What a Country!!! Blog # 12

   It was late afternoon a few days ago when Sweet Lynda turned to me and said, "My wonderful, darling husband; (Those may not have been the EXACT words), here we are surrounded by gorgeous snow-cappped mountains, a blazing campfire crackling at our feet, the aromatic assimilation of thick wood smoke oozing into the pores of our skin to a point where we no longer need to worry about deodorant or a shower, food on our plates, the warm sun beating down on our backs, mosquitos flying in from all over. You know hon," she said, "It just doesn't get any better then this!"  And of course, she's right. This a wonderful and exciting voyage.

    We rolled out of Anchorage last Friday morning after filling up this monster with $ 4.19 a gallon gas and making a quick stop at Fred Myers for a few more groceries. What a lovely fifty mile or so southeastern drive along the waters of the Turnagain Arm. Many turnouts for viewing and photo ops. We downed part of a yucky lunch at the Girdwood turnoff and drove a few miles over to the Alyeska Resort. A sweetheart of a hotel where we could surely stand to hang out for awhile. Anyway, we rode the ski tram up to the top of the mountain for a look-see across the countryside. Whew! Colder then a bear up there. There was also a restaurant, a snack bar and other amenities as well.

   We drove another 20 miles or so down Whittier direction. Bad signage or no signage caused a bit of confusion with the tunnel and visitor's center. When we finally got there, the visitor's center turned out to be one of the best ever. All of the extra interactive add-on features not normally found in such places. We went back a second time the next day. We checked in at the nearby National Forest Service Winniwaw Campground where we ended up dry camping for the next three nights. A wonderful, scenic location featuring the Creator's awesome touch. On Saturday morning we drove the Blazer through the alternating one-way-at-a-time tunnel ($12), and into Whittier and connected up with Jim and Shirley, our dear friends from Akron, who had just disembarked from the Princess cruise ship and were boarding the Alaska Railway train for the continuation of their journey northbound. It was so good to see them for a few minutes. 

After that, it was a bit of breakfast at the Anchor Inn. 

    We just lolly-gaged around the campsite for a couple of days(see first paragraph), napped a little and did quite a bit of reading, crossword puzzles, sudoku and the like. Good idea to park for a day or two now and then. My sister, Vonda, called about 5 am one morning. It was 9 am where she lives in Michigan. She had forgotten about the time difference. We had a nice chat. We both have talked to all the kids in the past few days. Alan is at a conference at Saddleback church in California, Brad's hanging out in KY, Angel's taking care of her family in Michigan, Barb's doing the same thing with her clan in West Virginia and Evans is in Kazakhstan with wife, Teresa, and Jasmine. We just talked with them, visually and audibly, earlier this morning on Skype. They are working on the adoption of baby Sophie. She will be two in July. They have sent some great pictures of her.

   This is our third day in Seward. We stopped at the gorgeous Summit Lodge at mile 47 on the way down here and did the omelet thing again. May try to do it on the way back too. An absolutely delightful setting. Seward is a good-size town down here on Resurrection Bay. We did the Alaska Sea Life Center on the waterfront yesterday. $18 for seniors but a very special 2 or 3 hours. Real live creatures everywhere. If you ever get the chance. . . 

   We're parked at the Stoney Creek campground but tomorrow we're packing it up and heading over to the other side of the Kenai and down to Homer and Homer Spit campground. Here in Seward, RV's by the hundreds are parked along the waterfront. I think that's how we'll be in Homer. We'll see.

   Words from a 16th century poet:   "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

   Well, I've got to get to work on my to-do list. My sweet Lynda is doing laundry at the moment. Rainy and chilly here today but all is well. Praise the Lord!

Love and blessings. . . . . on the road with Winston & Lynda