Down the Glenn Highway

We planned to stop at Tolsona Wilderness Campground, which is about 14 miles before the town of Glennallen. We will just stay one night before heading to Valdez. What a great drive there going back up the Sterling Highway and then east on the Glenn Highway. Almost all the highways are scenic byways as the views are so incredible.

As we leave the Sterling Highway at Palmer and turn onto the Glenn Highway, the road begins to wind through a mountain pass and climbs toward the Copper River Valley. As we get higher, the roads are very windy with drop offs. Not as bad as the highway on the northern California coast, but lots of wows at every turn.

We stop at a view stop that overlooks the Matanuska Glacier. It is 27 miles long and 2 to 4 miles wide. Big and Blue.

We arrived at the campground. I had read about this campground on someone's blog and then in the Church's Alaska Camping book. It is a commercial campground with electric and water but looks like a government one. All of the sites are on the Tolsona Creek. What an idyllic spot. We could have easily spent a week here. We were luck to have some nice sunny weather and enjoyed just sitting outside reading and listening to the sound of the water rush by.

Tomorrow we head to Valdez.

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Farmers Market, Rain and a Few Familiar Places

We left Homer with thoughts of spending a few days in the upper Kenai Peninsula area but as we were driving, we changed our plans as us full timers are able to do. We decided to head onto the Anchorage area. We are going to Valdez, but wanted to get a little farther on our long way back through Alaska and Canada and onto the lower 48. We really liked Williwaw in the Portage Valley and so made the decision to stay there and just drive into Anchorage to get Joe's prescriptions filled and to go to the large Farmer's Market that we missed last time we were there.

More beautiful scenery on the way there.

 

The lake above is Tern Lake on the Sterling Highway.

We stayed at Williwaw for four days with lots of rain. I took a few pictures in between the raindrops.

 

 

One Saturday we drove into Anchorage to go to the Farmer's Market. It is a hugh market with a small section of produce and lots of art work, clothing,etc. Also a number of food stands. We got halibut fish and chips and corn fritters with honey butter. Very well done and very tasty.

 

 

We wanted to go to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. but too much rain. Yikes. Well, the day we were to leave, the sun was out and so we drove over with Joe driving the motorhome and me the Jeep. We parked the motorhome and drove through the center in the Jeep. The center takes in orphan and injured animals and rehabilitates them. You can drive through the 140 acre park and stop along the road to check out the animals or you can walk if you want to. We had Savannah and so drove through, just leaving her in the car when we got out to take pictures. We stop a number of different animals that are native to Alaska though we haven't seen much of them in our time here. We were hoping to see bears but wouldn't you know that was not to be. We were told that the night before a film crew from California had been there filming them and feeding them and so they must not have been hungry and were sleeping in late. Oh well, it was interesting any way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sleeping kitties. First time to see a lynx.

And the wise old owls.

 

We stopped one night back in the Eagle River Campground just north of Anchorage and then we are on our way to Glennallen and then onto Valdez.

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End of the Road - Homer Spit

Homer has a population of around 5,000. It is part of the Kenai Peninsula. You drive through the main section of town and then onto the split, which is the second largest in the world. We stayed at Heritage RV Park on the split. It is a more expensive place than we have been staying but we wanted full hookups for nice long showers and they have cable so we can watch some of the Olympics. We also have a great view of the Kachemak Bay. Actually we can see the Bay on the otherside of the road as well.

Check out the full moon and yes, that means we got some sun as well. Below are also some sunset and sunrise pictures, i think the first we have seen in Alaska. For awhile, there wasn't any because of the midnight sun and then it was just cloudy all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the above taken from our campsite. Just drop dead gorgeous. They have radical tides here. It will be up close to the small bluff where the rvs are and before you know it they are hundreds of feet away. We didn't do a whole lot here, just read and watched the Olympics, where the US seems to be doing pretty good. This is a big area for fishing, especially halibut, We aren't really into fishing but love fish and so got some fish(halibut, smoked halibut, salmon and smoked salmon ) and will be cooking up some great meals with it. On the Spit there is a small business center and a small boat center. We checked out small shops and bought our fish here as well.

 

 

 

Salty Dog Saloon is interesting. See all the dollar bills covering the ceiling.

 

Check out the RV at one of the beach area campgrounds. Pretty funky, uh.

 

We walked over to the fishing hole which as not far from the campground.

 

 

 

 

Of course, our old friend the rain made an appearance. One night was extremely windy as well. We enjoyed our four days here, This is a place we would come back to as they had a few island boat trips we would like to do. Friday we are headed back to the Anchorage area and back towards Canada and the lower 48. . We may go to Valdez but haven't decided yet and there maybe a few other new stops on the way.

 

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