Month: May 2018

Once we left Anchorage for Seattle & returned to the lower 48, we took a few extra days to visit the remote Olympic NP. It is on a peninsula in the most northwest corner of the contiguous US. With elevated Mt. Olympus at the center, it was formed as glaciers carved the lower lands around it. Isolated here during the last ice age, there are several plants and animals that can only be found here.

First day, we went up to the mountainous region of Hurricane Ridge – named for the hurricane force winds that sweep through there during the long winters.

The next day we went of the other side of the park to the Ruby Beach. On the way, there were many stunning views.

As we made our way back to Seattle, we decide to take the ferry to see the downtown skyline.

From Seward harbor, we boarded our MarineTime tour boat of the Kenai Fjords NP.Along the way, we saw lots of amazing wildlife – sea otters in the bay, mountain goats on the cliffs, harbor seals, steller sea lions, porpoises, humpback whales, and orca whales.

The landscape views along the way were also amazing – including several glaciers.

And even got to do the Jr Ranger activities on the boat!

After a long day on the boat, we got a lil time to swim at the hotel & then take in the local Seward culture.

The next day, we got to check out the Marine Life Center before catching our train back to Anchorage.

We turned in our camper, and took to the rails!

We got to see many of the great wildlife at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Ctr. (All of the animals have been rescued & are returned to the wild if they can be. They also have a breeding program for endangered species)

Here are some of the highlights to our drive & camping around Kenai Lake.

We stopped along the way back to Anchorage to take in the views of the Matanuska Glacier. We did a short hike from a park that had several interesting info boards about glaciers along the way.

And after dinner, we had a lil time for some more practice flying our airplanes.

Our second airshow in AK was at the Valdez Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) Competition.

On the way into the Valdez, we passed many ice / waterfalls.

Once we arrived, we got the booth setup & then checked out the airshow scene.

Got some very cool face paintings while we waited for the competition to start.

Just a few of the highlights of the STOL competition – the objective is to take-off and land in the shortest combined distance (by class).

The Balsa wood airplane competition for the kids was fun too.

As the largest park in the NPS, this one is a bit hard to tackle. Much of it is inaccessible wilderness, but the visitors center is always a great place to start to get our bearings.

We then headed out on the only road in the park that was open for the season. Well…mostly “open”

Got some great wildlife sightings too – including a beaver, a bald eagle, and a rare wood bison (see coming post from Alaska Wildlife Preserve).

As we made our way around the state, we circle north to Fairbanks, then back south towards Delta Junction. Lots of beautiful landscapes & wildlife sightings along the way.We also got to stop in North Pole, AK and visit with Santa and his reindeer (ie: caribou) along the way.

We picked up our rental camper in Anchorage & headed north. It takes us no time at all to get settled into the camper life again 🙂

We are a little bit early in the season so there is still snow EVERYWHERE and many of the campgrounds aren’t open yet.

But we stopped to take in the views along the way up to Denali – home of the tallest peak in North America.

Many people visit Denali and never get to see her peak due to the weather – we are very grateful that we got to see her right as we got close to the park.

We started at the visitors center then headed to the sled-dog kennels to get some puppy snuggles before we drove through the park.

We spent our first few days in Anchorage at the airshow.

First we “helped” daddy setup the booth –

Once the show started, we explored the other booths & the kid’s activities. We got to build a rocket, check an engine, bench test a radio, squeezed rivets, and even built / test a control-line airplane. Very cool hands-on activities for budding aviators.

We also got to have a little fun around town too.

Until it was time to load up & head out for adventure in the wilderness!