Seward

View of Resurrection Bay from our hotel:

Otter that lives by the rocks at the south end of town:

We headed down to the Kenai Peninsula on Tuesday morning. The drive alone the highway was beautiful, Seward (on the eastern side) is surrounded by mountains so the town kinda hangs on a small area of land. There is a great aquarium with native species and sea otters that live in the rocks right off the parking areas.

Di and Michael on the "Alaskan Explorer"

Wednesday we took another boat tour out into Resurrection Bay. This was a bigger boat (about 94'). We did get close to one of the Glaciers but it was a totally different experience then the last trip we took. The waters were colder and so there wasn't as much ice in the water. The glacier was active and there was quiet a bit of calving going on.
We saw a tremendous amount of sea birds nesting...at points there would be so many birds on the rock face it looked like a hive of bees. Both Ben and I loved the puffins...ungainly little fat things that only looked graceful when they were in the water.
We saw Sea lion rookeries, Orca and Humpback whales. We stopped to watch a Mom and baby humpback and when the Mom would dive down the baby would stay up top and play. He would roll over, stick his fins out and swoosh water with his tail and try and breach but with his fins up instead of this head. He wasn't very coordinated but I guess that's how they learn.
We stopped for a Salmon dinner on an island on the way back. The dinner was good and the beach had perfect flat, round stones that the boys spent the majority of their time trying to skip.

The "Alaskan Explorer" docked at Fox Island for dinner:

Thursday we went to Exit Glacier National Park where we could actually walk up and touch a glacier. One of the guide books that if you spend enough time in Alaska you get tired of seeing glaciers but not me. It's kinda like the Eagles that are all over and most people here take them for granted. Mike says the natives in Juneau don't really like the Eagles since they are scavengers and are a nuisance.

Family by Exit Glacier:

Kittywakes nesting:

Sea Lion rookery:

Humpback whale breaching:

Puffins nesting:

Denali National Park

We arrived in Denali about 1:00 (5 hours from Anchorage). We arrived just in time to hit the visitors center and shuttle over to the dog kennels. My biggest surprise was the size of the dogs...they were very leggy and about 100 lbs. The dogs were friendly but were set up in a way that they could seek attention from the public or retreat to their dog houses if they didn't want the attention.

One of the only ways into the park is by park operated shuttle buses. They are basically green and white school buses which were actually pretty comfortable. We had to be at the shuttle stop at 6am Sunday morning but getting their early got us first in line which gave us great viewing seats on the bus. We saw moose within the first 2 miles and then shoe shoe hares (billions of them), fox, ptarmigan, caribou, Dall sheep and a Canadian lynx. Our bus driver was very knowledgeable and entertaining which helped as the ride was 3 hours each way. The day started out sunny and clear and we were able to get a view of Mt.McKinley which is fairly rare. Our bus driver has been driving his route since mid-may and he has only see the peak 2 times.

Mt. McKinley:

Sign that local bear have been eating. This is the third sign the park service has put up and the bears come and rub against the nails at the bottom of the sign.

Bull moose:

We did end up going back into the park (you can drive the first 14 miles) in the evening to try and see more wildlife. We didn't end up seeing much of anything except more rabbits.

Monday morning we headed back to Anchorage. We saw 2 more moose out in the wetlands but it was rainy and overcast so we couldn't see the mountains. The area around Denali was different and interesting but dominated by black spruce which really weren't very attractive trees. Anchorage is a typical city and not very attractive but the mountains that surround the town are spectacular. The remind me of Denver except these rise up much higher and there really aren't any foothills. Of course, the mountains are on the east/north and I find myself turned around and directionally confused most of the time.

Rock Ptarmagin:

Snow Shoe hare: