Back south. I left Healy under bright sunshine and therefore I was looking forward to taking some very nice Mt. McKinley photos from the southern viewing points. But the further south I drove the more clouds and haze were there. My first stop was at the Alaskan Veteran's memorial. I stopped there to take some video for Dave. When the sky is clear this memorial also provides a great view at the mountain. But today when stopped there I could see the first clouds coming in. I continued my drive a few miles to the south to the next viewing area and decided that it isn't worth taking pictures from there now. Only a tiny little bit of the summit was visible, more clouds were coming in and I have better pictures from that spot.
But how could I drive south without another stop at our Tigger Lake lot? Right, I had to go there again. And this time I finished the geocache. And I have to tell you: it was worth it. The trail was a little bit overgrown, but once I arrived at the cache itself I had a fantastic overview over the lake. If anyone is into geocaching and happens to be in that area, please, you really should try the "Tigger Lake" one. And don't forget the hint, it really is a "Bird's eye view" ;o) First I hesitated a little bit. Didn't know, whether I really want to go to the final location without Dave. It was more a cache for him than for me, but I am glad I did go there. After that successful stop I drove to downtown Talkeetna again. This time I visited the historical museum and learned that Talkeetna once was a tent camp when the Alaska railroad was built. Well, Anchorage started that way, too ....
Talking about Anchorage. I stayed there for the next two days. The evenings I spent with Al and Jane and during the days I went geocaching in Kinkaid park, visited the Saturday Market (on Saturday ;o)) and the just recently reopened museum. It was too bad that only 50% of the new exhibitions have been opened already. The rest will open next spring. But anyway, I enjoyed it. They had a special exhibition about gold. That was really neat, they even showed a little play with really good actors. If you are interested in that museum have a look at the following link:
http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/
Sunday I left Anchorage and drove to Seward on the Kenai Peninsular. It was cloudy, not really cold, but not nice. My plan was to spend one night there, visit the Sealife Center and go on a boat tour on Monday. I stopped by at Kenai Fjord Tours and had to decide which tour I wanted. Well, on the one hand there were these fixed tours on bigger ships. I did this before and got only a little bit seasick. The other option was a very flexible trip on a small boat (only 16 passengers or so), but the last time I did it I go really, really seasick. After thinking about and counting my remaining motion sickness pills (I already used most of them on the bus tours into Denali) I decided to chance it and go on a small boat tour. And it was great. Yes, there were a lot of birder on the boat, but they were also interested in the mammals we saw. And they didn't leave any place before I saw the very rare bird xy. You can imagine it going like: "Anke did you also see the xy over there?" - We were at a rookery with thousands of birds, all looking very similar to me - "Ehm, no, didn't see it yet." "Do you see the three cormorans there right above the white spot?" "Ehm, yes (the white spot is bird poop, right?)" "If you like to the right from where there are you should see 5 birds, two of them are the xy" "Ehm, they all look the same." "No, no, wait until they turn their head, then you will see the tiny little white mark on the neck!" "Ehm, oh yes, now I see them, fantastic! (Can we continue the trip now?)"
But as I said, they were all really really nice and we saw mammals like orcas, humpback whales, otter, sea lions, harbor seal and porpoise. Oh, and I forgot to mention the weather. On Sunday when I arrived it started to rain and the day was very grey. But then on Monday, right for the tour, it cleared up. Even the sun was shining, it wasn't cold and the best: the water was really calm, I only needed one seasickness pill for the whole trip ;o)
That was my last day in Alaska. After the trip I drove back to Anchorage, spent the last night with Al and Jane, packed my stuff and the next morning I drove to the airport again. The time went by too fast again, but I have to say that I really wished I could have done the trip with Dave, I missed him!
Here are some last pictures from the boat trip:
One of many Dall Porpoise. They tried to race the boat and won.
Orcas
Few percent of two humpback whales.
Sunday I left Anchorage and drove to Seward on the Kenai Peninsular. It was cloudy, not really cold, but not nice. My plan was to spend one night there, visit the Sealife Center and go on a boat tour on Monday. I stopped by at Kenai Fjord Tours and had to decide which tour I wanted. Well, on the one hand there were these fixed tours on bigger ships. I did this before and got only a little bit seasick. The other option was a very flexible trip on a small boat (only 16 passengers or so), but the last time I did it I go really, really seasick. After thinking about and counting my remaining motion sickness pills (I already used most of them on the bus tours into Denali) I decided to chance it and go on a small boat tour. And it was great. Yes, there were a lot of birder on the boat, but they were also interested in the mammals we saw. And they didn't leave any place before I saw the very rare bird xy. You can imagine it going like: "Anke did you also see the xy over there?" - We were at a rookery with thousands of birds, all looking very similar to me - "Ehm, no, didn't see it yet." "Do you see the three cormorans there right above the white spot?" "Ehm, yes (the white spot is bird poop, right?)" "If you like to the right from where there are you should see 5 birds, two of them are the xy" "Ehm, they all look the same." "No, no, wait until they turn their head, then you will see the tiny little white mark on the neck!" "Ehm, oh yes, now I see them, fantastic! (Can we continue the trip now?)"
But as I said, they were all really really nice and we saw mammals like orcas, humpback whales, otter, sea lions, harbor seal and porpoise. Oh, and I forgot to mention the weather. On Sunday when I arrived it started to rain and the day was very grey. But then on Monday, right for the tour, it cleared up. Even the sun was shining, it wasn't cold and the best: the water was really calm, I only needed one seasickness pill for the whole trip ;o) That was my last day in Alaska. After the trip I drove back to Anchorage, spent the last night with Al and Jane, packed my stuff and the next morning I drove to the airport again. The time went by too fast again, but I have to say that I really wished I could have done the trip with Dave, I missed him!
Here are some last pictures from the boat trip:
One of many Dall Porpoise. They tried to race the boat and won.
Orcas
Few percent of two humpback whales.
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