The Fox Adventure

It has been two months since my parents trip up to Alaska and I am just now finding the time to blog about it. We closed on our house during the end of their trip and a week later I started my school year. It has been a crazy two months. So I apologize for just now posting. We had a wonderful 10 days with my parents, but I am just going to hit the highlights.

Thanksgiving 2015 I told my parents that I was moving 4,000 miles away. I was expecting some sadness and disappointment, but I only got excitement and pure joy. I’m sure there was a little sadness, knowing that we would miss more Thanksgivings, Christmas, birthdays and so much more. I am sure there was a little of that in their hearts, but they did not show that towards us. We received full support and true happiness as we embarked on a new journey. In fact, in between roasting a turkey and making gravy my dad looked up flights to Alaska and started planning a visit to see us.

A plan was hatched before we even started our adventure to The Last Frontier, dad was going to send mom up the first week of August to help us get settled. My parents were getting ready to celebrate their 30th Anniversary on August 1st. It has always been a dream of my parents to visit Alaska, but they decided to rebuild their barn that they lost almost 8 years ago for their anniversary instead. However, my dad found a way to make it happen and they both ended up making their first trip to Alaska.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast left a lot to be desired. It had rained the whole week before they arrived and there was even more rain in the forecast. I had planned to take it easy the first day to allow my parents to recover from jet lag, but it was going to be the nicest day of their trip. So we laced up our hiking boots and climbed a mountain.

Mt. Baldy is less than 4 miles from our house, with great views of Eagle River and it is a moderate 2-mile hike (if you stay on the path). Andrew stayed at home to flip his schedule (he was currently working night shift), so the navigation was up to me. I hiked the mountain before with some friends but we went straight up the front of the mountain. I was told about an easier path that brings you up the back of the mountain, that was the plan.. until I took a left when we should have taken a right. My sweet, innocent mother may have been cursing my name the whole time up the mountain. The views were worth it.

My mother is the only person who would find a farm to visit while in Alaska -and a musk ox farm at that. A musk ox is a prehistoric looking animal, it is truly an Ice-Age relic. They are from the Pleistocene Era. They originated on the tundra of central Siberia and later entered North America over the Bering Land Bridge. My mother was truly in her element.

One of my favorite parts of our trip is when we explored around Girdwood and Portage. We went down that way to visit The Alaska Conservation Center – which I wouldn’t recommend. When there are so many opportunities to see wildlife in their natural habitat – why would I want to see them in a pen? After we got some lunch, we explored Girdwood and found a trail to Virgin Creek Falls. It truly felt like we were in a rain forest. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home and my phone died shortly into the hike. After all the rain we have had lately, the falls were so powerful. We marveled at the power of water. It was such a breathtaking short hike.

Seward, Alaska is located on the Kenai Peninsula. It’s named after William Seward who’s famous for negotiating to purchase Alaska from Russia.

Mom and I spoke prior to their trip about what they wanted to see – there is so much to do around here. My parents are planning on coming up every summer while we are up here – so we decided to stay closer to Anchorage this time and plan for a bigger trip next summer. I did want to take them down to Seward, AK and take a glacier cruise. After a little mix up with our dog boarding – which put us behind a day, we were on our way to Seward. We got there early in the afternoon to fog and sprinkles.

After a hearty lunch at Seward Brewing Company, we made our way to Exit Glacier – which has trails that allow you to walk very close to a glacier. Exit Glacier is part of the Harding Ice Field which is located in Kenai Mountains, part of the Kenai Fjords National Park. As we walked along the 1.5-mile path we were amazed at how far the glacier has retreated.

After we hiked Exit Glacier checked into our hotel and found another trail to explore: Tonsina Creek Trail. As we started the hike it was just starting to sprinkle, within twenty minutes it was downpouring. My mother is usually a very chatty person, so you know she is irritated when she goes silent. This happened for a good twenty minutes. Andrew and I even had a conversation about calling it a wash and heading back to the hotel. Up to this point, we weren’t seeing anything – we were on a gravel drive surrounded by trees. I later come to find out my mother was cursing my name in her head again – still think she is this sweet, innocent lady? Well, I am so happy we kept on going! We ended up curving down the side of the mountain and out into an inlet. It was so foggy that we couldn’t see across the bay, but we saw otters playing in the waves of the beach and a pair of bald eagles with their juvenile baby. I wasn’t able to take too many pictures: 1. it was so foggy outside, there wasn’t much to see 2. I was trying to keep my camera dry. We were able to jump across a creek (some of us were unsuccessful – so we also had wet feet) to get a closer look at the eagles and the beach. As we were walking back a bald eagle flew over mom and dad’s head.

As I went to bed that night, I prayed for sunshine so we could enjoy our cruise.

Answered prayers.

We woke up to foggy weather but shortly into our cruise the sun broke through the clouds and it was gorgeous. We took a 6 hour glacier cruise through Major Marine Tours. This was a fantastic experience. The wildlife viewing on this trip was quite incredible. We saw bald eagles, puffins, sea lions, seals, otters, some mountain goat, and on our way back to Seward multiple humpback whales (but my camera died). The coastline and trip were beautiful, we saw multiple glaciers including Bear and Aialik Glaciers from a distance but we drove right up to Holgate Glacier where we witnessed calving of the glacier. The sound of the ice breaking off and landing in the water sounds like thunder and is quite an experience to see in person.

Rule of thumb, listen to your husband when he sugguests taking some motion sickness medicine – right mom? You won’t regret it.

We searched all cruise for humpback whales, the park ranger on board kept spotting their bubble netting but we failed to see a whale breach the surface. That was until we were on our way back to Seward.

Until next time, Seward.

xx katie