North to Alaska

I've completed a race in The Last Frontier: Alaska!
It represented state No. 26 and I can completely see why people love Alaska. I love Alaska too, now. As long as its June and daylight more than night time. :D
I flew into Anchorage on June 15 with a very quick connection in Seattle. Very quick. We were delayed on the ground in Atlanta for an hour, so it ate into all of my connection time, but I made it onto my next plane, thank goodness!
Got some nice shots from the plane. I'm not sure what range this is, but it was near Prince William Sound.

View from the plane

With the time change from Eastern Daylight Saving Time, I landed in Anchorage at what felt like 2 a.m. to me, but it was 10 p.m. Alaska time.
My friend Peggy and her family picked me up and got me to our B&B, the Arctic Fox Inn. It was a nice little B&B. My room didn't have many bells and whistles, but that's not what I needed this trip. Just a place to lay my head at night.

Making a new friend in Alaska

Our first full day in Alaska we drove down to Girdwood for lunch. We made a stop along the way at Beluga Point, but we didn't see any whales that day.

Beluga Point

Me, Peggy and Tim at Beluga Point

After lunch in Girdwood, we continued on for a quick drive to Whittier, through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, the world's longest highway tunnel cut through a mountain. It's about 2.5 miles and kind of creepy, since you can see water dripping down the sides of the tunnel inside. There are also signs everywhere on what to do if there is a car fire in the tunnel. Yikes!
We didn't really do anything in Whittier. We thought it would be a quaint little town, but it was really industrial, so we headed back toward Portage to see the glaciers. We almost took a boat ride, but decided to do a hike to Byron Glacier along a trail. It took us about a half hour to hike in and we were not disappointed.

Hiking in

Byron Glacier

See the blue? That's the glacier

A little more detail on the glacier

More of the glacier

Me and Peggy at Byron Glacier

Hiking out of the glacier area

It was a fairly easy trail, so if you decide to go, it is kid- and beginner-friendly.
We returned to Anchorage and stopped by the Lake Hood Seaplane Base, the busiest seaplane airport. It was really cool watching planes land and take off and they did so quite frequently.

Landing

Landing on Lake Hood

The Anchorage Mayor's Half Marathon was June 17. Peggy and I were up and ready in plenty of time.

Me and Peggy

At the start

The course was mostly along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, so there were pros and cons. Pros: beautiful views along a fairly well maintained asphalt trail. Cons: Lots of folks were on the trail as well on bikes and jogging, especially at the back end of our course, and runners were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes! I was afraid I was eating a lot of them as I ran through an area that was pretty bad.

Westchester Lagoon

Along the course

We passed near Westchester Lagoon and then out to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. We ran along a back access road, and I should have gotten a photo of the sign, but we were suddenly warned "Caution: Jet Blast Area." I did not want to get blasted!
The course took a dogleg into some woods, where it then became a crazy cross country course until we met up again with the coastal trail to head back to the finish. There was a woman just before we headed into the woods who shouted "Bug spray! Who wants bug spray?" Me. I got sprayed down, but I really didn't meet up with the swarm on the way back.
I finished not in record time, and I was tired and sore, since I did not train properly.

Finished!

Still I was happy state No. 26 was complete! Had lunch at F Street Station afterward and rewarded myself.

How every half marathon should end

Finisher's medal

After lunch, where I ate a really good grilled halibut sandwich, we headed up to Denali National Park and Preserve and our cabin at McKinley Creekside Cabins. I will say the view from the cabins was stunning.

Carlos Creek at our cabin site

Our big day in Denali was June 18, when we did a flightseeing tour with Kantishna Air Taxi. We got really lucky, as Denali was out that day.

Peggy and me in the tiny plane!

Polychrome district

View from the plane

Mount Mather

Denali (Harper Glacier is in the notch between the two peaks)

Tiny little Cessna and pilot Jim

We landed at Skyline Lodge, had lunch there, then took the park bus back to the park entrance, where our car was parked. This link shows our bus ride (in reverse), but it also explains a bit about the polychrome mountains and the areas we saw and visited. We did see Wonder Lake and Reflection Lake (although no reflection). Along the way we saw moose, a mother bear and her two cubs, caribou (females with their young up on a glacier for protection), male caribou close to the road, Dall sheep way up on a cliff, snowshoe hare and possibly a lynx that was quick to run into the bushes. Our guide/driver didn't see the lynx, so he could only guess at what we saw based on our descriptions of it.

Moose on the loose!

Moose still loosed

Moose in hiding

Mama bear and two cubs

Mama bear in the center, cubs about a year old

We made a couple of stops along the park road, including at Eielson Visitor Center, where we could pick up moose antlers to see how heavy they are. Moose shed their antlers annually and they really are heavy! We couldn't pick  up the locked antlers. Those were found among the remains of two moose that got into a fight, got locked, and apparently starved to death when they could not free themselves.

The locked antlers at Eielson Visitor Center

A ground squirrel at Eielson

 After Eielson we were back on the park road. We saw a few more animals, including the caribou below. We saw mothers and their young higher up on the mountains on a glacier, but these males were down near the road, so easier to photograph.

Caribou near the road

More of the polychrome mountains

 We had dinner that evening at 49th State Brewing Company, which has locations in Anchorage and Healy, near the park. We ate at the Anchorage location June 16, but I think the Healy location was better. I had the yak burger that night. It was good!

Sign posts at 49th State Brewing Company in Healy

The morning of June 19 we were up early to tour Husky Homestead and learn about sled dogs and their training.

I have a new friend!

Puppies!

Sled dogs in training

An Iditarod sled used by Jeff King, owner of Husky Homestead

 Husky Homestead is owned by Iditarod champion Jeff King, so it was his staff that gave the tour. It was well done. I learned a lot about Alaskan huskies and the race and training. King wasn't there this time, unfortunately. He was on vacation. But I still got to play with puppies!
We drove back to Anchorage later that day with a stop for lunch in Talkeetna.

Talkeetna mountains

Talkeetna mountains

 My last full day in Alaska I was back  in Anchorage and on my own. My friends departed the night before to head home, so I toured more of downtown Anchorage and happened upon the Alaska Public Lands Information Center. It offered free interactive displays, some documentaries, and a walking tour of downtown public art.

As close as I want to get (and he's stuffed)

Another bear, but a safe one

Alaska was such an incredible trip. I could not have asked for a better adventure in The Last Frontier.