Sure Sign of Summer

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 10 Comments

Rhapsody Seas

Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas leaving Seward, Alaska.

Along with the arrival of swallows, robins and endless daylight, nothing signals the return of the summer season like the first cruise ship.  To be accurate, this one is actually the second ship of the season, but the first one didn’t leave in good light like this this one, so this will do.

Cordova Homes

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Cordova Alaska

A small house on the coast in Cordova, Alaska.  Forgetting the 167 inches of annual average rainfall for a second – could you imagine waking up this the 180 degree ocean and Chugach Nattional Forest view! 

I’m amazed at the high number of beautiful waterfront properties you see as you drive around the Cordova area.  You see, Cordova has a number of miles of road accessible coastline, along with a large road accessible lake and river (Eayak Lake and Eyak River).  Couple this with a population of only a couple thousand people and less then 1,000 households, and I would venture to say this town may have more waterfront property per capita then any town in America. 

Copper River Reds

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 15 Comments

Cordova Alaska Boat Harbor, Alaska

Cordova Boat Harbor, Alaska.

Unfortunately the service that handles our email subscriptions has been having trouble lately – hopefully this one will go out. 

Weather permitting, the commercial salmon season will open tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:00 am near the entrance to the Copper River.  When we were in Cordova, the harbor was bustling with activity as fishermen prepared their boats.  You see, not only is this the first fresh salmon to hit the market every year, it is also the best tasting due to its high oil content.

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Muskrat

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel, Wildlife 7 Comments

Muskrat

Muskrat.

We visited my artist mom for Mother’s day and got an added bonus – a muskrat! I have never been able to get close to these guys before, much less have one climb out of the water onto a stick in nice light!

Copper River Highway

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

Copper River Highway

We took a drive out the Copper River Highway – it seemed like we were going back about two months in time! 

It appeared a large snow blower had cleared a path through the drifts just wide enough for my truck.  The drifts in some places were 15 feet tall!  It would have been fun to see Child’s Glacier with all this snow, but at this time the road was only cleared to mile 40 something, and you pretty much needed 4 wheel drive to even get that far.  Child’s Glacier was still another 20 miles away.