sardines on wheels

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Homer - Alaska

Yesterday after being snowed in at Seward until the afternoon, we headed our for Homer, Alaska. Homer is known as the Halibut capital of the world. The drive there was through many mountain passes and the snow was quite deep on the roadside. As we neared the coast, the snow became less and less and ultimately there was no snow. It did not dampen our spirits at all!! When we got there we saw one of the boats from The Deadliest Catch series on TLC. The Time Bandit is based out of Homer and we were able to see it at the docks. This is the boat that Captain Phil captained. For those of you who watch the series, he was the captain who got sick at sea and had to lifeflighted off the Bering Sea. He died after being at the hospital for several days. Across from the docks by the sea at Homer is a memorial to all those who have been lost at sea. We were able to find 5 blocks from the Time Bandit crew on the pavers there.

After leaving Homer, we are going to try to make it to Fairbanks. Hopefully we will get there!!!

Boat coming into the harbor

Girls and Dad at Campsite in Homer

Time Bandit at dock

Memorial to Seamen

Inside Monument

Poem at the monument

The arches on the bell reads "This bell tolls for all the souls set free upon the sea".

Friday, April 8, 2011

Andrew - Seward Alaska

How’s it going? Yesterday we got stuck in Seward, Alaska because of the roads. They were very dangerous. We started are journey at sea level it was a steady rain. Within ten minutes of starting out the roads were covered in snow and ice. We had to make a decision to go on or turn back. My grandfather who was driving decided to turn back. We got to go to the sea life center. The sea life center had a lot of the normal animals, but l loved the huge sea lion. It was like 10 feet long and came right by us again and again with his arms out stretched in a Superman pose.

Travel plans worked out good. The snow was coming down pretty hard and the wind was blowing 90 mph on the mountains. Then, as quickly as it started it stopped, the sun came out, the plow drove through and we drove to Homer.

Will post more soon!!

Andrew

Aquarium Day - Erin

Yesterday we went to the Sea Life Center in Seward (an aquarium). We saw a lot of animals like Puffin, starfish (that we got to pet), Sea Lions, Harbor Seal, and Crab. Oh, we also saw an Octopus named squirt. I loved petting the sea anemones especially, and it was fun when some stuck on to you! It was at the end when we saw the jelly fish and all they did was sit there and maybe jerk around a little bit but nothing cool. (It would stink to be a jelly fish) In their defense they did look cool. My dad liked the starfish most of all, I liked the giant sea lion named woody it was like ten feet long and five feet wide. Erica liked the Sea Lion as well. Wow mom liked it to. Alan liked the octopus and so did John. I am not sure what Andrew liked because he is asleep.

We are now on our way to a place to hike and after that a place to sled. Bye!

Erin

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Pictures

Whittier Alaska

Seward Highway

Andrew - Idle Time

Hello guys sometimes the things we do in between the things we do are some of the most fun things we do. Each day we try to do a cool activity. Some days it’s looking at something like Mount Rushmore next it’s a physical activity like dog mushing like we did today. Either way there’s a lot of idle time in between. Although most of the time is spent driving we have a lot of fun.

We have invented some fun games like motor home tag, or motor home surfing where you stand on the bed and see who can stay up the longest; Dad and I like the view while looking out the front driver’s windshield while hanging upside down from the top bunk. I’m sure we will come up with some more zany ideas.

Even though I miss soccer and you guys it’s been a pretty fun trip so far.

Alaska - It's Amazing

Hey everyone. Thanks for the comments. WE love to hear from you. We picked up John at Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon. The kids and I were so happy to see him!! After picking him up we went to visit the Alaska Zoo. It was beautiful. The zoo was fun. It is in a very natural setting at the base of a mountain. There are natural trees and snow everywhere. As we were walking through the snow was falling and we were throwing snowballs at each other. The animals were unconcerned with weather. They were running around and performing for us. We loved it!!

After we left there we stayed over in Anchorage and then headed south to a small village of Girdwood. There we had our adventure for the day. We went dog mushing. Our guide was fantastic and the dogs were beautiful and playful. As we approached them in the meadow, they began to howl and tug at the lead lines. They were ready to mush and so were we. We got on the sleds and the kids hunkered down in front of the adults and off we went. It was so easy. The temperature was about 35 degrees and we had to stop ever so often to let the dogs cool off. They prefer to run at temperatures between 20 below to 0 degrees. I was amazed to see how hot they got!! We were bundled up in ski clothes, hats, gloves and hand/foot warmers. We mushed through the valley. The moutains surrounding us were 5000 feet tall. They were covered in snow!! What a great way to experience Alaska!!!

After our dog mushing adventure, we headed further south to the coast, Seward Alaska. The moutains were majestic. I know that you are sick of hearing me talk about the beauty of the mountains, but they are more amazing than I could imagine. Please see the pictures. We camped by the ocean last night with a big fire and roasted marshmallows for smores. We saw some otters and seals playing/eating in the bay (Resurrection Bay). Then, today we awoke to snow.

On our way to Seward we passed through a valley by the inlet called turn again arm. Winds there today are expected to exceed 60 miles per hour today. A nasty storm is brewing in the Bering Sea and we are being pummelled by wind, snow/rain. We made it down to Seward but are now held up by the weather. We hope to visit the Sea Life Center here today and hopefully will be able to make it through Moose Pass tomorrow. We heard that the little town of Girdwood where we were yesterday has already received 6 inches of snow this morning. We are suppose to go snow mobiling in a couple of days into the mountains, so it sounds like we will have plenty of snow to make the trip. However, we were hoping to make it up to the Arctic Circle, but I see that possibility dwindling away due to the hazards of the weather. More soon.

Turn Again Arm