Hiking the Seward Highway

By Alaska standards we have been enjoying some amazing weather.  So we thought we would try a hike in the hills along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet on Sunday.  As you can see, it was beautiful.

Kayaking in Whittier

These skirts are the newest fad in Alaska.
Would anyone like us to take one home for them?

Fellow traveling nurses, Seth and Vickie, invited us to go kayaking today. We could not have asked for nicer weather. Vickie and I were convinced that we were going to get cold on the frigid water. Alaska proved us wrong! I was close to getting out my bathing suit...

Kurt's Birthday!

My birthday started just like anybody else's...with an hour long, 25 clue, treasure hunt, that my wonderful wife set up for me to find my birthday gift.  It probably would've taken a normal person only a few minutes to complete the treasure hunt, but it took me forever!

 

We went out for dinner and drinks with some new friends and ended the day with another beautiful sunset.

Alaskan Sunset

 

Keep in mind, this picture was taken well after 11:00 PM just outside the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

I dodged the moose

 I went for a walk by myself tonight... all of the books say NOT to do that because a person by them self is more likely to startle the moose or the bears. I contemplated just talking to myself the entire time but decided that I might look a little crazy. Instead, I took the opportunity to talk on the phone. One can never pass up that opportunity!!

 

The view from my walk... the Cook inlet and the Tordrillo mountains in the background

We found a home!

Although the Extended Stay Hotel was good to us, we were thankful to say goodbye to the bad smells and close quarters and find a new place.

Our new place is clean and in an ok neighborhood (which is hard to find in Anchorage)

The address is: 

3269 Montpelier Ct. 

Anchorage, AK 99503

Day trip to Seward

Seward Harbor

 

To celebrate our birthdays we went on a cruise of the Kenai Fjords National Park.

 

We saw an assortment of animals including Doll's Porpoise, Horned Puffins, Otters, and these guys, the Sea Lions.

 

Kenai Fjords National Park is home to at least 38 glaciers, including this huge tidewater glacier.

 

Still see the boat on the bottom left side of the glacier?  Yeah, its big.

 

We also got to see 30-40 whales on our tour.  We saw an assortment of Humpback and Orca (Killer Whale).  Some of them came so close we thought they would touch the boat.

Happy Birthday Trisha!

 

Happy Birthday Trisha!  Trish turns 26 years old today, so for 11 days, at least, she is 2 years older (and wiser) than Kurt.

Trying to be happy

We have not had the easiest time once arriving to Anchorage. Our travel company failed to find housing for us so we are stuck in an extended stay hotel until they find something. We have spent most of the day looking for housing and no one seems to want us to live in their house! It is frustrating to be sure

Our bikes needed a good bath after traveling so far. Good thing we are staying in a hotel so we don't have to clean up after ourselves!!

Anchorage

Today we went for a walk along the Cook Inlet. It was almost 60 degrees and sunny. 

Downtown Anchorage

Mt. McKinley in the distance

Alaska Highway... it never ends

The Alaska Highway is hard to describe. The never ending impressive view along with the never ending road makes the Alaska Highway unforgettable. We traveled a total of 3,986 miles in 5 days. 

To entertain ourselves, we counted animals

25 Elk/Caribou (we can't tell the difference), 3 Bears, 3 Porcupines, 4 Stone Sheep, 4 Wild Horses, 

23 Buffalo, 5 Moose, 2 Bald Eagles

We saw endless amounts of deer and birds.

Thankfully we only looked at these animals rather than hit them! 

The Alaska Highway

 

Today we started on the most famous portion of our trip, the portion called the "Alaskan Highway."  It used to be called the "Alcan" highway.  It starts in Dawson Creek, BC and ends in Fairbanks, AK.

 

This is a portion of the "Old Alaskan Highway."  It's a pretty good thing we didn't have to travel all this distance on a road like that.  The road was built in the early forties and was not completely paved until 1992.

 

Most of the road that we have traveled on looks similar to this one.  If you look closely you can see snow capped Rocky Mountains off in the distance.  (we'll be crossing over those in the morning)

half way there

After spending the first night with Trisha's cousin Jill and her husband Brandon in Minneapolis, we made it to our halfway point (i.e. 2,000 miles traveled).  We celebrated by spending the night in the car about an hour east of Edmonton, AB.

We are off to ... Alaska

 

Our patience paid off... we left for Alaska Sunday morning. 

We are planning on the 4,000 mile journey taking us about a week.