Blogs from Portage, Alaska, United States, North America

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North America » United States » Alaska » Portage June 3rd 2017

Up at 6:30am, 50deg. cloudy. Today we say gooodbye to the rolling hills, snow capped mountains, glaciers, and amazing wildlife of Alaska. We had a relaxing morning as there's no rush to be anywhere today except at the airport by 9:40 PM. We return the RV to Great Alaskan Holidays this afternoon and then head for the airport. We finished packing, cleaned up the RV, donated our leftover food & sundries to manager of campsite who invited us to a cookout party tonight, will include the extra halibut we had saved for him...we had to decline as we'll be on or way. Tom & Peggy headed out early, to get jump on the day...their flight isn't until early a.m. tomorrow and they're staying in motel to rest up before flight to D.C. Dorrie and I along ... read more
 Your "blogger"
 The last Moose is the one we saw at the airport
How do I look?-Dorrie doesn't like it?

North America » United States » Alaska » Portage May 31st 2017

Sadly we left Denali National Park today in a light rain and low cloud cover. We knew immediately we would not be seeing "Denali", but were not too disappointed as we had seen and had many shots of it on our last trip here in 2015. The drive towards Anchorage had slowly improving weather with full sun by the time we had hit Willow. After a stop for propane, we have gone through more than usual on this trip due to the low temperatures, we continued through Anchorage and hit the Seward Highway. This road is know for it's scenic, historical and recreational resources, and has been given a triple designation: Natioanl Forest Scenic Byway, All-American Road and Alaska Scenic Byway. It follows the Northshore of Turnagain Arm through Chugach State Park and Chugach National Forest, ... read more
Igloo house on Denali Highway
Heading toward Wasilla
Cook Inlet - Anchorage

North America » United States » Alaska » Portage July 31st 2015

Leaving Seward in the mid-morning, we were on our way to explore Portage Glacier and the town of Whittier before returning to Anchorage by night. Around 12:30pm, we had to come to a dead stop behind a line of cars. It soon became apparent we weren’t going to be moving any time soon. People started getting out of their cars and sharing information from their radios. There had been a fatal accident about one mile ahead of us. Initially, it was estimated that the wait would only be a few hours but that kept being extended. The main arteries, Highways 1 and 9 and the Seward Highway did not have any auxiliary routes that could be used as detours. We were stuck there until the accident was cleared. Because there was a death, the collection of ... read more
At least the scenery was pretty
Our car and the miles long line of cars behind us
Terry waiting in car a mile from accident

North America » United States » Alaska » Portage July 26th 2014

A day on the river begins with breakfast at the beautiful Alyeska Lodge. This hotel is enormous and has lovely gardens around the grounds. It is the only ski resort in Alaska and has a chair lift and a gondola. During the summer, hiking is the main activity. Tried the salmon hash and was disappointed as except for capers there was no discernible flavor. At eleven we boarded the train for an interesting ride. Starting at Girdwood, we passed by Portage and then Whistler on Prince Edward Sound. The train waited there for about forty minutes and then backed up to Portage where it turned around hand headed To Spencer Whistle Stop, our destination. Two groups of people got off here; hikers and rafters. We were in the second group. A van drove us to the ... read more
The bear gets Joe
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Gus  works hard to get us to the bergs.

North America » United States » Alaska » Portage September 8th 2013

Rain fell heavily during the night but come morning there was just a drizzle of rain and the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds. We took a couple of short hikes around our camp area still admiring the closeness of the surrounding glaciers and the sparkling colour of the water. Visited the Begich and Boggs visitors centre named after 2 United States House of Representatives leaders who disappeared on an airplane en route to Juneau. No trace of the men or the aircraft was ever found. From here we drove out to the Whittier Tunnel where we needed to be ready to go through this amazing 1 lane tunnel at 10.30am. The Anton Anderson Memorial tunnel is a 2.5 mile World War II era railroad tunnel which was transformed into the longest vehicle railroad ... read more
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North America » United States » Alaska » Portage September 7th 2013

Drove out to the historic town of Hope this morning. It was a nice leisurely drive and the town of Hope was small and quaint. Took quite a few photos of the town as we drove through. On the way back to the highway a large black bear crossed the road in front of us but we were too late to grab any photos. Just goes to show how the wildlife will pop up when you least expect it to. Next we did a tour of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre along the Seward Highway at Portage. Admission was $12.50 Andie were able to use another toursaver coupon. This is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preserving Alaska's wildlife. Some of the animals at the centre are unable to be released back into the wild as they ... read more
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North America » United States » Alaska » Portage August 6th 2012

I didn't have a blog yesterday because we stayed at Chugach National Forest near the Portage Glacier. It is sthe 2nd largest national forest in the U.S. It is in the Portage Valley near the Portage Glacier. There are several glaciers there which I mentioned when we visited there earlier. I am attaching a picture of a glacier. This is the view from where we parked our RV. As I said we didn't have a blog because of no wi-fi. Also no water and electricity. Real fun time! We stayed there because it was near where we needed to be this morning to start our trip. After we arrived at the campground, we drove to the nearby Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. My cousin, Linda highly recommended this. The Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving ... read more
Moose
Elk
Wood Bison

North America » United States » Alaska » Portage July 20th 2008

Spent first half of day in Anchorage - readying for the trip, etc. We finally head out around 3pm to Portage area where we spent our first night. There was no need to hurry, so we doodled around stopping near Potter's March, Bird's Point, Beluga Point, and eventually made our way into the camp-ground for the evening. Since the weather had been co-operatively sunny for most of the day, Kathy & I took a long leisurely walk around the nearby trails, while Irene & Nicole rode the bikes around. The salmon hadn't started running yet, so the stream was void of big fish. The waters sure looked icy, tho! Had delicious burgers & grilled veggies over the camp fire for dinner. Even made a couple Smores before it started to rain, driving us inside the RV ... read more
Passengers aboard & ready!
Sight-seer Train
Turnagain Arm in distance




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