Year: 1989

Friday, July 14, 1989
David up early and mowing in woods then went to Hemmerly’s to update computer. I did some unpacking and looked the garden over. Things sure did grow and most beds look good, but everything seems so small and overgrown.
Went through mail and newspapers. J.G. Clark and Forrest Loudenslager died while I was gone and Madge Guthery married Marshall on June 18th.

Thursday, July 13, 1989
Kathi made duplicate video tape of our Seward trip to take home for David.
Kathi called me at 6:30- had gone to sleep about 4:00 a.m.! Breakfast of rolls, coffee and juice. Called Royce to tell her not to come to clean tomorrow. Dug some of Kathi’s Shasta Daisy plants. Hard to leave her beautiful, comfortable home at 7:30. To airport via Minnesota. Checked in our six bags and a box (Mary had 2!). Looked at bird display. Goodbye to Kathi at gate. She’s done so much for us and her next visitors arrive Wednesday from Reno. Hope she gets some rest. Northwest flight 90 jammed full and our window seat is at the door. On time 8:50 a.m. 5 hours to Minneapolis/St Paul. 757 Boeing full! Cloudy 56° Safety message on the TV- clear and 73° in Minnesota. Take off at 9:04 a.m. Tower, Lake Hood, Lake Spenard, clouds fluffy. Chugach Mountains, Potters Marsh, Turnagain Arm, over Cook Inlet.
9:23 over Wrangell and Saint Elias above clouds. (37,000 over Valdez, north of Juneau. British Columbia south of Fort Nelson. Prince George over Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Minnesota. 2,098 from TD- 4 hours 30 minutes.) Shots to laciers, black between, a black and white landscape. Breakfast unwelcome interruption. 10:08 a.m. Braided river alongside plane’s direction. Mountains gentling and clouds intermittent.
10:12 a.m. Aqua water below large area.
10:16 a.m. Ice field tops of mountains barely show. bumpy. clouds above mountains but can see them.
10:20 a.m. Braided river.
10:22 a.m. Whiteout.
10:36 a.m. Road (Lake Summit)
10:40 a.m. Fort Nelson River.
11:00 a.m. Mountains but only one with glacial ice. Nerve to ask me to pull shade so they can see movie. Green valleys. Many stream margins.
11:10 a.m. Squiggly road up mountain.
11:12 a.m. Broad river valley. Many roads but all end.
11:15 a.m. Fields to left of huge river.
11:20 a.m. Flat fields.
11:33 a.m. Big river through flat fields. chartreuse, pink, green dotted with lakes and hHills intruding into them. 11:37 a.m. Big lake. First town I’ve seen
11:45 a.m. Hills.
11:47 a.m. Network of Roads widely spaced
11:51 a.m. Crooked road.
David met us at Columbus airport 11:15 Ohio time. David and Vivian Bratten had come in at 7:30 from Nebraska visit good to see them and have help with our baggage. Home about 1:15

Wednesday, July 12, 1989
Bob goes to work at 3:30 today so we ate breakfast at the Eatery- two eggs, three pancakes or toast and three strips of bacon $2.99 no tax. Took Bob home and then ran his errands in north end of town. Kathi selected frame and matte for his bush pilot poster. Stopped by municipal greenhouse and Bagays Flower Shop. Carol, the owner, very cordial. Loved clean shop. Back home to say goodbye to Bob and Kathi packed his lunch. I packed one suitcase and some wildflowers from the woods next door. At 4:00 leaving for Matanuska Valley Farm area. North on Ingra Avenue- all Anchorage housing not as nice as Kathi’s. Passed Merrill Field- small plane airport now, Anchorage’s first airport. Street numbers start at north end of town, south end of Air Force and Army bases where nearly 10,000 military are stationed.
4:20 p.m. raining! Stopped
4:36 p.m. Knick River.
4:37 p.m. Matanuska River
4:45 p.m. Side roads in Madness
5:00 p.m. pictures of Farm building
5:15 p.m. Lady Slipper Lake
5:30 p.m. State fairgrounds, Dairy farm, lettuce and cabbage field, Fair Loop road, magpies, Fairview Greenhouses.
7:00 p.m. Knick Road to end. miniature horses. picking cotton, groves. To Knick Arm at Malemato. Mile 16 pictures Arm, fireweed, old Knick Museum. Iditarod Trail.
7:30 p.m. Settler’s Bay. Hugh Inn empty. Well laid out curving streets- few houses- waiting for the boom.
7:45 p.m. Pond reflections 25 mailboxes on Highway
8:00 p.m. Wasilla Alaska Pantry Cafe. Kathi birthday dinner $20.55 for three leaving 9:00 p.m.
Check out Matanuska Ski Resort- smells bad.
9:07 p.m. Leaving Wasilli- cloudy.
10:00 p.m. Home roads wet with rain 32239.

Tuesday, July 11, 1989
[No entry]

Monday, July 10, 1989
Lazy morning breakfast at Sweeney’s old Alaska restaurant- eggs, good fried potatoes and toast $3.50- too much food. Stopped by a field of wildflowers- butter and eggs, daisies, fireweed, Siberian aster, Lupine and grasses. Picked a bouquet and Bob dug white spruce for me and two for them. Back home watered plants, packed lunches and left about 2:15 for Seward. Our last trip up Turnagain Arm. One of the world’s most beautiful drives. Fireweed has come out since last week and goats beard and cow parsnips seeding.
3:30 p.m. Have rounded head of Turnagain Bay and heading up into mountains. Grand highway with passing zones on up side. White Spruce forests merge into emerald green mountain meadows which give way to rocks with snow and dotting crevasses.
3:35 p.m. 1000 ft in 5 minutes Turnagain Pass- sweep of mountain to right shades of green no trees.
3:45 p.m. Climbing again along East Fork Creek. didn’t notice these curves with Kathi driving!
3:48 p.m. Road to Hope- Seward 55. RVs on road with satellite dishes
4:00 p.m. End Avalanche area
4:01 p.m. Seward 46. 70 mph along Summit lake, cross Sparking Creeks, Fresno, Colorado, Quartz
4:09 p.m. Seward Road new road at delightful Tern Lake (Seward 37)
Mountains closer can see clefts in rock.
4:24 p.m. Kenai Lake 24 miles 80 mph around 2 cars. (Seward 20)
Surrounded by mountain- lakes snow covered and hanging glaciers
4:34 Alaska RR along road.
4:44 p.m. Seward Air Force Recreation base. Motel here $25 for four people. mobile homes. mileage 31863
5:15 p.m. Driving around Seward. stopped at Harbor Master’s office to trade Kenai Fjords voucher for tickets for tomorrow’s holiday boat trip.
Motel adequate. TV and tub shower. Ice cream cones- two Scoops three dips 98 cents! drive 9 miles up gravel road – u-shaped glacial Valley of Resurrection Creek to Exit Glacier.
7:39 p.m. Kathi and Bob took high road and Mary and I low road to face of glacier. Ice fell off. Terminal Moraine facing us. Braided river.
8:10 p.m. leaving. Road goes through Sitka Spruce forest. Huge trucks and tall glimpses of barren rock, sharp peaks and ribbons and snow cascading down sides.
8:31 p.m. La Baren in woods.
10:00 p.m. Lowell Point- houses, gulls, fisherman, earthquake damage
10:30 p.m. pair Cassini’s Anklls diving, swimming underwater and reappear
10:35 p.m. Back into Seward
11:00 p.m. Gas 6.8 gallons $9.26. $1.359 per gallon. Air Force Motel 11:03

Sunday, July 9, 1989
Felt much better- fuzzy headiness gone. helped Kathi get ready for picnic cleaning deck and chairs, carrots, celery, jacama. Delightful group at 6:00- about 30. Some neighbors, some FAA and air controllers, some oil engineers, monopolized by Bob Fritz and his obsession with cameras. Trip to Chords with Marlene to see Pat’s Garden among Birch trees. listened to Von Cawvey account of bear encounters on float trips Beyond Susitna Mt. Even with name tags it was difficult to keep track of who belonged to who. Francis stayed until midnight when I pulled Grandpa Sheneman’s “I’ll go to bed so you can go home.”

Saturday, July 8, 1989
Sunny temperature 65 could see Mount McKinley.
Lazy day- needed it. I feel like a zombie. Slept until 10:00 when Kathi woke me. Bath and hair wash and breakfast. Kathi went to Elmendorf commissary to shop for picnic tomorrow. I finished digging chickweed out of flower beds and fertilized some plants. Washed door and windows. After lunch Kathi took me to Lamont to shop for Hagar slacks while she got fixings for the halibut Van Cawbby gave us. Got black slacks $30 size 20 average. Short too short- average too long. Helped with supper by preparing fish to bake. Kathi pinned up slacks for me and then we took Chuckles and Arthur (Kennedy’s Basset Hound) for a walk. Bob watched movies.

Friday, July 7, 1989
[No entry]

Thursday, July 6, 1989
Ron, Don, Jim, Bob, Vivian, Bill, Ron, Lucille, Ray.
Glaciers, Homer, spit, Coal Point.
Homer, Alaska
Up at 9:00 breakfast Lands End. Walk on shingled beach- black rocks, boardwalk. Gas up. Purchasing hematite necklace, windsock. 3 months of year to make living- Eagles along beach. Blackwells, Gull Island 20 ft shopping Boardwalk black beads $47
11:40 a.m. Clayton Road pictures. Blackwell up E Hill Road to Skyline Drive 1000 ft Ridge.
12:27 p.m. Sterling Highway and Diamond Ridge Road 390 168 miles Baycrest Motel
in Homer 394 Ocean Shores
12:38 p.m. Kathi checking for Antrims. Pratt Museum oil spill display, seabird display. Quilt raffle
1:41 p.m. Sourdough Express 396-spinach croissant.
2:35 p.m. 31400 Anchorage 220 MI
Baycrest Motel office nice view from rooms $75 two double beds
4:18 p.m. Wildflower field edge of cliff, lupine. Deep Creek 436
3:37 p.m. solid RVs along Beach. Kalifornski Beach Road overlook Union Carbide fishing snares boats 477.
4:35 p.m. Cook Inlet overlook.
5:00 p.m. leaving Kenai.
5:17 p.m. Junction Sterling at Soldotna- Anchorage 147
6:08 p.m. Russian River Campground.
2 mi off Sterling highway picnic supper leaving 6:33 p.m. no people! Bear sign pictures above Russian River sign- Timber sign
7:16 p.m. Tern Lake Campground. Junction Seward Highway 90 miles to Anchorage
7:50 p.m. Canyon Creek Bridge near Hope turnoff.
8:07 p.m. pictures Portage Glacier mile A58 Turnagain Pass last pictures show TA.
9:10 p.m. 663 Homer

Wednesday, July 5, 1989
to Homer. Misting rain 50s
Bath, breakfast, packing. Moose cow and two calves along freeway on way to Costco to drop off film. Bought Twix, $9.50 film $16 slide film $16.
11:45 a.m. on Seward Highway S. Temperature 57 can’t see across mileage 31107.
12:30 p.m. Girdwood- clouds lifting- views of plumy flowers, mimulus and ferns. Fjord like views. Spruce budworm damage.
12:40 p.m. End of Turnagain Arm. Swinging back west after crossing marsh and tsunami area. Can see our road across end of arm.
12:44 p.m. Headed Inland- poppies orange and yellow.
12:50 p.m. Turnagain Pass (160). Homer is 160 miles. Blue skies.
1:00 p.m. Road to Hope (173). Pictures.
1:14 p.m. Sunny- sharp ridges- green mountains! Cirques. Sharp edges.
1:24 p.m. Summit Lake Avalanche area
1:30 p.m. Junction to Homer 132 miles. Fern Lake gorgeous.
1:40 p.m. Kenai Lake in aqua. Kathi pictures.
Lunch Quartz Creek Recreation Area. Junco, Lupine seeds
Leaving 2:15
2:30 p.m. Cooper Creek Campground not attractive on left- right it’s along Kenai River.
2:50 p.m. Vivarin forest & Black Spruce area, lupines carpet roadside clearing. Lupine stop 3:03 to 3:20. Moose River Combat Fishing. Pictures
3:37 p.m. Soldotna Visitor Center. Back to Chris’s Soldatna Travel. Prudhoe Bay trip- one day $1,400.
leaving 4:15
4:43 p.m. View Cook Inlet to Mt. Redoubt- Ileamna- in the fog layers. Sled dog puppies for sale.
4:54 p.m. Ninilechu- view of Deep Creek Recreation Area at beach- fields of cow parsnip.
5:11 p.m. Anchor Point furthest west road in U.S..
5:27 p.m. pictures Cotton Grass- view across Cook Inlet.
5:42 p.m. Homer
Trip back fantastic. came close to Gull Island covered with birds cormorants, Kitty wakes, murrens, gulls and puffins. Puffins in water all around us. When an eagle flew over island, thousands of birds took off. Seals on rocks. All this from about 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. trying to shoot pictures. Kathi standing outside with video and no way to hang on. I hung on holding inside rafter- waves over the cabin, but sea not really rough. Jill said it was perfect weather. The dark stairway was much steeper to climb than when we went down to boat. Glad for cleats on it. Don and Jill invited us to their house out East End road, turned up the hill. Glorious view, huge mowed yard, fenced for dogs. Impressive. Showed us salmon in their freezer. Back to Land’s End about 12:30. still light of course. Land’s End Resort covers end of spit. All rooms facing Kachemak Bay and mountains across $100 for suite. Met Jill and Don Blackwell at omer.. hear about 6:30. across Bay to halibut Cove in their 20-foot boat. both so pleasant. dinner at the salty unusual and done insisted on paying. walked around Logan Lagoon and met in habitants. Trillium zone.