our trip to alaska

we had a GREAT time in ALASKA.
bummer part, is that we are home and it's like a memory that was long ago.
but it was great while it lasted!
once again, i out fished donnie. BIG MISTAKE! he said that he was going to make me stay home next time.
we stayed at "the salmon catcher" lodge ~ great place! it was a nicely kept place with all of the accommodations that one could think of ~ dishwasher, washer, dryer, bar-b-q grill, etc.
when we got there, we were informed that there had been a big brown bear hanging around the lodge and had ripped into the garbage can the night before. he actually came back the next night and got into the dumpster. NO walking around outside for the "hunters"!

proof of bear

we had one whole level of one cabin. two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and family room.

one of the other cabins. this picture was taken from our deck at 10:30 p.m. (NO flash!)
how can you sleep when it is this light outside and there's so many things to do and see?

the first day, we drove down to 'homer spit'
the fog was so dense, we couldn't see the ocean from the road.
(but it was still a pretty drive)

"firebush" flowers grow EVERYWHERE! along the roads, on the mountain sides, along the rivers and lakes. they are gorgeous! this picture does not do them justice.

just as we were coming into 'homer', the fog was lifting off the ocean.
(this is one of those timed self portraits, but hey! ya gotta get what you can get!)

at one time, 'doug miller' had filmed a program about 'alaska' and the fishing down at the 'homer spit' he talked up the 'salty dawg saloon', so don wanted to make sure he got a picture of him going into it. (nothing special, but it did have one dollar bills signed and stapled all over the walls, ceiling and everywhere else they could think to staple them. i bet there were over a thousand 'ones' in there.)

donnie and i down on the dock.
(we did find someone else to take the picture for us.)

everywhere in 'alaska' they have weird names for their streets (if you can call them 'streets', most of them are 'dirt roads'.) but we found this street sign and i had to have a picture of it.
(how would you like to live on "poopdeck" street?)

i have been to alaska twice and always seen these signs, but NEVER seen any moose. we actually saw a mountain goat and 2 caribou on the side of the road driving from anchorage to soldotna
sooooo... where are the moose?

this is donnie fishing on the 'russian' river.
the first day that we were suppose to have a fly out trip, the fog was too dense, so they postponed it until the last day and we had to find something else to do that day.

on our way back to the lodge, i FINALLY got to see a moose on the side of the road.

this is what we WANTED to catch when we fished on the 'kenai' river.
this is our guide, "chet" (how funny is that, that our guide would be named "chet"?). and this is the 'king salmon' that the lady that was in the boat with us caught. (it was about 40 lbs)

and these are the two 'kings' that donnie and i caught.
(the two small ones. they were 12 1/2 lbs. each)

fish from our halibut trip.
there were six of us fishing on our boat (with the captain and a first mate). the ocean waves about beat us to death, but only one girl lost her lunch over the side.

our fly out trip to the "kustatan river'.

this is where we landed.
it was amazing how the pilot was able to land into this slew.
(notice the 'firebush' in the background. it was beautiful!)


and these are the 'silvers' that I caught on the 'kustatan river'.
"skunked" donnie, AGAIN!

this was one of the bears we seen on our fly out to the 'big river lakes' at 'wolverine creek'

after he jumped in the lake after the bait on one of the fishing poles, he climbed up on this rock and posed for a picture.

this is one of the fish i caught at 'wolverine creek'.
we caught a ton of fish, but had to release all of them, because they were
too old and soft. (i caught the first fish of the day ~ what a fisher WOMAN!)

this is one of the many fish donnie caught that day. we had a riot catching them.


just to show you how cold it was.
(this is another one of those self portraits).
(i had on long johns, a t-shirt, hoodie, my carhart jacket, and my rain gear, and i was still cold!)


the last morning, 'bill', the manager of the lodge, came down and told us to come out side. this cow and her calf were out munching on his flowers. of course, my camera was in the car at the time. he went down and got it for me, and this picture was taken right off the deck of the cabin.

right after this picture, my camera died! i wanted to get a picture of our cute little candy apple red, "dodge charger" and picture of the lodge, but oh... well... what do you do?

anyway, we're home now and donnie is already saving for our next trip!