hand, tram, thank you norm

Even though I came to Alaska to avoid worrying myself about the pollution of our beloved rivers, lakes and coastal waters, somehow I couldn't help but get involved in some way. Fiona encouraged me to take photos of this very probably illegal discharge just near the ferry terminal in Homer where we arrived from Kodiak. Needless to say I have reported it to the relevant authorities (this will hopefully be more productive than my complaints to the ITC about psychic celebrity programs). 

This is either limeade or detergent and oil

The source of the discharge, a fuel container

After conscluding our in depth investigation of the potential environmental crime we stayed the night at the hotel at the end of the spit and had dinner watching the attendees of the Alaskan realtors (estate agents to you and me) convention groove on the dance floor. They even played that tune I ddi my famed RSPB dance to, Chris hat is that one called again? But the DJ lacked the ability to play 2 good tunes in a row and some country music or the like followed. We had quite a laugh trying to figure out who was Alaska's leading realtor, a greasy haired man surrounded by ladies on the dance floor was our best guess. Estate agents in Alaska seem to be a lot older than ours with almost none under 50, a stark contrast to the adolescents who show homes in the UK.

The following day we hitched to our b and b in Homer, the land lady was nice but a bit out of it. She told us that if we had been about until saturday we would have been able to join in the progressive birthday party of her friend - the idea is you all get in a bus and stop at different peoples houses through the course of the evening to have food and drink. I think we should try this in Biggleswade minus the bus!

how could they resist, suffice to say they did

Possibly the best sign ever

We hope to see a live one one day but as its stuffed it didn't make the list this time.

If this were Biggleswade he would get our vote.

Next stop Girdwood, the Whistler of Alaska, (actually it was Anchorage but not much exciting to report from there except for Ralph being reunited with his Kindle which he'd left at the hostel a few weeks previously).  We looked out for Moose as they are fairly common in Anchorage but sadly none to be seen this time.  

On the way we got transmission fluid on our baggage courtesy of Stageline buses,  Anchorage.  We got a refund of some our ticket cost but only after Ralph had explained the issue at length in the politest terms possible what the problem was - She then went completely red and shouted in his face something along the lines of "Yeah, WHAT DO WANT ME TO DO ABOUT IT , WHAT DO YOU WANT, I'M WALKING AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT IT", she was an incredibly articulate and charming lady, customer service Alaskan style!  On the plus side we did get a fleeting glimpse of a black wolf on the way to Anchorage which all the other passengers mistook for a bear!

We arrived in Girdwood and headed to the bike shop which when we arrived appeared to be run by a team of sled dogs

The Crow Pass trail.  Many of the best hiking trails in Alaska are former routes to gold mines, including this one.  The valley was lovely with its amazing 'fall' colours.  We had intended to do the full three day trek from Eagle River just outside Anchorage but instead made do with a one day walk to the top of the pass where it was almost snowing.  There is a beautiful glacier to be seen one mile on from the top but sadly it remained hidden by cloud on our visit.  We had been talking to three US Army lads doing the three day trek, we kept passing each other at various points during the day including at our lunchstop when Ralph went for a pee in the bushes dressed in his black waterproofs.  On seeing a black sizeable object rustling in the bushes bedside the path one of the Army lads jumped out of his skin thinking Ralph was a bear but luckily didn't employ his 'bear aware' tactic of choice as rather than bring any bear spray he had chosen to bring a handgun.

View back down the valley

At the top of the pass up in the clouds was a forest service cabin, can you spot it?

Ralph of the Baskervilles

Look at the fantastic Raven glacier (imagination required here)

Waterfalltastic

We made it to the top

Wallytastic

Girdwood - day two.  Wow, a fantastic crisp autumn day.  The owners of the Band B asked if we had plans, if not did we want a trip out on Prince William Sound in their new boat? mmm. yes please!  We had decided out of everywhere we'd been, Girdwood, and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies were the two places we thought we'd quite like to live.  Girdwood has Mountain biking, skiing, walking, sea kayaking, beluga whales, bears, sled dogs, sea otters,'North Americas finest Laundromall 2009', lest we forget Norm's hand pull tram, the list goes on.... So today was boating.  Our lucky streak continued.  The boat was half an hour drive away alongside the Cook Inlet/Turnagain Arm, (inventively named as sailing up it Captain Cook had to make lots of turns) in our least favourite town of Whittier, the one with 140ins annual rainfall, crumbling asbestos ridden soviet style architecture and.   On our return it appeared that Whittier had been removed and replaced with a beautiful harbour under a sunny blue sky surrounded by colourful mountainsides and dotted with waterfalls and glaciers.

Whittier looks better in the sunshine

I would even say pretty

Bob and Carol on their new boat the Bounty Hunter - we were on it too obviously

Old sea dog

Girdwood day three - Up the ski slope at Girdwood's Alyeska resort

We walked up 200ft to the cable car station, poor Ralph had to make do with looking at mountain bikes and talking to people about the trails, torture for him.  Luckily there were no really nice bikes so he wasn't too disappointed.

We took a cable car down

A photo opportunity too good to miss - the dog had a bad knee.  It didn't look as though it should be able to fit in the bag but seemed to be enjoying it!

Quick dash to the hand pull tram before it got dark

Gorgeous valley

The hand pull tram in all its glory, Fiona was somewhat apprehensive 

We had been driven to the Crow Pass trailhead by a kindly soul named Norm, a friend of the cycle shop owner and he was part of the volunteer team who worked on the trails around Girdwood, it was him who said we should definitely go on the tram.  Thanks Norm and team, it was definitely worth the walk.

The hand tram trail intersected a section of the famous Iditarod http://www.iditarod.com/ - Fiona read an article on it and to be honest it  sounds a bit cruel, all the dogs require medication to stop stomach ulcers and several die each year  - I am not sure why they don't just add a few rest days to help out the dogs, probably because it would make it less rugged.

Girdwood day four -  There shouldn't have been a day four but we received a visit from a neighbour of the Bud and Carols where we were staying to say the ferry we were getting that day had been delayed as it was still stranded in Kodiak due to bad weather.  It was foul weather so we only managed to get out to North Americas finest Laundromat the Girdwood Laundromall to do our washing.  It has $50000 worth of original artwork on the walls including lots of photos of the Northern Lights.

The day the ferry was delayed

While waiting for the bus we met this dog who loved having it's ear scratched

Day five and the ferry is reported to be running so we are transported by The Magic Bus to Whittier which had been magically replaced by its original rainy depressing twin.

The magic bus or bus as we call it in England 

We were intrigued once again about the other passengers on our bus.  We had seen these people emerging from the posh Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage and it is very difficult to explain but they have all the expensive rubbish stuff you see in an outdoor shop. The stuff that costs as much as the good outdoor stuff but is brightly coloured and less functional. Our bus driver enlightened us to the fact that there are 3 types of visitor - the traveller or backpacker, the standard tourist and the "tourons".

Whittier back to its former glory

Check out this amazing leaflet Fiona found - We had always thought that Reindeer were actually real