Back to family visit.

I took a short break from my sheep hunt for a bit, so I'm gonna post some more while I can.

This was on the Denali Highway. We're looking towards the Alaska Range.

This was not taken to prove Chase brushed his teeth, it was 11:30 P.M.

Denali camp.

This is on the Parks Highway at Hurricane Gulch.

This was on the Denali Highway also.

On the way home we went to Whittier. This picture was for Boyd, we talked about him getting on with the Alaska Railroad.

This was in Whittier.

On the way home after Whittier, there was a wreck and we were told it would be a couple of hours.

So we made the best of it. That's a pistachio shell in the foreground. They became projectiles.

Kenai Lake

Can you believe all of this fit comfortably in one pickup? We stopped on the way back from Homer to check out Kenai Lake. We're facing the lake.

What can be said?

Not all halibut

I've been halibut fishing several times before and there's always something besides halibut being caught. But there were two firsts for me on this trip. I've seen these before in Hawaii in  about a foot of water, but Lee caught this brittle star at about 200 feet. I don't know how he felt it taking his bait. The bait is bigger than the catch!

This is another first, a huge octopus. Lee almost had one up and it got away. Then the deck hand hooked into a fish and handed the pole to Chase and he reeled up this monster. Pretty cool and HEAVY!.

That's a five gallon bucket they're trying to stuff him into.

Homer

Good times ahead.

One of my favorite things about Homer. You can always find eagles.
The Nauti-lady, our fishing vessel.

On our way to catch that beautiful delicious fish.
Paul holding the biggest of our catch.

Exit Glacier

Our first stop on the Kenai Peninsula was Exit Glacier. Truly incredible.

It was a beautiful day, it's hazy because of several wildfires going on across the state. But it was perfect to get their first little hike in. Lee and Bill striking a pose.

Boyd is sampling some moose nuggets. I told him they weren't chocolate. There's a mosquito sampling some Kentucky boy on his cheek.

There were several trails to the glacier. They had the top roped off so we couldn't touch it. So we went to the bottom (toe) of it and there was water raging over the trail. I already said I want my people to see Alaska! That means touch it too. So we found a rough trail through the woods and they all got to touch it. Here, they are walking away from the scene of the crime.

And this is as far as we went. Next stop, Homer!

Been busy!

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been burnin' that proverbial candle at both ends and the middle. My last post just said that my dear family was up for an Alaskan adventure. And we did venture out as much as we could in too little time. So' I'll start where I left off. With 4 beefy family members coming to visit, I felt it would be cruel to stuff them all into my ext cab truck knowing all the miles and hours we were going to be putting on the road. And, well, I've been wanting a crew cab 4x4 for hunting and fishing for a couple of years. Why not now? So, when Boyd got off the plane, we went shopping. It was a good plan and worked out quite well. And it gets better gas milage than my other truck!

On the day the cousins showed up, I took Boyd to the House of Harly. You have to have your picture takin' with the bear. It's an unwritten law.

You won't see this anywhere else either. This is cut from a piece of the Alaska pipeline. Very cool.

Any time I have family coming to visit, I desperately want to show them Alaska and all its beauty. I have no control over nature, and unfortunately the bears did not cooperate. The dall sheep however, that's another story! I've seen this a couple of times before, but it doesn't happen often. So I was delighted they did this while they were here. This yew and lamb are right down by the Seward highway just 10 miles from Anchorage.

On our first full day together, we headed down to the Kenai Peninsula. This was one of many stops along the way.