Month: July 2017

Like most young adults I used to do a LOT of road trips – and before the days of satellite radio I used to buy audio books on tape, or record local radio so I would have something to listen to on the more rural parts of the trip.

One of my favorite books on tape was Tom Bodette’s “End of the Road” series.  Even if you have never heard the name, you’ve heard the voice – he is the voice of Motel 6 (“we’ll leave the light on for you”).  There is nothing quite like having that familiar friendly voice to keep you company during a long road trip.

The “End of the Road” is Homer, Alaska – and ever since I listened to those books I have always dreamed of seeing the place I had heard so much about.  So Homer was a “must-see” destination during our stay in the 49th State.

It’s pretty amazing…

Located at the base of the Kenai Peninsula, Homer is arguably the fishing capital of Alaska.  It reminds me of fishing villages in Connecticut and Massachusetts – except for the mountains across the bay of course!

Fishing isn’t really our thing – but eating and drinking sure is!  And Homer is becoming quite the foodie town… we took full advantage.

We also took advantage of the opportunity to take a few strolls on the beach.  One thing that was particularly cool was the huge variety of rocks on the beach – every kind and color of granite and lava rock all smoothed by the pounding surf.

And I should also mention the tides… you may have heard that some of the tides in Alaska are extreme… and it is a pretty amazing thing to see so much water move so quickly!

All that, AND we stayed in the cutest tiny house!  (Driftwood Inn, Tiny Liberty House)

Homer, Alaska… check!

When the name “Valdez” comes up, most of us of a certain age immediately think about the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill that occurred in 1989.  Growing up, much of what I had heard about Alaska focused on that incident, the clean-up, and environmental issues surrounding the spill – so Valdez has always been one of those places I wanted to see for myself.

The drive to Valdez is simply stunning… there are lakes, forests, and waterfalls everywhere.  Oh, and the glaciers…

Approaching Valdez we made our way through Keystone Canyon…

Where there was a surprise around every corner…

Valdez is a stunner – creamy turquoise water surrounded by majestic peaks.

And a darling downtown which reminded me a lot of fishing villages in the Northeast US.

Of course, postcard-perfect weather didn’t hurt!  Sadly we only had one day to enjoy the city – but I suspect we’ll be back!

 

 

Alaska is a HUGE state (I know… thanks Captain Obvious!)!  But for as massive as it is, there are relatively few paved/tended gravel roads.  We’ve been doing our best this summer to try to drive them all and this past week we spent a few days traveling the Richardson Highway from Fairbanks to Valdez.

The first thing we learned about the Richardson Highway is that no one here calls it by its Route number (Alaska 4) – it’s the Richardson.  All of the major roads have names in Alaska (The Dalton, The Top of the World, The Alaska, The Denali) and it has taken a while to get our heads around which road takes you to which place!

The second thing we have learned is that in Alaska, the term “highway” is relative – a “highway” can be 4-6 paved lanes headed North out of Anchorage, or it can be a single-wide gravel trail through the mountains depending on where you are headed.

The Richardson Highway was the first major road built in Alaska, and the Alaska Oil Pipeline runs adjacent to the highway all of the way from Fairbanks to Valdez.

Just outside of Fairbanks the highway passes through North Pole, Alaska… SANTA!!!!!

One thing you can always count on in Alaska is road construction…

But the scenery kind of makes up for it, don’t you think?

We are headed back out this weekend to check another highway off the list this weekend!  Homer here we come!

 

As we planned this adventure, we really wanted the kids to be able to meet up with us at various points along the way and experience our trip along with us.  So our arrival in Alaska was quickly followed by a visit from Mitchell.    Of course, we wanted to make sure that Mitchell could experience as much of Alaska as a week-long trip would allow… but the thing that he was most interested in was a fishing trip.

To say that Mitchell loves fishing would be an understatement.  And it just so happened that our arrival in Alaska coincided with the run of the King Salmon (I know… darn the luck!).

With a brutal 3:30am alarm on a cold and drizzly morning we headed north and met up with our guide Colton (who is AWESOME – check out his company at http://www.drifterzparadise.com).

Apparently cold and rainy is the best fishing weather… who knew?

There is a saying up here – there is a reason why they call it “fishing” and not “catching” – but things can go from boredom to mayhem as soon as you get a bite.  We only had a window of about 4 hours for our excursion – good thing we took advantage of our time on the river!

That’s about 50 pounds of salmon – I could barely hold that sucker up for the picture!  And they have some SHARP teeth!  Once we cleaned and filleted the fish we literally had an entire trashbag full of salmon!  Good thing we have lots of friends to share our good fortune with!

No fish from the grocery store can compare to freshly caught king salmon – I had no idea how good salmon could be.  One of my favorite ways to prepare salmon comes courtesy of Dinner at Tiffani’s (yes, that Tiffani from Saved by the Bell – check out her show on the Cooking Channel – it’s awesome!  Trust!).  It is easy-peasy… but SO very very good!  The friends we are staying with said this was the best Salmon they have ever had – which is high praise coming from born and raised Alaskan’s!

Honey Miso Glaze

1/2 cup Honey

2 tbsp each Miso Paste, Lime juice, Soy Sauce

5 cloves garlic, minced

Prior to grilling or broiling, baste salmon with some of the glaze.  Grill or broil to medium rare – PLEASE don’t overcook this!  Remember the salmon will continue cooking a bit after you remove it from the grill or broiler.  A few minutes before removing from the grill baste salmon with more of the glaze – and don’t be stingy, really coat that sucker!   Remove from grill and let the feast begin!  Enjoy!