The One with All the Pictures

Story by Nicole

Our last day in Alaska was full of activities.

Since we were unable to take a plane ride in Talkeetna, we decided we would try to find one in the Seward area. Because Seward is close to most of the things that people want to fly over, though, helicopter rides are a little more common in that area, so we settled on going up in a helicopter. Helicopters also allow you to get a little closer to the ground, which is nice when looking at animals and glaciers down below. We found one company that did a trip northeast of Seward instead of southwest, and since we were already going southwest in a boat, we opted to fly in the other direction.

Walking up to the helicopter (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before. Jason was pretty comfortable with the idea, but I was quite nervous. Within a minute of taking off, though, I was feeling fairly comfortable, mostly because our pilot, Mike, was great at flying. Even when we flew through the wind coming off of the larger glaciers, the helicopter stayed pretty stable.

The view from the helicopter was amazing. We flew over glaciers and rivers and even some mountain goats. The best part was how we were able to see an area that’s really only accessible by helicopter. Mike said he sometimes drops people off out there to kayak or backpack for a few days and then picks them up later, which sounds awesome but also a little scary.

View of a glacier from above (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A peaceful pond (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Glacial ice floating in the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Color contrast (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Flying along the coast (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Unexpected sunbeam (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A marshy clearing (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A semi-frozen pond (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Ribbons of water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Heading back to the launch site (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the helicopter ride, we asked Mike and his receptionist what we should do for a couple of hours, and they recommended the Alaska SeaLife Center, which ended up being a great aquarium and rehabilitation center. They had a bird room with a lot of very unperturbed birds, and we were able to get within several inches of puffins, which was pretty great. There were also seals and sea lions on display. All of the big display tanks had viewing both above and below the water line, which was pretty cool.

A tufted puffin (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Puffins in the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A horned puffin (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A fish loses interest in us (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dramatic fish (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A seal prepares to dive (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had the very good luck of arriving about 15 minutes before the first viewing of Perl, a 10-week old sea lion pup. When we first arrived at the SeaLife Center, Pilot, the father, was in the tank. After we wandered around and looked at the seals, we came back to see Perl and her mom, Eden, emerging. Perl is adorable. Eden was a little protective, but she started relaxing after a few minutes.

Eden is tempted outside with fish (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eden is not thrilled (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Eden and Perl (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Perl hanging out at the edge of the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the SeaLife center, we had lunch and walked around until our ride to Anchorage picked us up. Our driver was a very nice woman who spends summers in Seward and winters in Oregon, and all the time fishing. On the way to Anchorage, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to see the animals. The Center was wonderful. They have a lot of happy animals in nice habitats, and they also work to rehabilitate and reintroduce animals into the wild.

Baby moose are the cutest (Photo/Jason Rafal)

An adorable red fox (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A musk ox enjoys the sunshine (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A bear blowing bubbles (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After an hour, we got back on the road for the rest of the drive to Anchorage. There is only one main road between Anchorage and Seward, and it is incredibly beautiful and very dangerous (between all the tourists looking at the scenery and the locals trying to get around the slow tourists). Our driver stopped at her favorite spot on the Turnagain Arm (so named because Captain Cook went up it looking for the Northwest Passage and was disappointed to have to turn around) so that we could look at the beautiful scenery. When we got to Anchorage, we walked around a surprisingly large open-air market, had a long dinner, went to a coffee shop, and then went to a great improv show at a brewery. Around one in the morning, we finally boarded the plane to go back to Seattle and then Denver. 

It was a fantastic trip. We would definitely recommend Alaska. We’ll be going back at some point to visit Denali National Park.

The Stuffted Tufted Puffin and Other Tales

Story by Nicole

On Friday we took an all-day cruise out to Northwestern Glacier. We were already excited about it because our kayak trip guide, JD, had gotten so excited when we mentioned it. Apparently it’s a fairly remote area and they haven’t been doing cruises out there very long, so not a lot of people have ever seen the glacier up close.

A glacier coming down toward the ocean (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had mostly chosen this cruise because it emphasized seeing glaciers instead of wildlife, and Jason (probably correctly) thought that going on a cruise specifically to see wildlife was a good way to not see wildlife. Besides, we were more excited about seeing glaciers anyway.

We did see a lot of glaciers. I cannot remember all of their names and I was bad at taking notes, so you’ll just have to appreciate the pictures. Fun glacier facts that may be slightly inaccurate: glaciers are blue because the snow has condensed so much that they only reflect the blue light back, and they take about 15 years to condense this much. We have glaciers in Colorado, but the ones in Alaska are on an entirely different scale.

Another glacier (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Deep cracks in the glacial ice (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The moon appears above a glacier (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After we got to Northwestern Glacier, we sat for a while and watched for glacier calving. We saw several chunks of ice come crashing down into the water.

The glacier calves near the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Calving from another side of the glacier (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We did see a lot of animals. We saw lots of birds, including red-faced cormorants, black oystercatchers, horned and tufted puffins (Jason’s favorite), gulls, and some others. Our captain told us to look out for stuffted tufted puffins, which are puffins that have eaten too much for them to fly away, so they just flap along on the surface of the water and are unable to take off. Once he mentioned it, we saw them everywhere. Apparently puffins frequently eat too much.

Puffins flying low over the water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A bait ball of birds catching food (Photo/Jason Rafal)

In front of Northwestern Glacier, there were also a lot of seals laying out on chunks of ice that had broken off of the glacier. They stay out of the water for long periods of time to stay warm, so our captain was careful to keep the boat far away enough to not flush them into the water.

The seals in front of Northwestern glacier (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Seals watching us (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also saw a few humpback whales. Until you see the tail, a humpback whale really looks like the Loch Ness Monster. We followed a couple of whales around until we saw the tails - tail up, whale down, as the captain said.

Small signs of a large whale (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Whale tail (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We also saw some seal lions (look closely) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On the way back, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall to take pictures. Our captain, very impressively, kept the boat at almost a standstill about 5 feet from the waterfall while everyone took pictures. In some semblance of order, the crew lined everyone up and took pictures of them one-by-one instead of dealing with the usual barage of selfies.

Pretty waterfall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Us with the waterfall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

With that, we headed back to Seward. The cruise was a little long - 9 hours - but we got to see a ton, and it was worth it.

A last view of the area (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Kayaking Through the Mist

Story by Nicole

On Thursday we did an all-day kayaking trip that included a hike to McGilvray Fort, which was built and abandoned after two years near the end of WWII. I have nothing but great things to say about this day trip. Our guide, JD, was not only helpful and fun to talk to but was also just a genuinely nice, sincere person. There were only seven of us, including JD, and everyone was fairly close in athletic ability, which was nice. 

Kayaks awaiting passengers (Photo/Jason Rafal)

All suited up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The scenery and weather were kind of amazing together (even JD thought so). Resurrection Bay is stunning just because that’s the way it is, but when we woke up to dense fog, we weren’t sure how much we would be able to see of it. As we prepared to set off, though, the majority of the fog lifted, save for strips that hugged the mountains across the bay and led them a dramatic and ethereal quality. It barely rained on us, which was shocking to everyone, and it was warm enough to make it a little hot while we were hiking.

Kayakers in the fog (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Yeah…it was crazy beautiful (Photo/Jason Rafal)

JD contemplates the shoreline (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On the way to the fort we stopped at a waterfall. Everyone we’ve talked to in town has been amazed by the amount of water in the waterfalls and streams–these small coastal waterfalls are mostly based on rainfall, so they quickly dry up when it begins to clear. It’s been an unusually rainy August, so we’ve been seeing small waterfalls everywhere. This particular waterfall was roaring.

The very large waterfall (Photo/Jason Rafal)

When we got to Caines Head State Recreation Area, we pulled the kayaks up on the rocky beach and began our hike. A fascinating thing about this area (that we noticed when we visited Exit Glacier) is that you can have a temperate rainforest right next to a glacier. You can be standing on a hillside of shale and looking at a glacier, then you can hike 50 feet to your left and find yourself in a dense, incredibly green, moss-covered forest. It’s quite remarkable. The hike up to the fort was very wet, and everything was covered in dense green moss.

Tromping through the mud (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Pretty mushrooms (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I am somewhat uninterested in the remnants of forts, but it was pretty cool to walk around in, if a little creepy. We also got to have lunch looking out at the amazing mountains across Resurrection Bay.

Some sort of weapons storage bunker (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The remnants of the dock (Photo/Jason Rafal)

When we got back to Seward, we walked around the town and took some sunset pictures. It was a very photogenic day.

Some of the day’s catch (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The beautiful view from our hotel (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Great Alaska Railroad/The Shrinking Alaskan Glaciers

Story by Nicole

Boarding the train in the early-morning fog (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Wednesday morning we caught the train to Seward. We had heard that the Anchorage-to-Seward train ride is one of the most beautiful in the United States, and it did not disappoint. The train winds along the ocean, through mountains, and alongside mountain lakes on its way to the small coastal town of Seward. The green, snow capped mountains next to the greenish, bluish gray water (it’s an odd color because it’s full of silt) is incredibly striking. Our ever-helpful and informative train conductor taught us a way to remember the five main specifies of salmon in Alaska using your hand:

• Thumb: chum salmon (it rhymes with thumb)

• Forefinger: sockeye or red salmon (use this finger to sock out someone’s eye and make it red; yes, kind of violent)

• Middle finger: king salmon (the longest finger)

• Ring finger: silver salmon (silver like wedding rings)

• Pinkie: pink salmon (pinkie is like pink)

He also advised us that no matter what we’re here to see and do in Alaska, we should never show anyone our king salmon.

Emergency train tools (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole leans out of the train in an inadvisable way (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The train winds through the mountains (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The train continues to be absurdly photogenic (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The train ride is long and so beautiful that you actually get a little desensitized to the beauty. At first, everyone is taking pictures of everything. After a couple hours, though, there is a sense of “oh, it’s just another multi-colored mountain with glacial ice over a glassy mountainous lake, nothing special.” It is stunning, though. We highly recommend it.

Looking back as we arrive in Seward (Photo/Jason Rafal)

About three hours later, we arrived in Seward. A few words about coffee in Alaska: it’s huge. Apparently it’s the original hipster coffee state. They are obsessed with espresso, they started serving cold brew first, and everyone just expects there to be coffee everywhere. We noticed the espresso stands every few miles while we were driving to Talkeetna, and when we arrived in Seward, we noticed that the tiny building that housed our kayaking company actually had a sign on the door apologizing for not having coffee inside and naming a couple of options for disappointed, undercaffeinated visitors.

Espresso everywhere (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Apologizing for lack of coffee (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After we walked around Seward for a bit and got lunch, we caught the shuttle out to the Exit Glacier, which is on the edge of Kenai Fjords National Park. Exit Glacier is the only glacier that comes out of the Rhode Island-sized Harding Icefield into a valley instead of the ocean. Exit Glacier is losing about 130 feet of ice per year. As the glacier freezes, it crushes up rock, and as it melts, it pushes the silt out into the river with the water. Because of glacial melt and rain, the river has been running over the road to the park entrance, so they’re raising the road 5-8 feet right now. Our driver has been coming out here every summer for 12 years, and this is the highest the water has been. There has been retreating of the glaciers since the turn of the 20th century, but the past decade has been unprecedented.

A ranger-led tour was leaving the visitor center when we arrived, so we tagged along. Our ranger, Stephanie Larson, was a great source of information not only about the glacier, but about the landscape that a retreating glacier leaves behind. She taught us what a glacier is (a slow-moving river of ice), the four moraines represented (lateral, terminal, medial, recessionary), and a whole bunch of other things that you can ask Jason about if you’re interested. 

Two observations about Exit Glacier: it’s both impressively large and depressingly small. The amount of glacial loss in the last 10 years is crazy. Stephanie gently tried to make people think about global warming and the impact it’s having on these glaciers, but it’s hard to make people change.

Raindrops on large forest leaves (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Stephanie explains chattermark (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Exit Glacier (that big half-moon shaped cut at the bottom is only a couple of days old) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Off to the Last Frontier

Story by Nicole

On our way to Anchorage, we had an 11-hour layover in Seattle that we used to visit a friend of Jason’s and explore Seattle, which he had never seen. We spent the time walking about 15 miles around the city, from Capital Hill to Pike Place Market. 

I adore the Pacific Northwest, and Seattle decided to go even further and spoil us with beautiful weather. The clouds slowly cleared throughout the day, so we went from slightly cold to a little hot during our 15-mile walk around the city. We ate great food, we saw the sites, we hung out with an awesome person. It was a good day. 

Thai iced tea with lunch (Photo/Jason Rafal)

What Nicole thought was a giant coffee roaster in the Starbucks Reserve (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Pike Place Market (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nice branding (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Delicious and adorable empanadas (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Tuesday we had a leisurely morning to recover from the previous day. We had brunch at the Snow City Cafe, which was packed with people and had tasty food and a lively atmosphere. After brunch we drove up to Talkeetna, where we were supposed to take a plane ride into the park. Unfortunately the weather refused to cooperate with our plans and the planes weren’t flying, but we enjoyed the cute town and spent some time hiking around in the Talkeetna Lakes Park. Next time we’re in Alaska we’re going to take a little longer and spend some time in Denali National Park, so this was a good teaser. 

Drink offerings at Conscious Coffee (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Rainy day latte (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Moss being photogenic in Talkeetna Lakes Park (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very attractive mushroom (Photo/Jason Rafal)