Alaska, July, 2017

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Introduction:

In July of 2017, Anne and I took our daughter and her family to Alaska to see some of the sights we have seen on prior trips. One major reason was to let our granddaughter Maggie enjoy the uniqueness of Alaska including the bears of Katmai National Park. I think they all enjoyed the trip very much but believe that Maggie enjoyed seeing the sled dog puppies at the Iditerod Trail Sled Dog Museum in Wasilla the most. Below is a recap of the trip detailing where we went with pictures of some of the sights we saw. Several of the pictures are shown on this page intermingled with the text. Other pictures are shown below the text. Clicking on any one of them will take you to a larger version of the picture. You can scroll through all the pictures from there.



Trip Recap:

We took separate flights from Chattanooga and Greenville to Atlanta where we connected with our flight to Anchorage on July 4th of 2017, arriving in Anchorage around 7:00 PM. Took the shuttle to our hotel for the night and got up the next morning to go to the off-airport Enterprise Rent-a-Car office to pick up the minivan that we would use for our travels over the next week. Took this first full day of July 5^th as an easy day to rest up for our full day scheduled for the next day. Toured around Anchorage a bit with the highlight being a visit to the Alaska Zoo where many animals unable to live in the wild, due to injury or other reasons, are cared for. A bit of shopping for souvenirs rounded out the afternoon.



On July 6^th, we left the motel early to catch our 7:15 AM flight to King Salmon and then on to Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park via float plane. Arrived in Brooks Camp around 10:30, received our “don't mess with the bears” lecture, and promptly ran into several rangers herding folks away from a mama bear and two cubs that were running around near the lodge. Once they cleared the area we walked across the bridge over Brooks River and to viewing platforms overlooking Brooks Falls where bears were catching salmon as they attempted to leap over the falls. After a long day of bear viewing and 100's of pictures taken, we reversed our trip back to Anchorage, arriving at our hotel around 9:00 PM, tired but happy.



July 7^th we drove from Anchorage to Kenai Fjords National Park where we took the short hike to Exit Glacier. Then we drove down the road to Seward where we walked around the waterfront in a drizzly rain before getting a late lunch, then heading to Moose Pass for our lodging at the Midnight Sun Cabins.



On Saturday July 8^th, we took a leisurely drive to Homer near the bottom of the Kenai Peninsula. After checking into our motel, we drove down to the “Homer Spit” for a bit of sightseeing. The next day we took a tour boat ride across Katchemak Bay to the small village of Seldovia and back. Saw lots of sea birds as well as sea otters along the way but, sadly, no whales which we were hoping for.



Monday the 10^th, we drove back up the peninsula to the town of Kenai where we would spend the night. Along the way, we stopped at Ninilchick where we visited an old Russian Orthodox Church that is over 110 years old and still used as a place of worship. We were fortunate to find a parishioner who opened the church for us and a few others who had also stopped by. A beautiful old church with a lot of history behind it. Check out the picture of the Russian Orthodox Cross and the explanation of the canted cross piece.



Once we had checked into our hotel, LeeAnne wanted to get a picture of a wild moose somewhere. So we hopped into the car and drove to the nearby Captain Cook State Recreation Area hoping to see a moose somewhere along the way. After we arrived and had driven down to check out an area along a river and were just leaving the parking area , we met a Mother Moose with (apparently) her pretty large calf walking down the road toward us. We stopped and watched as they moseyed off into the bushes along the side of the road. Think LeeAnne may have taken about 100 pictures of them. After our successful moose hunt, we returned to the hotel.



On Tuesday, the 11^th, we drove back to Anchorage to get ready for our flight home that evening. We were taking a red eye leaving at around 8:00 PM so had plenty of time to kill before take off. Maggie had developed an affection for Alaskan Husky dogs and LeeAnne had seen an ad for sled dog rides somewhere so she looked it up on her phone. Found the Iditerod Trail Sled Dog Museum in Wasilla just north of Anchorage . We had time so that's where we went. Luckily they were offering dog sled rides there and the Vialls were able to take a ride around the forest – on a wheeled sled since there was no snow. And Maggie got to cuddle a couple of small sled dog puppies so she was pretty pleased with that. The Sled Dog Museum was not on our original itinerary but, as is frequently the case, things done on the fly sometimes turn out to be some of the best. Thanks to LeeAnne for finding this for our last day of the trip.



After the Dog Sled adventure, we stopped in Wassila at a fast food restaurant for a late lunch. While there we did a bit of final packing of anything we would not need on the plane into luggage that would be checked. We headed back to Anchorage and the airport where I dropped the Vialls to wait while Anne and I returned the car to the Enterprise office. The airport was only about two miles from their office and if you know Anne, you know she wasn't about to need a cab for such a short distance. So, of course, we walked back. Our flights were on time and, except for being very tired when we arrived home, everyone was happy to find all animals well and well cared for while we were away. We really appreciate the friends who look after things while we are away. Without them we would not be able to take these nice trips.

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Photos

Alaska
View from the airplane window as we crossed the St. Elias and Chugach Mountain Ranges.

Polar Bear
At the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage.

LeeAnne And Bob
At the Zoo.

Bob And Maggie
Taken while we waited for our float plane on the way to Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park. Think Maggie was tired waiting.

Ready to Board
Getting ready to board the float plane.

Mamma Bear and cubs
This Mamma bear and her two cubs ran through the lodge complex scattering the tourists as they went. Rangers made sure we kept our distance. Not a problem.

At Brooks Falls
A bear looking for salmon.

Brooks Falls
Bear on the far side with Salmon jumping on the near side.

Father Daughter chat
At the Brooks Falls viewing platform.

At Brooks Falls
Family portrait - Maggie is the photographer.

Bear family.
Walking below the viewing platform.

Bear on the shoreline
On the shores of Naknek Lake where Brooks Camp is located.

Naknek Lake
Young bear in the distance standing on hind legs looking for - what? Fisherman exits right.

King Salmon airport.
From the float plane on the return flight. King Salmon is where we changed from the float plane to a larger plane for the flight back to Anchorage.

View
On the way to Kenai Fjords National Park we passed this river of milky glacial runoff water.

Another
A closer view of the river with the milky colored water.

Exit Glacier
We hiked the short trail to Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords NP. Amazing to see how much it has retreated since we were there in 2010.

Exit Glacier
Maggie at the glacier

Exit Glacier
Part of the trail to the glacier.

View
From the trail to Exit Glacier.

Moose
In a wetland area along the road between Moose Pass and Soldotna on the way to Homer.

Comments

[Cherrie Sneed]

Alaska 2017 Trip
Congratulations on a wonderful Alaska family trip. I'm still reading and looking at the wonderful photos.