This morning after having breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to Exit Glacier. The only glacier in Alaska that you can actually drive to view. We took a long hike to the viewing area (3-ish miles) where we encountered some Japanese tourists playing some kind of flutes. They played what I assumed to be traditional Japanese music for their first set and then moved into more traditional American music for their second--rounding things off with a Christmas Medley transitioning into Yankee Doodle Dandy. Yes, this is serious. You cannot make stuff like this up.
After Exit Glacier, we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center where you can view harbor seals, sea lions, puffins, and various fish up close and personal. This place had little bit of a "zoo" feel to it which I didn't like but it was very interesting looking at the various displays and learning more about the aquatic life here in Alaska.
After the Alaska Sea Life Center, we drove up to Girdwood--home of The Alyeska Resort. The resort proved true to the hype and was absolutely gorgeous. The Blueberry Festival was going on in the valley behind the resort and we ate dinner there (you'll notice my dinner photo is not quite as magnificent as normal--hot dog and rootbeer, followed by Blueberry crisp and hot apple cider [not pictured]) and looked in all the artisan's booths. We took the tram to the top of the mountain and took several photos before coming down and hanging out a little while in our room. Around sunset, we took the tram to the top again to take a few more photos.
I'll leave you with one more photo that I took at the top of the tram station. Does this appear curious to anyone else. . .?
After Exit Glacier, we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center where you can view harbor seals, sea lions, puffins, and various fish up close and personal. This place had little bit of a "zoo" feel to it which I didn't like but it was very interesting looking at the various displays and learning more about the aquatic life here in Alaska. After the Alaska Sea Life Center, we drove up to Girdwood--home of The Alyeska Resort. The resort proved true to the hype and was absolutely gorgeous. The Blueberry Festival was going on in the valley behind the resort and we ate dinner there (you'll notice my dinner photo is not quite as magnificent as normal--hot dog and rootbeer, followed by Blueberry crisp and hot apple cider [not pictured]) and looked in all the artisan's booths. We took the tram to the top of the mountain and took several photos before coming down and hanging out a little while in our room. Around sunset, we took the tram to the top again to take a few more photos. I'll leave you with one more photo that I took at the top of the tram station. Does this appear curious to anyone else. . .?Tomorrow we are off to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park about 4 hours east of where we currently find ourselves. Eliot is super excited about seeing this park as there will be more glaciers and plenty of picture taking opportunities. The hotel (if you can call it that) if very remote and slightly horrifying; so, I am not banking on the internet access the desk clerk promised me. We'll see. More tomorrow night, I hope. . .
1 comment:
Make sure you check Eliot's gear for explosives. I can just see him trying to bring something back.
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