Seward to Wasilla & LOTS of FISH

Leslie Wednesday, August 20, 2008

We left Seward this morning headed for Anchorage to buy fish.

We were fortunate that the sun actually shone. This is the 6th time we’ve driven this road and the only one where I had the chance to get pictures of Turnagain Arm. Turnagain Arm is the body of water off Cook Inlet to the south of Anchorage. Coming from the south, first we passed along these mountains.



And then the water of Turnagain Arm. There is a story that Captain Cook gave this body of water the name Turnagain Arm because as he sailed in from the sea he realized that he had to Turn Again.







At Girdwood (home of Senator Ted Stevens), we could see the dead trees near the waterline. These trees were on dry land prior to the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964. When the tsunami followed the earthquake these trees were swamped with salt water.




In Anchorage we visited 10th & M Seafood to load up our freezer. We put a 3.5 cubic foot freezer in the closet intended to hold a stacked washer/dryer. As Robert has said, “We don’t mind using the laundromat every 7-10 days, but we do like to eat every day!” The freezer runs only on 110 volts so we’ll have to look for electric hook-ups most places. At the seafood market we filled baskets of fish until the freezer was full. That was 35 lbs of King Salmon, 15 lbs of halibut, and 5 lbs of sea scallops. The woman in the store said she was going to follow our RV along knowing what was for supper.

The last time we bought salmon in Alaska we hadn’t determined the taste difference among King, Pink, Silver, etc. Now we know that we really prefer King. Because we bought so much fish, we had negotiated a 10% discount. That made a significant cost difference.

We’re staying in at Big Bear RV Park in Wasilla this time. Wasilla is a suburb about 40 miles north of Anchorage, along the route towards Denali. Big Bear provides free WIFI, always a positive feature to us. We learned that the Alaska State Fair begins tomorrow so we may visit the fair if the weather holds.

North to Wasilla

Robert, Wednesday, August 20
Today we started our trek north. We left Seward headed first to Anchorage and then on to Wasilla. The stop in Anchorage was to fill the freezer with fish. We went to the fish market where we got fish two years ago. That time it was to carry it on the airplane as checked baggage. The store is very close to downtown Anchorage and we had to wander through the residential section just to the south of downtown to get to the store. The GPS selected a route and the road construction caused us to find alternatives. Leslie assured me that there was a place to part the rig at the store. I remembered the store but didn’t remember if there was room for a 52-foot rig. She was right and we parked on the street immediately in front of the store. We went inside and asked if they would give us a deal if we bought 50 pounds of fish. The offer was for 10% off. We started packing frozen fish out to the freezer. We got about 40 pounds of king salmon, 15 pounds of halibut, and 5 pounds of scallops. The 10% off was quite a savings. Next we headed for the campground in Wasilla. The GPS selected a route for us that would mean literally driving right through downtown. I might be crazy but not that crazy. Driving the rig through a place like downtown Anchorage is not something I would choose to do if I had an alternative. By now we are pretty familiar with the main streets in town so we selected our own route. The GPS kept saying, "Recomputing, recomputing" but we ignored it until it figured out that the way we were going would get us where we wanted to be. The drive on to Wasilla was uneventful except for the truck telling us we had a low fuel level. We last fueled up in Soldotna. In Seward, diesel was $5.529! As we came through Anchorage, we saw it for $4.899. I think we have enough to get us back to Anchorage to fill up tomorrow. If not, we can get 5 gallons in Wasilla and then make it to Anchorage. When we checked into the campground, they asked if we were going to the state fair. It starts tomorrow at noon at the fair ground in Palmer. That is only about 10 miles away so after we go to Anchorage tomorrow, we may go see it. We had fresh salmon for dinner. We bought a fillet when we got the frozen fish. It was great!

Here is where we are. The campground is about 40 miles straight line from Anchorage.