There is so much to love about Kodiak Island! We are surrounded by breathtaking scenery (green hills, rocky beaches). The people are friendly and welcoming. There is even a Spaceport. And bears!!! Lots of bears!

After leaving Anchor Point we took the ferry M/V Tustumena from Homer to Kodiak Island.

Unlike all the other ferries in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet, the M/V Tustumena loads vehicles by having them drive onto a vehicle elevator which then lowers the vehicle down to the car deck. Once on the car deck the elevator platform rotates 90 degrees so the vehicle can drive off into the car deck.

Ma driving Big Blue onto the M/V Tustumena’s vehicle elevator. You can’t tell from this, but there was no barrier at the far end of the elevator so Ma was driving right up to the edge of a sheer drop down to the ocean.

Ma backing Big Blue off the vehicle elevator after it rotated 90+ degrees

We spent one week at Anchor Point, North America’s most westerly highway point! From the beach we could see five volcanoes which are part of a whole chain of volcanoes called the Ring of Fire.

We spent most of our time exploring the beach. We saw a tractor launching boats off of trailers into the surf. The tractor went so fast into the water that the boat shot right off the trailer and into the sea. Another day we explored an abandoned house several miles down the beach. The abandoned house was so cool to investigate. I played on the beach and rushed into the sea. I almost got knocked down by a giant wave. We also saw bald eagles and seagulls.

We spent one day in Homer where we ate pizza. We also walked on the docks. We saw boats in all different shapes and sizes.

We had so much fun in Anchor Point, but now we are moving on to a new island. New island, new adventures!

Becca celebrated her 19th birthday with us in rainy Valdez. We began the day with a short hike, followed by Becca going for a swim in an icy glacier lake. In the afternoon we all enjoyed a late lunch at The Potato, a second location of a restaurant we frequented the week prior in McCarthy. We ended the day with birthday brownies.

The next day was even rainier, so we went to see the Barbie movie. Fun for all!

We left the campground at five in the morning to catch our six-hour ferry to Whittier.

To get to McCarthy and Kennecott we got off of the highway and drove two hours on an unpaved bumpy road to the campground at the end. The road was so bumpy that it shook the battery connector right off of Becca’s van! Luckily Pa was able to fix it! From the end of the road we took a foot bridge over the roiling Kennicott river to get to McCarthy.

McCarthy was originally a booming town where copper miners from the Kennecott mine spent the money they earned. They spent their money on stuff like drinking and gambling. When we visited McCarthy we ate at a great restaurant called The Potato and we also got ice cream.

We also visited Kennecott, five miles away, which was once a booming copper town. Copper was discovered there in 1901. In 1911 the first load of copper departed Kennecott on the newly built 193 mile railway to Cordova. Kennecott was the most technologically advanced mine in Alaska; they were able to extract 98% of the copper out of the ore. The Kennecott Mine was the richest copper mine in the world at the time.

We went on a mill tour where Ma hit her head two times; luckily we were wearing hard hats. We got to see how the copper was processed and put onto trains.

When the copper was all extracted the owners shut down the mining operation and left all their equipment behind. Now the old mining equipment and town buildings are managed by the National Park Service.

In Kennecott we also hiked the Root Glacier Trail. We walked on a dangerous trail where I fell in the dust two times. We walked out on the ice and saw cool stuff like the snow and ice on the mountains and ground.

I had so much fun in McCarthy and Kennecott but now we are moving on to new adventures! Above and beyond!