Day 13

Day 13. We woke up really early to get to the boat on time. The boat left at eight, and we were on our way for a day of new experiences! As we left the harbor, we saw this "trap" that was filled with sea lions. They were huge! We also saw some islands with many different species of birds.

There were some birds that looked like penguins, sounded like penguins, and even carried their eggs like penguins, but they were not penguins! They were some kind of rare bird species called muirs. The captain of the boat was really nice, he explained everything from the history of the island, to the kinds of animals we saw.

Speaking of animals that we saw, we saw a humpback whale that kept blowing out of her blowhole, some sea lions resting on rocks just off the shores, and a few sea otters and harbor seals along the way. We also saw many dahl porpoises! The amazing thing was, that they were swimming with killer whales. That was the coolest thing that we have ever seen! If you looked out into the water, you would see two to three dahl porpoises speeding along, followed by a slower moving killer whale. Almost like a well choreographed dance.

Then, we had an amazing lunch of a chicken wrap along with a granola bar and some baby carrots. After going along for a while, we came to a glacier. It was huge!! and you could see it rapidly melting before your very eyes! We also saw parts of the glacier falling, and tried to get good pictures of it, but most of them did not come out right. This was the most amazing boat trip ever!!



On our drive back to Homer we saw some people pulled over to the side of the road looking at something. We drove over to where they were and saw what they were looking at. A BEAR! So, basically by the end of this trip we had seen almost all of the possible animals we could see! This trip was AMAZING! Thank you Deb and Ralphie!!!!

Day 12

Today we drove to Seward for a couple of days. When we got there, went to the Sea Life Center first. There was a place in the center that had lots of different types of birds in it, and from downstairs, you could see them dive into the water. There was also a sea lion, he was HUGE!! Unfortunately, he didn't stay out for us to watch him for too long... We also saw some seals swimming laps around the pool. As soon as we got downstairs, right in front of us was a body of a giant squid in a tank. We got a picture of Zoe laying down next to it, it was as big as her!! Then Zoe got some sweet pictures of two fishes, and an underwater picture that came out really good!!



After we went to the Sea Life Center, we ate dinner at Ray's (which was really good), and then we took a hike to Exit Glacier. It wasn't too long, just a couple of miles. When we got to the glacier, Deb and Ralph searched for wildlife. Ralph found two bear and a mountain goat! But they were too far up on the mountain for us to get a picture of. The Glacier was extremely large, and there were signs on the side of the road telling us where it used to be over the last 200 years. Glaciers are constantly moving forward, but it has melted a great distance over the years. We saw moose nuggets on the way up, along with some trees that they had pulled off the bark and branches to munch on. There is also a picture that shows the scratches on the rocks from the glacier moving across them. Ralphie was about to dive into one of the pools of water, but we are glad he didn't. He did not have his helmet with him, and those puddles are not that deep!




We saw this sign on our drive back from the Glacier! :)



After Exit Glacier we went back to the campsite where we left the camper. We decided that it was definitely way too cold to sleep in a tent, and it wouldn't be so comfortable sleeping on the gravel. So, we decided to sleep on the couches in the camper. Here is a picture of us around the campfire we started. While we were out there we saw a family of about six sea lions pass by the shore.

Day 11

Today was a relaxing day. We packed up the fifth wheel for our adventure to Seward, and finished up little projects around the house. We used Photobooth on Zoe's computer to take some crazy pictures. We had a blast! Alexis was blurry in almost all of the other ones, so these are really some of the only ones where she stayed still. After that, Alexis had to return a necklace, so Zoe tested out her knee on a bike going back to wildberry products ith her. It didn't work out too well, but the two of us survived :) Alexis' favorite picture is the very last one, the one with four colors.. it is amazng ^.^ but another good one is the one where Alexis is taking up almost all of the picture and in the back, Zoe looks like she's in horrific pain:) Too funny!! Enjoy!!

Day 10

Today we went clamming!! We got about 48 clams! We went down to the beach on ATVs with the dogs. Two people per four-wheeler and Ralphie had two dogs in his lap (Logan and Charlie), and Alexis had Piper. Once we went to the spot that we caught most of the clams, riding back, we heard some teenage guys getting all excited that they were getting lots of clams, and they were of a nice size, too. We stopped near where they were and each of us caught about 5 more each! To see where a clam supposedly is, you look for a little dimple in the sand, and dig near the hole until you fid it,and once you see it, stick your hand in and grab it fast, because they can dig faster than you can, I guarantee that!!




When we got back to the house, Ralphie taught us how to clean up clams to where they are edible, he even told us that some parts are edible raw! Getting Alexis to eat that part was not easy, but she eventualy caved. How terrible could it be? She said that it tasted like cooked clams, with the exception of it being cold. Zoe remembered how bad they tasted, but for some reason she told Alexis that she would eat one if Alexis did, not thinking that she would do it!



After we were done with clams for the day, we started to work on the blog for a little while, and Deb just walked in and told us that we were going to go kayaking/canoeing, and that we were to get the kayaks and the canoe into the truck. It seriously caught us off guard.. But it was worth it in the end. We went to the Reservoir and it was so beautiful. Ralph caught two fish- both trout, but he threw them back. There was an eagle's nest in a tree near where we were, and Zoe got some sweet pictures of them. Once we got back from that, Deb was ready to go to bed, but not without a card game at Grandma's! We played one hand of gin rummy, and then we went to retire to our beds for the night.