Note:
We arrived home Wednesday afternoon about 4:30 pm! Tired, jet-lagged, but glad to have arrived safely! Flying bk and forth from Alaska to Florida, can't be compared to flying to a foreign country (except maybe England, because Alaska is actually farther away from the lower 48), but it still makes for a long and seemingly neverending flight!
Our trip:
We left for Alaska on Wednesday,June 25th. Drove to Orlando at 3am to catch our 10:30am flight to Miami. Then a four and a half hour wait in bustling Miami airport for our plane to Houston. Two hours to get to Houston and then a seven hour flight to Anchorage. Luckily, on that last portion,the third seat in our row was empty, so Rocky and I could spread out a bit.
When we arrived at 10:30pm Alaska time, Kim and Hannah were waiting at the gate for us! It was thrilling to see how much Hannah had grown in physical size and personality! Kim drove us over to the other terminal, so we could pick up our rental car. Said goodbye to Hannah and Kim, we had to drive out to Chris and Kassy's house in Palmer, Alaska. Got to Palmer about 12:30am Thursday after making a quick stop for some supplies!
This was our first visit out at Chris and Kassy's new home. Last year, we stayed at their townhouse in Anchorage. They have a lovely new place with a gorgeous view of the Chugach Mountains - the highlight of which is the view of magnificent Pioneer Peak from their front porch! Palmer, Alaska is a small town - about 5,000 people. It lies in the verdant and scenic Matanuska Valley (a large agricultural region). Most of the folks who live here commute to Anchorage for work. Palmer's claim to fame is this is where the Alaska State Fair is held and the ginourmous veggies grown here from the long hrs of sun in summer!
We did our sightseeing around the kids' work schedules. When they were off we spent time with them and when they were working - Rocky, Tiffany and I went sightseeing. Tiffany took a different flight and arrived on Friday, the 27th. It was her first trip to Alaska, so we were excited to show her all the wildlife, wilderness and atmosphere that made us fall in love with our adopted home state! The only disappointment was the weather = it was unusually cool and rainy - sad, because I can't remember a summer like that in all my years there. We ignored the weather, as most Alaskans do and plunged into our adventures!
In between visiting with the kids, we drove up to Denali National Park and took the eight hour bus trip into the heart of the park. We were lucky to see grizzlies, moose, caribou, Dall sheep, ptarmigan, eagles, etc...It was cloudy of and on, so no clear view of Mt. McKinley/Denali (The Great One), but many, many gorgeous vistas lay spread out below us as we traveled through Polychrome Pass. We took the late afternoon tour (they tend to be less crowded) had the bus to ourselves except for another man and woman! This was my first bus experience in the park - in the past, our family put in for the Denali drive lottery. In July, you put in your chances for a shot at driving your own vehicle thru the park in September. We won the lottery a couple of times and drove ourselves.
The Denali bus tour ended at 10pm, we headed farther north to Fairbanks - spent the night there. Besides visiting Fairbanks, we stopped at Eielson Air Force Base and went to North Pole, Alaska. The interior - where these cities are located is vastly different in geography, climate and atmosphere than southcentral (Anchorage area). More extreme in temps for one example - can reach the 100s in summer, and the -40's and -50's in winter! We had more rainy and partly sunny weather while we stayed in Fairbanks overnight. We enjoyed North Pole, Ak especially - where the street lamps look like candy canes and streets have monikers like Santa Lane! We visited Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus at their home and even had our picture taken with them! ( I have been to these places before, but it was fun to see them thru Rocky and Tiff's eyes!).
Leaving North Pole, we headed down the Richardson Hwy. Kassy and Chris actually recommended this drive. It takes you west and then south to Glenallen, Ak. where you can head bk down to Palmer/Anchorage area. I had not been on the Richardson before and i have to say this is probably some of the most remote and dramatic/aweinspiring scenery I have had the pleasure to view and photograph. You can also get a close up of the Alaska pipeline as it winds it ways over this rugged and beautiful terrain - encircling and protecting the precious oil inside, on its long journey to the port town of Valdez.
The trip from Palmer to Denali, Fairbanks to Glennallen and bk to Palmer - we basically made a huge circle covering the whole interior area of the state. Well worth the miles we acrued on the rental and gas was between $4.50 and $5 a gallon!
Katie's dad, Tony, took Rocky and all the guys (Chris, Scotty, Johnny) on a fishing trip in Prince William Sound. Rocky was thrilled to get to go Halibut fishing for the first time! Beginner's luck took hold and he caught five halibut to everyone else's two! He also caught a tom cod and a huge skate! I will post some photos shortly! While the guys and Katie were fishing, the rest of us headed into Anchorage for a day at the Saturday Market and some shopping downtown. Kim, Kassy, Tiff, Hannah and I had lunch at The Glacier Brewhouse where we enjoyed some delicious food and Lemon Drops!
Our plans also included some time in Seward, Ak. We wanted to take Tiffany on a wildlife cruice and glacier viewing thru the unbelievably pristine and wildlife rich Kenai fijords. We decided to go camping as a family and it ended up including: Rocky, me, Tiff, Kim, Scotty, Hannah, Johnny and Katie (Chris and Kassy couldn't make it at the last minute due to work). Fun time was had by all - and it was really great to see how tiff handled her first camping trip! She was a trooper even tho it was cold and the weather didn't cooperate most of the time. We hiked down to Kenai Lake which was close to our campsite, made s'mores and told jokes around the campfire. Rocky and Tiff had a hard time sleeping due to the "noises" they weren't accustomed to i.e. moose walking thru campsite!
Rocky made reservations our first day in Seward for him and Tiff to go on a cruise, but I ended up going too since our plans with Chris and Kassy fell through.
We left on the cruise the last day of our camping adventure. Another bout of luck - we were inspired by views of calving glaciers, humpback and orca whales, stellar sea lions, puffins, etc...It was well worth the $$$! We always use Major Marine Tours - our family and friends have all had great experiences on their line. They even have a park ranger on board who can answer all your wildlife and geography/history questions.
During our camping time, the whole camping troupe, visited the Seward SeaLife Center for a close up look at the wildlife that lives in Kenai Fijords National Park.
Hannah hadn't been here before, so it was fun to see her enjoy the seals, birds and sea life close up!
Our trip went by so fast that even though we drove down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward, this year we didn't make it to Homer - Just not enough hours and days! Rocky went there for his first time last year and I wanted to take tiff, but time just wouldn't allow - will have to save Homer for her next visit. We spent the rest of our time going out to eat with the kids, cooking out at chris and Kassy's and shopping, smile. We stayed up playing cards, watching movies and competing in kareoke on Chris's xbox.
Hope this catches you up on our trip. It was a blast and the best part was spending time with family! Took about 1200 photos and I will post a few here.
