Seward

7/12 - 7/14
Seward Military Resort and RV Park
Partly cloudy with showers now and then

This is a military resort and what a great place within walking distance to Seward.  Great free showers, and laundry $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry.

 I think every small town we have been to has a brewery, Seward was no exception.  Time for another brew...?  sure..!

While in Seward we met up with fellow Airstreamer from
Port Angeles WA;  Dan, Irene, and their 9 month old Great Dane, Rascal.

Downtown Seward













While in Seward we went out on an all day glacier and wildlife tour with Kenai Fjords Tour, and we had so much fun.

Leaving the harbor

Beautiful scenery everywhere

On our way to Fox Island to pick up a few more people.

We were on our way and suddenly the Captain remembered we needed to go to Fox Island to pick up a few people that had spent the night there.  You can see on the TV Monitor that we had to turn around and head back to the dock at Fox Island.

Pulling up to the dock at Fox Island

A bit blurry but that's what you get when the Orcas are moving.

Stellar Sea Lions.

A few rain drops on my lens

Holgate Glacier, kind of rainy here.

Rainy, but a magnificent view of the glacier.



















Actually got to see a fairly large calving, luckily I caught the last of it at the center bottom of picture

Sort of close to one of the many islands, of the Chiswell Islands.

A little Tufted Puffin Family

A bit out of focus, but I kept it anyway, after-all this is my journal.

This rock island is straight up and down and yet these Gulls and Puffins still find a place to nest.

On the way home another Orca was spotted.














Bee Hive Island, thousands of different Gulls and Puffins swarming around.

More Stellar Sea Lions.









This was a really good tour that was a full day and great people.




The next day Joe went out on a fishing trip and came back with two halibut and three bottom fish.  The resort that we are staying at has two very large fish cleaning houses, including use of a filet knife, saran wrap, freezer wrap and you could buy bags for use in their free shrink wrap machines.  The also have a large freezer room.

Some one brought in a 168 lb Halibut, which is nice if you have someone that knows how to make steaks and fillets in something that big

For me these smaller 40 - 50 lb halibuts are much easier to handle.

Part of Joe's catch

Inside one of the fish houses.  Two long tables on the edges of the fish house for filleting your fish and one table in the middle for wrapping your catch

Shrink wrap machine.  This is the smaller one.  The larger one could take 6 bags.












We had a great time in Seward and the Military Resort was fantastic.  They also had Yurts, hotel, townhouses and houses.  This is a very popular place  we were lucky to be able to stay there for a few days.  We would have stayed longer but they were booked.  You can make reservations for a year in advance.  The deck hands from the fishing boat Joe went on came to the resort to pick everyone up, which was really convenient.

That's it for Seward.

Thanks for stopping  by, have a blessed day.

Nancy


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Anchorage in the rain

6/23 - 6/27
Elmendorf/Richardson AFB Fam Camp
aka JBER

Another very large joint base, a wooded campground very close to the the gate, just off Muldoon Rd.  I've really been too sick to do much of anything.  Found the Ulu Factory and bought the traditional knife and cutting board.  It sure is sharp, just need to get use to it.  It has now rained solid for 3 days.  Good time to recuperate and read.  I read Amanda Knox Memoirs.  Very fascinating to hear about her side of the story and how sad that she had to go through this ordeal., especially when there is no evidence. It appears that the Italian court system, at least in Perugia,  has really screwed.

Not much to write about when you are sniffling, sneezing, coughing, then repeat 99 more times.  Tomorrow will be much better.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Continuing West

2/23 - 2/28/2013
El Paso, TX
Wilcox, AZ
Catalina State Park, AZ

Heading west our next stop was EL Paso, TX where we encountered a huge dust storm in fact we stayed an extra day because of it.  When we left the following day the skies were clear and no sign of a dust storm.  I was expecting the dust to hang in the air like the forest fires do in Montana.

Almost the same pose the next day

Dust storm

The next morning














The most exciting thing on I-10 between El Paso and Arizona, besides no wind, was three big trucks pass us (we always go 60 mph) carrying the Budweiser Clydesdale horse teams.

We were headed for Benson AZ to Benson AZ to the  Escapee Park and then I remembered that I had a $25.00 coupon from Good Sam, for any Good Sam RV park and I found one in Wilcox, AZ for $27.00 including tax, this shortened our trip by about 50 miles.
I got the coupon from Camping World because we extended our membership for two years at a cost of $25.00.  The best part of this is that I actually remembered where the coupon was hidden away in my purse.

The next morning we are on our way again to Catalina State Park, a little north-east of Tuscon.  They were completely booked so we boondocked in the group campground and then decided to stay there for three nights which also gave me the opportunity to give Joe a much needed hair cut. The showers were hot and lots of water. There are many hikes, we went on a few in the mornings.  I am still trying to recover from my bout with the crud and I just plain run out of energy so taking a nap every afternoon and sitting out in the warm sun.  The first night we were here the temp was down to 22', our catalytic heater worked hard all night keeping the inside temp about 55', sounds cold but we were warm snuggled under the covers.

Early in the morning waiting for the sunrise, that is snow on the mountains.

Along one of the many trails

Cactus Wren

Our Buddy Boy

The end of the trail

This state park allows dogs on almost all of their hiking trails.

I almost forgot while here we went out to dinner at The Keg.  I remember going to one about 25 years ago so we thought we would give it a try.  A little pricey but I had the best prime rib that I have ever eaten, cut it with a fork, a big portion too.  I am not much of a meat eater but I would definitely  go back there again.


Thanks for stopping by, drive safe

Nancy

1/29 - 2/4/13
New Orleans, LA
Naval Air Station, JRB
Belle Chase, LA

Lots of pictures and a glimpse over the last week.

This is a new area for us, about 10 miles south of New Orleans in Belle Chase. The RV Park is new, open only about a year as is had been completely destroyed by Katrina. The base is a training base, therefore the Fighter Jets are very loud doing "touch and go" and circling around the base , but I don't mind; it's a great area for these fine men and women to get all the training they need.  One thing that most people don't realize is that every morning when the National Anthem is played over the loud speaker everyone comes to a stop and stands at attention.  All cars stop, if you are outside walking the dog, you stop, if you are sitting outside you stand up at attention without talking.  This also happens in the evening when they play taps.  It's quite hart-warming to see everyone come to a stop and come to attention.

This is Super Bowl Weekend and all the Mardi Gras festivities are also going on.  We gathered up our courage and headed for New Orleans.  It wasn't too bad, we drove to the ferry dock and took the ferry over to Canal Street, then the Street Car to the French District.  Here they are called Street Cars, not Trolleys and with a map it was easy to get around.

We went into New Orleans by ferry two times and to one parade while here.

We were on the West Bank and road the ferry across the Mississippi River.

Jackson Square is to the right and the Cafe du Monde is behind me.  This pink fellow turned as I took the picture and I didn't have a dollar to give him for a front picture.

The original coffee house in the French Quarters Market from the mid 1800's.  Of course we stopped and had our coffee and beignets. They were hot and delicious.

The numbers arrived by barge down the Mississippi River

About 5,000 Raven Fans had a march down the street stopping all traffic, the crowd became wider and wider and louder and louder and went on for about 25 minutes.  The police didn't try to stop it they were just present on motorcycles and horses.  I think everything was peaceful, we stood on the steps to Harrah's to watch everything.

Lots going on every where, lots of stages and good music.

Mardi Gras Indians, a tradition since the beginning of Mardi Gras














Views of the Alli Krew Parade

Way too many pictures (I only posted 1/10 of them) but this was the first time we have ever experienced all the organized craziness.
As we get closer to Fat Tuesday there are more and more parades.  Several had to be changed to a different day because of Super Bowl.

Tomorrow we move over to the RV park at the University of New Orleans, about 20 miles north right on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  Here we will meet about 50 other Airstreamers for a Rally so we will be in the area for another week. We have many activities planned and I will try to post every day as to what we are doing.

Safe travels to everyone, have a great day.

Nancy