last night, i woke up around 12:30am and decided to look outside to see how much daylight there still was. i snapped a photo from the window and this is as dark as it was....very weird.we woke today and snacked on breakfast in our room as we packed to leave. temps were pleasantly cool as we packed the car and checked out.i had been seeing beautiful yellow flowers on the side of the highways here in alaska, and here they were again in the hotel parking lot. when i stepped up for a closer look, i realized they were nothing more than common dandelions! but they look much prettier here than in my front yard.
we were headed north further into the state. we had seen a few roadside waterfalls along the seward highway yesterday as we traveled south, so we made note of one of them and stopped at it as we backtracked towards anchorage.
we made a slight detour east of town until we found flattop mountain. the residential streets we followed slowly ascended until we located the trailhead, marked by a porta-potty and sign. we made our way up the steep trail until finding a cool vantage point over the city.
i thought these trees looked really cool & twisty.
hungry for lunch, we moved on from flattop, stopping for gas and raising cane's before leaving anchorage. thunder bird falls was our next stop, a 1-mile easy hike to a waterfall.
the trail was shady with a few brief uphill sections, but nothing we could not handle.
tall birch trees provided shade.
we were able to see the falls from an overlook platform. it was obscured by many trees and green overgrowth, but we could clearly hear the roar of the water into the river below.
we headed back to the van along the same path we had just traveled.
we continued north another 20 miles to the iditarod trail headquarters in wasilla.
we essentially had the place to ourselves, and after looking around in the gift shop, we purchased tickets for a short sled-dog ride.
since the weather was gorgeous with blue skies and i saw rain was forecast for tomorrow, and since we had a little time to waste before being able to check into our next overnight lodging, we drove north another 93 miles to denali viewpoint south. actually, big sister drove the majority of this leg and i was able to catch a glimpse of the main attraction - mount denali!
denali is the highest mountain peak
in north america - 20,310 feet at the summit.
the entire mountain frequently hides in a cover of clouds
for days and weeks at a time.
if you are lucky enough to see it in it's entirety,
you become part of the 30% club.
we explored the viewpoint and set up the tripod for a few family photos, of course with denali as the star.
big sister also got some really nice shots with the camera.
satisfied that we had taken this detour, we finally made our way back south to our home for the next two nights - a charming b&b known as the denali overlook inn.
honestly, i had no idea how rare it was to see denali in person, but there she was posing for us, perfectly framed by our room's windows.
we had chosen the denali view suite, which contained a queen bed, twin bed, and futon in roughly 700 sf with loft, private balcony, & bathroom.
we drove to town for dinner, with a warning from our b&b hostess that most eateries are short-staffed and have long wait times. we explored the quaint town a bit and looked around at a few souvenir shops.
...we drove around a little and came across a moose, just hanging out on the side of the road. i don't know who was more nervous....us or him!
we returned to the b&b and settled in for the night. the view was still magical as we were higher than all the treetops, but denali was hiding behind clouds that had come in. **sigh**
we could not get our suite dark at all as the upper windows did not have shades, so it was eye masks to the rescue yet again!!
all this driving around and we are still only seeing a very small part of this huge state!
today we packed up from our first hotel and headed south. we followed the same path that the train did but this time we were on the seward highway 1.
after a winding 2.5 hours with hardly any traffic, we arrived at exit glacier nature center.
we chose the gentlest trail to hike to get a closer look. there were beautiful vistas all around us. little sister insisted on finding a walking stick to help her navigate the trail....
it was almost as big as her!
it took about 30 minutes to make it to the viewing area. another hiker kindly took our photo.
then the girls climbed onto a rocky area for their own mini photo session.
by noon, we had made a lunch stop in seward, only to learn that many of the local restaurants were short-staffed or only open for dinner. we settled on picking up lunch at subway for the drive back north to our next hotel.around 2:30pm, we arrived in gridwood at the alyeska resort. they were able to check us in early (prior to 4pm) and we were happy to rest a bit and refresh before going out to explore the resort.our room was on an upper floor and had a view of the mountain & tramway line.
around 4pm, we bought lift tickets and headed up the mountain via the tram.
tram stats:
maximum speed:
26 miles per hour
average time: 4
minutes in the winter and up to 7 minutes in the summer
capacity: each
of the two cars holds a maximum of 60 persons
elevation lower
tram terminal: 306 feet
upper tram terminal:
2,334 feet
vertical rise:
2,025 feet
length of span:
3,869 feet
it was very bright at the top with all the remaining snow.
a view looking west towards the turnagain arm and the highway that we had spent parts of yesterday & today on.
panoramic facing the resort
after about 30 minutes, we headed back down.
we decided to try out a restaurant on the hotel for dinner - sakura asian bistro. little sister got ramen, i got tempura veggies & shrimp, and daddy & big sister splurged on sushi and bento boxes. it was nice to sit and enjoy a fancy meal together.
we finished the day with a swim in the indoor saltwater pool. daddy & i sat in the hot tub, thankful we were able to take this time together as a family and see all the wonderful sights of this beautiful state.
we woke today and snacked on breakfast in our room as we packed to leave. temps were pleasantly cool as we packed the car and checked out.
i had been seeing beautiful yellow flowers on the side of the highways here in alaska, and here they were again in the hotel parking lot. when i stepped up for a closer look, i realized they were nothing more than common dandelions! but they look much prettier here than in my front yard.
we could not get our suite dark at all as the upper windows did not have shades, so it was eye masks to the rescue yet again!!
