Michelle's Visit to the AK

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Thursday night -Anchorage. Friday - quick walk to check out the Byron glacier and ice cave, hiking exit glacier/harding icefield (3,000 ft 8 miles round trip), starting in rainforest, then wildflowers, moving to tundra, and finally near arctic conditions, surprisingly many Asian tourists in dresses??, difficult hike for so many people, at the end the cutest little ermine/weasel played peek-a-boo with us as we photographed it, the little guy ran in and out of the rocks popping up right next to our shoes. Saturday - sore legs, begin drive to Whittier, run to our car because we are nowhere near it and cars are now driving into the 2 mile tunnel, kayak among bald eagles, salmon runs (Pinks I think), see thousands of Kittiwakes nesting between 2 waterfalls (they need the algae that only grows in that one spot I think), had yummy chowder and rhubarb crumble at a place that reminded me of Keys Fisheries, tried to buy beer from a 10 year old operating a store, and walked around and checked out all the fishing boats, noticed they had traps to hold the fishing filleting scraps that they take out due to sharks apparently. Sunday drove to Girdwood for delicious breakfast at Jack Sprats, deviled salmon eggs to die for! followed down with a beet hash. yummy. did a quick hike and used the hand tram on the winner creek trail. Finished the evening at the majestic over by the Mat glacier and enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine. Monday - Ice climbing is awesome, beautiful, and helped me get over my fear of heights, and may have even boosted my confidence enough to try rock climbing! Too Michelles delight! 😊 The usually dry glacier was rainy all day long with a brief spot of sunshine. Ended the glorious trip with my friends with a greasy burger, fries, and the company of a New Zealander who had just won an Adventure Race. Talk about hard core!! Then back to camp, rain, mud, lack of personal hygiene, and the sudden explosion of daddy longlegs in my tent. 😊

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