After such an exciting day with helicopter rides and dog sledding and Glaciers we took a ride to Hatcher Pass where we drove to the top and walked out to see the rest. Then we went back down to Independence Mines. The kids were having a ball running up and down the trail and playing in the snow. Hatcher pass is in the Talkeetna mountains between Palmer and Willow. We were camping in Palmer so it was a natural stop not to mention we really wanted to go to Talkeetna. The road to Hatcher Pass is all gravel and not maintained though I have to admit for a road that is not maintained it really wasn’t that bad. But, it was cold and rainy. Right below the road to Hatcher Pass is the Independence Mine. Independence Mine is an abandoned gold mine where you can walk a trail that takes you through the village that once held 204 workers at its peak.

After having so much fun playing in the rain and snow, running around on trails and visiting the mining town we headed for Talkeetna. Talkeetna is one of the “must sees” on a trip to Alaska. On the way there we spotted the Kahiltna Birch Works Birch Syrup–it was one of the places we wanted to go but, we almost forgot about. We made a quick turn into their parking lot to try birch syrup. Though it is really good it is also really expensive. See John’s face? He paid $20 for that itty bitty bottle of syrup. I can promise you, he did not ant to buy it.

It took almost 2 hours to get to Talkeetna so we did not have a lot of choices in restaurants. You would think with the longer hours of day light places would stay open but not in Alaska. One of the restaurants in Talkeetna actually closed at 4:00 in the afternoon? Most closed by 8:00. Luckily we arrived about 6:00 and managed to get a table at the Homestead Kitchen. Christy and I told the guys our order so we could make a quick run to the nearby quilt store Patchwork Moose. It’s a really cute little shop but it is limited in fabric. They have a lot of souvenirs and touristy items to attract the non quilters. No problem–I did find fabric–oh and some more yarn. Christy and I also ran to the Spinach Bread food truck to grab some snacks for later. John and I froze ours to be eaten at a later date.

This was the end of the line for our trip with the kids. We said our goodbyes and went off to our camper. It was really sad to see them go but we had so much fun with them for the past week. In the meantime our travel companions had remained in the Kenai Peninsula to take an excursion to Katmai National Park to see the brown bear. I know they had a great time but they ended up sick with Covid so they were stuck down there for a few days. John and I were headed back to Denali for a few days then back to Fairbanks and we will meet up with them later in Chicken, Alaska where we will leave Alaska and head to the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean.

We left the Kenai this morning to get to Palmer Alaska for one of our most exciting days. We left early enough to stop at a Best Buy to purchase a lens for me. Even though their website showed that they had this lens at their store–they did not. OMG, I thought I was going to die. We were going to order one and have it delivered but I just knew this would be there. I only had to wait 3 days. The guy at Best Buy did tell me about a camera store in Anchorage. For all you photographers out there–is that not just music to your ears? We found the store but parking a truck with a trailer on the back in a city–that wasn’t going to happen. John dropped me off on a corner and I ran in the store. They only had one lens that would work–it wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it was going to fill in some of the gaps so I bought it and didn’t get to experience the thrill of being in a camera store. If you go to Alaska and need anything photography related, check out Stewart’s Photo. Thank you Stewart’s for being there for me!!

This was the highlight of this trip. Our first ride on a helicopter. I was still a bit nervous so I let John sit up front. Here is the video from our take off taken by John. I got a video of the Leclairs taking off after our first excursion. Our first stop was to go dog sledding on a glacier. We met our driver and he gave quick instructions for anyone who wanted a chance at driving the dogs. I did not. I could just see everyone tipping over because I did not do something right. There was another couple with me and John so they took turns and then John took a turn. I might have tried driving if it was just me and John–tipping him over wouldn’t be too embarassing. I never changed seats but you never saw me try to get up off the ground and that seat was that low. Getting out of the helicopter was difficult enough. My feet are so big, I have to turn them side ways before I can step out. Not easy. John laughed. I should have taken the front seat with all the “foot” room. Then I could laugh as he tried to get out of the helicopter. Anyway back to the dogsledding. With John in the front–we are off. The kids had a ball. They just loved playing in the snow. Making angels, throwing snowballs.

This is where we camped. We weren’t actually on the water side-just across in row 2 but no one was camping in the two or 3 sites in front of us so we had the view. It was a stunning view and we were able to watch Christy’s ship come in–we didn’t but we were able to if we wanted to get up about 5:00am. We didn’t. We did walk down to meet them when they came in

It was a rainy cold day in Seward and we had a cruise to search for wild life on the Kenai Fjords Tour. We were not scheduled to see fjords but that was the name of the cruise. The water was a bit choppy but we all took our Dramamine and no one got sick. Everyone saw the one whale–except for me. Boohoo. There were lots of Puffins but trying to focus on a little bird in flight while rocking the boat just wasn’t happening for me. It was still fun. After dinner we were sitting around and someone spotted this mama bear and her 2 cubs up in the mountains. FYI they saw it with their bare eyes, this is with a 600mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter on it. Can you spot the bears?

The next morning we headed for Anchor Point which is between Soldotna and Homer but, closer to Homer. The vistas are just amazing and we did see on black bear one the way. This campsite has amazing views also.

We had another rainy/overcast day in Homer. John went fishing with Leeman and Christy, Melissa and I took the kids to town.

We finished our day at Anchor Point State Recreation where we saw lots of Bald Eagles!!

A great ending to a perfect day!