Ed & Hoppy's Alaskan Adventure

If you would like to view all the photos Hoppy and I took you can view them at my website.

www.osp1.smugmug.com I broke up the photos into 5 catagories.

Upon our return to Anchorage in preparation to leave I became increasingly sicker and sicker. To make sure I was OK to fly I went to the emergancy room where I was told I had pneumonia. After I the news it was back to the B&B to rest up to fly home. Since the B&B we were in was full that night were recommended to go to another. We went from Great GREATEST. What a wonderful place in an Anchorage neighborhood. House of Jade. The best B&B food of the trip.

After two days of bed rest it was time to attempt the long flight home - leaving Alaska at 9PM EST and arriving Ft. Myers at 12:30pm EST. Lest one and twp went fine and legs three was downhill. After taking off I broke into the sweats and coughing nonstop.

Couple of thoughts on long distance trips. Only go with as a best friends like I did. They will be there for you and not compllaining on how you are ruining their time.

Drop 25lbs. Those seats are are small enough without the4 extra luggage.

By the way- that best friend I mentioned. He jumped ship on the last leg of the flight for a $500 travel voucher (I would have done the same)

When fully recoved I'll finishing uploading the photos

Rating of Alaska as a vacation spot. A+

We are heading out of Anchorage toward Denali. The drive is about 250 milles. We stopped at Talkeetna on the way up there. It is a small town which reminds me of Captiva Island. Many small shops and restaurants and more beer places. Not too much to see on the trip up there. When we got to Denali National Park we got our tickets and headed to our cabin at Ridgetop. It was just past Healy and was ONE MILE up a ridge. It was small cabin with no TV or radio. I was so sick I just went to bed. Hoppy went back to Denali and got me soup.

The next day we headed out to Denali for our bus trip into the park. We stopped and got Subway sandwiches before our trip and they were $9.50 each. It was a 66 mile trip which got us closer to Mt. McKinley. The day before they had 1 1/2 inches of snow. Our day was perfect weather and were were able to see carilou, moose, dall sheep and grizzy bears. We had a clear day and could see Mr. Mckinley perfectly. The tallest mountain in America.

That night when we got back to our cabin we found a radio. It was great to lisen to the TV news.

We headed back to Anchorage with nice weather. Our B & B is the nicest one yet. We can sit in the main room and see the mountains opposite Anchorage. We are heading out for a good meal tonight. I'm still sick but trying to get better before the flight.

Pictures will be up soon.

DAY 3

We got up and it was raining for the first day of the trip. We heard about the Earthquake when we were 150 miles out of Anchorage and we never felt anything.

As we headed South it got colder until we reached Homer and it was in the 40's.

Pros about the day: Got to see a small black bear near Skilak Lake turnoff. It was a good opportunity to get some photos.
Found a great fish stew at Cole Point Trading Company. The mostly are a shipper of fish but have a small area they serve food in.
Salty Dog Bar in Homer - Like Captain Tony's in Key West except freezing getting there.

Cons - Other than the bear the trip down was terrible. We stopped at a Glacier but it was so windy the rain stung when hit.

The towns of Kanai and Nikiski were not worth going out of the way unless you want to fish. A number of the better restaurants in Homer were closed for Monday.

Day 4

Clearing but still cold. Last night we stayed in a unique nautical themed B&B called Beach House B&B. A good place to stay. http://www.alaskabeachhouse.com/?gclid=CKenwJnJqZsCFRlcagodtAZ8DA
Went back down to the Spit to see if there were any commercial fisherman. They were having a very low tide so boats could not get out that were at the docks. We started the trek north to Anchorage for an overnight before leaving for Denali NOTE TO SELF - Don't ever stay at the G Street B&B Again.

Sunny and in the 50's. We rafted down the Matanuska River north of Anchorage. A calm Level I / II or as June calls it the Cowards Trip. It was nice though. a 2 hour trip in 35 degree weather. Even with the calm waters we still got a little wet.