Dec 7, 2018 - Earthquake!!

Earthquake!! (Note: Not a normal sort of Travel Journal entry, but then this was an unusual event and a lot of folks have been asking Julie and I about it so…here is a special earthquake edition of “Bob and Julie Head South”) On Friday, November 30 at about 8:30AM AST, we experienced a magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Anchorage. It was our biggest earthquake since the big one in 1964. It has now been a week and about 3,000 aftershocks (not a typo), since the original event. We were very lucky that no one was injured and that the damage, at...

Nov 12, 2018 - Glen Haven to Anchorage, AK

Glen Haven, CO to Anchorage, AK 11-12-18 We got up early and did our final packing and prep for the all day air travel adventure ahead. Kate drove us into Estes Park so we could catch the shuttle to Denver International Airport. We got a great breakfast at Notch Top Restaurant then were delivered to the Visitor Center by 9:30AM. We said our goodbyes to Kate with the knowledge we would be seeing her in about a month as she will be coming to Anchorage for the holidays. Shuttle rides into DIA take 1.5 hours and can be memorable in themselves....

Oct 5, 2018 - Summer of 2018 in Anchorage

Summer of 2018 Had a very good summer in Anchorage, Alaska this year. The weather was mostly good and September was one for the record books. It’s definitely fall now, time to put the RV to bed, winterize the cabin, and make plans to head south again. This time we will fly to Colorado, hang out with family and friends for a while, then head to California for a model airplane convention. After that, over to Las Vegas to visit with friends. We head back to Colorado to visit with more friends and fly back to Anchorage just before Thanksgiving....

Sep 19, 2018 - 12,000 Feet in the Air

Today we took off on another sunny day towards the mountains. We flew high above the mountain tops. The views were gorgeous! Breath taking! A bit chilly in the plane but there are no words to explain the views we had. So high up and so close to the mountains. An amazing experience. Steve said this was the first time he was able to fly that area as it is usually very windy! Lucky for us! We were in the Barnard Mountain range. We landed in an area over looking the Chitina River. We hiked taking our lunch with us. We stopped to eat at an area...

Sep 18, 2018 - Yahtzee

Today is another beautiful day. A bit cloudy here but supposed to be sunny on the coast where we are headed. We are going to Icy Bay on the Pacific coast about an hour flight. Flying over miles and miles of glaciers We could see Logan Mountain, the biggest mountain in Alaska, and Mount Elias . We crossed over the Chitina River, the No Name Glacier across the Jeffries Glacier and Bagley Ice Field to get there. Steve flew us right next to the top edge of the glacier face and said our altitude was 400 feet. The glacier is as tall as a 40...

Sep 17, 2018 - OMG!!!!

Coming up with a title for today was difficult as there are so many words to describe it but none will do it justice. Started out with tea and coffee to our cabin for 7:30 wake-up. Up to the main cabin at 8 for breakfast. So much food to choose from plus eggs (I am sure some of the 20 dozen) made to order! We are joined by everyone except , Don , the hunting guide. At 10 we are departing for our flight excursion. Steve will be our pilot guide. We have sunshine and 40 degrees! But I will have several layers when we head out. We sit behind...

Sep 16, 2018 - Welcome to the Wilderness

Joe picked us for our Uber ride to the air taxi. While waiting we saw some hunters come back with two huge moose! Poor Bullwinkle and friend! We set off in an Air King C-90 with our pilot, Mike, to McCarthy. As we flew above the clouds we had some beautiful views of mountains. How would you feel if the pilot asks if you want him to take a photo of you while flying the plane? A little weird, but I guess that is what auto pilot is for! We were also transporting groceries to the lodge which included 20 dozen eggs, 10 dozen of which were...

Sep 15, 2018 - Another Beautiful Day in Anchorage

Plan for today was to go to the market...opened on weekends until mid-September. Today is exactly mid-September but the market was not opened! We wander the streets of downtown. There were more people here than last weekend when we arrived. We had a fun time looking all of the cool t-shirts in a shop with funny sayings related to bears and moose. One of the favorites was a shirt with a car with the decals of the stick figure family and one bear saying to another "Look there's a menu"! We returned to the Glacier Brew House to eat and had...

Sep 14, 2018 - Baked Alaska Waffle Cone

When we checked out today the receptionist said we had the nicest suite in the hotel. I told her I didn't know how we got it as I booked a standard room. She said it was a complimentary upgrade. Don't know why us but it was lovely! Uneventful flight to Anchorage. Had the taxi drop us off in town for lunch as our Airbnb was not ready. We decided to walk as it was less than a mile and after all it wasn't a cobble stone street and we didn't have a huge suitcase plus our carry-ons and I wasn't wearing flip flops...flashback to Amsterdam 2010!...

Sep 13, 2018 - Amazing Dance of the Northern Lights

Awoke to another sunny beautiful day in Alaska. Today we headed off in a 9 passenger Navajo plane with our pilot, John, crossing over the Arctic Circle, 66 degrees 33 minutes, before landing Coldwater. Coldwater was a mining town in 1915, now has population 0 and is a Truck stop. There is a Post Office! The landscapes were interesting though not as nice as Denali. The area we were flying over had not even appeared on maps until 1930s, it showed up as a white area until it was actually able to be mapped out. As we flew over the Yukon Flats,...

Sep 13, 2018 - Haines, Alaska

The drive was awesome with clear weather and tremendous views of the mountains and some glaciers on the way to Haines. We crossed back into the US about 40 miles from Haines but had to endure a few miles of construction (mud) as we neared Haines. Haines is located on the inlet with Juneau, the capital of Alaska, about 50 miles below Haines and Skagway 15 miles to the north. The area around Haines is full of wildlife including Alaskan brown bears and bald eagles. To get to Skagway you have to take the ferry or drive about 350 miles and to...

Sep 12, 2018 - Mr. Toad"s Wild Ride

As we were heading for breakfast we met up with the flight crew member who told us we were leaving an hour earlier to fly out as it is cloudy. As we got to the plane I looked at how small it was and thought no way is the pilot and 5 other people going to fit in and a feeling of claustrophobia came over me. I was amazed at how much room there was. It was a great flight seeing the park from above and gave a much better perspective of how big Denali is. A couple of times, especially as we were approaching the Denali face, the turbulence was a...