Alaska
sightseeing
To
see other sights from our west coast trip click on:
San Francisco,
International Puzzle Party,
Oregon, Washington, Alaska Cruise,
or
Flowers
Linda, Jim and us at dinner
overlooking the harbor in Seward
Note our ship in the
background.
Alaska Sealife Center
opened in 1998, funded in part by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Settlement Fund.
It
gave us a chance to see the creatures close up that we had seen in
shallow water during our trip and others that hang out in deeper lairs.
Puffins
Seal, sea lion?
Can you see ears?
If you can it is a sea
lion not a true seal.
The view from the back
deck.
We took a very wet boat
ride around Resurrection
Bay to Fox
island
Dolphins porpoising
in the rain as we crossed the bay.
Sea otters didn't mind
the rain.
Rocky cliffs.
There were a lot of
puffins hanging out.
Note the rain streaming
off the rocks.
Sea lions hauled out on
the rocks.
Some were marked and a
few had radio transmitters.
They didn't mind the rain.
And some sea lions
swimming.
An eagle in the rain.
Did I mention it was
raining?
We went to Cabin Night, a dinner theater at Denali
park.
They didn't have enough
actors for the theater part that evening so some of the audience were
drafted.
On to Denali
Actually we got our
first sight of Denali from Anchorage about 130 miles away.
We got a lot closer in
the next few days.
The top was shrouded in
the clouds.
We were there in late
August and the colors of the vegetation rivaled autumn in the
eastern mountains.
Other than the pines
none of the vegetation was more than 3 feet tall.
These inch long leaves
made us think of the tiny ferns we saw in Ushuaia.
A sign near the lodge
where we stayed.
They just wanted to be sure we knew who we might meet as we roamed the
area.
Along the road leading
toward Denali we saw all the types of major animals that inhabit the
park
Dahl sheep. We saw so
many we lost count. Easily more than 70.
These were crossing a
stream bed along the road.
An eagle circling near a
herd of young sheep.
Other young sheep on the
mountainside.
We saw 14 Alaska Brown
Bears (aka Grizzlies) in one day.
Caribou
A pack of wolves.
A moose
And some other residents.
A couple of
marmots, a owl hawk and an eagle on a rocky outcrop.
Rafting the Nenana river
The guides saw to it
that we were properly outfitted with dry suits.
Then we set off.
The river was glacier fed but it had warmed up to 34 degrees
F here.
Some of the waves were
impressive.
We
were told that one area of turbulent "squirrelly" water was caused by
several railroad cars that had fallen into the river.
Nancy did enjoy part of
the ride, flat water near the end.
Sightseeing by rail
A nice ride with a great
dinner but we didn't see any wildlife.
Wasilla is proud of its
role in the Iditarod dog sled race.
No mention of any other
reason you would have heard of it.
Hanging out at the lodge
in Talkeetna
More wildlife in the
Anchorage area
Thanks to Jim and Linda
for sharing their pictures.
To
see other sights from our west coast trip click on:
San Francisco,
International Puzzle Party,
Oregon, Washington, Alaska Cruise,
or
Flowers
Go to our Science Fun
page
Go to our Travels page
Go to our Personal home
page
Go to our Community page
E-mail Nancy and Alan
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