Is it Sunday already? Wow…what a week, especially for Greg & Helen. They were able to fly to Kodiak Island and spend a few days with Greg’s cousin. We are publishing a separate blog just for their fun adventure and of course, complete with their gorgeous pictures. Please do not miss reading about their fun.
Dave and I stayed in Wasilla/Palmer area which is just about 40 miles NE of Anchorage as we had a very important date to keep on July 24th. Yes, it was Dave’s birthday, but more importantly, it was axle upgrade day. We dropped off the Mini-T to Six Robblees’ in Anchorage at 8 a.m. They supply and install heavy-duty truck, trailer, and RV products. The manufacturer of our Mini-T had installed axles which were rated for the size and weight of our trailer, but just barely. In fact, they now install a beefer version on newer models. After 10,000 miles of usage on some very bumpy roads, Dave noticed one tire was wearing unevenly and felt it best to be proactive rather than have something bad happen on some of the remote roads we travel on.
We had a fun day bopping around Anchorage while the trailer work was completed. The highlight was eating lunch at Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. Many reviewers said it was the best pizza in Alaska. It does rate as the best we had eaten so far. And just as good, or maybe even better than the pizza, was dessert. They have many scrumptious sounding desserts to choose from and Dave chose a Stout Chocolate Cake served warm. It was decadent and oh so good. Our server even put a candle on it for Dave’s birthday. When we left a 1 p.m., there was a long wait to get in. We had arrived just in time!
We also stopped at Earthquake Park. Anchorage was also hit hard by the Good Friday earthquake in 1964, where an entire neighborhood slid into the ocean. Records show the 9.2 earthquake lasted 4 minutes. There were informative plaques, with one showing the how far out the tsunami waves went after the quake.
With Greg & Helen back from their adventure (after a fog delay canceled their first flight out), we headed to the Kenai Peninsula, below Anchorage. Since we had to drive through Anchorage, we made a quick lunch stop at Moose’s Tooth so Greg & Helen could enjoy their pizza as well.
Our first stop was the small town of Hope, which like many other towns was founded in 1896 because…you guessed it, gold was found! A mining camp was set up next to Resurrection Creek where the gold was found. Hope was also significantly damaged in the 1964 earthquake and the mouth of the creek widened and flattened and became an ideal breeding ground for Pink Salmon. So now, Hope is a great fishing location when the salmon are running and you can pan for gold too! As you can see by the pictures below, they still have several of the original early 1900 cabins and many are still lived in.
We have arrived in Homer, AK and are looking forward to more fun adventures.
Alaska gorgeous scenery continues Brenda, New trailer axles for my birthday! Dave, I love Pizza Bones Murphy
Happy Birthday to Dave 🎉!!
Love Dave’s smiling birthday face!!! Happy to know your axels are upgraded and ready to tackle the seemingly unbelievably challenging roadways.
Those cabins look extremely rustic, but that campground looks incredibly maximized! Gotta love that frontier spirit.
Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.
Beautiful sunrise
Happy Birthday Dave that. Chocolate cake looked so good. I sm a chocolate lover as well
Those houses are tiny. Easier to heat I guess. Lots of interesting history. Did you get rich panning gold
I hope Murphy is doing well, not much mention of him in the previous post nor this one. He likes traveling to you know. Especially with mom and dad