ALASKA

Let's go back a little bit.  In July, we were fortunate enough to take an extended vacation to Alaska.  Starting with a Celebrity Cruise out of Vancouver we sailed for a week, visiting Ketchican, Juneau, Icy Straits Point and Skagway.  Beautiful country, amazing glaciers, wild countryside not like anything I have seen before. 

 In Icy Straits Point John rode the worlds’ longest zip line which went from over 3000 ft to sea level on a mile long ride in about 90 seconds!  The ship approached Hubbard Ice Field, looks small but the height of the ice is the length of a football field.  Below is a photo of Mendenhall Glacier. In Skagway we rode the steam engine railroad to the top of the mountain pass and enjoyed the spectacular views along the way.  

We disembarked and continued our trip on land with our friends, Rocky and Marrion, driving through Seward.  There we had a spectacular day on a tour boat through the Kenai National Wildlife Preserve, viewing abundant sea wildlife including humpback whales, puffins, a pod of orcas and sea otters.  It was an awesome day and became the highlight of our trip.  We saw and learned about sea life and glacier calving like never before.

Next we traveled to Homer where we came up close and personal with a large moose that was foraging through a neighborhood and who briefly posed for us. We ate local seafood on the Homer Spit, a low lying narrow strip that runs a few miles out into the bay. In Wasilla we took a sled dog ride and stayed in a beautiful Bed and Breakfast on the same lake that Sarah Palin lives on.

From there we drove to Denali where we spent the next 3 days.  In Denali we took a bus tour to Mirror Lake [a day long trip] where we saw Moose, caribou, bears, fox, marmot, wolves and Dahl sheep up close and personal. The scenery there was spectacular from the snows on Mt McKinley and surrounding peaks to the green, red, and golden hues in the varying landscapes.  

In Talkeetna  we stayed in an old Roadhouse and took a air tour of Mt McKinley.  Denali, as it is calaled by the locals, is as spectacular as they say it is and our pilot was incredible.

 The Roadhouse was, well an old roadhouse.  The beds were squeaky and bowed and the washroom and showers were down the hall, in view of the dining room!  But it was such a unique little inn it was one of the highlights of our trip.

It was an incredible trip with exceptional weather, good food, great times with friends and high adventure!