Alaska 2010:
August 6 to August 13
The first week of our trip was spent "on the ground" in Alaska. Alaska is an amazing, wonderful place and if you have never been, put it on your list. We would go back in a minute if the opportuinty arises.
I had been dabbling with photography using "point and shoot" cameras fro a few years but nothing serious. Finally, after months of "should I, or shouldn't I", I took the plunge. The day before we left I went into The Camera Store and spent the family fourtue on our first DSLR complete with lenses, extra batteries, bag etc. The next morning I am sitting on the plane to Anchorage with no clue how to use it. So, I suspect most of therse are not great photos, but they tell the story.
Click on the photo for each day to view that day's photos.
Day 1 - August 6, 2010
After flying into Anchorage we rented a car and drove a short way down the Seward Highway on the Kenai Pennisula to little cabin by a lake that we had rented for the week. Simply beautiful.
Alaskan Sunset
Day 2 - August 7, 2010
A day trip down the Seward Highway to Homer, Alaska known as the halibut fishing capital of the world. Again a beautiful drive. There are countless Moose along the way. In fact there are signs informing drivers of how many have been killed in the past year on a given stretch of road. The numbers are not small.
Homer is a quaint little place with fishing tours, restaurants, bars and quirky shops lining the street.
Homer, Alaska
Day 3 - august 8, 2010
A bit of a funny story here. I hired a guide to take us salmon fishing and about an hour in he commented that it was too bad we could only have one line in the water as he is not allowed to fish while guiding. Joy had said she wasn't interested in fishing but without telling her, I bought one for her too. So, I told the guide this and in minutes he had her fishing. She had a great time!
Salmon fishing
Day 4- August 9, 2010
This was a day I could not convince Joy to join me. I went halibut fishing. Caught a couple smaller ones (about 40 lbs.). Theres guys were in about 200 feet of water and it was like pulling up a sheet of plywood. Not much fight, but exhausting!
Halibut Fishing, Homer, Alaska
Day 5 - August 10, 2010
Just a quiet day touring close to the cabin. Interestingly, we came across "Bing's Landing" (third photo). We have also been at "Bing's Landing" in Florida. What are the odds?
Alaska, Loons & Bing's Landing
Day 6 - August 11, 2010
Back to Anchorage where we met up with Rod & Val (Joy's brother and sister-in-law). They will be joining us on the trip up to Denali National Park and then the cruise. We just spent the day touring around a bit.
Tourist information booth - Anchorage, Alaska
Day 7 - August 12, 2010
Just a couple shots from the drive up to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. Mt. McKinley is shrouded in cloud 70-80% of the time and today was no different. The chairs you see are looking at the mountain. Well, sort of. The lodge has a program where if the clouds clear and the mountain is visible, they will call your room, any time, day or night. We didn't register for that.
Mt. Mckinley Princess Wilderness Lodge
Day 8 - August 13, 2010
No, we didn't register for the wake up call if the clouds cleared enough to see Mt. McKinley. But, fortunately, Joy woke up really early, went out for a walk and about 5:00 am she came back to our room and said "mounain's up!". What a sight.
After spending several hours with the mountain it was off for bus tour of Denali National Park where we saw a few Caribou. Apparently the only difference between a Caribou and a Reindeer is a Reindeer is domesticated and a Caribou is wild.
Alaska is famous for being cold and snowy but in the summer there is pleanty of lush vegitation and flowers. Actually, the coastal areas are a rain forest!
Tourist information booth - Anchorage, Alaska