Sunday, July 24
whittier shade of pale
For such a small town, Whittier has a pedestrian tunnel, pretty psychedelic one (PIC), that leads from the harbor to the "town". We end up having a room, or rather an apartment, at Anchor Inn for $92.70 (PIC). General store downstairs provides us with some breakfast items.
Then we head out for dinner. We find Varly's Swiftwater Seafood Cafe: a cozy place where we order at the counter and are served at the table, and one of the patrons buys us all a beer. Tomi has a bowl of soup and pasta salad and Tei a halibut sandwich. We share the table with a local couple who owns a charter business. She jumps up to warn me that the sauce I am about to sprinkle over my fries is "really hot". She probably did not realize we Finns are quite familiar with Tabasco.
whittier harbor
whittier harbor II
We pay a visit to our hotel's bar, Anchor Inn Lounge. Strange place. Never before have I seen a bar that has 86ed both the regular patrons and the bartenders that have served them. Strange place, indeed.
Monday, July 25
We wake up at 7am. We are still in Whittier and it is still raining desolately. Two hours later we are at the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, the only way out of the town, hitching for a ride. Bicycles are not allowed to this one-way tunnel, which is shared by cars and the train. Not at the same time, though.
The outbound car lane through the tunnel is already open. There is no hope of getting ride there, since the cars need to keep moving to make it through the tunnel in the allotted time (30 minutes). We ask a couple of truck drivers, who are still waiting. No luck.
After a not so long wait, we are picked up by Kathy, who takes us and our bikes all the way to Seward Highway in her pickup. She is really jumpy as we work our bikes to the back of her truck, as if she's going to "miss the tunnel". She does not. And we save 12 miles of riding in pouring rain. Thanks Kathy!
Seward Highway gives us (miles) long uphills and downhills, with frequent rest stops and scenic views, which unfortunately are blocked by low-hanging clouds today. The wind favors us, which is nice.
low hanging clouds
After 57 kilometers of riding in about four hours we are in Summit Lake Lodge in hope of finding a dry place to stay. They don't have any vacancy, likewise the next place about 16 miles away (at Summit they make a call for us). Cooper Landing, about 20 miles away, is the next place we may find something.
We decide to stay for lunch; Chipotle and Veggie burgers ($8.95 each) are downed with pints of Sockeye Red ($4.50 each) We also change some dry clothes on. We are delighted about the good service in this place, but still the reality outside is grim.
kenai Lake Lodge
So we have some 20 more miles to ride, mostly downhill and in tailwind. We get a mixture of pouring rain and some sunshine, and eventually the rain gives up. We turn west to Sterling Highway. Entry to Cooper Landing is scary; the highway turns into a narrow and curvy roller-coaster road without shoulders. Trucks, RV's and fishing boats speed by.
view over kenai lake
We skip the first lodging opportunity --- a room at Sunset Inn for $100 --- and ride three more miles to find a cabin at Kenai Lake Lodge for $65 (+tax). Lodge is owned by a Swede, the restaurant offers Thai cuisine and from our cabin we have a nice view over the Kenai Lake.
After doing laundry in the nearby Laundromat, we have a great Thai-dinner; we have AA for starters, Pad Thai ($12.95) and tonight's special, Seafood Red Curry ($15.95) for entrees, accompanied by house Sauvignon Blanc, and finally glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon for dessert.
Today we rode 89.6 kilometers in 5:30.
Tuesday, July 26
serious fishermen
At 6:30 in the morning it is partly cloudy but it does not rain. After two miles of riding we stop at a coffee shop for Chai and "Wired Angler" --- a coffee tailored for serious fishermen --- and a 170g lemon-banana muffin. A few more miles on the winding road among trucks, RV's and fishing boats takes us to Gwin's Lodge for breakfast. We have hot oats ($3.50) and Kenai 3-egg scramble with salmon ($9.95).
the traffic is just terrible
The road from Cooper Landing is a nightmare. We have a significant tailwind, which is nice, but the traffic is just terrible --- we are quite relieved when we hit the flat terrain and long, straight stretches of highway. The sun comes out and it gets hot.
Sixty kilometers of riding takes us to Sterling and Suzy's Cafe for Chicken Supremo sandwich for $8.95 (we split it). The place is packed and busy, and the service is really good! We visit the place again after a few days when coming back, and it is still the same way; busy, packed and the service is outstanding. The food is not bad either; the menu is quite standard American with sandwiches and burgers, but there is the feeling that the food is really cooked and made there not just assembled in the line. You know what I mean?
in case you have some eagles to freeze
Ride from Sterling to Soldotna is boooring. And so is Soldotna; a town defined by long line of strip malls. We strive all the way to the Tourist (mis)information Center to find out that all the city campgrounds are full, motels in town are expensive and the next place allowing tent camping is about 6 miles along the road (to the direction we are heading, though).
We momentarily disregard this info and stop at Centennial Park campground close to "downtown" to find out that they DO have tent sites available. We take one for $12.60.
you better check
We have quite a hike to the shower at Wash & Dry (with Wi-fi). So far it has been quite a nice weather today, but now it starts raining. The showers cost $4.50 a piece (including soap and towels). We do laundry, too.
killer treats
Our dinner pick tonight is Froso's, also recommended by the Tourist (mis)information Center as fine dining. I am not so sure about the "fine" part --- food is good and plenty and the place seems to be popular. We start with Glacier Brewhouse IPA. Our entree choices are Greek Salad and Fish Casserole with Pasta. They go down with Kenwood 2004 Sauvignon Blanc.
behind the bars
On our way back to the campground we have Glacier's HefeWeizen and Pike's Kilt Lifter at Soldotna Inn. They don't have any domestics on draft. Neither does Hooligan's Saloon where we enjoy one more round of Midnight's Kolsch and Sockeye. "No whining" is Alaskan motto, also displayed in this bar. Another sign we see a lot says "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". How encouraging. The place is getting smoky and loud, so we call it a night.
Today we rode 78.8 kilometers in 4:04. The average speed was 19.4km/h, which is not bad at all.
Wednesday, July 27
ascorbic acidification
It's still raining in the morning and our tent, pitched in a sandbox, is a disaster after all that water. Once the rain stops we get out of there as soon as possible.
an informative road sign
It's a muddy ride on the dirt road back to Sterling highway. Once there we briefly stop for hot chocolate and coffee --- muffins are still frozen --- at a coffee shop managed by a lady and (supposedly) her teenage grandson. The teenager does not really appreciate our effort of pedaling hundreds of miles in Alaska, but claims us outright crazy.
as is this one
At 10am. we hit the hilly Sterling Highway and soon it starts raining again. We have breakfast, a microwaved egg burger and a burrito, at a gas station. That keeps us going for a while. Around 2pm. we reach the coast of Cook Inlet. We stop at Clam Shell Lodge, and after some hesitation sneak in for lunch. We have a Buffalo burger ($8.50) and Soup & Half Turkey sandwich ($6.25) with a couple of AA's. The bartender obviously slept her math classes, since she can't get our bill right even in the second attempt. We end up paying too little, but leave her a generous tip -- you can never know in this country if service people have these lapses of mind on purpose.
pretty nice campsite
Sky has cleared somewhat when we leave the lodge. This is not going to be that bad day after all. We have a pretty uneventful ride to Ninilchik, a town originally settled by Russians in the early 1800's. It takes us some time to find the Deep Creek View Campground, since it is not well marked by the highway (not at all, actually), but the place is worth for every minute of looking for it. The name is kind of misleading, since we don't have a view over the Deep Creek, but to Cook Inlet. Can't complain, though.
nininchik, old russian village
long walk to the boardwalk Cafe
Tent site on this family owned campground costs $10, and 10 minutes of shower $2. The view to volcanoes Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Illiamna, and the morning coffee come for free. Due to heavy cloud cover, we cannot see the mountains tonight. But let us see in the morning :-) We lay our dirty tent, sleeping bags and pads to dry in the sun and fresh wind.
Today we rode 66.74 kilometers in 5 hours (lunch time included).
one of those great moments
We hike a couple of miles back on the highway to Ninilchik Village. It takes us a couple of more kilometers to get to Boardwalk Cafe for fresh Scallops (scampied) ($13.50) and Lemon-pepper Salmon ($12.75). Simple and tasty, enjoyed in bright and warm evening sun.
On our way back to the campground we take detour the Inlet View Lodge bar. In the bar we meet Joe, a computer science BSc from University of Oregon, whose girlfriend's family is from Finland (her last name is Korpi). We hike back to our camp with a sixpack of AP and breakfast items fetched form the general store. We have a couple of beers watching the sun set over Cook Inlet (PIC). One of those great moments to savor in life. And then suddenly it is dark.
Thursday, July 28
the sky is clear there
phuuuuuuuffff...
Early morning wakeup at 6:30 is cloudy for us. We finally see the volcanoes across the Inlet, since the sky is clear there. It is +11 degrees of Celsius outside, and we get occasional sprinkles as clouds go by. By 9 o'clock, after a quick breakfast, we are ready for the road. With an hour and 15 kilometers behind us we are in Happy Valley Bar & Cafe for brunch. Happy Valley Benedict ($7.25) and French Toast with blueberries are quite enjoyable, least to say. At 10:40am. we go on.
volcanoes across the inlet
We have our second flat of the trip, when Tomi rides to a huge staple. I am ten to fifteen meters behind him and can clearly hear the phuuuuuuffff ... The stop is kind of welcome --- it is beautiful and peaceful out there, and there's not too much traffic to bother us.
In Anchor Bay we stop for Lattes at a gas station. We should have not --- service is bad and the coffee crappy. From there we have a long uphill and a short downhill to Homer, the end of the road, so to speak.
First we visit the Visitor Center for lodging options --- once again we disregard their recommendations and take a room at Young's Downtown Inn for $80. The place smells like cheap Chinese food, but the location is a killer. And the TV remote control ...
Today we rode 58.86 kilometers in 3:52. We also broke thousand miles; the cyclo computer says 1609.69km.
the cafe cup
We also ignore Visitor Center's recommendation for Laundromat, and pick the place downtown --- if the other place is cleaner and nicer, how nice could it be? We pitch our clothes to washing machine and head out for dinner. Soon we are in Cafe Cup, sitting comfortably with glasses of wine --- Bonnie Doon Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc --- expecting the Halibut sandwich and (Chicken) Chow salad with tofu to arrive any time. By the time we are finished with the entrees, the laundry is done, and Tomi runs back to move the clothes to drier for 40 minutes. That's just quite enough to have cheesecake and a glass of Iron Horse Pinot Noir for dessert. Our trip has gotten quite luxurious recently. I guess we deserve it after the thousand miles, don't you think?
planes
We still have the main attraction of Homer to visit, which is partly our reason to ride this far south: Homer Brewing Company. We end up having quite a hike to the place, in an increasing rain, that turns out to be ... just a microbrewery not a brewpub (PIC). I have no idea why we did not check that beforehand. The place has closed just a tiny while ago, but a guy still inside tells us that a bar, Otter Room, on the other side of the town has their beer, all four on tap. There we go!
fishy
local music venue
Because the rain becomes really annoying we stop at Brew & Bar-B-Cue bar at Beluga Lake Lodge (PIC) to call a taxi, but we find out that they too have all four Homer beers on tap. And this place is less than a mile away from the brewery! We taste all four beers while listening to local live music, and then call a cab to Otter Room (which costs us $4+tips --- the cab, not calling). Otter Room (at Best Western Bidarka Inn) is cosy, but not too interesting.
We end our night in Kharacters (PIC), a characterful(sic!) local music venue full of people and good local beer and some weird Oregon porter. On our way home we check Alibi, a techno-sushi place --- not a place to our liking. At 11:30pm we are in bed.
Friday, July 29
We are too early for breakfast at the Cosmic Kitchen that opens at nine. We go back to motel to pack. Then we are back with the bicycles. Tomi has Burrito and Wildberry Smoothie, Tei Frittata stuffed with veggies and chorizo, and a Banana-strawberry Smoothie (and a coffee of course). All sum up to $21. The place is not too busy, even if it is not that early. I pay attention to a mother of an American family --- parents in their mid-thirties and under school-aged son --- that chooses to have her coffee in a disposable cup even if there are ceramic ones available. That's something I've never figured out; why people intentionally want to throw something away? Or perhaps she truly enjoys the residual taste of Styrofoam in her coffee?
for latte and chai
I guess I am preaching too much now. So, let's hit the road. Around 11am. we are pedaling up the hill we enjoyed so much riding down to the town. But before that, we briefly visit a gift shop to find the last two postcards for our friends. "Briefly" is the key word; there is a parrot in the shop that greets every visitor with "hello", and then a few more "hello", "hello", "hello",... and occasionally bursts into singing opera arias.
happy wok'n'woller
Quite enough of that. From the major uphill on we have mostly downhill. After 20 kilometers we stop at one of those nice espresso huts for Latte and Chai. Around 3pm. we are back in Ninilchik at Happy Wok for lunch. The service does not look promising, but eventually we get what we want; Beef in spicy sauce ($8.50) and Chicken broccoli ($7.95).
We have more than 30 more kilometers to go today, and we fly it in an increasing tail wind. By 5pm. we are in Kasilof, and in Tustumena Lodge, an interesting place in many ways.
tustumena lodge
Firstly, the place is a Guinness record holder with their collection of hats, mostly baseball caps. When we were there they had more than 27000 hats. The hats are everywhere: in the ceiling and the walls of the bar and restaurant, in restrooms, and even the ceiling of our room (which we got for $45) is covered by hats.
the hats are everywhere
Secondly, the place is currently owned by Duane P. LaFleur, an ex-pro hockey player, a cousin of Guy LaFleur, and an owner of a number of charter plane companies in Arizona. Real businessman, and a nice fellow --- he really seems to be interested in his guests having a good time.
Third, they have one dinner special on Fridays and that is Prime rib for twelve dollars. As said, at 5pm. we check in for a room at the bar as in many other this kind of places. There are not too many people in the bar or the restaurant. The dinner starts at 6pm. so we have plenty of time to refresh ourselves. Once we get back at about 6:30pm., the restaurant is packed! There is even a line. I think we should have heard all those people pull over, but we did not. The number of people in this place is so overwhelming that they must come from far away, and not from this town of Kasilof with population of 471.
We wait an hour and a half to get a table, which we share with two couples from Ninilchik. The dinner is quite enjoyable despite the food; Tei's baked potato is not well cooked and it takes some time to get a replacement. The meat-part is not that great either --- again, I'm not a red meat lover. I am glad, as everyone else in our table, to donate all the leftovers to the dog owner among us. His hounds are going to be really happy tomorrow.
It is still light outside. We have a couple of more beers at the bar and then call it a night.
Today we rode 98.6 kilometers in 5:28.
Saturday, July 30
.. toward the end, and so does our trip
July leans towards the end, and so does our trip. We wake up at seven and pack our stuff. We fail to cook breakfast in our room. We have two refrigerators and one stove of which just one frig works. Mr. LaFleur still has some electricity work to do.
At 9am. we are at Decanter Inn for breakfast. By the way, this is the place that the Soldotna Tourist (mis)information Center knew not to have any tent camping. I think I saw some tents there, though. We have some coffee and orange juice while waiting for the cook to wake up. I can't complain. This is one of the moments in life to savor: the peacefulness of the bar that at this ungodly hour of a Saturday morning is recovering from the last night's rush. There's still some cigarette smoke lingering around, and definitely, what defines it all, bad coffee in a pint mug. Eventually the cook wakes up and takes our orders: Tei has French toast ($4.50) and Tomi 2 eggs with hashbrowns and toast ($5.75).
If I have not mentioned it before, I do it now: this area is so much about fish and fishing, that it is hard to see anything else. Sterling Highway is lined by fish canning, smoking, curing, freezing, packing and shipping companies.
fireweed
We have some hills to conquer till Soldotna, which we want to pass as effortlessly as possible. We stop at Cafe Europa for Chai and Latte. And then again at 1pm. at Suzy's for soup and half sandwich ($7.25), which we share. And then the nightmare starts again when we approach Cooper Landing. There is a constant line of cars, trucks, RV's, SUV's and fishing boats passing us. And there is some irresponsible overtaking by the vehicles coming up. Don't these people have any common sense?
mushroom
another mushroom
Other than that, we have a nice tailwind, so we make quite a progress in our trip; at 4pm. we are in Cooper Landing. Qwin's Lodge has no vacancy, neither does Hamilton's Place. However, The Hutch B&B across the highway has and we get a neat room for $70 (+taxes) (PIC). We are told that they had bears visiting and tearing things apart the previous night, because some French tourists left fish in their vehicle. At the moment I can only see a number of pretty fat rabbits on the yard.
While riding Tomi had a great idea: instead of riding directly back to Anchorage, what if we rode to Seward, spend night there and then take the train to Anchorage. Sounds wonderful!
evening at the kenai lake
After showering we head across the street to Hamilton's to do some laundry. While the laundry does itself, we watch Starsky and Hutch in the bar upstairs with other patrons.
Again we opt for Thai dinner at Kenai Lake Lodge. We start with Spring rolls ($8), and then have Soup with mushrooms and shrimp ($12.95) and Yellow curry with potatoes, carrots and salmon ($15.95), and (again) red wine for dessert.
Today we rode 100.7 kilometers in 5:52.
On out way back to The Hutch we stop for a beer at Hamilton's where people are still watching TV intensively. This time it is a movie, starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, about survival in Alaskan wild country. It is quite amusing if not hilarious that the guys in the movie are doing quite the opposite that people are usually taught regarding wild life encounters in this Great Country or any national park we've visited. The rule number one is never to run away from a grizzly bear. But, this is exactly what these guys are doing. They are lucky that they used a trained and probably doped bear (I wonder how this animal stayed so cool --- Timothy Treadwell's bears did not). I later found out that the name of the movie is The Edge, and we actually saw the end of it just a couple of weeks ago when staying in a motel in Indy. Anyway, people in the bar were just laughing.
Sunday, July 31
morning at the kenai Lake
serious fishermen revisited
This morning it is not only raining, it is pouring. There is no spot in the gray sky that looks any brighter or lighter. We have a standard continental motel breakfast at the B&B: coffee, cereal, toast, muffins, fruit and orange juice. We book train tickets from Seward to Anchorage ($59 per person and $5 for each bike). Now we only need to get to Seward.
buddies
We certainly would have wished a better weather for our last day of riding, but what can we do? Luckily the rain stops once we are on the road, and we only get a couple of light sprinkles thereafter. Sterling Highway is busy as hell. When we turn south to Seward Highway, the ride becomes nicer; most of the traffic is on the oncoming lane.
two sockeyes upstream
same time in the forest
By noon we are in Moose Pass We have lunch at Trail Lake Lodge: Seafood and Halibut Quesadillas cost $9.95 and $10.95, respectively. Afterwards we hike to the nearby river to watch red salmon.
more low hanging clouds
We start a long and steady climb toward Seward. At milepost 12 (from Seward) there is a scenic viewing area. It sprinkles a little bit. We put some extra layers on for the long and steep downhill to the town.
we walk downtown for dinner
We are down at the Resurrection Bay at 5pm. The visitor center is closed, but we are hinted about a hostel, Moby Dick's, by a Montana couple. Moby's does not have any private rooms vacant, so we continue our search for a reasonably priced place to stay: we reject a room for $139, but accept another for $125 (+taxes making it $137) at Marina Motel (PIC). We spend some time cleaning our bags and bikes; Tei sacrifices her socks for the former project, Tomi is allowed to use the motel hose for the latter.
seward harbor
This harbor neighborhood where our motel is seems to be the busiest tourist area in the town. Still, we walk downtown for dinner. We have Smoked Salmon Fettucine ($17.95) and Baked Alaskan Halibut ($20.00) at Christo's Palace --- many online directories list this place as Greek, at the same time complimenting them for their pizzas. It does not make sense to me.
seward harbor
We stop for one beer at Chinook, and spend rest of the night at our motel room watching the Bond movie Goldfinger on TV.
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Today we rode 83.2 kilometers in 4:55. The total distance we made in these four weeks is 1892.3 kilometers.