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National Geographic Sea Lion |
Mount McKinley and the Alaska Range – Denali National Park |
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Longtime friends and family members may recall that
Anne’s parents, Hal and Sue Mozer, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in
Y2K by hosting their progeny-cum-spouses on a memorable, week-long
exploratory cruise in the Galapagos Islands. Well, fast forward almost exactly 10 years
to August 2010, when Hal and Sue decided to reprise the family cruise concept
in honor of anniversary number 60, this time with a commensurately
remarkable, meandering voyage through the icy waters of Alaska’s Inner
Passage. We traveled aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion, once again
under the superb operation and leadership of Lindblad Expeditions,
where our three-generation family group of 14 constituted nearly a-quarter of
the intimate ship’s total capacity of 62 passengers! Our voyage aboard the Sea Lion began in Juneau and transported us to new
and exciting destinations each day, many of which were off the beaten track
and inaccessible to the typical megaships on which most tourists travel these
waters. En route, we were frequently shuttled from ship to shore on
inflatable Zodiac rafts, where (after “wet landings” using knee high rubber
boots) we explored each venue on foot or in kayaks. Along the way, we were
able to get “up close and personal” with the wonders of southeast Alaska, ranging
from thunderous calving glaciers in Tracy Arm, to pods of humpback whales in
Chatham Strait remarkably collaborating in a herding/dining technique known
as bubble feeding, a lone grizzly bear catching a salmon in Pavlov Harbor and
four grizzlies plus a wolf feasting together on the carcass of a dead whale
that had serendipitously washed ashore in Glacier Bay. The cruise ended in Sitka, from which most family members (including
Lauren), their vacations having ended, boarded a connecting flight back to
their respective homes in and around Seattle. Emily set off for Anchorage to
spend a few days visiting a law school classmate, Lars Johnson. Her first day
there, they hiked Mt. Baldy, near Anchorage, though their descent turned into
a somewhat muddy and treacherous (but fun) slip-and-slide after it started to
rain. The next day, they were treated
to glorious weather, which they took advantage of by driving down to Seward
to go on what ended up being one of Emily's favorite hikes ever, through
miles of breathtaking scenery in Kenai Fjords National Park, up to the vast
expanse of Harding Icefield. Other highlights included making blueberry crisp
with wild blueberries and visiting the Anchorage Museum. Concluding it was unlikely that they would get back to Alaska anytime
soon, Marty and Anne had decided to spend a second week in our largest state,
venturing more deeply into its interior regions; Hal and Sue, upon learning
of this plan, asked if they could make it a foursome, a proposal that Anne
and Marty enthusiastically accepted. After three successive connecting
flights, we began Week #2 in Fairbanks, where we enjoyed a half-day tour
aboard a sternwheeler riverboat and visited the Museum of the North at the
University of Alaska. Next, traveling via the scenic Alaska Railroad, we made
our way to Denali National Park, where we spent four spectacular days in the
shadow of Mount McKinley, the tallest peak in all of North America,
bushwhacking on foot in the immense tundra (with naturalist guides, of
course) where there were no manmade paths. Our last stop was Anchorage, with
superb dinner at the Marx Brothers Café, followed the next day with a visit
to the Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum before returning to the Lower 48. While none of us managed to spot Russia during our Alaska visit, we did
see (and in many cases photograph) an amazing array of natural and man-made
settings, including associated inhalants, both human and otherwise. Photos by
Emily and Marty can be accessed by clicking the links on right side of this
page. Each of the albums is located in Facebook, but you don’t need to be a
Facebook member to see them. Many of the photos are accompanied with
descriptive captions, which we encourage you to read for the full “flavor” of
our experience. We hope you enjoy you virtual jounery
to our 49th state! |
Emily’s Photos Watching Ice Melt and Other Exciting Adventures I Forgot to Brush My Teeth b/c of the Bears on the Whale Carcass From on Top of the World to the End of the Rainbow Marty’s
Photos In and around Juneau, 8/14 Tracy Arm and Williams Cove, 8/15 Ideal Cove, 816 Petersburg, 8/16 Chatham Strait & Pavlov Harbor, 8/17 Elfin Cove and Inian Islands, 8/18 Glacier Bay National Park, 8/19 Sitkoh Bay & Kelp Bay, 8/20 Sitka, then on to Fairbanks, 8/21 Fairbanks, 8/22 "Do you know the way to Den-ah-lay?," 8/23 |
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