Happy Birthday, Jacob. He's 15 today. Getting up there in wisdom and age....
We're at the maintenance area, plugged in and camping. They have Chris out there making a frame for a sign for Willow Creek, where we will be hosts. The day is beautiful, and large parts of it are really sunny. We've spent the last several days running around on the Kenai Penninsula, and it's kind of nice staying in one place for more than one night. We left Seward yesterday morning, and decided to see Whittier. Some of you may recognize the name....it's where cruise ships dock. We waited our turn for the "window" of the tunnel opening for traffic going into Whittier. The single lane, 2.5 mile long tunnel, that is shared by alternating traffic and the Alaska Railroad. In other words, everybody takes their turn. The tunnel is only one lane wide. One is actually riding on the train tracks
through the tunnel. There is a schedule for the times of the traffic to Whittier, from Whittier....and for the train.
I tried to take pictures of the cars in front of me....but this is the best I could do. I've got lots of psychodelic pictures. Kind of cool, though. You can see the train tracks ont he road. There are 7 "safe rooms" along the way, in case they are needed from some calamity with smoke, noxious fumes, etc. I thought that was advanced thinking. Since it was raining, there wasn't much to do in Whittier: some touristy shops and restaurants. It's big claim to fame now is the cruise ships docking there. All the residents live in one high rise building. Wierd. I found a pay shower and took a $4.00 shower. Worth every penny. (Not uncommon in Alaska; laundromats have showers, too) Nothing much else going on, so we left after a couple of hours.
This was my big false alarm. We were driving along the Turnagain Arm and we thought what we saw in front of us was Denali!!!!! The ranger today popped my balloon when he told me that it was physically impossible to see that mountain from where we were on the road.This is Mt. Spur, an active volcano. Big mountain....but not the right one. We are told that we should have a super view of Denali from out on the Parks Hwy near our campground. I'm going to be excited when that happens....whever it does.
In certain places along the Turnagain Arm and down along the Kenai Penninsula, one sees these dead trees. These trees all died on the same day. March 28, 1964. And how do I know that??? That's when the monster earthquake hit Anchorage: it was 9. something and shook for almost 5 minutes. Then much of the area sank 6 feet, and there was a 30 foot sunami on the Kenai. The salt water that rushed in killed these trees. This is where Portage was....the whole town sank.
Here's another of the whale pictures. I hope it shows up for you. There's about 6 or 7 whales here. You see the dark spots of their fins....but the other disturbances in the water near there are other whales comming up or going down.
And here's three up at one time. The whole experience was awesome and quite memorable. Another tid bit of knowledge that the captain shared with us was that it was 2400 miles due south from this spot to Hawaii, nothing in the way of it. We went to church in Wasilla at Sacred Heart Parish....gee, two Sundays in a row at the same church! That's unusual for us ont he road.
We spent last evening visiting with our friend Karen and John in Wasilla. Had a most enjoyable pizza dinner with them. Got to the Maintenance barn up here about 9 pm or so. But, you see, sunset is about 10:45 p.m. now, and it's still broad daylight at 11 and 11:30. So, nobody is in a hurry to say goodnight.
I spent the morning doing wash, cleaning out the camper, writing post cards to grand kids. The ranger offered Chris some scrap wood, that they have plenty of, to make a "crib" to set our camper on, so that we are little more mobile when we are in the campground at Willow Creek.
Other camp hosts are beginning to get here. Interesting visiting with them.
So, until we connect again...
So, until we connect again...
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