Alaska...

Ken was working in Anchorage, Alaska in August, so I went up without the kids and joined him for a couple days.

We got to see some beautiful scenery and the weather was perfect!

We stayed for a night in Anchorage, then spent the other three nights in Girdwood (a town about 45 minutes south of Anchorage.

We visited the Kenai Peninsula, and drove to Seward and took a 6-hour Kenai Fjords cruise.

We saw lots of wildlife: dall porpoises, sea lions, seals, puffins and many other birds, sea stars, and a huge pod of orcas.

We also saw some glaciers. They have a bluish tint to them. On the boat, we drove up to within a quarter mile of one.

You could hear it creaking and see small pieces fall off into the sea. There was a large hunk that looked about as big as a small house just sitting there looking like it should fall off (calve), but it didn't while we were there.

The next day we took a hike to see a glacier that was mostly gone, but the runoff was nice, and there was lots of fireweed growing around it, so we got a nice picture. The fireweed is the pinkish/purple flowers. They make fireweed syrup and jelly by boiling the flowers and adding sugar. It's pretty tasty.

We drove to a small town that you can get to through a train tunnel, and got to see the Prince William Sound (or part of it). It was beautiful, and we enjoyed a fantastic salmon burger while watching the fisherman (and birds).

Girdwood is actually a ski resort, and we were there in the off season. We rode a tram to the top of the mountain and had dinner at a fancy restaurant and enjoyed the view of the Turnagin Arm.

It is the wierdest body of water - more like a river, but it has extreme tides, so there are never any boats or people on it. Boats would get stranded in low tide, and people get stuck in the mud bogs. Some not-so-smart teenagers had to be rescued while we were there.

After dinner we took a hike starting around 8:15 p.m. about a mile to a hand tram - and pulled ourselves across a ravine and back. It was fun, and we got back to our car around 10:00 p.m. and it was still daylight. I don't think there are many other places in the world you can say that about.This last picture is a view of downtown Anchorage against the Chugach mountains - super!