Visiting Exit Glacier

Did You Know?With 570,374 square miles, Alaska is twice the size of Texas and 1/5 the size of the rest of the United States. It stretches 2,400 miles east-to-west and 1,420 miles north-to-south. Its 6,640-mile coastline is 50 percent longer than the combined east and west coasts of the United States

Exit Glacier is in the Kenai Fjords National Park and received its name because it served as the exit for the first recorded crossing of the Harding Icefield in 1968. This is a great place to visit as you can get up close to this huge glacier. There were lots of visitors for a Friday visiting this neat glacier. It is only a short hike up to the glacier with a very well maintained trail. This is a must see when visitng Seward. Almost forgot there is NO entry fee to see this glacier.
After visiting this cool glacier we went downtown and also to the dock area. Today they had a cruise ship visit the port which brought a few more people than usual to the dock area. The downtown area is nice and with the docks close by the area has lots of visitors and is fun to visit.
When we were at Exit Glacier a person told us about a place to get some smoked salmon and halibut and where to see some bald eagles and maybe see a bear and her cubs. So before going bald eagle and bear hunting we had to stop for some smoked salmon and halibut. Boy is it good and I am sure we  will be purchasing some more very soon.
We went over to Bear Lake to look for the bald eagles and bears. Found the spot they were talking about and saw several bald eagles and one golden eagle. They are beautiful birds and it is no wonder they are our national bird. We will keep checking the area for the bear and her cubs as we didn't see them this time. Another great DAY!!

if it starts to eat you!!!!!!

he wasn't suppose to be out there

They have a race every 4th of July that runs up and then down this mountain

Bear Lake

Moving on to Seward

We had been relaxing in Wasilla for the 4th and it was time to move on. Seward, pronounced like sewer with a D on the end, is our next stop. It is a small costal town of less then 2,000 people. The drive from Wasilla to Seward is a nice ride with pretty good road conditions.  We saw 4 or 5 mountain sheep up on a very high cliff, it was also very steep. We stopped at a visitor center that is also the place to catch the train from Anchorage to Seward. We made it to the campground, Stoney Creek Campground, early enough to go visit the docks downtown. The charter boats were coming in and we saw some great catches. The whole area around the docks is very interesting and is worth exploring.

Mountain Sheep

Halibut

Salmon

 

Reflection Pictures of the Lake on 7/5/2011

Here are pictures with reflections on the lake. It was really cool!!

Going back to the Independence Mine State Historical Park

The rain had shortened our visit on the 4th, so we decided to visit the Park again. There was another hike we wanted to do that would take us to a lake up on the mountain. Boy are we glad we did return and take that hike. It is about 45 minutes up one way and the lake was really cool. Not just from the snow on the banks of the lake but the views. We talked to a lady who was at the lake 10 days ago and there had been ice on the lake. I did take off my hiking boots and put my feet in the ice cold water. The reflection from the surrounding mountains on the lake were really something. This lake gets its water from the surrounding mountains and the snow melting. If you are ever in the area make sure you visit this lake.

Independence Mine State Historical Park

The 4th of July was a wonderful Day! The weather started out nice and we took a ride to Independence Mine State Historical Park. The drive to the park had several spots to pull over to look at the beautiful scenery. We got up to the park and found it nice to see alot of visitors. The old mining camp has been restored where things could be, while the other areas have been left untouched. The camp  in 1941 had 27 buildings and over 200 employees. The opening to the mine was 1000 feet up the mountain and had over 10 miles of tunnels inside. When the mine finally closed in 1951 it had produced 6 million dollars worth of gold in it's lifetime. We got to hike around the camp, see some neat things, and have a nice lunch before the rain started. Overall a very good 4th of July!!!

Anchorage, Alaska on Sunday 7/3/2011

The day looked okay to head over to Anchorage about 40 miles down the road. We went to an outdoor farmers/craft market in downtown Anchorage. There were a lot of vendors, with different crafts and a lot of food vendors. We had a wonderful lunch, with a very good salmon quesadilla and salmon chowder. Make sure you have one of each while visiting the farmers/craft market which is going on every Saturday and Sunday druring the summer. While there also visit the Eisenhower Alaska Statehood Monument right behind the market. On January 3, 1957, Alaska was admitted into the Union as the 49th state, I was 6 years old when this happened.
We walked on down to see Cook Inlet and where the town of Anchorage started in 1915 with 18 people. Hard to beleive that anyone could have survived the cold and wilderness and started a town.
Suzanne wanted to see and pet a reindeer, so we went to Alaska Wildberry Park. The place had three reindeer that you could see and pet. They were pretty cool and their fur was shedding as summer time is here. The park has a nice gift shop with probably the largest chocolate "waterfall" at 20 feet tall and 3400 pounds of real liquid chocolate in the world.

Wasilla, Alaska

I am starting to feel better from my kidney stone adventure:) Hopefully I will be  100% in a few more days. We took a day off and Suzanne did some laundry and cleaning while I recuperated some more. Then we went and did some retail therapy. You don't understand how much you miss seeing a Walmart, Target or just stores of any kind:) Also seeing some reasonable prices for groceries, fuel and other items gives you a new lease on life. On Saturday, 7/2 we decided to do some exploring around the area. We took a drive to the Iditarod Trail Race Headquarters in Wasilla. The Iditarod Trail, was a mail route that ran from Seward to Nome on the Bering Sea and is now a designated National Historical Trail. They have some dogs ready to do some mushing around the property using a cart and some cute little 3 week old puppies who will be doing the mushing someday. The puppies were so cute:) Right next door was a park on Lake Louise which was nice with some very big houses surrounding it. Overall a good day in Wasilla, but no Sarah sighting:(