We have had this trip planned for months. Why we had all of the “problems” we had is entirely our fault. While we had the plane, hotel and car rental we just didn’t do the other planning – where we were going, when, how, small details, right? Anyway, the day we left we had plenty of time, didn’t have to leave until around 11:00. We cleaned the house, finished packing, loaded the car and took off. We got to the airport with plenty of time for most things – just not Glenn saying, “Where is my suitcase?”. Even though he and Nathan had packed the car, he forgot his suitcase and we realized we didn’t have enough time to drive back and get it (over 2 hours) and so we just pressed on. The flight was a long one, made longer by all of the stops we had to make. We stopped in Denver (1), Seattle (2) and then the flight to Anchorage. The Seattle flight was delayed because 1.) they hadn’t loaded the food on – what food (?), they don’t serve food on planes anymore, except first class – you mean we are sitting here for quite a while so that first class, can get some special items? – and then once the food got loaded we were told the outside door wouldn’t close, REALLY? We all groaned and waited. We finally took off and we arrived at our hotel around 3 a.m. Sigh. We walked into our small hotel room, we were supposed to have a suite but this thing was small. Called up, no there were no other rooms, maybe in a couple of days. Ok – can we have an extra blanket and pillow, please? So, around 4 we were able to get to sleep. After we woke up and had breakfast, we drove north to Palmer. I forget how short a period of time that Alaska has been a state. Palmer was started in 1935, during the Depression. FDR, the President sent 203 farming families to this spot, now called Palmer to homestead farms and start over. Literally, they started over as there wasn’t anything there. We enjoyed the scenery and we went to a Reindeer farm. We had fun learning about reindeer, hand feeding them, and then Daddy fed a moose, holding a carrot between his teeth and “kissing” the moose. Nathan did it too. 
Hello, people
Twins
Feeding the reindeer. It was funny, they knew we were there to feed them and if you ran out of food – all you had to do was put your hands up and they walked away.
Petting the babies and next the Moose. The farm had taken him in as a baby. Alaska is all about conservation and helping the orphaned or hurt.
Feeding the moose. I guess it is a trick they have trained him to do but he will take the carrot out of your mouth and eat it and give you a kiss too. Kisses from a moose.
Couldn’t believe this guys antlers! The antlers fall off each year and grow larger the next year and both male and female reindeer have them. We also hiked to Thunderbird Falls. It was a beautiful hike to the falls and the stream. Alaska has incredible wildflowers but I have decided to do a separate blog on those as I took so many pictures of them.
Views of the stream from the path.
The falls in the background. In this picture you can tell that Nathan is taller than I am and that Mandy isn’t far behind.
Nathan in the root of a fallen tree. Down by the stream. Glenn and Nathan are looking at a trout that was in the water. The water was crystal clear
The first day. We were rather tired but had a wonderful time. We talked to several people, of course and the underlying theme was the change in the climate. The glaciers are melting and everything is heating up. The week before we got there, they had a heat wave, for them. In the high 80’s. There was also a wildfire up around Fairbanks that was burning up forests. The weather was chilly for us but not too cold. The highs were in the upper 60’s with the last day around 73.
No comments:
Post a Comment