Our first day in Alaska

We arrived in Alaska yesterday evening. It is very beautiful here. Words can’t really describe all the beautiful scenery and the pictures don’t do it justice. But everywhere you look is scenic. The weather has been perfect so far – sunny and high 60s. We made a trip to Wal-Mart to find some things we couldn’t pack (matches and such). Wal-Mart was much like we’re used to. The merchandise was a little different. The sporting goods area had lots of fishing, hiking, camping, and boating gear. There were toboggans and winter gloves in the clothing section – in August! Prices were comparable to the lower 48 except soft drinks seemed to very high ($9 for 24 pack).

On the plane, the guy sitting next to me started talking to us about Anchorage. He got married near Anchorage last year, so he started telling us all the places to visit while we were here. He even emailed us the info he sent out for his wedding guests explaining where to eat, where to stay, and things to do. He was very kind! His name is Genji.

This morning we were woken by a blaring fire alarm at 6am. Luckily it was 10am eastern time, so we weren’t totally groggy. But we were still sleeping when it went off. We put on shoes and a fleece and headed downstairs. We were on the 11th floor so we walked down all those stairs. We never smelled smoke and most other people didn’t either. Everyone was moving slow, so we were hoping there wasn’t a real fire.

We got outside and it was a little chilly for your PJs! Even with a fleece we were a little cold. It was probably in the low 50s. There was one guy with a shirt on but a towel around his waist. One lady was saying she wanted to just come right down but her husband made her put on pants and shirt. We were glad because we could see the skirt of her nighty hanging out over her pants. And there were several military guys who must have been in the middle of breakfast because they brought their plates with them!

We stood there for about 30 minutes and decided we couldn’t wait any longer to pee. Luckily James had brought his wallet and keys and his handy dandy phone helped us find the nearest McDonald’s. There was a teenager sleeping at one of the tables (no food at his table). A guy came in with his tall hound dog, ordered his breakfast and went upstairs (with the dog) to eat. When we got back to the hotel, everyone was back inside. While waiting for the elevator, we saw another family in their PJs with McDonald’s cups so we weren’t the only one at McDonald’s that morning in our PJs.

After getting ready, we finally left for the day. We started toward Seward with plans to make many stops at scenic spots along the Seward highway (thanks to help from Genji). The drive was the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken. For most of the drive, there were mountains and water on the right side of the road and more mountains on the left side. We stopped at Potter Marsh, Beluga Point, Bird Creek, Mount Alyeska in Girdwood, and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center then to Seward.

At Bird Creek, we saw lots of people fishing for silver salmon. It was like fishing in a barrel! When most people put their line in the water they had a fish in 2-3 casts. You could see the salmon in the water, but the water is kind of gray from all the glacier silt, so the pictures probably won’t show them.

At Mount Alyeska, we took a tram to the top of the mountain. The view from the top was beautiful. This is a ski resort in the winter.

At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, we saw a porcupine, musk ox, moose, brown bears eating the leg of a large animal, wood bison, elk, baby moose (getting fed with bottles), plains bison and a black bear. There was also a bald eagle in a cage. These animals were rescued from the wild and cannot return for some reason. For example, the baby moose get separated from their mothers sometimes (by fences, predators, etc.). Without their mothers, the moose cannot survive in a typical wild area, so they stay here in protected lands.

Seward is a really neat harbor town. Our hotel room looks out onto the harbor. There is a huge cruise ship there and lots of fishing boats. Tomorrow we will go sea kayaking!

View pictures from today