Saturday, June 26, 2010
Alaska
Finally put the slideshow together. Click on the photo, then click view as a slideshow. I want to go back!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Home
Landed at OIA just after 10 a.m., after two smooth flights. Switching planes at the Detroit Airport is so simple, makes things less nerve-wracking.
We parked the car at All American Parking off McCoy Road. They were speedy and helpful and it was only $3.45 a day when you booked online. Great deal.
Nice to be home. We enjoyed seeing the stars tonight for the first time in two weeks. And I have to admit, I really love stepping out into a warm, humid summer evening.
Busy organizing photos and ordering prints.
Put together the list of birds I saw while we were there. I added 51 bird species to my life list!! I can hardly believe it! We saw or heard at least 81 species of birds.
Here's one - a tufted puffin:
We parked the car at All American Parking off McCoy Road. They were speedy and helpful and it was only $3.45 a day when you booked online. Great deal.
Nice to be home. We enjoyed seeing the stars tonight for the first time in two weeks. And I have to admit, I really love stepping out into a warm, humid summer evening.
Busy organizing photos and ordering prints.
Put together the list of birds I saw while we were there. I added 51 bird species to my life list!! I can hardly believe it! We saw or heard at least 81 species of birds.
Here's one - a tufted puffin:
Monday, June 21, 2010
Headed home...
Hate to leave. Weather here is gorgeous! Wish it had been like this the entire time we were here.
Had lunch at Gwennie's today. Funny place. Former brothel.
Last night we hung out at a park on the point and watched the sunset at 12:34 a.m!!! Isn't that funny? It was supposed to rise again about 2 hours later, but couldn't convince the family to stay up all night and watch it rise again. Happy summer solstice! Much bigger deal here than it is at home.
Our flight leaves at 8 p.m. and we're supposed to land in Orlando just after 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
One of the most beautiful things we've seen here -- besides the phenomenal mountains and wildlife -- are all the wildflowers. The flowers have been simply beautiful. Daisies, huge fat dandelions, mountain avens and many other varieties.
We stopped by a lake here downtown this morning to watch the seaplanes land and take off and I was able to tick off yet another duck species!!! Yippee!!!
Had lunch at Gwennie's today. Funny place. Former brothel.
Last night we hung out at a park on the point and watched the sunset at 12:34 a.m!!! Isn't that funny? It was supposed to rise again about 2 hours later, but couldn't convince the family to stay up all night and watch it rise again. Happy summer solstice! Much bigger deal here than it is at home.
Our flight leaves at 8 p.m. and we're supposed to land in Orlando just after 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
One of the most beautiful things we've seen here -- besides the phenomenal mountains and wildlife -- are all the wildflowers. The flowers have been simply beautiful. Daisies, huge fat dandelions, mountain avens and many other varieties.
We stopped by a lake here downtown this morning to watch the seaplanes land and take off and I was able to tick off yet another duck species!!! Yippee!!!
Sunday
Went to church in Soldotna, Alaska. Drove to Anchorage. The 2.5 hour drive took 11 hours because we stopped at so many scenic overlooks and took several trails!!
We visited the Portage Glacier area and hiked out to the toe of the Byron Glacier and played in the snow. Saw a canvasback duck at a pond on the way. At Potter Marsh, a bird sanctuary, baby ducks and Canada geese were everywhere we looked!
Saturday
We drove out to Kenai, taking a loop through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Beautiful drive along the Kenai River, no new wildlife.
The tide in the inlet is fascinating! It flows out so far so fast because it's so flat. So of course it flows in the same way. Amazing to watch.
Stopped for the night at a motel I was afraid might be a dive but it turned out to be clean with great beds.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday
Today we're headed over to the other side of the Kenai Peninsula. Slight drizzle and cold but still beautiful country.
Dinah at the Yukon river last Monday.
Dinah at the Yukon river last Monday.
Seward
What an amazing, incredible day! We took the Captain's Choice tour out of Kenai and spent 9 hours on Prince William Sound and Resurrection Bay. We saw a glacier calve, saw orcas, humpbacks and a black bear, counted more than 19 species of birds, watched a sea otter eat crabs and generally had a splendid day.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Alaska
So we're at the library in Seward, the first time I've had Internet access in about 4 days. Rosie was having big time withdrawal pains.
We've had all kinds of grand adventures.
From Fairbanks we headed north to the Arctic Circle. The Dalton Highway was not as bad as everyone said but it was pretty wild. It took us about 7 hours to get to the Arctic Circle, where we got out and posed for pictures (to be posted later). Then we decided to drive on up to Coldfoot Alaska to visit the visitors center for the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Very cool! Except not! We camped there in a park five miles north of Coldfoot and it was the warmest we've been the ENTIRE trip! It got all the way up to 72 degrees on the tundra!! We were SOO tempted to drive all the way north to take a tour of the Arctic Ocean but unfortunately not enough time!
The drive back to Fairbanks the next day took eight hours. Beautiful and uneventful. Now I really want to take a raft trip or boat trip on the Yukon River.
From Fairbanks we headed out to the Delta Junction and down to Glennallen, Alaska. That was one of our classic trips where we drove all day and night and pulled into a ratty hotel at 2 a.m.!
Thursday morning we drove up into the north entrance of Wrangell St. Elias National Park where we saw moose, a fox and a wolf. We also drove down to the southern entrance of the park but did not travel the entire way.
It was cloudy and rainy and we couldn't see the biggest mountains. We began heading west and set up our tent at Lake Louise State Park. Gorgeous. Right on the lake. Dropped to 42 overnight but we were toasty in all the sleeping bags.
Today we drove to Seward. Wow! What a drive. Simply incredible views at every turn coming south out of Anchorage. Loved it!
Tomorrow we're headed out on a wildlife watching cruise. Fun, fun, fun!
We've had all kinds of grand adventures.
From Fairbanks we headed north to the Arctic Circle. The Dalton Highway was not as bad as everyone said but it was pretty wild. It took us about 7 hours to get to the Arctic Circle, where we got out and posed for pictures (to be posted later). Then we decided to drive on up to Coldfoot Alaska to visit the visitors center for the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Very cool! Except not! We camped there in a park five miles north of Coldfoot and it was the warmest we've been the ENTIRE trip! It got all the way up to 72 degrees on the tundra!! We were SOO tempted to drive all the way north to take a tour of the Arctic Ocean but unfortunately not enough time!
The drive back to Fairbanks the next day took eight hours. Beautiful and uneventful. Now I really want to take a raft trip or boat trip on the Yukon River.
From Fairbanks we headed out to the Delta Junction and down to Glennallen, Alaska. That was one of our classic trips where we drove all day and night and pulled into a ratty hotel at 2 a.m.!
Thursday morning we drove up into the north entrance of Wrangell St. Elias National Park where we saw moose, a fox and a wolf. We also drove down to the southern entrance of the park but did not travel the entire way.
It was cloudy and rainy and we couldn't see the biggest mountains. We began heading west and set up our tent at Lake Louise State Park. Gorgeous. Right on the lake. Dropped to 42 overnight but we were toasty in all the sleeping bags.
Today we drove to Seward. Wow! What a drive. Simply incredible views at every turn coming south out of Anchorage. Loved it!
Tomorrow we're headed out on a wildlife watching cruise. Fun, fun, fun!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Day 4
Yesterday, we woke up amazingly refreshed from our night in the lovely Nord Haven Motel just north of Denali. $165, but two wonderful queen beds and a nice breakfast. The only other motel was $120 with horrible beds and no breakfast, so it was worth it!
We drove back into Denali and put a stamp in our parks passport at the Vistor's Center, then went to the sled dog demonstration. Rosie loved it! It was so cool to see all those dogs and actually watch one of the rangers run around a gravel track with a sled dog team. Balto come to life!
We hiked the Rock Creek trail, about 2.5 miles, walking along a ridge with beautiful views. We saw two moose feeding and playing in a creek and took some great photos, to be uploaded later.
We drove back into the park 15 miles to Savage River, walked up to Savage Rock and then partway along the Savage River trail.
Steve finally managed to pull me out of Denali but oh how I hated to leave. What an absolutely gorgeous place. I could cheerfully spend a week -- if I didn't have to go everywhere on those buses.
We took about two hours or a little more to get to Fairbanks. What a plain little town this is, very drab. However, I had connected with an Alaska birder to take us on a tour of the Creamer's Field bird refuge. At the last minute she couldn't go so she connected me with a 15-year-old bird phenom who took us around the refuge. I added about 7 or 8 new bird species for me. The mosquitoes were atrocious but it was worth it. When I got back to the car, realized our mosquito head nets were in my back pocket!!
Today it's up the Haul Road, otherwise known as the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle!
We drove back into Denali and put a stamp in our parks passport at the Vistor's Center, then went to the sled dog demonstration. Rosie loved it! It was so cool to see all those dogs and actually watch one of the rangers run around a gravel track with a sled dog team. Balto come to life!
We hiked the Rock Creek trail, about 2.5 miles, walking along a ridge with beautiful views. We saw two moose feeding and playing in a creek and took some great photos, to be uploaded later.
We drove back into the park 15 miles to Savage River, walked up to Savage Rock and then partway along the Savage River trail.
Steve finally managed to pull me out of Denali but oh how I hated to leave. What an absolutely gorgeous place. I could cheerfully spend a week -- if I didn't have to go everywhere on those buses.
We took about two hours or a little more to get to Fairbanks. What a plain little town this is, very drab. However, I had connected with an Alaska birder to take us on a tour of the Creamer's Field bird refuge. At the last minute she couldn't go so she connected me with a 15-year-old bird phenom who took us around the refuge. I added about 7 or 8 new bird species for me. The mosquitoes were atrocious but it was worth it. When I got back to the car, realized our mosquito head nets were in my back pocket!!
Today it's up the Haul Road, otherwise known as the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Alaska!!
Wow! I just keep saying it over and over again. What an amazing place. The mountains are gorgeous and we've seen lots and lots of wildlife.
Arrived in Anchorage at 11 p.m. Wednesday night, with the sun still pretty high in the sky. Shuttle took us to the hotel and we crashed. Picked up the rental car the next morning from GoNorth Rentals. Great SUV at great price.
We headed first to Walmart and the grocery store to load up on food for the camping trip. Got to Denali about 6:30 p.m. Signed up to drive in to Teklanika and was surprised to see the sky had cleared and we could actually see Mount McKinley. Double wow. Really gorgeous.
Took a bus tour the next day, saw grizzlies, wolves, moose, caribou, ptarmigans and Dall sheep.
Loading a couple of photos
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