Day 3 of our Great big Alaska Adventure
After our visit to Homer we decided we needed to roll back towards Skilak WMA. The day started off rainy and dreary (typical Alaska weather for you) and I was wondering if it would clear up or not. On our way back to Skilak, we stopped in Kenai and ate at the McDonald's and let Autumn Savage around. Sean gave Autumn his gigantor cup of Hi-C (which by the way has ZERO juice in it). You should have seen her walking around with that cup that looked bigger than her. She had the hugest smile on her face and at first it freaked me out because I thought she just grabbed some random strangers cup and was drinking soda or something. The other parents were giving us that how dare you, you terrible parents look which only made Sean happy, but I was relieved she was drinking from his cup and not a strangers!!
On the way back, Autumn did this:
I guess McDonald's and Hi-C wore her out.
On our way back, we ran into this lady:
She seemed pretty nice.
Once we got back to Skilak, we decided we wanted to camp at Hidden Lake Campground. I don't know if it was because of the rain, but there was no longer a mosquito problem. We did some minor setting up and then decided to hit the trails again. This time, we headed over to Jim's Landing to check out the Kenai River (we were on the brown bear lookout). No luck, so we decided we would go on a hike. We did the Upper Kenai River trail. We got such good views of the River on this trail (high up and down low). We had to put on our rain gear and I was glad we did, sometimes the rain would really come down and then it would lighten up.
Autumn all geared up (wearing a snow suit bib and a light weight jacket in the kid carrier with the rain cover on). I was wearing three coats including a polar tech jacket.
The view from the trail.
This trail was by far the prettiest but the creepiest trail we had ventured on in the park. You could tell you were in the heart of bear country and I was walking through there just awaiting the moment for a bear to jump out at us. I kept singing, bears bears bears friendly bears bears bears BEARS!!! I was glad that I wasn't carrying the gun, because I think I would be trigger happy and kill an innocent bird or squirrel or something. We did see brown bear scat, but I didn't see any other evidence of brown bear. You could feel it in the air though, there were bears all around. After our hike, we were wet and ready to get warmed up. We headed back to camp so Sean could start a fire.
The view from our campsite.
Autumn was a little upset about this:
Autumn fell and got her hands dirty and was pretty distraught about it.
Sean is the fire starter!! Back off ladies, he is my fire starter, get your own!!!!
Autumn wanted to touch that fire. Every time I turned around, she was heading right back for it.
Even though it was raining, I was enjoying being by the fire. I was sipping on some ginger ale. Operative word, WAS!
Before I knew it, Autumn was:
Enjoying my ginger ale.
Now I'm happy.
We had hot dogs and beer for dinner, roasted marshmallows and s'mores for dessert. The battery on the A-liner stayed charged up an we had a wonderfully warm night of sleep. It rained all night long. Autumn slept with Sean this night and for the first time on our wonderful camping trip, I got a decent night of sleep. Autumn did too-she slept great with Sean (note to self, make Autumn sleep with her daddy from now on!). We hadn't made up our mind if we were going to stay or leave in the morning, so we decided we would sleep on it and wait and see what kind of weather then next day brought us.
On the final morning of our camping trip, it was STILL raining, but now it was WINDY too!! We hung around camp.
Autumn's never bothered by cold or wetness.
Just as happy as can be.
Talking to me. Not sure what she is saying, something in Autumnese.
Now she is yelling at me!
I guess she got it all of her chest because now she is:
Dancing.
A short hike down this hill and we are at the lake adjacent to our campsite.
Sean and Autumn checking out the water.
Autumn walking with Sean.
I don't know why sometimes she feels the need to take such giant steps.
Should I throw her in?
Yeah, I think so!
Sean teaching Autumn something.
Giving her a hand.
My favorite lake photo. I was trying to get closer so I could get their reflections of the water, but alas, I was not fast enough. Moment passed.
These two are peas in a pod.
And just like that, I CAN DO IT MYSELF DAD!
Autumn's primary mode of transportation, on Sean's shoulders.
Now we shall try our hand at rock climbing, right from our campsite.
Pick me up please.
Photo op!
Cherish and Autumn hanging together in a tree.
It was clear the rain wasn't going to let up, so we made the decision to pack up and head back home. I personally would have preferred to stay one more night and I don't think I was alone. When we told Autumn we were going home, she had this to say:
Poor baby.
On the way home we drove through the Russian River campground hoping to spot the elusive brown bear. I did spot something, Sean stopped the car, I got out so I could get an up close picture of whatever it was, but it turned out to be this jerk.
A Bull moose. He didn't even care that I was there and after sizing me up, he turned his backside to me!!!
I decided I shouldn't get any closer (I don't want to get kicked by this guy!).
We made it home to Anchorage around 5 pm. Picked up a pizza from Nino’s, ate dinner and promptly went to bed!
Overall, it was a great camping adventure. I learned a few things.
1. Autumn LOVES milkshakes, Hi-C, and ginger ale.
2. We need to go back to Skilak this summer- we barely saw the park.
3. Pack N' Play was useless, Daddy works much better.
4. Need heat if we are going to do tent camping out here.
5. The brown bear does not exist!
6. There is a huge canoe system at Skilak and we MUST explore this soon.
7. You don't have to spend a hundred dollars to park your A-liner.
8. Mosquitoes are BAD BAD BAD!
I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of at this point. Hope ya'll enjoyed reading about our GREAT BIG OUTDOOR ALASKA CAMPING ADVENTURE. Stay tuned for our next adventure (which we are planning soon).
On the way back, Autumn did this:
I guess McDonald's and Hi-C wore her out.
On our way back, we ran into this lady:
She seemed pretty nice.
Once we got back to Skilak, we decided we wanted to camp at Hidden Lake Campground. I don't know if it was because of the rain, but there was no longer a mosquito problem. We did some minor setting up and then decided to hit the trails again. This time, we headed over to Jim's Landing to check out the Kenai River (we were on the brown bear lookout). No luck, so we decided we would go on a hike. We did the Upper Kenai River trail. We got such good views of the River on this trail (high up and down low). We had to put on our rain gear and I was glad we did, sometimes the rain would really come down and then it would lighten up.
Autumn all geared up (wearing a snow suit bib and a light weight jacket in the kid carrier with the rain cover on). I was wearing three coats including a polar tech jacket.
The view from the trail.
This trail was by far the prettiest but the creepiest trail we had ventured on in the park. You could tell you were in the heart of bear country and I was walking through there just awaiting the moment for a bear to jump out at us. I kept singing, bears bears bears friendly bears bears bears BEARS!!! I was glad that I wasn't carrying the gun, because I think I would be trigger happy and kill an innocent bird or squirrel or something. We did see brown bear scat, but I didn't see any other evidence of brown bear. You could feel it in the air though, there were bears all around. After our hike, we were wet and ready to get warmed up. We headed back to camp so Sean could start a fire.
The view from our campsite.
Autumn was a little upset about this:
Autumn fell and got her hands dirty and was pretty distraught about it.
Sean is the fire starter!! Back off ladies, he is my fire starter, get your own!!!!
Autumn wanted to touch that fire. Every time I turned around, she was heading right back for it.
Even though it was raining, I was enjoying being by the fire. I was sipping on some ginger ale. Operative word, WAS!
Before I knew it, Autumn was:
Enjoying my ginger ale.
Now I'm happy.
We had hot dogs and beer for dinner, roasted marshmallows and s'mores for dessert. The battery on the A-liner stayed charged up an we had a wonderfully warm night of sleep. It rained all night long. Autumn slept with Sean this night and for the first time on our wonderful camping trip, I got a decent night of sleep. Autumn did too-she slept great with Sean (note to self, make Autumn sleep with her daddy from now on!). We hadn't made up our mind if we were going to stay or leave in the morning, so we decided we would sleep on it and wait and see what kind of weather then next day brought us.
On the final morning of our camping trip, it was STILL raining, but now it was WINDY too!! We hung around camp.
Autumn's never bothered by cold or wetness.
Just as happy as can be.
Talking to me. Not sure what she is saying, something in Autumnese.
Now she is yelling at me!
I guess she got it all of her chest because now she is:
Dancing.
A short hike down this hill and we are at the lake adjacent to our campsite.
Sean and Autumn checking out the water.
Autumn walking with Sean.
I don't know why sometimes she feels the need to take such giant steps.
Should I throw her in?
Yeah, I think so!
Sean teaching Autumn something.
Giving her a hand.
My favorite lake photo. I was trying to get closer so I could get their reflections of the water, but alas, I was not fast enough. Moment passed.
These two are peas in a pod.
And just like that, I CAN DO IT MYSELF DAD!
Autumn's primary mode of transportation, on Sean's shoulders.
Now we shall try our hand at rock climbing, right from our campsite.
Pick me up please.
Photo op!
Cherish and Autumn hanging together in a tree.
It was clear the rain wasn't going to let up, so we made the decision to pack up and head back home. I personally would have preferred to stay one more night and I don't think I was alone. When we told Autumn we were going home, she had this to say:
Poor baby.
On the way home we drove through the Russian River campground hoping to spot the elusive brown bear. I did spot something, Sean stopped the car, I got out so I could get an up close picture of whatever it was, but it turned out to be this jerk.
A Bull moose. He didn't even care that I was there and after sizing me up, he turned his backside to me!!!
I decided I shouldn't get any closer (I don't want to get kicked by this guy!).
We made it home to Anchorage around 5 pm. Picked up a pizza from Nino’s, ate dinner and promptly went to bed!
Overall, it was a great camping adventure. I learned a few things.
1. Autumn LOVES milkshakes, Hi-C, and ginger ale.
2. We need to go back to Skilak this summer- we barely saw the park.
3. Pack N' Play was useless, Daddy works much better.
4. Need heat if we are going to do tent camping out here.
5. The brown bear does not exist!
6. There is a huge canoe system at Skilak and we MUST explore this soon.
7. You don't have to spend a hundred dollars to park your A-liner.
8. Mosquitoes are BAD BAD BAD!
I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of at this point. Hope ya'll enjoyed reading about our GREAT BIG OUTDOOR ALASKA CAMPING ADVENTURE. Stay tuned for our next adventure (which we are planning soon).
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