Seward and Exit Glacier

On the way to Seward, we stopped at this campground for the night.  Notice the fireweed next to the sign.  It is still beautiful, but fading quickly.
Saw this young moose along the road.

Our first camping with the tent on the back of the truck.  Great campground and the tent worked great!

We stopped to check out the Exit Glacier just before arriving in Seward.

Along the road there were dates posted to let you know how far 

this glacier receded over the years.

As we came down from the glacier, Charlie did some rock skipping.  We knew that just a few weeks earlier, Sawyer was here skipping rocks, probably his Dad too!

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

Interesting store front at one of the shops in Seward!

Fun trip shopping, enjoying Exit Glacier and camping!

Hope, Alaska

Downtown in Hope, Alaska!






The view from Hope and the river with a fish cleaning station provided by the community.

We went through a very interesting Museum in Hope!




This is the restored original school.

The teacher lived in this room as well as taught there.

Here is the Hope school from 1938 to 1986.

Thought some of you teachers would enjoy the rules of the times!

This is Billy, the man responsible for salvaging most of the historical things in this museum.  He also restored most of it as well.  He has so much history in his head!
He is holding an oven and below is a larger one.

Horses had spikes on their shoes to walk in snow and ice.

Hope you can see this in the next photo.  Sawing the log in half with a man 

down in the hole and one on top to run the saw.

WE REALLY ENJOYED THIS MUSEUM!

Special Events

Since we have been at Diamond M Ranch, several special events have happened!

Another llama has been born, the first week of July.  His name is Snickers!

Lenny, the Llama, was born soon after we arrived.  They are both growing so much.  I will get some up to date photos for a later blog.

A colt was born this summer on the ranch.  The mother is Rose and she has a 

one year old named Petal.  This colt hasn't been named yet.

Notice the nest above while there were three young eagles in it.  The nest broke off and one eagle fell to the ground with part of the nest.  His picture is below on the fence post.  The two eagles left in the nest hardly have room to sit!

Practicing for flights in the future or is he about to fall out of the nest??

This is a photo of the jacket of Rod Perry.  He was in the very first Iditarod Dog Sled Race in 1973 and had a part in founding the race.

Rod Perry is telling wonderful adventures about the Iditarod.  Of course we had to buy his book of stories called "Trail Breakers, Pioneering Alaska's Iditarod".

Everyone is enjoying s'mores around the campfire as we listen.

ANOTHER EXPERIENCE IN THE CAMPGROUND!

Dipnetting and Fishing

Alaska residents have a dipnetting season July 10-31.  That means they can catch  salmon with huge nets. As the sockeyes, also known as reds, swim from the Cook Inlet up into the Kenai River, they swim into the nets.  This is for substinence for the Alaska residents.  Notice the photo below where the tide has gone out farther.  These photos were taken 2-3 hours apart.

This is the line waiting for their turn at the fish cleaning station.  Our trailer is right next to the chevy truck.
The sockeye salmon run was huge this year.  Fillets were frozen, canned, and smoked for several weeks here at Diamond M Ranch Resort!

This photo shows combat fishing along the Kenai River.  Charlie is trying his best to bring home the catch.  Combat fishing, at its busiest, means the fishermen are closer to each other all along the river.

It takes two to land the fish!

Charlie and Rich, fellow workamper, got their limit of six sockeye salmon this day!




The fish cleaning station is the best place to do the filleting!

OUR FREEZER IS ALMOST FULL!