Behind the scene tour at Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center and Girdwood

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Today we headed Southeast out of Anchorage towards the town of Girdwood and the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. We stopped for coffee and cinnamon roll at Girdwood's Bakery. The small bakery served breakfast and was quite busy at 8am. The flowers outside of bakery were amazing in size and colorful.

The drive down to Girdwood and AWCC is on Turnagain Arm, named so because of capt Cook needing to turn around after getting lost. The road follows the water and train tracks parallel the road and water. We watched for bulaga whales but I think they were still sleeping.

The AWCC was a private quided tour of the animals and center. The money from tours and visitors help support the upkeep of the animals, many who were orphaned or injured. Some are able to be returned to the wild and some will always live at the center. Many donations of food come from fisherman and farm markets and businesses like Costco. College interns work at the center and help to care for the animals. We saw Muskox, who are more dangerous than bear because of their aggressiveness. We met Julie, a Sitka black tailed deer who has been raised at center and is quite popular. A fisherman found her on a beach as a bear was eating her mother farther down. Julie was days old and brought to live at awcc. A huge male moose, whose antlers' velvet was almost gone, layed uninterested in us as two 2year olds came to the fence beging for attention. Later we saw 2 six month olds, 1 of which ate lavern's name tag when it blew off. The male elk had many females under his watch..looked quite happy. The Wood Bison numbered 120 at the center and are being raised to be released far up North. Thru hunting, they almost became extinct in Alaska. The brown bears were out in underbrush and not to be seen while we were visiting but I found one preserved in glass to give us an idea of size versus man.

Weather was cool at times and it rained a bit, but the scenery is so amazing we felt fortunate to witness all we saw today.

On the way back to Anchorage we stopped again in Girdwood for lunch at Chair 5. Lavern enjoyed a Kodak brown ale and we lunched on Halibut fish and chips..one of our fav fishes. Lavern said his beer tasted lighter than color would indicate. Figured that out after second glass.

Quiet evening tonight with an early rise as pickup for train ride is at 7am..yikes.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Great pictures keep them coming.

[John]

Breakfast or dessert
Not sure what to say to that...

[April]

Just realized I missed this entry. AND I THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MY FAV! How cute and cuddly are these animals! There is the deer pet I always wanted. :)