Home > Living a Better LIFE > Archives > 2009 > September > 02 > Entry
Alaska Uncovered
I didn’t mean to lie.
I wrote a blog in July about my wonderful trip to Alaska to participate in a half marathon, the first big race I have ever done. As I mentioned in that blog, I stayed after the race and explored Alaska on my own for a week. I meant to share some of my experiences much sooner than this, but time got away from me.
The week traveling around Alaska by car was amazing. I saw so many things I wanted to see and even more I had never considered. Here are a few of the highlights.
After the race, I left the area around Anchorage and traveled about 240 miles north to Denali National Park. This huge park covers almost 9,500 square miles of Alaska’s interior and contains Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America.
There are several ways to see the park, but I chose a shuttle bus that drives you about six hours in and turns around at a place called Wonder Lake. When the shuttle pulled up in front of the visitor’s center at 6:15 a.m., it turned out to be an old school bus. My first thought was, “Where do you go to the bathroom if the trip lasts 12 hours round trip?” (Give me a break, it was really early!) I needn’t have worried; the bus made stops every few hours for bathroom and stretch breaks.
We passed mountains, valleys, streams and tons of wildlife. Each time someone spotted an animal, he or she would yell, “Stop,” the bus came to a halt and the cameras started snapping. I was so pleased with all the animals we were able to photograph, including moose, a lynx, a fox being chased by a magpie, sheep, ground squirrels (they look like prairie dogs with bushy tails), a golden eagle and several bears. The most exciting moment was seeing a mother bear and her two cubs cross in front of the bus and walk into the hills. Oh, I forgot to mention the plentiful presence of the state bird, mosquitoes (A joke I heard many times growing up in Texas).
After Denali, I drove about 350 miles south to the Kenai Peninsula and the port town of Seward. There are plenty of outdoor activities to choose from in Seward, but I was operating under some time and budget constraints. While I didn’t try them, I heard some wonderful stories about sea fishing, dog sledding and flight seeing.
After arriving in Seward, I visited Exit Glacier, which is one of 40 glaciers spawned by the Harding Icefield. Exit Glacier is notable because it terminates on land and you can drive to a nearby visitor’s center and hike to it relatively easily. Standing at the tip of that huge mass of ice and touching it is sure to make anybody feel small.
The next day I took an all-day cruise that explored the coastline of the Kenai Fjords National Park. Again, wildlife was a big part of the scenery. We had sightings of orcas, black bears, sea lions and horned puffins. All this was set against a backdrop of mountains, fjords and glaciers. We visited the Holgate Glacier and listened in silence as the pieces of it broke off in the water, or calved. The pieces looked small, but the cracking sound reverberated against the walls of the fjord.
Obviously, I saw much more than I can fit in this blog, but these were some of the moments that stood out the most to me. Alaska is a vast and beautiful land, and I know I was only able to see a fraction of the wonders it has to offer. Still, I feel like I had a wonderful introduction to the state and look forward to the day when I can return and explore more of it.
Do you have a vacation memory from this summer you think people will enjoy? Share your thoughts by commenting here or e-mail me at lmcfarland@coxnc.com.
Comments