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Last summer at the end of June, I had a conference to attend for work which luckily fell in the middle of the week immediately after the summer solstice and before the July 4th weekend. My hubby and I made a wonderful 10 day Alaskan adventure out of the trip.
We flew in on the Saturday before my conference and stayed in a local Anchorage B&B which was convenient to everything. On Sunday we drove down to Whittier and took an eco-tour of the Prince William sound and Icy Bay. It was a fantastic trip, with plenty of birds and water wildlife everywhere. We saw humpback whales on several occasions too!! In Icy Bay we witnessed the glacier calving and dumping sizable icebergs into the bay. Harbor seals were everywhere, on the floating ice chunks.
On Monday we drove down the Kenai Pennisula and enjoyed touring around Seward and the Kenai Fjords, including Exit Glacier. Tuesday was another day to trek down the Kenai Pennisula to fish the Kenai for King Salmon. David caught a beauty . . . 40something inches and 32 lbs . . . a KEEPER!
I had to work Wednesday through Friday at noon, so we were checked into the conference hotel, the Anchorage Hilton. During those three days we enjoyed exploring downtown Anchorage at night, sampling the local restaurants and wonderful fresh seafood! Boy do I love halibut! It was the only night that we were still up at midnight to watch the sun set. I took some photos from our hotel room as it provided a great view of the bay. The nights never really got dark as the sun was only below the horizon for about two hours. It was like twilight for around three hours in the middle of night, requiring room darkening shades for those who can't sleep without it being completely dark.
After work on Friday, we spent the afternoon driving up to Denali where we had another B&B reserved for three nights. We took a couple of the bus tour trips into and through Denali NP on Saturday and Sunday. Being in a National Park & Wildlife Preserve is a special treat because you will see the animals in their natural habitat. We saw many brown (grizzly) bears, moose, dahl sheep & rams and caribou. It was truly breathtaking. The only disappointment was that we couldn't see the top of Mt. McKinley due to clouds. They say that only about 30% of all visitors to Denali get to see the peak of Denali.
Monday we kicked around the area around Denali and then headed back to Anchorage for our redeye home to the lower 48.
It was a great trip, one that I will not soon forget. It was also the one that created a "need" to experience Alaska in the winter. Seeing the photos of the aurora borealis as seen from near the Arctic Circle inspired me to want to return to Alaska someday during the winter.
I have written several travel journals about my Alaska trip that summer, which can be accessed via the link found below in my sig line. Please feel free to read more detail about our trip and to see photos from those wonderful 10 days.
We flew in on the Saturday before my conference and stayed in a local Anchorage B&B which was convenient to everything. On Sunday we drove down to Whittier and took an eco-tour of the Prince William sound and Icy Bay. It was a fantastic trip, with plenty of birds and water wildlife everywhere. We saw humpback whales on several occasions too!! In Icy Bay we witnessed the glacier calving and dumping sizable icebergs into the bay. Harbor seals were everywhere, on the floating ice chunks.
On Monday we drove down the Kenai Pennisula and enjoyed touring around Seward and the Kenai Fjords, including Exit Glacier. Tuesday was another day to trek down the Kenai Pennisula to fish the Kenai for King Salmon. David caught a beauty . . . 40something inches and 32 lbs . . . a KEEPER!
I had to work Wednesday through Friday at noon, so we were checked into the conference hotel, the Anchorage Hilton. During those three days we enjoyed exploring downtown Anchorage at night, sampling the local restaurants and wonderful fresh seafood! Boy do I love halibut! It was the only night that we were still up at midnight to watch the sun set. I took some photos from our hotel room as it provided a great view of the bay. The nights never really got dark as the sun was only below the horizon for about two hours. It was like twilight for around three hours in the middle of night, requiring room darkening shades for those who can't sleep without it being completely dark.
After work on Friday, we spent the afternoon driving up to Denali where we had another B&B reserved for three nights. We took a couple of the bus tour trips into and through Denali NP on Saturday and Sunday. Being in a National Park & Wildlife Preserve is a special treat because you will see the animals in their natural habitat. We saw many brown (grizzly) bears, moose, dahl sheep & rams and caribou. It was truly breathtaking. The only disappointment was that we couldn't see the top of Mt. McKinley due to clouds. They say that only about 30% of all visitors to Denali get to see the peak of Denali.
Monday we kicked around the area around Denali and then headed back to Anchorage for our redeye home to the lower 48.
It was a great trip, one that I will not soon forget. It was also the one that created a "need" to experience Alaska in the winter. Seeing the photos of the aurora borealis as seen from near the Arctic Circle inspired me to want to return to Alaska someday during the winter.
I have written several travel journals about my Alaska trip that summer, which can be accessed via the link found below in my sig line. Please feel free to read more detail about our trip and to see photos from those wonderful 10 days.
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