Too Close for Comfort

Got a little up close and personal with the wild life at the Alaskan Conservatory. This is where they raise the orphaned wild animals. It was crazy how close they left people get to the animals. Reminded me of Jurassic Park, besides getting mauled by a Dinosaur.

Moose

Baby Moose

The closes I ever want to be to a bear. Even if there is a fence.

The bear again.

Amazing bald eagle

As Always, With Affection

Exit Glacier

In Seward, AK you can hike up close to Exit Glacier and experience the dense blue ice while listening to it crackle. It is a wonderful view. The glacier is active and is melting. 

When walking to the glacier, you can see where the glacier stop decades ago, in comparison to its stopping point now. 

It is around a 45 minute hike round trip, and worth every minute.

  

Here is a chunk of ice we found at the bottom of the glacier.

As Always, With Affection

Alaskan Sea Life Center

Went on a day tip to the Alaskan Sea Life Center. Got up close and personal to some cool animals. The pictures are self explanatory. Enjoy!

Alaskan Sea Life Center

Tufted Puffin

Horned Puffin

The look the puffin gave me right before he
 turned around and shot yellow poop at me!

Touching a sea anemone

"The time has come", the walrus said, "to talk of many things,
of shoes and ships and ceiling wax
 and cabbages and kings." --Alice in Wonderland

Mound of Star Fish

Jelly Fish

As Always, With Affection

Dog Sledding

Every year in Alaska, a group of people race on the Iditarod trail. It is in remembrance of a time when a dogsled was used to transport mediation to a far off village in Alaska. The mediation was needed to cure sick children who were dying from diphtheria. The only way they could get the medicine to them, was by dogsled, because the snow and ice disturbed all other form of transportation. The sleds are pulled by Huskies, and a courageous dog/wolf name BOLTO. The sled races are still pulled by huskies to this day. Lindy and I visited the Seavey training site for these huskies. The have hundreds of pure breed athletic caliber huskies.

First we got to meet all of the dogs. They were so playful and full of energy.

Our tour guide showed us his favorites. We even meet this one. She was in the movie “Snow Buddy” from the Air Bud series. Her name was “Shasta” in the movie.

Movie star!

Then we went on a sled ride being pulled by these dogs. It was amazing, for lack of better words. We went around 8 miles per hour. The dogs listened to commands perfectly. There is no steering on the sled. The dogs hear the command for left or right and pull the sled accordingly.

Huskies pulling the sled

I'm so excited

Our ride

This is their sledding outfits (even "pecker warmers")

After our sled right we got to meet the puppies. These guys were 2 months old and ready to play. As you an see, they were lovers.

Then we got to meet the newborns. They kind of reminded me of guinea pigs. They were so tiny. I wanted to take one and run away with it.

Such a fun day. As Always, With Affection

Man Down!

I took a 4 hour boat tour down the gulf of Alaska to Resurrection Bay.

On the way, we passed several marine animals. As you can see here, this otter was ready to pose for pictures. They like to lay on their backs to conserve energy while they swim.

Next we saw a rock full of resting sea lions. I never realized how massive these animals were.

Then we came to this bank. Look at all the different birds. They all get along pretty well with each other, until a Eagle come around. Eagles like to eat smaller birds like these. So they freak out when an eagle comes flying by.

This eagle was high in the sky.

We eventually landed on Fox Island. 

Here we had lunch. It was an all you can eat salmon and prime rib buffet. Plus some King Red Crab legs. Absolutely Delicious!

yummy

I took a picture of the rocks, because a lady made this comment on them. The kids were skipping rocks and she said, “Do you ever stop and wonder how it took hundreds of years for that one rock to wash up on the shore?” Thought it was a deep observation.

Here's where the story gets a bit “SHAKY”. So, as some of you know, I get really bad motion sickness. So before the trip, I took some Zofran to stop the nausea. Little did I know that whales were going to come across our paths and make huge rocking waves. To say the least, I spent the second have of the boat trip in the bathroom :-( Lindy was able to take a few pictures of the whales, why I was dying. LoL

All in all, it was a good trip. And I am happy to be back on solid ground!

As Always, With Affection

Kayaking Lessons Gone Wrong

Now most of my stories from Alaska, have been happy. This one is a little different...

So we had a groupon for a 2 hour kayaking lesson in Wasilla, AK. (Hometown of Sarah Palin, I'll keep my comments to myself). Every thing started off okay.

 The instructed was not the nicest gentleman, but we're not in the South, so southern genteel lacks a little here. He taught us about our life jacket, kayak cover, and proper paddle techniques. Then we took a kayaks, and jump in the water. This all started off well. As you can see from the photo. I am even smiling. 

Then the instructor tells us to paddle straight towards the river opening over to the training course. The 9 other boats make their way to the course, but I did not. I WAS STRUGGLING. At one point I looked up and noticed everyone was very far away from me. I yelled, “LINDY, I'M GOING IN CIRCLES!!!!!” Lindy preceded to look way behind her and said, “Holy Crap is that Jo.” So Lindy and another male student came to my rescue. I thanked the guy for helping me, and he said, “I'll never leave an Airman behind.” For those who don't know my father retired from the Air Force after 21 years of service. So of course, this declaration from the rescuer melted my heart and calmed me down.

Well I was finally able to get to the group eventually. After yelling at the instructor for abandoning me, things got better. He made a point to say my name every 3 minutes to ensure that I was in the vicinity. For whatever reason I could not flow in a straight line, but I was excellent at the circle paddle, back paddle, and even the difficult paddles. We spent a few hours on the water then went back to the dock. When pulling my kayak out of the water, the same guy that rescued me earlier started cracking up. My boat was crooked!!!!!!!!!! There was no way I would have been able to go straight without over-correcting to the left.

Lesson Learned: Always Make Sure Your Boat Is Straight.

As Always, With Affection

Denali vs Mount McKinley

Last weekend, Lindy and I went to Denali National Park.

The start of our journey.

While in the park, we took a 6 hour bus tour through the wilderness. 

We were even able to see Denali. Okay history check. Denali and Mount McKinley are the same thing. Per our wonderful tour guide and quoted from wikipedia,

"William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born Seattleite who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his return to the lower states, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on January 24, 1897. Dickey wrote, “We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency." By most accounts, the naming was politically driven; Dickey had met many silver miners who zealously promoted Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan's ideal of a silver standard, inspiring him to retaliate by naming the mountain after a strong proponent of the gold standard.^"

In a nutshell, they changed the tribal name "Denali" to the politically motivated name "Mount McKinley". Alaskans and hikers refer to the mountain as Denali. 

Once a glacier came through here,
and left this path for the river.

The National Park Ranger

The road our bus went on. (Yikes)

When traveling through the park only 30% of people actually see the mountain. We got lucky! It was a clear day and we were able to get wonderful pictures of Denali. 

The snow cap peak is Denali!!!!

It almost looks like a cloud, but no, it's Denali

We also saw some wildlife. I apologize for the blurriness, but I was not getting any closer. Being on a episode of “When Animals Attack” is not one of my goals in Alaska. LOL.

A moose

A Caribou 

We eventually got high up in the terrain in the park. The wind was gushing. Look at Lindy's hair.

 After we got to this point the bus turned around and we went back down the mountainous park. This is around the time that Lindy and I took a little nap.

She will kill me for this.

I RECOMMEND THAT EVERYONE MAKE THIS TRIP AT LEAST ONCE IN THEIR LIFETIME!

On top of the world

As Always, With Affection