Kayaking Robe Lake, Valdez, AK

Today was a cloudy with a bit of drizzle, the temps were in the 60’s. We took the kayaks out to Robe Lake in Valdez. So far these were the calmest waters that I’ve paddled in.















Valdez







Tonsina (haunted) Lodge, Charlie the ghost wasn't around



Fireweed flowers

After paddling we took of for Anchorage, ran into some nice weather and some rain. Stopped off for dinner at Sheep Mountain Lodge where a bicycle race was starting tomorrow, the Fireweed 400, the lodge was only serving spaghetti and salad, they were already out of salad when we got there, so we had had some vegetarian spaghetti and bread for dinner.



Heading back to Anchorage

Sea kayaking Valdez Bay, AK

Today we took kayaks out on Valdez Bay. The temperature was in the 60’s and it was cloudy, the water was calm.

In the evening we went to pot luck with Mark’s friend and who made an even better Halibut Olympia than the one we had last night at the restaurant, along with fish tacos and some delis his salmon dip.

Road trip to Valdez, AK

Today we drove 320 miles to Valdez to visit one of Mark’s friend and go paddling. The weather was on the cool side and we did encounter some scattered rain on the way in places. The roads going to Valdez is very scenic with tons of curves and good pavement, definitely a great road for a motorcycle ride.

We had dinner at Mike’s Pizza Palace in Valdez, a Greek restaurant. Mark and I both had halibut Olympia for dinner.





Mark throwing rocks





Caribou Creek







Thompson Pass approx. 2700 feet



Off-roading with the minivan









Bridal Vail Falls in Keystone Canyon

Bicycling Coastal Trail, AK

Another nice day, turning sunny and low 70‘s. After walking Comet in the woods, we had so much fun bicycling yesterday, we decided to ride to the end of the Coastal Trail. The trail is awesome and has a bunch of hills and twisties, the scenery is also very nice as the trail travels by the coast of the Cook Inlet. It’s pretty chilly near the water.



Coastal Trail



Twisties ahead



Cook Inlet ahead



Mark shooting pictures of moose

On the way back we ran in to two Beemer bikes from Illinois, and stopped to chit chat for a while with the riders, they were from Springfield, IL. It was cool to see Illinois MC plates up in AK.



Illinois riders



Mark and I with the Anchorage skyline behind us



Downtown Anchorage from the Coastal Trail



Dinner was so good yesterday, we rode back to downtown Anchorage and ate at Humpy’s again, this time I had Salmon tacos and Midnight Sun Oosik Amber, very good food and beer. Today we did 35 miles.

Bicycling Anchorage, AK

Today was another day of clear skies and low 70‘s temperatures. Started the day walking Comet in the woods.



Forget-me-not Alaska state flower

Mark and I rode the bicycles from Chester Creek Trail to the Coastal Trail to downtown Anchorage and had dinner Humpy’s http://www.humpys.com/
I had a crab roll and Midnight Sun Kodiak Brown Nut Ale, really good stuff, and great outdoor seating.



This Police fish downtown has a camera mounted inside



Dangerous Mud flats





West Chester Lagoon

Short ride and bike night in Anchorage

I was pretty out of it all day with only 4 hours of sleep and almost 7 hours on the plane. The plane would have arrived in Anchorage in 6.25 hours by as it was about to land and the wheels where about to touch the run way we shot back up in to the sky, apparently there was another plane on our run way and we needed to wait until it cleared. 30 minutes later we were finally on the ground.

As soon as I got off the plane the clouds disappeared and it was a beautiful day in the low 70’s. After lunch, I took a short walk in the woods. I didn’t see any moose but did find some wild flowers.



Since this was my third visit to Anchorage and I still haven’t been to bike night in Anchorage, I decided to check it out tonight. But first Mark and I rode out to Beluga Point on Seward Highway. It seems that since it stays light most of the night, there is no rush and you can ride until midnight in 'daylight'.

On the way back in to town we rode though to Potters Valley, where there are some nice and twisty roads.







Curves through Potters Valley



Bike night in Anchorage

We finished off the night at Chilkoot Charlie's, a local bar and dance club. I must have gotten a second wind because I was no longer tired. It never got dark tonight, it was twilight outside when we left the bar, around 1AM and sunrise was suposed to come up at 4AM.