Saturday, June 25, 2011

Alaska Tour Picture Tease

Sandi and I recently returned from a 15 day land and cruise tour of Alaska.  In a word, it was AWESOME!  But, of course, a word is not enough to describe the eye candy scenery and sights.  I was tempted to photograph every mountain, every waterfall, every critter, every iceberg, every glacier, every dog sled puppy at every turn. But I'm more disciplined than that.  I only took about 1800 pictures or so. I put them on discs to store and organize (sort of organize) in case anybody wants us to join them in their living room for a narrated slide show.  Come on, don't be bashful...you know you want to see them!






Obviously, some of you live quite a ways from us in Florida so you may think you're out of danger range for us to visit. Keep in mind that Sandi and I love to travel. Especially to places where the room and board is free. HAVE DISCS, READY TO TRAVEL is our slogan. In the meantime, you'll just have to be satisfied with the pictures included in this posting. So sorry to tease you like this but pending your invitation it's the best we can do. First priority for pictures in Alaska? CRITTERS!!  Here's just a few:

Moose birthing two calves

Dahl sheep

Fox on side of road napping

'da bear

Another moose drinking in the river...Daddy moose?

Can't really call sled dog puppies "critters" because they're so darned cute.


We drove 92 miles into Denali National Park on a school bus over a gravel surfaced road with no guard rails. Pretty severe drop offs to get the blood pumping.
This gave a nice view of the road ahead


This is the view from our window on the left side of the bus.




With millions of square miles of wilderness, mosquitoes thrive and are almost big enough to be classified as critters in their own right. We stayed in a lodge in Kantishna, 92 miles inside Denali Park that supplied head nets to each guest for protection.






Sandi in fine Kantishna fashion!


Lots of  woods with lots of standing water = perfect world for mosquitoes



Mountain views


I thought this was a huge mountain...

Until this one peeked through the clouds behind it. Mount McKinley from the ground.

Mount McKinley from the air...it is absolutely astonishing when you see it...20320 feet elevation!!


The rest of these pictures were taken while on the second half of the tour on the cruise portion.




Hubbard glacier as seen from the cruise ship


Hubbard glacier up close and personal

Engines pulling our White Pass Railway trip out of Skagway


The harbor at Skagway in the distance as we climb the mountains into British Columbia

Launching apparatus for the Icy Point Zip Line, longest and fastest zip line in the world!

Sandi after the zip line vertical drop of 1300 ft, 5330 ft long, 60 mph.  After the bus ride into Denali, this was a piece of cake!

Nobody can go to Alaska and not have their picture taken in front of a totem pole.


Me and Sarah. No I did not have my hand on her butt...she was just cardboard!


Our group with JOHN HALL'S ALASKA CRUISES & TOURS.

Yes, got pictures of whales, bald eagles, seals, otters, and other critters but I'm still organizing everything. Hope to have it all ready in time to make a good presentation in your living room.