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Ashley and I
At the toe of Exit GlacierThis blog is for my mother. She likes to see where I'm going AND travelbogs are her heroin.
Actually I'm going to Chugiak Alaska (travelBlog does not have Chugiak as an option for regions you can visit) to visit my closest friend from college, Ashley. She lives here with her two dogs and husband who is currently serving our country in the Army. Being a great tour guide, she has never let me down on any of our trips together. Can't wait to see what she has planned for us...
The name "Chugiak" comes from a Dena'ina word meaning
"place of many places". It was first heavily settled in the 1950s, primarily by homesteading former military personnel who had served in Alaska during World War II. It is currently one of the main sites of suburban expansion near Anchorage. (found this info from Wikipedia. I don't know this much about Chugiak)
Chugiak is about 20 miles NE of Anchorage, specifically located between Eagle River to the south, and Eklutna to the north, and between Knik Arm to the west and the Chugach Mountains to the east. There are about 7,000 residents, most of whom work in Anchorage or
the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and are spread out mainly along the Glenn Highway. (also from Wikipedia)
But on my way to
"our great state of Alaska" - Sarah Palin, I'm making a quick stop in Colorado (11 hour layover actually) to visit my best friend from 3rd grade THE Mrs. Brooke Kittinger Weinberger. She lives in Boulder with her husband where she teaches Spanish.
Wildlife in Boulder
Brooke and her husband Cyrus live in a quaint neighborhood in the mountains of Boulder. As we rode bikes through it I was reminded of the movie Pleasantville. Every house had a finely groomed green lawn. We rode bikes from her house to Pearl Street to get some great homemade pasta from Pasta Jay's. Then we took a walk around Pearl Street to see the wildlife...
After we enjoyed a margarita at Brooke's favorite hang out Rio Grande, we rode bikes up through the neighborhood to get a mountain view and then back to the airport.
There is a statue of a blue horse outside of the Denver Airport and it has an interesting story behind it. The horse killed the artist who made it! True
story. The horse statue fell on top of it's artist and killed him.
Wildlife in Alaska
tuesday day 1 I took the red-eye flight into Anchorage and lucky for me it was still dusk (at 1am) when I arrived, so I was able to see all the snow capped mountains surrounding the Anchorage. Ashley and I were both tired so we went right to sleep to prepare ourselves for the next few busy days.
wednesday day 2 Ashley let me sleep in a little and then we were off to Seward to explore a small portion of Kenai Fjords National Park. We packed our camping gear and the dogs (Annie and Titan) and began the 2 1/2 hour drive up the coast of Alaska from Anchorage to Seward.
It is named after William H. Seward, early member of the United States Republican Party, United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. As Secretary of State, he fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska which he finally negotiated to acquire from Russia. Seward is the seventh most lucrative fisheries port in the United States per value. (all from Wikipedia)
In Seward we
Hiking
The start of our hike walked up to Exit Glacier. It is the only part of the park accessible by road. Here you can stroll the trails, walk very close to the active glacier, or take a ranger-led walk. You can also see up close how glaciers re-shape a landscape and learn how plant life reclaims the barren rocky land exposed by retreating glaciers. (www.nps.gov)
Exit Glacier spills down from the Harding Icefield. Ashley and I hiked a big part of the Harding Icefield Trail which took us 5 hours. It started out quite easy and green with some climbs over rocks and waterfalls. The higher we hiked, the more the landscape changed. I have yet to go on a hike where the landscape changed so much...from summer-like conditions to snow.
After the 5 hour hike, we let out the very patient dogs and set up camp. Dogs are not allowed on this trail because of the threat of bears. While we were cooking dinner at the camp site a ranger came by to remind us of how important it is for us to get rid of any trace of food so as to not attract bears. It is such a big deal
that it is illegal to accidentally leave out food. We finally settled down after a walk with the dogs on the barren rocky land exposed by the melting of Exit Glacier (see 11:30pm photo). It was around 12:30 and still light out, so I had to put a shirt over my head for it to be dark.
thursday day 3 On Thursday we woke up, packed up the Forester and drove into Seward for some coffee and baked goods at Ashley's favorite bakery. After breakfast we looked into our options for boat tours. We chose a 4.5 hour trip in the Resurrection Bay with a lunch stop on Fox Island where we had a steak, salmon and king crab buffet. The weather was not great for pictures so I missed a few wild life pic opportunities...sea otters, a mountain goat and her kid, dahl porpoises, puffins, humpback whales, seagulls, and sea lions. But I only got pictures of some.
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Ashley Myers
non-member comment
oh boy
i feel the pressure