures of Alaska from the air. One of the pictures shows a glacier (you can tell by the bluish color). And the grizzly bears are still hanging out in our area. Jeff had another opportunity for more photos.

July 1, 2009

June 15, 2009

The sockeye (red) salmon have started the first of two runs of the season in the Russian river. The second run will be in mid July. We were able to meet up with Chris this past weekend for some fishing and sightseeing in Homer. The fishing was done in the Russian River near Coopers Landing. The guys avoided most of the hundreds of fishermen by walking about a mile and a half upstream on the Russian Lakes Trail. I missed the black bear that came down about 11 p.m., took his fish carcass and left as I had already walked back to the truck. Pictures posted above include a view of the Homer Spit and Mount Redoubt the volcanoe that was spitting ash earlier this year and may do so again. There is also a view of me hiking the Crow Pass Trail which is a fantastic hike with great views. Take a look at the limit of fish from Friday night. The guys started fishing around 8 pm and the picture was taken around 11:30 and it was still light.

Patty

June 9, 2009

There is no doubt that the wild life abounds in Alaska! I have had the opportunity to see bear more up close and personal than I would like, and the moose are everywhere. We had a moose at the edge of our deck the other night. I have posted a picture of him. The picture was taken at 11:15 p.m. and there was still plenty of light. The weather continues to be great and we have had several days of 70 degree weather and plenty of sun. We were able to meet up with Chris for an overnight hike along resurrection bay to a place called Caines Head.