ALASKAN ADVENTURES

The Minnie Winnie Adventure

One of our wedding presents was a trip up to the big AK from some very close family friends! We Started off our big adventure in Anchorage where we stayed with the Orzechowski's for a night before heading up to Denali National Park. We staying in the Orzechowski's cabin in Denali for a weekend where other close family friends, the Garrett's met us there for a weekend filled with hiking, 4 wheeling, great food, friends and laughter. From there we went with the Garrett's in their motor home towards their home in Delta Junction. Michael and I then stayed the next few days in Delta Junction at Rich and Michelle's house where we had a fabulous time 4 wheeling, relaxing, trying new things:) and enjoying each other's company. Here we bought a book called the Milepost. It is a book that describes every mile of Alaskan Highway which lead us on the second half of our adventure. The Garrett's were nice enough to let us borrow their motor home for the second half of our trip. Where we took it down the Richardson highway to the Mat-Su Valley so I could show Michael my old stomping grounds as well as stop and see the Reynolds (basically my adoptive grandparents) then off to Anchorage where we were able to have drinks with an old friend (Jennie) and her boyfriend before heading off to Portage Glacier, our first nifht stop in the Minnie Winnie. From there we went to Alyeska for the day to explore and stop at my favorite pizza place ever, Chair Five, for lunch. After a few more little stops we made it to the Kenai Peninsula where we spent the rest of our vacation. First in Homer, AK then off to Seward where we went fishing for Halibut thanks to Janice and Mike. After catching plenty of Halibut we made our way back to Anchorage to spend our last night with the Orzechowski's where we had a feast fit for a King.

Our home on wheels:)

Sleeping Lady

Looking for Beluga Whales at Beluga Point... no luck:(

another gorgeous glacier

SeaLife Center in Seward

Seals being hand fed for the first time

Michael loved the puffins:)

Our Seward campground right on the water... absolutely gorgeous!

Seward, AK

Michael kissing our kissy fish:)

Our catch!!!

Michael pulling one in...

The great ocean blue:)

Our Seward campground!

Our fishing boat;)

Love this sign!!!

GLACIERS, GLACIERS, GLACIERS

kissy kissy:)

The swamp behind us is known for their bears but of course we didn't spot any:(

Just love this sign!

HOMER, AK

The Time Bandit

a bald eagle...

Downtown Homer... I love this town it is sooo cute!

the biggest King Crab Leg EVER!!! Michael was impressed

Why can't Idaho have towns like this:)

The Fishing Hole

Tons of people were fishing here, in the middle of town, catching tons of Salmon.

It was fun to watch:)

Our view from our Homer campsite... AMAZING is all I can say!

The view of the Homer Spit in the background... Thats where we stayed

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

This is the specs on the Mountains that are in the distance in the picture below but the sun wasn't allowing us to get a good shot of them... you definitely had to be there to see with your own eyes... absolutely AMAZING!

Below is an old cabin/house barely standing from the 1964 earthquake

Just outside of Alyeska is a Wildlife Refuge.

Below is a picture of a 3 week old moose named Bill. His mom died during childbirth of him and his twin sister so the Refuge took him in. Isn't he cute!

Here is a picture of a Brown Bear. I'm not going to lie I was just a bit intimidated being so close to him with only a little wire fence separating us. He did try to dig under while we were gawking at him and a little refuge employee who was about half my size yelled at him and he went running. It was definitely interesting to see:)

The best ski resort

Above: my favorite pizza place ever!!!

Leftover icebergs from the Portage Glacier which once took over this entire lake! It has now reseeded back into the far right corner of the lake

Our first night in the Minnie Winnie!

Our drive to Portage Glacier

This is the darkest it got up there

Jennie... I miss this girlie!

The Minnie Winnie in the background

Charles and Myrna... My adoptive grandparents... Love you guys and thanks for the amazing dinner and chocolate cake!

Matanuska Glacier

PIES!!!

Eureka Lodge... has the best pies EVER!

Glacier #2

A picture of the snow poles...

Typical picture of a moose crossing the highway... My camera makes it look farther away than it was.

One of the many glaciers

I think Michael really took a liking to driving the Minnie Winnie:)

The beginning of our adventure alone

A bear Rich shot... hanging on his wall.

No makeup shot... no judging:)

Moose hamburgers and moose sausages. After the jerky Michael tried the moose hamburger and still couldn't eat it just because of the fact it was moose. Then I told him the sausage wasn't moose meat. He ate 2 of them in no time:)

Michael's first taste of moose jerky... his head definitely got to him:)

My hubby... a true Alaskan:) shorts and boots

Us in front of the Alaska Pipeline

Santa's House

Michelle and me with Santa while the boys are in the motor home watching basketball:)

Michael was such a good trooper...

Had to sit on Santa's lap in North Pole, Alaska

of course we got stuck... thanks Richard!

Getting ready for 4wheeling in Denali! Had to be holding an Alaskan Amber:)

I forgot about these signs being away from the AK for so long but I have always loved the way the said 'No Smoking':)

The 'Mouse House'... the mini cabin at the cabin... where Michael and I stayed. It was so peaceful!

The whole gang

Rich and I

Us at the top... such a gorgeous view!

The view down toward the road from the top of the mountain we hiked to ... too bad it was overcast... we weren't able to see Mt. Denali

I wasn't scared... dont let the picture fool you:)

I love him!

The whole gang before our hike in Denali

Rich and me

Just chillin at the cabin:)

Playing dice at the Cabin with amazing friends... actually I would consider them more like family!

Downtown Anchorage

This is Captain Cook and Someone put a yellow ball with a smiley face on his unmentionables:)

Us in front of the Cook Inlet

An amazing restaurant in Anchorage... Our first day in Alaska. We both had 2 hour old king crab that was fantastic!

We had an amazing time and Michael even said that he would move there... well if we went up in the Winter and he was able to handle the snow and cold. It was absolutely amazing to be able to show Michael another part of me! It has been hard for him to not understand where I came from and we would have never been able to make this trip if it wasn't for great family friends! Thank you so much Janice and Mike for an AMAZING vacation!