Field Trips and Class Mates

Class-Mates by Robert William Service

Bob Briggs went in for Government,
And helps to run the State;
Some day they say he'll represent
His party in debate:
But with punk politics his job,
I do not envy Bob.

Jim Jones went in for writing books,
Best sellers were his aim;
He's ten years younger than he looks,
And licks the heels of Fame:
Though shop-girls make a fuss of him
I do not envy Jim.

Joe Giles went in for grabbing gold,
And grovelled in the dirt;
He, too, looks prematurely old,
His gastric ulcers hurt:
Although he has a heap of dough.
I do not envy Joe.

I've neither fame nor power nor wealth,
I fish and hunt for food;
But I have heaps of rugged health,
And life seems mighty good.
So when my class-mates come to spend
A week-end in my shack,
With lake and wood at journey's end
--They envy Jack.

hmmm - wonder which of our children will end up hunting and fishing for food and having visitors in their shack? I am not sure if their classmates will envy them, but we certainly will.  We have come to fully appreciate the simple pleasure in fishing and spending more time outdoors than in.

Well, it has been another full and wonderful week in Homer, Alaska. We have had a number of school adventures we would like to share with you. We have been amazed by the number and caliber of the enrichment activites through the school. We have also been surprised by the lack of regulation which makes much of this possible. For example - parents can drive children in their own vehicles to class trips and in fact, are asked to do so.  All you need is a valid drivers license and a vehicle with seatblets ( yes - there are many vehicles on the road that likely have no seatbelts in them).  It was also amazing that they would bring the entire school to the beach - yes - 100's of Kindergardten, 1st and 2nd graders combing the beachers at low tide, with wet, slippery rocks, and no life jackets - go figure -but it was awesome!

We started this past week off by enjoying dinner with our new friends, the Lillbridge's, at their beautiful home on East End road with a gorgeous view of the end of the bay. The night finished like many others - with us seeing 2 Moose - one lying about 20 feet from the van as we were leaving the dinner party.   Monday evening we had a  moose in the back yard. Brianne - these pics are especially for you!!

 

On Tuesday, Tim did a 'self-guided' fishing trip on the Kasilof River, about an hour away. This was the closest place to river-fish for salmon until the other rivers closer to Homer legally open for fishing later in the season.  He only caught one small Dolly Varden, but saw a nice King Salmon get pulled from the river.  It was a good recon for further trips with the the whole family or when others come for a visit! Anna was without a vehicle for the day so she enjoyed a nice long bike ride along the bay.

On Wednesday, Ethan had a field trip Tide Pooling on Bishop's Beach. Anna was lucky enough to chapereon 4 nice boys as they combed the beach for treasures. We found many creatures including Christmas anemone - man are they ugly, burrow anemone, a dogwinkle, cockles, limpets, starfish, mussels, clams and millions of barnacles. It was a great morning. At the same time, Colton was getting ready for his big field trip.

Colton & Tim departed for Colton's 4th grade field trip to the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies' Peterson Bay Field Station, across Kachemak Bay from Homer. This was a three-day, two-night field trip where the kids culminated their classroom studies on the Kachemak Bay ecosystem.  See the link below for more infomation on the place:
http://akcoastalstudies.org/peterson-bay-field-station.html

The trip was phenominal.  What an amazing learning learning experience for the kids, teachers, and parent chaperones.  It started on Wednesday with the boat ride over to Peterson Bay aboard the Rainbow Connection.  We won't speculate on the origins of this boat's name, just thankful it was able to provide the service under the command of a capable captain and crew. 

There was a brief stop and tour of Gull Island, where, you guessed it, we learned about the area's shorebirds!  The other parents & teachers laughed when they heard that this was the 3rd time we've been to Gull Island in the 3 weeks we've been here.

A short ride later, we arrived at the raft in Peterson Bay, where the kids had to transfer their gear from the boat to the raft, then onto the rope-ferry that they used to pull themselves to shore.

Colton and his buddy Luke Walker (wouldn't it be cool if his middle name was Sky?)

After "gear chaining" all of the packs, bags, food, supplies etc. up the stairs and to the lodge,  everyone got assigned their sleeping quarters in the "yurts" and then dinner, and then off for an evening hike around "Boy Scout" rock.  Though it had been a long day, the kids were still "bouncing off the walls" (of the yurts) well past the 9:00PM "lights-out" time.  Micky (the other father chaperone) and Tim got their 7 boys settled down and asleep by 10:00.  No small feat when it's still full day light and there's a dome sky-light.

A wet Colton and Luke

Up & at 'em by 7:00AM the next morning (Thursday), then breakfast in the lodge and hitting the beaches and tidepools at Otter Rock by 8:30AM.  Thursday morning started as most days do on this side of the bay, with light rain.  This side of Kachemak Bay is the northern-most tip of the Pacific Northwest rainforest which starts in northern Califonia.

The rain didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the kids as they searched for sea urchins, anenomes, chitons, crabs, worms and the stealthy purple-toed, yellow lipped, man-eating nudibranches, or something like that!

Colton surfacing after tide-pooling in a cave.



Colton examining a Sea Urchin



Science fun!

By lunch time, with a steady drizzle from above and hours of sloshing through tide pools, most kids were soaked clean-through.  So the next three hours were spent in the lodge at a station journaling about what they had done & learned thus far, a station where they sketched & narratively described several life-forms they saw that morning, and then a station where they learned about the different types of plankton and looked at it under microscopes.












With everyone dried-out, it was time for another hike to learn about the forests on this side of the bay.  Much of the time was spent learning about the difference between the rain forest on this side of the bay vs. the boreal forest on the opposite side of the bay, edible plans that can be found in the forest, and the food chain of the forest.  Conrad, one of the Coastal Studies' instructors, was able to teach these kids while telling a story and keeping the kids hanging on his every word.  By the time the hike was done, everyone was pretty well soaked through again, but it was time for  dinner , so everyone & everything had time to dry out again.
After dinner, there was camp-fire, complete with
skits the children wrote and performed.
The next morning started similarly to the previous with a mile-long hike to the beach and more tide-pooling in China Poot Bay, resulting in the class finding & identifying over 100 different species of sea creatures over the two days.  A bag lunch on the beach followed, then a very animated lesson in geology, and wrapping-up with visit to a 300+ year old site of an Alaskan native's home.  With the "official" learning done all that was left was the mile hike back to the lodge, the "gear chain" to the rope-ferry, raft and onto the boat, and finally the return boat ride home.   Anna and Ethan were waiting at the Harbor for our 6:00pm pick-up. What a trip!
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Ethan had his 2nd guitar lesson from Max and started learning "Jingle Bells!"  Holy *&%!  We're gonna have to listen to this tune get plucked, picked and mangled by an 8 year old who's had two guitar lessons, for 7 months until we can issue a "cease & desist order" once Christmas is over!  Guess that's what you get when you hire an unemployed 19 year old to give your kids music lesssons.  Well, at least the 'teacher' provided (hand-written) sheet music for this one.


While Colton and Tim were away, Ethan had a chance to try out his new (used) rollerblades. The Spit Trail is awesome to ride on. Notice that Ethan is wearing his sweater Anna made - FINALLY FINISHED!

Ethan's second grade class- Paul Banks Elementary

On Friday, Ethan had a second field trip to the
Islands and Oceans Visitors Center where U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff gave a great program on bird feathers. Once again - Anna was availalbe to join the class and enjoyed learning about the birds as much as the children did.

Juvenille Eagle in Flight

Over the weekend we went fishing at the Anchor River as well as at the Homer lagoon. We didn't have
any luck catching fish - but we did enjoy the time outdoors as well as all the wildlife. The eagles really put on a show.

We still have not caught a 'big' fish, but we're sure having fun trying. We hope to post soon a photo of a   big catch- but for now we just have photos of the fishing, not the catching. 

Colton did have the opportunity to help a guy pull in a King salmon. A guy fishing close to Colton got a bite on his 5th cast, after the boys had been out fishing for over an hour.  However, this young man was ill prepared, so Colton ran and got our ($5 pawn shop purchased) net. Once the King finally tired, about 15 minutes after the first tug, Colton was able to get it in the net. Then this young man also needed Colton's knife to kill it as hitting it over the head numerous times with a big rock was not working.  It was a nice fish - about 20 pounds and over 36".  The lucky guy was so happy for Colton's help that he gave him $4.00. We would have preferred a Salmon steak - but hey -unnecessary all the same - it was just exciting to see a big one get pulled in, and Tim only charged Colton $3 for using the net.

Colton waiting patiently for a King to bite

Colton getting his rod ready on the Anchor River. Notice the life jacket.  Alaska has a nice "Kids Don't Float" program where they leave life jackets at the State Recreation Areas & Campgrounds along the rivers for kids to use, just in case you forget your own, like we did.

Colton and Ethan fishing the Lagoon on the Homer Spit

E casting - Nice Sweater!

Tim got a hold of the camera while Anna tried her luck.

This week is the last week of school for the boys.  It has been such a wonderful experience and we all have met some wonderful Alaskans on all the field trips. It is nice that the boys have started to build a social network and will have classmates to call on this summer.

 This week we are off to Kodiak Island - check the blog next week for pictures and stories.

Breath is Enough

Breath Is Enough

I draw sweet air
Deeply and long,
As pure as prayer,
As sweet as song.
Where lilies glow
And roses wreath,
Heart-joy I know
Is just to breathe.

Aye, so I think
By shore or sea,
As deep I drink
Of purity.
This brave machine,
Bare to the buff,
I keep ice-clean,
Breath is enough.
           
From mountain stream
To covert cool
The world, I deem,
Is wonderful;
The great, the small,
The smooth, the rough,
I love it all,--
Breath is enough.
                  By Robert Service              
 Well, we're starting into our 3rd week here in Homer and things are still going better than we could have imagined.  We are enjoying every breath we take. The boys are still LOVING their new schools and making more new friends.

Homer Harbor

Tuesday we went for a drive out to the "Russian village" of Voznesenka, about 15 miles beyond Homer.  Great scenery, but we were disappointed in the "Russian" village.  House, yards, etc. all looked the same as the rest of the outlying areas of Homer.   At first we weren't sure we had really found what we were looking for, however, we were told later while getting a sandwich at the Fritz Creek store, that the only way you can tell that you're looking at one of the Russian's houses is if you happen to see one of the women out riding their 4 wheelers in the long, flowing dresses  & little hats they all wear.  The Russian women & girls are apparently the only ones in Alaska who wear dresses.

The weather earlier in the week has been nothing short of spectacular!  There was a stretch of about 4 days with absolutely clear, blue skies & brilliant sunshine and temperatures in the 60's.  Anna has even managed to get a sunburn while sitting on the deck reading.  We had ourselves convinced that the locals tell everyone how fickle the weather is in Alaska, just to keep people away!


We've done a LOT of biking this week, still trying to ride to as many of the errands as possible, and of course back & forth to school.  Anna has even done some additional "recreational riding" adding an extra 10 miles or so to her two (minimum) daily trips back & forth to Ethan's school. She's put over 60 miles on her bike this week!

This should make Auntie Barb happy; the boys have started guitar lessons this week.  We asked around at the music shop, feeling out what kind of teachers and instruments might be available for the summer, and guitar it is. Their teacher is Max - a young man of 19 who has a reputation for teaching 1/2 the kids in Homer to play guitar. Guess what Ethan's first song is - you got it; Smoke On The Water! Colton is working on Happy Birthday.

Tim has done a fair bit of fishing, though not with much success.  The salmon haven't started returning to the local rivers or the "fishing lagoon" on the Spit yet, so the only way to get at them is with a boat out in the open ocean.  With the warmer weather, we thought maybe that the one local lake where trout & dolly varden (arctic char) can be caught might thaw enough to fish in.  Tim tried it in the one small spot of open water, just to get out casting the flyrod, but an area the size of a bathtub isn't much to fish in!  Tim was pretty desperate to get flyfishing....

Ethan had his class field trip to the Pratt Museaum where he learned all about tidepool living creatures.  Anna was lucky enough to tag along as a chaperone.  This was a preperatory trip to get the children ready for the "beach day" this week.  Ethan has really taken to "tidepooling." Yesterday, after tiring of fishing, Ethan found welks, barnacles, chiton, millions of blue mussels and a tiger limpet.  As Ethan says - that was fun!
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Though delayed by one day to wait for more favorable winds, Colton had his 4th grade field trip on Friday; all 22 kids from the class went Halibut fishing for day aboard a 56' charter boat, the Ultimate,  that is operated by the family of one the boys in Colton's class.


Colton aboard the Ultimate

 What an incredible trip! The trip started with four parent volunteers (Tim included!) meeting the teacher and kids at the school to drive the kids to the harbor where they boarded the boat.  After a quick class photo, they were underway heading out to open ocean at the end of Kachemak Bay.


Mrs. Worsfold's 4th/5th grade class 2011



Colton and Kyle checking things out.



The Ultimate heading out to sea.

 The boat trip to the fishing spot was an hour ride, and by the time the anchor was set, "the natives were getting restless" and it was time fish!  The kids all teamed up with a buddy to work together on a rod & reel.  Typically, this boat fishes a maximum of 16 people at a time; a similar sized fishing charter boat out of Hampton Beach, NH or York, Maine would have at least 40 people on it if they could fill it!

Within 10 minutes of dropping the lines, the two girls next to Colton & Kyle pulled in the first fish of the day.  You can imagine  how jealous it made the boys to get out-fished by the girls!  Feeling they were being outdone, the boys got serious!

Colton, Kyle & Cpt. Rick

Very soon their efforts were rewarded and Colton & Kyle had their first (of many) fish on the hook.

Colton hauling in a fish, 150 feet up from the ocean floor

The kids fished  HARD and in less than 2 hours had their limit of two fish for every kid and adult chaperone on the boat.  A total of 58 fish in all! 

One of the 58 halibut caught by the kids, sizes ranging from 10 to 15#

With the Captain & crew working as fast as they could to keep up, Tim and the rest of the adults helped where they could, re-baiting hooks, untangling lines, and making sure rods & reels (and kids) didn't end up overboard!  With a full catch in the fish-tubs, it was time for lunch; hamburgers cooked on the boat!  With extra time to spare, Cpt. Rick started in for the harbor.  On the trip back, it was time for the fish to get filleted, and EVERYONE seemed to be helping!  The two crew members did the actual filleting and Tim did the final rinse & bagging of the fillets, but the kids were hauling the fish (bear hugs, usually) to save the crew from having to get them from the tubs.  With the fillets off the fish, the kids were the ones to throw the carcasses overboard to the waiting gulls.

Once the fishing cleaning was done, there wasn't much left for the kids to do while we cruised back to the harbor.  Some went up front to the ship's bridge to visit the Captain.  It wasn't hard to tell who had been to the bridge and did more talking than listening.....

Since we were so early getting back to the harbor, Cpt. Rick took a small detour to bring the class to Gull Island for a quick lesson on, you guessed it, shorebirds!

The trip was a HUGE success, with every kid bringing home 8 halibut fillets (over $100 of fish per kid), everyone catching fish, and one boy even catching his first fish ever.  What a field trip!


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Saturday, the whole family attended an all day flyfishing class put on by the Alaskan Department of Fish & Game and BOW, a national organization , "Becoming and Outdoor Woman". It was AWESOME!! We started the class with a review of how to read the Alaska F & W fishing regulations - this is no easy feat.   Tim has now spent 2 weeks with his regulation book and he still has to refer to it daily. Most rivers are only open on certain days for certain species. We can't wait until the Anchor River opens this weekend for King Salmon. 


Tim getting some pointers from Steve



We then talked about fish identification- since you need to be able to identify your catch if you are goin got keep it within regulations. There are 5 species of salmon in Alaska. Do you know how to remember them all? Well we do! We learned a cool trick that we will share with you. Hold out your hand and spread out your fingers - go on - do it. Now - start at your thumb - rhymes with CHUM ( also known as Dog) the first one. Then your index finger - poke your eye with it - no - not really - but if you did your eye would get RED - also known as SOCKEYE (2). Your ring finger is the biggest - this is easy - KINGS - also known as Chinook (3). Next is your ring finger - many of us wear SILVER (4) on this finger.  Finally you have your pinky - easy - PINKS (5) also known as Coho! Cool right? Now you just have to do is memorize when they run , in what river and how many you're allowed to keep, if you can snag them, if you need a tag, and if you are allowed to get the heads out of water if you catch them out of season. These Alaskans take the salmon regulations very serious!

 

We then split into groups - kids in one, adults in another and had two workstations - one in casting and knot tying and one in fly tying.  We learned to tie a "jellyfish" (a legendary local streamer) and the ever trusty Woolly Bugger.



Alaskan Fly Tying Supplies - the fur is Polar Bear, only available for purchase from Native Artisans



Anna's 'Jellyfish' Fly



Unfortunately the wind did not cooperate for the group.  But have you ever known the wind to stop the Schaals before?  No - so after class we went out to the Spit to try our luck  - fishing for Dolly Varden.  Ethan hooked his finger ( barely) after about 3 casts - so he was done and just went tidepooling, but Tim, Anna and Colton all had fun getting the flies wet- but alas - no fish. Luckily we had a lot of Halibut left in the fridge so home it was for a late dinner.



Anna's Purple Woolly Bugger!


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Sunday we went fishing with Eli (5) and his Mom, Lisa.  Last Sunday, while fishing at the end of the Homer Spit we ran into Eli & his mom (Eli does karate with Colton & Ethan)  and we found out Eli hasn't been fishing much, but sure did enjoy reeling in one of Ethan's fish, so we invited him to join us this weekend.  Though we didn't catch many fish today, and we have definately come to the end of the warm, sunny stretch of weather, Ethan really enjoyed being Eli's big buddy, and is looking forward to getting together to play with him after school on Monday.  Since Eli's mom brought donuts, the boys were able to tough it out until Anna came back to retieve the guys after going grocery shopping.  After lunch, since fishing at end of the Spit wasn't too productive, Colton convinced Tim take them again after lunch to the fishing lagoon to see if the salmon had started to return yet; it  didn't take a lot of convincing.  Three more hours of no fish and the boys had finally had it for the day!
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 We continue to see daily moose and eagles and some other new wildlife we've seen are seals, puffins and sandhill cranes. Our count of days NOT seeing moose has increased to 2, though today we saw 4 different moose.  Anna had a great time at the Harbor hanging out with this little fellow, a young Sea Otter,  lovingly called Maurice by boat owners near the slip he likes to hang out in. We see Sea Otters Otters most days when we are down on the spit.

Maurice giving me a smile!

We have also been enjoying the not so spectacular pieces of everyday, reading on the deck, knitting, cooking together and even a bit of gardening. 





Ethan planting flower seeds in an old tree stump with Ruby



It is such a rare pleasure to have the opportunity to be togehter as a family, in such a beautfiul setting without the stressors of work and 'real life'.   We recognize this and know that our time in Alaska is precious. As Robert Service articulates 'the world...is wonderful; the great, the small, the smooth, the rough. I love it all.--Breath is enough'.  So no matter where you are, or what you are doing - breathe and enjoy.

A Lyric Day (or week)

We started this blog with the musings of Robert Frost, but now that we are in Alaska- a Yukon Poet, Robert Service, has our attention. We feel that these lines of his poem, A Lyric Day, sum up the our
experience thus far


excerpt from A Lyric Day

"I deem that there are lyric days
So ripe with radiance and cheer,
So rich with gratitude and praise
That they enrapture all the year"
                            Robert Service


 This has been a lyric week! It's hard to believe we've been in Homer for 8 days. We have seen and done so much.

The boys have started school.  They go to different schools; Colton to West Homer Elementary  (Grades 3-6) and Ethan at Paul Banks Elementary (K-2).  Both of the schools and their teachers seem fabulous. The boys are impressed with the amount of enrichment activites (Field trips). For example, Colton is going out on a 52 foot charter fishing boat (owned by the family of one of his new friends & classmates)  this week and next week will be going on a "2 night, 3 day camp out across Kachemak Bay to study botony, geology, marine invertibrates, zoology, anthropolgy, mammals and general ecology at the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies' Peterson and Kasistna Bay Field Stations" - WOW!!  Tim has offered to chaperon both trips - we're still waiting to hear....

Ethan's class has four separate field trips planned for the next two weeks to many local museums, the beach, and the Islands & Oceans Education Center.   On Friday last week, Ethan's class had a "1/2 day recess" after they completed 'Spirit Day' which was fun and games. The children then spent hours outdoors while the teachers prepared for the First Friday Art Show that was happening at the school Friday night - formal wear encouraged, but not required.

Unfortunatley we had to miss this event as we already had tickets aboard the Danny J, a converted WWII shorelander which has been converted to a fishing and taxi charter. We went accross the bay to Gull Island to view the migrating birds as part of the Shorebird Festival that happens every year in Homer. People are really passionate about the birds! The excitement reached a fever pitch as someone spotted a red breasted, yellow bellied, long leg something or other!!

A flock of Common Murres, frightened off Gull Island (their nesting ground) by prowling eagles.

Red-faced Commorant on Gull Island

Common Murres on Gull Island.  They are similar to a penguin, but of the Arctic regions vs. Antarctic.

Gull Island birds



Tim blending in with the locals, looking at the birds!

 We met a really great couple on the boat, a retired Physicain and his wife, who is an RN.  We are looking forward to dining at their home next weekend.

We also particiapted in number of other Shorebird Festival activites, with the boys completing the requirements for a Katchemak Bay Junior Birding Badge. This included a live bird presentation, a two hour lab with shorebird education & activites, along with the Gull Island tour. Be sure to question them on their newfound knowledge when you see them next.

When not in school, there are plenty of other outdoor activities to engage in.  With endless beaches and shoreline, "beachcombing" is a very popular leisure activity.  It's not quite the same as the Maine-NH sandy beach-stroll in flip-flops or sneakers that we were accustomed to.  You definately want to have calf-high mudboots (footwear of choice by all locals)  and an extra layer or two handy for the frequent weather changes.  The boys were fascinated with the shells, different rocks, drift wood and other "treasures" to be found on the shore.  A walk along the beach just to take in the scenery is reason enough.

Colton beachcombing.  The backdrop scenery is a bit more dramatic than on the Atlantic.

Tim carrying Ethan's haul of shells and other "treasures."

Ethan and his treasures....

Colton, devising a way to plunder Ethan's treasures....

The boys have also started karate here in Homer.  It's a diffent style, Shodukan, but has a lot of similarities to the Shorin Ryu Karate they do in NH and the same basic principals are promoted. The boys are quite famous as they are the 2 highest belts, but the belt rank structure is a bit different. Nonetheless, they contine to see kids from karate around town and they are becoming known to this group. This has also been a nice way for us to meet and get to know some other adults/parents around town.

There is a Boys & Girls Club at the Homer Middle School, just down the street from us that has a great outdoor skateboard park.  Equipped with their  $5 (each) Salvation Army and Yard Sale skateboard and Razer scooter, the boys have been honing their skills (and adding to their bruises) at the park.

Ethan and his Razer and Colton and his skateboard on one of the many ramps at skatepark.

Tim has finally wet a fishing line! He has been fishing at the end of the Spit for the last few days, as he patiently (not!) waits for the salmon runs to start and trout season to open (and lakes to thaw!) here in the Homer area.  We have dined on fresh fish for the last 4 nights and we anticipate many more fish meals to come. Someone felt sorry for Tim as he was cleaning Pollack at the municipal fish cleaning station, so they threw him a Halibut fillet - yummm!!! We're hoping to go Halibut fishing later this summer once more boats get in the water, or we meet more folks with boats.

The boys have joined Tim over the weekend at the spit fishing and they have been having a ball. There is a fish-processing plant at the end of the Spit which has an outlet pipe to discharge it's waste-product and where fish seem to congretgate.   As one would expect, Colton has focused on getting bigger fish, farther away from the "honey hole," whereas Ethan sucks right up next to it which ensures numerous small fish on his line. Tim doesn't get to actually fish at this time as he is too busy untangling lines, taking off fish and keeping the peace. 

Ethan's 1st Pacific Pollack

Ethan quickly became bored pulling in fish after fish, so he then focused on being Colton's fish-mate, at the ready to take fish off Colton's hook. After an hour or so of watching his brother catch fish, Colton decided to move in a little closer to the action.

Colton's Beach-hand (Ethan) removing his fish for him.  He's got him trained already! 

The boys also have learned to NOT throw back small fish if natives are also fishing at the spit. They comminucated, not in english, that they wanted every fish the boys caught - no matter how small. The boys were happy to oblige. It has been a good lesson on how the natives of Alaska do not waste ANYTHING.


The one fish NOBODY keeps, is an Irish Lord fish.  A bottom-feeding sculpin that is nothing but head, tail & teeth!

Anna was spoiled for Mothers Day and went across the bay for a cooking class day at Tutka Lodge. This was a wonderful experience with great food and superb company, along with another great boat ride across the bay.  Check it out at http://www.withinthewild.com/ .


The furure cooking school at the Tutka Bay Lodge -  an old fishing vessel, run aground and then a kitchen & lodge built over-top of it. 



Lunch at the Tutka Bay Lodge's cooking class.

The wildlife remains abundant. We are now counting days when we DON'T see a moose - so far we are at one.   New additions to the wildlife include sea otters, and some up close experiences with Eagles while fishing. We've instruced the boys to stay together since the eagles can't carry them both off together. We've also seen Terns, Magpies, Stellar Jays, Sandpipers, Sandhill Cranes and Plovers (yikes - we're getting Homerized as evidenced by our knowledge of these shorebirds).

We continue to ride our bikes everywhere and it seems that our bike-butts are getting in shape; we hardly wince now when we mount our rides. I think we've logged about 50 miles in the last week - mostly in 2-4 mile rides - but it all adds up.

We are grateful for our lyric week and are excited for more to come.

Meeting and Passing

Homer Alaska - a little drinking town with a fishing problem. What an amazing place. We arrived here on Sunday, May 1st and have spent the last few days just "scratching the surface" getting to know our way around the town and meeting the people in the community.  Let me tell you a bit about it. It is also known as the "cosmic hamlet by the sea" and the "end of the road" as the road really does end here.

Homer Harbor

Homer is a town of about 6,000 people which historically has been a fishing village, but in the last 20 or so years has seen tourism and a well-heeled artist community play a big part in the evolution of this town.   It is nestled in Katchemak Bay, at the end of the Kenai penninsula. It  has a high bluff that provides excellent views of the surrounding bay and mountains and active volcanos and a 4 mile long "spit" that projects out into the bay.  The spit provides is where all of the fishing (commercial and sport fishing) takes place and where much of the tourist activity is centered.  We were lucky enough to have a clear day when 2 of the Volcanos, Iliamna and Augustine, were both steaming; quite a sight!

Steaming Mount Augustine

Steaming Mount Iliamna

The wildlife has been amazing.  It is like we are living in an episode of Northern Exposure. Not a day has gone by where have not seen a moose aorund town. Yesterday, as Ethan and I rode bikes to his school we saw one just lying in a church playground; Ethan had to ask if it was real or not. At first glance it could have been a huge rock sculpture, but luckily it moved it's head to support indeed that it is alive and well.   



Moose Dining at the Local "Trading Post" & Pawn Shop

The eagles are the other animal that we are seeing a lot of. In fact, we already are hardly noticing them, as they are similar in numbers and sightings to robins back home.

Now the people. Wow - what a wonderful bunch of folks we have met so far. Ruby and Tim are just great- they are the people we are renting from and our neighbors. They are eager to help answer our questions and also to offer up interesting tidbits of history and folklore about the town and state. The place we are staying in is a small, two bedroom apartment over Tim's woodworking shop.  The deck off our main entrance looks out over the town's movie theater and across Kachemak Bay.

View from the deck, just before sunset at 10:00PM

Hope, another person we've met, is a close friend of Ruby's who aslo helps her with cleaning.  She too is from Kodiak and is a very free-wheeling spirit.

Chris is the father of a boy who goes to karate with our boys. He works a consultant/trainer, providing  marine safety workshops to commercial fisherman throughout Alaska. We met him once at karate and ran into him again today at the local coffee house where we spent an hour talking and learning more about Homer and Alaska. Chris pointed us in the direction of his brother-in-law, Lee, who owns a yurt making business. We mentioned to Chris  that we would be intersted in working in exchange of adventure and he said Lee might be willing to take us across the bay for a weekend to set up camping yurts for his summer clients in exchange for the boat ride (both ways,we hope!) and a night or two in the yurts. FUN!!

We also met Leah, who lives just down the street and has a third grade boy who goes to Colton's school and also does karate. There is also the friendly bartender and clientelle at the Salty Dawg - the famous Homer Spit drinking establishment. We loved that she said it was great to bring in the boys, as long as they only drink soda and don't sit at the bar. She warned us that it is an adult meeting spot and that they my hear some new words (probably nothing they haven't heard on the playground or in the sugar house) - but well worth the experience.

On Wednesday, we went to visit Renn Tolman, whom we met back in Vermont, but who lives here in Homer.  Renn is a 70+  year old retired wooden skiff (boat) builder, who moved to Homer in the early 1970's by way of Colorado, and is originally from the Dublin, NH area. He frequently returns to NH and has a girlfriend there.  Though officially retired, he is helping his nephew build a 20' wooden skiff in his shop that overlooks the bay. Next week Renn is departing on a 65 mile boat trip (in one of his skiffs) across & up the bay, up to one of the active volcano islands.  There, he & his companions will camp then hike up 4,000 ft in elevation and ski back down the mountain. His work shop is decorated with the many newspaper & magazine articles written about him, charts and stories documenting the many amazing adventures he's taken arounfd Alaska in his boats, and in one corner are a few boxes of his book (on building wooden skiffs, of course); a book that is prominently displayed in every bookstore and gift shop in town.

Renn kind of reminds us of Peter, another fella that we met ( who looks a lot like Grizzly Adams) and who drives around town in a old green 1972 International Harvestor pick-up.  He tells us he came to Alaska to have a quiet and private life, and that is exactly how it has turned out for him, although he is more than willing to talk up the new kids in town when given the opportunity.

Every store you walk into has a smiling clerk and helpful folks. This is a very welcoming town and we feel priveledged to be able to spend the summer here. It has been gratifying to have and take the time to speak to the people you see each day, to learn from them, and to enjoy & hear of their experiences, stories and wisdom.

A Time To Talk

We have had an amazing time travelling north to Alaska, and during this time we have had an opportunity to talk to each other - a lot - as well as to some interesting folks we have met along the way. This post is a bit late as internet access has been minimal. Alas, our trip continues.

Day 5 (Llyodminster, Alberta to Edmonton)  170 mi.

Happy Easter! What could possibly be better than seeing the famous “VEG EGG” on Easter Sunday?  We had only a short drive to Edmonton from Lloydminister so we decided to stop in Vegriville, Alberta to see the giant Polanyska – or Ukranian Easter Egg.  26’ long and 18 feet in diameter, made of  2,200 pieces of aluminum  anodized in gold, silver and bronze; quite a sight and not to be missed, especially on Easter.

The Veg Egg



The Boys - Ethan, Dezmond, Colton and Dayton



From there it was a quick trip to Aunt Emma’s and Uncle Bob’s for Easter dinner. We met up with family from the DeAngelis side and had a great day eating, drinking and being merry. That evening, we were spoiled to a wonderful night at the Glenora B & B in Edmonton. Frank and Carole (Anna’s brother and S-I-L) brought up some sashimi and good wine, a great way to finish the day.



Day 6

Monday was our rest day – no travelling other than around the city.  Anna had a long overdue 3 hour lunch with the girls – thanks Ehma, Hanna and Dana for blowing off work and family to hang out- it was great! Tim was put to work by Frank, going to his new lake house to give his professional opinion of the work that is needed on it.

We all met back at Mom and Dad D’s for dinner from Anna’s family’s restaurant. From there a quick drive to Onoway (30 miles outside Edmonton) to stay at Frank’s furnished rental apartment that just happened to be vacant –lucky us!

Day 7 (Onoway, Alberta to Ft. St. John, British Columbia) 404 mi.

 Today we started the long haul north. We stopped in Dawson Creek for an official look at the Alaska Highway Mile 0 monument and spent some time in the Alaska Highway House (Museum). It’s amazing to think that the entire highway was constructed in only 9 months, by US Army Engineers, over harsh terrain and with wicked weather. Tell me again why it takes 3 years to do a small construction project on route 12A in Lebanon? Most of the trip was 4 lane until Fort St. John where it turned to 2 lane – but still a very well maintained and easy to travel road.

                                                                                 

Ethan at the official Mile 0 of the Alaska highway

 

We drove by a small park where we stopped for our picnic lunch. The sun was shining and the grass was dry so we threw the football around for a while before climbing back into the van. There is snow on the side of the roads; I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise. Roads today were in very good condition, 2 lane highway all the way and very little traffic.

It is such a small world.  When we called the hotel to inquire about room availability we found out that the women on the phone was from Claremont, NH and her late husband was a ’66 Norwich University graduate; same as Tim (different class year obviously). We drove to this a small roadside motel, The Shephard’s Inn, which is 72 miles North of Dawson Creek and stayed for the night and had dinner in their restaurant.  Here we also met a friendly old trucker at the coffee chop where we had dinner who gave us a few tricks for the road.  Did you know that you should turn on your heat full blast and roll down your windows when driving up a long hill in the summer? Apparently it dissipates the heat from your engine and drops your coolant temperature by 10 degrees so you don’t risk overheating up the long hill? Well you do now, and so do we! The Alaska Van has been awesome – not even close to overheating, since it hasn’t been above 50 degrees.  This gives you a little clue as to how few drivers there are this time of year and what some will do strike up a conversation at a nearly empty roadside motel/truckstop.

Day 8 (Ft. St. John, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory) 540 mi.

Alcan Safari: Our “Long Day”. Today we travelled 540 miles along the Alcan, from the Shephard’s Inn to Big Horn Motel in Watson Lake. Despite the long travel it was an AWESOME day! Today we travelled through some of the most picturesque scenery on the Alcan (Alaska/Canada Highway) .

It started with an early coffee and stretch break at the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum/Junkyard (we added the junkyard part). Although the museum was closed, we were able to spend an hour exploring all the ‘stuff’ that was on display outside. This included rigs from the building of the Alcan, huge pieces of mining machinery and every other piece of dead equipment circa 1942 – 1972 that has become disabled within 100 miles of Fort Nelson, including an old crashed airplane fuselage, engines, and bent propellers. Who knew this stuff constitutes a museum. We think Papa Pete could probably start a Jericho Heritage Museum in Vermont!  Nonetheless, we really enjoyed this stop and would highly recommend it to anyone passing through Fort Nelson.

We then drove through Muncho Lake Provincial Park – gaining elevation to 4,200feet; the highest point on the Alcan. The road became very “twisty and turny” and we were not able to make very good time – going only about 40 miles an hour for a few hours. The trade off was that we saw a (metric) tonne of wildlife.  It started with a grazing moose in the early morning, then we chased some caribous down the road, saw some elk up on the roadside, a mule deer, and we saw Stone (big horn) Sheep in a few places and then saw many, many, many buffalo along the side of the road. The boys were just as intrigued with the large buffalo chips that littered the sides of the roadways as they were the bison themselves.

                                                                                   

A few hours behind schedule we finally reached our lunch destination, the Northern Rockies Lodge, at Muncho Lake. It was stunning – the largest log cabin in British Columbia, where we enjoyed burgers overlooking the lake and majestic mountains as a backdrop.

After about 8 hours in the van we then reached our next break point which was Laird Hot Springs. This was incredible and probably the high point of the trip so far. Anyone travelling this area should really try to do this; if it’s not on your bucket list, it should be!  It is a natural hot springs with natural pools in and a boardwalk surrounding them. They have built in some natural log and stone dams to create some deeper pools, with sunken concrete benches to sit on.  It was amazing to feel how hot the water was as it was water bubbling out the source. It was too hot for us to get near. If you are brave enough, you gather a rock and go to the source pool and place your rock on cairns that are surrounding it.  I couldn’t get within 10 feet of those cairns before bailing out for cooler waters.

Laird Hot Springs

                                                                                        

After our soak we drove for a few more hours to Watson Lake, where we spent the night at another road side motel – the Big Horn. It was clean, and came highly recommended over the other motel in town which was hosting the NHL playoff party.

This was a long but epic day of travel, and we all fell asleep quickly and readied ourselves for more!

Day 9 (Watson Lake to Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory) 440 miles

In the morning we ventured out to the world famous Signpost Forest in Watson Lake.  Back in 1942, a US soldier who was homesick, nailed a sign from home to a post and travelers have been doing the same thing since. There are more than 61,000 signs. It is very impressive to say the least. We came prepared with our Valley View Road sign (thanks Allyn) and found the perfect spot for it. As memorable as this was, it will be even better in the future if/when any of us travel back this way and go and look for our sign. Ours was one of the few with washers and a big spike to ensure our sign will be there in perpetuity (engineers!). Be sure to look for it if you ever make it as far as Watson Lake.



Sign Post Forest



 From there it was back in the Alaska van – which by the way is getting 13-14 miles to the gallon – yahoo – especially since we are paying over $5.00 a gallon in Canada!

On our drive to Whitehorse (capital city of the Yukon territory) this morning we saw a few caribou. We stopped in Whitehorse and checked out the Macbride Museum and had a nice urban hike through town. The boys were thrilled that we splurged and had A & W for lunch, complete with frosty mugs of root beer! We also went into the town library to get a little internet access – but they only allow you one hour – not enough time to post a blog, but at least we had a chance to catch up on e-mails. We then continued on the road towards Destruction Bay. This was the best scenery yet. We skirted the Kluane Mountain Range and drove along Kluane Lake for miles and miles. It was spectacular. We had no idea the Yukon had such impressive mountain ranges. This made for easy driving, even thought the road was quite slow at times with hairpin turns and rollercoaster like hills. We reached our destination, the Talbot Arm Motel. This was surprisingly clean and quite. All in all another great day on the Alcan.

Kluane Lake at Destruction Bay

Day 10 (Destruction Bay to Sheep Mountain Lodge; Mile 113 on the Glenn Hwy., 113 miles North of Anchorage) total 438 miles.

Ok – today we finally experienced the rough roads that we read so much about.  We laughed at our GPS – as it was telling us it would take 9 hours to drive from Destruction Bay to Tok, Alaska – which is only about 230 miles. “What? That should only take us 5 hours at the most!”  Well, we were lucky and it took just a bit longer, but we were the only ones on the road – it was extremely broken up and bumpy with huge frost heaves and broken up pavement and short sections of gravel road. We could only imagine what this would be like in July with hundreds of other motorists, mostly motor-homes, travelling on it.  We are all getting nauseated – even the driver – who was Anna; there is NO way she would tolerate being the passenger  on this stretch of road without some antiemetics! We were able to pass the 2 other motorists – who were driving large motor-homes, right before the border.

We were thrilled to be back in the USA as the road was like the track at the Indy 500; it had smooth pavement, painted lines, and signs of roadworkers actually working. In the Yukon we saw signs, but no actual workers.

Beautiful Driving

As we drove along today we were graced again with the beauty of the Alaska Range. These mountains are impressive beyond description and they seem to go on and on. They are all snow covered, making it difficult for the kids to pick out the glaciers, but they are getting better at it with experience. The landscape changed as we drove along the Tahneta Pass where the trees thinned out and we seemed to be surrounded by peaks. It is so beautiful. We took a break for a picnic lunch at the State of Alaska Visitors Center in Tok, where once again we had a chance to throw the football around and stretch out before getting back in the van.

                                                                                      

We then drove to the Sheep Mountian Lodge,  just 113 miles northeast of Anchorage, where we sit and look out over the Alaska Range as we type out the past few days’ experiences. We’ve made it! We’re in Alaska and so far it is more captivating than any pictures will ever show.   It is now 9pm Alaska time, it is getting cloudy, but still full daylight.  We’ve travelled at total of 4,247 miles from our start and have only 339 left to go.  93% OF THE WAY THERE!!