Las Vegas and trip summary

Las Vegas

Las Vegas was, as we expected, completely insane. And really, really hot. Too bad you can't "SMSA LÅNA" outside of Sweden... Joakim had to do some unspeakable things... none of which shall be mentioned here, but its safe to say that should he ever set foot in Las Vegas again, he would be in deep trouble. Deep, deep trouble.

On the bright side though, he now has an off shore account and a pet koala so... at least that's good news.

Besides being in Las Vegas, we also travelled, in our... uhmm... second rental car, to Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon, and we stayed in Grand Canyon village one night. And travelled back the following day. On the way back we travelled part of Route 66, and of course had to stop in a small town (Williams) and have some lunch at a typical diner. Joakim's food (Chili burger) consisted of one piece of hamburger meat, two slices of hamburger bread, and all of that covered in chili (con carne). Weird but yums!

Besides gambling, drinking and sightseeing in Las Vegas we also had time to relax at the hotel pool and go to the Penn & Teller magic show at The Rio, which was a lot of fun! The Rio also has the best poker machines... for future reference :)

Summary
Alaska was really amazing, and there is really not anything bad about it at all, except for one stop, in Valdez, and maybe Homer. We had hoped that Valdez would be a cozy small town, but it was nothing of the sort. Besides that, everything else was fantastic, especially driving the Denali Highway, hiking the Exit Glacier and going to the abandoned Kennicott Mines. Oh, and Alaska was almost free from people of the master race (that is, the Germans... in case you didnt know). Which was nice for a change, because they are usually all over the place.

Las Vegas was also a lot of fun... a city based on the idea of partying and gambling.

Top 5 worst (but also best) souvenir T-Shirts in Alaska

1. The Da Vince Cod
2. Bear naked cook
3. Hairy Otter
4. I moose have a hug
5. Bark - B - Q

Top 5 worst (but also best, and completely made up) songs on Alaskas Top List

1. You otter know
2. I cod have lied
3. In the hare tonight
4. It moose have been love
5. Otterside

And the top author in Alaska is, of course, Salmon Rushdie

Must sees in Alaska

1. Denali Highway
2. Denali National Park
3. Kennicott Mines
4. Seward

Mustnt sees in Alaska

1. Valdez
2. Homer

Must eats in Alaska: Puffins

And remember kids, that just because a "town" is on the map doesnt mean that there is more than a gas station there. The town Chicken is on the map, and 21 people live there. Also, since we worry so much, remember to check your cell phone provider so that you have a working cell phone... be safe out there ;)

And... lest we forget... when you find your Puffins, be sure to stack up... it might be a long winter, and you cant eat rein deer dogs all the time (although 11 days straight seemed to work).

Questions:
How do you NOT catch a cold in Alaska? Or were we just unlucky to sit next to this small, moaning-in-my-ear, coughing kid?

Why are all the road signs in Alaska full of bullet holes?

Things to do in Las Vegas

1. Gamble
2. Drink
3. Look at people
4. Collect the whole set of "prostitute cards"
5. Stay inside when the sun is up
6. Sleep
7. Gamble
8. Eat buffets, no matter what meal...
9. Talk to Officer Stephanie Hernandez of the Highway Patrol (she was real nice btw)
10. Have a part in an upcoming Cops episode
11. Have ALL, we mean ALL, I repeat, ALL, insurances possible
12. Oh... and have fun amidst hang - overs and MSS (money separation syndrome)... and finally...
13. Get out of Las Vegas and see Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.

And, to commemorate the holy land (that is USA), we end with this picture:

Well there feller, you aint from around here are you boy

Pictures from Las Vegas and Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon

New York, New York... in Las Vegas...

Sophie at Grand Canyon

Taken from the top of the Stratosphere, which is at the end of the strip, overlooking Las Vegas

Joakim and Sophie in Venice...

Joakim getting VERY addicted

View over Grand Canyon

Sunset at Grand Canyon

The back side of Hoover Dam

The Luxor hotel (where we stayed at)

Homer

Its early in the morning here in Homer, and we are getting ready to leave to go back to Anchorage, to catch the flight to Las Vegas.

Homer was, interesting, albeit nowhere near as cozy as Seward. Like Seward, its surrounded by mountains, but it lacks that distinct feel that Seward had.

Homer consisted of two parts, one was the "downtown" area, with shops, art galleries and restaurants. The other part was what is called the spit, which is a gravel "arm" that stretches out in the bay. The spit can best be described as a cute small town/nuclear waste dump/pirate nest/place where ship goes to die/boat harbour/fish processing plant. It can hardly be described as beautiful, but definately interesting.

Had dinner at a cozy place yesterday, called Cafe Cups. Sophies plate was so full of food that when she was finished eating, it looked as if she hadnt touched the food at all. Huge serving sizes and really tasty :)

Catch of the day... 150 lb (roughly 75 kilos) of Halibut. Thats a big fish.

"Shipyard" on The Spit

Cozy houses at the very end of The Spit.

The house of the feeding eagle lady... whatever that is.

Shops on the spit

Homer and The Spit as seen from above

The Salty Dawg Saloon. A place to get drunk and sing pirate songs.

SEE YOU IN VEGAS! :)

Arriving in Homer

Rest stop on the way to Homer

Just arrived in Homer, greeted by a bearded lady (yes, a complete full beard... Joakim was jealous... and she looked like Hurley in Lost although not as fat) to a hostel full of chaos where you are required to clean bathrooms for 15 minutes everyday. This will be interesting. The hostel seems very, uhmm, ecologic, but it was the only one here so...

Rest stop on the way to Homer

Upon arriving in Homer, you drive over a high pass and is met by the most beautiful scenery over the bay. In the distance, the active volcano (check) Mt. Augustine looms. Sophie checked her second active volcano of the list :)

View from the view point as you drive into Homer

Mt Augustine as seen from the view point

So, will spend two nights here before we head back to Anchorage to catch a flight to Las Vegas. More on that later.

Pictures from Seward

First off, R.I.P. George Carlin.

Yesterday we spent all day on a cruise to the Ailik glacier. The trip was extremely cold, especially the part when we got outside on the front of the boat once we got closer to the glacier.

On our way to the glacier we saw some puffins, bald eagles, otters and some humpback whales. We also saw some Orcas, which are basically dolphin sized animals with the same colours as a killer whale. Add to that some seals and sea lions. Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out that great, but it was great to see nonetheless.

We got up real close to the glacier, and waited there for 30 minutes or so, which was enough time to see a big part of the glacier loosen and fall into the water. It was quite impressive, and very loud.

Here are some pics of the trip and also from the glacier hike we did the day before yesterday.

This is the ice we had to plow through to get to the Ailik glacier

In front of the glacier

The glacier, just as that big piece is falling off.

Joakim throwing "macka" at Fox Island, where we stopped for dinner.

Joakim on top of the, uhmm well at least on top of a part of, the Exit Glacier.

Huge crevasse. Can you see Sophie?

Oh, there she is... down below is our guide Brendan Ryan and a french couple.

Yes, this is a toilet. Its from the Internet Cafe with the uSucks.

From the cruise

Sophie before stepping on the glacier.

Sophie outside of Exit Glaciers office right before we headed off for the hike.

Seward

Picked up a small, small car at Anchorage airport two days ago, and drove 3 scenic hours south to Seward. After having driven, and graciously been transported in :), a huge RV, the new car felt like it was really really small, almost like driving a "boxcar".

Arrived in Seward at lunch time and took the opportunity to dine some sea food at a great place just at the beginning of town. Upon entering Seward, you are immediately struck by the fact that it is a beautiful small town. Its also more cohesive than most american towns, expecially alaskan towns. The town is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and sports a nice little small boat harbour.

The hostel we are staying at, Moby Dick Hostel, is run by a swiss family. Not swedish... swiss... from switzerland. Two different countries. Its really nice, and the bed in our room is really soft, and extremely nice.

First day we spent wandering around downtown (which was actually possible to do since this is a real town). And, today we spent 4 hours hiking to and up the Exit Glacier, which is located nearby.

The first part of the hike took us across a riverbed, that was not yet fully covered by water. In one week, no one will be able to traverse it, but today it was possible although we did get a little wet. After that, we headed up a steep rock slope, until we got to an edge, which we traversed down unto the actual glacier. We put on helmets and crampons (for our feet, so we wouldnt slip). Its quite amazing how steep ascents and descents you can do, on ice, with your crampons on. Spent maybe 2 hours on the glacier ice hiking, and it was really fun.

First part of this Alaska - trip, Joakim got sick... and of course... now its Sophie's turn to get sick. Boo-fucking-hoo. Struck with a fever, and more snot in her nose than ice on the glacier, she still soldiered on. She deserves a golden star... if not two. Regardless, its definately going on her report card.

Tomorrow is the last day in Seward, and it will be spent on an 8 hour cruise of Resurection Bay, watching wildlife and calving tide water glaciers. We hope to see Orca Whales (spackhuggare in swedish), and a bunch of other whales.

We are not uploading photos today because we are at a cafe in Seward, and lo! and behold, they only have Macinhtosh computers!? And we have no idea how to resize pictures here... and neither does anyone working here so... we will have to upload them in Homer.

iMac, uSuck!

All hail Windows, saviour of mankind.

Valdez - Matanuska - Anchorage

Back in Anchorage, just having returned our big RV car. We left, it should be noted, in almost the same condition as we got it in. No damages to the car, except a table and a curtain that had shook loose, which must be common.

Main street, Valdez

Valdez was not a very exciting town, although the trip there was very nice. While there, it was completely clouded in and it felt like it would start to pour down rain any second. It didnt, but we didnt see the sun at all during our stay there.

Sophies hooked... on a feeling?

Harbour, Valdez

Thinking that the weater in this area really was crap, we were suprised to know, that when we drove away from there, we drew through the clouds, and over the clouds that hung over Valdez, it was a beautiful, sunny, cloud free day. Must've been only Valdez that was clouded in, due to the fact that it was located near waterlevel, surrounded by big mountains. The drive away from there was at times so steep that Sophie really had to push the pedal to the... uhmm... metal...

Drive from Valdez to Matanuska

We drove all the way to the Matanuska glacier, where we were briefly considered taking a guided tour. We decided against it since we had learned that you could access that glacier by car. So, we drove up to the road and started driving down. It was a steep steep gravel road, but we stopped once we got to a tree bridge, and decided we didnt want to drive any further.

So, we turned the motorhome around (which was no small feat), and drove all the way up again. Due to the fact that the motorhome is heavy, and we were on a steep gravel road, we could really not afford to slow down, so Sophie just honked the horn, prayed to the Holy Mother Milk Bone, turned the corners and hoped for the best. After we had come up, we decided to hike down, which took us about 20 minutes to reach the entrance to the road that would take us to the glacier.

Fungerar den har jordskarningen aven i Sverige? ;)

After having conferred with them briefly we decided on taking the car anyway, since they said it would take 2 hours to walk to the glacier. Of course, we should have known better, because few people here are really capable of measuring time when walking since they never ever walk anywhere. However, we did hike up the steep hill, just to get the RV and drive down again. This time we made it across the tree bridge, and entered the glacier road.

Sophie on top of Matanuska Glacier

It took us approximately 10 minutes to drive (which wouldve been a 30 minute walk... we were driving sloooooow), but in the end it was worth it. We got really close to the glacier, and it was really huge. Leaving the park, we found an abandonded Gift Store that we parked in front of, with views over the valleys and the mountains, and of course, over the glacier, and we spent the night there.

Our most scenic overnight stay yet. Drinking coffee, overlooking the glacier.

The abandoned Gift Store near Matanuska

Early next morning, we got up and headed back for Anchorage, with some stops on the way. One such stop was the Musk Oxen farm, close to Palmer. The musk oxen do not produce a musk (0dor), and are not oxen at all. In fact, even though they look like cows, they are more closely related to mountain goats. Once you get up close, you can see how that works actually. They are also very cute btw :)

Two Musk Oxen

We also stopped in Alaska Native Heritage Center, which cost 50 dollars for two people, and really was a waste of money. It said it would take half a day walking around the museum, but again... nobody can measure anything here when it comes to walking. We were thoroughly done after 1.5 hours. And that includes Sophie spending half an hour in the gift store really trying hard to find something to buy.


Once back in Anchorage, our hostel manager for the next night let us park the RV in his parking lot, and let us sleep there. Then, we washed our clothes, and went to walmart and bought a couple of movies (Be Kind Rewind, Requiem for a dream) that we watched. And then we just fell asleep.


Today is "do nothing day". Tomorrow we will pick up a tiny tiny car that will take us to Seward and Homer for 6 days.


But more on that later :)

Denali Highway - Chitina/Kennicott - Valdez

We have posted a lot this day, and the posts, which are mostly pictures can be found by clicking these links:

Food recipe

Denali/McKinley pics

The Metropolies of Alaska

Animals

Taken at our camp site on Denali Highway

After the river rafting in Nenanna river, we headed south, and then east bound on the denali highway, which is a 130 mile gravel road that starts in Cantwell. The first part of the road brought us spectacular views of the Alaska range. Too bad the weather wasnt as good as we had hoped it would be. With 56 miles left to go, 19:00, we stopped and spent the night at a little wayside.

Coffee (and cookie) stop, Day 2 Denali Highway

The next day, we left early, and a good thing we did so. The weather was great, and there was virtually no wind, which enabled us to get some really nice views, and photos. We even came across two eagles, one which can be seen among the animal pictures linked to above.

Taken early in the morning, day 2, Denali Highway

Where is Eddie? My god, he's been ate!

Leaving the Denali highway, we drove all the way to Sourdough, where we had lunch, a bacon and egg sandwich. Yums! Continued after that all the way to Glennallen, where we got ourselves some bus tickets to go to a place called Kennicott.

Sophie, gearing up the "rattvaxel" :D

In Kennicott there used to be, up until 1938, a copper mining operation called Kennecott mines. But, in 1938, they all got on the same train and just left. Much is still left since that day.

The abandoned Kennecott Mines

Early next morning we left for Kennicott, from our RV Park in Chitina. Since the McCarthy Road, that leads to Kennicott, was in such bad condition, we were not allowed to travel it in our RV. Therefore, we had to take a bus that took us all the way in. Once on the road, however, we realized it actually wasnt in that bad of a condition, but we probably wouldnt have wanted to travel it ourselves anyway.

Mt Dome, overlooking the Root Glacier in Kennicott.

The root glacier, and 16000 ft Mt Blackburn in the background

Once there we checked out the Kennicott town, and looked at the buildings. Quite amazing. Since it was a really sunny and nice day we decided to hike the 50 minutes or so it would take to get down to the Root Glacier which was located nearby.

View from the Glacier Lodge

Ended the day in Kennicott with a cheesecake and an Ice Tea at Kennicott Glacier Lodge, overlooking Mt Blackburn and the glacier valley. Immediately upon return to Chitina, we had a quick meal, and drove off for the coastal town of Valdez.

Remember, stay alert. This is prime, I repeat, PRIME, grizzly bear habitat

We didnt realize just how high up we were, but once we turned left and started heading for Valdez, it became very clear. We travelled approx 120 miles, and it was all downhill, and the views where quite spectacular.

Dinner in Valdez

As of now, its 11 am, we are in Valdez (bear paw campground), and getting ready to hike. We are also looking forward to our second! shower. We will spend the night here in Valdez, and then head back up to Matanuska for some glacier hiking.

Next time you hear from us will be from Anchorage.