We returned our overpriced rental car in Seward and after our activities there, we took the seward shuttle that took us to Whittier (which really helped out given that we could not return our rental car in Whittier). Once we got to the junction with Anchorage, a 2nd driver picked us up and took us to Whittier through the tunnel. The tunnel is both train + cars in a single track, sometimes the train goes first, sometimes the cars go first. You only have a 10mn window to get through and then you have to wait for the next hour if you miss it:
When we got on the other side of the tunnel, we saw our cruiseship, and checked in our luggage there for the 26 glacier cruise that was starting from the same location:
The 26 glacier cruise was a lot better glacier-wise than the cruise we had taken from seward the previous day, so in hindsight we could have skipped that.
the views did not suck :)
The crew picked up some ice for margaritas:
We got to see even more glaciers on the way out:
lot of seals sleeping on the ice to avoid the orcas
we then ran into a raft of sea otters
so many
And then it was time to get back to Whittier and transfer to our cruise ship:
After arriving on our cruiseship, the next 2 days were cruising around glaciers. The first day, we went to the huge Hubbard Glacier:
the 3 story boat in frot of it gives a sense of scale
The 2nd day, we went to Glacier National Park, lots of glaciers that end up in the water. A cruiseship was not the best way to see everything, but convenient enough. SAdly the weather was rainy and foggy that day, so I have few decent pictures:
a few of those were around
if you had big binoculars, you might see these
or those
one of many glaciers
I have more pictures, but after a while, all glaciers start to look the same ;)
We used our monsoon day to go visit the sealife center. It was quite decent, and they nicely offered $75 animal interaction options, first feeding puffins, and then feeding and touching giant octopuses. That did add up to over $350 with the two of us and 2 interactions (1H each).
wolf eel, had never seen one of those, they're huge
After going through the center, it was time for our puffin encounter. We got a briefing on them and their family:
After the puffins, it was time for our even more exciting giant octopus encounters:
that one was small
pretty though
feeding time
it made friends with us, tasting us with its tentacles
here's a claim for you, enjoy :)
That sure was loads of fun:
Great way to spend a most of day, especially a rainy one.
We arrived at the end of day #8, and given that the next day was forecast to have monsoon weather, we went to Exit Glacier the day before as sunlight was fading. We only had the time to do the short hike to where the glacier used to be in 2010, and sure isn't anymore:
it's visible from the road already
the nature center had already closed for the season
the placards outside were enough
As usual, it's sobering to see how far the glacier has receeded:
note how all the vegetation has grown where the glacier used to be
Eventually, we got there:
the glacier looks close, but it was still a 15mn hike away on an unofficial trail
After a somewhat tricky hike past the do not cross line, I got to the foot of the glacier:
I got to peek under the glacier in a spot that may not have been super safe, so I didn't stay too long
The next day, due to the pouring rain, we just went to the town's visitor center:
pigeon duck, what kind of forbidden sex was this?
We spent the rest of the very rainy day at the Alaska Sealife Center on its own page:
The next day, the weather had cleared, so we went to the havbour for our cruise:
We had a look at the train that slowly links seward and anchorage:
some fake carriages with businesses
We then boarded our boat for our tour:
this was used to load coal on boats
After a long boat trip that made a fair amount of people sick, we got to Aialik Glacier:
lots of seals resting on the ice, but sadly a bit out of range of my 20x zoom
the crew then made us margaritas using the glacier ice
We got lucky to find some orcas on the trip back:
We also found some seals on a closer rock, as well as some far away bald eagles:
sadly, I also needed a bigger zoom
and a rainbow on the way home for good measure :)
Despite the boat sickness, it was a nice boat trip, even if the one from Whittier the next day was going to beat it easily. And that as it for our time in Seward. We missed out on the long hike to the top of exit glacier, but still had a good time there.
Our next destination being Seward, we drove south towards Seward. The highway is very scenic, so we stopped a few times for pictures:
Next, we stopped at Girdwood/Alyeska Ski Resort and took their somewhat overpriced tram up for a view and a short hike (we only stayed 30mn so as to arrive in time at our next destination for animal talks):
had we had more time, we could have hiked up
sadly all the ski lifts were closed, the snow was also gone, and I forgot my snowboard. Luck was not on my side :)
We then hurried towards the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center for their 14:30 fox talk and 2 more talks after that:
Their neighbours were coyotes:
They had some adorable porcupines, including one that was missing a leg:
they taught it to walk up and down its new 3 floor condo despite the missing leg
another one, next door
nie haircut, buddy :)
haha, this one was eager with its food
The Alaskan cat is the lynx:
sadly it didn't come out to see us
Bears of course (both brown/grizzly and black):
the michoko bird was fighting the bears for their food
Anchorage has a very big seaplane base just next to their international airport. It happens to have a nice aviation museum which is worth a good 2H+ if you read up on the history, including how Alaska was partially invaded by the Japanese during WWII:
The museum focuses on Alaska related planes, and they have a good collection thereof:
choose your ski
pilot licenses used to have pictures on them
The day prior, we went to the smaller air museum in Fairbanks. It's much more compact:
cool, the japanese designed float planes that would fit inside a submarine
We only really spent 1.2 days in Anchorage. It had a few extra things to see, but they were minor and we got all the highlights in 1.2 days.
We landed the previous evening and had dinner with my friend Marcel Bolzern in a very nice restaurant with view (I'll skip the part where Hertz didn't have any cars for anyone when we arrived, had no Hertz Gold at all, and made everyone wait almost 1h or more for their car. Lesson learned, avoid Hertz at any location that doesn't have gold pickup):
yummy fish
On the first day, we started with the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which had very nice presentations and demos on the Alaskan natives:
they gave us a demo of the songs and dances they have
They then showed us the games they play, they were quite physical and hard:
After that, we took the tour around the different style houses they had. The young guide was very knowledgeable:
seal gut outfit
seal baloon
seal guts is also used as windows
Nice placards and artifacts:
sadly the americans also tried to wash out the cultures and languages
Next, we went to the Wells Fargo Museum which had a nice private collection of artifacts:
And we finished with the Anchorage Museum which we almost finished but not quite in 2H. I had to go back the next day to see a few extra rooms and the special exposition on the Franklin Expedition that was looking for the elusive northwest passage:
price differences between locations
The franklin expedition was interesting:
they got really close, but got stuck in ice
they didn't quite have the satellite pictures we have now
they had to abandon the boat in the ice after a year of the ice not melting, continued on foot and died off eventually
just a few years ago the boat was found under water
And after this museum, it was time to drive out to Seward
While it was early for Aurora Season, we were lucky to have a somewhat faint but visible Aurora on our 2nd night in Fairbanks. We did have to drive away from town lights on a deserted road, and were able to get these shots. These were between 00:30 and 01:30 or so, in a pretty cold night :)
It was difficult to get people in the shots, but with a little luck and HDR, I got those two:
Auroras can get more bright and colorful, but given that our odds of seeing any, were low to start with, we were happy to have seen this, even if it ruined our night somewhat :)
While in Fairbanks, I noticed that they had a car museum, so out of habit, I figured we should go check it out, not expecting much. Well, the joke was on me, it was a fantastic museum with very rare cars, several more than 100 years old, and including many I had never seen before, including one even that had a magnetic transmission and was a hybrid electric, over 100 years ago!
doesn't look like too much from the outside, until you walk in
The 1917 Owen Magnetic ar was a masterpiece. It used a gasoline engine to make electricity which turned a magnet which in turn created induction power and turned the wheels without needing any direct link or transmission. Genius! There are only 12 left in the world:
And may other cars I hadn't seen yet:
early open wheel racing
Are you complaining about your drives to the ski resort:
they got you covered
that's also cute
this beats chains big time :)
More cars:
this car looks like it was designed to have a mean face, back in 1912
After Denali, we drove to Fairbanks and arrived there just in time for a late dinner in a good and historical restaurant:
The next morning, we got breakfast at our hotel and went to our reindeer tour, which sure was fun:
The story is a family who bought a couple of reindeer for their daughter who really wanted some, and then they ended up with a bunch of them that they keep as pets and now show around to tourists to help pay for their fees:
After the reindeer fun, we went to see Mary Shields next door. She was the first woman to win the 1000+ mile dog sled race in Alaska. She still keeps her sled dogs and tells her stories over milk and cookies to people who come visit her. Our conflicting schedule didn't allow us to spend the full tour time with her, but she nicely gave us a quick tour and showed us her nice dogs:
Mary sadly had to get part of her leg amputated, but that doesn't stop her from getting around
We then went to the AK pipeline viewing point, and saw some people training on the street. The pipeline took 8 billing dollars to build and is an impressive achievement:
We then went to the excellent visitor center, watched a couple of its movies including one on the aurora, and then went through its museum which was well worth an hour:
oil revenue after the pipeline was built was shared with AK residents as a dividend
We then went to see the ice museum, which was a lot of fun (19:00-20:00), and its own aurora show that was right afterwards (20:00 to 21:00):
It wasn't a huge slide, but for an indoor ice slide in the middle of warm weather, it was fun :)
weee
The rest of the scupltures were nice too:
ice bar
the owner is an expert ice sculptor and gave us a demo
we then just had enough time for dinner next door
The next morning, we started with Museum of the North, which was closed the previous day. It was quite good and worth multiple hours:
we learned about more 'evacuation' camps in AK during WWII
climbers of denali
more climbers but they don't all make it up, it's a long trip
We learned about the very long road that was built to Canada in record time (10 months):
And earthquakes:
Next, we went to the botanical garden which was in surprisingly good shape despite it being late in the season:
Next, was pioneer park to see the air museum, and it also happened to have an old town for tourists, although it was mostly shut down that late in the season, but we found a couple of other museums:
The air museum was quite small, but worth 30mn or so:
It was then time to get back to the airport to catch our plane to Anchorage:
After arriving to Denali NP the previous late afternoon, we got up early (05:45) to get to the bus depot and take the 06:45 bus (busses are required to get deep inside the park). After a night that was a bit shorter than ideal, we parked our car and got in line for our bus. We lucked out with a great driver that had good narration and stories. He also helped us spot a lot of wildlife:
denali
one of our rest stops
perfect fit :)
Pika!
I told her it was a bad idea :)
We eventually got to Eielson, the far visitor center where we only had a short stop so as not to miss our bus that was continuing on:
they found dinosaurs
nice view from the visitor center
ground squirrels are food for many bigger animals
Jennifer had wanted to go to mirror lake, and we got a partial view of denali in it. We had to be dropped off the side of the road, and walk there. Many things have to align for the picture perfect view, and we only got a partial view:
From there, we figured we'd walk to Wonder Lake, which was a 2.5 mile walk, mostly downhill. It was a pleasant walk but we were rushed for time as we wanted to make the next bus getting out and we made it with just 5mn to spare (the next bus was 1h30 later and it was unclear if it would have space):
some people went to try and pick berries, but they were quite far from the road
We then did the same rest stops in reverse all the way back to the bus depot (around 5H to get back)
We found more wildlife on the way back:
And after 12H in the park, most of them in a bus, it was the end of our long day and time to go back home for dinner and Zzzs
For Day #2, we got a bit more sleep, and went to the Dog and Kenel show. The Alaskan huskies were very eager...
We then went to mile 12 to drop off our car at the end of our planned hike:
the rotor clouds were a clue that wind was hellish
from the parking lot, we got a ride in the back of an SUV, riding on top of their ATV that was in the back. That was fun and weird :)
great views :)
Jennifer was enjoying her ATV ride
the only wildlife we saw, The rest probably hid from the wind
lunch at the top where it was somewhat sheltered
I enjoyed my huge Alaskan beef jerky
nice colors
On the way back, we saw a family of moose. The dad was hard to see, but mom and child almost came to the road. Closer than it was arguably safe:
We then went to the visitor center for a couple of hikes:
We then went to beaver lake, and got to see a bunch of beavers in action, that was great:
they were good at diving and swimming under water
I even found a beaver cutting a tree trunk
and this was the dam they made
Two videos of the beavers:
After all this fun, it was time to go home. I had a quick look at the Anchorage-Fairbanks train that happened to stop:
We left Anchorage not too late and headed towards Denali. We stopped at Talkeetna for a super scenic flight around Denali with glacier landing. We were super lucky to be first plane to land on the glacier after 3 weeks where it was not possible. Even the flights that came back before we left that day were not able to land due to too much fog. Our pilot did 4 different landings to "pave" the runway on the snow for a few more planes to land behind us:
this was the same plane than our float plane, but it had skis instead
got the copilot seat again
lots of taildraggers
several glaciers
which don't always look good when you zoom
I wouldn't snowboard down this :)
beautiful field
Then, it was time for our glacier landing. This is normally the base that people who climb denali, start from. It's still a 3 week climb:
t is a big plane
Then it was time to get back in the air:
hard to tell that all that dirt is a glacier, until you see this
back to Talkeetna
After the flight, we had a quick tour of downtown Talkeetna:
cheap gas
We got back on the road toward denali, and did a stop at a nice viewpoint:
Then back on the road, and got to the visitor center by 17:15 before they closed at 18:00
and after a total of 5.5H most of which Jennifer drove (thanks), we arrived at Denali
It was then time for dinner, some food grocery shopping for our next day, and some sleep in preparation for a 05:45 wakeup. We got to see a bit of wildlife:
As soon as we arrived in Alaska the previous evening, we got some sleep for an early rise to catch a couple of planes to Katmai. Katmai is quite remote, so we just took a Pilatus which gets you to King Salmon airport, the closest airport with a proper runway. You then connect to a seaplane that flies you to Brooks Lodge, where a lucky few can stay for the night, and from where you can walk to some viewing platforms to see the bears.
we took some amazon prime boxes as cargo :)
the pilot was nice enough to let me sit in the copilot seat
we flew over a glacier on the way
king salmon airport
A native gave us a quick intro of the land around katmai and the different tribes that live in the area
then we transitionned to a seaplane
our plane was already in the water
got another copilot seat
arriving at brooks camp
We got lucky enough that a bear was on a beach and walked right past the NP sign when we arrived
there were a few other planes
we got a briefing from the ranger on how to deal with the bears
the lodge was nice, but we didn't spend any time there, not even lunch
lots of salmons in the river
nice license plate
Finally we got to the viewing platform, you wait in line for a spot (only 40 allowed), which thankfully was only a 20mn wait for us. It can be as much as 2-3H for a spot. Thankfully we got there during lower season and it wasn't as bad:
we waited at the lower platform
they look for fish
Finally we got our turn on the platform, definitely good views:
some bears wait for the fish to jump up, miss, fall back and then they catch them
I took some rapid action shots of mostly one younger bear that was pretty bad at grabbing salmon, it was endearing to watch. It did get one eventually but it took a good half hour. Here are some motion action shots of it:
After 1H, we were invited to leave the platform. We didn't want to waste too much time by going back to the lodge to get our food we were not alloweed to carry (it had to be locked up in a bear proof room), so we sucked it up and didn't eat outside of an emergency granola bar I happened to have in my jacket. We then went to check out Naknek lake, which was nice, but nothing to write home about:
we found evidence of bears being there, but no actual bears:
more salmons in the lake though
We then went back to the viewing platform after the line died down and spent a 2nd hour there:
it was the end of that salmon run but from time to time we still saw a few trying to climb
finally the bear was able to nail one
We saw a few other things too:
there were a few weird ducks
there was an old settlement
It was then time to take the planes in reverse and get back to Anchorage after a long day
