July 28, 2015

150728 Arawjo Tours

Aug 08: Seward - Anchorage - Newark
We left  at 05.00 am. Early morning flights from Anchorage airport. The group flew over Seattle to Newark, I went also to Seattle but continued to Vancouver.

Aug 07: Seward
In the morning 12 people were picked up at the hotel for a helicopter ride to the Godwin Glacier where they went on a dog sled run!
At 09.00 am,The rest went to the Exit Glacier. We drove to it, about 3 miles and then  a 1,1 mile hike to the viewpoint.
In the afternoon we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center at the other end of Seward, downtown.
Puffins
Some people went on a sea plane ride this afternoon.
There was also a fishing competion in Seward today.



 Silver salmon

Aug 06: Seward
The Kenai Fjord Cruise today!
People are sleeping in, because plenty of time before we meet in the lobby at 10.45 to walk to the Cruise boat for the 11.30 departure.
We saw birds
 Porpoise
 Sealions
 Sea otters
One humpback (but nobody took a picture), and  lots of Orcas (killer whales)
 Male (straight dorsal fin) and female (bent dorsal fin). There was also a baby.
 Surfacing sequence of the female
 The baby (calf) behind her
We saw the glacier
a beautiful day!
Aug 05: Anchorage - Seward
Going east along the coast line, beautiful mountains and the Turnagain Inlet. Near Whittier we went on a one hour cruise to see the Portage Glacier.
Near the boat dock an iceberg.
Moving on, to the Alyeska Resort.
 Where we took the aerial tram to the top, where we had lunch at the Deli,
After some road construction delays we arrived at 18.15 in Seward.
 All cruise ships stop in Seward
Coal, from Fairbanks by train, by conveyor belt to the ships
Fish, fresh from the boat

Aug 04: Anchorage
In the morning we went first to Earthquake Park In the Parks are Maquets and plaques that show the extent of the damage in the 1964 Alaska earthquake.
After watching the float planes take off in Lake Hood (largest float plane airport in the world) we went back to downtown, to visit the Anchorage Museum. In the afternoon there was time for people to take the free shuttle bus to the Alaska Heritage Museum.
Or walk around downtown Anchorage.
 Flowers in downtown
 Wild roses

Aug 03: Denali - Talkeetna - Anchorage
The hotel got our luggage at 09.00 am and we got on a bus at 11.00 to go the train station. There the Alaska Railroad pulling also two Wilderness cars, brought us to Talkeetna.
We were in the second to last car, lunch was served downstairs.
Mount McKinley
From Talkeetna a tourbus brought us to Anchorage. Where we went to the Hilton. Where they did not who we were. But....at 20.30 pm everybody had a room.

Aug 02: Denali
No program today. People can walk, go river rafting, bike riding, or walk the trails in Denali.
Or, at 10.00 and one o'clock there are guides ranger walking tours, meeting at the visitor center.
Dog Sledding demonstration at 10.00 / 14.00 / 16.00hr
 Dog houses
 In the kennel after the shed, 6 puppies
 Inpatient to go
 After the run

Aug 01: Denali 
Today the Tundra Wilderness tour. At 08.25 The park bus came to the hotel to bring the group to the Wilderness Access center for the 09.00am tour. Lots of caribou.
and brown bears (grizzly)

Jul 31: Fairbanks - Denali
Our first stop was in Nenana. A village along the Nenana river, 1 hour south of Fairbanks. The railroad comes through here. Native (Athena) and non Native land side by side.
Tribal visitor center and store
The Nenana Ice Classic is world famous in Alaska. You can bet once a year when the ice in the river is breaking up. A tall wooden tripod is standing on the ice, connected with a cable to a bell in a tower. When the ice breaks, it starts moving, the tripod moves as well and trips a bell in the tower.
You can buy tickets  to bet at what day and the precise time that will take place. Each ticket is $2.50. Last year's winner got about 350.000 dollar!
we stopped at the railroad museum, close by is a small missionary church.
About one o'clock we were at the Denali Park Visitor Center. Time to eat.
At 15.30 we checked into the Denali Village hotel, about 8 miles North of the park entrance.
Log cabins overlooking the Nenana river.


Jul 30: Fairbanks
We left at 09.00, with some of the group, to go to the Museum of the North,
At 11.15 we left the museum to meet with  the rest of the group at the hotel at 12.45  to go to the river boat cruise dock on the Chena river.
In Jun I had to go inside the office to get the tickets, this time we were met at the gate. Also instead of 1 departure per day, now 2 departures.
You can eat in the Discovery saloon, but......
....it gets very busy.
A picture of Susan Butcher in the store.
and waiting in line for the best seats (3rd deck at the back side)
In the Chena Village, a guided tour how the Athabascan people lived and some way still live, in the old villages along the rivers that end in the Pacific, with salmon the primary source of food.
Drying of Salmon



Jul 29: Fairbanks 
We saw the Alaska pipeline
Pipeline and "Roto Rooters"
 the North Pole
 With Santa
Back towards Fairbank: visit of Pioneer Park.
a collection of houses from the "pioneer days" mostly Fairbanks, 
where old houses had to make way for new development
 and one paddle boat from Fairbank's past
 Beautful diaramas on display in the paddle boat
 It opens at 12 o'clock and is run by volunteers.
We dropped of some people at the Visitor Center (the Morris Thompson Museum) at 12.30, 
(There are Indian dancers at 13.00/15.00/17.00 hr) the rest of the group we dropped of at the hotel.

Jul 28: Newark - Fairbanks, Alaska
The group is arriving late afternoon on Fairbanks airport from Newark.

We are staying in Downtown, in the Springhill Suites by Marriott. The hotel is at the Chena river boardwalk.
 and the Morris Thompson Museum