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July 4, 2025
Anchorage, Alaska from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate. We find ourselves in Anchorage this morning.


We had about 150 miles to drive yesterday. We're backtracking over roads we've already traveled. We skipped by Anchorage on our way south. We wanted to see Seward and Homer before the Fourth. Apparently, fisher people show up in droves over the holiday, and we hoped to avoid that. Both places were already crowded, and so I'm glad we missed the worst of it.

So all of that to say I didn't take a lot of ...

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Anchorage, Alaska from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate. We find ourselves in Anchorage this morning.


We had about 150 miles to drive yesterday. We're backtracking over roads we've already traveled. We skipped by Anchorage on our way south. We wanted to see Seward and Homer before the Fourth. Apparently, fisher people show up in droves over the holiday, and we hoped to avoid that. Both places were already crowded, and so I'm glad we missed the worst of it.

So all of that to say I didn't take a lot of ...

read more
July 3, 2025
A Museum and a Hike from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We'll move on to Anchorage this morning. We have a five-night stay there. It'll be our longest stop of the whole trip. There are some things to see in Anchorage, and we'll also take at least one day trip while we're there.

Getting back to yesterday's activities, we visited the Soldotna Homestead Museum. I'm including all of the informational signs about these cabins we're about to see. I'm not much of a sign reader, myself. You can read them or not. Mike reads all the signs and then ...

read more
A Museum and a Hike from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We'll move on to Anchorage this morning. We have a five-night stay there. It'll be our longest stop of the whole trip. There are some things to see in Anchorage, and we'll also take at least one day trip while we're there.

Getting back to yesterday's activities, we visited the Soldotna Homestead Museum. I'm including all of the informational signs about these cabins we're about to see. I'm not much of a sign reader, myself. You can read them or not. Mike reads all the signs and then ...

read more
July 2, 2025
Soldotna, Alaska from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a short drive to our next stop at Soldotna (prounounced Sole-DOT-na with the "dot" like polka dot). We have two nights here...one now. 


Here's what the Milepost tells us about Soldotna.



We'd planned to do our week's grocery shopping after we got set up. It seemed as good a time as any to visit the quilt shop. This was a weird visit for so many reasons. For one thing, the quilt shop is located in a shopping mall. This confused our nav unit, and it had us driving behind a ...

read more
Soldotna, Alaska from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a short drive to our next stop at Soldotna (prounounced Sole-DOT-na with the "dot" like polka dot). We have two nights here...one now. 


Here's what the Milepost tells us about Soldotna.



We'd planned to do our week's grocery shopping after we got set up. It seemed as good a time as any to visit the quilt shop. This was a weird visit for so many reasons. For one thing, the quilt shop is located in a shopping mall. This confused our nav unit, and it had us driving behind a ...

read more
July 1, 2025
Life Happens in Homer from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Welcome to July! It was cloudy for a good part of the morning, and so it was a good day to do some laundry. We'd already planned on Egg McMuffins. Is there a better way to start the day? It took the sting out of doing laundry just knowing we'd pre-reward ourselves with a sumptuous breakfast. And while I'd ordinarily entertain you with pictures of our food, today I'll break with tradition and show you the inside of this particular McDonald's. I liked these simple murals on the walls mainly, I ...

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Life Happens in Homer from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. Welcome to July! It was cloudy for a good part of the morning, and so it was a good day to do some laundry. We'd already planned on Egg McMuffins. Is there a better way to start the day? It took the sting out of doing laundry just knowing we'd pre-reward ourselves with a sumptuous breakfast. And while I'd ordinarily entertain you with pictures of our food, today I'll break with tradition and show you the inside of this particular McDonald's. I liked these simple murals on the walls mainly, I ...

read more
June 30, 2025
Two Hikes and a Viewpoint from ... Cat Patches

 Good morning, my friends. Just after posting yesterday, I stepped outside for a few minutes. While I was out, I heard the distinctive call of a bald eagle. Taking a look around...holy-moly!...there were two perched on a roof not 50 yards away. So I grabbed my camera with the telephoto lens and captured this image. We've seen a few bald eagles on our trip, but this was the first time we got a really good look at them.


Our goal for the day was to hike a couple of trails I'd bookmarked. When we visited the ...

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Two Hikes and a Viewpoint from Cat Patches

 Good morning, my friends. Just after posting yesterday, I stepped outside for a few minutes. While I was out, I heard the distinctive call of a bald eagle. Taking a look around...holy-moly!...there were two perched on a roof not 50 yards away. So I grabbed my camera with the telephoto lens and captured this image. We've seen a few bald eagles on our trip, but this was the first time we got a really good look at them.


Our goal for the day was to hike a couple of trails I'd bookmarked. When we visited the ...

read more
June 29, 2025
Making Ourselves at Home in Homer from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a beautiful sunny day in Homer yesterday. It was nice to see the sun after so many days of rain. I showed you the view from our back window in a previous post. Looking in one direction, it looks like this:


Turning to look in the opposite direction, it looks like this:


And if  you didn't already know it, I have a thing for Adirondack chairs.


So I mentioned yesterday that we were within walking distance of Two Sisters Bakery, although I called it "Three" Sisters Bakery yesterday. It seems there are only ...

read more
Making Ourselves at Home in Homer from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was a beautiful sunny day in Homer yesterday. It was nice to see the sun after so many days of rain. I showed you the view from our back window in a previous post. Looking in one direction, it looks like this:


Turning to look in the opposite direction, it looks like this:


And if  you didn't already know it, I have a thing for Adirondack chairs.


So I mentioned yesterday that we were within walking distance of Two Sisters Bakery, although I called it "Three" Sisters Bakery yesterday. It seems there are only ...

read more
June 27, 2025
Exit Glacier Overlook Trail; Kenai Fjords NP from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We'll say good-bye to Seward this morning and make our way to Homer. We'll have four days in Homer before we backtrack along the roads we came in on. After Homer, we'll spend a couple of nights in Soldotna before making our way to Anchorage. This section of our trip has the most number of days in single spots. 

The weather could be more cooperative, but it hasn't prevented us from doing anything we really wanted to do. Also, no one has died, and so we consider that good fortune. (I really ...

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Exit Glacier Overlook Trail; Kenai Fjords NP from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We'll say good-bye to Seward this morning and make our way to Homer. We'll have four days in Homer before we backtrack along the roads we came in on. After Homer, we'll spend a couple of nights in Soldotna before making our way to Anchorage. This section of our trip has the most number of days in single spots. 

The weather could be more cooperative, but it hasn't prevented us from doing anything we really wanted to do. Also, no one has died, and so we consider that good fortune. (I really ...

read more
June 24, 2025
Seward, Alaska from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We had a short drive to Seward yesterday. We were going to be early for our check-in, and so we'd planned a few stops along the way. Our first stop was here at Lower Summit Lake. Looking across...an idyllic setting. It's probably less inviting in winter.


Here's what our Milepost had to say about this spot. 


Looking in the opposite direction, it looked like this. If it isn't obvious, it was a gray and drizzly drive.


Mainly, we pulled off here to see the wildflowers promised by the Milepost. This was ...

read more
Seward, Alaska from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We had a short drive to Seward yesterday. We were going to be early for our check-in, and so we'd planned a few stops along the way. Our first stop was here at Lower Summit Lake. Looking across...an idyllic setting. It's probably less inviting in winter.


Here's what our Milepost had to say about this spot. 


Looking in the opposite direction, it looked like this. If it isn't obvious, it was a gray and drizzly drive.


Mainly, we pulled off here to see the wildflowers promised by the Milepost. This was ...

read more
June 23, 2025
Hope, Alaska from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was one of our longer days of driving yesterday. We had gray skies almost all day long with very brief sunbreaks. Somehow I was expecting more when we reached Hope, but it is what it is. I have lots to tell you about our drive yesterday, so let's just get right to it.

Right away after pulling out of the campground, we crossed over Kashwitna Lake. 


Here's what our Milepost says about it. Denali was not visible.


We passed through the little town of Houston, Alaska. 


Here's what our Milepost tells us ...

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Hope, Alaska from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. It was one of our longer days of driving yesterday. We had gray skies almost all day long with very brief sunbreaks. Somehow I was expecting more when we reached Hope, but it is what it is. I have lots to tell you about our drive yesterday, so let's just get right to it.

Right away after pulling out of the campground, we crossed over Kashwitna Lake. 


Here's what our Milepost says about it. Denali was not visible.


We passed through the little town of Houston, Alaska. 


Here's what our Milepost tells us ...

read more
June 21, 2025
Montana Creek Campground; Willow, Alaska from ... Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We took our time driving yesterday. The drive was short, and our check-in time was relatively late. Nevertheless, we were able to check-in as soon as we arrived at Montana Creek Campground, about 15 miles south of Talkeetna. The town of Talkeetna is our reason for stopping here.

Our view from the day was another day of spectacular mountain scenery.


The weather was clear, and our Milepost suggested several places we might be able to see Denali. We stopped at the first one, and lo and behold...it's a little hazy, but there it is ...

read more
Montana Creek Campground; Willow, Alaska from Cat Patches

Good morning, my friends. We took our time driving yesterday. The drive was short, and our check-in time was relatively late. Nevertheless, we were able to check-in as soon as we arrived at Montana Creek Campground, about 15 miles south of Talkeetna. The town of Talkeetna is our reason for stopping here.

Our view from the day was another day of spectacular mountain scenery.


The weather was clear, and our Milepost suggested several places we might be able to see Denali. We stopped at the first one, and lo and behold...it's a little hazy, but there it is ...

read more
  • mindless musings
  • Page 1 of 85 ( 1694 posts )