North to Alaska - Big Lake

Jim gave us a really bad time because none of us had brought swimming suits or shorts, but we expected all of Alaska to still be snowy - it is still spring in May, right? Who would believe when we left the Kenai Peninsula that we would go from this . . . . to this just a short drive away?

Just an hour or so north of Anchorage lies a lovely valley, nestled with shallow lakes.  The J family has a lovely cabin property on Big lake and they assured us that the ice just left two weeks ago . . . and the water wouldn't be THAT cold!  Well, because the lake is only about 25 feet deep, it wasn't very cold - in fact, it was a lovely temperature. We had a great time skiing, swimming, jet skiing, tubing, tanning and of course, eating. 

Wahoo!!! I haven't been skiing for five years and I can still get up on the slalom! 

"Celebrate, good times, c'mon!"

Brittany showing off for everyone on the dock as she drops a ski

These Girls Rule!  Tiffany slaloms too!

Jim was manning the boat all day for us and his friends, and his children' friends and . . . hey, where did all these people come from??? . . .More and more just kept showing up and he was a gracious host to all.

Brett and Tiff playing on the jet ski

Catching a few Rays?

Tiff, Brett, Brittany & Cory ~ getting a little air

Somebody started counting how many times the boys had fallen off compared to how many time the girls had . . . and from then on, the competition got fierce!

. . . then a little more . . . Tiffany and Jonathan

Jonathan, Brittany and Cory

Jay-Bird, the esteemed tubing champion, tries his best to unload Tiffany and Brittany

What a great couple of days at Big Lake - we loved it!

North to Alaska - A Visit to Crazy Sue's

Suzette, Mom and Tiffany

Dude ~ what a great pup!

Okay - so everyone kept talking about this great place in Soldatna that had an eclectic mix of second-hand and new clothes, touristy souvenirs, and fun bric-a-brac. But they warned us, it is hard to buy things there. On occasion, when they have gone up to purchase an outifit, they were told that it was no longer for sale . . . or the price had changed from $5.00 to $500.00. We had to go browse a bit and did we have a great time -- the evening gowns were spectacular! Some would make great Halloween costumes! She just had a lot of fun, quirky dresses, hats, gloves, shoes, etc. Then she had her dog "sing" for us . . . that was quite an unforgettable shopping experience, and we want to go back again - it was a terrific place!

We enjoy Chad Carpenter's Tundra cartoons - - - I am surprised Ray didn't buy this tee-shirt!

North to Alaska - Clamming

Tiffany, Brett and Dad ~ booted up, clam guns ready

Suzette and Tori sporting their high-fashion clam diggers

Saturday, Jim and Uncle Stowell took us all clamming down at the beach near Deep Creek campground south of Ninilchik. We loaded up with clamming boots, spades, clam guns, buckets, four-wheelers and our cameras.

Uncle Stowell, Aunt Sue & Jim ~ our teachers and supervisors

We headed south on the Sterling Highway for a Razor Clam dig. It was tons of fun, and we found lots of clams. It is harder than I expected, once you find a dimple in the sand, you place your clam gun over the dimple and push the gun down deep into the sand, then cover the small holes in the handle with your fingers and pull with all your might.

Brittany, giving it her all!

You can watch the water in the surrounding sand literally being sucked out along with the sand as you lift the sand up and let it drop in a pile on the beach. Your clamming partner, then looks through the sand to see if you got your clam, if not, you dig again, until you have found him.

Finally, Sandy - a big one!

We found some good six inch clams and even a few butterfly clams, we also found lots of purple starfish along the shore. The clams all went into a bucket of water and after we had a couple of these full, we headed back to the vehicles.

A group project ~that must have been one big clam!  Shrek, Ray, Tori, Brittany, Aunt Sue, Cory

and in the background: Jim , Suzette, Larry, and Jay

Check out this sand crab~ Brett

Along the cliffs behind the beach, eagles perched on the rocks, the cliff edge, and the trees, scores of them, just waiting. The fishermen clean their halibut and other catch down the beach from where we were clamming and the eagles wait for the entrails to be thrown out. Yearlings are all brown, it is after they are four to five years old and mature, they gain the white head and tail. They are so huge and it was just exciting to watch them soaring out over the ocean.

Happy Clammers, after the Happy Wok

 Cory, Brittany,  Shrek (Jonathan), Tori, Brett, Tiffany, Sue, Sandy, Ray, Larry, Front: Suzette and Jay

In the honor of the J family tradition, we stopped at the Happy Wok restaurant and had Chinese for lunch.

Uncle Stowell teaching us how to clean the crabs ~ it was an assembly line group effort: Brittany, Uncle Stowell, Dad (Larry) and Ray

That night, Suzette fixed us clam fritters and fried clams for dinner. Jim grilled some ribs, chicken and bratwurst - quite a feast! Yumm! They were so good! And we felt so spoiled! Our Anchorage family went over and above the extra-ordinary hosting us - they did amazing things!

Visiting around the pot-belly stove on the deck: Judy, Janice, Venna, Matchko, Jim, Stowell

That night after midnight, after the sensible ones went to bed, everyone else went fishing off the dock in the Kenai River, then after that they decided to go fishing at a nearby lake and they caught quite a few nice looking fish!

North to Alaska - Kenai Fjords

Friday morning, we left Anchorage and drove down the Seward Highway, “Highway 1,” (they joke about the fact there are only two highways in Alaska, Highway 1 and Highway 2) to Seward, where Suzette and Janice had procured tickets for all of us to go on a Kenai Fjords tour. The drive down was so beautiful. The mountains are covered with aspen, pine, birch and are lush and green. There was still a lot of snow and many lakes and rivers. It was a beautiful drive.

Cory & Britt ~ Welcome to Seward

We arrived in Seward a little early, so we all split up and went to see some of the souvenir shops. At 11:00, we departed onboard the Tenaina cruise ship.

Machko, Aunt Janice, Aunt Sue, Larry & Venna on board the Tanaina

Mom, Dad, Janice, Sue, Judy and her mother-in-law, Machko procured a table and seating on the second floor inside the ship, but Brittany and I went outside to the bow of the ship.  Tiffany, Brett, Ray and Cory joined us there and we had a great view!

Ray & Sandy ~ the Tanaina

We first saw an otter floating on his back there in Resurrection Bay and he looked so content, just floating on the water, watching us as we watched him.

Next we saw a Golden Eagle, then a mountain goat and her newborn kid, grazing on a nearly vertical rock face. The guide commented that they were actually quite safe there, especially because the bears would not venture on a cliff that steep.

We went into a bay, where we saw some amazing caves and arches in the cliffs as well as a few seals.

They took us to Fox Island, where we had lunch of salmon and prime rib.

Two Orcas

Back on board we headed over to a bay, where we saw two pods of orca whale. We learned that a pod of orca families are headed by a grandmother, and three to four generations of the family swim and stay together. Each pod has their own unique set of calls. The captain of the ship put a microphone down into the water and we could actually here them communicating with each other. We also saw a humpback whale on this trip.

Dall's Porpoise racing the Tataina

On our way back, several Dall’s porpoises started racing back and forth under the bow of the ship. It was delightful to watch them and they were so fast! They apparently swim almost as fast as the orca, which swims at 30 mph. On the way back to Seward, we saw a couple of brown bear on the mountainside. What a lovely day it was! The weather was cool, and a little cloudy, but it wasn’t cold. It was lovely to be out in the wind out on deck.

The J's delightful Kenai River Shack

After the cruise, we drove up to Soldotna, where Uncle Stowell and his family have a cabin right on the Kenai River, called the “J’s Kenai River Shack.” The cabin is a delightful array of rooms, porches, trailers all added to a central living area. Uncle Stowell was there to greet us and it was so good to see him. It has been forty years since I have seen him.

Uncle Stowell with two of his beautiful grandaughters, Jessica and Tori

Jim had told us he was going to treat us to some stuffed salmon that night. And it was a treat!

 

Sue, Tiffany, Janice, Mom, Danny ~ enjoying Chef Jim's stuffed Kenai salmon

You can literally fish off the porch.

Ray and what everyone up north calls a "minnow"

They have a potbelly cast iron stove there on the deck and we spent many hours sitting around its warmth, visiting and just enjoying the magnificent view.

Larry, Venna, Stowell & Sue visiting on the porch