These pictures are from my trip to Alaska from September 7-14, 2005 with my Dad. We flew into Anchorage and explored the city the first day. With unusually good weather the second day, we decided to head north to Talkeetna to look into a plane ride around Denali (aka Mount McKinley, or simply "The Big Dog"). They had an opening at K2 Aviation for us and the "flightseeing" tour of the mountain was amazing! We did the yellow route on the route map. I even got to sit in the cockpit of the Otter. I've done some pretty sweet mountain flying here in Colorado but it didn't compare to flying around these solid granite mountains being slowly eroded by 3000 feet of ice being pulled downhill by gravity.
After Talkeetna we drove back down through Anchorage to the town of Seward (pronounced like "sewer" with a d at the end). It's named after President Andrew Johnson's Secretary of State, William H. Seward, who was responsible for negotiating the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000.00. This translated into approximately 2.5 cents per acre for 586,400 square miles of territory, twice the size of Texas. Since most people felt this was a lot to pay for a big patch of ice, this purchase became known as "Seward's Folly". With the later discovery of Alaska's rich natural resources, "Seward's Icebox" became a valuable part of the United States.
We decided to take it easy in Seward, exploring the town, walking the marina docks and looking at the sailboats that were in for the boat show. Lunch was some smoked salmon we picked up the day before, cheese, crackers, and a couple of avocados in a park by the water, watching the salmon literally jump into the air. Later that day we rented a Cessna 172 and flew around the area for a while with an instructor. We explored the mountains and the glaciers, including "Exit Glacier" which we visited earlier that day. Flying is definately the way to see some of these things!
After Seward we spent the night in the Moose Pass Lodge (and actually saw a moose on the way up there!), and headed for Homer the next day. Homer is not the quaint little fishing town that one might expect, but rather a town built with purpose, rapid growth, and impending commercialization. Nevertheless, it draws a slew of quirky characters, great fishing, and awesome views. The fishing hole on the spit is where we spent a bunch of time. Dad caught two fish... "the big one got away" and the other we pulled in for dinner (and breakfast, and lunch, and dinner the next night). There is nothing like fresh silver salmon, and we lived like kings on this one!
We found a cool place just outside of Homer to stay called "adventure cabins". One is a sweet little valley cabin with a loft, full kitchen, deck with a bbq, and a great view. Another was a renovated train car, and the other was a boat, all creatively turned into nice living spaces. We stayed here for a couple of nights while we explored homer and fished. We were set up to go halibut fishing on a charter boat but when that fell through due to weather, we decided to head back toward Anchorage to make our last day's drive a bit shorter.
Our last night was spent on the Kenai river in Cooper Landing. We found another cabin for a reasonable price right on the river. After finishing up our fresh-caught salmon and other leftovers (dubbed "Kenai Salmon" -- stoned wheat thin crackers layed out on a pizza pan, topped with salmon, sliced tomoatoes, avocados, and cheese and broiled to perfection. A perfect way to get rid of all of our leftovers!). We went up the hill to the Princess Lodge for dessert.. raspberry creme brulee and hot berry cobbler with ice cream. Yum!
The next morning we were up early to head back toward Anchorage. After almost running out of gas, we made it with plenty of time for our flight. The long flight back was tedious, and not nearly as much to look forward to as the flight up. But we had memories and experiences that we didn't have before. And the best part of all is that I got to spend a week with my Dad exploring a new land. These memories are priceless, and I'm grateful for having the opportunity to spend this time with him.
