Alaska Trip

Our trip to Alaska was a such a nice laid back time. At first it takes a while to get used to the light at night, it makes you stay up way past your usual bedtime. We'd stay up late, not getting to bed until 1:00am and then I'd wake up at my usual 6:30am. So I'd put my pillow over my head and try and force myself to sleep some more. I was actually reading by the campfire without needing any extra light at 11:30 at night.
We enjoyed so many things along the way, the Iditerod Trail history was pretty cool, it made you want to get a sled dog team and learn to train and run them. I think it would be a lot of fun.
We really enjoyed Chena Hot Springs, they have it looking so natural with a gravel bottom and boulders all around, it was really beautiful and the water was great! A moose came down the mountian and drank out of a creek right beside the hotsprings while we were in it.
Also, at the hotsprings is the Ice Museum...it was cool, pun fully intended...20 degrees. Everything in there is carved from ice, the fireplace, several bedrooms, shower, bathroom, ect... also a lot of carvings, railings, a bar where we were served an apple martini out of a martini glass made from ice. Afterwards, we decided to take another dip in the hotsprings! We would love to go back there in March when you can sit in the Hotsprings and watch the Arora Borealis. They tell us that a lot of Japanese people are there at that time because many of them have a belief that if their child is conceived under the northern lights the child will be blessed or stronger or gifted or something.
The next highlight of our trip was Talkeetna, where we got on a "flagstop" train. You buy your ticket and tell the conducter where you want to get off and then when you want to go back you have to flag the train down by waving something white. But, the train only makes the run once a day, so we decided that if we could find a good camping spot and are able to scrounge up enough firewood to keep us through the night we would stay in the woods and catch the train back the next day.

Well, it took us two or three hours to gather enough firewood, but we did, so we camped in a lovely spot on the Indian River. Didn't sleep much for keeping the fire going so we could stay warm, you see we didn't take a tent, but made a makeshift shelter with our emergency blankets to reflect the fire's heat. We did take food in our backpacks and coffee making stuff. We took a great water filter that we bought at Sportsman's Warehouse so we could refill our water bottles from the rivers. We were a little dissapointed that we didn't see any bears. Before we got off the train, the train had stopped three times because of bears beside the railroad tracks. Twice it was a black bear and once it was a grizzley sow with last years cub. Bill had bought a new gun just for this trip, not that we wanted to be in a position that you have to have it out with a bear, but better safe than sorry. He bought a Ruger 44Magnum, I think it is actually called a Ruger Alaskan, it's made especially for bear protection, especially with the right ammo, it's stainless steel for the weather with only a 2 1/2 inch barrel so it stays out of your way when you're fishing and hiking. We went to the shooting range to shoot it before we left... I'll tell you what, it has quite a kick and it's very loud, I would hate to have to shoot it without ear protection and you have to hang on with both hands!

Another cool thing to see was the Alaskan Pipeline. It's huge! It covers a lot of territory and it was built in just 4 years with round the clock crews.
We saw a lot of moose and wolverines while driving. We watched quite a few busy beavers, alaska's waters seem to be full of beavers.
Hope you enjoyed the "report" , there is so much to do there and see, that you really have to pick and choose when you have limited time.....until next time-I love you all and miss you....Mom AKA Leslie, Ruthie, Grandma
p.s. I'll put together a slide show with more picts soon.