Chugach National Forest and Kenai Fjords

Well, as you can see above, this was one incredible day to be on the Kenai Fjords. Our day began really early as we had to drive 2-1/2 hours from Anchorage to Seward to catch our excursion. The drive was one of the best we have been on here in this part of Alaska, almost all the trip through the Chugach National Forest.  And this is a forested area! The forests are dense, green and lush, almost always reaching to the snow line of the mountains and then the mountains reach into the water, with those mountain streams flowing everywhere. It is indeed a breathtaking area.

Our Kenai Fjord trip was spectacular. And, since the day turned out picture perfect in weather, we had a wonderful time. Captain Greg was personable and keyed into finding wildlife.  We did that!  We stopped for orca whales, humpback whales, sea otters, tons of seal lions, harbor seals, puffins, cormorants, bald eagles, common murre and other sea birds we couldn't always identify.  Then there were the glaciers -- over half of the Kenai Natl Park is covered with glacier ice and they were beautiful in today's sunlight, not calving today but with water gushing.

This trip ended in a delicious way, with a salmon and prime rib dinner served in the lodge on Fox Island. Then we had time to stroll the beach and many chose to sunbathe. It was indeed a mellow group who boarded the boat for the cruise back to Seward. 

We drove back to Anchorage in a rainstorm! The first of this trip. In fact, we were so prepared for today's trip with rain coats, rain pants, rain hats -- never could have imagined such a day as today.
So now we pack up one last time -- lots of dirty clothes and memories of a lifetime. We never forget how fortunate we are to be able to do this. And we never quit thanking all those ancestors who knew preserving lands such as these were doing so for the soul -- ours, our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. Spent quite a bit of time today with a like-minded couple from New Hampshire -- no doubt they will be doing something like this on their 60th as we have done.

Exploring More Anchorage

Whew, it is chilly tonight in Alaska! Today's weather was like we had expected it to be: cloudy, dark and windy.  The sun finally came out about 6pm (almost middle of the daylight!) but it is still windy and cold. We walked to dinner from our hotel and were really happy to get back. We've tried several different places in town, all with good results. Tonight we went to Humpy's which had been recommended to us by several people as a real local's place. It was Anchorage's answer to Sunpies except nobody was sitting outside tonight.

Today's tour was really fun. There were only 4 of us being driven all around the Anchorage area in a mini-van. (originally scheduled to be 6 of us but one couple cancelled). This picture is from the top of town with the sea in the background. The town has grown up this hill and is quite exclusive, though we understand several residents do not stay for the entire winter.  The views are magnificent, including moose grazing in the meadow below us.

From here we headed to the Portage glacier area, had some lunch and a boat tour to the glacier on the Ptarmigan. This glacier feeds into the Portage Lake which appears to be a popular spot for kayaking. In fact, we saw one kayaker who had beached his craft and was climbing the rocks near the glacier -- for a better view? We couldn't decide what would make a person do this.  The glacier was not calving today though we did hear many cracks. 

From here we headed to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. This center serves as a rescue for injured wildlife as well as a center for breeding and reintroducing wildlife, such as the wood bison, to their natural habitat.  We did see wildlife here! Bald eagles, linx, grizzly bears, black bears, musk ox, wolves, black tail deer, elk, moose and grey horn owl. We watched the bears being fed, saw a great film on reintroducing the wood bison and thoroughly enjoyed seeing these animals being kept in as close to natural environment as possible. Many of the animals here live pretty long lives. They have been brought here after being found on the trails, etc after having been abandoned by their mothers for one reason or another. 

Off to Seward tomorrow -- early again! We took the bus out to the airport tonight to pick up a rent car.  Should be another great trip tomorrow as that Seward - Anchorage highway is touted to be one beautiful drive and the excursion tomorrow sounds very exciting.

Relaxing to Renew & Restore

A couple pretty easy days came at just the right time! Yesterday we were on the train almost all day, arriving back in Anchorage about 7pm. We are staying downtown in a most charming place. The Voyager is part of the Captain Cook hotel across the street, a sleek modern high rise hotel with restaurants and several gift shops. Our place could not be more different, a squat 4-story hotel with only 38 rooms. We have learned that most older architecture here is similar to this, built under different regulations concerning earthquake-prone areas.  We are loving this place, a large roomy suite with a desk area, a reading area and a small kitchen -- and most of one wall is french doors opening to outside and looking out over Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet (with a stop light in between!).

We are within easy walking of all of downtown, and that is what we did today -- coming back home to take a nap! Marie, of course, has her usual "travel malady" of allergies and bronchial issues. So a day or two of rest is perfect. We have decided that one reason a person gets so worn out in a place like this is "sensory overload." Even the restful train ride yesterday was one of moose, eagles, mountains, glacier melt lakes and little get-away homesteads. The weather yesterday was totally different with cloud cover and dark, cloudy skies all day. We talked with people who were going on the Wilderness Tundra tour, but cannot imagine they saw Mt Denali at all, let alone the summit.

Today we went to the open air market which was huge. It seems like the tourists arrived yesterday! Anchorage does not have a deep sea port for the cruise ships, so the town looks very different from those ports with a line of jewelry shops leading from the ship into town. Probably most tourists are on a cruise vacation and visiting Anchorage as a side trip. Anyway, most must have been at the market today. There were so many types of Alaskan food and art works.

We bought one most unusual picture which supposedly took multi-years to do. We loved talking with this artist. I wish this picture could show how unusual this picture/process is. The colors include many ground stone fragments as well as "ordinary" ingredients such as octopus ink.

We also had a great conversation with Rod Perry, one of the original Iditarod racers. He raced in 1973 and the 1000 mile race took him 30 days. Today the race is the same distance and is covered in 7 days. Rod says the difference is the dog breeding for speed. There are only 11 of these original racers still living -- they have this booth to tell people about the race and be sure it doesn't become a distant memory. We were impressed by this "old-timer" never saying it was better or hardier back then, but mainly wanting to preserve the race into the future. His rescue malamute was also loveable.






We also went to find the quiviut shop, which is musk ox wool, but didn't end up buying any. This shop is a coop owner by 200 or so native Alaskan women from 20 remote coastal villages.  The huge musk ox sheds only 6-8 pounds of wool each year and this quiviut is used for scarves, hats and mittens handmade by these women. It is touted to be warm in cold weather, cool in warmer climes, non-itchy and machine washable & dryable. It is also super expensive!

We have a couple long, busy days coming up. Tomorrow is a mostly land tour from Anchorage where we expect to see more animals. Then we go to the airport to pick up a rent car as we leave Sunday at 6am for Seward to catch an all-day excursion to the Kenai Peninsula where we expect to see all sorts of marine life. We are told Seward is quite wonderful; unfortunately we have just the one day to be there.