Alaska2018

The fog lifted with perfect timing.  Today, we took a discovery tour with Kenai Fjords Tours into the northwest glacier area of Kenai Fjords National Park.  It was a beautiful day for a 9 hour tour.  The seas were calm and none of our family struggled with any nausea or sea sickness, thankfully! We saw incredible scenery - waterfalls, alpine and sea glaciers, a bald eagle, seals, sea lions, otters, Dall sheep, Dall porpoises, puffins, and humpback whales.  We saw the baleen of one humpback up close - it had accidentally tried to swallow a bird, and as it released the bird from itself, we got quite the show of humpback oral anatomy!  The crew all cam to see as they had never seen anything like it.  Yes, there will be photos at a later date. At the northwest glacier, the captain anchored us for about 30 minutes,mourned off the engine and we experienced all the sights and -sounds- of an actively calving glacier!  Amazing! My parents, our son, and their ca...

We overslept after a long evening of sightseeing and aurora hunting.  But, we still managed to see the famed Antique Auto Museum and the Ice museum before heading south toward Denali. This unique museum features magnificently restored antique automobiles and the restored period clothing to go with them! There is a dress up area and one car to sit in for photos.  The whole family got dressed up and photos were many.  Aliza was our costume manager. The ladies. The gentlemen. One Ken uploads the the big camera, there are photos of the parents and grandparents as well. Next up was the Fairbanks Ice Museum.  There was a 20 minute film about the International Ice Sculpture competition held in Fairbanks each March, followed by a opportunity to get up close and personal to some display pieces, followed by a short demonstration of ice sculpting.  This place was a try one man show.  We purchased our tickets from Andy, who started the film, then he helped everyone on ...