Girdwood

our home away from home – well, the first floor was anyway

We spent a week in the town of Girdwood in the downstairs apartment of a lovely family.

Originally called Glacier City, the town was once located directly on Turnagain Arm, the extension of Cook Inlet south of Anchorage. Back in the day, residents made their living by supplying goods and services to the gold miners who established claims along the creeks running into Turnagain Arm.

During the 1964 earthquake, Glacier City sank ten feet below sea level and the town was exposed to frequent flooding. Most of the residents moved to a new townsite a few miles inland and renamed the town Girdwood. You can still see the “ghost forest,” a stand of trees killed by saltwater flooding, at the old townsite on the Arm.

Sue, our guard dog and bear alarm

 

Another generous Airbnb host sharing the local bounty – this time king (Chinook) salmon.

 

a whale skull – a neighbor’s front-yard decor

Girdwood survived the earthquake and relocation, thanks in part to a local ski lodge at the foot of Mount Alyeska. The lodge blossomed into the Alyeska Resort, known for its challenging ski slopes and luxury hotel. It’s the most popular ski resort in Alaska. In summer there are great hiking and fishing opportunities in the surrounding Chugach Mountains, and more people are opting to live here year round.

Alyeska Resort

We traveled about 12 miles south of Girdwood to the Portage Valley, carved out by the Portage Glacier. The glacier has receded back and around a corner, so you can only see it via a boat tour on Portage Lake, but there are many other glaciers to see and hike to in the valley. We spent the day totally surrounded by the Chugach Mountains and glaciers. Spectacular!

Explorer Glacier

 

We hiked to the snowfields of Byron Glacier.

Old childhood friend

I ran into an old childhood friend here in Alaska. It was so good to see him after all these years. Lots of fond memories with this guy. He’s looking good, don’t you think?

Remember: Only you can prevent forest fires!

First snow on the mountain

Mount Alyeska

August 18: It rained all day here in Girdwood, at the base of Mount Alyeska, but the top of the mountain got its first snow of the season. It looks beautiful. Winter is coming!

the Otterbahn

Trailhead for the Otterbahn

Sea otters are plentiful in Seldovia. In fact, we were greeted by an amorous couple on arrival in the boat basin. So when looking for a name for the one hiking trail in the area (I still want to say, “on the island”), I suppose that it was inevitable that someone would come up with the name Otterbahn. We hiked it to Outside Beach and back into town.

Seldovia

We spent two nights in Seldovia. What a cute little village! Love their old Boardwalk area–the original Russian fishing village. The big earthquake in 1964 (9.2 on the Richter scale!) took down most of it, but there’s still enough left to give the village its quaintness.

The ferry to Seldovia

Homer Spit boat basin, aboard the ferry

Beautiful weather on our 45-minute ferry ride to the old Russian fishing village of Seldovia, across Kachemak Bay from Homer. While technically not an island, Seldovia has no roads leading to it from the rest of the Kenai Peninsula. The only way to get there is by boat or plane. Population: approximately 300. Should be quiet, peaceful, and relaxing!

Homemade music

We were the only people sitting out on the patio of Homer Brewing Company enjoying the uncharacteristically sunny day and a locally crafted brew. A man in a van held together more by rust than sheet metal pulled in to the parking lot, grabbed a growler of beer and a stainless-steel cup from the passenger seat, and walked to a nearby picnic table. His greasy wool fedora was pulled down over long, thinning grey hair, and the seat of his jeans sagged as if they fit much better 20 pounds ago. Although he grudgingly responded to Marcus’s greeting as he approached, he sat with his back to us, so we didn’t engage in further conversation.

About 20 minutes later, a spectacled man in pressed jeans, a tweed jacket, and a sporty wool cap, looking very much like a community college professor, approached him and shook his hand. “Did you bring the stuff?” The scruffier dude nodded his head and went to his van. He returned with two cases held together by duct tape. The Professor opened one and peered inside. A smile crossed his face. He reached in and gingerly pulled out a guitar. The Dude, making note of the Professor’s delight, pulled a mandolin out of the second case. The hand-cut leather strap was so worn multiple holes had been cut as previous ones had given way. “That one has seen some living,” the Professor commented. “I bought it new in the ’60s,” said the Dude, his hand stroking the neck. “I had to take out a loan to buy it.” They started tuning.

As if choreographed, vans, pickup trucks, and the occasional car started pulling into the parking lot. Out came tote bags full of tablecloths, jars of homemade pickles, boxes of crackers, and neatly sliced wedges of cheese. People bought beer from the brewery and trays of fresh Kachemak Bay oysters from a little shack at the far end of the patio. More musicians arrived: guitars, a bass fiddle, banjo, harmonica, and a microphone and amp. By now the Professor and the Dude were strumming away and singing in harmony. “Do you know San Antonio Rose?” asked the Dude. In reply, the Professor strummed a few chords. The Dude joined in, and the rest followed suit.

Just another Thursday afternoon in Homer!

brewery decor–pallet planter

Catch of the day

Our Airbnb host in Homer offered us some sockeye salmon he caught a few weeks ago. It was frozen immediately after the catch, and was the best salmon I’ve ever eaten. Marcus grilled it outside and made a delicious meal in the little kitchen of our adorable apartment.

Note to self: Always travel with your own chef. Thank you, Marcus! <3

Delicious!

The End of the Road

Rounding a bend in the road, our first view of Kachemak Bay.

Tom Bodett (you may recall his voice in the Motel 6 ads: “We’ll leave the light on for you.”) has always been a favorite storyteller of ours. We used to listen to his books on tape in the car when the kids were little. He started by writing essays about life in Homer, The End of the Road, back in the ’80s as a way to add some interest to his radio program on KBBI in Homer. They became so popular locally that they were picked up by National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Then a Boston publisher offered him a book deal, and his essays expanded into fictional accounts of the residents of a town called The End of the Road, Alaska. You can still hear Tom on the NPR program Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. The sound of his voice is always a comfort. It takes me back to those wonderful characters he wrote about–everyday people dealing with everyday problems in a not-so-everyday part of the world. They were so wholesome, genuine, and decent you wanted to pack your bags and move to The End of the Road.

view of Homer Spit extending 4.5 miles out into the bay

 

the Spit’s boat basin

 

at the End of the Road

Well, here we are at The End of the Road. When driving south from Anchorage to the beautiful Kenai Peninsula, you can drive (relatively) directly to Seward on Alaska’s southern coast. And if your wandering spirit pulls you farther west (and a bit farther south), you can take the Sterling Highway off of the Seward Highway through the heart of the Kenai to Homer, on the southwestern tip of the peninsula. But you’re still not at The End of the Road until you drive out the Spit, a string of a road off of the Sterling Highway that extends 4.5 miles out into Kachemak Bay. And then, when you reach the end of the Spit and you are virtually surrounded by water on all sides, you are finally at The End of the Road. As Tom Bodett says, “…this would be as far away as you could get without a good boat and a passport.”

our cute little abode in Homer

 

not our cute little abode, fortunately–in Old Town Homer

 

Homer humor

Russian River Falls

 

Our Airbnb host in Homer recommended we stop for a hike up to the Russian River Falls near Cooper Landing on our drive from Seward to Homer. Great idea! It would give us a chance to stretch our legs in the middle of our 3.5-hour drive. Cooper Landing is known for the great fishing nearby, but we didn’t anticipate a river full of sockeye salmon. The males were all decked out in their sexy red suits for spawning season. How can those females resist? ;o)