Moose Sightings June 2008

Some people come to Alaska and never see a moose. some who have lived here for years have not seen a moose yet. We saw all of these on the same day. We were at the entrance to Fort Richardson on our way to the fish hatchery on the base. This moose acted like he wanted to cross the road, but there was a lot of traffic from both directions. Thank goodness it was an access road to the base and not the main highway he was trying to cross. The four-lane Glenn Highway was not far away, as we had just exited it to go to the base.

He finally saw his chance and ran across the road in front of us. We were stopped at the time so we could take his picture.

We saw this big guy as we came out of the fish hatchery.
We did not stay very long to try to get a better picture of him, but he was BIG!




Two moose at Potters Marsh along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage.

Portage Glacier June 2008

We took an hour cruise to the terminus of the Portage Glacier. It is called Portage because it is on a portage route between Prince William Sound and Turnagain Arm. We did not have time to stop at the newly remodeled Begich-Boggs Visitors Center near the glacier. If you come to Alaska, do plan time to stop here. It has tons of information about all kinds of things in Alaska, including wildlife, tides, earthquakes, glaciers and SO much more. The boat took us to the glacier and we floated back and forth in front of it in hopes that we might see some of the ice calve from the glacier. No luck with the glacier calving, but we did see some wildlife on shore and ice floes along the way. We did get an up close look at the blue ice and glacier dust stripes in the glacier.

Waterfall coming out of the rocks.

Hiking the Butte June 2008

We hiked up the butte while our kids were here. We didn't make it quite all the way to the top. We did go up far enough to see some great views though!

Doug, Colleen & Audrey

The boys and the babies. Note Elton John on the right!

You can see the summit of the butte behind us. We have learned that everything looks closer than it actually is. So if you think you are getting tired, QUIT. Turn around and go back because you still have to have enough energy to make it back to your starting point. Notice Little Elton John is completely relaxed and taking her afternoon siesta.

Views of the Knik Glacier from the butte.

View of the reindeer farm from the butte.

What goes up, must come down!

Grandpa, Audrey & Dan after the long hike.

Kayaking - July 2008

The Palmer Hay Flats lie along both sides of the Glenn Highway as you come into the Mat-Su Valley. The Hay Flats used to have open hay fields, grazing cattle, sheep and horses in Colony Days prior to the Good Friday 1964 earthquake. The earthquake registered greater than 9.0 on the Richter Scale. As a result of the earthquake, land that was once prime farming land, dropped several feet and became a 45 square mile complex of forest, wetlands, tidal sloughs, lakes and tideflats. Here is a link that shows a picture of the "ghost forest" created by the earthquake.

Wikipedia: Palmer Hay Flats

The Friends of the Palmer Hay Flats had an Open House and educational day at the Flats. They offered free canoeing and kayaking on one of the lakes. We took advantage of the opportunity to try kayaking. It's something we would like to do again, although we are not quite ready for the "white water" league.

Chugach mountains in the background, covered with clouds.
Even with the clouds, it was a great view.

The water was so clear that you could see the algae under the water.

The water search and Rescue Team did demonstrations at the lake. They could approach the victim in the water with their special inflatable boat. They paddled straight at the victim until the victim was in the area where you can see the hole at the front end of the boat. then they just reached down and hauled the victim in to the boat. No worries about trying to get the victim into the boat from the side and tipping over the rescuers too.

Little Susitna River - July 2008

Doug and I drove up to the entrance to Hatcher Pass, about 20 minutes from our house. This time of year is when the rivers are running the fastest and the deepest because the glaciers have warmed up and are melting so much. The water was roaring over the rocks. It was amazing. As you can see in the picture with the mountain in the background, the view was breathtaking. You can hear the water in the video posted below.

As I stood on the rocks on the shore and took pictures, I looked to my right to see Doug just stepping up out of the water. He had slipped in and gotten his shoes and jeans wet!!

Girdwood Rainforest- May, 2008

We walked on a trail through the rain forest behind the Alyeska Lodge in Girdwood. It was unbelievable to see the trees and vegetation. You could see where the snow had come across the trail in small avalanches earlier. They were still skiing above the trail on this same mountain because they had just had fresh snow before we got there.

This is a picture of the log Doug WOULD NOT cross so I could get his picture on it!!!

Snow from the avalanche across the trail. It was obviously impassable for the casual hikers (like us) in the not-too-distant past.

Seavey Dog Show - May, 2008

Although the Iditarod and official dog mushing season is over, we were able to see how the dogs are trained, what equipment they use with the dogs and witness the strength that these dogs have. The Seavey family has a show in Anchorage that shows you all of these things. It was a rainy day, so the video is not as good as it could be, but you can still get the idea of how strong the dogs are.

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Notice at the beginning of both videos how anxious the dogs are to get going and pulling.

The dogs are pulling sleds weighted with concrete blocks and sand bags, totaling several hundred pounds.

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The dog team is pulling a pickup from a dead stop.