Camping at Bing's Landing

I've got a couple posts backed up - waiting for me to finish this one, so here goes...

Last weekend, while Greg went North, Sheri & I traveled South for some more camping goodness. Greg was volunteering at the Adventure Race - a 24 hour and/or stage race with hiking, biking, orienteering, maybe some canoeing, and other outdoorsy goodness... He was going to compete, but his team didn't work out, so this year it's volunteering and he'll try competing again next year.

We went down towards Soldotna to Bing's Landing for this trip. (Patti, thought I might have time to at least hook up for a meal, but no such luck this time... I *promise* I'll make it down for a visit!!) It's been quite a while since we've been South for a camp trip. Last time was Morgan's Landing - and that's long enough ago that I don't have a blog entry for it (so it's at least three summers, maybe four)... Because things have been hectic (and I'm not a big fan of cleaning house - altho I *am* a big fan of a clean house... go figure!), we didn't have the camping gear cleaned up and ready to go from the last trip. So Sheri & I didn't hit the road until about 9pm on Friday night. Thank goodness the rest of the crew went down Thursday night, so we could just crash with them... =)

We got there late, but still in plenty of time to enjoy the fire (plus we missed all the road construction delays since we were on the road so late...). The moon was nice & big - I think it was just following a full moon - but none of my pictures turned out. I'm going to have to remember to bring my little gorilla-pod stabilizer so I can get better shots with long exposures... We hooked up with the Green's (Todd, Anita, & Kelly) and Amy. Amy bunked with Kelly in Dillingham this summer - and stayed after work was done to do some visiting and sight-seeing before heading back home, then to university for the winter. Always with a smile and eager to experience life, that's what I think of Amy. See you next summer!! =)

On Saturday, following a leisurely breakfast, we piled into the cars and headed out to Seward. The goal for the day was visiting the Sea Life Center and hiking around Exit Glacier. At the Sea Life Center, they have a "petting zoo" where you can touch some (non-hazardous) sea animals (like urchins and starfish and such). They don't bite. I kept telling myself that as I'd reach into the frigid water to find out if they're soft or hard, rubbery or smooth... it didn't help that Sheri scared the bejeezus out of me! I'd be concentrating real hard, remembering that they don't bite, inching my hand toward the little starfish... then BAM! Sheri'd grab me or poke me or just even say BOO! and I'd jump like I'd been stabbed with a hot poker. No fish did me in, but my poor hear was racing 'cuz of her... =)

And because we're lucky like that, we ended up watching feeding time for the resident male walrus, Woody. He put on quite a show. His heaviest weight this summer was 2200# - apparently he's been on a diet (or more likely because mating season is over), since his current weight is only 1500#... If I compare my own weight to his, I don't feel bad at all! ;)

When we were done there, we learned that Exit Glacier was flooded and probably not a great place to go hiking right now. So we headed over to the waterfall to take in the view. It looks like it's a man-made fall - but I'm not sure if it was a waterway that collapsed, or if they specifically put it in place to funnel water away from another area. Either way, it's still a nice view.

It's been a long time since I've been down to Seward. Reminds me a little of Valdez - all mountain-y, with glaciers and big water. Makes for great photo ops, and we were blessed with some gorgeous weather for the weekend. Yay!

The rest of the weekend was a blast. Sitting around the fire, visiting with friends, playing games, and just chillaxin'... another wonderful weekend that was over too quickly. They're always too short (weekends), but especially in summer - and *most especially* when we're having such nice weather this summer. I'm studiously *not* thinking about Sheri leaving - her stay is almost over - and the upcoming winter...