{"id":194,"date":"2017-08-12T21:46:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-12T21:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/?p=194"},"modified":"2017-08-12T21:58:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T21:58:46","slug":"no-bears-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/12\/no-bears-sister\/","title":{"rendered":"No bears, Sister!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi again! \u00a0Sorry for the delay in posting – we’ve been busy with a visit from my sister, Laura, and still dealing with spotty internet. \u00a0I am writing this post sitting in a parking lot in Anchorage while Steve and Bill work out at a gym.<\/p>\n

We moved from Seward over to the other side of the Kenai Penninsula, to the Kasilof area. \u00a0Kasilof is about 1 hour north of Homer. \u00a0Homer is at the southern tip of the Kenai Penninsula, and is known for fishing – some of the popular TV shows about Alaska fishing are based on boats that go out of Homer. \u00a0We (I) thought it would be a nice place to hang out for a couple of weeks while we had some visitors in August. \u00a0I was wrong. \u00a0We were pretty unimpressed with the general area. \u00a0Not nearly as pretty as the other areas we’ve been in, very flat and coastal plains. \u00a0In Kasilof, only very distant mountains were visible – there are 2 rivers, the Kenai and the Kasilof that run through this area and are huge Salmon fishing rivers. \u00a0So lots of fishing charters around. \u00a0And in Homer, which is boardered by Cooks Inlet with mountains across the bay in Kachemak State Park (that was pretty), the town was not very attractive, at least compared to what we have seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n

I was very, very distraught as we drove from Seward (beautiful) to Kasilof where we had a 2 week reservation at an RV park. \u00a0It got less and less pretty as we drove, and Laura was coming in 2 days! \u00a0I had been sending her all kinds of pictures of the beautiful scenery and wonderful hiking in the mountains and now we were parked in the middle of flat land and no mountains!!! \u00a0Crap! \u00a0We talked about moving, but we had booked this bear viewing trip for Wednesday, Laura’s last day in Alaska, and the tour went out of Homer, which was still an hour south of us. \u00a0If we moved anywhere, it would be even further away, and we had to report in for the tour at 6:30 am and drop Gerry off at doggy day care even earlier. \u00a0I called the bear viewing tour place and our tickets were non-refundable since it was within 30 days \ud83d\ude41 \u00a0So we stayed in Kasilof and made the most of it, looking forward to the bear tour, which was a boat ride out to Lake Clark National Park, which is only accessible by boat or plane, then go to bear viewing area to watch them catch salmon in the rivers, which would be fun to see. \u00a0A great day on the water and wildlife viewing – how Alaskan! \u00a0I’m going to jump to the end of this part of the story – THE BEAR VIEWING TRIP GOT CANCELLED 2 DAYS AHEAD DUE TO EXPECTED HIGH WINDS!!! \u00a0AND THEN THERE WERE NO WINDS!!! BUT STILL CANCELLED!!!! \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

We moved back to the Portage RV park we liked so much before on Laura’s last day, and are staying there for Bill’s visit and Samantha’s visit. \u00a0Sorry Laura, we tried!!! \u00a0We did have a great visit and did lots of fun things. \u00a0And really, we are lucky and grateful to be on this journey, I am not complaining!<\/p>\n

We took a small plane (very small, 5 seats) taxi to Seldovia, a cute small town across the bay from Homer. \u00a0We did a nice hike there and had lunch in town. The flight back and forth was absolutely beautiful and we saw 2 Orca whales on the flight back. \u00a0Gerry did great on the flight, didn’t bother him at all. \u00a0Lots of pictures in the attached link from this trip.<\/p>\n

We took a water taxi one day to Kachemak State Park across the bay from Homer and did a great hike to Glacier Lake – beautiful glacier and lake, with huge chunks of ice that had fallen off the glacier in the lake. \u00a0Had lunch by the lake and while we were on the water taxi back across the bay, Steve helped our boat guy stop and pick up some kayaks. \u00a0We also did a couple of hikes closer to Kasilof which were pretty flat but pretty through the woods – we saw salmon in the rivers swimming up stream and trying to jump the rapids. \u00a0Amazing how they do that.<\/p>\n

We also spent a fantastic day in Kenai Fjords National Park over by Seward. \u00a0It was a 2 hour drive each way, and we took Gerry back to the doggy day care he had been to before there, which he loved. \u00a0We spent the whole day hiking the Harding Icefields trail which was amazing. \u00a0A very challenging hike but worth it. \u00a0We also got to see mountain goats up close while on the trail.<\/p>\n

We cooked seafood almost every night during Laura’s visit – crab legs (twice!), scallops, shrimp, salmon, halibut. \u00a0It all has been delicious and so fresh. \u00a0Much better than what we get at home.<\/p>\n

We were on the lookout for wildlife, but didn’t manage to see any bears (tour would have taken care of this!), and only the backend of one moose in the woods. \u00a0But we did see eagles, the whales, and swans. \u00a0We did see a lot of bear scat on one of the hikes, but didn’t run into a bear which is a good thing!<\/p>\n

Having Laura visit meant so much to me. \u00a0It has been hard being away from her, we’ve always lived in the same place. \u00a0And this is the longest I’ve gone without seeing her. \u00a0This adventure has been great and I’m so happy we are doing this, but I do miss family and friends back home so much. \u00a0So even though the location wasn’t the best, the time spent together is what counts and my heart is happy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We had dinner with Michael and July in Anchorage when we took Laura in to the airport. \u00a0Michael is Steve H’s son, and lives in the Anchorage area. \u00a0So nice to catch up with them and we’re hoping to be able to get together at least once more when we’re making the trips back and forth to the airport.<\/p>\n

So that’s my update for now – Bill is here now (has rained since the minute he got here 2 days ago….hoping for a break in the weather soon), and Samantha, Josh and Ryan get here on the 16th. \u00a0Then Guy comes in on the 25th. \u00a0Family and friends to share this great adventure with – life is good!<\/p>\n

Lots of pictures and a few videos in the links:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/1drv.ms\/a\/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkTOQgkfsZk539bFN<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/1drv.ms\/a\/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkVPoBIx_bfJtqYbj<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/1drv.ms\/a\/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkWRECBG9VvnIAYCF<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/1drv.ms\/a\/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkX7YV65Yzkn_schS<\/a><\/p>\n

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I got to sit in the front next to the pilot on the way back!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi again! \u00a0Sorry for the delay in posting – we’ve been busy with a visit from my sister, Laura, and still dealing with spotty internet. \u00a0I am writing this post sitting in a parking lot in Anchorage while Steve and Bill work out at a gym. We moved from Seward over to the other side … Continue reading No bears, Sister!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}