Alaska!

On our 2009 trip to Alaska, we never saw Denali the entire two-week visit. You'd think since it's the highest mountain in North American that it'd be easy to see, but only 30% of the people who visit Denali are lucky enough to see it. Something about the mountain having its own weather pattern... We wanted to make sure we saw it on this trip, so on our second day in Alaska, we boarded a small plane with skis and headed to Ruth Glacier on the south side of Denali.

Our first glimpse of Denali!!

Here we are wearing our "glacier boots" in front of our plane (left) and in front of Denali (right). Such an amazing experience, especially since only 5% of the people fly to Ruth Glacier get to see Denali.

Joan could hardly see anything since she forgot to bring her sunglasses as you'll see in the videos since she kept bumping into to me and getting super close. And we both got a little sun burnt while we were there...

Here are some more videos.

Flying to Denali - you'll see how small the plane was. We were in the last seats.
Watching another plane taking off from Ruth Glacier
Kristin eating glacier - I think the high altitude made Kristin super thirsty... she kept eating glacier.

We then went into Denali National Park where the only way to get into the park is by bus. We were staying at the North Face Lodge, 90 miles into the park. That makes for a very long bus ride. In the photo below, you can see another bus on the road and at the bottom is a river gushing with water, perhaps a little foreshadowing... Well, those clouds don't look very promising either, I'm just saying.

For the next two days, it rained so much that part of the road out of the park washed out.

By the time Friday morning arrived, the road was fixed and we were on our way out of the park to catch the Alaskan Railroad to Anchorage. Here is a link to an online article about the flooding online and the front page of the Anchorage Daily Newspaper. We think they could have used our photos and video.

Stopping along the road on Turnagain Arm to watch and photograph Dahl Sheep.(Joan will be posting more pics here soon!) Watch our short Dahl sheep video.

Next we drove to Alyeska for a hike up the North Face trail. We could have taken the tram up, but not us! It was 2.2 miles with a somewhat leisurely hike to the top, until the trail became steep and there was a chain attached to rock to steady our footing.

We stopped taking pictures or talking to one another until we reached the top. Mostly because we needed to breathe (which also implies Kristin was a little over the hike).

We had lunch and beers at the top, which made both of us happy, and we took the tram down...

Are there any animals on this tour? Yes there are!

Next up, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (moose, baby moose, lynx, elk)! This is where they rehabilitate wild animals in hopes of putting them back into the wild. But if not, the center becomes their home.

The center also let us get close to the animals, which is a good thing when neither of us have much fear when it comes to getting close to wild animals. (Joan will be posting more pics here soon!)

Our last stop for the day was to the Alaska Sealife Center. They also rehabilitate wild animals in hopes of putting them back into the wild. And, their bird exhibit is second to none when it comes to getting close-up photos. We saw a harbor seal, puffin and a king eider! (Joan will be posting more pics here soon!)

After a long day, we checked into our cabin on the seashore in Seward. In the left photo below, our cabin is in the lower left.

And in the right photo below, dinner on the grill - chicken for Kristin (who doesn't eat fish) and salmon with a cheese topping for Joan (who knew she could eat salmon 6 days in a row!).

The day started out bright until we rode into a fog cloud that lasted almost all day. We had a great time and still saw wildlife - check out that sea lion with a fish!!, orca, puffin birds (and lots of other birds), humpback whale and glaciers.

At least we brought along our hats and gloves for this icy boat tour. Fantastic trip all around.

Since our trip Alaska trip in 2009 when we heard someone talking about Katmai National Park and how you can walk among grizzly bears, we both knew our next Alaska trip would include a visit to this park.

It's now our FAVORITE national park ever!

Hm, do we join them in turning around? Heck NO! We both grab our cameras and start taking photos!

Once we have taken some photos, we follow quickly behind Mitch and Marv to the trailhead where there is an outhouse with two bathroom doors - a men's and women's. There are three people outside the bathroom talking. Mitch begins telling them there is a momma bear with a cub coming down the path, but they don't speak English. We can hear the momma bear coming down the path and Mitch is quite excited and concerned that she might come after us because she has a cub in tow. Instead of going into the vacant men's room (someone left the door wide open), he opens the women's door, which is occupied. He tells the woman (who also doesn't speak English) that there is a momma bear coming down the path with a cub and that if she gets closer, we're all coming in. He keeps talking to her (probably still trying to make her understand the serious situation we're all in) while she pulls herself together while the rest of us are busy taking photos of momma and her cub. He just kept talking to her with the door open. We had dinner with them a few night's later and Joan brought up the event in passing. She smiled and laughed about what Mitch did. We're certain Marv will never let him forget that grizzly momma and cub encounter! Here's a quick video Kristin was able to get of the momma and cub as they walked by us.

Every day while at Katmai, we saw this mom with a spring cub fishing near the mouth of the river which is close to Brooks Camp. They definitely attracted a crowd and lots of oohs and aahs! Here's a video of them.

The END, haha!

Thanks for viewing photos and videos from our trip. Hope you enjoyed them!

And, don't forget, Joan will be posting more photos on her Wallner Photography page on Facebook and in the Gallery and Online Store on this website. Many of those photos are NOT on this page, so follow or check back when you get a chance to see what's new!