Alaska – Susan's Reflections

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days: Days 13 and 14–Moose and Caribou and Bears, Oh My!

For days as we traveled around Alaska, we had watched for moose. We had seen lots of evidence of moose in the area (moose droppings) but no moose. That all ended as soon as we arrived in Denali. As we drove into the park we were greeted by a moose at the entrance. We stopped the car and headed a bit nearer for a better look, staying a safe distance away–we thought. A ranger alerted us that we were in fact to close for comfort and warned us to stay at least 75 feet away.

We were greeted by this moose upon our arrival in Denali.

After a few minutes of munching on shrubs, the moose wandered off and we continued our trip into Denali. We were expecting to see wildlife as we drove the 15-miles that tourists are allowed to travel into the park; however, nothing prepared us for the sight of a grizzly bear walking down the road toward us. Steve stopped the car and took pictures as the bear meandered by the car. He was nearly close enough that Steve could have reached out the window and petted him as he walked by. We held our breath and prayed that he wouldn’t decide to attack the rental car. Fortunately, he had no interest in us and kept going on his way.

Grizzly bear walking down the road toward us.

We had a close encounter with this grizzly bear.

We continued on our way but didn’t get far before we saw more cars stopped. In the field were three caribou.

On our way out of the park we passed a couple more moose. After seeing so much wildlife on our own, we weren’t certain that we really needed to get up at 4:30 in the morning for our 8-hour tour which started at 5 a.m. But thankfully we did get up and go on the tour. During our tour we saw several more bears and caribou as well as Dall sheep, Arctic hare, and a marmot. It would have been perfect had our bus not broken down. We ended up sitting for nearly 2 hours until another bus could be dispatched to rescue us. It was a long day, but all-in-all it was a wonderful day spent in a great nature preserve.

This Dall sheep seem to want to hitch a ride on our tour bus.

Mt. McKinley, as viewed from Denali National Park 30 miles away.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days: Days 11 and 12–Talkeetna

After two days in Seward we headed north to Talkeetna, passing through Anchorage on the way. The drive from Seward to Anchorage was beautiful, with waterfalls, rivers, and amazing views everywhere we looked.

Upon arrival in Talkeetna, we took a plane flight for a better view of Mt. McKinley. Steve was permitted to ride in the co-pilot’s seat. Our plane landed on the Kahiltna Glacier near Mt. Foraker and dropped off supplies for climbers preparing to ascend Mt. McKinley. The glacial ice showing through the snow was a brilliant blue.

Base camp for climbers preparing to ascend Mt. McKinley.

Talkeetna was my favorite of all the towns we visited. It was filled with locally-owned shops and restaurants. I enjoyed shopping for handmade items created by local residents. Among my purchases were a seal skin thimble, salmnberry jam, and a birchbark candle. We ate at The Roadhouse, which was featured in an episode of ‘Man versus Food.’

Steve's blueberry pancake was larger than his plate.

We stayed at the beautiful Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days: Days 9 and 10–Seward

Our cruise ended in Seward, Alaska. While there we visited Exit Glacier, went on a dog sled ride at Iditaride Dog Sleds, and toured Resurrection Bay. While hiking up the mountain to get close to the Glacier, we encountered a jack rabbit and saw evidence that moose were in the area. Unfortunately, we did not see a moose in Seward.

Mitch Seavey, winner of the 2004 Iditarod, trains dogs in Seward and owns Iditaride Dog Sled Rides. I first heard of Mitch when his nephew and nieces were my students at Fredericksburg Christian High School. It was neat to visit their training facility and, we had a blast being pulled on a wheeled 6-person cart by a team of their racing dogs. Afterwards we got to play with the puppies.

Our tour of Resurrection Bay took place on a chilly day. The animals were out in full force, however. We saw several mountain goats, including two mothers with twin babies, puffins, dolphins, a sea otter, and numerous sea lions on the rocks. We lunched on grilled salmon and king crab.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days: Days 6 – 8–Juneau, Skagway, and Hubbard Glacier

Cruising the Inside Passage, there were magnificant sights everywhere we looked. Whether it was the snow-capped mountains on both shores or humpback whales swimming passed the ship, I could not help but thank God for His wondrous creation.

Inside Passage between Icy Point Strait and Juneau

In Juneau we went to a salmon bake in a beautiful, remote setting. The salmon grilled on the open fire pit was delicious. The waterfall and river were stunning.

We also took a tram ride and were greeted with incredible views. We ended our day in Juneau by visiting Mendenhall Glacier. What a glorious day in Alaska’s capital city!

: Mendenhall Glacier

Skagway was exactly what I envisioned when I thought of a typical small Alaskan town. The town flourished during the gold rush days. Today it boasts a year-round population of 902. We spent the morning roaming through shops owned by the local residents. In the afternoon we took a van tour through the mountains and into Canada. We passed more hundreds of waterfalls.

Steve and I at the Canadian-Alaska border near Skagway

There aren’t words to describe the immensity of Hubbard Glacier. We were several miles from the glacier when we began to pass the large chunks of ice that had broken from it. The captain brought our ship to within 2 miles of the massive glacier. Even from that distance, it was impressive. It was impossible to get a feel for how far away we were or of the glacier’s massive size. A ship’s officer told me that the portion of the glacier visible above the water was twice the height of our 12 -deck ship.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days: Day 5–Whales, Whales, Whales

We spent Day 5 of our 30th anniversary trip at Icy Point Strait. We visited the fishing village of Hoonah and ate fresh snow crab before embarking on a whale watching trip. What a glorious day! As you can see from Steve’s pictures, the ship captain knew where to find whales.

We spotted whales by looking for the spray from their blow holes.

: Two whales surface together.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days–Days 2 – 4: Inside Passage and Ketchikan

The cruise got underway on a beautiful clear Friday afternoon 10 days ago. We sailed out of Vancouver and headed north toward Ketchikan. Steve and I spent much of the first two days searching for telltale signs of whales. We saw a few dolphins and some seals, but no whales.

On Sunday we docked in Ketchikan. We spent the morning walking around this quaint gold mining town. We ate fresh king crab for lunch before taking in the Lumber Jack show.

Celebrating 30 years in 15 days–Day 1: Vancouver

Steve and I are in the midst of a 15-day trip to Canada and Alaska in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. So far Steve has taken 782 pictures. I promise I won’t post them all, but I will share a few of my favorites.

We began our trip last Thursday by flying to Vancouver, Canada, by way of Chicago. I’ve heard horrors stories about O’Hare; however, our experience was wonderful. We arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule and more than our hour before boarding began for our flight to Vancouver. We had plenty of time for the short walk to the gate and to get some breakfast. We arrived in Vancouver shortly before noon local time. We had a bit more than 24 hours to explore Vancouver before boarding the cruise ship that would take us to Alaska.

Vancouver skyline from our hotel room window

Vancouver is a beautiful city, with a mix of hundred-year old buildings and new, modern skyscrapers. The city is very clean, and they take their recycling seriously. Steve got fussed at for not properly deciphering the instructions on a series of recycling bins at the McDonald’s where we ate breakfast Friday.

After checking into the hotel, we ate lunch at an authentic Irish pub a block from our hotel, and then bought a pass for a “hop on, hop off” bus tour around the city. Because we bought our ticket late in the afternoon, we were allowed to use it the following day. We stayed on the bus for both of its routes Thursday, and on Friday we took the bus to Stanley Park.

River Walk at Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada

We hopped off at the first stop in Stanley Park intending to spend 30 minutes exploring the area before hopping back on and riding to the next stop. Things do not go as planned. We walked about half a mile downhill to visit Beaver Lake, then we decided that we did not want to walk back up the hill to catch the bus. Rather we decided to walk to the next stop. Thirty minutes later with the stop nowhere in sight, we realized that our reasoning had been faulty. We eventually made it to the stop, having walked about 3 miles through the park.

3 nurse trees growing from one stump, Stanley Park

Stanley Park is beautiful, and I highly recommend spending time there if you have an opportunity to visit Vancouver. We were particularly intrigued by the nurse trees which root themselves in dead tree stumps.

Our hotel was located next to Canada Place where the 2010 Winter Olympics medals were handed out and about 2 blocks from the Olympic cauldron. We visited the site and made a quick trip to the Canadian Mountie store before boarding the ship.

: Canadian Mountie store

We were off for our Alaskan adventure!

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