Adventure to the Last Frontier

     Pristine wilderness.  Endless sight of valleys, rivers, forests, mountains, ice, and ocean.  The ability to roam in any direction for miles without seeing man made objects.  Abundant wildlife.  Less roads.  Less humans.  Adventuring into the last frontier gives you the opportunity to dissolve your mind away from life problems and discover a more simple way of life.  A life filled with beauty in forms of sights and sounds.  My family spent 13 days in Alaska from July 6-18.  Alaska has become my new favorite state in the country (besides California).  Other than dealing with the stresses of traveling with my parents (mostly my dad), the trip was amazing.  Words and photographs do  not give Alaska justice.  Alaska is something that everyone needs to experience in person.  Going to do this blog post a little different than past posts.  Going to organize my stories based off locations we visited in chronological order instead of going full detail day by day.  Saves time writing and less words to read. 

Eagle River, Chugach State Park

     The first impression of the grand wilderness Alaska has to offer.  On our second day of our trip, while driving from Anchorage to Healy, we made a detour to visit the Eagle River Nature Center.  A suggestion made by my mom in the chance to see Salmon heading to their spawning grounds.  The trip to the nature center have us a first look at many stops for road construction.  With the little amount of warmth, it seems a good amount of the state turns into a construction zone.  The nature center ended up being closed.  Lucky for us, there were hiking trails.  I grabbed a map, and we headed out on the trail with the goal to see the Eagle River.  The forests were full and green.  The ground was moist (some areas flooded).  The Chugach Mountains in the background spotted with glaciers.  The trails gave us our first experience out in the forest.  We hiked 3 miles in total.  I was excited and in the zone.  My dad began his long vacation of taking pointless photographs.  My sister was just along for the ride, and my mom kept asking how much longer (her way of complaining).  I was hoping we would have spotted the Eagle River from the trail.  After awhile, I realized we would have to wonder off trail to reach the main river.  We did, and our first glimpse of the Eagle River with the mountains in the background were breath taking.  The river was not what I had imagined.  The river was filled with silt.  More specifically very fine silt made from the glaciers carving up the landscape.  All major rivers in Alaska were filled with this silt.  It turned the rivers into a gray color.  I took a few photos, then explored up the river bank for awhile.  I spotted a few fresh moose tracks.  I was hoping we would spot the moose on the hike, but we were out of luck.  The smaller streams and creeks would be the ones with the clear waters (half the time).  Smaller streams that flowed into Eagle River were clear, and those next to the nature center were locations were Salmon stop to spawn.  We stopped to view the area of the smaller creeks and their meadows.  The views were breath taking.  On the hike, we had a good amount of wildflowers.  This quick side trip ended up taking a few hours.  It was worth the time.  Especially when the rest of the day would be a 4 hour drive to Healy.  

Denali National Park & Preserve

     The Alaska Mountain Range.  One of the most breathtaking and beautiful mountain range I have ever seen.  From the first time you get a glimpse, all you want to do is go out and explore.  We spent a full day in Denali, and it was nowhere near enough.  I could spend an entire month in Denali and still have a hard time leaving.  We were in the Denali Borough for roughly 2 1/2 days.  Nowhere near enough.  While driving to Healy, we were lucky to have spotted Mt. McKinley from the south view point at the Denali State Park.  It is very rare to see the entire mountain in the summer, for clouds normally cover the largest mountain in North America.  The only times we saw Mt. McKinley was on the drive into the Borough and driving through on the way from Fairbanks to Seward at this south view point.  I have seen some impressive mountain peaks, but none compared  to Mt. McKinley.

     We stayed in the small town of Healy, about 10 miles north of the National Park entrance.  We arrived around 9:00 pm.  Because my dad was being super difficult and a pain, we did not eat dinner until after we check into the hotel.  Throughout the trip, this would be a re-occurring theme.  Only once or twice in the entire trip, a late dinner was justified.  The rest of the time was because of my dad's lack of caring for everyone else's needs but his own.  My sister and I would experience days of feeling like crap (especially near the end of the trip) because of the lack of a structured eating schedule.  By this time on the trip, we began to realize that this trip would be more expensive than once though.  The food prices, even in major cities, were $5.00-$10.00 more expensive compared to being at home.  Gas prices were about the same or a little more than at home as well.  Even the local places, not just the tourist locations, were more expensive.  It makes sense.  From gathering from a few locals, everything has to get shipped up from the lower 48 states, and that drives up the costs.  I would expect the gas prices would be lower due to the oil resources of Alaska.  Learned later that the oil in Alaska is shipped off to China.  Not used locally.  Anyway, we spend one full day in the National Park.  The morning of the 3rd day on our trip, we first had breakfast at a local Healy restaurant called Rose's Cafe.  The food was large portions, and all made to perfection.  I love small communities.  You find amazing places like these.  They grow their own produce to serve.  We even had amazing salsa that had a real kick to it.  Not something we expected for Alaska.  After breakfast, we stopped at a Subway to get sandwiches for lunch later on and headed to the Wilderness Access Center at the entries to Denali National Park.  There is only one road into the National Park, and you are not allowed to drive that far in on it.  From this only road (that is 92 miles long), you can see just about 6% of the 6 million acres of protected wilderness.  Just thinking about the intense size of this place gives you a new perspective of life.  As our shuttle driver said, it just shows that you are just another rock in a riverbed.  We took the last shuttle out to Wonder Lake.  The second to last stop on the road.  They had both tours and shuttles.  The difference is the Shuttle just takes you out there and back.  The tour comes with a guide and has a specific script they follow.  The difference is the price.  Wonder Lake is 85 miles on the Denali Road, and a round trip on the shuttle (which is basically a school bus) was 11 hours.  That might sounds long, but you lose track of the time as the massive size and beauty of this place overwhelms you in awe.  

     

     We were lucky.  Our shuttle driver, Dale, was one who enjoys talking and will answer any questions you have.  It was just as good as being on a tour without paying the price. He had visited once to Denali, and has worked every summer since.  He loves his job, he loves being at Denali, and is a type of guy I would really enjoy hanging out and having a beer with.   He had a great respect for the planet and wildlife.  Something that is getting more rare with people.  The shuttle stopped every hour to an hour and a half.  We had 10-15 minutes at each stop to get out, use restrooms, and to explore the area.  We also stopped along the road to observe any wildlife that we had come into contact on our drive to Wonder Lake.  Dale even turned off the bus when coming in contact with wildlife, to be respectful to the animals.  We had an amazing amount of wildlife sightings.  A handful of Caribou, Dahl Sheep, a Red Fox, Ground Squirrels, and 5 Grizzly Bears.  This place definitely is owned by the animals, which is how it is supposed to me.  We were very lucky to get a very rare close up sighting of a Grizzly Bear.  As the day was ending, and we were within a 30 minute drive from the Wilderness Access Center, we ran into a Grizzly Bear walking in the middle of the road.  Dale, the shuttle driver, has said that he has never seen this in the 21 years of him working in Denali.  

A very rare sight.  We stopped the shuttle, and the bear didn't even look up or show any reaction to the bus.  Just walked right on past us.  The bear walked right past Ashley's and my window.  Just 10 feet away.  It was amazing!  If you noticed, the bear was wet.  We had rain on and off throughout the day, and cloud cover.  The clouds made for a very beautiful, cool day.  Downside was we were unable to see Mt. McKinley.  Our two longest stops were 30 minutes.  They were at the Eielson Visitor Center and our destination Wonder Lake.  One of my favorite things about Denali is the little restrictions on where you can go off and explore.  There are only one or two official hiking trails in the national park.  One at Eielson Visitor Center.  Hike a very small portion of the trail at Eielson because we didn't have enough time to do the entire thing.  Unlike many other national parks that really push to remain on hiking trails, Denali's approach is awesome.  You want to go there? Go ahead.  Have fun!  Just be prepared and what you pack in your pack out.  At all of the visitor centers and gift shops, they had several 7.5 minute topo maps and compasses for those who wanted to adventure on their own.  Every time I got off that bus, and looked at the sights, I just wanted to walk off and explore.   It was painful to stay close to the shuttle bus.  If we had taken an earlier shuttle bus, we would of had time to go out and explore for awhile and meet up with a later shuttle.  It was mainly my dad's fault were were on the last shuttle.   When I plan trips, I book things at least two months in advanced.  I pushed him to book things, but he always made excuses.  The most famous excuse was on the internet service cutting out for a week and a half.  That is why there is a Starbucks with free wifi.  Anyway, the only places were are not allowed to explore are closed areas to protect specific wildlife populations.  For example, Red Fox and Gray Wolf den areas were closed off.  Originally, we had planned we would hike almost 3 miles once we got to Wonder Lake to a place called Reflection Pond.  Known for the famous photos of Mt. McKinley reflecting in the ponds waters.  Because we were on the last shuttle in and out, we had to stick to the timed schedule of 30 minutes.  Wonder Lake was beautiful.  It would have been more beautiful if we could have seen Mt. McKinley, but it was still nice.  Everyone mainly stayed to the tables by the shuttle stop.  I took the advantage of the go where you want method, and walked through the Tundra to explore more of the shores of the lake.  Going the shuttle bus route is the best thing for first time visitors to Denali.  I know that I will return to Denali, and plan the trip in a way that allows me to explore deeper into the national park, and not stick to just the road.  We got back to the Wilderness Access Center around 9:00 pm and we got back to the hotel around 10:30 pm.  We stopped for dinner at a Salmon Bake place.  The day ended with a beautiful double rainbow just outside our hotel room.  

 

     

     The next day, we returned to the park entrance to visit the visitor center, the book/gift store, and to visit the dog kettle.   Seeing the dog kettle was really cool.  The national park has their very own sled dog team.  We were able to go there and bet the sled dogs.  They were beautiful.  I love the Husky dogs the most.  I would own a Husky if I didn't live in such a warm place.  It seems the sled dogs are used to patrol the park in the winter time.  They also travel 700 miles north to Gates of the Arctic National Park in the winter to patrol up there.  With no roads going to that national park, I am surprised they would even go up in the winter to patrol.  Who would go up there in the dead of winter?  They also use the dog sled team in the Iditarod Trail Dog Race.  They have even won a few years.  In the summer, they have volunteers that take the dogs out on walks & runs since they are very energetic animals.  It was that time for us to leave the Denali Borough, and head north.  I did not want to leave Denali.  This was one beautiful place, and I just wanted to see it all.  I will have to return and explore my way.  

Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle Tour

     Nothing special with our first day at Fairbanks.  I drove the 2 1/2 hours from Denali to the hotel, then we had dinner.  We decided to have take it easy because the next day would be the longest day we will experience on the trip.  We were taking a 16 hour bus tour up to the Arctic Circle via the Dalton Highway.  Originally, in the beginning planning phase of this trip, I convinced my parents to drive the 500 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse at the end of the Dalton Highway.  The goal was to see and touch the Arctic Ocean.  After doing research on hotels and special vehicle rentals, it would have costed us over $1,500 for the three day journey.  We had to change plans.  We looked at flying.  $500 a person wasn't much better.  We came to a compromise for the bus tour to the Arctic Circle.  Not what I originally wanted, but I still got to explore the tundra, and go farther north than most people would ever get.  I will have to come to Alaska with the goal to drive up to Deadhorse.  We did drive to North Pole, Alaska.  There was a store their that was Santa's House.  It was basically a large Christmas shop and general gifts.  You walked in, and you had this instant scent that reminds you of Christmas.  There was a Santa there.  Outside, you could also view their reindeer.  They had a few babies which was cool.  It seems the town named themselves North Pole in attempts to attract toy factories and stores to the region.  It didn't work.  Afterwards, we ate dinner, went to the hotel, and went to bed.  The next day was going to be a very long but awesome adventure.

     

We had to meet at the Northern Alaska Tour Company at 6:30 am.  We had a briefing about the tour, then loaded on the bus.  Our bus tour guide's name was Allen.  He was an older guy.  High 60s to 70s.  He was a great tour guide.  He had snacks and candy he handed out, he had great stories, was current with all the events, and had a great attitude.  He was extremely good with names.  Just introduce yourself once and he will remember you. This tour would be on a charter bus.  I didn't think the Dalton Highway would be suitable for the bus, but it seemed to be.  We had to drive 80 miles north to reach the Dalton Highway.  Along the way, Allen stopped to show us small Gold mine operations that were right off the road.  It seems many people come up to the Fairbanks region in hopes of finding Gold.  Mining for Gold is more difficult in Alaska because of the Permafrost, which is only about 5 inches below the surface.  In route to the Dalton, we stopped in Joy, Alaska.  A very small community, we stopped at a general store.  A story goes that two girls built a lemonade stand that the truckers can stop at to get a drink for their long trip.  The girls did extremely well.  Their dad decided to build a full blown store next door.  It was awesome.  It was one of those in the middle of nowhere stores that was rustic and cool.  Had that summer vacation in the middle of nowhere style homes.  The owners were very nice.  They provide free coffee and tea for everyone who stops by.  FREE COFFEE!  FUCK YES!  It was awesome.  

     

     After Joy, it wasn't far until we got onto the Dalton.   Headed into the Tundra was amazing!  Nothing put pure and untouched wilderness for 100's of miles.  The only man made things you can see were on the road.  The road was nowhere near as bad as I would have thought.  It was mostly unpaved with a few holes, but nothing a normal vehicle could handle.    It wouldn't be too long after we began on the Dalton that we would see the Alaska Oil Pipeline.  The pipeline follows the Dalton all the way up to the oil fields near Deadhorse.  We got to stop, get out of the bus, and get an up close and personal view of the pipeline.  Throughout the tour, we had long stretches of driving.  Allen would tell us stories, information about the area, and play educational videos about the pipeline, the Alaskan Natives, the Tundra, and more.  Half way to our destination, we arrived at the mighty Yukon River Camp.  That place was amazing.  Rustic camp that made you feel like you were on an adventure.  It had a restaurant, a gift shop, hotel rooms, gas, restrooms & showers, internet, and phones.  We ate lunch at the camp with a couple on our tour that was visiting from Switzerland.  Once finished with lunch, we walked over to the shore of the Yukon.  Like most major rivers in Alaska, it was filed with silt which gave it a brown color.  

     

     Soon were were back on the road headed deeper into the wild interior.  We stopped at a place called Finger Rock.  It gave us a chance to catch good views of the Dalton Hwy, the vast Tundra, the Alaskan Pipeline, and to do some climbing on rocks.  Climbing on the rocks were made more easy with my new hiking shoes.  Loved it!  Being at Finger Rock gave a perspective of how quiet things are out there.  Only noises you heard were the wind and man made noise.  Other than that.  Peace.  It felt extremely good to be this far away from anything.  It was just us and the pure wilderness.  It has a very calming effect.  Our next stop after Finger Rock was our destination.  The beginning of the Arctic Circle, at N 66° 33' 44".  There was a beautiful sign that marked where the parallel  was located.  On the back was hundreds of people who signed that they had stopped by.  Of course, I had to do the same.  I marked the sign: John Trammell, 7-10-14, Highland, CA.  I made sure my parents were not around to see me do that.  I feel they would not be to happy with me.  Allen was amazing.  We pulled out a red carpet, and placed it right in front of the sign.  The middle had the dotted line that represented the Arctic Circle Parallel.  Each of us took the ceremony to walk over the red carpet into the Arctic Circle.  Everyone took photos, we enjoyed the views, then Allen invited us over to a wooded Picnic area.  He brought out a chocolate cake and whipped cream.  It was a celebration for making the adventure up to the Arctic.  Ignoring the annoying Mosquitoes, it was really amazing.  We ended up with a few left overs, and Allen tasked me to give them to others who were viewing the Arctic Circle sign.  

     

     After spending roughly 20-30 minutes at the Arctic Circle parallel, it was time for us to head back to Fairbanks.  Turning around sucked!  I just wanted to keep going!  I wanted to adventure up to Deadhorse to see the Arctic Ocean.  No way was I ready to head back.  Next time, I will make that goal to travel all the way up the Dalton.  On the way back, we stopped to go out onto the Tundra.  It was amazing to see how small the plants of the active layer were.  Makes sense since most of the year, it is frozen.  Allen showed us a hole that was made a few years ago that goes through the active layer and gives you a chance to see/touch the permafrost.  Many people didn't want to reach in.  I did.  Why not?  How often do you get to touch ice frozen ground that has been frozen for more than 10,000 years.  After that stop, we stopped again at the Yukon River Camp for dinner, and at the general store of Joy.  We arrived back in Fairbanks around 10:00 PM.  This 16 hour journey was 100% worth it.  I learned a lot, and I have been farther north than most people will ever get in their lives.  I have also been more deep in the wild than anyone else will ever get to see.  It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.  

     

     The next day, we slept in, and just did whatever.  For breakfast, we went to a place where we can try sourdough pancakes.  They were amazing!  You have to try them if you ever are in Alaska.  We first visited the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  It was a decent museum that had many Native American artifacts, stuffed animals found in the Arctic and the Interior of Alaska, and Alaskan art/photographs.  We watched a few films.  One was about the Northern Lights.  I think the only reason why I would travel to the Fairbanks region in the winter is to view the Northern Lights.  That is one thing I want to see, and Fairbanks is the best place to view them in North America.  After the Museum, we took a shuttle to the Large Animal Research Center at the UA, Fairbanks.  Ashley and I wanted to leave to grab lunch first, but my dad didn't really care about what we wanted.  The research center was cool.  We got to see Oxen and Reindeer.  After our tour, we finally got to convince my parents to have lunch.  Once lunch was over, we decided to drive an hour to Chena Hot Springs Resort to tour the Aurora Ice Hotel.  

     

     Chena Hot Springs Resort was amazing!  It is a rustic style resort alongside the Chena River.  They are famous for the warm swimming areas that use the mineral waters from the hot springs on the property.  The place generates it's own geothermal power.  They hold their own activities and tours.  This would be the place to go if you are in the Fairbanks area.  If I come back to see the Northern Lights, this is where I will go.  Nothing better than being in hot water in the middle of winter while watching the Aurora.  We took the last tour of the ice hotel.  It is inside a very large chilled building.  Everything except the outer shell was made of ice.  They used different colored LED lights to light the inside.  Artists made new ice items everyday for the hotel.  This hotel had an ice bar, a place where you can get married, and included three bedrooms.  It costs a person $600 a night to sleep in the hotel.  They provide you with reindeer hides to keep you warm for the night.  We got to learn how they made the ice sculptures/art and we had a chance to get a drink from the ice bar.  Well DUH I got a drink.  There was no way I would say no to drinking at an ice bar in an ice hotel.  It was a cool 26 degrees inside, and they provided jackets for us to wear while inside.  It was just an amazing place to visit.  If I come back to Alaska, I will have to stay at this resort.  We walked around after the tour and ate at one of the restaurants.  The food was amazing and fresh.  They have two large green houses where they grown all their produce all year around.  Everything is organic.    It was getting late, and it was time for us to head back to our hotel in Fairbanks.  Along the way home, we stopped to see a few Moose in water ponds right off the side of the road.  I braved the millions of mosquitoes to snap photographs of them.  This would end our adventure in the Interior of Alaska.  The next day, we would head on the journey to the coast for our next Alaskan adventures. 

Kenai Peninsula

     It took a full day to drive the 483 miles to Seward.  It was an 9 hour drive.  Took us just over 11 hours since we stopped for lunch, dinner, and pit stops.  I had volunteered to drive.  We all knew that if we let my dad drive, it would take a few extra hours because he doesn't drive as fast as I, and he would make pointless stops to take photographs he would never use anywhere.  Not even share them online or to people.  I enjoy driving in Alaska.  Not much traffic and beautiful scenes wherever you go.  Near the end, I had gotten tired of driving but I powered through.  In Seward, we stayed at the Puffin Inn which was in the Marina district.  My dad and I walked down the Marina after we check in to make sure we knew where we were going bright and early the next day.  We were spending most of our next day on a Small Boat Wildlife and Glacier Tour. 

     

     We woke up bright and early (a theme that goes will all the tours we have taken this trip) and met at the Bakery of the Marina.  Smart idea.  We walked over from our hotel and had some pastries that were mostly sugar, and waited outside for our boat captain and first mate.  For this tour, we went through the Alaska Sea Lodge.  I didn't want a type of tour that is jam packed with tourists with a very specific schedule.  Did the research and determined the Small Boat tour was the best route.  The boat crew, two women, met us and took us to our small boat, the Steller Sunrise.   When we got aboard, we were offered free coffee and hot water for tea and hot chocolate!  Alaska and their free coffee on tours.  Love this place!  The weather was not the greatest.  We would experience a large amount of rain throughout the day.  Honestly, the rain didn't bother me.  It was annoying when taking photographs of the wildlife and glaciers.  Due to the low lighting, taking photographs of the wildlife on a moving boat were near impossible.  Keeping the DSLR protected from the water was also a problem.  Lucky for me, I did have my water proof point and shoot Nikon with me on the trip.  Also good that we bought me a rain jacket at Fred Myers in Anchorage.  I would not be too happy without it.  Out of everyone on the boat, I was the one that stayed out on the deck in the rain the most.  I wanted to make sure I got the most out of the tour.  I loved staying out on the bow of the boat.  Especially when moving.  With the unknown in front of us, the rain hitting your face, and the crash of the water as the boat moved forward put me in the adventure mood.  Cue the Indiana Jones Theme Song!  

     

     We headed out onto Resurrection Bay.  The color of the water was a light blue.  I figure the color has to be related to the glacier ice melt.  Should of asked our crew.  We would see hundreds of high up Glaciers on the mountain peaks on both sides of the bay.  As we were headed out, I grabbed my coffee and chilled on the bow.  The first sign of wildlife was the Bald Eagles flying around.  They were looking for Salmon in the bay.  After about 15 minutes, we spotted something that I had no expectation to see on this trip.  KILLER WHALES!  Two males and one female where headed into the bay.  I got extremely excited.  Why wouldn't I.  They are only my favorite animal.  They didn't stick around long.  They were on the hunt for Salmon and didn't pay too much attention to us.  They swam under the boat and vanished from our sight.  We spent a good amount of time waiting for them to surface.  Most were watching in the location where we spotted them.  I knew they were headed inland, so I kept my eye out back towards Seward.  Sure enough, when everyone including the captain was about to give up, I spotted them and we headed back to get a closer look.  While we were headed towards the Orcas, a few passengers kept asking questions about the Orcas.  Of course, being me, I answered her questions.  She was extremely impressed.  She asked if I was an Orca researcher.  I was surprised she would think I was a researcher.  I just explained they were my favorite animal and know about them.  I asked our first mate if she knew what pod the Orcas came from.  She couldn't tell, but she radioed to other boat captains who knew the whales.  It seems that the whales we spotted were members of the AK Pod, which are resident Killer Whales in Alaska.  One of the male whales had their dorsal fin bent over.  That is a sign that the whale has experienced a large amount of stress.  It would be interesting to know what that stress was.  Could have been something like the mother dying or a huge environmental change.  This would be the only Orcas we would see for the day.   With this, I have now seen 11 Orcas in the wild.  8 at San Juan Island (thats another blog post you can look up) in 2010 and now 3 in Alaska.  I was excited.  Soon, we let them be and we headed back out.

                       Near the mouth of Resurrection Bay (sounds like a name a pirate would use lol) we stopped to view the south cliffs for the birds.   From this area of the bay, we got to see Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, Double Crested Cormorants, Common Murres and gulls.  I love watching the Puffins.  It was cool to see their nests on the cliff edges.  Near the birds, we also spotted Lions Mane Jelly Fish, Steller Sea Lions, Sea Otters, and Sea Stars.  I also took note of the geology of the area.  On the south side of the bay, the mountains were mostly pillow lava, which was formed from underwater volcanoes 1,000s of years ago.  Mostly basalt.  They were cool formations to see in person.  After a while, it was time to head out of Resurrection Bay, and into Aialik Bay in the Kenai Fjords National Park.  

   

     

     In the Kenai Fjords National Park, we would see more bird wildlife, Steller Sea Lions, and Harbor Seals.  We also got to spot 3 Dall Porpoises and 6 Humpback Whales.  We headed to the Holgate Arm in Aialik Bay to see the Holgate Glacier, which is apart of the Harding Icefield in the national park.  Of course, as we get to the glacier, the rain become very strong.  We got within 1/4 a mile from the glacier before stopping the boat engines.  It was amazing.  I have never heard such a powerful and eerie sound like the cracking ice of the glacier.  No tv or movie can justify the type of sound you hear.  This is something you must experience in person to fully grasp the pure power of nature.  We got to see a good amount of ice fall into the sea.  Some large enough to cause large waves that put a risk to a few people camping out on the beach.  The color of the ice was just amazing.  A blue color.  Mainly because of how the light goes through the ice.  We spent close to about an hour at the glacier.  The tour provided us with sandwiches that we ate while we observed.  My adventure side wanted more.  I dreamed of having a sea kayak to get even more close to the glacier.  Not too close.  Don't want to risk getting killed by falling ice, but closer than most.  Along side that, I always dream of having a close encounter with Killer Whales and other wildlife from a kayak.  Sadly, my parents would never want to do any type of kayaking.  That is something I will have to do on another trip.  Time spent at the glacier flew by.  It felt like we were there for only minutes instead of 45 minutes.  Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  We turned around and headed back to Seward.  We saw more whales and seals on the way back.  The crew offered us snacks near the end.  Some of the snacks included Reindeer Sausage.  Of course, I had to try them.  It was amazing!  Wish we could get Reindeer at home.  We arrived back into Seward around 5 pm.  We went back to the hotel, got out of our wet clothes, and then headed back to the marina to have some amazing sea food.  Seward is very popular for the Halibut fisheries.  It only seemed fitting that we ate Halibut while we were here.  The Halibut was amazing.   After dinner, we just went back to the hotel room and called it a day.  The next day would be our last day in the area.  

     

     We ate breakfast in this restaurant that was built in an old railroad car.  We also walked around the marina.  The photo above is an awesome painting that you see when walking around at the marina.  We ran into this guy who was walking his baby reindeer.  He was just starting to get into the business of raising Reindeer for meat.  We got to pet the animal and take some pics.  Afterwards, we headed to the Alaska Sealife Center.  It is the only permanent marine life rehabilitation center in Alaska.  That seemed strange.  I expected there to be more with how large the coast of Alaska is.  It was a cool aquarium.  Small.  Nothing to special animal wise.  You were able to get a real good close look of Puffins.  I loved it because of the great close up photos of the birds.  After the aquarium we walked around the area.  Right near the aquarium was the official start of the Iditarod Trail.  That was cool to see.  We walked downtown to the Seward Brewery.  We just had to try the local beer.  The food was AMAZING!  If you are ever in Seward...go here!  Loved it!  The beer was awesome as well.  After lunch, we drove around.  Spotted some amazing campground areas that I wish we would have stayed at instead of stupid lame hotels.  I hope I don't get lame and boring and not want to go camping when I am the parents age.  I fucking LOVE camping.  Its cheaper too!  Anyways.  We began to head out of town.  We were headed on our way to Anchorage.  First, we would stop at the Exit Glacier and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  

     

     The Exit Glacier was an awesome place to visit.  It was a mile (ish) hike. Unlike the day before, where it was cloudy and rainy; it was bright, sunny clear sky.  Of course it would be the day after the boat tour.  Seeing a glacier that melts into a river bed is completely different than those that crash into the sea.  It has a very different look to it.  You also don't get to experience the ice cracking noises as you do with those at the sea.  Seeing the Exit Glacier really opens your eyes to the fact that our climate is changing.  If I would have hiked this trail just 8 years ago, I would be able to touch the glacier and chip off some ice.  Today, they had to extend the trail nearly 1,000 feet and you are still nowhere close enough to touch it.  While you are close to the glacier, you can physically here it melting.  The water rushing off the glacier was quite loud.  It looked as if the ice was sweating in the warm sun.  Sadly, due to the climate change, the melting has accelerated way beyond the movement of the glacier.  We just hiked to the viewing places at the end of the glacier.  The trail continued up to the very top, where the glacier originates in the Harding Ice Field in the Kenai Fjords NP.  I was interesting in hiking up, but we were getting late in the day, and we still have the Wildlife Conservation Center to stop at.   We went back to the car and began our way back out of the Kenai Peninsula.  

     

On the way to Anchorage, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage.  They had many great animals from Elk, Reindeer, Caribou, Wood Bison, Bald Eagles, Black Bears, Grizzly/Brown Bears, Lynx, Owls, Moose, and more.  It is designed to either to be driven around to see the animals or walk.  We walked of course.  We got to see many of the animals.  Originally, I didn't take my Nikon DSLR with me.  While at the Black Bear Enclosure, a wild Bald Eagle showed up.  I decided to take the risk and walk all the way back to the car to grab it (since it had the telephoto lens).  Normally, I would never be lucky enough to get back in time for a shoot.  This time, I was lucky.  The bird stayed!  I got some amazing shots!  If you are visiting Alaska, and not going into the interior where you can see many of these animals, this is the place to visit.  After our visit, it was time to head back to the place where our trip would come to an end.  Anchorage.

Anchorage

     

The greater Anchorage area would be our last area to adventure in while we were in Alaska.  Because this trip had been very intense, by the time I got to Anchorage, I was beginning to be tired and wiped out.  It would have been nice to take a few days of rest and just do small things.  The next day after returning from Seward, we traveled out of Anchorage to Wasilla.  The parents wanted to see the headquarters for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  I imagined it would be this very large place, but it was more small than I expected.  You had a small gift shop and a large room with display cases sounding the walls.  In the middle were chairs and a TV where you can watch a movie about the race.  The movie was good.  Learned alot more about how intense the race is.  The coolest thing was that we had the chance to ride on a summer style sled with the dogs.   Once you sat down, those dogs fought to start going.  The musher released the breaks and we were off.  It was a lot of fun.  Sadly the ride was way shorter than I expected.  I figured we would get to ride a decent distance, but we just did a loop around the property.  Even though it was short, it was a fun experience.  After spending time at the race headquarters, we headed to the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery in Anchorage.  I have been to a few hatcheries, but this one was different because everything was inside.  They were raising both Salmon and Trout that gets stocked in the area lakes and rivers.  The coolest part of the hatchery was outside.  Ship Creek was right outside of the facility, and you were able to watch Alaskan King Salmon swim up river to their spawning grounds.  They had a few levels of man made water falls that they had to jump up.  It was real fun to see.  After the Hatchery, my dad wanted to see Earthquake Park.  Nothing too special about the park other than it has awesome trails that went through the forest.  Near the end of our visit, there was a beautiful male moose with a good sized rack (no, not that kind of rack).  Sadly, there were a group of guys that were getting very close to the moose.  They were trying to touch it.  That is about the most stupidest thing you can do.  Many people get killed in Alaska for things like this.  I had my camera ready...waiting for that moose to charge them.  Instead, it ran away from the group.  I was surprised.  Those guys were very lucky it played out that way.  They were looking for a one way ticket to the hospital.  The very last thing we did is visit the place that has the largest chocolate "waterfall" in the world.  It was cool to see.  I was surprised they don't use the chocolate in that thing.  Kind of a waste.  I am too lazy to post any pics of that.  Just google it.  This blog is long enough as it is.  That was one of the best gift shops we had been in that trip though.  

      

   

      The next day, we headed out of Anchorage again.  This time, it was to the Independence Mine Historic State Park, addressed in Willow.  Before we headed out, Ashley and I wanted coffee.  Anchorage must be in love with coffee.  You had these little shacks in the middle of many parking lots that made coffee.  We wanted to try one of those.  I searched online for the best rated one (using Yelp), and I came up with one that just happens to also get the Star Wars fan of me excited.  The place was called Java The Hut!  It was amazing!  The coffee was great!  If in Anchorage...GO THERE!  After that short pit stop, we headed on up to the mine.  It was a longer trip than what we expected.  It was located higher up in the mountain in a canyon.  Very beautiful area.  When we first got there, we walked around on the paths.  Many buildings were restored or were beyond repair.  I liked it.  It was a different style mine.  Because of the harsh weather, it didn't turn into a very large town like others.  Another unique thing was you were able to look for gold yourself.  If you found any, you were able to keep it.  I though that was really cool.  After we walked around the trails, we signed up for a tour.  The tour took us into the cooking building, the sleeping quarters, and a few other buildings which was a nice touch to the visit.  It was a good day and more relaxed day.  

     The last day of our Alaska adventure was super long.  We started the day with going to a movie theater called the Alaska Experience or something along those lines.  The first movie was about the 9.2 earthquake that hit Alaska in 1964.  The seats were designed to simulate a 5.0 earthquake during the movie.  It was quite corny.  Didn't even feel like a real earthquake.  To those who never have felt an earthquake, they would like it.  For those who live in earthquake territory (like me) it was very very lame.  After that, we watched another movie in a different theater.  I can't remember what it was about.  I believe it was about Alaska in general, but I can't tell you off the top of my head.  I know it was something more.  After that, we went over to The Anchorage Museum.  They had some amazing exhibits on Native Americans, art pieces, and info about the plastic gyro floating out in the pacific.  Ashley and I had fun playing will all the hands on items in the kids sections.  Who says you are too old to play with things?!  After the Museum, we went to the Alaska Zoo.  It was a cool zoo, but over 90% of the animals we saw in the wild or at other centers.  I do say, I did like the number of owls they had there.  After that, my dad wanted to drive out to Beluga Point in the hopes he would see Beluga.  We didn't.  My sister and I already knew we were not going to see any.  It was too early in the season to see them.  We were a few weeks off.  From what the internet said.  Finally, it was time for us to go to the airport.  Flight times were weird in Alaska.  We flew out at 1 AM in the morning.  The original plan was to sleep on the flight back down to Long Beach.  Strangely, I could not sleep.  It pissed me off!  We landed at 7 am.  My uncle Jim picked us up and took us home.  Once we got home, I passed out and slept most of the day.  

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Alaska is one amazing place!  You just wanted to keep going and explore everything!  There is just no way that you can ever do that in one trip.  Hell, most people who live there don't get the chance to see it all.  Alaska now has a special place in my heart.  It is a place I will definitely visit again, and I will do things I wish I could have done in this trip.  I had done many things, and I am grateful for my family taking me up there.  Without them, I would have never gone up to Alaska.  I want to write more about Alaska, but I am fuckin tired of writing in this blog post.  If you are a friend on facebook...check out my Alaska photo album.   I have 400 pics you can see.  I didn't want to put too many on here....that would have been a pain.