Last of Alaska Pictures

Peeps, I wish you all could have been with us on our trip.

Alaska is just so...vast.   So much is undeveloped and the air smelled so clean, crisp and fresh.   I just loved it.

Notice that stream up above?  A man was fishing and ran upon one of the above.   He got away, but was  injured by the bear.

Of course I didn't know this until dinner that night.  I would NEVER have gotten out of the car.

If I had come upon a bear...my scream could have been heard all the way to Anchorage.  Maybe beyond.
And I would have been eaten.

I was obviously facinated by water.

The day we left there was a little snow on the ground!

That's it, Peeps.   I hope you enjoyed taking my Alaskan journey!

Alaska Animal Sanctuary

another bear

very large, hungry bear



Caribou   (reindeer)

  
One thing that disappointed me was the lack of animal sightings.

There wasn't even roadkill to talk about.

So, we found some animal sanctuaries that take in abandoned or injured animals and leave the healthy animals in the wild.   I like that idea.

Here are a few pictures of things we saw.




Baby Musk Ox




Musk Ox



 Actually, this is the Musk Ox.   I'm not sure what the other thing is.

Injured bear.

Lazy Moose

Lazy Moose...rear view

We actually saw many more...polar bear, yak,  larger moose, camel (camel? in Alaska?),  grizzly, baby grizzly, etc., but somehow those pictures did not make it.

I sort of felt like I was violating the animals by taking pictures of them in captivity.  I know they would otherwise be dead, but it still felt wrong.

Anyway, this is a sampling of what we saw.   They were being well taken care of.

A DRIVE TO WHITTIER

Off down another road, we ran into another glacier.

Don't have a clue about the name.

ICEBERGS!!   Well, maybe not bergs...but they were ice chunks in the water.   Does it have to be a certain size before you can call it a berg?

Apparently this facinated me.

This was so cool.  It is a tunnel that runs for 2.5 miles through a mountain of solid rock.   You must pay $12 and wait for your schedule.   It runs for about15-30 minutes one way, then it reverses and allows vehicles to come back through.  In the summer, a train also shares the tunnel which makes the wait time longer.

On the other side is Whittier.  A pretty little town.  Cruise ships dock here.  I think the only way to get there is by water or through that tunnel.

Isn't that water so blue and beautiful?

Lots of fishing in this little place.   Not even a grocery store, though.

More boats

And yet another tunnel to drive through.   I loved that!

ANOTHER ROADTRIP IN ALASKA

We did alot of driving.   I think I said that already.   Sorry.  There is so much to see!  These red berries...

...were on these trees.  Such a beautiful splash of color for the Fall.

As we headed North, we passed through Wasilla.   The famous resident was there (we saw her on TV that night) but was not out and about.   However, we did see a moose on the side of the road.   Mr. Wonderful was driving too fast in traffic so we didn't get a picture.

We also saw a bear out on the tundra, but we had to view it through binoculars and couldn't get a picture.

This is a bear from the hotel.   Does that count?

I thought not.

This is Mt. McKinley from 41 miles away.  We decided to drive to Denali National Park (a 3hour drive one way) and got within 27 miles and found out it was closed for the season.  The residents call this mountain Denali.

Mt. McKinley (Denali) is over 20,000 ft. tall and is the highest peak in North America.

The creeks are rather dry.  Just wait until that snow (that will be coming) melts!

As we traveled Northward, the trees were shedding leaves faster.

Random tree shot.

I'm sure I thought this shot had merit...at the time.   Don't remember now.

Did you know there are more trees in Alaska than any other state?

Another random.   I guess it was the mountain.

That's all for today, Peeps.   More later...

MORE ALASKA ON THE ROAD

We drove alot.  That was great because we got to see and experience alot of stuff.  One day we drove to Seward, which is a coastal town.  Back in the Earthquake of 1964 (I remember it.   Most of you weren't born) a tsunami destroyed this town and fuel tanks burned.   What the water didn't get, the fire did.
Because of the  location, they can get extreme snows.   Our little waiter told us last year they got 6' of snow in one day.   Some people who were inside their homes and didn't realize the snow was falling so hard got trapped (couldn't get the door open).

Just a lovely little fishing community.

...with beautiful views all around.

I saw a puffin!

We left Seward and decided to see how close we could get to a glacier.  There are hundreds of glaciers in Alaska, and some of them have names.   This is Exit Glacier (doesn't make sense to me either).

This is the reason I didn't go closer to the glacier.

Proof that I did walk hike in the woods.

My protector.

More stuff tomorrow, Peeps!

ALASKA!

In case anyone was wondering...all my bloggy stuff has fallen to the bottom of the page.  Hmmm.   Not sure what to do about that.

I've been promising you pictures from Alaska and here they are.   I must tell you, they are not great.

My skillz as a photog would not sustain me if I had to do this for  a living.

As I said, Mr. Wonderful planned this whole thing.

We landed in Anchorage after a  LONG flight.  FYI...if you haven't flown lately, they charge you for everything. Unless, of course, you are in First Class.  To do THAT you must have $$ to blow or have a very liberal expense account.   However, it is always full.

Oh...my juice was free.  One glass for a 7 hour flight.

Back to the story.  We drove for about an hour to a beautiful resort  in Girwood, Alaska.

It is the Alyeska Resort, which is the only ski resort in Alaska open year round.  It is pronounced Ally es ka.

I first thought someone was trying to spell "Alaska" and missed.   Anyway...

To get to Girwood, one must take one of the most scenic drives along the Cook Inlet and specifically Turnagain Arm.   Long story,  won't bore you.

The parking lot.  haha

If you look carefully, there is a little building at the top of this mountain.  There is a chair lift from the hotel to get up there, and a nice restaurant with a great view.

We saved this for the last day/night to eat and take pictures.   Big Mistake.   Big.   Huge.
Snow moved it and it was totally wrapped in snow/fog.

This is my new Alaska home.   JUST KIDDING.

Tomorrow Seward and a glacier.

Thanks for reading, Peeps.