First natural sighting!

 After I awfully attempted backwoods shower (roughly 36 degrees), we grabbed our food out of the campground food storage bin. Blasting the heat and eating the Seward highway curves our morning trip lasted a few hours.

To our delight driving around a bend at the base of a hill we saw our first wild creature. A female moose trudging through a few feet of water. Liz was extremely excited. We watched as she submerged her entire head for several seconds then came up as she was chewing. Truly a wonderful sight. She was approximately 80 yards out. We watched, hazardly, sitting on the shoulder of a highway. A few others joined us and one even gave us a non friendly honk, whoops.

The morning sun with the mountains towering above us is surreal. Mountains blocking out the sun casting shadows like a cloud. Early morning we arrived at the Kenai National Park. The portion of the park accessible by road is small in size. So small, in fact, that a fee was not required. We walked on two trails to get a view of the Glacier. We went out onto the half dry riverbed to gaze at the glacier.

After snow lays and persists for a year, it compresses and becomes known as a firn. If a firn lasts  4-10 years, due to compression, it is considered glacier as a metamorphic rock. As snow is 90% air; glacier is only 10%.

I wrongly thought we could get a few days out of the area, but the only way to view other parts of the park were to kayak or obtain a ride on a boat. Both options expensive for what they are. Some places charging $250 a person for 5 or so hours. We decided against it and drove around the town of Seward. Right now we found a lovely campsite in the city of Seward. We’re within a short distance of resurrection bay in spot 302. Witnessing the ecosystem of a fjord is unique. Having a mountain range backdrop, with a glacier (Godwin), salmon jumping from the water (900 ft deep) is a landscape we’ve been marveling at. According to signage only several fjords exist on earth.

Cell data has been limited within the last 24 hours...

Bloody Antlers

On August 30th we started off the day by visiting an information center in Anchorage on 4th Avenue. The street was pleasantly different from the other modern business style parts of the city. Although different smaller non-chain stores. The building just so happened to be a federal building with some park rangers about. We grabbed a few pamphlets and went on our way.

We started by filling up the tank with fuel and began to head south on Seward highway. I’ve been all around the country and this is the most scenic highway I can recall. Mountain after mountain with seemingly endless landscape panaramas. We stopped many times along the way. The day was set to explore the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

We arrived at the conservation center and was greeted with a $15 dollar per person entry. We were provided with close views of native wildlife. From moose, wolves, wood bison, bears; both brown and black, snickers the porcupine,  black tailed dear, and even a lynx. Definitely worth the stop. This area kept us excited for hours. Longing to find our own experiences with observing them within their natural habitat.

We continued down Seward highway to search for our first camping spot. About 30 minutes later we came upon Bethas Creek campground, which lies within Chugach National Forest. We were tense as this was our first time camping in grizzly bear country! Luckily a few others showed up and camped in sites near ours. We cooked, laughed, and kept looking over each other shoulders; keeping an eye on our bear mace. Liz read me a bedtime story about Amy Pohler...

A Day In Anchorage

For our first day we decided to stay in the Anchorage area. Lots to do while we were here. The city is more modern than I anticipated and very clean.

We started off the day by checking out a close by park, Kincaid, where we got a few nice pictures. We had a view of mount Denali. A spectacular sight. By road the mountain is a few hours away.

Then we moved on to the Anchorage museum of natural history. $18 bucks a person and it was very well worth it. Liz and I played around in the discovery section, an area for tactile learning. I did jump and stay in the air for .01 second longer than Liz could do. We were fascinated learning about the native population which is something we’ve never learned through either of our educations. We watched a video of a celebratory dance coined eagle wolf dance, where native populations come together to celebrate, share stories and values, and network.

Feeling hungry we drove up to the Far North Bicentennial park to get closer to the mountain range. We ended up checking out a bunch of housing further up the mountain. It looked like an HGTV episode; million dollar houses with a priceless view of Anchorage. We tested our stove and newly purchased fuel by questioning whether or not we could heat canned food, while still in the original can. Answer is yes it’s warm, but it tastes like metal, so scratch that. While cooking we had a few of Anchorages finest searching for a couple vehicles on the non-motor vehicle part of the trails. Seems they came up empty handed. Liz made her first meal successfully using our portable burner!

During the early evening hours we visited the Eklutna historic park where we spoke to a tour guide about the peculiar area. This was a Russian Orthodox Church mixed with native assimilation. In the flint picture you will see small houses which are spirit houses for the deceased, standing only a few feet high. The ceremony has changed throughout the years taking hints from the Russian and native combination.

We ended the day going to Beach Lake. On our way there we drove around a residential lake that had residential housing with private planes sitting on the water, presumably lifting off and landing within the lake. Pretty bizarre. There are small planes everywhere! Seems like a qualification to live in Alaska is to have a pilot’s license.

Anchorage

At 12:22am on August 29th we’ve made it to Anchorage, AK. We spent an hour or so unpacking into our rental car, a newer Ford Escape. We also made a fast food run where we found out the food pricing is roughly 30% more expensive. Curious to see a grocery stores pricing.

After about 24 hours of traveling we decided to just pull into a cabelas to crash. Our blow up bed fits snugly in the back of the Escape. After 4-5 hours of sleep I feel like a whole new person. Liz is still currently recouping. Plans for the day are to check out Anchorage city.

My cell phone provider does not have enough set up to transmit data, but I can still call/text. An oversight on my part.

Longest Day ever

My sister stayed over our place last night too inform Liz and I how to use her GoPro.  Out of anxiety I got about an hour and a  half of sleep before getting up at 3:15am.  Thanks for the ride to BWI. Being cheap lead us to multiple layovers; 2 on the way to Alaska (about 9 hours worth).

A few minutes after getting out of the car and walking into the airport we encountered our first surprise. Our first flight and the itenerary is wrong. Luckily, airport staff got everything figured out. Hopefully no more issues on the way there.

It's just about 7 am. Waiting to board the first flight. My anxiety is through the roof. Liz calmly supportive of my fear of flying took over for a little while.

Update 1: departure delayed. It's 9:37am and we've been sitting on the runway since 8. Apparently if our plane doesn't "make a deal" (captian said). We're going to be delayed a few hours. Not sure if this has been better than a work day...

Update 2. Well, we "made a deal" still unsure of what that means. Both Liz and I are exhausted. Currently it's 2:55p (time zone change) waiting to board our second of three flights for the day. We ate at Goose brewing company. She opted for a blue moon, and I a wheat ale; absolutely exhausted.

Update 3. We made it to Seattle. Got a tiny bit of sleep. Flight had been delayed too. Sitting here at 9pm west coast time.

Update 4. At 12:22 Alaskan time we’ve officially landed.

THE LAST FRONTIER!

ALASKA!

Alaska was purchased by the USA in 1867 from Russia, and it's 663,268 square miles of mostly wilderness. Liz and I will be exploring parts of this massive state for approximately 15 days.

Check the right hand side of the screen under picture albums and click "The Last Frontier" to see the most up to date pictures.

Here we go!