Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula and the Cook Inlet

    Its Sept 9th , sometimes when you are on the road with different daily destinations, long days and just getting  tired, the days  run into each other and incidents just meld into one blob. From Denali, we spent some time at the visitors center and  then tried to visit the only operating coal mine in Alaska. The college student who did the tours  for the summer had returned to school and the tours were over for the season. This mine has a interesting footprint with Denali bordering it on three sides. Coal was critical for Alaska and the park boundaries actually excluded the area for the mine. I think there is much more to the story if someone investigated.
  We drove south  to Anchorage keeping our eyes open for places to stop at and pictures to take. There were no large animals-just warning signs. The day had started out wet, cool and dreary but like many Fall Alaskan days, the clouds eventually burned off, the rain stops and the sun comes out. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast overlooking the Anchorage bay (Copper Inn). I remember this B&B from a trip Paula and I had in 2001 and remarked it looked like a nice place to stay. Larry and I walked the coastal trail, walked the city, walked the Alaskan Botanical Garden,then  drove through the U of A campus, went to the earthquake park and took in the Anchorage Museum which opened up new areas this past season. The museum was extremely well done and real interesting. The history of native Alaska and special events that took place in Alaska were portrayed in vivid details. We spent two nights in Anchorage and probably could spend a week. That's the thing- everywhere we go exposes me to more things to do than you have time or the energy to get done. Plans change with the weather and opportunity. We are beat at the end of each day and struggle to keep up our pictures, emails, blog and what not. This vacation stuff can be some work.
   Today, we drove to the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped off at the Portage National Forest and visitors center. The glaciers were cool to see and put into perspective of time. Larry had seen the same one 15 years ago and remembered how much closer it was to its current location. A large lake is being left behind from where the glacier had been since most of the water is land locked.
   Again, the drive was full of great views. It started today crisp requiring a long sleeve shirt and vest. By noon the sun was out and vest was not needed and the sleeves were rolled up. We drove until we ended the day on the split in Homer. The Spit is like a jetty with a road that goes out several miles into the Cook Inlet. The marine highway ferries also stop here. Lots of fishing boats and tourist activity. We tried to stay at The Lands Inn Resort at the end but no double bed rooms were available. Larry drew short straw last nite and I got the bed. I had the couch the nite before. We would only settle for two doubles or two queens. The pictures have captions and will tell some of the story but again will be another hodgepodge of things in their raw form, maybe some day the captions will get completed and some more organization will come to them. the pictures are in a google album by date. I have not figured out how to match two cameras of photos with my google's picassa web album and these folder names yet.