Alan's Alaska Page

On June 15, 1997, I met Lisa Meinhard in Anchorage for a short week of hiking, camping, resting, sightseeing, and cruising in Alaska. It is an intriguing state full of beautiful scenery. Living in Alaska would be a challenge; it's distance from the rest of civilization causes the ease of society from reaching way up there. But the mountains, wildlife, and weather make it a very enjoyable getaway. Click on any image below to see its full-size view.

Day 1

Lisa and I drove from Anchorage to Denali National Park. You can get wonderful views of Mt. McKinley, North America's largest mountain, on the way to the park. It's incredible how close the mountain looks even when you're hundreds of miles away. Nothing else in view is nearly as tall, which adds to its magnificence.

Day 2
	We spent 2 days and one night camping in Denali National Park. We hiked up a mountain to our (lone) campsite on a cloudy afternoon. The picture on the left shows the bridge where our hike (3 miles with lots of camping gear, 1/2 mile up) started and the view from the top. We couldn't see Mt. McKinley the entire afternoon, and in fact had no idea where the mountain was. After midnight, Lisa stepped out of the tent and saw the incredible golden view on the right. Unknowingly, we had set up tent facing the mountain. This picture also depicts the darkest it got the entire time we were there (this is long after sunset). We were thrilled and in awe.

Day 3
	After leaving Denali, we drove back to Anchorage, then on to Seward, AL. Along the way, we stopped at Portage Glacier, Byron Glacier, various other sites along Turnagain Arm, and took a 2 hour hike (which became a 5 hour hike in the rain) at Alyeska. The picture on the left shows the beautiful waterfall, river, and trees, and Lisa's good sportsmanship. The picture on the right shows our love for wildflowers and our willingness to drive miles out of the way for a cool picture.

Day 4

In Seward, we took a day cruise to view glaciers and sea life, and that's exactly what we saw. We had an incredible day (the Bromine helped keep it that way, too). Above are puffins, dall porpoises (yes, they were 2 feet from our boat), and sea lions (they love to put on a show). Below, there was a navy ship docked in Seward (very cool, though Lisa was a little unimpressed), and the gorgeous Aialik Glacier. We viewed the glacier from a distance of about 100 feet, and we saw it calve (drop pieces off into the sea). We also saw Orca whales and humpback whales (very cool, but a little far away for Internet pictures). An excellent ending day to another excellent vacation. Many thanks to Lisa for the invitation, the talented photography, and a terrific week.

Thanks also to Torsten Spitzka for scanning in the pictures. Great job.

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