Alaska: Seward

After we spent a couple days in Anchorage, we drove down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. We stayed at an AMAZING B&B called Bell in the Woods. If you go to Seward, STAY AT BELL IN THE WOODS. We stopped over at a couple glaciers on the way down - the first one I forgot the name, but the second one (a very popular destination) was Exit Glacier.

No Name Glacier

First view of Exit Glacier. We are going to hike all the way up on the right side - see where there is green to the right? We are going up and over that side. 

We got up to the right side and BAM! SNOW! Like, a lot of it. We kept going (of course) and continued up the REALLY STEEP side of he mountain. In the picture above, you can see a cluster of white goats in the middle. They were much better equipped for the terrain than we were. 

The views were pretty stunning

Panorama of the glacier from about 70% of the way to the top

We found some sticks to help with the ascent. Its tough going up though because you take a step and slide half way down because the snow gives way under your weight. Very tiring. 

But we just kept going. Can you even tell how steep it is? It was crazy tough. 

Lots and lots of snow

Taking a moment to appreciate the view behind us

And we are still not at the top yet. See the little ant people? I made this one bigger so you can appreciate just how far we trudged through the snow. 

And we are up

Happy! 

We stayed up there and had lunch, but had to make our way down. Going down was the BEST part! It took us like 20 minutes going down because you can kinda sit on your tush and slide down. So fun. 

One more nice panorama

In spite of all the snow up top, it was warm and green as we were going down. 

The next day we went on a mountain biking trip. We were able to ride up and over a ridge thanks to the generosity of our hosts who offered to come get us at the end. Just one week before we arrived there was too much snow to pass through. It was nice enough when we went though. 

Too many mosquitoes to take shots before we got up to the ridge, so here we are, beginning to see the tops of the mountains around us. 

View behind us as we keep going - this is not the lake we stop at later. 

This is the lake we stop at. Gorgeous. Still some ice floating in the water. 

Where we came from and where we are headed

And we are on the descent. Jer is on the right practically flying down

The way down was beautiful because there weren't a lot of trees, so we could see the surrounding mountains the whole time. 

This part reminded me a bit of Kauai - green lush mountains that are SUPER STEEP with waterfalls cascading down the sides

Back in Seward we saw a bald eagle!

 

Stay tuned for the adventures in the Arctic Circle! 

Getting Caught up: Alaska June 2015

I'm not a great blogger. In fact, I don't really care to keep up on a journal or to write out my thoughts for most things, so when Jeremy asked me to take over the blog I thought, "OK, this won't be so bad... typing is much faster than writing and most of our blog posts are pictures, so it won't be so hard to keep up to date on it." Giving myself a little credit, I did keep up with it for a little while, but then...  I see now that it has been about 6 months since I blogged. At least I get to start up again with one of the best trips we have ever gone on - ALASKA. I won't fit it all into one post, but we began our trip in Anchorage. We spent a few nights in Seward before flying up to Fairbanks for our excursion into the Arctic Circle. Without further ado, here are the best pictures from the trip.

Anchorage hiking

Our first moose sighting

Getting a closer look - but not too close. These animals are HUGE! 

Our first view of Mt. McKinley, a couple hundred miles away

It was a bit of a scramble getting up to the top

                                      

We made it! 

Day 2 hiking in the area north of Anchorage

The two lakes in this picture have different sources - one is a glacier and the other is rain water - which is why they are different colors. 

Stay tuned for more! 

Weekend in Vegas: Red Rock and Valley of Fire

A couple weekends ago, Jeremy and I went to Las Vegas to go hiking. I know, I know... who goes to Vegas to go HIKING? Well, we do :D Turns out that despite being in a desert, there are some BEAUTIFUL parks in the area and we had an awesome trip. We left Saturday morning and went hiking in Red Rock National Conservation Area. On Sunday we went to Valley of Fire. Next time you go to Vegas, you gotta check them out! 

Red Rock National Conservation Area

This is at the beginning of our hike. We climbed around the mountain (instead of up and over it). 

Multi-colored rocks

Great view up along the side of the mountain

We turn the corner and BAM! Awesome view into the valley

So we begin hiking down

And down some more

Down at the base (but still on the other side of the mountain) we can look across the other valley and see the different colored rocks

There are about a dozen goats up there but its impossible to see them in this tiny picture. 

We are in the desert and it wouldn't be complete without a picture of some cacti, right? 

VALLEY OF FIRE

This park was AMAZING! I had no idea that places like this existed, but I'm so glad they do! Be prepared, there are lots of pictures of rocks.... but you'll just have to trust me that they look much cooler in person. 

Elephant Rock

Check out the different colors! 

Certain parts of the rock walls erode away, leaving columns and small caves. 

Purple!

The only flowers that we saw. You don't want to pick those! 

Turtle rock :) 

Nice view of the valley

Fire "wave"

This part was super cool! The rocks are striped different colors and it looks like fire! 

This was our last hike at Valley of Fire and supposedly parts of this area had been used in Star Trek shows. It definitely looked alien!