Alaska: Anchorage

Alaska: DAY ONE

We landed in Anchorage about 2:30 pm after a 6 hour flight. You know "the looks" people give you when they see your small kids as you are making your way down the aisle of public
transportation. You know what's playing through their heads "Oh no, please don't sit near me!"
Well, it wasn't bad considering traveling with a toddler and 8 month old. I think people on the plane next to us were pleasantly surprised with Ava and Isaac's behavior. At least a few travelers made it a point to give us positive feedback after we landed :)
lol
Also note: the flight on the way back home was only around 4 hours (with a tail wind).

Anyway, the first thing we did after picking up our rental car was driving right to Walmart to get a car seat for Ava. We got one for $45.00 (the car rental place was going to charge us $230.00). Can you believe that??? For a safety feature that you NEED! Aaarrgghh.

Anyway, since it was still afternoon and we had the evening to sightsee, we drove the Seward Highway about 25 miles right next to the ocean and stopped at some overlooks. It had recently rained so the clouds surrounded the mountain peaks. It was still a beautiful sight. Pictures don't do it justice (you know how that is).


These photos were taken at Beluga Whale Point. We didn't see any whales at this time in the choppy water but we did see them on the way back through on this highway on day 18 (photos later).

It was definately Fall in Alaska. We came prepared for all types of weather of course ;)

Here is what a Beluga Whale looks like.

Next, we drove down to Bird Creek, a popular place where man & bear share their passion for fishing for salmon in the spawning season.

Luckily, for these anglers - there wasn't a bear there. Today, anyway. lol

There was a great little forested nature trail that paralled the stream that we decided to hike.

There were a lot of cool fungi around..........

It took us to this old boiler tank, a remnant of an old steam-powered sawmill. We still had a good view of the fisherman from this trail. I was keeping my eyes and ears open for bears. lol

We enjoyed the sights and sounds for a while. It was only the first day in Alaska - we were highly impressed and excited :)

We drove back to Anchorage to find our motel. It didn't get dark that night until about midnight. Even then, it wasn't "dark." At 10:00 pm it felt like 5:00 in Nevada. lol. Crazy. We pulled the blinds and still got a good nights sleep. We were pretty tired from all the traveling. We had a full days drive ahead of us to Fairbanks the next day (where Bryan's Isotopes Conference was located).