We're Back Home Again

And not too broke for the effort.

It took us 17 hours and 3 different planes to get to Fairbanks where we panned for gold and took a trip on a river riding a paddle wheeler. I didn't realize that area is a sub-arctic desert with only 12" of precipitation a year. I also didn't know they have such huge temperature extremes. In the past 12 months the high has been 92F and the low -60F.

A 4 hour train ride brought us to Denali where we took a jet boat ride on another river and a bus tour part way into the park. We were lucky enough to see the mountain Denali (McKinley) from the tundra valley.

An 8 hour train ride brought us to Anchorage, then a bus ride to Seward where we took a 6 hour boat tour to view birds, seals, sea otter, a close encounter with a glacier, and orcha wales.

Then a 7 day cruise to Glacier Park, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. That whole area is a rain forest. We scheduled a float plane up a river to see bears, but it was cancelled because of poor weather, but we did get pulled around through the woods by a dog sled team.

The cruise ended at Vancouver and a ride on 2 different planes to get home.

It was a good time and a good way to get the flavor of Alaska, but if I/we go again, we'll skip the cruise and spend more time in 1 or 2 places. My preference would be a cabin that's accessible only by float plane, and I'll be carrying a rifle.