I have been wanting to write all about my adventures in
Alaska, but I wanted to be able to put up pictures with it as well…and my crazy
life has allowed me no time, until today, to be able to go through all
934 pictures that I took while there! Don’t worry…I narrowed it down to 74 to
put on here…(but then I added a few more as I was writing about everything…)
I had so much fun in Alaska. It was amazing.
I actually just heard someone last night talking to someone
else and asking why in the world anyone would want to go to Alaska for
vacation…
And I laughed =]
When I went on my trip…really the main reason was because I
wanted to see my best friend because I had been away from her for over a year
and a half…and also I was hoping to see some wild bears…(which I saw plenty of
in zoos…but none in the wild =[ )
But now that I am back home…I can give you hundreds of
reasons why EVERYONE should go visit Alaska at one time or another in their
life.
It is just breath-taking.
So where shall I begin…
First of all...this is Molly...my incredible friend who I went to visit in Alaska...
Now...lets start with the very first thing I saw of Alaska…
Looking out of the window on the plane the first thing I saw
was what looked like a beach! There was this really massive area with what
looked like sand with water on top of it, like the tide had just rolled out. Of
course being a Cali girl I was shocked to see so much of a beach in Alaska.
Until I asked the lady sitting next to me (who was from Alaska) if that was
beach and she gave me the weirdest look; “Uh…if that’s what you want to call it…”
haha “But you don’t want to walk out on that stuff” and that’s all she said.
Haha…later my friend told me that those areas are called mudflats (maybe I’m
just oblivious…lol but I am not sure I had ever seen mudflats like these) It is
a stretch of land that is a mixture of mud, silt and clay that has been brought
in by the tide and then left uncovered…so it looks like this really big beach
area…but it is actually extremely dangerous. If you try to walk out on it, it
can pull you down within minutes and I heard so many stories while I was there
about people trying to walk out on them and they just get pulled under like
quicksand and die…
So of course I had to see it for myself and when my friend
and I rode our bikes down to the coast I stepped onto the mudflats with one
foot and my foot immediately started sinking down into the ground! It was
pretty crazy…
So this is what the mudflats look like on the ground…
Then I saw marshes…everywhere…that looked like this, except
I was seeing it from the plane…
It’s kind of similar with the marshes…there will be areas
where it looks like it’s just forest and you can go walking in it…but really
it’s a huge body of water underneath all of the plants! It’s so pretty…
I think my plane got in around 1 in the morning…and of
course it was still perfectly visible outside…though it was rainy and foggy…but
it was just perfect to me.
So the first day we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation
Center…which is kind of a zoo…
Then we went to the Forest Fair in Girdwood…lots of mountain people and hippies...haha...sooo fun!
mmmmm….crab eggs benedict…heaven.
Then we HAD to get coffee and go to the mall…haha…what can I
say…it’s just what we do!
…attractive…I know.
Honestly…the next few days were somewhat of a blur…haha but
only because I cannot remember what all we did on what days…
But here is what I DO remember:
We went to the farmers market and I met a bear!!!
We went to another zoo in Anchorage!
And saw Jacob Black and the pack...
We ate…and had coffee…more than several times…
We went bike riding on the coastal trail…
Which, apparently my family owns...
We went horseback riding with a cowboy named Ben!
We took a road trip up north to Denali, where we stayed in a
cabin over night and went ATVing, white water rafting, and went to a
restaurant/bar called the Salmon Bake…where we met the funniest people
ever…unfortunately I did not get a picture of our new best friend Ross…he was the
bar manager at the Salmon Bake and he gave me some pretty hilarious…yet extremely
applicable advice…haha…(he may have been a little influenced by
alcohol…)
The ATV tour guys made fun of me because I wore my rain
boots but dodged all of the puddles…so I stood in the river...
Before we went rafting...
Silly Alaska signs...
It is true...the mosquitoes there are HUGE. They are as big as our flies here!!
And on the drive home we saw a moose in the wild!!!
Well…several of them!
The next day we took a train down south to Seward…
And saw a glacier...
And an Eagles nest with the mom and little baby eagles in it (in
the very center of the below picture)!
We went bike riding in Seward…
And went to an aquarium where they had puffins!!!
We also went to a coffee/laundromat place!! It was really
cute…
The next day we went to a reindeer farm near Chugiak and I fed
reindeer and kissed a moose!!! Haha…well…I fed him a carrot with my mouth…it’s
not weird. It’s cute.
Then we went to the Bear Paw festival in Chugiak, where we listened
to live music and ate REINDEER sausage!!! It was a tiny bit sad that we had just got done feeding reindeer and then we ate one…a tiny bit sad…
and got more coffee…
So that was kind of it in a nutshell…we ate a lot…laughed a
lot…cried a little…but mostly – we explored (and drank a whole lotta coffee)!
It was so incredible and I cannot wait to be able to visit
again…but it really made me want to visit so many other places in the world
too!
I feel so blessed to have been able to go to Alaska and go
on all of those adventures and meet all of the fun people I met! It really is
so beautiful and I know that my time there was definitely a gift from God, and
it came at the perfect time!
Alright…now back to reality…
