July 7th – Almost out of Alaska- Yesterday we flew over Denali…

It’s Day 28 of our trip and it’s a beautiful morning once again in Alaska; we are ready to make the best of our last full day here.

On Thursday, we went to Seward, Alaska to take the Kenai Fjords Tour to some glaciers. We spotted Orcas, birds, and sea lions on this trip, as well as enjoyed the green and blue scenery of the coast clashing with the quick moving clouds in the sky. On the 6-hour tour we talked with many friendly travlers and caught the glacier caving into the Pacific Ocean on video - both times!! It was definately a site to see - and those videos will be up as soon as we have a quicker connection. Check back every few days as we find hotspots along the way.

Yesterday we drove from Girdwood’s Alyeska Ski Resort just south of Anchorage, to Denali National Park. We’ve seen the wildlife all throughout Alaska and we were looking forward to a new perspective on things – a flight over Denali. It even more amazing than it sounds – flying up the Spine of the Northern Rockies Range, just a few thousand feet from the ground viewing glaciers, moraines, and hundreds of mountains. After a 5 hour drive from Girdwood, we made it to Denali and the Denali Air Flying Service. When we arrived we found out that we were the only ones on the flight. The flight was amazing, seconds after takeoff on their own private runway we were already over the mountains. We flew into valleys, and over glaciers, spotting sheep as our captain pointed out all the mountain ranges. As we neared Mt. McKinley every mountain became snow capped, and before we knew it there it was before us, the highest peak in North America. It was an amazing site to see. We were able to fly all the way around the mountain, its rare to be able to do so, and were able to see mountain climbers as they made their way to the summit. As we flew back to the runway we learned of the history of the climbers as well as the area. All in all it was an amazing experience.

We then entered Denali National Park and walked through the visitor’s center to learn more about the park as well as have a great lunch. As we were leaving we decided to have one more picture with the park sign and ended up running into the Smithers family from Texas. They were pretty impressed by what we were doing, we also learned of some great rafting from them that they had just experienced. It was great to meet them; hopefully we will run into them again in the future. From Denali we made the drive back to Anchorage to drop my dad off in the morning.

Today after an oil change and a quick stop at the grocery store we will soon be near the border once again. Alaska has been everything we have dreamed it was going to be and more. The fishing, mountains, glaciers, wonderful people, it has just been amazing. We highly recommend visiting the 49th State of Alaska. Its going to be sad leaving. From here we start our drive south toward the bustling city of Vancouver, and at 2200 miles, its going to be a long drive.

Bryan and Matt