The Great Alaska State Fair

Some pretty funky looking chickens at the fair!

Spent an entire day at the State Fair in Palmer this past Friday.  Sizewise, it is much smaller than the Los Angeles County Fair, but it had all the required elements: farm animals, vegetables, quilts, cheesey souvenirs, a midway and fair food. We partook of all except the midway – a little old to handle those twisty turvy rides.  But they were fun to watch.

The State Fair has been going on for 75 years.

Watched four year olds leading pygmy goats through an obstacle course – what a hoot!

Parents were allowed to help - good thing!

The really big veggies weren’t on display – the contest is next weekend and the farmers keep them growing until the last minute.  They are predicting having at least one pumpkin that will be close to 1800 pounds – the world’s record is 1810. They did have a couple of pumpkins in the 800 pound range and some cabbages that weighed more than 70 pounds.  That would make a lot of coleslaw!

Imagine a pumpking over twice this size!  That is what they are expecting for a champion this year.

This cabbage was over 3 feet tall.

Some veggie art.

The fair did not have very impressive roses, but the dahlias were huge.  This one was probably a foot in diameter.

Again, we were impressed with the number of entries made by children – both of the fairs we have been to seem to have an emphasis on that – pretty cool!

This wire salmon was made by a 13 year old.

We watched a lumberjack show.  It was pretty entertaining.  Thought it was interesting that the “loggers” came from Wisconsin, not Alaska, but that is where the world championship competitions occur, so I guess it is pretty big business in Wisconsin. The young man on the left in the video is the world champion in pole climbing - didn't do real well on the log rolling competition though.  Ouch!

The fairgrounds got pretty crowded as the day went on.  This is by far the most people we have seen in a long time. Kind of looking forward to getting back into the countryside and away from the crowds.

The grounds were getting pretty crowded in the evening.

An off-road RV!  And it doubles as a boat. Just what we need.

Kenai Peninsula – Alaska’s Playground

A sockeye salmon jumping the Russian River Falls to get to its spawning grounds.

If you like to fish, raft, hunt, kayak or hike, then Kenai Peninsula must feel like Disneyland.  Especially this time of year when the fish are running and the rivers are high.

The Kenai River at Cooper Landing.

We left Homer on a very rainy day and drove about 50 miles north to the town of Kenai.  Our campground was on bluffs overlooking the Kenai River as it empties into Cook’s Inlet.  Supposed to be a good place to spot beluga whales, but we had our usual luck (or lack thereof) and didn’t see any.  We had an interesting first afternoon in the campground – there was quite a strong rainstorm with winds gusting up to 25 mph.  That shook our trailer around a bit, but it was so cozy just staying in the trailer and watching the storm.

Everywhere we went, there were fishermen along the banks of the streams or in boats in the middle of the rivers. Stores have advertisements about shipping your processed fish home via UPS or FedEx.  And there are many fish processing facilities.  So fish is king around here!

Visited the Kenai visitor center which apparently has North America’s largest collection of stuffed bald eagles.  I think there were three. Took some drives through the local area and looked for wildlife.  Saw several bald eagles. The Russian influence is very prominent in the area – there was a beautiful church within a block of the campground.

This church was established in the 1800s and is still active today. This is the oldest Russian Orthodox church building in Alaska.

One highlight was the Peninsula State Fair. The weather calmed down enough for us to spend an afternoon looking at the agricultural exhibits and watching a rodeo.  We didn’t see any 90 pound cabbages, people told us that the growers save those size vegetables for the Alaska State Fair which we will be going to next week. That will be fun!

Yum!  A prize winning Thanksgiving dinner for some lucky family.

Many of the exhibits were submitted by children.  This won first prize in its category for 8 year olds.

Team roping on a very muddy field.

Junior bullriding for teens up to 17 years old.

This one did not stay on for the required 6 seconds.

Instead of walking their dogs, these 4-H kids were walking their goats and sheep.

We also spent a day at Cooper Landing which is on the Sterling Highway about mid-peninsula. We are staying at the Princess Cooper Landing Lodge RV Park. There is a beautiful lodge where we had breakfast. This is one of the lodges that Princess Cruise passengers can stay at when they sign up for a cruise-land tour. Russ took a hike out to some falls on the Russian River where he had been told the fish were jumping and bears were eating.  He saw the fish, but no bears. We also saw about 40 sheep up on the mountain that is across the river from our campground.

We drove out to Hope, a goldrush settlement on Turnagain Arm (established about 1897.) It has several of the original buildings which are in reasonable shape.  The town is very quiet, not much going on there nowadays, although you can try your luck at panning for gold. Russ and I have not done any panning (I did it at Knott’s Berry Farm several times in my youth – not that exciting.)

The Social Hall where some socializing was actually going on.

A view of Turnagain Arm on the road out of Hope.

Of all the places we have visited in Alaska (so far), I have to say that the Kenai Peninsula comes closest to what I imagined Alaska to be. I will be sorry to be leaving it tomorrow, but I feel fortunate that we were able to spend two weeks touring the area. And we are starting to see fall color appear.  The fireweed has almost bloomed out, the Queen Anne’s lace has gone to seed, and the birch tree leaves are starting to turn.  It should be an extra beautiful next few weeks!

Four Days in the Banana Belt of Alaska

Homer is situated on the southwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula, only 87 miles west of Seward (as the Eagle flies), but 167 miles by road. Known as the Halibut capital of Alaska, fishing is its main industry.  Like all the other towns in the Kenai Peninsula, Homer was devastated by the 1964 earthquake.  But it recovered and is larger and more prosperous than it was before the earthquake. Large is relative of course, Homer’s population is about 5500.

It is called the “Banana Belt of Alaska” because the climate is more moderate than in the rest of the Kenai Peninsula.  We had 2 beautiful days of sunshine, 1 day of clouds and 1 day of rain, which is better than we had been experiencing up in the Denali area, so I would say that the title is fairly apt. The weather was in the 50s and 60s which is a tad warmer than what we had been experiencing further north. 

Homer includes a spit of land which extends out into the Gulf of Alaska and separates Kachemak Bay from the Gulf.  It is about 4.5 miles long and it has campgrounds, fishing charters, flightseeing charters, shops, restaurants and docks for cruise ships.  People are warned to stay off the mud flats on both sides of the spit during low tide because the water comes in very quickly.  We watched the water come in and it was pretty impressive. 

Abandoned ship along the  Homer Spit.

On the Spit looking across Kachemak Bay toward the Kenai Mountains.

During May and June, the waters around the spit are home to thousands and thousands of migrating birds.  Of course, true to our continuing experiences, we saw only white seagulls and that was pretty much it. Well, that is not exactly true. There is a pair of nesting eagles in a tree near our campground.  The tree is about 100 feet from an intersection that has the only traffic signal in 75 miles. They don’t seem to be bothered by the people that stop and take pictures.  There are the parents and two fledglings.  During our stay, we have seen all four.  

The two eagle fledglings at their nest, about 30 feet up.

Practicing his Seal of the U.S. pose.

On the sunny days, we checked out the spit (saw a few more eagles), took some drives into the surrounding country and soaked up the rays sitting outside our trailer.  We have the most amazing view from our campsite of the Kenai Mountains across the bay.

The look from our campsite.  The Kenai Mountains are across the bay. You can see the 13 mile long Grewingk glacier.

Looking down at Homer Spit from the hills above Homer.

This 4000 foot tall volanco is on St. Augustine island. 
On the day we saw it, a little steam was coming out. The last major eruption was in 2006. 

The eagles like to use the updrafts on the local sea bluffs. This one  flew directly over our heads.

Mt. Iliamna - one of several active volcanos in the Aleutian range that marches out through the Aleutian islands.

Here is one way to bring your boat in.  These tractor launchers wheel themselves right out into the water and the boat just drives into the trailer.  The whole process takes less than a couple of minutes.

We visited the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center which is sponsored by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. They had a terrific video about the refuge and what is being done to preserve the marine life that lives there.  There are more seabirds in the refuge than in all the rest of North America! That is mind boggling to me.  The exhibits were very well done – just the right amount of information and interaction.  One of the exhibits you walk into to get a sense of what it is like to be out on one of the islands – it felt like you were on a cliff of rocks and all these birds were flying around you. They even had some of the island smells going on – like fresh ocean air. Really cool.

I was also impressed that the Center integrated art with the science exhibits.  It was one of the more beautiful centers I have seen. There was stained glass pictures of birds, even the elevators were surrounded with metal sculptures of kelp.

There was a paved path through the Beluga Slough, so we were able to get a closer look at the  mudflats surrounding the Spit.

On the one rainy day, we visited the Pratt Museum which is a historical, cultural and art museum. The building doesn’t look that large, but there are 2 and a half levels to it, so we spent a couple of hours there. There were several very nice quilts displayed which I particularly enjoyed.

Tomorrow we head out to explore more of the Kenai Peninsula.  It looks like it will be in rain though, so we have our rain jackets ready.

Kenai Fjord National Park

A humpback whale in the Kenai Fjords National Park.

The sunny weather continued as we left Portage Valley headed south for Seward. This is the Alaska I had envisioned before our trip, lots of dramatic mountain views, lakes surrounded by pines and fast flowing rivers - all on a gloriously sunny day.

On the way to Seward. The rig is doing well, no major breakdowns.

Seward is a deep water ice free port on the south east corner of Kenai Peninsula. The town was pretty much destroyed by the 1964 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. Now Seward’s economy is driven by fishing and tourism. It has a very cute little downtown area, just the right size to wander around in. 

We chose to stay at a campground about 5 miles out of town rather than with the other 450 RVs that stay by the water downtown. It just seemed too crowded for my taste.  Our campground was surrounded by pines and was right next to a small creek.

I am learning something important about this RVing life.  If you want to know the good places to camp, or eat or visit, just go do your laundry.  You always run into fellow travelers (almost always women) and they are more than willing to share their experiences.  It is all well and good to have the travel books and brochures (believe me, I think I have them all), but these folks will give you the true low down. Got a lead on a campground in Homer that has great views.

Took another day cruise, this time to tour the Kenai FjordNational Park. We were so fortunate with the weather – it was a gorgeous day. The park ranger was a hoot – he used to be a sixth grade teacher and he had a terrific personality.  He had those Junior Rangers all over the boat, on the main deck for some paperwork, up to the 3^rd deck to identify some fur pelts, then down to the 2^nd deck to learn how to identify scat. I don’t think there were any bored kids on that cruise. He finished up with a big presentation at the end of the cruise where each kid was personally presented with their Junior Ranger badge. In between all his Junior Ranger activities, he gave us a lot of background on the Kenai Fjord National Park and the animals that we saw. We saw several glaciers and I even got some footage of the Holgate Glacier calving.

Kenai Fjords National Park. 

Some of the hanging glaciers in the park.

Holgate Glacier.

This glacier is retreating and dumps into a lake.  The dark horizontal line is a moraine. The white "chunks" to the right are actually huge icebergs that are over 50 feet high floating around in the lake.

The scenery was breathtaking.  We saw a few wild animals, including a humpback whale. But not the quantities I was expecting.  I think I had unrealistic expectations, another one of those truth-in-advertising things that they need to put on Alaska photos. Although, I talked to a woman (another of those laundry room interactions) who on her tour bus trip into Denali, had seen over a dozen grizzlies and a wolf eating a freshly killed caribou. So it must be timing – we just aren’t on the same schedule as the critters.

Stellar sea lions.

This sea otter let the boat get very close.

Puffins on the rocks.

Seals.  These guys are very awkward on land.  They can get around only by wiggling - flippers are of no use.

There is an Alaska Sea Life Center which is an aquarium focusing on the sea life in the Arctic and a wildlife rescue center. It is right at the base of the town and has great views of the bay. They have sea lions, seals, a giant Pacific octopus (it's tentacles were at least five feet long) and lots of different ocean fish. And they have several exhibits on the impact of the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill. It is so sad that, after twenty years, most of the wildlife has not fully recovered.  And it has been discovered that even very, very small levels of oil in the water is toxic for some of the small life (like plankton). So, since the small animals aren’t there, the critters that eat them are declining, which means an impact on the whole food chain.

One of the residents of the Sea Life Center.

This critter looks like he needs a bath.

One morning, we drove out to Exit Glacier.  This is outside of Seward about 8 miles off the main road. You can walk right up the glacier by taking a mile long hike through the gravel bars.  We chose not to since the water is very cold and you would have to ford the streams several times.  But we did take a short nature walk which got us to a nice lookout.

Taking a little rest in Seward.

Next up on our itinerary – Homer.