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Published: June 20th 2006
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Hi Everyone,
I have some good news and some bad news depending on how you look at it. We have officially started our long drive home. We left Alaska behind with fond memories and a special place in my heart. Visiting Alaska has been a dream of mine since I can remember and once again I have fulfilled a part of my dreams. We went to so many places in AK that it seemed like we were there forever, Fairbanks, Denali, Chena Hot Springs, Seward, Kenai, Soldotna, Homer, Anchorage, Valdez, Wrangell St. Elias but I could spend a lifetime in Alaska and still not see it all. I already have other destinations in mind for the next time (when I fly there).
Valdez was pretty cool; on the way down it was such a beautiful drive with lots of waterfalls and glaciers. Worthington Glacier is off the road and a glacier that you can hike right up to. It was amazing to see, the glacier itself is huge, about 27 miles long. We hiked right up to it and walked on the glacier itself. Then when we got down to Valdez we took a glacier wildlife cruise while we
were there. It was so amazing to see so many icebergs all in one place. They were crystal blue and as far as the eye can see. Some of them had the coolest shapes to them and others were so big they looked like islands themselves. The icebergs came from Colombia Glacier which is 75 miles long and the face comes right out into the Harbor. We couldn’t get right up to the face of the glacier because of all the icebergs in the way, apparently the glacier has been doing a lot of calving recently. On the cruise we saw so many bald eagles, and we even saw some perched on the icebergs looking for lunch. We also saw so many stellar sea lions lounging on the shores and a humpback whale in the water coming up for air and doing some pretty cool acrobatic tricks.
The next day we attempted to go to Wrangell St. Elias National Park but we could only go a little ways into the park because the road was closed for construction. The road to get out to McCarthy and Kennecott area was once a railroad line that has been converted into a
gravel road, a very slow going gravel road. The scarriest thing about the road was a bridge you had to go over at about mile 20. The bridge was built in 1910 for the railroad and now has wooden planks as the road. Until 1988 when they refurbished it, there was no guardrail and some of the planks were missing so that you could literally see the river below you about 150 feet or so. But we made it safely. I was disappointed that we couldn’t go further in but there is always another trip and next time I want to fly right into the park itself. Kennecott is an abandoned mining town in the heart of the park that is so full of history that I think it would be amazing to go and see it. Wrangell St. Elias has some of the tallest peaks in North America ranging from 10-19,000 feet. It also has half of the world’s mountain glaciers too. The biggest one is about 80 miles long!! It is designed a superlative wilderness site with worldwide significance by the UN.
On our way out of Alaska we were able to see our first grizzle bear.
He was so cute. They look so amazing up-close. This was the closest I have ever seen such an impressive bear. I think it must have been up to 300 pounds or so and only about 20 feet away from us. He was too busy eating wildflowers and berries to even notice we were there though. But then a huge RV came flying by and scared him so he took off back into the woods. He was so cute, I wanted to just go run up and hug and kiss him!! At least we got to see one bear in Alaska. One black bear and one grizzle so far and we only want to see more. Right now we are in the Yukon making our way along the Alaskan highway!! Our next stop is going to be the Liard Hot Springs in the Yukon, where there are natural hot springs out in the open. It is also a rain forest type environment where 14 species of orchids grow naturally. Bears frequent the area so we’re hoping for some more sightings but hopefully from a nice safe distance. Then down to Alberta and the National Parks there.
I hope that
all is well back home and I will be seeing you guys soon!
Love
Laura
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marc
non-member comment
Flying
Did I read correctly that you are going to fly back. WOW