Dan
July 08
7/2/2008 |
OK .... Back in Alaska now. We all had
a great time visiting family and friends in PA. We arrived
back in Alaska on June 28th. We left hot humid weather in
PA and arrived to low fifties in Alaska. It felt great!!!
There are tons of new pictures on the
website.
The weather is really starting to get nice
here in AK. Yesterday we reached the high sixties with
bright sunshine. Great day. As a matter of fact, I
was at ConocoPhillips yesterday for a meeting when there was an
announcement allowing ConocoPhillips employees to leave early to
celebrate the first real day of summer. More of the same
weather today. It was actually a little warmer today
reaching into the low seventies.
Rhonda's father and his friend Joan arrived
last night at the airport. We have quite a few activities
planned while they are visiting. Should be an exciting
month for us all.
We are very close to selling our house.
The people who are buying our house have accepted an offer on
their house which allows the deal on our house to go through.
The boys and Rhonda's father and I went for a
drive up the mountain from our house tonight just to see if we
would get lucky enough to see any wildlife. We went down a
very remote mountain road (some might actually call this road a
trail). As I was concentrating on navigating the "trail",
Ron spotted a black bear about 50 yards ahead of us on
the side of the road. We stopped and watched and noticed
that this was a pretty big bear. Ron estimated that it was
a minimum of 400 pounds. As we were watching this first
bear, a second popped his head out from the brush on the other
side of the road. We sat there for about 10 minutes
watching these two bears as they fed on berries or whatever it
was that they were eating. Ron snapped a few pictures.
Click here to see them.
|
7/4/2008 |
Went fishing with Ron and the boys today.
Not much was biting, but it was fun to see the boys learning how
to fish. Thanks to Ron, they will have an outdoor skill
that I do not have.
Picked up the Arcaros at the airport. I
am looking forward to enjoying what Alaska has to offer with
everyone.
We got home from the airport just in time to
"hear" the fireworks. That's right hear
them. With the sun being out so late, a fireworks "show"
has a slightly different impact here than in other parts of the
country.
|
7/5/2008 |
We all went to Girdwood today to the Alyeska
hotel. This hotel is at the Alyeska ski resort. The
hotel has a tram car that goes up the side of the mountain to
one of the peaks (about 2500 feet). There was plenty of
snow for the kids to play in up at the top. We had a snow
ball fight. The kids climbed up one of the slopes and
rolled/slid down. There was a pretty good package deal
which included the tram car ride and lunch at the top.
|
7/6/2008 |
Took a ride out to Seward today to see Exit
Glacier. You turn off of Seward highway about ten miles
before you actually get to Seward in order to get to the park
where Exit Glacier is. The walk out to the glacier is not
a difficult one (pretty hilly and rocky, but still not hardcore
hiking). You do have to be aware of bear and moose.
By the way, there was a sign today saying that there were bear
sightings along the trail today. Not difficult, that is,
unless you actually want to hike to the face of the glacier and
touch it.
There are signs along the trail with years on
them. 1954, 1961, etc .... These signs represent where the
glacier was that year. It was pretty amazing to see how
much the glacier has receded over the years. As a matter
of fact, the park ranger said that the glacier is receding at a
rate of 150 feet per year. The park has to be dramatically
modified each year to continue to enable access to the glacier.
The only way to get to the face is to hike
down to "outwash area". This is where the melt-off from
the glacier forms a river of very cold and rapidly moving water.
Once you get down to the outwash area, you need to navigate your
way across several streams before you actually get to the face
of the glacier.
It was a little uneasy trying to step on
rocks that are strategically placed across each stream trying
not to get wet. It became quite an adventure in trying to
get to the glacier. The kids were loving every minute of
it. The adults were loving it too even though our
practical side was outwardly showing the contrary. Tony
decided to carry Michelle on his shoulders over one stream.
We eventually made it to the glacier (not completely dry I might
add). Then, we had to venture back to get to the trail
that led back to the cars.
It turned out to be a really neat little
adventure for us all that I do not believe any of us will soon
forget. If you make the trip to Exit Glacier and if you
intend to touch the glacier ..... BRING WATERPROOF BOOTS.
On the way home from Seward I happened to
look out onto the water and was fortunate enough to see a wave
advancing up Turnagain Arm (the body of water fed by Cook Inlet
and the Gulf of Alaska). The wave that I saw was the tide
coming into Turnagain Arm from the inlet. Alaska is known
for having an extreme tidal differential between low and high
tides. This extreme tidal differential coupled with the
fact that Turnagain Arm is much narrower and more shallow than
Cook Inlet, which feeds Turnagain Arm, combines to create a
"Bore Tide" (Click
here to learn more about Bore Tides).
When I saw the wave, I turned into the
nearest parking lot and we all got out of the car just in time
to see a 6 foot high wave rushing past us. The strange
thing about this wave is that it did not crash on the shore.
It just continued up Turnagain Arm with the incoming tide until
it was out of sight.
|
7/7/2008 |
Back to Seward again today. This time
we went to Seward to catch a cruise to see wildlife and
glaciers. The cruise we took was the National Park Tour
conducted by Kenai Fjords Tours (http://www.kenaifjords.com/543.cfm).
I am not sure how Kenai Fjords compares to other sightseeing
cruise companies, but I can tell you that the KenaiFjords tour
is well worth the money!
The boats are fast and safe. The
captain was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the
area, the wildlife, and the glaciers. He went out of his
way to make sure we saw as much as we could possibly see.
Although the boat was sold out, I never felt crowded.
There was plenty of room to move around on the boat and I never
felt like I had to fight to get a good view.
Anyway, we saw all sorts of wildlife
including porpoises (which swam along side the boat for a
while), humpback whales (yes, that is plural), fascinating rock
formations along the shore lines and on the islands, puffins as
well as countless other types of birds, a seal, sea lions, and
several glaciers.
The captain took us within a couple hundred
feet of the face of Holgate glacier. The face of the
glacier is a half mile wide and 300 feet high. It was
incredible being so close to it. To make it even more
dramatic, once we were close to the glacier, the captain turned
off the engines and and we just sat there watching and listening
to the glacier. The captain told us to listen to the
glacier "talk". Since the glacier is constantly moving, it
is constantly cracking. The cracking sounds like cannons
going off. It is incredible! Definitely need to add
this to your "bucket list".
Again, on the way back from Seward we were
treated to another unique sighting. We passed a small pond
on the side of the road that had a group of about 15 Dall Sheep
(http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=funfacts.sheep)
drinking from it. We quickly turned around and then came
back to the pond and parked. About 3 or 4 minutes went by
before we got back to the pond. During that time, the
sheep climbed up out of the pond and up about 75 onto the steep
rocky and jagged cliff side. We could not believe how
quickly they got up there. Dall Sheep are known for their
climbing ability.
|
7/8/2008 |
Happy 11th birthday Danny!!!
The first in our family to experience a
birthday in Alaska, away from friends and family. However,
Danny was fortunate enough to have Pop-Pop and Joan and the
Arcaros here to celebrate with him. Danny actually said
that it was his best birthday ever!
After breakfast, we went up to Flat Top
Mountain in Anchorage to hike up the trail that Danny's class
hiked on in May. We all got out of the car and began
hiking up the trail and we quickly noticed that there were
several trees that had fresh bear claw marks on them. It
was little frightening, but we kept on hiking up to a clearing
where we had incredible views of the city, the water, and the
other mountains around Flat Top.
Next, we took the Arcaros downtown for a
little souvenir shopping. After shopping we headed towards
Red Robin which was Danny's choice for his birthday dinner.
However before getting there, I suggested that we make a stop at
Kincaid Park to see if we could get a good look at any moose
that might be in the area. We all saw a moose way out in a
field as we sped home on the way from Seward, but the Arcaros
did not get to see any moose up close. As we were driving
into the park, we spotted a group of 4 moose right next to the
road. They were behind a fence, so we were able to get
relatively close to them without any fear of them charging us.
Great photo op!
We had our dinner at Red Robin and then
escorted the Arcaros off to the airport for their flight back to
Seattle and their long drive home from there. It was
really great to be able to hang out with them up here in
Anchorage for a few days.
|
7/9/2008 |
Back to the daily grind today at work.
Only two vacation days and I feel like I am a month behind!
|
7/11/2008 |
We left today for Denali National Park.
It is a looooong drive! It is actually only about 250
miles, but about 230 of those miles are on the same 2 lane
highway with no turns. And, there are no services for
about 120 miles.
We finally arrived at around 7:00 pm at the
Grande Denali Lodge. This is a brand new hotel and it
looks like it is the nicest of the dozen or so that are near the
park entrance. We checked in and went out for dinner since
the hotel menu was outrageous.
There incredible views all around the park,
the hotel, the restaurant ...basically every where.
|
7/12/2008 |
We got up pretty early to have breakfast and
to catch a 9:30 tour bus which goes through the park to the new
Eilson Visitor center. This is an 8 hour round trip.
It is only about 60 miles one-way, but the park road is not
built for high speed and the bus stops frequently to look at
interesting views and at wildlife. It sounds incredibly
long, but it goes by pretty quickly when you have all of this
nature to take in.
I also need to point out that we have had
cloudy weather here for at least a week and a half. Today
was forecasted to be cloudy as well. However, we had
beautiful, bright sunshine all day. As it turns out, it is
relatively uncommon to get a clear view of Mt. McKinley due to
cloud cover. The bus driver said that he has not seen the
mountain all year. However, on this day we all got
incredible views of McKinley throughout the day.
Within 5 minutes of leaving on the bus, we
saw a wolf walking down the middle of the road right next to the
bus. The bus driver pointed out that this is really
unusual. We saw several caribou at various points along
the drive. We also saw eagles, dall sheep, and grizzly
bears. The bus driver told us that we saw "the big five".
Mt. McKinley, wolves, caribou, dall sheep, and grizzly bears.
He said that it is very unusual to see everything in one day.
About 15 miles into the drive, the bus leaves
the pavement and enters onto a gravel covered one lane road for
the rest of the way. Part of the drive out to Eilson
includes a ten minute or so drive over "Polychrome pass".
Polychrome pass takes you over Polychrome mountain.
Polychrome pass is where the one lane gravel road climbs about
2500 feet above the road below and has steep cliffs right off
the edge of the road that go down 2500 feet to the river below.
This drive is not for the faint of heart. Going out was
not so bad, because our bus driver stayed close to the right
side of the road which was the side the mountain was on.
Two or three times, he had to pull as close to the mountain as
possible and come to a complete stop so that another bus could
pass on the outside! I just kept thinking that we would be
the bus on the outside on the way back. Sure enough, after
leaving Eilson visitor center, we began the climb back up
Polychrome pass. And, yes ... we had to pass one or two
busses on the outside. I looked out the window once.
Yes ... ONCE. After that, I locked onto the
mountain side and did not look anywhere else until we were at
the bottom of the pass.
|
7/13/2008 |
Made the loooong trip back to Anchorage
today. You know ... in the final analysis ... If you are
planning on visiting Alaska, I would NOT recommend making the
trip to Denali. I am sure that comes as a surprise, but
here is why:
You would have to schedule at least 3 days
for the trip. The shortest tour inside the park is 4
hours. If you plan on taking that one, then I really
recommend not going. You simply will not get deep enough
into the park to see much. So, then the next choice is the 8
hour tour that we took. This is the minimum length tour
that you should consider. If you do that tour, it is just
not feasible to try to include either the trip to Denali, or the
trip from Denali on the same day as the tour.
So, if you are up here for a week, then the 3
days for the trip to Denali is half of your time.
The bus driver said that you can expect to
see Mt. McKinley only about 25% of the time due to cloud cover.
As a matter of fact, the day we went was the first time this
season that McKinley was visible. That means that you most
likely will NOT be able to even see what you came to see. You
will get to see other mountains and some wildlife.
According to the bus driver, you will most likely not see all of
the wildlife that we saw. He said that we had a great day.
So, you will most likely see some wildlife, some mountains, but
probably not McKinley, and it will take you 3 days to accomplish
this.
Right here in Anchorage, you you can see several mountains. You can see all of the wildlife except
caribou right from my back deck. And, you can see the top
of McKinley from my back deck on a clear day (about 25% of the
time).
|
7/14/2008 |
A few Bentley guys and myself took a group of
customers out to Seward for a Halibut/Salmon fishing trip.
Our boat was scheduled to leave Seward at 6:30 am. Seward
is a 2 hour drive from Anchorage. We rented a bus to take
us from Anchorage to Seward. The bus left Anchorage a
little after 4:00 am.
We arrived in Seward at around 6:30.
The boat left the dock around 6:50. We had a three hour
boat ride just to get out to the fishing area. It did not
take long for the fish to start biting. Within a half hour
the first halibut came in. It was only about 25 pounds.
Then they started coming in pretty quick. I got two that
were between 25 and 30 pounds. The largest one was 75
pounds!
Others on the boat also caught a few silver
salmon and ling cod. Overall, it was a good day.
Everyone on the boat caught a total of around 600 pounds of
fish. After filleting the fish, we each ended up with
about 30 pounds of fish. Pretty nice!
I ended up getting home around 9:30 PM.
Incredibly long day!
I will say that this day confirmed that I am
just not a fisherman. Beyond the fact that I do not know
what I am doing, I just cannot get excited about dropping a line
to the ocean floor and standing there waiting for a stupid
halibut to swallow the hook. Maybe I will get one ...
maybe I will not. Maybe it will take 5 minutes ... maybe
it will take 2 hours. Just not for me ...
|
7/17/2008 |
We have been back in Alaska since June 28th.
A little over two weeks. We have seen about 5 days of
sunshine. We have had heavy cloud cover every other day.
It is getting old! People say that we are having an unusual
summer. Actually looking forward to winter!!!
We also went to the BP family picnic today.
It was a circus theme with moon bounces, obstacle courses,
performers, and lots of food.
|
7/20/2008 |
We went down to Lake Hood today. Lake
Hood is right next to the Anchorage international airport.
Lake Hood is the busiest float plane base in the world.
There are float planes all around the lake. In the winter,
they switch the pontoons on the bottom of the planes to skis and
they take off and land on the frozen lake. We walked a
little around the lake and watched quite a few planes take off
and land.
After Lake Hood, we went to Earthquake Park
for a little hike. A large portion of the state around
Anchorage was severely affected by an earthquake that hit on
Good Friday in 1964. I don't believe that this park was
affected any more than any other area, but it does have signs
and pictures throughout the park explaining the earthquake and
its effects.
|
7/23/2008 |
The weather here has been awful in July.
Cloudy almost every day and rain for the past week. As a
result, the kids have been inside way too much. After
dinner I decided to take them out to Potter Marsh which is just
down the mountain from our house (less than 10 minutes
away). I hoped that we would just have 15 or 20 minutes or
so outside to get some fresh (wet) air.
It turned out to be a fantastic 90 minute
outing where we were able to take in beautiful scenery and
wildlife. There is a pretty large network of raised
boardwalks above the marsh that allow you to get interesting
views of the marsh and the wildlife in the marsh. We took
a walk down one of the walkways and I saw the tide going out
through a stream that feeds the marsh. I wondered if there
might be salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs. We
walked over to the stream and sure enough ... we saw about 50
salmon trying their hardest to swim upstream. Some of them
were more than 2 feet long! We stood there and watched
them for about 20 minutes.
Then we walked down another walkway and we
saw all kinds of waterfowl (ducks, geese, and others). At
the end of that walkway we could see two bald eagles perched
atop two trees slightly up the hill behind the marsh.
On our way back down the walkway, we saw too
moose pretty far away from the walkway walking through the
marsh.
Had a great time!
|
7/25/2008 |
We got sunshine today!!! We tried to
take advantage of it. We went to Mitch Seavey's WildRide
Sled Dog Rodeo (http://www.ididaride.com/index.php).
It was a really good show. Mitch Seavey is a seasoned
Iditarod champion and he and his family put on a show during the
summer in Anchorage explaining a little about dog mushing, the
Iditarod, and raising/training puppies.
After the sled dog show, we took a ride up to
Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine. Hatcher Pass is about
3,500 feet above sea level and ... yes ... there was fresh snow
up there. There were incredible views from up there.
The mine was really cool too, but we got there too late to tour
the buildings. Definitely need to go back. (http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/indmine.htm).
|
|
|
|