Updates for Aug 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th.

Not too much exciting going on so will again lump all of these days together. We left Palmer on August 2nd headed down toward Seward via the Palmer Highway to Anchorage and then Seward highway. Bought groceries at Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger) in Palmer before heading out. One of the prettier areas along the road today was the drive along Turnagain Arm. We hoped to see Beluga whales along here, but no sign of them that day. Took the road to Hope, AK and found a pretty camping spot in Porcupine Recreation area. Dale was interested in watching the tides go in and out so he spent a lot of time watching the water levels in the bay. It varies about 33 feet from low to high tide and this is over a bay 48 miles long and starts about 15 miles wide going down to river. That is a very large amount of water moving in and out twice a day. At Hope it was about 5 miles wide and at low tide it looked like 50% or so mud flats and some rocks sticking up here and there. At high tide there was water clear across (as near as I could tell) and the waves were hitting our bank with all the rocks but one underwater. When the tide reverses from low to high tide a big 6 foot wave comes in. We saw it come in once and there was a surfer on the front of it. I would guess he rode it for more than 5 miles after we seen him and we don’t know how much before then. When he got about to some of the rocks, he sat down and started paddling towards the other shore (he must have had an oar fasten to his board). I wondered where he thought he was going, as there must have been a couple of miles of mud flats that would be really hard to walk over between him and shore. The water came in and the last we see with the binoculars he was still padding towards the other shore.

On the way out of Hope the next morning Dale saw a chain saw tree. A tall stump that had several old chain saws stuck into it. We speculated on how they got the saws into the trunk. We should have gone back and taken a picture.

We arrived in Seward around noon and ate lunch parked by the bay. Then went to the SeaLife aquatic center and enjoyed reading about the aquatic life in the bay. Sveta (Dawne’s brother Richard wife) was expecting us for supper in Soldotna, but we ran into a Born Free owner from Seward and he stopped to chat. We got into Soldotna around 7:45 PM and supper was waiting. Sveta is an excellent cook also.

Next morning (Aug 4th) Sveta had to work so we helped Richard tear up the carpeting in one of his rental units and lay down laminate flooring. After lunch I took a walk down to a nearby quilt shop in the drizzle. When I got back the guys had managed to lay 3 runs of the laminate and my extra hands, or feet, came in handy. We finished up that room about 10:00 PM. We were all tired plus Sveta had worked until 930 PM so we had a late supper. She had made crepes and rolled up hamburger and onions in them and we ate them like a burrito. Ummmmmm!! We had the left over crepes the next morning with honey and they were still ummmm! To bed late and slept in a bit the next morning.

Aug 5th. After breakfast Dale and I drove up to Captain Cook State Recreational area north of Kenai, which is NW of Soldotna. We saw a black bear on the way up. Dale was hoping to see a sandy beach but the first area we stopped at there was no sandy beach even though we tried 3 different muddy ATV trails to find one. We drove around the different camping and day picnicking areas to find that beach. Dale finally found his sandy beach at the Bishop Creek area. We wanted to be back when Sveta got off work at 6 PM so we headed back. Richard took us out to a nice supper and we visited and had dessert back at their place.

Monday Aug.6th we left Richards and drove south along Cook Inlet towards Homer. We made several stops where we could look across the inlet at the mountains (of which several are volcanoes) on the other side of the inlet. It was partly cloudy, but at various times we could the different mountains fairly well. Some of the mountains had a lot of snow or glaciers on them making it very scenic with the water and all. At one stop they put a good sized fishing boat (about as big as you can tow with a pickup and a wide load sign) in the water with a large 4 wheel drive tractor. They pulled the boat on the trailer out across the mud flats and then when they get to the water they back into it and the boat floats off.

At Homer we camped out towards the end of the spit. The spit is a narrow piece of land that goes out into the Kachemak Bay and is used to create a harbor for the boats, particularly the fishing boats. It has lots of tourist shops and places selling charter fishing and sightseeing tours. Dale took a walk over by the boat harbor on the other side after we got camped (only one road with stuff on both sides here). Our camp site is about 15 yards from the beach (gravel here), which starts about 25 yards from the water. Several people walking up and down the beach even though it has been drizzling off and on this evening.