Weekend Trip

We are still at camp in Alaska. Today it is like we are in a cloud, a mist, which seems to be rather typical. We would love to feel more sunshine. In spite of that Abner is out doing as much as he can to get the chapel area done. There are so many little things they can think of for him to do. I doubt it will all get done.

Last weekend the weather report said “sun” so we thought we should take advantage of it. After the kids left camp on Saturday morning we headed south into the Kenai Peninsula, first to Seward on the east coast. It was so crowded with 4th of July visitors that we drove through town and out. Just north there is a glacier park with a nice hike to where you can touch it; had to wade in the stream at a few places in the ice water! With enough energy and time one could hike to the top and see the 850 square mile ice field. We found a campsite in Moose Pass, a little old bit of a town.


The next morning we headed for Homer which is the end of the road on the west coast of the peninsula. Along the way we saw the ice covered volcanos across the Cook Inlet; one had been active earlier this year but the last major blow was in 1989. Farther south we went to the art gallery of Norman Lowell who paints beautiful Alaska scenes; a very neat place with an opportunity to talk with the Lowells. Driving into Homer there was a wonderful view of the bay, mountains and glacier areas.

We found the Alaska Bible Institute (on the side of a hill overlooking the town and ‘Homer spit’) and dropped in on the people we met last year on the Road To the Sun in Glacier NP. They were surprise to see us but spent a great time together hearing about their year serving God in Homer. We dry camped in the parking lot. For supper we went down to the spit, a neck of land that juts out into the bay, for some fresh fish and chips. The strip is full of campsites, shops, charter boats for fishing and ferries out to other places. We tried to book a trip on a ferry but it was too busy with the 4th holiday and so didn’t get to do that. The area is beautiful and worth the trip. It is incredible to see the beauty and variety God has created.

On the drive back north we stopped at the Russian River where fishermen stand side by side in the water fishing for salmon. The river is a interesting green color from glacier sediment. We camped nearby and took a hike to the Russian River Falls to see the salmon trying to get up river to their spawning grounds; fantastic. The bears come to that area to catch their dinner too but we didn’t see any; maybe it was too early in the evening. We did about a five-mile hike so slept well that night. From there we went to a little old Alaska town that was mostly shacks from the early 1900’s or so and some are still being used. Ab had to change a couple of the trailer tires there. We had them with us or we would have been out of luck; no gas station within 30 miles.

We traveled back to Anchorage (Ab hadn’t been there yet), shopped around a bit; saw the tourist spots and then headed back to camp for dinner. It was a fun weekend, a lot of miles, and many wonderful sights. Now it is back to work again. Abner is trying to get some long-needed things done before we leave in a week or so.

We hope you are having a good summer, and would love to hear from you. You can return comments or email us at abner_bauman@wowway.com. Sorry this blogger program doesn’t let me give you a link. We have a fake email address because Blogger won’t let us use the _ in our real address.

Oh well, God bless,

Abner and Rosie