Glacier Discover-Alaskan Railroad

We all bought tickets for a great Alaskan Railroad trip to see some of Alaska's Glaciers and other beautiful scenery.

All aboard the Alaskan Railroad Glacier Discovery.

Our first sight of a glacier. I zoomed in on this one. It's the icy blue area on the right side of the picture.

We went through 5 tunnels on our ride. Everyone was supposed to hold their breath going through, but I think they cheated.

Some people who took the train with us, took a side excursion down the rapids. Others took a hiking excursion. We stopped on our way back and picked them all up. Everyone survived.

I hung out the window and snapped our train going around a curve. Beautiful snow-covered mountain ahead of us.

Say "Hi" to Joe hanging out the window.

Here's another glacier. See the icy blue area in the middle of the picture.

We saw many gorgeous waterfalls. Where does all that water come from?

This is Spencer's Glacier. It was very large and beautiful. You really have to see for yourself. Pictures don't do them justice.

Glacier in the middle, beautiful valley below. Sooooo beautiful! I think this would make a great jigsaw puzzle.

Snow-capped mountains, beautiful rapids and snow banks in the foreground.

This a terrible picture, but I had to post it to prove that we saw eagles. In the tree on the right is a bald eagle on it's nest. There is another eagle on top of the tree on the left.        REALLY!!!!

Day at the Anchorage Zoo

 

We all really enjoyed the Anchorage Zoo. I forgot to take my camera, so Joe sent me a pic from his camera. The polar bears were everyone's favorites. This one jumped in the water and played with the big balls and swam and swam for us. Many of the exhibits were animals from all over the world that had been injured in some way.

Zoo

Seaplanes, salmon dinner & Anchorage Festival

Jack's friends in Anchorage invited us all for salmon dinner. Melody and Denny fixed salmon 3 different ways. We had cucumber salad, fruit salad, bread dipped in oils, and homemade apple/blackberry pie.

We visited the official "ULU" (pronounced ooo-loo) factory in Anchorage. Ulu knives are a wonderful culinary tool. I already have one and use it almost daily.

One day we went to Lake Hood seaplane base. There were seaplanes everywhere. We saw many take off and land while we were there. It was a very active place.

This pretty blue plane was getting ready to take off while the other one was taxiing in.

We couldn't believe what we were seeing when this half a truck went by us. He has a special front hitched trailer to assist planes out of the water. It really looked funny.

We found ourselves sharing the runway with this plane. We decided to get out of his way.

Today, we attended the Anchorage Market Festival. They are also celebrating Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year. There were lots of booths with crafts and stuff for sale. Music and entertainment too.

We sat down at the food court. Sue bought a delicious fried bread filled with hamburger and cheese. Bob and I had coffee, but Sue shared her treat.

Right downtown was the Information Center. The flowers were so beautiful.

Bob is standing beside and old Thunderbird on display at the antique auto show in downtown Anchorage.

This hanging flower basket was so big and beautiful. Their colors are deep purple and yellow. Most of the hanging baskets were that color scheme.

All up and down the streets of Anchorage were hanging baskets. Very beautiful downtown.

Jeep Safari

Our last day in Denali, we all went on a wild Jeep Safari.

Here's the caravan of jeeps. Ready for adventure.

We were all excited to be able to finally really see Mt McKinley. It's a rare day to get a decent picture without cloud cover. At the middle of our safari, we were served beef stew, fried bread, lemonade or cowboy coffee. We were a little disappointed not to see any wildlife, but the treacherous road was exciting.

The scenery on our way to Anchorage was beautiful. The whole horizon was mountains.

More mountains.

This was our best shot at Mt McKinley. I think it's picture perfect. Never thought we would get this good a shot.

We stopped for a little break at this gorgeous lake and spotted the magnificent Mt McKinley in the background.

This was our last shot at Mt McKinley as we headed away from Denali and towards Anchorage.

Denali National Park

We really enjoyed North Pole and Fairbanks, but it's time to move on to other adventures. We got our first glimpse of Mt McKinley on our way to Denali National Park. At this point we were 140 miles away.

Here we are at Denali National Park. Looking forward to our Jeep Safari tomorrow on a special nature trail.

First, we went to the visitor's center where this display showed us the wildlife we might see here. We saw a short movie and a program on the wolves in the park.

I thought this shot was so beautiful. A railroad bridge in Denali. It's beautiful here.

We drove in the park about 11 miles for the first viewing of Mt McKinley. It's so hard to see because it blends in the sky, but it's there. At this point, we are still 90 miles away.  Mt McKinley is over 20,000 feet high, making it the highest mountain in North America.

The University of Alaska Museum

Today, we got cultured in Native Alaskan culture. This is Alaska's State Bird, the Willow

Ptarmigan. The bird on the left is in it's summer plumage, but in the winter, it's all white.

This grizzly towered over Bob.

I thought the Artic Fox was so cute. It looks like a cross between a dog and a cat.

These are native creatures also. The polar bear and various seals.

There was a presentation on the Northern Lights. They are electrically charged ions. Unfortunately, we won't be able to see them at this time of the year. Right now, it never really gets dark.

Aren't these beautiful?

Everything in the museum was of the Alaskan culture. These fish catchers were designed by the Native Indians. The fish swim into the right funnel and can't get back out.

Another section of the museum was exclusive Native Alaskan Art.

This was my favorite. I guess it's considered abstract???

 

What????????????

Bob is quite sure this was a finger painting he did in Kindergarten. He wondered what became of it! LOL