Skip to main content

Visiting Alaska! Part 1

When Scott and I celebrated our 25th anniversary by visiting several Southern states, we decided to visit Alaska for our 30th.  Our goal was to visit all 50 states and that was going to be our last one.  So last week, we did it!

We left early Friday morning, arriving in Anchorage about 11am.  We used Turo to rent a little Chevy Sprint hoping for better gas mileage.  That afternoon we rented a tandem bike in downtown Anchorage and rode about 22 miles on a coastal trail that was quite pleasant.


Afterwards, we bought some groceries, had dinner, drove to our Airbnb and then went to the Anchorage LDS temple.


On Saturday morning, we drove to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula and did a boat cruise through Major Marine Tours.  It was pricey but I think it was worth it.  We were able to see a lot of really cool sights including lots of wildlife and an active tidal glacier.  Before the boat tour we did a little walk around an old park with cool vegetation including this large uprooted tree.




Bald eagle.  



Humpback whale.  We didn't see a lot of the body but we did see his tail at one point.

Seals

Seals at the bottom of the glacier.


Scott in front of the "active tidewater glacier".  I don't know if we saw real calving of the glacier but we saw a few avalanches.

Seals on ice floes


It's a little tricky to see him but there's a black and white puffin flying through the air in the lower left quadrant of the picture.  We saw a lot of little puffins but it was hard to get a good picture since they're so small and fast.

I think this bird was a cormorant.  We saw lots of birds who make their living from the water--about 5% of all birds do this.

Sea lions--this might have been my favorite.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Hansen Family Reunion 2026, Wednesday and Thursday

 We had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake! In total, there were 93 of us there with 11 missing--our biggest yet! We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up a little bit. Here are some pictures. My goal was to get a picture of everyone, so if you don't see a picture of yourself, keep scrolling. Also, more individuals coming on the post for Friday. Sorry for the weird angles on some of them. Michelle made dinner the first night, chicken and vegetables with Michelle's specialty--lots of sides and plenty of leftovers. After dinner and clean-up, we had a FHE lesson outside on the lawn with Melanie in charge of the lesson after a few raucous songs. The newest addition to the family, #103. On Thursday morning, Kent and Melanie chaired breakfast with eggs and sausage and plenty for everyone. The cook with his breakfast sandwich: After breakfast, some of the group went rock-climbing, courtesy of Everett, David, and Susanna while more people went on a hike--the Limber Pine Hike....

Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month.  My reason is that we have been super busy.  At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant.  We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014.  We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town.  Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night.  It was fun to reconnect if only briefly.  The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family.  That was also fun but short.  We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off.  We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...