TravelStream™ news feed for member bgiarelli on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bgiarelli en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:59:15 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1230789600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1230789600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1230789600/tpod.html Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:59:15 -0500 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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The Villa, Illinois, United States

There once was a young lad named Rob. Rob was excited to play cards and party on New Years Eve. Take a look at how his evening went.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1215094920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1215094920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1215094920/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:38:30 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Homer, Alaska, United States

Just when we thought we saw the most beautiful scenery in Alaska, we arrived in Homer. WOW! So spectacular. We had a nice day roaming around town which seems to be the arts capital of Alaska. Our RV stay was right on a cliff overlooking 2 mountain ranges and the sea. There was a pathway down to Bishops beach. We went down at low tide and were able to walk way out into sand. Later that night at our picnic table, Marty noticed a couple of whales and we watched them for a long time. What a sight! The next day, we chartered a Halibut fishing excursion. It was a little slow going at first but really heated up toward the end. We caught our limit of 2 each. Well, actually Marty caught my limit too. He was in heaven! I was able to capture each of his catches on video. Halibut has to be the ugliest fish I ever saw. But it is very tasty.
The end of trip turned a bit sour when we returned our RV. They weren't happy about the broken windshield I wrote about earlier. When we were in the office, and without our knowledge, they went through the RV and were very upset to see all the fish in the freezer and threatened a $500 fine. Luckily one of the Managers was nice and realized that our fish was vacuum packed and we left no odors. He told me that store of fish in their RV's have become a huge problem. Then they wanted us to pay for a scratch but luckily I had noticed the scratch before we left on June 21 and had the documentation to prove it. Something they didn't have.
All and all it was the best vacation we ever took. We are already yearning for more. So much we didn't see. Hopefully I will be doing another Blog if we are lucky enough to go again. Thanks to all of you for logging on and reading our adventures!

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Kasilof, Alaska, United States

Another few great days in Alaska. It is interesting the further South you go, the colder it gets. Highs have been in the mid 50's with 40's at night. Marty was fishing for Salmon, with hundreds of others, on the Russian River when a Grizzly Bear approached the side of the bank. Marty was directly across on the other side. People started screaming and the Ranger sounded the horn. The Grizzly looked at the screaming people and got on his hind legs and growled then went back into the woods. Too bad I wasn't there with my video camera! The locals have told us that they have strict restrictions now on shooting bears and they feel there are too many of them.

We took a 6 mile hike to the Russian River Falls. It was beautiful! What is so amazing were the hundreds, maybe thousands of Salmon swimming up the Falls to spawn. The water current is so strong. Out of the average 3000 hatched eggs only 2 Salmon will actually make it back to spawn. Marty is in absolute heaven. The King's are twice as big as the Red's from the Kenai. Hopefully as I am typing this, he is hooking one.

We are on our way to Homer and hopefully will have stories of catching huge Halibut!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214683080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214683080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214683080/tpod.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:00:34 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Cooper Landing, Alaska, United States

First I want to talk about the wonderful hike we took to the Tolsona mud springs. It was through swamps and forest but when we arrived at the springs, it was worth it. After the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, which is one of the worst recorded in U.S. history, there was a large increase of mud flow. The mud bubbles with gas which is 55.2% methane and comes from coal beds in the Copper River Basin. It flows all winter and is an important source of water during that time for the wild life. We saw many tracks of Moose and Bear. Also, the elevation was 2075' so we had great views of the Wrangell Mountains which were 60 miles away.
On Friday, we made our way down to the Kenai but bad luck struck us literally. A rock kicked up from an oncoming car and put a large dent in our window. When we made it to Anchorage we stopped at 2 auto glass repair shops, but the dent was too big to fix. This means a whole new windshield will be needed and the cost will be $1000! That is the deductable on the RV insurance and it looks like there is no way around it. But our luck changed! Marty caught 2 Sockeye salmon (locals call them Reds). There were hundreds of fisher-people in the river catching salmon. It was very interesting to watch. As soon as Marty filleted the first one, we ate it sashimi style (raw) with some soy and wasabi. WOW! I never ate Salmon so tasty before. Our campground is quite a joke. It really is a large gravel parking lot with hook-ups. But it is convenient to all the hot spots for fishing
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214496840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214496840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214496840/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:26:49 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Glennallen, Alaska, United States

Yesterday we took a drive further East on the Glenn Highway to the Wrangell National Park. The skys were clear so we were able to see all of the high peaks including Mt. Sanford at 16,237', Mt. Drum at 12,010', Mt. Wrangell at 14,162' and Mt. Blackburn at 16,000'. We asked at the Gas Station and Visitor Center where we could view the Alaskan Pipeline, but couldn't find it. All we know is that we did drive over it. Speaking of gas stations, Marty filled up at $4.829/gallon yesterday. That is by far the highest we have ever paid. We did see gas in Healy, AK for $5.15/gallon so at least we haven't paid over $5 yet. For some reason we can't get our portable grill to work which came with the RV rental. We are forced to cook in the RV. Instead of Hamburgers, Marty made his awesome meatballs and sauce with garlic bread. Today we are taking a hike to a Mud Spring in the Tolsona Creek valley. Tempature is 49F but going up to 66F.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214419020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214419020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214419020/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:06:01 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Glennallen, Alaska, United States

We left Willow, AK yesterday to travel via the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, AK. The Glenn Highway was the most beautiful stretch of highway we have ever seen. The Talkeetna Mountain range was to the North, the Chugach Mountain range was to the South and straight ahead to the East was the Wrangell Mountain Range. Every turn and clearing we uttered the words, "Wow!", "Oh My God!". Luckily, there were plenty of pull-overs to take pictures. I think we stopped 20 times over the 180 miles. There were pretty lakes, streams and rivers. One of the highlights was seeing the Matanuska Glacier. It spans 27 miles long and at some points reaches 4 miles wide. We pulled into the Tolsona Wilderness Campground which is in a forest of White Spruce trees. They have 90 sites on the Tolsona creek. I think I counted only 7 other campers. Very remote and quiet. The temperatures have ranged from the 50's to 60's. We are finally staying in one spot for a few days. Marty is on a quest to catch Grayling. From what I understand, this fish which is a cousin to the Trout, was plentiful as far south as Montana and Michigan but was over-fished in those area. The fish is suppose to be very tasty. So far Marty is in the negative because he has lost more gear without pulling out a single fish! Anyway, today is another day and as I write this Blog, he is out there trying again. Maybe Tom from MN, if you are reading, can give us some tips. Anyone can leave comments on the Blog or email me at BGiarelli@comcast.net.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214325240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214325240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214325240/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:49:14 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Denali, Alaska, United States

Yesterday we took the National Park tour of Denali. It was a 9 hour tour on an old school bus. We were told prior to the trip to bring food and drink because none of it would be available along the way. They are trying to keep this National Park as pristine as possible. The views and wildlife were stunning. Not even a mile into the park, we saw a Moose and her baby that were about 4 feet from our RV! On the tour we saw 6 Grizzly Bears, Caribou, several herds of Dall Sheep, a Golden Eagle, Snowshoed Hares and many others. When we made it to the Eielson visitor center, which is one of the closest spots to see The Mountain (Denali/Mt.McKinley), it was clouded over. Our bus driver told us early in the trip she has only seen Denali once in 10 trips. Well now it was 1 of 11 trips. It was a disappointment, but we still had wonderful views of the Alaskan Range. In the evening, we met some locals who let us sample some of the 240 lbs of raw salmon they caught and smoked Bear. We were a bit reluctant to try the Bear, but we are in Alaska. It was actually very tender and tasty. Marty's fishing count still holds at zero, but we are taking off into fishing country and hopefully he'll be reeling in the Big Ones.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214158740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214158740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bgiarelli/1/1214158740/tpod.html Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:34:04 -0400 Bobbi and Marty's Alaskan Adventure

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Matanuska Lake, Alaska, United States

Here we are in Alaska! After our flight into Anchorage, we headed over to Great Alaskan Holiday for orientation on our 28' Winnebago. Good thing Marty will be doing all the driving, because that thing is way too big for me to driver. We stopped at Carr's Grocery store and stocked up on food. I heard things were more expensive up here and they are. $2.29 for one lemon for example! We were detoured around in Anchorage and were disappointed to see that even here there are run down areas littered with Pawn Shops and the like. But, as soon as we were about 15 miles North, it was beautiful! Huge mountain ranges with snow on top. Our first stop for the night was 40 miles north at the Fox Run RV park. A small set-up right on a lake. Some very nice people from Kentucky (Roger), helped us set-up for the first night making sure we were level and hooked up correctly. Roger is retired and a full-time RV'er. He is spending the entire summer in Alaska and was in Florida this past winter. As I unpacked, Marty headed with fishing gear to the lake. I caught up with him a couple hours later and unfortunately his fish count was zero. But, as I was told, to the North of Anchorage are Big Mountains and Big Animals to the South Big Fish. His turn will come next week when we hit the Kenai and Homer. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky at 11:15 PM! In fact it never got dark. We are packing up and heading to Denali National Park for our tour tomorrow. This park is over 6 million square acres; about the size of Massachusetts. In this park is the highest mountain, Denali or Mt. McKinley and is the highest in the Northern hemisphere at over 20,300 ft. Can't wait.
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Lake Villa, Illinois, United States

Getting ready and very excited
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