Sibling Rivalry

Sweet kayaking gear

I hadn't planned on blogging about my sister and her husband coming to visit, but they said if I didn't then they wouldn't come back for Fur Rondy in February. Empty threat or not, their visit was awesome, and I don't want to risk Tracy and Brian not coming back. Tray and Brian came a few weeks after my parents left. Our big challenge with our second set of guests was not repeating too many activities. We made a trip to Seward, but did not stay over night or take a cruise, we got pizza from the Moose's Tooth, but got it to go, and we went souvenir shopping and made sure Tray and Brian got different items. Aside from sharing some of the same information about Alaska, the trip similarities end there.

Starting the Loop District

Black Bear from the train

We took the train down to Seward instead of driving. Aside from having to be at the train station at 5 am, it was a great idea. It was such a relief to be able to pay attention to the scenery along the Turnagain Arm instead of oncoming traffic. Although a much longer ride, the views were fantastic. We saw Beluga Whales feeding on Salmon out in the Cook Inlet on the way down. The rear of each train car had an area where you could lean out for unobstructed views of the passing scenery.

A view of Trail glacier from the train

After arriving in Seward we started walking to the Sea Life Center. Kelly and I had been in the building a number of times, but never got around to actually going through. It's a good thing we did, we saw a baby Walrus the center was nursing back to health. We saw all sorts of fish, birds and other marine mammals. 

Chubby little fella

Brian refused to get any closer to the bird

Taking in the sights

We ate dinner in Seward and then boarded the train for the trip home. The sunset was brilliant as we joined back up with the Seward Highway. We were lucky enough to see more Beluga Whales on the way home. Unfortunately, they were too far out and surfaced too briefly to photograph. The sunset was much better for photographing.

I should sell this one to the Alaska Railroad

The next day we got up and made out way to Whittier to go kayaking. The drive to Whittier requires a trip through the Whittier tunnel - the only toll road in Alaska - a one lane 2 mile long tunnel that is also used by the Alaska Railroad. Tunnel traffic follows a set schedule, but rarely runs on time. We waited about 30 minutes past our scheduled time.

Entrance to the tunnel

After passing into Whittier it immediately started pouring rain. Luckily, the rain let up the time time we got into the kayaks, but the sun never did come out. Our guide said we might see some sea otter, black leg kittiwakes, salmon, bald eagles, and maybe a bear along the shore. We saw plenty of black leg kittiwakes (seagulls), lots of salmon, and two bald eagles. I saw some drift wood that I thought was a sea otter. We were out on the water for almost three hours, and paddled a few miles. It was an awesome day, made even better by Tracy and Brian treating us to kayaking.

Setting out

Taking a break

Bald Eagles on the hillside

We did spend some time indoors - mostly drinking Alaskan beer. We took Tray and Brian on a tour of Midnight Sun Brewery and picked up some of our favorite beers from around the state. Tray and Brian ventured out on their own a bit to visit the Alaska Zoo and check out downtown Anchorage. There was a lot we did, and a lot we didn't. We'll take some time in February to do what we missed, but we'll mostly be busy enjoying Fur Rondy events - dogsled races, fireworks, snowball fights, snow shoe softball and ice hockey. Looking forward to their next visit.

Seward: The Gateway to Alaska

Our First Visitor

At the end of the Lightspeed Trail - Pluto!

My mom came to visit last week. She landed at Uncle Ted's airport on the 18th and set out right away to see the sights. We took her around to the coastal trail in hopes we'd get a glimpse of Denali, sadly my mom brought clouds and rain with her and the mountains were hiding. We then went over to Kincaid Park in hopes of seeing a moose. This time, Kelly and my natural ability to repel wildlife struck. No moose. We did see Pluto though.

Friday my Mom and I did the tourist thing in downtown Anchorage. We did a bit of shopping, drove around the city and had some reindeer sausage. We picked Kelly up after school and had a delicious pizza lunch at the Moose's Tooth.

The view driving up the Glenn highway.

Saturday morning got up early and hit the road, heading north, toward Palmer and then to the Matanuska Glacier. We planned on stopping at Musk Ox farm on the way, but it was closed for the season. We enjoyed a beautiful two hour ride up the Glenn highway to the glacier. 

Scenic overlook. This is as close as a real road gets to the glacier.

The road bends very close to the glacier. Just a short trip off the highway, down a gravel road on the edge of a cliff, is a pay station. After paying, we drove down another 3 mile gravel "road" full of ruts, divots, giant potholes and moose droppings. The drive was well worth it. When we pulled off the road, we were less than a mile from the glacier.

Panorama of the glacier. My mom and Kelly kept moving making it look like there are 4 of them.

Mmmm, glacial mud.

The walk was easy, but muddy. It was really thick, glacier mud. The kind that sucks your shoe right off if you aren't careful, as Kelly almost found out. Thankfully, there were some heavy duty pathways set out to keep us and our footwear together. Once out on the glacier we were careful not to venture too far from the end of the trail. We only had sneakers and were not equipped for walking on ice. That didn't stop a group of guys who came down the trail after us. All of them fell more than once. We hung out on the glacier for a while and then decided to head for home. Thankfully, the steep road we came down was not too much for the Yaris and we made it back to the highway.

We stopped off at the Eagle River Nature Center on the way home, in hopes of spotting some salmon and maybe a bear. We saw a few salmon, but no bears. We even managed to spot a moose on our way there, the only one of my mom's trip. It's just not Alaska without a moose. Too bad we didn't get a picture of one.

Me and my mom hanging out on the Eagle River.

That only covers about half of the trip. More to come. Maybe tomorrow?

Mile 0

Last weekend we hit the road and headed south for Seward. After beautiful 2.5hr drive down the Seward Highway, through Chugach State Park and onto the Kenai Peninsula, we arrived in Seward.

The rain let up long enough to see this rainbow along the Seward Highway

Sadly, it was pouring rain almost all day, limiting what we were able to do. We didn't see much of the Pacific, or glimpse Mt. Marathon, or see the day's catches down at the docks. We did, however, find the original starting point of the Iditarod. The annual race now begins in Anchorage and runs a much shorter 1112 miles. Kelly and I tackled about 1.5 miles of the course last weekend. Stay tuned as we rack up the rest of trip.