Alaskan Vacation Part 4

The next day we drove to Whittier, Alaska. Another amazingly beautiful drive. You can even really capture the size and magnificence of everything with a camera. Whittier is really just a port. There are no houses there. There is a large hotel, one building of condos and a few little gift shops and food places. To get to Whittier you have to drive through a tunnel through the bottom of a mountain. It's 2.5 miles long and one way. It's the only way in for cars or trains. You have to get there at the correct time to get through.

How the tunnel looks from the outside.

 ...and from the inside. Water was dripping off the rock surrounding us. Later that day we learned that Alaska experiences a lot of earthquakes so I was a little nervous on the ride back through. 

We got there a little early so we decided to do a hike that some guy told us about. We had been warned about mosquitos in Alaska but we had no idea until we started up this trail. Robert and I were literally surrounded by thousands of mosquitos. I wore my jacket even though I was hot, to protect my arms. I'm sure my hair was loaded. That, and the fact that I started getting nervous about bears, made us turn around half way up. Here are a couple pictures. Beautiful scenery. 

Robert ate some berries off the side on the trail on the way up.

 Trying to swipe away bugs!

After we escaped the bugs we headed to our day cruise boat.

Robert saved the day by getting me a headband to cover my sensitive ears. The wind was COLD! 

Here are some pictures of the some of what we saw. We also saw a sea otter, bald eagles, salmon swimming below us and a lot of jelly fish.

 It's hard to see in pictures but the glaciers are a pretty shade of blue.

 Robert's favorite part of the boat ride was feeling the chunks of ice hitting our boat as we rode through.

 If you look close you'll see that this cliff has white spots on it, which are actually thousands of birds. They lay there eggs there, and they are really loud.

It was a nice day.

Alaskan Vacation Part 3

When we were up on the tram we spotted a trail below and decided to hike it. It was right through dense forest. There were berries lining the trail almost the entire way. People were out with buckets collecting them. We saw wild raspberries and blueberries. There are also wild huckleberries. 

Robert really wanted to see a bear on this hike. We searched the woods as we were hiking. But as you can see, there could've been bears all around but we never would have seen them in the dense woods. While Robert really wanted to see one I was OK not seeing any. I have read one too many bear attack stories. 

About a mile down the trail we asked a passerby if she had hiked the trail before and if it was worth going any further. Luckily she was a local and told us that about a mile and a half ahead there was a waterfall and a pulley system across the river. So, we kept going and it was worth it.

Before we saw the water and waterfall we could hear it. It was rushing down the mountain so fast. It was beautiful and clear.

We enjoyed the waterfall then continued our hike over a couple of more hills and got to the pulley system that is 100 feet over the river. No one works there. You're on your own, except for the help of other hikers that may be there and feel like assisting you. 

 Waiting of our turn.

 I quickly snapped a picture when we were half way across. It was tight in the cart and the guy you can see decided to help us so we went across really fast. It felt like we were on The Amazing Race. :)

What Robert and I realized every time we hiked was that on the hike in it doesn't seem like you've gone very far. But on the way back it seems to take forever. Our feet were absolutely killing us by the time we made it back to the trail head. It felt like we could feel every little rock underneath our feet. But, we made it! We had a good dinner and put our feet up that night. 

To Be Continued...

Alaskan Vacation Part 2

Thankfully my legs had healed by the next day. We were off to Girdwood, Alaska to check out the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and then on to the Alyeska Resort. 

The drive there was gorgeous along  Seward Highway. You can take a train all the way up the Alaska Coast if you want to .

They say that people spot beluga whales here but we didn't get lucky enough to see one because the wind coming off of the water was cold!  It's funny how warm and then cold we were throughout our trip. You see a beautiful green mountain next to a mountain that has snow and a glacier on top of it. 

We had a nice little tour of the conservation center. The first day we were there I ate a reindeer and the next day I got to touch one. :)

Here's Robert at the bottom of the tram at the Alyeskan Resort. The resort looked awesome. It'd be a great place to stay. They say the skiing is awesome in the winter.

A picture from inside the tram. You could see the bottom of these water holes.

Some pictures from the top of the tram.

We hiked down a mountain biking trail to this water running down the mountain.

To Be Continued...

Alaskan Vacation Part 1

Robert and I had the opportunity to go to Alaska! We took the opportunity without kids to have a lot of fun together and it was great to be able to laugh and enjoy our week. However, everywhere we went I thought about how much the kids would love everything we were seeing. I missed them a ton by the end of the week. They were in good hands though. 

We flew in to Anchorage, Alaska around 1:30 am, headed to the hotel to get a little sleep and then we were off adventuring. Our first stop was to rent bikes down by the Cook Inlet in Anchorage. The ride was 11 miles each way. It was so beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. My legs burned and I could barely walk that night, but it was worth it. :)

The bald eagle was the animal we saw the most. They're magnificent. It looks small in the picture but it was over 5 feet tall. I spotted it flying and Robert was able to see where it landed. The kids were so excited that we got to see bald eagles, especially Claire.

 We did our best to take some pictures, but when you're riding a bike and there are only two of you it makes it difficult. 

 Timer and a picnic table. :)

 Some kind soul agreed to take a good picture of us when we were at the half way point of the trail.

Anchorage is in the background to the left.

After our loooong bike ride we walked around 4th Street and looked at the shops. We also tried reindeer hot dogs. Yes, they're a thing. The look on Robert's face should tell you how they taste. The city of Anchorage reminded us a lot of Albuquerque, where I grew up. In fact, Robert kept calling it Albuquerque the entire trip.