Finished Varnishing for the Year

Actually this post is a bit premature.  As we have about an hour to go, or one last coat on a couple of areas and we can remove the last of the blue tape.

We didn't get everything done this year.  We had planned to do the rubbing streak and the companionway boards as well.  The rubbing streak was mostly scraped back but was not varnished and only the bottom two boards were varnished for the campanionway.  Instead we made a replacement board for the top two drop boards with two pieces of acrylic separated by a wood frame as this allows so much more light in and we figure will be nice as the shorter days of an Alaskan winter come on us.

What we did achieve is all the trim, cap rails, taff rails, and forward sign boards.  All the windows have been done, and the grab rails.  We didn't even attempt the bowsprit and the rubbing streak will wait until next year.  We also didn't do the hatch trim but most of those look ok and hopefully will last another year.

Just as we were finishing off the varnishing, we were wondering how to get new name decals when all of a sudden we were remotely introduced to Sasha and Gretchen via our friends Chris and Kerry from Guam.  Sasha works in the Anchorage office of the company Pauline worked for in Guam.  He volunteered to take on designing, ordering and delivering for us.  Mucho thanks go to him.  You can zoom in on the pictures and check out his artwork.

Tickets Booked

We have booked our tickets to Michigan for Greg and Hayden's wedding near the end of Sept.  After that we will drive the Rogue back here to Seward for the winter.  We are looking forward to our winter in Alaska and having the car will allow us to make road trips when we have time off.

Varnishing

With Pauline now working, Mark is taking advantage of the good weather and tackling the exterior varnish.  Very slow scraping and sanding  8 year old varnish off but we are turning the corner and some is going back on while trying to prep the rest of it.  Oh Pauline got her first two days off starting today.  Guess what she was conned into doing.  Yep scraping and sanding.  How relaxing Lah!

Pauline has got a job!

Well just before the Rileys arrived we had decided this is too nice of an area to rush through and we were going to spend another year here.  We also kind of felt it would be better for Sari Timur if we stayed on board through the winter so she wouldn't be such a wreck when we got back.  That meant put out the word we were looking for work.  Well it seems like people have been waiting for that.  We both had interviews on Tuesday.  Mark has a possibility but Pauline landed a job.  She has to start right away in order to get the time off for the trip to Michigan in September for Greg's wedding and to pick up our car.  And Mark is just waiting until the 19th to see if his possibility is going anywhere.

4th of July in Seward

We spent 4th of July in Seward.  Nothing special, you think.  Well, the population of Seward in winter is about 3,500 but during 4th of July, there are about 30,000 people here.  The reason is the Mt. Marathon Race.  It is a race from the town, up Mt. Marathon to a marker 3,022 feet abovet sea level and back down to town.  And you have to be invited to participate or win a lottery to do so.  This year, the last two places were auctioned at $4,500!

The local catholic church puts on a chicken BBQ every year and it's very popular and we decided to help out; setting up the tables, serving chicken, cleaning tables and packing up.  In between, we got to see the start of the kids race, the men's race, the women's race and the parade.

It was a nice 4th of July!

Train ride

We left Denali National Park and took the Alaska Railroad back to Anchorage.  Chris booked us on the Wilderness Express, two special cars run by a private company.  Pretty luxurious, with the passengers seated in a dome upstairs car with the dinning area below, complete with a guide, who pointed out all the sights to us.

Alaska Railroad train engine

the Wilderness Express car

trees, mountains, river, sky, clouds

another great view

the conductor, the bartender and the guide

us, waiting to order our lunch

meandering river

more river view

passing over Hurricane Gulgh

Denali National Park

This place is surreal!  It is 6 million acres of wilderness and the centerpiece is the 20,310 feet high Denali, the highest mountain in North America.  There is only one unpaved road into the center of the park and there you will find 4 lodges in Kantishna, one of which is the Backcountry Lodge, where we stayed the night. As part of the package, we got to ride a bus tour into and out of the lodge with a very knowledgeable guide.

We have seen moose, caribou, arctic ground squirrels, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, swans, a golden eagle, bald eagles, as well as flowers and plants.

Mama moose with her babies

male moose

a large herd of caribou, mostly females and youngs

male caribou mostly on their own

the girls panning for gold!

Tom decided to fly fish

so did Brendan

Dall Sheep

more caribous

the Kantishna Backcountry Lodge

this bear was hovering over a caribou carcass

this bear was wandering around the visitor center

the kids clowning about at the visitor center

the park ranger, with the bear-safe container

Talkeetna

We had a great view of Denali last night.  A good dinner with the help of our friend Yvonne, then off for a walk around the X, Y, and Z Lakes.  Half of us turned back but three went the whole way around the lakes.  It is great when the sun doesn't set until well after midnight.  We went into the historic town for the day.

view of Denali

a hiking we will go

one of the X, Y, Z lakes

historic Talkeetna

the general store, where the mayor, Stubbs the cat, lives

decorated moose all over town

a growler for the road

another decorated moose

Friends and Family Visitors

Well, we have been busy.  On Tuesday we had Jackie McMahon and Kaity from Guam stayed the night with us.  They were off early the next day on a kayaking trip and we went to pick up a majority share of the Rileys.  Chris, Tom, Megan, and Brendan made it but the older offsprings are now married and doing their own thing so couldn't make the trip.

So far we have done the wildlife refuge, Seward town, a glacier cruise complete with lots of whales (even an Orca), sea lions, puffins, a bear and a calving glacier.

The Riley family

Humpback whale

At Aialik Glacier

sea lions basking in the sun

puffins on the cliff

We have just arrived in Talkeetna and looking for Mount Denali.

Generator is Working

We went to de winterize the generator to find it was seized up.

Mark got a cheater bar on the main crank and was able to break it free.  He then went to start it and found the starter motor would spin but not throw the drive gear far enough to engage the flywheel gear.  No problem we have a spare, but guess what, same problem.  WD40 didn't do the trick so off to the agent where we soaked both starters in some super penetrant.  After a weekend of soaking, they were still stuck, so we ordered a replacement and sent these for rebuilding.  The new starter came yesterday and with fingers crossed we tried the generator.  She fired right up and no smoke or oil coming out, so the seize up didn't cause permanent problems.  The electrics didn't work at first either but it turned out to be dirty contact on the main switch and turning it on and off a few times fixed it. She is running fine now.  Anyway the last things left on the list are the depth sounder and AIS.  Our new radio has a built in AIS receiver so if the AIS doesn't work not a big issue and the depth sounder we have lots of spares for so we are good to go.  The exterior varnish still needs to be done but that won't stop us from sailing.