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!
We flew into Seattle yesterday, and then into Anchorage today.
We are already in love with how BIG everything is
More Alaskan adventure to come…
Still one of my favorite AR parks –
Hike to Yellow Rock Overlook – 
Great week enjoying spring-time in AR nature – 
And the highlight of the week – Madi mastered riding her bike!
We had a nice relaxing weekend, in a state park just over the state line in MO. We rested, went on walk / scooter rides, and caught up on laundry. Then we explored the trout hatchery, and hiked around the fishing areas.
50 in 365 