Homer spit generally known as "The Spit" a long needle of land 41/2 mile sandbar stretching into Kachemak Bay, at the most southern point of the Kenai Peninsuala.

As Darren went fishing on a charter boat for some Halibut in William Sound, I took a bird watching trip over to Seldovia. On the way we did not only spot birds but also a lot of sea Otters.Darren came back with two magnificient Halibut weighing about 25 to 30 LB each.

From Homer via the confluence of the Russian and Kenai rivers north to Anchorage however a stop here for some fishing and look at the catch!! (a nice red salmon)

This is part of the Anchorage airport, the "runway" for the many floatplanes in Anchorage, almost 75% of all the people own their own plane.

All though Anchorage, is a city in it's own right the mentality of the people is still very laid back, many a business person will go fishing at lunch time in the middle of town, business suit and all.

Denali National Park and Preserve occupies a whopping 6 miilion acres of interior Alaska. We stayed in the middle of it all, with our van, and took the only option to see the park in free shuttle busses over  hair raising roads deeper into the wilderness.

Old painted up schoolbusses took us slowly along the dirt roads, where we the passengers were spotting wildlife. As soon as some one shouted "bear or fox or....." the bus would stop and we needed to be very quiet.........

.....so we could see red foxes..............

and mommy bears with her cub(s).......

or just amazing open area's and mountains, with definitely a lot more wildlife but not always able to be seen.

Some of the "wildlife"!!

Some more wildlife this time they are playing golf, spot which one has the best handicap!!.

From Fairbanks we went on a bus tour to the Artic Circle and stopped for lunch at this place where a bear had broken in one winter and filled up his tummy ready for hybrenating, see him just getting in through the window?

Rollercoaster hill, which will feature in this years ice truckers programme. Our tour to the Artic Circle went over this road however it was "just" a dirt road and all ready an adventure so imagine it at 40 below zero.

We arrived.

Darren with a driver from the  ice- road trucker programme, maybe one day...........

In Fairbanks we watched the Canadian Geese and the Sandhill Cranes getting ready for their migratory flight to warmer places.

Your typical Alaskan family lives like this, a loghome, a 4-wheel drive,a floatplane, a boat and what you can not see a skidoo for the winter. And a HUGE pile of firewood in the back yard to keep warm. 

Another way of getting ready for a cold winter, smoking salmon for winter consumption, some lower class salmon for the dogs and the better ones for the people.

We started outi n  Alaska in Summer but the seasons change quick in Alaska and towards the end of August, nature was showing the prettiest of colours and we had our first frost.

Alaska is nothing else if it isn'tt wild-eyed miners bent over an icy stream desperately swirling a large pan in search for instant wealth, we joined them. We tried highbanking in Chicken Creek near Chicken village, along the Taylor highway.

"Shopping mall" of Chicken all of 45 people live here in the summer and only 15 in the winter, no wonder as the only road to and from closes for the winter (sometimes up to 5 months).

Our goldfindings did not permit us to stay in Alaska so we took the Top of the world highway, which started at the boarder, into Canada. From here we picked up the footsteps of the Klondike goldrushers again. Dawson City in 1897 was one of the biggest goldtowns of it's era. 

Still today in Dawson City a lot of the history is alive and Darren joined and fitted right in as you can see, no gold for the ladies to pay but still...............

One more go, this is what happens when you stop for lunch and watch some commercial miners working their claim with bulldozers and diggers. We were invited to shift through some pay-dirt back at their yard and we did find quite a few flakes. What an amazingly nice Canadian miner. 

 Might not look like much but at $1000 an ounce it adds up, yes gold!

 So now we are back on the road in Canada and heading away from Alaska south to warmer regions. We would have loved to stay for the winter and experience the icy roads the frozen rivers, the ice fishing, snow mobiling, dog sledding and all the other things that 40 below and falling have to offer but...Our van might not be able to keep us warm enough so we will have to postpone that for another year, good we are both going to live till we are at least 100.