The first weekend, we set out to the Kenai to show Grandma the scenery along the Seward highway and to see the last of the red salmon. Adam tried his luck fly fishing for trout. We went on a pretty rough hike...I tripped over logs and brush a good number of times-- Grandma and Jeanette were troopers! Especially when we came across some crazy bear signs and were given warning of a bear coming our way by some people on a floating raft! Keep in mind that Grandma was NOT AT ALL interested in seeing a bear!
The second weekend was the BIG ONE!! Adam put all of our names in for the Denali National Park road lottery. ONLY 4 days a year are open for people to drive their own cars all the way to the end of the road in the park, BUT you HAVE to have your name drawn. Well lucky, ducky us-- my name was drawn and we got to go! It is perhaps a once in a lifetime deal... you can always take the bus but it is a different experience when you can drive yourself and go at your own pace. We started the weekend with driving to Fairbanks to check it out, we stayed the night in the city, North Pole!! There was a look out point for seeing the Northern lights, you can see the horizon nearly 360 degrees around you, however, we didn't get to see them. (Adam and I have yet to see 'em!) Instead, we had to save the forest by putting out a raging hot fire that some crazy and idiotic people left burning. The flames were blowing like crazy in the wind. We were pist! The next day we went to Santa Claus' house...which was a little disappointing... just lots of xmas decor. We were really hoping to see the elves building toys! ;) After that, we took a beautiful drive back toward Denali National Park. We stopped at some pretty sights along teh way and even at "Dry Creek" to find some rocks. We spent the night at the White Moose motel (they had real pictures of an albino moose!) and set off early for Denali.
Denali was a dream... we had the best possible conditions. There was not a cloud in the sky and Denali was beautiful as ever. Some people don't even get to see the mountain due to fog and clouds. The wildlfe was also aaaaaaaaaaamazing! It was a VERY SCARY drive along the edge of mountains but well worth it and quite the experience!
Check out the pictures... the first few pictures are kinda in random order...they are Jeanettes and I uploaded them after mine.
G-Ma's version of the famous jumping picture! She insisted on staying next to the truck and far from the edge of the moutain. She got some air!
There go Jeanette and ADam... jumping on top of the world!! :)
Baby bear on his/her (pretty sure his.. he was pretty stocky!) hind legs. The park ranger said these cubs are 2 year-olds... I had no idea, but grizzly cubs are born in the winter dens and will stay with their mama even through the next winter. She will dig/find a den for all three of them! :)
Grandma with the road going straight toward Denali in the background!
This was a griz at the animal conservation center... I guess they were being a real hoot that day!
A roadside stop... Denali in the back
Cody and me at Hatcher's Pass
A griz paw, taken at the conservation center
Adam AND GRANDMA pickin on me! :)
This caribou charged Grandma (who was behind the fence of course... at the conservation center)... he almost made her fall on her ass. What a meany! :) ...... rutting season!
Beautiful!
Proud Grandma! Adam in his uniform!
Me with a mutated red... toward the end of his run
Adam fly fishin! He hooked into one... but didn't catch any that day
I think this is when we spotted a verrrrrry old King...he was actually molding!
Adam shooting his .338 for the first time! :)
We saw the belugas!!!
Can you spot the red in the water?!?!
Baby bear on his/her (pretty sure his.. he was pretty stocky!) hind legs. The park ranger said these cubs are 2 year-olds... I had no idea, but grizzly cubs are born in the winter dens and will stay with their mama even through the next winter. She will dig/find a den for all three of them! :)
Grandma with the road going straight toward Denali in the background!
This was a griz at the animal conservation center... I guess they were being a real hoot that day!
A roadside stop... Denali in the back
Cody and me at Hatcher's Pass
A griz paw, taken at the conservation center
Adam AND GRANDMA pickin on me! :)
This caribou charged Grandma (who was behind the fence of course... at the conservation center)... he almost made her fall on her ass. What a meany! :) ...... rutting season!
Beautiful!
Proud Grandma! Adam in his uniform!
Me with a mutated red... toward the end of his run
Adam fly fishin! He hooked into one... but didn't catch any that day
I think this is when we spotted a verrrrrry old King...he was actually molding!
Adam shooting his .338 for the first time! :)
We saw the belugas!!!
Can you spot the red in the water?!?!
\
Jeanette and Adam picking blueberries at Hatcher's pass... yummy! :)
An arctic ground squirrel
Check out those colors!
Adam and I in front of Denali
Adam entertaining himself... watching himself be a monkey!
At Santa Claus' house
awwwwwwwww
Giant Santas everywhere! Oh.. his reindeer were also there! (they had caribou in a pen) A funny side note... a mother and her little girl, about 3 years old, were looking at the caribou and the mother flat out asked, "Shall we make them into sausage??!?!" The girl just replied, "nah!" The same mother and daughter were inside the building and looking at a life size Santa holding a walking cane and the mother said, "Look, Santa uses a stick to chase the fox away from the chickens too!"...... Just from overhearing those blurbs.. I can tell that little girl is growing up to be quite the Alaskan woman! :)
"bear butts!"
We were at the North Pole!
Dry Creek... yes, yes... very very dry! Pretty rocks though!
Our first wildlife sighting in Denali... big ol bull!
Nice full-curl ram.... we saw SO MANY dall sheep! Most were pretty far off, or high up in the mountains though
...eeeesh... our road! Check out the video below!
Mama and her cubs. Mama and one cub are pretty blonde for griz bears! She called them in close to her because she was spooked by the noisy flock of birds flying overhead. (arctic cranes, I believe)
Just watching the bears. You can see Denali and the cars on the road as well.
This is how close/far we were from them... however you interpret it!
Breath-taking!
A couple random caribou... far from their heard
..... that would be Grandma!
Check out this big boy!... if you know what I mean!
The tones of color on the mountains were unreal! And very hard to capture on camera.
Some more sheep
Jeanette and Adam picking blueberries at Hatcher's pass... yummy! :)
An arctic ground squirrel
Check out those colors!
Adam and I in front of Denali
Adam entertaining himself... watching himself be a monkey!
At Santa Claus' house
awwwwwwwww
Giant Santas everywhere! Oh.. his reindeer were also there! (they had caribou in a pen) A funny side note... a mother and her little girl, about 3 years old, were looking at the caribou and the mother flat out asked, "Shall we make them into sausage??!?!" The girl just replied, "nah!" The same mother and daughter were inside the building and looking at a life size Santa holding a walking cane and the mother said, "Look, Santa uses a stick to chase the fox away from the chickens too!"...... Just from overhearing those blurbs.. I can tell that little girl is growing up to be quite the Alaskan woman! :)
"bear butts!"
We were at the North Pole!
Dry Creek... yes, yes... very very dry! Pretty rocks though!
Our first wildlife sighting in Denali... big ol bull!
Nice full-curl ram.... we saw SO MANY dall sheep! Most were pretty far off, or high up in the mountains though
...eeeesh... our road! Check out the video below!
Mama and her cubs. Mama and one cub are pretty blonde for griz bears! She called them in close to her because she was spooked by the noisy flock of birds flying overhead. (arctic cranes, I believe)
Just watching the bears. You can see Denali and the cars on the road as well.
This is how close/far we were from them... however you interpret it!
Breath-taking!
A couple random caribou... far from their heard
..... that would be Grandma!
Check out this big boy!... if you know what I mean!
The tones of color on the mountains were unreal! And very hard to capture on camera.
Some more sheep
This is me shooting our .44 mag for the first time. We have had this gun for awhile and carry it with us when needed but haven't shot it yet due to AMMO! The ammo up here is ridiculous expensive, so we bought some from the lower 48 and had it barged up with our furniture. I don't remember if I told you all that..... we picked out furniture from a store up here and ordered the exact same stuff from the lower 48 and had it barged up here for cheaper than just buying it in Anchorage. ....crazy huh?
....this is at a gun range not far from our house (15mins).... suppose to be one of the top ranges in the nation. We met a couple out there who helped Adam to sight in his new rifle and scope for the moose hunt. They just moved up here and have been married for a year as well. The wife is a teacher and grew up with horses as well... we seem to havea lot in common and hit it off right away. Adam is now out on a goat hunt with his pharmacy buddy. So I went to the range with our new buddies again yesterday. I am getting pretty comfortable with the 44! I think they also have convinced me to buy a .270 for myself.... I shot hers and she has it set up so well that it kicked less than my 12 gauge!
...Adam's goat hunt. I know I've wrote about it before. They ended up biking in 6 miles to set up camp. (two crazies!) They left SAturday and are coming back out on Tuesday. .... we'll see!
This video shows a bore tide.... an extremely low tide shifting to a high tide. Kinda rare to see, you have to time it right... we happened to come across it this time! The wave can get so big that people actually surf on it! There are pictures on the Anchorage Daily News website.
http://www.adn.com/
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