Day Five-To Seward

Joe and George's halibut fishing trip was canceled due to bad sea conditions. So, we decided to drive two hrs. south to Seward and take the Wildlife Cruise where we should see bears, puffins, seals, otters and numerous other critters. Well, it poured on us most of the way to Seward and we missed the boat. Making lemonade out of lemons, we decided to have a nice lunch and go to the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward where I was able to see the puffin. The last picture was made from the deck of our camp about 10 PM tonight. It's midnight here and it's still not completely dark (it's dusk-like). And, the sun will begin to rise again around 5 AM. So, I'm headed to bed and we'll see what tomorrow brings. Oh, the halibut trip is canceled for tomorrow as well. We hope the weather clears up enough before we leave so the guys can fish. Send good thoughts our way!

Day Four - Alaska's Last Frontier

Is this an awesome view or what??? This is the view from the deck at the house where we're staying in Soldotna. We've spent the day relaxing here. Spotted my first bald eagle since arriving in Alaska. There's a pair with a nest in a tree across the river.

Day 3 - Whittier to Soldotna

Saturday. We left the Alyeska Resort and drove to Whittier (about a half-hour drive) to take a Glacier Cruise. Whittier is an interesting little port accessible by two routes. You can either drive through the 2+ mile railroad tunnel (on the tracks) that goes through the mountain OR you can climb over the mountain. We decided to take the train tunnel. It's open to cars every hour on the half- hour but you must know on what half-hour the tunnel is open to traffic going in the direction you are going. Confusing, huh? Anyway, this is me and Laurice on the boat.

This is another tour boat in front of Beloit Glacier. While we were at the glacier, a rare phenomenon occured...we got to see a very large chunk of the glacier drop into the water. This is known as "calving". And, this happened again when we arrived at Blackstone Glacier.



The further we went into Prince William Sound, the colder it got. I almost froze before we got here because I wanted to stay outside to get my pics. And, my camera didn't like the cold any better than I did. I had trouble keeping it from frosting up (as you can see in the last couple of pics). We saw sea otters floating around on their backs and there were seals snoozing on the ice chunks floating around in the water. It was an awesome day! We drove over to Soldotna where we will be based until we go back to Anchorage to fly home.

Headed South

This is a picture of Cook Inlet headed south from Anchorage to Girdwood where we are staying at the Alyeska Ski Resort.


George and Laurice in front of the fireplace in the lobby of the resort.We rode the tram up to the viewing deck. The hotel is 2300 ft. below. The view is absolutely magnificent from up there!

Day One-North From Anchorage

We headed north into Alaska today and stopped at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer.

After the Musk Ox Farm, we headed up into the Talkeetna Mountains to an old gold mining community named Hatcher Pass. This picture was made at Hatcher Pass Lodge where we stopped for lunch. Isn't the view awesome?!?

Joe and I along the way up to Hatcher Pass.

This is a picture of my first sunrise in Alaska! We arrived in Anchorage as the sun was setting at 11:30 PM last night! The sun was rising at 6:00 AM when I snapped this picture. I haven't gone far yet, but what I've seen of Alaska so far is beautiful. As I write this, George and Joe have gone to locate us a rental car and Laurice is having an after-breakfast nap.

Joe and I went to New Orleans for the weekend. This is Joe sitting on the cable car leaving the French Market to go back to our hotel. We had a great time walking the French Quarter, riding the cable cars around town and eating lots of yummy food.