Summer is coming to an End

 

 Another month has slipped by in the blink of an eye.  We have two weeks left in Fairbanks.  It’s hard to believe, it seems like we just pulled in and it was snowing when we got here.  We’ve experienced the midnight sun, seen Denali on multiple occasions, caught Alaskan Salmon (and Lake Trout), panned for gold and found $27 worth and all sorts of other touristy things.  It’s finally dark enough to see the aurora.

We found the best pie at the Hilltop north of Fox, tried almost all of the breweries and hit up too many restaurants.  We’ve hit our goal of volunteering at least once monthly and have taken quite a few drives.  The Alaskan summer turned to fall in the flip of a switch.  It was in the 30s again this morning and the leaves are really changing.  

One of our roadtrips was down to Homer on a six day, 1300 mile down and back.  The whole trip is beautiful and I’ll cover some highlights.  We did some shift trading with some coworkers and took advantage.  The first night we made it to South Denali viewpoint and the next morning we were not disappointed by the southern view of the mountain.  

Day two brought us down through Anchorage, out through Girdwood and out to Hope.  Hope is off the beaten path, 17 miles one way.  It’s a cute little mining and fishing town that is pretty well preserved and worth a ride out.  It was a busy day out there but we still found parking with the trailer attached.  The Soldotna area and Ninilchik were very busy due to Salmon Fest so we stayed south of Ninilchik at a rest area overlooking the ocean.  We had a nice dinner and a sunset.  

In Homer we stayed at the KOA which is up on the hill outside of town.  If you find yourself here, pay the extra for a cliffside view site.  You’re welcome!  I wanted to get a last minute trip on the water and we talked about going over to Seldovia, but the wind and rain did not cooperate.  It was fun hanging out on the Spit and checking the area out.  The Salty Dawg was packed and we were barely able to walk through it, let alone get a drink.  The Lighthouse Restaurant has some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.  The halibut was done perfectly.  Try them out.  After a few days in Homer and going to the Spit, we headed back north.

We made stops in Soldotna and Cooper Landing on the Kenai.  We made an impromptu overnight at Quartz Creek and I got in some fishing.  The Reds (Sockeye) were so thick it was like fishing with dynamite.  I also hooked up a nice little lake trout.  The area is beautiful and I think this won’t be our last trip of the Kenai.      After our overnight we headed all the way back.  It was a long drive, but our boondock spot near Healy had an inconsiderate parker already there.