More of Alaska, Finally

Okay, so lets see... where did I leave off?

(I don't know why there are two pictures... I can't get the other one off... oops... and notice how tired we look, it's because there is a four hour time difference from Virginia, and so... 8 pm is really like midnight back at home. We had a hard time adjusting. )

After we went ATVing, we went to a dinner theatre... it wasn't the best food, but it was good and the show was mighty entertaining, at least I thought so. It was interesting to learn that in Alaska in the state parks, they celebrate Christmas on August 25th because they were snowed in and sang Christmas carols by the fire the night before... they just felt the Christmas spirit and the next day shared gifts. So, as we walked around Denali, we noticed that there were Christmas decorations and Christmas sales. I mean how could we not notice... this is in one of the shops. :)

The next day, we left Denali (after we did some shopping, ate a terrible breakfast for $28 dollars- it was buffet style, but they didn't offer too much, and had lunch and ice cream at two different shops. The food was sooo expensive there!) Oh no! I almost forgot... before all of the stuff that we went white water rafting!!

I can't believe I nearly forgot that... it was the first time that I had gone and it was so much fun! Jeff and I got to be the people in the front. I was kind of scared but Jeff is all about adventure- so I went with it. Our guide was really nice and funny and we had a blast. At one point, I nearly fell out of the raft, but luckily I didn't. At one point, we were able to get out so Jeff and I got out and into the water. It was freezing!! It's a glacier fed river, so you can probably imagine how cold it was. When I put my hands in, they seized up it was so cold. I didn't put my head in, but Jeff did. He's crazy! We were on the raft with a bunch of older people from Australia. They were hil-ar-ious!!! I loved being on there with them and was convinced that we were with the best group. We told them how lucky they were because they had us, lucky charms, on the raft with them. Why were we lucky charms, well because... I guess I forgot to mention this, too... but we went on a bus tour, which was great. We were hoping to see more animals closer up, but we did see some bears, golden brown bear and a brown brown bear, lots of dall sheep, rams, and we saw a linx and two of her little kittens- which is a very, very rare sight. They are the biggest cat that they have in Alaska and they are very shy, but they walked right in front of our bus. They were really cute. We were lucky because we got to see them. We were also lucky because apparently only about ten people who come to Alaska get to see the top of Mount Mckinley because it's usually clouded over... but we got to see it. It was perfectly clear and beautiful. Again, we were lucky charms.

So back to the white water trip. Someone mentioned how lucky the group was that went on the bus tour the day before was because they got to see a linx. And we explained to them that we were on that trip and that they were lucky to have us with them. They all agreed, of course. They loved having us as well... we were young, still newly-weds. :)

Okay, so then we headed back to Talkeetna and decided to stay at the Blue Moon Cabin again because we loved it so. We just walked around town, tried some herbal tea for the first time (Blach!) and enjoyed staying there. We went to Sky High Pizza and Jeff got a pizza with Caribou sausage. I just got a tomato basil pizza which was yummy.

The next day we headed to Anchorage. We first went on a horse-back ride that was 2-hours long through the woods and hills. It was beautiful and so fun! I loved my horse, Doc. It kept trying to eat, haha... and then would have to trot a little to catch up, which I didn't mind. It was very particular horse. Jeff's horse, which was in front of mine, was very easily agitated by Doc. He kept putting his head back and sort of grunting at my horse or would stomp his feet. He would not let Doc get in front of him... the horses knew which order they should be in. It was neat to watch their interactions with each other.

After horse back riding, we went to our hotel, showered and got read to go to the temple, which was beautiful. The stake center was right by the temple (they shared a parking lot) and it was bigger than the temple. Can you believe that? The temple really was beautiful and I was so glad that we got to go. The flowers there were gorgeous. Seriously, Alaska has some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. The colors are just so vibrant and gorgeous.

The next day, we went to Whittier to take a day cruise and see some glaciers. The little town only has about 350 people. They all live in that little town in one sort of hotel building and work there. There is a one way 2 mile tunnel to get in and out and runs on a schedule. We got there earlier, so we were able to walk around and check out the shops and such. One lady explained how she's been there for something like 20 years. I asked if she ever got bored, but she seemed to love living in that secluded environment. She said that usually if there was anybody that she didn't like, they didn't stay too long, so she didn't have to worry about it much.

On the cruise, we were able to see tons of birds (ha!), sea otters (which are the cutest creatures alive) and some other animal, right now I can't remember. :( The glaciers were beautiful!!! Absolutely beautiful. It's amazing to me that there can be colors that I had never seen before. That blue, I don't even know what to call it, except for "glacier blue" is just phenominally beautiful. What a treat.

We had king crab cakes and rolls and veggies for lunch and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. It was freezing outside!! This was the only day that we were there (our last day) that it started raining... but they said that's the best time to see the glaciers in all their glory. See? Another perfect part of our trip. We truly were blessed to have such a perfect trip.

Well, folks that's pretty much it! It was a wonderful, wonderful trip. I'd highly recommend it. The people are nice, the scenery is beautiful, it's just amazing.