We had fun in Alaska. In fact, we had a LOT of fun. We saw whales, puffins, sea otters, tons of moose, foxes, grizzly bears, wolves, and lots of other wildlife. We saw glaciers and got the chance to walk on one.
Brent is telling me I'm doing this all wrong. Here we go again. We left Saturday the 11th after the funeral for Brent's grandma. :( We had picked up a rental car and drove it to Seattle, arriving at about 3:30 in the morning. We picked up another rental car and drove it to Vancouver, where Brent hit a crow, the first of three birds killed in our car adventures. He now wants the keyboard back because he wants to tell our story the way HE wants it told.
What she means is, I want it told RIGHT. She's sick, and frankly doesn't care.
We hit the boat in Vancouver and the rest consisted of relaxation and Becca puking. We hit Ketchikan first. This is in the southern tip of Alaska. The average summer temp is 58 and the average Jan. temp is 33. Could there be a more perfect place? We went on an air tour of the Misty Fjords, which was incredible. They get about 180 inches of rain a year, which is about 15 FEET of rain a year. They said that they consider Seattle a desert!
We then got back on the boat and went to Juneau (Juneau the capital of Alaska?). We toured Juneau (which is the only US State capital not accessible by road (air and boat only). There we saw the salmon run and the worlds largest collection of totem poles. I would provide a picture of the salmon, but it just looks like rocks in water.
Then we went to Skagway where we panned for gold....and I struck it rich! Both Becca and I found gold, which really did prove to me that there was such a thing as "Gold Fever". Yes, once you find your first bit it is VERY addictive. While we were panning for gold we heard story after story about how most people who searched for gold in Alaska didn't find any and those that did usually lost it on vices...gambling, alcohol and...."On demand company". I laughed to myself thinking that I would never be one of those people to lose my gold. And true to myself, I wasn't....but Becca was. She lost her stash, and has been very sad since. Here we saw a 3,200 foot tall waterfall. The picture doesn't give it justice as is usually the case, esp. since there are trees growing on the side of the cliff...which happens everywhere in Alaska. It is the most crazy thing.
Want to know what Down town Sgagaway looks like? A little piece of heaven, that's what!
We then went to the Mendenhall glacier (the first picture on this blog) My first up-close and personal encounter with an ice cube that large. Strangely, there was a frigid breeze coming down out of that canyon...
And a VERY up close picture of what glacier actually looks like. Apparently when ice freezes under pressure, and gets cold over a very long time, it turns crystal clear.
What? You want MORE? Well, you asked for it...(who doesn't like pictures of alaska?)
What about a special bridge that is designed to CATAPULT you, your car, and everything you've got with you off of it in an earthquake, and i'm not kidding (Alaska is one of the most active earthquake areas around...aside from Indonesia..). Yup, you heard me right, if your (un)fortunate enough to be driving on this bridge when a big one hits, right before it fails, it will launch you off and away from it right before it falls into the gorge below. IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE SOMEONE FEEL BETTER? What you may or may not notice is there is a cliff on either side of the bridge as well, so if it doesn't fling you just right, you may end up getting tossed INTO the chasm instead of just falling in with the bridge. That's better.....
There are a bunch of cool plants in alaska...here are some flowers we saw often.
A random picture of beauty..
Or how about a glacier breaking off and into the ocean. This one will be a couple of pictures...a before, during and after (if you care). I got more detailed pic's of it falling, but i didn't think you'd care THAT much...
These are "Puffin" birds. Apparently their bones are too heavy for them to REALLY fly, so mostly they just skim the water, unable to gain any kind of altitude. I liked this one because the one on the left looks completely ridiculous....
Okay, okay, enough of the glaciers, you say (i got LOTS of pictures of them....) how about the question of "Did I see any WILDLIFE?" Well lets just get to the meat of it. How do GRIZZLY Bears sound? And to start off, a mom and two cubs..
Yes, i know my readers have lost interest...so i'm trying to cut this down....we did spend TWO WEEKS in alaska! I have a lot to tell.
How about mountain goats?
Still don't care? Tough crowd..
How about a ram perched at the top of a cliff in which seconds later he fell to his untimely DEATH?
Okay, that didn't happen....well, the falling part.
How about a picture of Becca and I three HOURS into an 11 hour bus ride into the heart of the Denali? Now THAT is a fearsome picture...
We never did get to see Mt. McKinley, and it was the big (heh heh) reason we went to the Denali. Apparently, in July, there are usually 2 days in the entire month where you can see it. For that reason, the bright park rangers found another way you could see the top of this majestic mountain (tallest in N. America) at 20,300 ft. Which is pretty high. They painted the top of the mountain on this piece of glass. They marked places on the floor where you stand according to your height, and then the markings on the glass represent the top...apparently. This sad picture represents that.
This is Becca and I at a lake in the heart of the Deanli
This is a Carabu that wanted us off the road. It's funny because i'd always wondered how Texans get those horns on the front of their old Cadillacs...now i know...
And that reminds me, if you're ever hungry, there is no shortage of critters to eat. I have to admit, i ate some reindeer sausage-dogs, and they were simply AMAZING. It's worth moving to Alaska just to get more of those.
While we were in Alaska, we opted to go to someplace called THE NORTH POLE. You'll never guess who we met there. Well, I can't remember his name, but he was jolly, old, and knew right where we lived (do i look a little nervous?).
Oh, and Gumbee made the trip with us to the jolliest place on earth.
We went on a dog-sled ride into the far arctic:
And i'm told that nobody is going to read this far in....so i should probably stop now. But I hope you had fun looking through the alaska landscape as seen by us.
My last pic is one of the time. You will notice that it is almost 11:00...PM. That little dial below the hands is the 24 hour hand, and you'll notice it is at the 2300 hour position...which proves that this is in-fact 11PM. It also got light at just before 4 am...which makes for long days :)
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