07/28 –08/02 Bob headed out early to get his Radiator repaired in Anchorage. J&J will be meeting with their friends Greg and Becky at an RV Park in Anchorage and we were headed to what we thought might be a campground on the outskirts of Anchorage called the Kincaid project but when we arrived we only found a large parking lot next to a dog park and a paintball park and no campground. We opted to drive down toward the town of Whittier as there are a couple of USFS campgrounds that offer good bicycling and hiking opportunities. We were delighted to find the wonderfully maintained, clean, paved, and spacious sites at the Williwaw campground. It has a Salmon viewing platform over the Williwaw creek which we checked daily and finally saw some red sockeye salmon swimming upstream to spawn. There were numerous nature trails to hike and bike on. With his new radiator in place, Bob joined us a few hours later. We rode our bikes and made plans to ride the Alaska railroad on a day trip out of Whittier, AK. J&J along with their friends, who came along for a day trip, joined us at the campground along with their 2 king Charles spaniels the next day. We all enjoyed a walk out to the Begich-Boggs visitors center on the Northwest Shore of Portage Lake. From this vantage point we could see 5 different glaciers surrounding us. The visitors center was very interactive and had many hands on exhibits and Audio, visual, cultural, and historical displays. It also had a beautiful and informative film on the natural history and culture of the area. As the filmed ended the screen lifted in the theater and a curtain opened to windows looking out over a stunning view of the lake and glaciers. Very well done! We really liked all this area had to offer and so kept extending our stay. We rode out bikes out to Moose Junction (no moose) and then picked up Sierra and gave her a run on the trail out to Byron Glacier. On our final day there, we loaded up our Camper, aka the party bus, with all 5 of us and 2 dogs and made the drive through the longest train/single lane vehicle tunnel 2.4 miles through the mountain to the deep water port of Whittier where we spent some time exploring the town. We left the dogs in the camper and boarded the train for the round trip scenic ride back through the tunnel and through the mountains past Spencer Glacier. At our turn around stop at Grandview station we paused for a bit to stretch our legs and pick wild blueberries. We did not have much luck seeing wildlife but did enjoy the ride and the scenery. Upon arriving back in Whittier, the Dogs were happy to see us and we made our way back through the long tunnel for the 4th time to the Willwaw campground. We all agreed this was a wonderful place to call home for a few days.
Living the Dream 