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This is a sled used in the Summer to train the sled dogs to run. Ramy and his Father Joe Redington designed this one and is now used by many other Mushers.

Sled that Ramy Redington used for the Iditarod races

Jenny & Dan with Ramy Redington and his wife at the Iditarod Trail Headquarters .
Ramy is the Son of Joe Redington who started the Iditarod races. Ramy has been in 14 races himself and now his Sons are in the Iditarod. He comes up to the Headquarters to show the dogs off and give people sled rides.

Alaska Native Heritage Center

One of our guides describing different animal furs and why they were used at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage Alaska.

Village sites on Lake Tiulana, we took a tour of five village sites to see how the Athabascan, Yup'ik/Cup'ik, Inupiaq St. Lawrence Island Yupik,Aleut and Eyak Tlingit/Haida/Tsimshian people were like at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
We learned that the Alaskan Indians never wasted anything. They hunted animals for their survival. The food they ate, the furs were used to keep warm in the bitter cold of Winter that would dip below freezing. The skin
and inner parts were used to make things such as bags to hold things, coats, ropes, shoes.
The Indians were excellent craftsmen with carving and the women with beading and sewing.

Dan trying to fit through the small door opening of a Yup'ik/Cup'ik Indian house, it would be a narrow tunnel down the entrance to keep the cold and animals out.

Homer Alaska Aug 6th- 9th

Dan & Larry wanted to head where guys like to fish and check out the famous Homer Spit so we split off from Richard & Karen and Pat & Barb in Soldotna and headed to Homer.

View of the Homer spit from Skyline Drive

Really pretty view.

When woolly mammoths ruled Alaska 15,000 years ago, a glacier covering Kachemak Bay shoved a 5 mile long gravel bar towards the Cook Inlet. The Homer Spit was born when the glacier retreated and left behind a moraine. Earthquakes, storms and currents continually reshape the Spit.

The Salty Dawg is one of the most photographed sights on the Homer Spit. The tavern was several buildings spliced together to create this landmark. You have to go inside to see Dollar bills thumb tacked to all the walls and ceiling. Renowned folk singer Arlo Gutherie took his whole entourage to the Dawg on a recent trip to Homer and had a great time sharing smoked Salmon and swapping tales with the locals.

Some of the shops on the Homer Spit


Soaring Eagle over our campground















This was a interesting Home up near Skyline Drive. Yes you CAN live in a Igloo if it is like this one.

Our campsites overlooking the Kachemak Bay

We couldn't ask for nicer weather and the view was great!

Guys tried their luck in the fishing hole next to us..no luck but we sure saw people catching them and once in awhile a Eagle would steal someone's fish! Some mornings it was combat fishing because there were just too many people too close together fishing.



We had great views of the Bay and ventured over on one of the cruises out of Homer to Seldovia with a stop near Gull Island where thousands of birds make their home there. Saw alot of Kayakers along the shores and Sea Otters galore playing in the water.

Went to the Pratt Museum when we went to Gull Island we saw a camera on the hill. You can watch the many birds there from their Bird Cam and also you can watch live footage of the McNeil River state Sanctuary and watch the Bears catching Salmon in the river. Go to the Pratt Museum web site.

Sourdough Express in Homer Alaska

Back in 1982 Donna & Kevin Maltz arrived in Homer Alaska with a Kelly Green Van that they used as a little bakery and sold their wares along the way. They arrived with only $43.00 in their pockets and set up shop down on the Homer Spit.







They grew and was liked so much they set up shop up on the hill .

Sourdough Express


The old Kelly Green Van sits out in the yard now of the Restaurant so kids can play in it . The parking lot is packed with cars each day and we had Alaskan King crab that was yummy. They also had a dipping sauce for bread that we just couldn't get enough of and they would not tell us their secret to making it! Excellent food!!

Russian Village of Nikolaevsk

Dan & Jenny with Nina Fefelov of the Samovar Cafe. We stopped here to check it out and have our picture taken. Nina was disappointed we were not staying for dinner. She was a funny lady but a bit pushy. Larry & Marcheta stepped outside to avoid her being pushy!




Match maker match maker make me a match, catch me a catch!
Dressed up like Russians

Russian church that was built in 1984 in the Russian village of Nikolaevsk.

Dan, Larry, Marcheta and I found another Russian Village and to get to it we had to go down a VERY scary switch back hillside. Russians were racing up and down it and we were scared out of our wits going down it in 4 wheel drive! We were amazed to see the very large gardens in the yards with lots of food growing. Married women wore litle scarves on their head and wore long dresses, the girls all wore long dresses too. The Men grew beards. Found the Schoolteacher in town. She is American and fell in love with Alaska and the Homer area and has been teaching in the Russian Village for 16 yrs. What amazed us is the Teacher parks her car at the top of the LONG hill and walks all the way down and back each day!! We gave her a ride back up the hill to her car. Marcheta loved talking to her because Marcheta was also a Teacher .

One thing Alaska has a abundance of besides fish is Otters. We saw alot of them the day we took a boat ride to Seldovia.

Sea Harbor of Seldovia , we stopped here to walk around and had a nice lunch.
Lunch was another story! Took almost 2 hrs to be served and get our bill! Food was great but the Restaurant in town lacked good quick helpers and they got our bill mixed up with someone else. So the guys did not get to see much of the town.

Puffin stained glass window in Seldovia



















Russian Orthodox church in Homer

Jenny & Marcheta hamming it up with a "Fake" Fish. I guess if you didn't catch a real one you teased people with this one in Homer!

Ninilchik

Ninilchik is a small town that lies on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula on the Sterling Highway. The area was settled by a Russian Orthodox missionary and his family in 1847.
Before the arrival of the Russian American Fur Company, Dena'ina Indians historically lived here on the Kenai Peninsula.
Today the town is a rich mix of Russian & Alaskan Native heritage.

This is a fisherman's paradise with a treasure of razor clams,Halibut,Salmon and river trout. Derby's keep fisherman ready to catch" The Big One".
After Summer leaves Ninilchik returns to the quaint village of less than 800 year round residents.

Soldotna July 30-Aug 5th

Dan , Marcheta, Larry and I decided to head to the tiny Russian Village of Ninilchik and see if we could dig up some razor clams. We went to the Mercantile store to get our licence to clam, bought Clam guns and headed for the beach.

Digging for Razor clams is not an easy task! We were up to our elbows deep in the sand trying to wiggle the clams out. I cut my finger on one sharp clam shell...OUCH!! The smelly beach did not help my finger either.....Phew!!!! Smelled like we had dug up the outhouse!
Dan and I got our limit of 120 clams! Larry and Marcheta almost had as much as we did. Theirs were bigger than ours though.

Larry slowly coming up from the beach with a bucket full of clams



Larry with the clam gun and Marcheta ( Mar-key-ta) in the hole pulling the clam out.

You push the clam gun into the sand, put your finger over a small hole in the handle and then pull it out of the sand. Either a clam will be in what you pulled out or it will be in the empty hole. We saw alot of people on the beach getting their limits.

Dan and I have dug for Butter"manila" clams in the Northwest but digging for the razors was back straining work and we were all pooped and every muscle ached afterwards!
To find the clams you have to have a minus tide window,look for a dimple or small depression left in the surface of the wet sand.








If that wasn't hard enough then we had to clean them and cut them up....thought we'd never seen the bottom of the pan ! So I have clams for clam chowder for a Long time!

Here is all the clams we found!







Dan and Larry caught a Salmon also being in Soldotna and someone traded some of his Salmon for our Halibut. Dan and I love Salmon!

Having fun playing card games together







Alfa Gang at the Exit Glacier

Seward Alaska July 25-29th

Talk about a great view! Our camp sites at the Seward city park overlooking the Resurrection Bay. We were walking distance to all the shops in town and saw all the fishing boats, cruise ships and harbor tours go past us. Many people stopped and pointed to our windows to see the cats watching all the Sea Gulls.

We had Eagles perching in front of us on the pilings with their fresh catch of the morning. Sea Otters would playfully drift past us.

Whale sightings

Hooray I got a shot of a Humpback Whale tail!




Here is a Orca Whale Pod, notice the baby Orca



Orca Whale breaching the water surface

Sorry I could not get the cropped photo to work with Blogger.