To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we traveled to Alaska. To make things extra, extra special, Kregg's parents (who were celebrating their 56th anniversary) and his brother and sister-in-law went with us. Our children remained behind and took care of the house, the animals, and each other for eleven glorious days!!
We flew into Anchorage and spent one night there before boarding the glass domed train for Denali the next morning. The evening we spent in Anchorage, we ate at a nice restaurant named after a wonderful book that I just love: The Snow Goose.
The train ride to Denali was spectacular. We were up high in the glass dome so we had great views of the incredible scenery. There was a young man who narrated our tour and told wonderful stories about the people and places as we passed them.
It was such a relaxing way to travel. We sat in booths with big tables so we could visit or play cards or go downstairs to have lunch. There was an observation deck on the lower level of the car so you could stand outside and watch the mountains and rivers go by.
There were very few signs of civilization along the way, but little town was beautiful.
This poor owl nested here before the train started running for the season. Normally, it would choose a site in a secluded spot. By the time the train started up, it was too late to choose a new location.
Another beautiful "still as glass" lake along the way.
It really was a wonderful way to travel.
The rivers are like ribbons winding back and forth through the trees and around the mountains. Some of them were crystal clear and some were filled with silt from the glaciers.
This picture was taken through the glass that was sprinkled with rain drops.
Everywhere we looked, we marveled at the hand of the Artist who created it all to lovingly reveal Himself to us.
When we arrived in Denali, we checked into our hotel and made ourselves at home. Spinner games filled several hours. The first evening we were there, we went to a dinner theater about the history of Denali. It was great fun and the cast members were extremely talented. They would sing and dance around in the audience, and single out people to have fun with.
This picture was taken at 5 a.m. It took some "getting used to" with it light almost all day and night. We had breakfast at a restaurant where they were showing a dvd about a man who has summited Denali three times. He was there promoting his book and he sat down with us and told us all about it. It was fascinating. He explained the differences between climbing Denali (Mt. McKinley) and Everest: the vertical ascent of Denali is much greater, there are no Sherpas (everyone carries all their own gear), Denali climbers do not use any supplemental oxygen, and at Everest there is several thousand feet of fixed rope to assist in the ascent. Because of those things, he believes Denali is actually a more difficult climb. We had gotten up early to take a guided bus tour into Denali National Park. There was some concern about committing to an 8 hour ride on a school-type bus, but we had heard that you really needed to go that far to have more opportunities to see wildlife. We decided to take the plunge. We were not disappointed.
This is a snowshoe hare (not a rabbit). Our guide was so knowledgeable. He could explain geology, zoology, botany, meteorology--just about every "ology", I think.
It was surprising how stark the landscape was in Denali. The conditions are so extreme that very few forms of vegetation can survive.
This is an arctic ground squirrel. He and his buddies put on quite a show in our honor.
This is a very rare sighting of a unique herd of migratory Texans.
This truly was a rare sighting of a wolf. It was feeding on some small meal, probably a hare or squirrel.
These braided rivers change courses regularly and are never deep.
The mountains were strikingly beautiful.
These caribou were trying to cool off in the snow. We were cold, but to them it was a veritable heat wave.
If you look closely, you can see three dahl sheep in the center on a ledge and a larger group in the lower right hand corner. Glad we had the zoom lens!
This time of year, the males are usually alone.
We saw two pairs of grizzlies up on the side of the mountains during the day. Then we saw this!! It's a momma with two cubs. You can just make out the darker brown fur ball in front of the sow. The cubs never came out into the open, so all our shots were through the brush of them.
Here is the best shot we took of one of the cubs. I didn't know that they graze like cows. Once the berries ripen, they eat between 200,000-250,000 of them a day!!
The mama bear finally came out into a little clearing. It was incredible to sit there watching her eat and roam around.
She was huge! They can range in color from almost white to a dark brown.
We had almost given up on seeing a moose in the park when this big bull showed up.
It was a glorious day!
We rode the train back down to Anchorage and spent the night there. That evening, Kregg decided to walk over a few streets to locate the building where we would go the next day to catch our bus for the ride to Whittier. The rest of us had walked back to the hotel. It was quite a while before Kregg came in and I had began to wonder.
When he got there the explanation for the delay became obvious. He had met an amazing man who runs a fur shop. His name is "Ole Jack" and between he and his father, this little store has been in business for almost 80 years. Kregg had wandered into his shop on the way back to the hotel and struck up a conversation. Come to find out, he is somewhat of a celebrity. He has made coats for a Russian president and two American ones: Ford and Reagan. In fact, he told the story that one day while he was working the Secret Service walked in and started checking out his shop. About 30 minutes later, unannounced, in walks Ronald Reagan. He said Reagan sat down with him and they had a nice long chat. Reagan told him that he didn't really understand what everyone was so upset about (referring to the Cold War). Summing up his foreign policy, he said, "It's really simple: We win. They lose." Ole Jack said it was like sitting there talking to an old farmer.
Kregg asked Jack if he had ever lived anywhere else. He said, "No, except for five years when General MacArthur called." Kregg took us all back by his shop to meet him the next day before we left Anchorage. Jack graciously outfitted us in his exquisite furs. Kregg and Doug got to try on the Presidential model made of wolf, I tried on a beautiful beaver, and Marlene was regal in a full length mink. Denise even bought a fur hat.
The next day, we boarded the bus for the ride down to Whittier. On the way, there is a train tunnel that also doubles as the tunnel for buses. It is over two miles long and the buses have to be scheduled to use it so that the trains aren't there at the same time! It is the longest double-duty tunnel of its kind in the world. The land portion of our trip was over and it was time to board the ship!
To be continued . . .
(No matter what I do, Blogger will NOT space these pictures evenly! Sorry.)
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