The Unfortunate Part of Traveling

Is that sometimes people get sick when you're gone. My grandpa has become just that, and doesn't have long. When I left home, and even more so when I left Australia, I knew it was possible that he might pass, as his health was slowly failing him. Prepared for this, I had it in my head that if someone passed, it wouldn't necessarily change my trip. However, it's hard to think like that when it actually goes down, so tomorrow I'm on my way home.

This won't be the end of my trip though, just an interruption. I was about to start seeing the highlights of Alaska tomorrow trekking around Kachemak Park, and knowing that, I must return and finish what I started. I'm not done with Alaska yet, and Alaska isn't done with me.

On the Spit

Homer, Alaska. I caught a ride here with a middle aged woman (Evelyn) from California yesterday. We split the driving in her rented Jeep, my first time driving on the right side of the road in over a year. The Seward Highway is incredible! Nearly the entire drive is full of head turning scenery, a real view of Alaska's beauty. And it helped that the weather turned out to be clear and sunny. I think on the way back I'm going to try and rent a car one way to Anchorage so I can do things at my own pace and stop for the crazy amount of photo opportunities.

Evelyn was aiming to camp on the Homer Spit in the back of her Jeep, so I tagged along and set up my tent on the on the shore of the Kachemak Bay. The Homer Spit is basically a ten mile or so long naturally formed narrow island that sticks out form the peninsula like a nail, and all along it are seafood restaurants, pubs, hotels, campgrounds, and the harbour. We ended up eating a great seafood dinner and hit the Salty Dog Tavern for what turned out to be quite a few beers.

In the morning Evelyn left early for her flight to Anchorage. I chose to sleep in knowing that checking into an Alaskan hostel at 6am is virtually impossible. I woke up and packed my stuff up around 10:30am, in need of water and with the bad taste of hangover in my mouth. I hoofed it the mile or so into town and grabbed a bottle of water form a cafe, along with directions to the hostel. The girl that worked there told me it would take around twenty minutes to walk there.

So an hour later I arrive at the hostel after walking for about four miles up a long fucking hill that I didn't really need to climb because the girls directions took me the longer way. Fortunately the guy that runs the hostel let me check in early so I could shower and go grab some food. The hostel is pretty comical. It's an old, very oddly designed house that has been converted into a hostel. It's clean, but it's the kind of place where nearly every sliding door, faucet or window is in need of some degree or repair. It's pretty dead here right now too, I'm hoping some people worthy of hanging out with me will show up soon.

So the next couple days I'll be hanging around the Homer Spit, snapping away with my camera at the various Eagles, Otters, Moose, and whatever other creatures I happen to come across.

Hanging With the Locals

So far, Anchorage as a city is unimpressive. There's really not much to see or do here, and the weather situation definitely isn't helping. I have managed to keep myself busy, however. I had a plan to pick up some gear for my upcoming hiking and camping, and had even picked out what I had wanted on the REI (basically like Mountain Equipment Co-op) website when I was in Australia. Luck would have it that they were having a sale when I got there! Pretty decent for me, I ended up saving about $75 from what I thought I would spend.

On Friday I headed out with a guy from the hostel to Humpy's Tap House, where I tried several local beers out of their fifty-something they have on tap. After that I ended up at some local dive bar that had $3.50 pints, not too bad for the wallet. I ended up hanging with a local and cruised around to a couple bars. The next day my head hurt. A lot.

Last night I called a couple friends I had met at a hostel in the North Shore who had been on vacation there. We ended up cooking over the fire a wicked shish kabob meal of steak bits and vegetables, kicked off with some rice, salad, and smores. It was awesome having a bonfire again, the second time in almost two years for me, which is very out of the ordinary. This was the first night that the abundance of sunlight had a noticeable effect on me. It was around 1 am when the sun finally set, and up until that point I hadn't really realized what time it was or how tired I was. As soon as that sun went down, it hit me pretty quickly.

Back On the Home Continent

I learned a new lesson about taking flights: don't eat greasy Chinese take out at the airport prior to getting on a six hour flight. While you sleep, your muscles will relax, the Chinese food will start brewing evil gases inside your guts, and will proceed to escape your butt, waking you up and making it awkward between you and the two other people sitting next to you.

Other than learning that lesson the hard way, my flight was still shit. I didn't sleep much, and the lady sitting in the isle seat gave me bitchy looks when I wanted to use the toilet. The best part of the flight was the last part. At 4am the sun started rising, giving a great view of the mountains and coastline below, and silhouetting Mt. McKinley in the distance. And when we landed I was greeted by a big misquito banging up against my window, screaming you'll be seeing lots of me!


I arrived at my hostel around 5:30, but was told I wouldn't be able to check in until the afternoon. The guy recommended a cafe fifteen minutes away, so I started to hoof it with breakfast on my mind. Unfortunately the cafe wasn't open until 7am, so I spent over an hour strolling around the parks along the shore of the Cook Inlet. The best part of this was the smell. I never realized how much I missed that fresh, mountain forest smell of North America. That smell hit me the most: I am home. Back on the soil of my home continent. Ironically, Anchorage actually reminds me a lot of Edmonton, but in the mountains.

Today was a write off, I managed to sweet talk the staff into checking me in early, and I spent the afternoon catching up on the sleep I lost on the flight. The weather turned out to be pretty crappy when I woke up, so I strolled to the grocery store, did some Skyping with the fam, cooked dinner, and here I am. Tomorrow I have to hit up REI to purchase some gear, and after that I'll find a few sights to see.

Last Days of Hawaii

I'm writing this from my pimp ass condo in Kona. I normally wouldn't brag about how nice the place I'm staying is (it usually isn't at all), but this place is pretty awesome. I screwed up and didn't book a hostel ahead of time, and consequently they were booked up. I had to settle for a resort condo I booked off of Hotwire.com. I got it for a hell of a deal, $75 for one night, but that's still way ahead of the $60 daily budget I set for myself (which includes food, accommodation and fun). As awesome as this place is, it's not the place to be by yourself. This condo is way too nice to be solo; it's a place to stay with a girlfriend or wife. Therefore it's somewhat lonesome to be in here alone, but fortunately I'm only here for one night. And being that this place is full of old people and couples, it's guaranteed I'll be hanging solo tonight.

Yesterday Isaac and I loaded up his truck with his camping gear and set out for the Kona side of the island, two hours from where he lives in Hilo. The South Coast highway was pretty awesome, taking us through the two hundred years worth of lava flows that have expanded the island. It was a pretty crazy landscape, something between the moon and temperate desert. We ended up camping Ho'Okena beach park, about half and hour south of Kona. It was a really cool camping, just off the beach in the trees. We did some awesome snorkeling (I swam with two sea turtles) drank a lot of beers, had a fire, and hung out with some girls from New Yawk. The next day we went cruised around Kona and checked myself into this pad I'm currently in.

Tomorrow I am bound for Alaska. Kona chose to bled my funds a little more with a $36 shuttle ride, but fuck it, I just found out my Canadian tax refund was WAY more than I thought it would be!

Da Big Island

So I ended up having to take the Loser Cruiser to the airport the other day. It turned out ok though, the trip wasn't too long and the busy was air conditioned and not too busy. I ended up getting to the airport early, and after a sweaty walk from the street to the other end of the terminal, I kicked back with some nachos and a very large beer. I can't really tell you much about the flight; it was the first time I'd ever seen first come, first served seating on an airplane. Other than that, I slept the entire way.

My buddy Isaac picked me up at the airport upon touchdown, and within ten minutes we had beers in hand. We picked up some beers and food and headed to his place, where I met his girlfriend, Emma. The next day we headed out to an unofficial camping spot outside of Hilo, where his friends were camping for the weekend. It was an awesome spot, perched on cliffs of lava rocks about twenty feet above the ocean surf. All of his friends are involved with Marine Biology or related fields, and subsequently are avid free divers and fisherman.

I haven't fished since I was a teenager, so needless to say I was as rusty as old Klondike mining equipment. After a few hours, I was tying special knots and casting my own lines. I ended up only catching one Saddlewrasse, not big enough to be worth keeping, but one is better than none! Isaac caught a few fish, including a Moano that was big enough to keep. It was a great day that I would have never been able to spend had I not had a local connection, which makes having friends around the world all the better. 

Today Isaac had to work at the local Farmer's Market, so I took the time to do a quick workout and walk around town a little. I hoofed it a couple kilometers in the crazy heat to the local YMCA, where the cool staff let me work out for free. It was an open air gym, and I'll tell you that working out in that heat drains you FAST. I did a lot less than I should have, but at least it was progress towards my goal of not repeating my muscle loss that I incurred at the beginning of this trip. After that I walked around town, putting a lot of k's on my feet, and sweating out more than one bucket. Hilo is a pretty bland city; in fact, it reminds me a lot of Kokopo in Papua New Guinea, but much clearer. 

Last Day On the Shore

Today was my last day on the North Shore, very unfortunately. This place is awesome, and I would love to have pulled a long term (say month long) stay in this place, but time and money do not warrant it. The last two days have been serious beach days, laying in the sun working on tanning my bod. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to photograph surfers on the pipeline, today being the only day that has had decent waves. However, I am certain this is not the last time I'll be in Hawaii. A wicked piece of good news arrived via email yesterday: my tax rebate from my work in Australia is almost $1700! Should have that wad of cash in six to eight weeks!

Tomorrow I head back to Honolulu to catch my flight to the Big Island, where I'll be staying with my friend Issac, who I met in Thailand just over a year ago. He recently moved to the Big Island to live with his girlfriend who is studying in Hilo. That's one of the best parts of traveling, you make those friends and connections all over the world, and sometimes fate works its magic and schedules a meet for you. I'm hoping the hostel shuttle is running, or else I'll be taking a three hour ride on the loser cruiser (aka the public bus system) bound for Honolulu.