MEANDERING MOOSE

Glaciers are so cool! (No pun intended.)      When I think of Alaska, I think of snow covered mountain ranges, salmon, trout, bears, whales, mosquitos, and eagles.  It never occurred to me how prevalent glaciers would be and how big a part they would play in our enjoyment of Alaska.  It seems that since entering Hyder, Alaska; through Kluane and Wrangell-St. Elias National Parks; into Valdez, Alaska; toward Anchorage; and now on the Kenai Peninsula these majestic wonders are always in the forefront of our touring. The rich blue of the glacier manages to glow through the moraine surface. Trying to climb the face of a glacier.      After our fantastic glacier kayak experience in Valdez we headed off to Anchorage.  Along the way the Matanuska Glacier jumped off the scenery for our viewing pleasure.  Better yet I was able to score a last minute spot on a glacier tour.  The tour started only 1/2 mile from the face of the gl...

Alaska is for the eagles!      Valdez became our first major stop in Alaska and fantastic it was.  (See, I can do Yoda speak.)  It started with a spectacular 100 mile drive into town.  Nancy proclaimed the drive to be the best one so far in Alaska.  (Technically she is correct as the drives into Skagway, Haines and Hyder were mostly in Canada.)  The drive was really special as it featured 2 towering waterfalls; an approachable glacier; wildlife; and of course; massive, snow crowned mountains.  (No, we never get tired of seeing giant, snowy mountains!) The road to Valdez.  The road to Valdez.      Valdez is located on a deep-water, ice-free inlet of the Prince William Sound.  It is most famous for being the end point of the Alaska Pipeline, as well as, near the location of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989 which almost destroyed the Prince William Sound.  In fact, the Sound has not yet fully recover...

We watched this grizzly bear for a long time before it decided to take a stroll. A video of a grizzly bear in Kluane National Park.      We finally made it to the "main" part of Alaska but the last stretch of highway was awful.  I mean 200+ miles of "pure screaming hell."  (Sorry, "pure screaming hell" was the name of one of my favorite rapids on the Gauley River in West Virginia.)  It seems that modern technology has not yet figured out a way to build a road on permafrost.  If you dig into the soil to build a road-bed, the permafrost melts, the road sinks several feet, and fills with water.  The current solution is to build the road on top of the soil and insulate the permafrost from melting.  Good idea?  Maybe but there is nothing to stop the permafrost from thrusting and heaving to create a huge roller coaster ride with devastating consequences to the suspension systems and frames of all vehicles.  The solution--a consta...