Thank you for everyone keeping us in your thoughts during the storm. We have started out with a pretty morning, but should start to see rain start soon it's getting dark outside.
On a happy note I got my pictures sorted out, but still have trouble getting it down to less pictures to post then what I did. You can view them here if you want to take a look. Click on Alaska and Seattle and the password is vacation. I use the site to post pictures and not as a business so please do not order anything off the site, everything defaults to their pricing. I hate how snapfish deletes them so this works much better for me and holds more. If you want a copy of any of them just let me know and I'll send them via email. Hope to have some winning pictures for this years photo contest from the trip so I'm excited about that. I'm writing a letter to Santa for a bigger national geographic camera to get shots further away because as you'll see I had trouble when it went to digital zoom.
Hope you enjoy it's fun to look if you have some free time.
Let me know if you have any questions or need any more details. Here's the highlights...Day 1 - We flew into Anchorage and walked around near the hotel and had dinner at Corsair Restaurant. My hubby got talked into this and then we were mad we went here because it wasn't the greatest for the price. We saw a great sunset and walked back to the hotel.
Day 2 - Got up and drove to Seward while stopping at a Salmon hatchery in Anchorage but didn't see any fish then headed to Potters Marsh where we didn't see any birds so that wasn't a good start to my wildlife I wanted to see. We stopped at the Animal Refuge and saw all sorts of animals there and it was a neat place. While we were driving we saw another sign for salmon swimming so we stopped and that was cool to see. They also had a pretty park area and there was a glacier near by that we drove near. We hiked Exit Glacier and to my husbands disappointment we couldn't touch it. It was still really neat to see up close and it was a nice hike. Leaving there we saw a bear cross the road. At that point I looked like a total tourist. I forgot where we had lunch I'll have to look it up. We checked in the hotel and then went to dinner at Ray's.
Day 3 - This was our glacier boat tour and we were warned that there was a storm coming in and we might not have a full day, but we still took a chance. Made it all the way out to the coast and had to turn around at 6-8 foot seas with gust up to 61 mph. Another boat made it 5 miles further and turned around at 12 foot waves. Sooo no seeing the glaciers and hearing the ice cracking for us. Got back at 4pm instead of 8pm. Since it was raining when we got back we went to the Sealife Center. I expected it to be bigger, but the indoor bird area was really cool and had to be my favorite part.
Day 4 - It was raining in the morning, but that was no big deal since we were driving to Denali (7 1/2 hours with all our stops). Started out at 51 degrees and ended up in Denali at 65 degrees. First stopped in Anchorage for lunch at Moose's Tooth. Their beer was really good and so was the pizza. Drove down to Talkeetna which was a waste of time except we got some good views of the mountain. Went into Denali park and got to see lots of moose, bunnies and beavers.
Day 5 - We did a flight tour of Mt Mckinley and got to land on a glacier. So amazing how the clouds roll in so quick. They said we were lucky because some of the other flights they would have to cancel due to the weather. I got to be the co-pilot on the way back because the guy sitting up there was annoying everyone. We got back and had a late lunch at the Salmon Bake then headed back in the park to find wildlife.
Day 6 - Had a bus tour of Denali park scheduled (wild tundra wilderness tour) and must have picked the perfect day because we saw lots of wildlife. Our tour guides name was Clay Walker. Don't think he knew what we were talking about when we mentioned the singer, but it was still funny. That night we ate at the hotel. The rockfish dinner sounded good but they were out so I stuck with a seafood pasta. Food was ok but overpriced.
Day 7 - Took lots of pictures outside the hotel then headed back towards Anchorage and ate at Glacier Brewhouse. I think by far this was the best meal we had on our trip. Caught our plane to Seattle and checked in the hotel at 10:30pm. Ignore the excess of mushrooms I had to get some good shots for a photo contest.
Day 2 - Got up and drove to Seward while stopping at a Salmon hatchery in Anchorage but didn't see any fish then headed to Potters Marsh where we didn't see any birds so that wasn't a good start to my wildlife I wanted to see. We stopped at the Animal Refuge and saw all sorts of animals there and it was a neat place. While we were driving we saw another sign for salmon swimming so we stopped and that was cool to see. They also had a pretty park area and there was a glacier near by that we drove near. We hiked Exit Glacier and to my husbands disappointment we couldn't touch it. It was still really neat to see up close and it was a nice hike. Leaving there we saw a bear cross the road. At that point I looked like a total tourist. I forgot where we had lunch I'll have to look it up. We checked in the hotel and then went to dinner at Ray's.
Day 3 - This was our glacier boat tour and we were warned that there was a storm coming in and we might not have a full day, but we still took a chance. Made it all the way out to the coast and had to turn around at 6-8 foot seas with gust up to 61 mph. Another boat made it 5 miles further and turned around at 12 foot waves. Sooo no seeing the glaciers and hearing the ice cracking for us. Got back at 4pm instead of 8pm. Since it was raining when we got back we went to the Sealife Center. I expected it to be bigger, but the indoor bird area was really cool and had to be my favorite part.
Day 4 - It was raining in the morning, but that was no big deal since we were driving to Denali (7 1/2 hours with all our stops). Started out at 51 degrees and ended up in Denali at 65 degrees. First stopped in Anchorage for lunch at Moose's Tooth. Their beer was really good and so was the pizza. Drove down to Talkeetna which was a waste of time except we got some good views of the mountain. Went into Denali park and got to see lots of moose, bunnies and beavers.
Day 5 - We did a flight tour of Mt Mckinley and got to land on a glacier. So amazing how the clouds roll in so quick. They said we were lucky because some of the other flights they would have to cancel due to the weather. I got to be the co-pilot on the way back because the guy sitting up there was annoying everyone. We got back and had a late lunch at the Salmon Bake then headed back in the park to find wildlife.
Day 6 - Had a bus tour of Denali park scheduled (wild tundra wilderness tour) and must have picked the perfect day because we saw lots of wildlife. Our tour guides name was Clay Walker. Don't think he knew what we were talking about when we mentioned the singer, but it was still funny. That night we ate at the hotel. The rockfish dinner sounded good but they were out so I stuck with a seafood pasta. Food was ok but overpriced.
Day 7 - Took lots of pictures outside the hotel then headed back towards Anchorage and ate at Glacier Brewhouse. I think by far this was the best meal we had on our trip. Caught our plane to Seattle and checked in the hotel at 10:30pm. Ignore the excess of mushrooms I had to get some good shots for a photo contest.
Day 8 - Since we got in late the night before we slept in and then headed out to lunch at Ivars. Then we walked down to the market which we both loved. Drove around Seattle a little then headed to the Ballard Locks. Before dinner at the needle we had a beer at Gorden Biersch which was across the street from our hotel. I was shocked the dinner was really good at the Sky City as I had originally expected it to be pretty tourist. (The one in Houston the food is horrible) Headed across the street from the hotel fo a slice of cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory.
Day 9 - We drove to Snoqualmie Falls then out to Woodinville to the wineries and a brewery. I didn't know they don't grow the grapes there, they just produce some wine. Learn something new all the time. Checked in our hotel in Kirkland and went to dinner with some friends that moved up there.
Day 10 - Was our flight home and after boarding the plane with 200 people the pilot lets us know there's a broken part so 2 hours of sitting there we finally got up in the air.
Patsy, try though I might, I can't get to your pictures. I must be doing something wrong. When I click on the link nothing comes up. Help if you can.
ReplyDeleteWow! Sounds like an exciting trip. I would love to go to Alaska. My friend who is an artist (she's linked on my blog) recently went on a cruise there and painted the most beautiful paintings of her trip.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures! Stay safe with the hurricane.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great trip! I've always wanted to go to Alaska, and I've just got to bite the bullet and get there.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary I'm not sure what to tell you, it works when I click on it. I did have some trouble with it double posting when I uploaded the pictures, but that seems to have worked itself out.
ReplyDelete