We made it back to the continental United States, and to the east coast. We landed at JFK, were picked up by my father-in-law and then spent most of the day just trying to stay awake until it was time to go to sleep.
All red eye flights should be discontinued by Congressional vote.
Here are the last two videos from our amazing Alaska adventure. This first is the moose we saw eating on the side of the road in Denali. I got within 15 feet or less. When I got to close, the moose would just amble away.
This one has to do with the puppies you found here the day before yesterday — or three weeks ago, whichever it was. This is four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King telling the visitors to Husky Homestead, the kennel where he raises his dogs:
Alaska is a great trip. You should visit. I hope we get to go back!
We are visiting here for the weekend, which requires a drive about four hours north of Anchorage.
That means that just over … there … somewhere … is Mt. McKinley, the highest point in the country. Jessica drove us to Denali because Adam is on his way to France for work. Some kind of life, no?
The drive was, of course, beautiful. Lots of verdant scenes dotted by small towns and pure-Alaskan wide spots in the road. We saw some wildlife, but not the bigger animals we were seeking:
Also, there are mountains.
I’m taking a lot of pictures of mountains. I’ve noticed. But I’m not the only one:
Today we took a hike alongside the Savage River, which we saw at an elevation of 2,780 feet. Here’s The Yankee:
Perhaps she was taking pictures of a small thing:
Here’s what the hike looked like:
The water, snow melt that was probably 15 minutes old, was perfectly clear.
The rock formations through this little valley are some of the oldest on the continent. The Outer Range of the Alaskan Range are thought to be somewhere between 600 million to more than a billion years old. That little river is believed to be even older than the mountains.
The rocks feature schists, blended ribbons, of quartzite, mica, slate, marble, greenstone and phyllite.
OK, fine, one more mountain shot.
Oh, last thing. We had an Auburn family reunion today. I put the picture on my War Eagle Moments blog. I also met a nice lady from Birmingham as well. She goes to church, she said, with some of my Samford colleagues.
Seward is a town of about 3,000 people. It was once a vital shipping town, as the port sent a variety of goods into interior Alaska. A massive earthquake and subsequent fires and a tsunami in 1964 all but wiped the place out. As we were told today, the industry has never completely recovered. Now, alongside fisheries, tourism is one of the big industries. You’re about to see why in the photographs and video below.
We got right up to the seagulls, thousands of whom lived in this one rock protruding from the bay. Later in the season, we learned, bigger waves will come through and clean the rock. This is probably important, but tourists wonder why they’re learning about it.
And now, three shots of harbor seals:
These next six will need no introduction. Our cruise captain says he’s been doing this for 15 years. Even he was oohing and aahing about some of the things we saw today, including two separate pods swimming right to us.
Mountains over the water are also impressive, just so you know:
We saw a glacier.
Up close.
We got right next to it. The cracking ice sounded like a rifle’s report. And, from far away, you could hear the glacier-quake, a rumbling thunder, heavy industry sound.
And the Aialik Glacier is the subject of today’s video. Watch until the end:
You want to see the orcas again? Fine. We went back for another quick visit to watch them eat and play.
Another mountain shot.
Our captain steered us — hey, what’s that?
That is a humpback whale.
I said a humpback whale.
We only got to see him for a few minutes because some people on our cruise had to catch a train. Some people have misplaced priorities. Here are a few more mountain shots as we cruised back into port at Seward:
We got off the boat, looked up into the sky and saw this:
The sun stays up — or, rather, it doesn’t get dark — here until midnight or later this time of year. But at dinnertime, that’s what you see.
We stopped by one of the few promising restaurants we could find in the mid-century, blue collar downtown. I had a pork sandwich at the Seward Brewing Company. Walked away with a recipe, too.
We got back to our lodge and walked across the street to the mountain stream. Jessica, Adam, Lauren and I tossed stones into it for an hour or so. It seemed like it would be twilight for forever.
Adam and Jessica drove us down the peninsula from Anchorage to Seward today. There are a ton of pictures here — because I remain enamored with the snow-capped mountains — so keep scrolling. Forty-five shots in all, broken into sections. Enjoy. There are mountains, birds, fish and more.
Most of the pictures today, I confess, are of the mountains. Because the mountains have deep, rich colors standing in contrast to the remnants of what was apparently a mild winter. I like mountain pictures. And since I grew up at the edge of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains (which don’t look like these) and live on the coastal plain, you’re going to get more than your share of them on this trip, I suspect.
But, first, a plane. As far as I know this is the first time I’ve seen a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. It is 174 feet long with a wingspan of about 170 feet and is powered by four Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines each capable of 40,400 pound force of thrust. Hauling cargo is the Globemaster’s purpose in life. It can support a 69-ton M1 Abrams main battle tank, other armored vehicles, trucks, and trailers and palletized cargo. The cargo compartment is 88 feet long by 18 feet wide and can carry 170,900 pounds. It can also airdrop 102 paratroopers and their equipment. This one has an un-refueled range of about 2,800 nautical miles and can cruise at Mach 0.74.
I also saw my first F-22 in person today, but I didn’t get a picture.
And, now, a series of photos featuring some of the mountains of the Eagle River Valley.
The Yankee, Jessica and I enjoyed the Eagle River Nature Center, where we saw most of this scenery today:
