Lazy Day, Rest Day

We were concerned about burning the kids out with too much travel time, so we decided to keep our sight-seeing closer to home today.

We stopped by our friendly local Bass Pro to get some photos - mainly to make Addy's Daddy jealous.

Holding hands with a grizzly bear.

Our next stop was the Alaska Museum of Science and Nature,

a small, excellent museum that's obviously a labor of love. Very hands-on, and touch (almost) everything, which the girls loved.

A child-size seal skin suit.

Then on to the big Anchorage Museum for lunch and one of the best kids discovery areas we've ever seen.

The girls would happily have spent the rest of our vacation here.

They had everything from a half-dozen different bubble making experiments,

to collaborative rocket launching,

and the most elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque ball maze I've ever seen.

We checked out a few other exhibits, including some beautiful First People's artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian,

Leia: This suit is made from rabbits! Addy: That's just wrong. That's what seals are for!

and the biggest elevator we have ever seen - 12' x 20' (not kidding) with a flat-screen TV that was at least 45" on one wall. The girls were very impressed.

Freedom Eagle and Brownie Lynx came home with us.

 

Although these exhibits were interesting, they were definitely not hands-on; the little girls decided pretty quickly that they were ready to go.

So, off to the swimming pool for us

Three different pics of Addy and all I could get was the splash. That girl is fast!

 

then dinner in our room while the girls played happily and cooperatively for hours. I love this vacation gig.

 

Glacier Tour

One of the things we most wanted to do on this trip was show the grand-girls some glaciers because, as hubby says, glaciers may not be around when the girls are grown . Sad, but a great excuse for a glacier boat tour.

We headed out early this morning.

Entry to Whittier is via a one-way tunnel**, with cars coming from Whittier entering the tunnel on the hour and those going to Whittier entering on the half hour. Mis-time your trip and you could easily miss your boat.

The girls were a bit excited about the boat trip,

despite the steady drizzle and gray skies.

We saw a few creatures during our 4+ hour ride,

most notably a kittiwake rookery and a pair of sea otters (the girls' favorite part of the trip),

Photo by Leia

 

but the glaciers were the stars of the show.

First up was Beliot Glacier, about 1/4 mile across. Serene and beautiful!

Then we headed around the point to Blackstone Glacier (on the right, below).

Blackstone, about 1/3 mile wide, was definite more active - we heard several loud cracks and watched as it "calved" into the bay. So awesome!

On the way back to port, we saw several "hanging" glaciers,

more waterfalls than we could count,

thick forests,

and Hidden Falls with its emerald water,

where the captain put the bow of the boat almost into the falling water,

much to the little girls' amusement.

And to top off an already great day, Leia participated in the Junior Ranger program,

earning her badge and being sworn in before the entire boat,

after which she was assigned to show samples of glacier silt to each table.

She almost burst she was so pleased with herself. Then we were back through the tunnel and headed home to Anchorage.

I think we wore them out.

 

** This is the longest multi-use tunnel in N. America at 2.5 miles. It took us 6 minutes to drive through to Whittier.

 

Rainy Day Fun

We got a leisurely start today, letting everyone wake on their own before heading out into a cool drizzle.

The Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, 45 miles north of Anchorage, was our first stop.

It rained through the entire 45 minute tour,

but that didn't seem to bother the little girls at all.

Fun fact: Musk oxen are more closely related to goats than to cattle or buffalo. I'd have guessed it was buffalo.

The highlight of the tour was a little calf deciding she wasn't ready to be penned up with her brothers and leading the interns on a (very short) chase. She had opinions and voiced them loudly (so funny!)

Leia took this shot. Very nicely framed.

The little girls got stuffies (anybody surprised??) -

Leia's is named Maggie; Addy's is Pixie Sticks, after one of the newest calves and the only girl among 4 boys.

On our way through Palmer we spotted a sign for Independence Mine State Park, a few miles north of town, and decided to give it a try.

The views and landscape were spectacular

but the girls were disappointed in the lack of kid-friendly, hands-on displays.

Oh well, at least I was happy to get some rainy flower pics.

Our last stop wasn't even on our radar until a friend mentioned she'd seen moose on the trails of Earthquake Park earlier in the week.

We didn't see any moose, or other creatures,

but it was a fun,

interesting little hike

with a spectacular assortment of orange

and red

mushrooms growing everywhere.

Can you spot the mushroom?

So glad we stopped here!