Alaska 2016 - A true adventure!

Our vacation to Alaska was truly magnificent.  We were able to stop in Anchorage, Girdwood, Talkeetna, Seward, Whittier, and Denali.  We also passed a lot of smaller "villages" along the tracks. Alaska is so clean, fresh, untainted, it is just the way God created it.  It is non-commercialized.  A true frontier.  The people are friendly, whether tourists or locals are welcoming.  I chatted with a doctor and her mother that were traveling on the train to Palmer, they were going to the state fair.  She told me "everyone in Alaska needs each other at one time or another, it's a true community up here."

We arrived in Anchorage a few days early, so we could explore on our own, before boarding on the train.

As soon as I began to see beautiful mountains, the picture taking began! I took this one from the airplane window.

We were not quite sure what to expect for weather, and we ended up with beautiful 70 degree temps in Anchorage!!  This is in the yard at the B & B we stayed at.

Roof top view from the 49th State Brewery.  From here we could see Mt Denali - it is 250 miles away!

Ah, our first day in Alaska!!  We spent 3 days touring around on bikes and walking around Anchorage.

The Alaskan mountain range, you can't stop looking at it, it's just so amazing

Bike ride on the Coastal Trail, they call these the "mud flats".

There's that mountain range again.

Dain finally conned me into riding a tandem - it was pretty fun...

Coastal view

Eagle!!  We saw a few of them along the coast

Dain leading the way along the trail - I follow because I stop a lot to take pictures..

We parked the bikes, and walked down to the beach.  There were plenty of moms and tots, playing in this mud, it looked pretty fun!

Rocks - and we all know that I love me some rocks!

This is an area referred to as Ship Creek - it's in Anchorage

We toured the Ulu Factory

Another beautiful trail to walk along Ship Creek

This is where you go when the salmon are running - they had already been through there

Just maybe - there's a salmon left...  (Note all the foot prints from ALL the fishermen that were there.

First day to get on the train - we are headed to Girdwood, AK

End of tourist season means plenty of room to move around the cars!! :)

Glaciers everywhere - these are "hanging glaciers".  They will never reach the ocean.

We made a quick stop in Whittier, AK - they let us off for about 30 minutes

Waterfalls could be seen on a lot of the mountains as well

Eagle

The train dropped us off, along with rafts and rubber boots, and we did a river float. This is Spencer glacier

Getting suited up for the river rafting - down the Placier River

It was fall in some areas of AK, and in other areas, fall was over with and it was just about ready to snow...

Spencer glacier and icebergs

This glacier and ice bergs were pretty active - we did not get too close! Beautiful!

The guides floated us around these so we could get plenty of photos

This looked like a dragon to me - laying down, with his wings on each side of him.

River rafting in Alaska - WOW!

Fresh ice samples

Bridge we went over on the train

Now we're going under it!

This is the remains of a raft that got hung up in this old train debris, our guide and his group from a day previous helped rescue all the rafters and get them to safety.  He said they were pretty shook up, but everyone was okay.

Another hanging glacier

We got off the rafts at this area, and waited for the train to come back and pick us up.

Placier river - the water in it is "grey" because of all the silt that comes off the glaciers

Standing on THE Alaska railroad!!!

Here comes the train - woo woo

The conductors are always dressed so nice

These shrubs don't look so tall, until you see moose antlers just BARELY above the tops.

The beginning of the rut - so we saw several cows with a bull moose

It seems like once we boarded the train - the "rainy" type weather came in.  But it was not a hard rain - more of a drizzle.  And it made for some awesome cloud/fog pictures.

On this ride I had the ENTIRE open air car to myself!!  It was wonderful - the air was so fresh and crisp.

Lake front living Alaska style

A man and his dog...

Post office in the middle of no where

Everyone waves as the train goes by

Seward, Alaska - this was my favorite stop of the entire train ride.  It is a beautiful coastal town.

As soon as we got into Seward we boarded a cruise ship to go see glaciers and wildlife.  First thing - eagles.

Sea otters - one of my favorites!  The captain made sure to point out all wildlife and give us all an opportunity to get some great photos.  They sure do cater to the tourists 100%.

The water was this magnificent emerald green - this is in the Kenai Fjords National Park

We're headed out to this glacier (Aliak Glacier) - which will be our turn around point, once we get there.

Mountains in the sea

Eagle on the very top of this cliff

This is the type of cruise boat we were on for this adventure

Mountain sheep, way up high, on the cliffs.  Like I said the captain would make sure to go into the coves whenever there was wildlife to see.

Pine trees, rocks and water - it was so beautiful.  And the water was this color!

Getting closer...

Captain said this was a crab boat

Here it is the Aliak Glacier, up close.  It was quite a tour - about 6 hours!

Well worth the ride

Someone was nice enough to take a picture for us!

The little dot in the middle of this shot is an otter, way out there all alone, in this great big ocean.

This is a very active glacier - you would hear "thunder" first and then see pieces fall off

There's a water fall, from the glacier melting

Mini icebergs

Another hanging glacier

Thunder/cracking sound, and then a few seconds later, the piece fell

Up close these things are HUGE

There are some glaciers in Alaska that are so big, cars can drive on them.  This is not one of them.

Heading back we saw sea lions, also saw dolphins, orcas, and some other kind of whales.  They all swam way too fast for me to get any photos...

These guys were enjoying the sunshine

This one has his own hammock

Getting back into Seward

Supper time!!

Fishing boats had success too!

They look better cooked...

Eeekk

They have teeth!!!  Are they piranhas??  Pretty dang ugly if you ask me...

I'm definitely going back to Seward and hopping on one of those fishing boats!

Sea Life Center in Seward

A Puffin - they are excellent swimmers!!

Miniature jelly fish

Downtown Seward

Iditarod racing kennel visit

These dogs are the "special" dogs who run in the race - so they get to live up near the house of their owner - Mitch Seavey

This is a "Hollywood" sled dog, a husky.  They are purebreds and do NOT do well at pulling a sled.  More for show than work.

This is a true sled pulling dog, they have part Alaska wild dog in them.  They are very, very lean!

Loading up the training sled to take us on a ride through the forest, and boy are the dogs super EXCITED!!

They howl, and howl, just hoping to get picked to go on a run, and boy do they RUN.

We're moving now, and the musher has to keep the brake on so we don't go too fast - we moved at about 10 mph with the brake!

Break time, and then the musher took some great pictures for us.

Some of the dogs would let you pet them - others did not.

Future pullers

Seward gets so much rain, there is moss growing on trees!

Some of Mitch's toys

Racing gear - all this stuff was in the big beautiful shop (man cave).  Dain was in heaven!

Demo on what a sled dog would wear while racing.  And that can is a "soup" can, that they heat the dogs meals in during the race.

Modern aluminum sled

These dogs are well cared for, and they even do essential oils!!

After the dog kennel tour, we headed out on a hike, to yet another glacier!  Up hill...

We made it!!

The ice breaks off and rolls down this creek, so the broken ice pieces are round!

Snag fishing for salmon, no bait, they just drag this big hook across that inlet and snag a salmon.

Bait fishing on this side, snag fishing not legal on this side of the inlet.

More otters enjoying the bay

Salmon in the river

This is a BIG turn in the tracks that we have to go on, and we had to go really, really, slow!

A gnome

I want to see one of these...

Fall colors

The train ride to Denali was about 6 hours long, and it was beautiful with all the leaves changing.

I like taking pictures of trains going around a bend

Nice bridge we're going over, I guess it sways a lot because of the earthquakes they have there! Yikes

The conductor didn't tell us about the swaying part until we crossed over the bridge!

Looking down from the "swaying" bridge - a deep, deep canyon we crossed.

All along the tracks are these mile markers, and there is a guide book to tell you what you are passing by.  It was a pretty good reference guide.  The train also had a person on board that would tell you about all the things you were passing by.  They kept you informed for sure.

All these fall colors were on the train ride up to Denali, once we hit Denali it seemed to be more winter, than fall.

We took a 92 mile back country tour through Denali National Park, it was 13 hours and it went by in a flash!!  First critter spotted. 

Denali National Park - a "wild" place.  Kept pure and pristine for sure

Bull moose - the shrubs don't look so tall until you see a moose come out of them!

These are caribou - if you zoom in you can tell what they are.  We had a guide named Lynda, who is a local, she lives in Healy just outside of Denali, so she knows her critters and where they hide!

Black bear - zoom in if you can!  Eating berries & there were tons of them to be eaten!

Willow Ptarmigan - Alaska state bird

Bear

Caribou - their antlers still had velvet on them, it was deep red in color

This is at the end of 92 miles - the turn around area.  A beautiful lodge, we had lunch, did a hike, and then had free time to explore, before loading back up on the bus.

Meditation circle for the people who stay at the lodge

The lodge

Some folks panned for gold, and ended up with a few flakes to take home!

I had to make Dain promise not to sway this bridge while I crossed it.

I couldn't let go with both hands, scary for me

This is a couple we met - they booked the same exact tour as ours, Joyce & Terry, they are from Rhode Island.  We had fun on our adventure - making new friends, and meeting others along the way.

Alaska living in Denali National Park

We hiked to this old cabin, the Quigley's place - they were gold miners back in the day...

All over Denali are berries - where there are berries there are bears!!

Back on critter watch - our guide/bus driver took her job seriously!  She found every single critter she could for us!

Another moose, laying in the yellow patch.

When he would turn his head, you could really see his antlers shine in the sun.

Caribou (we could never get a really good closer photo of them, but they are there.)

Dahl sheep, those white specks, we saw a lot of these too, but they were high on the mountains.

On our way back our bus driver asked us to say a prayer that another bus didn't come up the hill while we were going down.  She would have to yield, and scoot over to the edge...

You can see the road off in the distance

Stopped for a break and to explore a bit.  There was about 25 of us on the bus, so everyone got a window seat.  We met some really fun Australians on the bus - they were CRAZY.

Cute little bird in the bush

Everybody stretching their legs

In the foreground is part of the road we traveled on, and it is right on the edge...

Dang tourists always taking pictures...

Tundra

Way down in the valley from way up where we were

That's the road the buses travel on, and the downhill bus MUST yield to up hill, there's no room...

Out of the front window, we see a grizzly bear!  So Lynda (the driver) stops the bus so it doesn't run! Take note at the mountain the bear is headed up, it's straight up!

The bear climbs up without any problems, straight up the mountainside

All fattened up for the winter - they hibernate around October

Munching on those berries & roots.  It's amazing how they can fatten up on berries and roots!

This is where we saw the bear - note the river bed...

The bear climbed to this ledge, just above that river bed

And in that river bed were a couple of hikers, making their way to the back country! Yikes!!

I think he spots some "fresh meat" down below!

Tundra

More of those Ptarmigans

We kept a tally of all the critters we saw - it was an impressive list at the end of the day.  And it is about 6:00 p.m., and it's still day light out when she drops us off!

Pictures around the hotel we stayed out while in Denali

This little path was a 1 mile hike straight up to the other hotel, high on the mountain top!

Warning sign in the parking lot!  We never did see any big skeeters!

A snow shoe hare, they are pretty big

Squirrel!

End of my pictures, and here are some of the ones Dain captured on his camera.

I scored a neon green/yellow helmet!!!  Woo Hoo!!!

This was a hell of a climb - it was easier on the tandem!

Our river guide was named Stuart, his job was truly a young man's job.  He works in Alaska in the summer, and then goes hiking in all these exotic countries in the winter.  What a life!

Lynda, our bus lady!

It seemed like people couldn't just take pictures, they always had to pose - so we had fun mocking...

That's it folks!  I took over 1000 photos, and it was really hard to decide which ones to post.  I hope you enjoy them.  We did this vacation via The Alaska Railroad, they made all arrangements, booked our hotels, our tours, etc. They literally did it all.  We just had to show up, and all the logistics were set in place by the train and tour companies as well.  Everything went off without any problems what so ever.  Our luggage made it to where ever we were, it was truly a worry free vacation!  If you are thinking of visiting Alaska, I recommend the railroad, it is worry free traveling in the interior of Alaska.  They provide world class service to their customers too.  And all on time - no waiting!!
If there were critters to see while on the train, the conductor would stop the train, and when there were nice "views" to be taken, they'd stop the train, so you could get some pictures.
We went towards the end of the tourist season, so the train wasn't crowded, and we actually found a lot of bargains at shops, because they don't want to store all their goods over the winter months!