Author: Ed Armstrong

Seward Helicopter Ride!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today we had an amazing experience!! We had our first helicopter ride! Seeing beautiful Alaska from the air was an amazing experience!

We love this photo which shows the icebergs, the mountains, and the deep green of Alaska on a cloudy day!

Believe it or not, but the small black dots are seals as seen from our helicopter! They enjoy resting on the icebergs.

The blue color of the glaciers is amazing to see!

We saw several black bears during our helicopter ride! This fellow was fun to watch!

The glaciers are huge, gorgeous blue, and impressive!

This distance photo shows the immense size of the glacier flowing down the entire mountain.


The depth of the crevasses is incredible!

Alaska is such a picturesque setting!

The fresh water from the glacier melt is separated from the salt water on the far right by a small sliver of land. You can tell the difference by the different colors of water.

The icebergs and mountains in the distance are beautiful!

Each iceberg is like a individually crafted fingerprint! No two are alike.

It is difficult to tell perspective in this photo, but this glacier is enormous!

It was amazing to see the depth of the crevasses! They have a rich blue color and are very deep!

The pure water of the glacier melt appears blue and is very clear!

The glaciers are simply stunning!

Sometimes the icebergs turn upside down. When this happens, the now exposed previous bottom, is strikingly blue.

This is our helicopter pilot’s favorite iceberg. We flew around until we found this massive blue ice-cube floating in the water.

It was a serene, beautiful sight, to see the icebergs floating peacefully in the water.

The icebergs were carved by the elements into unique art.


After our helicopter ride, we returned to our campsite and this is the view of the mountain directly across from where we are parked. It is spectacularly beautiful!

Seward is known form having many beautiful murals around town. Charlene and I especially liked this mural near the harbor master office.

Charlene is testing out the dog sled and preparing for the next Iditarod race!

Sitting at our campsite, we noticed this bald eagle eating dinner atop this pole.

Drive to Seward!!

/ Ed Armstrong
On the drive from Anchorage to Seward, we stopped in Moose Pass to buy a coffee on a cold day (yes it is July 9th and it was less than 60 degrees!!) Inside, Charlene discovered the largest rabbit I have ever seen. His name is Alabaster Snowball and he weighs 15 pounds! 15 pounds!!!!! This rabbit weighs more than our dog Zoe!

The drive was beautiful! We stopped about 5 times to enjoy the scenes. I love seeing the flowing river, the colors of the trees and the low clouds. It rained off an on the entire day.

Another photograph of Alaska flowers. I love the rich colors. We think the name of the plant is “Fireweed.”

Charlene has quickly fallen in love with Alaska. The mountains and rivers are beautiful!

Charlene discovers the huge size of a grizzly bear! The sign says “caution: do not touch, he may bite.” Charlene was not afraid!

However, the fear statement need to be reconsidered once Charlene notes the massive size of the bear’s claws!

Bald eagles are quite impressive! They have a very large wingspan! Watch out Charlene! The eagle is coming for you!

We went to Ray’s restaurant for dinner and were seated at the best corner table with a spectacular view of the harbor and boats returning from the day on the Gulf of Alaska and Pacific Ocean. While eating dinner, we saw a harbor seal playing in the water just outside our window! Earlier in the day we saw two bald eagles just outside our campsite! Alaska is amazing!

Muskox Farm!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I visited a muskox research facility while in Fairbanks and found it very interesting. When I learned there was a muskox farm in Palmer, I added it to my list of things to see. These are interesting creatures. They seem to literally enjoy butting heads. Both males and females, but especially the males. The farm has metal poles covered with old tires to give the muskox other things to butt into besides each other. The muskox farm trims their horns a bit so that they are less likely to injure each other.

These are the 3 sisters because they like to spend time together.

Their horns are tough and this is how they butt into each other.

The horns of the females are not as thick as the males.

She is a bit hidden in the grass, but this is a baby female muskox. She does not have any horns at this time.

This girl is not super friendly. Our group had to carefully walk by and not antagonize her. She was giving me “the eye” when I took her picture.

This one is younger and does not have fully developed horns. The muskox farm tends to separate the animals roughly by age and sex.

This huge male muskox liked to mostly live separately from the other males and he was not too excited about being moved to a new pasture.

I continue to be amazed by the rick colors of the flowers in Alaska. These were growing at the muskox farm.

Boondocking near Seward!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I love this campsite! What a wonderful view!

I met a couple that was traveling while we both were in Homer, Alaska. They told me about a great place to boondock camp near Seward. It took me three tries to find the correct entrance, but it opened up to a dry riverbed section of the Resurrection River. It is surrounded with beautiful mountains! This was a treat to enjoy! The photos show the 4 directions around my campsite. The only downside is that there was no cellular service at this location. I guess I can survive without internet access for a day. 😉

This is a small branch of the river. The main flow of the river is to the left.

I love these clouds behind the mountain!

This view is toward the town of Seward.

Katmai National Park!!

/ Ed Armstrong

This brown bear caught this huge salmon flying up the falls!!

Alaska continues to amaze me. Today I flew on a float plane for 90 minutes west of Homer, Alaska to visit Katmai National Park and its famous Brooks Falls. What makes it so well known are the brown bears that live in the area and spend time fishing for salmon. It was an incredible experience! Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it was worth it!

These bears are huge and they own the place!

The bear is on the prowl for salmon in the river.

He is carefully searching for fish.

Look at the size of their claws!!

The other bears watch with envy as one bear catches a fish!

This salmon was jumping to get over the falls and he survived without being eaten.

The search for fish is on!

Despite this bear’s best effort, these salmon were out of his reach!

This salmon was grabbed out of the air!

This bear is tearing bites out of this fish that he caught swimming in the river.

This bear has a different strategy. He is standing at the base of the falls and waiting for the fish to get close and then catch the fish as they are getting ready to jump.

This bear was successful catching this salmon as it tried to jump over the falls.

Another successful catch!

Very happy bear!

This mom is teaching her two kids how to fish.

This bear is on the lookout for more fish!

Dinner is served!

Baby bear is looking for his meal too.

A bald eagle is looking over the scene to see whether he can find any fish scraps to his meal.

I was amazed at how well the bears swim. They are fast!

This is one of Alaska’s newer volcanoes. This photo was taken from the float plane on the way to Katmai National Park. The cloudiness and early morning light gives it interesting coloring.

Here is our float plane that brought us to Katmai National Park. You either need to fly or take a boat to visit this extremely interesting national park.

Drive to Homer, Alaska!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was a cloudy day that revealed some mystery in Alaska. I loved the bright sunny days to see Denali in its full glory. Today was a contrast of cloudiness covering much of the mountains. This photo was taken from the drive down to Homer. I pulled off the road and marveled at this active volcano (last erupted in 2009) within the Lake Clark National Park. I would have preferred a sunny day, but there was intrigue in the midst of the cloudiness.

I pivoted a bit and loved seeing the sun trying to peek through the clouds with the mountains largely hidden in darkness.

A little farther down the road, the volcano was a little more visible and was an interesting contrast with a home owners boat. How would you like to live here and see that gorgeous scene out of your back window!

I kept hoping for the sun to break through and shine on the mountain and make my eyes pop. However, in Alaska fashion, the clouds stubbornly kept the mountain mostly dark.


Zooming in a bit still shows the mountain largely hidden by cloudiness.

Farther west reveals another mountain across the Cook Inlet also mostly covered in clouds. I hope soon to see these mountains bathed in sunshine.

Soldotna and Kenai!!

/ Ed Armstrong
This part of Alaska is all about fishing. Serious fishing. People from all over the world travel here to fish!

I thought this carved wooden bench was quite impressive!

Impressive sized fish are caught here!

If you look carefully at the bottom of the sign, you can see hooks where the successful fishermen hang their catch and have their photo taken to document the memory.

Everything, and I mean everything, is focused on fishing. It is beautiful!

Although I have loved visiting Alaska, there is one topic about Alaska that I do not like. Mosquitoes!!! Sometimes there are not too many, but other times they are suddenly swarming all around you! People camping often use portable screened porches so they can sit outside and not be eaten alive by mosquitoes.


I simply love looking at the rich color of flowers in Alaska.

This is a Russian church in Kenai. It reminds me of my trips to Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. I am sure Russia now deeply regrets selling Alaska to the US.

This is from Kenai looking west across the Cook Inlet to Lake Clark National Park.

This is in Kenai. I am not sure there are too many beaches where you play on the beach in shorts while there are snow capped mountains not too far away. Alaska is amazing!

This is not a great photo. Sorry, but it was the best angle I could get from an upper bluff. I thought it was important because it shows where the mouth of the Kenai river flows into Cook Inlet.

This is another stop looking across the Kenai river. I simply love to look at the picturesque scenes. I love the colors and the clouds.

Anchorage!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I was very fortunate to have been able to visit Anchorage on beautiful summer days!!

After a gorgeous bike ride in the morning, I drove to the waters edge in the afternoon and enjoyed seeing the Kenai peninsula across the water. Alaska is so beautiful!

The colors of Alaska are so amazing. There are gorgeous views in every direction.

Iditarod Headquarters!

/ Ed Armstrong
I had the opportunity to learn details about the amazing Iditarod race. The headquarters is based in Wasilla, Alaska. The race is more than 1,000 miles in length and goes from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.

The dogs are amazing athletes to complete such a grueling course!


I learned quite a lot about Susan Butcher when I was in Fairbanks. She is very famous! Susan shocked the world by winning the Iditarod race four times!!