Alaska

We Traveled Every Road in Alaska to See the Wonders!
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Mt McKinley allowed Hanhan to join the 30% club!
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Hanhan beginning her Alaska adventure in style!
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Welcome to Denali Hanhan!
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Gary too!
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The motel lobby. Nice train car!
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Travelling the roads of Alaska, beauty awaits around each bend.
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Rock slides are a hazard around here. See the train track above this one?
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These are still blow the timberline. Nice and green.
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Hanhan with a frozen stream. Remember this is at the end of May!
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Taking in the sights, so much to see here.
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Nenana River Bridge
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Hanhan high above the glacial silt
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Silly rafter.
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After touching the freezing water, it was REALLY cold!
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Helicopter tour leaving. We did ours the old fashioned way. We walked!
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Raft launching ramp. Not for me!
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Hanhan had to walk until she was forgiven for farting in the car.
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Denali Visitors Center had lots of interesting displays.

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Early settlers cabin recreated inside the visitors center.

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Bronze sleeping grizzly. Lucky for Hanhan.
Caribou herd!
Strange cloud formations here in Alaska.
Careful of the ice ledge Hanhan!
Ptarmigan blending into the gravel trying to hide.
Our first moose sighting!
Look at it's 'beard'
Hanhan is scouting for more wild animals.
Mt McKinley from the back side. It's really rare to actually see it.
Mama and baby grizzlys!
Mama chasing baby
At mile 15, a magnificient canyon awaits.
Hanhan is going to climb this formation.
Heading up past the rocks.
A little higher, making progress.
Denali park scenery
More scenery

World famous Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn. Best bar in Alaska!

Land of the midnight sun!
At Santa Claus House. With Santa!
Santa's sleigh
Rudolph
Ruldolph and friends
Where are you Hanhan?
North Pole!
My favorite holiday!
Santa's little village
Hanhan and The Man!
He promised me a train!
Bear hug!
No carrots?
The Golden Heart City!
Trans Alaska Pipeline near Fairbanks
Pipeline pigs. Not Hanhan!
Engineering award for the man who designed the pipeline.
You can't feel anything being moved through the pipeline.
One of the many gold mines near Fairbanks. This one is still producing.
Golden Heart Park in downtown Fairbanks
Gary with eskimos
Along the Chena River

Our 10th Anniversary Dinner at Chena Pump House.
Hanhan loves King Crab Legs!

We're on the Dalton Highway, also known as the haul road.

The rollercoaster from Ice Road Truckers
Deadhorse doesn't sound good...
Yukon River bridge.
Crossing the mighty Yukon!
Wooden bridge, you have to drive very slow to cross. The pipeline is attached to the bridge too as you can see.
Our lunch (and dinner) spot!

A little gift shop run by a lady who lives up the Yukon.

Touching the murky Yukon
Flow river flow.
The Yukon River bridge. Looks a little rickety to me.
Hanhan and her mountain man, Jeremy.

These rocks are shoved up out of the permafrost.

The vast Arctic landscape.
We have reached our goal! The Arctic Circle!
Officially crossing the Arctic Circle witnessed by Alan, our tour driver/guide!
Which side is which?
Happy Arctic explorers!

Someone left this displayed here. Fatigue jacket, Bible, and American flag.
Very moving thing to find way out here on Memorial Day.

Gotta have lava cake with permafrost icing to celebrate our crossing!

Look at all the lichen, caribou food!
See how the pipeline zigzags heading up the mountain. See the permafrost protection on each pylon?
Welcome to the wonderful, spongy world of tundra!

Tundra berries

The ground here is very 'spongy' and has little lumps of soil that make it hard to walk across.
Vaping on the tundra, no menthol needed.

Wildwood General Store. They have built new outhouses since me, Linda, and my Mom were here.

That is white spruce. It isn't diseased, it just grows that way because of irritation, like an oyster and a pearl.
A random lake along side the Richardson highway.
Look at the purple wildflower, these grow all over during the few short months they have to live.
Those trees are likely 40-50 years old. Life is hard up here.
Assault landing strip with a hardened trooper in action.

Typical Alaskan scenery. Mountains, snow, water. Beautiful!

I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere.
Just seeing the sites...
Look at the scene, this is a bison area. Didn't see any though.
Rockslide and avalanche area. Do not stop!
Getting very high in the mountain range, look at the ice covered lake here.
Hanhan found the biggest National Park!
Native fishwheel, used to catch salmon. Still in use today in some places.
Fish house, store your catch here to keep it safe from bears.
Good example of moose antlers. These can weigh 60 pounds!
Eggs of the birds in the park.
From the back of the visitors center, you can see Mt Wrangell
Just a gorgeous place!
More roadside scenery.
Heading for Thompson Pass

Man, truck, snow covered mountains.

Look at the clouds hugging the peaks.
Worthington Glacier
The glacier came up to the side of the road 20 years ago. Now it is about 3 miles away.
There is a good viewing area here.
Mountains are playing peek-a-boo. Glad I'm not flying.
Look at the snow guides here!
Thompson pass. Always a treat to get through here.
Through the pass now, all downhill from here!
Ice caves.
Bridal Veil Falls
Horsetail Falls, look at the angle of the rock here.
Horsetail Falls
Hanhan reaches the falls, Keystone Canyon is a great area.
In our Valdez hotel's backyard.
The clouds never moved from that position and were there the next day.
Valdez harbor
Notice rule 5
The harbor is the end of the pipeline as it is ice free all year.
The Alaskan Oil terminal. Look at the size of the mountains!
I just liked this shot.
Another pretty shot
The rip in the ground here is from the Good Friday earthquake.
Avalanche at Thompson Pass
One of Hanhan's favorite shots.
Water rushing through Keystone Canyon
Moose shot from the SUV, nice scenery here.
Perfectly posed moose. Thanks Alaska tourism department!
Neither of us has ever said, "Hey let's go to the top"
Not once.
These little ponds are created by the permafrost melting a little. The water has no place to go so just stays.
Better example of permafrost melt.
We're going where?
Ice field, glacier, and tongue.
Look at the blue glacier ice.
The end of the glacier, see the moraine?
Stunning scenery
Look at the sharp peak behind Hanhan. Black spruce says permafrost up here.
Mining history on display in Sutter.
Beluga Point on the Kenai Peninsula
The timberline here looks like it was cut with a knife.
The fjords.
Snowy mountain on the sea
Mudflats here are very dangerous due to the extreme tides they have.
Our last destination on this journey.
A male, look at the horns!
Bye Mr Moose!
There's his girlfriend. Moose Creek was well named!
Mosying into the woods. Didn't move fast, just kind of faded away.
Dog sled in downtown Seward. Part of the Iditarod
Snowmelt runs clear, glacial melt is murky with silt. This is a great example of both.
The Exit Glacier. The name comes from it being the exit point from the Harding icefield for the first expedition to cross the icefield.
Gotta have a picture with a glacier before they all melt away.
Last National Park on the journey. Sad to be coming to a close.
Glacial outwash area.
Exit glacier and it's moraine. You can see the icefield from here.
Heading to the glacier for closer inspection.
You can certainly see where the glacier has been
The white rope is where the glacier was 2 years ago. You could stand here and touch it.
Not a good place to stand as the galcier moves 2 inches daily. If you are caught under it, there is nothing you can do.
Happy to be here, it was surprisingly cold right here due to the wind coming from the glacier
The business end of the glacier.
More moose!
Hanhan and the snowy mountains surrounding Cook Inlet
Just a wonderful view of Cook Inlet
Goodbye Alaska!

At least they're honest. Great Alaskan Tourist Trap!

Reindeer Sausage

Tia's Reindeer Sausage stand. Delicious!

Heading home at the end of our very fun journey. Happy 10th anniversary!