Alaska, the last frontier!

Well, we made it back from Alaska with our bellies a little heavier and our wallets a little lighter. But holy cow... TRIP OF A LIFETIME! I never wanted to leave. I still can't believe some of the things we got to see and do. Instead of writing a big long blog post this time, I'm going to do things a little different. Since we took pictures of pretty much everything we did, I'm going to do a sort of photo journal of our trip with a few captions here and there. I know it's cliche to say this, but the pictures really just don't do it justice. Hopefully you can at least get an idea of some of the incredible things we experienced in the last frontier. So without further ado, I'll let the photos do the talking.

Getting There & Anchorage, AK

Apparently taking pictures of your feet in the Portland Airport is the thing to do.

On the plane - Portland to Anchorage

Blowing bubbles in the Anchorage museum

Me & Jess at Midnight Sun Brewery in Anchorage

Alaska bikini?

Winner Creek Trail and Hand-Tram - Girdwood, AK
About 2.5 miles up the trail there was this really cool hand tram over this gorge and Winner Creek. It was basically a metal box you stood in with a rope to pull yourself across. It was amazing! I'm glad Brandon went with me though because it ended up being pretty hard to do.

Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine - Willow, AK

My first moose!

"Termination Dust" - The first sign of snow on the mountain top that signals the termination of summer.

Independence Mine

Faith (or ZeFayFay, as I call her) checking out the mine.

Red and sweaty, but not bad for an ex-cripple

Beautiful lake above the mine we hiked to

Awww! Cute family!

Flightseeing Tour of Denali - Talkeetna, AK
We did an hour-long tour of Mt. McKinley in a little cessna plane, and I can't even explain how incredible it was. I felt like I was watching a National Geographic film, but it was real life! I wish I was a better photographer because the views were just breathtaking.

Mt. McKinley on the right

cockpit of the plane

You can't see it in this picture, but there was a black bear chilling on the ridge that we flew over.

First view of the glacier. At first I thought it was a pile of dirt!

Flying over the glacier felt like we were on the moon.

Just thought it was cool we caught the bird in this pic.

crazy glacier

So close I felt like I could touch it!

Beautiful rivers and birch trees.

Shadow of our plane landing.

Beer in Talkeetna after the flight

Thunderbird Falls - Chugiak, AK
We did a quick little 2 mile hike up to Thunderbird Falls one day. The water was impressive, but my favorite part was all the gorgeous fall colors in the trees.

We're really attractive.

Eagle River Nature Center Hiking - Eagle River, AK
We did a 7-mile hike in Eagle River hoping to see some wildlife. Didn't see any creatures, but the hike was so gorgeous it didn't matter. We walked along sections of the historic Iditarod trail, saw a little cabin in the woods you could rent and stay in overnight, and found some parts of the river that were so wild looking I half expected a bear to pop out of the woods any minute.

You know your'e in Alaska when...

Historic Iditarod trail

Inside the little cabin in the woods

A lot of the water in Alaska is this grayish color because of the glacier silt.

Martin Buser's Iditarod Sled Dog Kennel - Big Lake, AK
Thanks to Jesse's sweet connections, we had the privilege of visiting Happy Trails Kennel, home of Martin Buser's Iditarod sled dogs. We got a personal tour of the kennel from Alan, who will be running his first Iditarod this winter, along with a chance to meet the dogs, play with the puppies, see their training center, and ask as many questions as we wanted. We even got to meet Martin himself, a man who has run 31 Iditarods and been a major innovator in the sport. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me because, well... because dogs... and I could talk your ear off about the Iditarod for hours, but instead here's some pictures of the pups!

Elephant treadmill inside a temperature and pressure-controlled room for off-season training

Happy dogs sitting on their houses

Alan telling us about the dogs

Hanging out with Bagheera

Giant hamster wheel the dogs can run in

Puppies!

Walking with the puppies was like herding cats.

If this isn't what heaven is like, then I don't want to go.

Denali National Park & Kashwitna Lake
We spent a day driving up to Denali NP, which only has one road through it, and the entrance is pretty far north. It was a beautiful drive, but we were in the car forever (12 hours total I think). On the way home, we drove by Kashwitna Lake right at sunset, which was my favorite part. I was obsessed with the colors.

Beautiful mountains on the drive into the park.

The closest we got to a bear (besides from the plane). Just some frosty poop.

Savage River

Hike up Savage River. It started getting snowy and freezing.

The coldest I got the whole trip. It was 36°F and snowing in the air.

Unfortunately we didn't see any moose rutting.

Porcupine! I got too excited and scared it away before we could get a good picture.

Kashwitna Lake at sunset. Obsessed.

Turnagain Arm & Whittier, AK
The highway to Whittier is between the Turnagain arm and Chugach National Forest, so it makes for a gorgeous drive. They were too small to capture in the pictures, but we saw a bunch of beluga whales! So cool.

Beluga whale viewing spot

Brandon being creative

A couple of bald eagles sitting on top of a tree

You'll have to take my word for it, but that white speck to the right of the eagles is a beluga whale.

A couple of swans in a pond

Waiting in line for the tunnel

There's a one-way tunnel to get to Whittier, and there's a 15-minute interval every hour when you can drive through.

Made it to Whittier!

Boat Tour of Prince William Sound
From Whittier, we took a 5-hour boat tour of Prince William Sound. We saw 26 glaciers, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, cormorants, and kittiwakes. We tasted ice straight from a glacier, and we saw our first iceberg!

Passing a water taxi

Sea lions on Egg Rock

Glaciers, glaciers, and more glaciers

Glacial waterfall

Surprise Glacier was actively calving, meaning chunks of ice were falling off of it into the water.

Scooping up glacier ice to serve in the cocktails on the boat.

Boat crew scooping up glacier ice.

Harbor seals hanging out on floating ice in front of Surprise Glacier.

Iceberg!

Sea otter swimming among the floating ice.

Ship wreck we went past

Hiking the Butte - Palmer, AK

Around the House - Wasilla, AK
Jessica and Jesse live in Wasilla, which is about an hour north of Anchorage, so we did some sight-seeing and exploring around that area.

The Iditarod HQ was about 10 minutes from their house.

Brandon with his "frontier burger". I couldn't even tell you all the meats that were on that thing.

My hiking shoes earned their keep on this vacation.

Riding bikes in the house. Blame the wine.

Family snuggle time!

Well that about wraps up the pictures! I swear we must've taken over a thousand because this is just a fraction of them. And now that I've spent all day putting this together, let me tell you just a couple things I learned about Alaska that aren't in the pictures...

• Alaska became a state in 1959, making it the same age as my mom.
• Only about 20% of the state is accessible by road. You need a boat or plane to get to the rest.
• If you're a resident, you can get on a call list so if a moose is hit on the highway, you can go get the carcass and have it butchered for meat.
• On the same note, moose meat is delicious, and Jessica's moose chili is so good I'll be craving it forever.
• Alaskans don't say "snowmobile." They say "snow machine" instead.

And lastly, a HUGE thank you to Jessica and Jesse for letting us stay in your house and for playing tour guide. It was so great to see you guys and get to visit, and we're lucky to have friends like you. Miss you tons already!