Alaska Day 7

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Day seven in Alaska

It is 01:00am and it is time to leave Alaska and head home to Phoenix. I was on the red-eye flight out of Anchorage that left at 01:00am and I got home at 09:30am. I was able to sleep most of the way even though the plane was completely full. I had a great time and hope that I can return to Alaska in the Summer to see what it is like without all of the snow (and hopefully see some bear as well).

This picture was borrowed from the internet since I obviously would have trouble getting a shot of my plane from the air.

Alaska Day 6

Monday, March 19, 2007, Day six in Alaska

Teresa had to work today so it gave the rest of us a chance to sleep in and recover a little from our vacationing. We picked Teresa up for lunch (breakfast for the rest of us) and then we gave ourselves a tour of the town. It was a nice relaxing day to finish up our vacation. This evening we went out to see the Northern Lights which were suppose to be visible but were unable to see them unfortunately.

Mom and Me at breakfast.

Teresa and Dad across the table.

The Furs were very cool but way out of our price range.

Driving down 4th Ave in Downtown.

A popular gift shop in the area.

A Dog-sled team making a food stop.

Alaska Day 5

Sunday, March 18, 2007, Day five in Alaska.

Today we drove about 2 hours south to the town of Seward. From here we boarded a boat for a Glacier and Wildlife cruise. Unfortunately we did not get too close to any glaciers but we did get to see some great wildlife. We saw otters, porpoises, sea lions, and best of all Orca's (Killer Whales). We got really lucky to see as many as we saw. There were probably a dozen or so Orca's swimming together and they came right up to our boat. I was trying to take video but unfortunately the camcorder quit working so I was only able to get still shots which made it a lot more difficult to capture to whales coming up for a breath but here are some shots that I got.

A very nice day on the water.

Enjoying the view.

Killer Whales in the distance.

My favorite picture (I just wish I had gotten the whole whale)

Alaska Day 4

Saturday, March 17, 2007, Day four in Alaska

Teresa's roommates uncle is a pilot in anchorage and offered to take us flying today in his newly restored Cesna 180. We flew up over the city and up the inlet getting an aerial view of the mountains and glaciers and the icy water below. We were going to fly around Denali but it was too windy in that area.

Anchorage from 4000 ft.

Looking up Cook's Inlet.

Portage Glacier from the sky.

Looking down on the Inlet's icy water.

Later that afternoon we went to Thunderbird Falls and hiked back into the Falls area. It was all frozen but there was great scenery and was a great way to spend a Sabbath afternoon.

Alaska Day 3

Friday, March 16, 2007, Day three in Alaska

Today we rented Ice Skates and went to a frozen pond that they keep cleaned off for ice skating. There are trails that go all over the pond. It was a lot of fun. Mom had never ice skated before but she did great. They had fires in barrels around the pond that you could stop and warm your hands if you needed to. I think that we gave the Hockey players that were out skating a good run for their money even though it had been years since any of us had skated.

Alaska Day 2

Thursday March 15, 2007. Day two in Alaska

Today we went skiing at Alyeska ski resort about 30 minutes from Teresa's house. It was a nice brisk morning at -5 degrees F in that ended up warming up to 0 degrees F by the time that the Mountain closed. The snow was great though. We had to go inside every 6-7 runs to warm up our feet and face but besides that it was a great day. There were no lines and so we could ski right onto the chair for every run.

This is from inside the tram looking down at the main lodge.

Riding up the tram.

This resort had a pretty bad view!!

Alaska Day 1

Wednesday March 14, 2007. Day one in Alaska.

Today we rented some snow shoes from REI and drove 45 minutes south to Portage Glacier. We parked at the Day Lodge (which was closed) and put on our snow shoes to begin our 7.5 mile round trip hike across the frozen lake to the Glacier. It was around 0 degrees F plus some pretty gusty winds but we were prepare and stayed plenty warm once we started hiking. It didn't look very far to cross the lake but the further we walked, the more we realized that the other side didn't seem to be getting any closer. It was worth the hike in the end to see the glacier.

The road leading into the Daylodge (as you can tell there is not much snow here).

Teresa starting out the hike.

Teresa, Mom, and Me ready to go.

Heading across the lake.

This is a picture of the Glacier with me walking towards it. Unfortunately you can not appreciate the color from these pictures. It was a very bright blue that seemed to be glowing.

Teresa in front of the glacier.

Teresa and Me hiking back from the glacier.

Me and Teresa, very tired upon our return to the car.

Getting to Alaska

I flew to Anchorage, AK on Tue. March 13. I arrived at 12:00 am after a 9 hour trip from Phoenix (7 hours of flight time and 2 hours layover in Salt Lake City) When I left Phoenix the temp was 90 F and when I landed the wind chill was -15 F. It was very nice to get away for a while and see someplace new. Here are a few general pictures of the area. This is what Teresa sees everyday. It is a very rugged area to say the least.

Here is a Moose along the road.

This is Teresa's apartment.

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This one is eating Teresa's leftovers from one of the community dumpsters in her complex.

And this one is eating her tree.

There are some random pictures from along side the road looking towards Cooks inlet.

This is a sunset from one of the hills in the area.