Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to My Alaskan Blog! This beautiful moose was photographed by my daughter-in-law in Kenai on her way to work. (She admitted she got a lot closer to this "Big Mama" than she should have. She had seen eleven moose that morning on her four mile drive!) I'd like to take credit for it but since we were there in August and September there was no snow.

The Top Tens of My Alaskan Adventures

Below you will find my Top Ten Culinary Experiences of our Alaskan trip. To the right side you can click on the Archive posts for the Top Ten Favorite Things. You will see some great pictures and learn about some great things to do! You should begin in the October archive. If you want to read of the adventures of a couple of kids living the Alaskan dream, you can click on "Alaskan Adventures and Polar Roids" to the right. This is my son and dauther-in-law's blog. There are some amazing stories on there! Check out my daughter-in-law's 300 pound bear (September) and then read about their float trip down the Colville River in August. Enjoy and see you on the ALCAN!

Some specific information: We left home on July 26, 2006 and arrived in Kenai on August 4th. We took the route through Montana and Calgary. We returned September 5th and came home on the Cassier and through northern Idaho. Our trip north took nine days. We boondocked mostly. Our rig was a Dodge diesel 2500 quad cab pulling a 33' Montana Mountaineer. Our entire trip covered 11,000 wonderful, spectacular miles including 2,000 miles on the Kenai. We spent one month on the Kenai which is where our son and daughter-in-law live.

Culinary Memory Number 1 of My Alaskan Adventure: Surf and Turf at It's Wildest: Backstrap of Moose, Fresh trout & Wild Raspberries

The following account of the prize winning day is from Pat, my son. (I copied it without permission from Melissa' blog!) You can see more great pictures on their blog "Alaskan Adventures and Polar-oids" if you click on the link in the side bar and go to Archives for August 31st. ) I also have more pictures of this great faire posted on October 31st. This truly was a "HALL OF FAME" meal, as Phil and I would label it! Oh, Pat failed to mention the salmon he caught was 5.5 pounds.

"Sunday afternoon Mom, Dad, Melissa and I went canoeing on the Swan Lake canoe trails. The weather was awesome and the loons were swimming about. When we neared the stream that feeds the lake we heard voices coming down the stream toward us. As the canoe floated into the lake, I recognized the paddler at the stern of the canoe as my friend Sean "Sully" Sullivan. He and a friend were paddling Sully's first moose out and they were very exited!! I cast my lure into the water as I asked Sully about the hunt. He and his friend had paddled/portaged five lakes back and shot the moose earlier in the day. As we spoke about the hunt, a huge silver salmon struck my lure. I played the fish on my ultra-light rod as we talked. When I landed the it was a 5-1/2 pound land locked silver salmon! Any more playing and our canoe would have tipped over. As we parted company, Sully handed me a large hunk of backstrap, some foil, and some black pepper. On the next lake, Dad caught two nice rainbow trout and we headed for the nearest camp site. Melissa started a fire and we cleaned the fish. After wrapping the seasoned fish in the foil and putting them in the fire, we cut the moose meat into chunks and roasted the chunks marshmellow style using green alder branches. Talk about "Surf and Turt"!for dessert we ate fresh raspberries that we picked along the trail."

A Bag of Potato Chips - My #2 Favorite Culinary Delight of Alaska!

The plan was for Phil and I to drive 29 miles north of Kenai to Captain Cook State Park where the Swanson River flows in Cook Outlet. We would pick up the Pat, Melissa, Rusty and Ken, Melissa's Dad who had floated the 24 miles of the Swanson River. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. and were to meet them sometime between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m.. We waited and waited. No canoes showed up at the launch sight. We grew increasingly hungry as we had not eaten since breakfast. Finally, at 3:20 we decided to drive eight miles back to the small village of Nikiski to find something to eat. On the way Phil made the comment, "Beings its Sunday afternoon, we will be lucky to find a place to buy any food." "Well," I replied, "maybe we can find a vending machine and share a bag of potato chips."

Nikiski ended up having two "eateries". One looked kind of like a bar/restaurant combo and the other a "Mom and Pop Diner". It was called "What's Cookin?" So we went in to see "What was cookin....." Inside the door was a sign which read,

"All You Can Eat Prime Rib and Seafood $16.50 or 14.29 with a senior
discount"

Phil asked how old you have to be to get the Senior Discount. "Older than me." the proprietor replied.

"Well, how old are ya?"

"Fifty-two".

The seafood buffet contained giant crab legs, scallops the size of golf balls wrapped in bacon, halibut souffle, baked ham, potatoes, salad bar and a table full of your choice of desserts. Oh, yes, and fresh bread! We filled out plates, sat down to pig out and looked at each other and started laughing. "Some bag of potato chips!" We ate until we could eat no more knowing even though there were some adventurers waiting for us at the mouth of the Swanson River.

When we got back the crew asked where the heck we'd been. "Oh, just drove down to Nikiski for some potato chips!"

This is a view of Cook Inlet from Captain Cook State Park.

Although this picture is zoomed in quite a bit. One can look look straight across the Inlet and turn their head as far to the right or left as possible and see this continuous mountain range. It includes a chain of four volcanoes.

Caribou & Halibut Burgers and Bumble Berry Pie - Favorite Culinary Memory # 3 of My Alaskan Vacation

After enjoying a breathtaking drive through the fall colors of the Yukon Territory we feasted on lunch in Whitehorse at the Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ. With true northern flavor, it is the oldest operating building in Whitehorse.




While Phil's caribou burger was o.k., my halibut burger was awesome. The bumble berry pie tasted as good as it was to look at! The Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ also offered muskox, bison, and arctic char.

Culinary Memory #4 of My Alaskan Vacation - Mukluk Annies

Cross this beautiful, 1,917 foot bridge (the longest water span on the Alcan Highway) which crosses Teslin Bay in the Yukon, go a few miles further and you will come to Mukluk Annies. This was a great stop for lunch. We had the salmon bake, complete with fresh baked rolls and other sides. We were early and the lunch crowd had not begun to gather. The waitress was a darling Christian girl who chatted with us about her plans to continue her post graduate education in theology. The young man at the grill was a collegiate volleyball player. Mukluk Annies was obviously owned by Christians. It is only open from May or June through the middle of September.










Some words about Teslin: Situated at the confluence of the Nisutlin River and Teslin Lake, Teslin began as a trading post in 1903. Today it consists of a trading post, Catholic church, health center and post office... a curling rink and a skating rink. It has the largest native population and gets its livelihood mostly from traditional hunting, trapping and fishing, along with native crafts., and tanning of moose hides. The average daily temperature in January is -7.

Teslin Lake is 86 miles long, averages two miles across and depth of 194 feet!

Number 5 - "Hali-bus From Hyder"

To get an acurate picture of the setting of this great little find, you can visit Top Favorites # 10 and 6. Hyder Alaska is at the southern most tip of the state and is only accessible on a road along Portland Canal from Stewart, BC. It is Hyder where the Fish Creek Bear Watching Deck is located and the breath taking Salmon Glacier. Known as the "Friendliest Ghosttown in North America, unlike quaint, Stewart, BC, Hyder is not a pretty little community.
It is a mud bog of a small town, getting an average rainfall of 41 inches. But on the back street of this two horse village we found the most wonderful deep fried Halibut one can imagine. The couple who own it converted a bus into the kitchen and built a rustic room on the back to eat. The husband catches the seafood during the day and the wife cooks it. In the back room there are hometown items like essays for bear stories, and bear prints made into plaster models. The guestbook leaves a place for comments. People from all over the world had left their impressions. This was not surprising because you drive right by on the way to the bear viewing deck. One lady from England wrote, "Fish and Chips are our national food but yours is better than anything I've ever tasted in England!"

Culinary Memory of My Alaskan Adventure #6 - Grilled Salmon Parmesan

.......and homemade vegetable soup!

Actually, this is two culinary delights enjoyed at the same table! For background information, see My Top Ten Favorite Alaskan Adventures #2: Four Wheeling. The vegetable Soup was served by Hope the evening after we returned from our 50+ mile 4-wheeling trek. One can imagine how good a large bowl of homemade vegetable soup and a side of warm cornbread must have tasted after a day like that!



What made it even more delightful was the warmth shared with friends we had spent the day with as we relived every river crossing in our conversation. We all looked like we had been drug across the glacier but no one cared! We had a great time. Please serve me up another bowl, Hope!

Our third day in Palmer, we had the pleasure of enjoying a marvelous meal of grilled salmon and pasta salad. John and Hope hosted their small group Bible study for dinner that night. The salmon fillet was sprinkled with smoked seasoning salt, covered with a thick layer of mayonnaise and wrapped in foil before placing on the grill. Before serving, it was then covered with a light layer of grated Parmesan. The melted Parmesan and the mayo gave a rich addition to the lean salmon.

The taste of the meal was only one of the highlights of the evening! The other guests made it truly a memorable night. These "sour doughs" entertained us with intriguing stories of their lives in the 49th state. One gentlemen was a bush pilot for the Department of Education. I asked him what his most interesting experience was while flying over Alaska. Without hesitation he told about watching from his plane, a "school" of whale group hunt a dolphin. Another time a wolf attacked his plane when he was landing. Another lady at the table told about accompnying her husband on a boat trip down the Yukon River and how upon beaching it at one time, it came loose and got away from them only to float down the river by itself while they were stranded! It was indeed, an interesting night!