Day 19, Homer, AK to Anchorage, AK 251 mi

16 July 2015

Today was the drive to make it back to Anchorage and check back into UAA (University of Alaska at Anchorage) for the night.  In the morning we will be boarding a train bound for Wittier where we will be taking a boat ride to look at some more fabulous glaciers.  Be on the lookout for more YAFG pictures soon.

The whole day was cool and rainy.  Mostly in the low 60s / high 50s.  We didn't stop to take many pictures since the route from Homer to Anchorage is the same as from Anchorage to Homer, when we took lots of pictures.  It is a good thing we took pictures on the way down, because on the way up there was much more cloud cover making for less fabulous pictures.

Nevertheless, we did take a short detour to Hope where we found many fishermen and fisherwomen catching fish in a small river.

Cleaning fish

Looking down from the bridge we could see that many fish, about 18 to 20 inches in length were positioned in the water, appearing stationary.  In the short time that we were there we saw a few of the fisherpersons catch some of the fish.

Main street of Hope, AK

Hope is an old gold mining camp that once had 3000 people in it.  The 1964 earthquake caused the land to drop by some 6-8 feet, inundation much of the town.  As a result a number of the buildings were moved to higher ground, including those in the following photos.

View from Hope across Turnagain Arm

Tomorrow should be a full day of taking pictures of fabulous views from the train and pictures of fabulous glaciers from the boat.  As soon as we return to Anchorage from the train we will start heading for Haines where we will pick up the ferry to Bellingham, WA.  The trip will take a couple of days, as we need to go all the way back up to Tok, then down into Canada again.  It may be a couple of days until we again have internet access sufficient enough to make updates.