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The story of our Alaska trip...July 18-Aug. 3, 2013

cruisin'mama

By cruisin'mama,
in Alaska

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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After getting so much help on these boards in planning our trip, I wanted to share our story incase something in it might help someone else who is planning their own trip. It is more of a personal story than just a fact -filled report. I hope that isn't frowned upon by most......

 

 

Alaska

July 18-Aug.3, 2013

Celebrity Millennium

 

We returned about a week ago from our Alaskan journey after 15 months of planning. ( Actually a lot more really! ) Along for the trip were my husband and I ( mid-50’s) and our 22year old son who has Down Syndrome. My husband has a fear of flying and hadn’t flown in over 21 years. With the help of Xanax, he managed to agree to go to Alaska. This was my 4th trip and I think he got tired of hearing how wonderful Alaska is, so he finally agreed to do something to make it possible for him to go. The nerves were kicking in, and he wanted to leave for LAX ( about 75 miles away ) at about 1pm for a 7:35pm flight! I knew we’d be REALLY early, but we did have to drop off the car and shuttle to the airport from the LAX Hilton, so I just went with it. My husband drops my son and I off at the shuttle with the luggage and we wait for him while he parks the car. The shuttle ride was uneventful. As it turns out, after we got checked in and seated at he departure gate, my husband can’t find his phone. He runs back to TSA security to see if he left in in the bin…no luck. Then he thinks maybe he might have left it in the car. He thinks he’ll go back to the hotel to check, but since he isn’t familiar with airports in general since this is his first flight since 1992, I volunteer to go back. Now it’s looking like a good thing that we were SO early! I have to wait for the shuttle and then try to find the car, since I wasn’t the one who parked it! It all turned out ok, but I was actually getting a little stressed too for a while.

I had booked us First Class so that the 5 ½ flight would be more comfortable for my husband ( and me too of course!). He had taken his Xanax about 2 hours prior to boarding, so he was out like a light before we even took off. We arrived in Anchorage a little early, about 11:30pm. We grabbed a mini-van taxi and headed to our B&B for the night, Judy’s Touch of Class B&B. http://www.judystouchofclassbnb.com/Judys_Touch_of_Class_Bed_and_Breakfast/Welcome.html We had the Lavender Room which had a twin bed and a double bed. Since we arrived so late, the lights were left on for us and a note was on the door. The ONLY minor issue with this room was that our bathroom was downstairs and we were upstairs. There was another room upstairs that held 2 people that had a bathroom also upstairs, but a State Senator from Washington was in that room while we were there and we needed the extra bed for our son anyway. Otherwise, it was fine.

The next morning we got up and met the B&B owners, Jim and Judy Powell. They were a lovely couple. Judy made a delicious breakfast, different each morning. Jim owns his own plane and offers to take their guests flight seeing. Since he doesn’t have a commercial license, he cannot make a profit from that service, so he splits the cost of the fuel used during the flight. The fuel costs about $60 total for an hour of flight seeing. ( I think we paid about $40 total for our trip.) We arranged to be back to meet up with Jim about 2:00pm to go flight seeing, then went to pick up our car rental. We had booked with the downtown Enterprise Car rental thru Costco for a full-size car a LONG time ago and it was going to be $227 for 6 ½ days. When we got there, they didn’t have any full-size cars so they ended up giving us a 4X4 Ford F150 4 door truck. My husband was happy. After we got the truck, we headed to Potter Marsh.

 

It had turned out to be a pretty day, mid 70’s. We enjoyed our visit at the marsh although we didn’t see too many birds, we did see salmon. We had some lunch then my husband stopped by the Blood Bank of Alaska since he is a dedicated Apheresis donor at home, he took a tour and did a “shirt trade”. We then went back to meet Jim to go flight seeing. He was a very conscientious pilot. I always felt completely safe with him. It was such a wonderful service that they provide to their guests! He took us back and we borrowed their bikes to ride the Tony Knowles Trail. Since my son can not ride a bike, Jim and Judy had a tandem that I rode with him. My husband was 2 weeks post hernia surgery so we weren’t sure if he’d be able to ride, but he took it slow and was able to enjoy the ride with us. We made it as far as Airport Park before we decided to turn around and not push it with my husband. Two years ago when I rode the entire length of the trail, my friend and I saw lots of moose, ( and a porcupine) but we didn’t see any this time. We took the bikes back and decided it was time for dinner. After dinner, Jim told us of a place to go to look for moose so we took off to look! First we saw a bull moose, then a mama with her baby, then another mama and baby and finally a mama with 2 calves. It was a successful “moose hunt”! A good first day….

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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Our second day began with Judy’s wonderful breakfast of Reindeer Sausage and scrambled eggs with cheese ( or without cheese if you preferred). Judy was prepared for all dietary requirements including sugar-free syrup for diabetics, along with gluten-free and vegan friendly items as well. We really enjoy our stay at Judy’s Touch of Class B&B even though it wasn’t a long stay. The Powell’s were wonderful people and thoughtful hosts. I would recommend them (if you have a car).

After breakfast, we headed out toward Homer. It started to lightly rain, and we had luggage in the back of the truck, so we stopped by Home Depot and picked up a tarp to cover the luggage. The Turnagain Arm was still beautiful with the low clouds and soon the rain stopped. We decided since it wasn’t raining anymore that we would stop at the Wildlife Conservation Center. I had a Toursaver book so we used the coupon there. My son loved all the animals and they are doing a good service for abandoned and injured animals. We were on a schedule today, so we only spent 45 mins or an hour there, then moved on. The ride on the Kenai Peninsula was beautiful. We stopped at the Summit Lake Lodge for lunch. It’s a pretty stop and the food was OK. We got into Homer about 4pm and checked into our home for the next 2 nights, The Sea Lion Cove efficiency apts on the Homer Spit.

http://www.sealiongallery.com/cove/

 

We met the owner Gary downstairs in his art gallery, then took all our stuff upstairs to our room. We had a small shared balcony that overlooked the water that had a couple of chairs outside. Nice. We changed clothes and headed back into the town to go to church.

 

After church we looked for a place for dinner. We found something called the Caribou family restaurant or something like that. When we walked in the waitress basically said sit anywhere in a not so friendly tone then practically threw the menus at us. After we ordered, we waited a LONG time and our food never showed up and the waitress never became any friendlier. Next she got into an argument with the cook and walked out. We walked out next…

..

We ended up at a really friendly place called Don Jose’s. The food was good and the service was great. =) My husband was going fishing the next morning, so we stopped at a Subway to pick up a sandwich for his lunch, then headed back to relax.

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BrusselsGirl07

BrusselsGirl07

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Great photos, I especially love your photos of the Moose! Can you share the spot you went to find them? By the time I get to Alaska next year, it would have been around 15 months of planning for me as well. I am looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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Great photos, I especially love your photos of the Moose! Can you share the spot you went to find them? By the time I get to Alaska next year, it would have been around 15 months of planning for me as well. I am looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

 

 

The moose were out behind the airport, down in an area that has signs telling you not to go any further, but we were told everyone goes in there and it's ok and we DID see a lot of people and a lot of photographers in that area. We were also told that you almost always will see some moose in the area, and we did!

 

 

I seem to be getting a little carried away with the pictures, so if anyone thinks I'm adding too many, please let me know!!!!

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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The morning of Sunday, July 21st, my husband got up early to meet Gary, of Silverfin Guides, to go stream fishing. http://www.silverfinguides.com/ They met at 5am at a gas station in Homer, then my husband followed Gary to Deep Creek where they met up with a party of 4 men from Germany. Gary outfitted them with all the gear and poles that they needed ( waders, boots, etc and whatever else it is that fishermen need) and they hiked into a spot to fish. I had previously contacted Gary and asked him if I sent a camera with my husband, would he be so kind as to take a couple of pictures for me ( since I knew my husband wouldn’t and I wanted to see what it looked like too ). Gary came through and I had the pictures I asked for! My husband would have liked to have caught more and bigger fish, but he did get 2 salmon, and released them. Gary and his helper ( Amy I think ) were very helpful

 

 

While my husband was fishing, my son and I walked the Spit to find breakfast. We found a place called the La Baleine Café. My son got a full breakfast, bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast, & fruit for $7. Such a deal! I tasted his potatoes and they were really good! We sat outside at a picnic table and enjoyed the atmosphere. After breakfast, we went and walked the beach since it was low tide. It was very scenic and a peaceful way to have some ‘downtime’ for my son. We then walked over to the harbor so my son could look at all the boats, we checked out the Salty Dawg Saloon, the Seafarer’s Memorial, and did some window shopping. It was turning out to be another beautiful day!

 

 

When my husband returned from his fishing adventure, we got the “low down” on how it went, then headed out to walk The Spit and to show him things that we had found. We ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at Finn’s on The Spit. http://finnspizza.co/ I loved their pizza! It was kind of like the NY style “fold and eat” pizza. It is a small, quirky little place that has a small solarium dining room on the second story with a great view. They also have some great beer on tap.

 

 

I had wanted to check out the views from Skyline Drive, so we drove up there. The was great and we talked to some people who were there and had driven their motorhome from Calif. and had been gone over a month already.

 

We drove back to The Spit and walked down to pick up a shirt for myself that I had wanted and some sugar-free ice cream for my husband. We ended our day early and decided to get a good night’s sleep.

　

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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The following morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise. We loaded up the truck and headed out early. We were doing a rafting ( float) trip today with Alaska Wildland Adventures and had to be in Cooper Landing by 9am, 3 hours away. http://www.alaskawildland.com/day-fishing-and-rafting-trips.htm I had a Toursaver coupon for this.

We made a stop on the way for me to take a picture from a scenic view point of the volcanoes. My husband’s fishing guide from yesterday, Gary, saw my husband and pulled over to say hi.

 

We made it to Cooper Landing with a little time to spare. We loaded in the raft with a group of people from Switzerland, and our guide, Spencer. It was a pretty float, but VERY tame. I had wanted to do a real rafting trip, but the company that I was going to go with wouldn’t let my son go due to his disability. I was disappointed because I knew my son would really enjoy it, but I understand that companies have insurance rules that they have to follow. My son liked the float but wanted to go faster, so I think I’ll look into a rafting trip in Calif. for him. I know he’d be fine on one.

 

We made a couple of stops on the way back. We stopped by Byron Glacier but just for pictures. We didn’t do the Portage Glacier boat since we’d be going to the Kenai Fjords later in our trip. We drove up to Alyeska and had lunch at Chair 5 in Girdwood. We went up to the Crow Creek Mine, but decided not to pay to get in when people coming out said it wasn’t worth the $$. It was very scenic there though. We stopped along the Seward Hwy at Falls Creek and checked out the waterfall. Then we were soon back in Anchorage

 

We stayed the night at A Lakeside B&B. http://www.lakesidebnb.com/ It was a great place but not that close to town. It was right on Sand Lake and had a dock with a paddle boat for our use. It was a very pretty place. They provided snacks and a “DIY” breakfast.

The end of another good day.

 

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