BrusselsGirl07

Once through the tunnel, which has emergency rooms at regular intervals, Sharman dropped us at The Inn at Whittier, our home for the next two nights. http://innatwhittier.com I had booked a Townhouse Suite which had beautiful views of the harbour from the living areas and the mountains from the upstairs bathroom. A kingsize bed and bathroom were upstairs and a full bathroom and fold out sofa bed were downstairs.

The hotel was very pretty perched our in the harbour. They had a great bar and a nice restaurant. We went for a walk around the very small town to see where we were meeting up for our boat trip the next day. There was a fudge shop which offered free tastings https://www.facebook.com/WhittierFudge . I bought some Midnight Sun - Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Drizzled with Caramel - and it was so delicious. It was made on the premises, and I would suggest you buy some if you are there!! We had drinks and dinner at the hotel, which was nice.

Lazy Otter Charters and Cafe

Our day was coming to an end, and our next adventure was driving through the tunnel to Whittier! We were spending two nights in Whittier and I had become a little apprehensive, as both Linda at the B&B in Anchorage, and Sharman, had commented that they did not know any tourists who had spent 2 nights in Whittier before! The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel - the longest (2.5 miles) highway tunnel in North America, and the first designed for -40 Fahrenheit temperatures and 150 mph winds - links Whittier by road and rail to the outside world.

Our next stop was at Portage Lake to board the MV Ptarmigan and sail to see Portage Glacier. This was our second Alaska Glacier, and it was very pretty and so different from Exit Glacier. A US Forest Services Officer was onboard and narrated during the trip and told us all about the Glacier. Even though it was a warm day, at the face of the Glacier it was very cold! We listened to the creaks and groans of the glacier, but while there was lots of ice in the water, we did not see any calving. The ice formations were fascinating and the colour of the Glacier was so pretty.

Sharman stopped to show us a beautiful glacier fed lake, which was the most spectacular colour of green, especially with the lovely sunny day.

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s420/yvettebelinda/TurnAgain%20Arm/IMG_2810_zpsd3031472.jpg

Continuing with our tour, we stopped at the the Alaska WildLife Conservation Centre. This is a really cool outdoor centre with animals in very large outdoor enclosures. We saw adult Moose and some adorable orphaned baby Moose, Black Bears and Grizzlies, Caribou, Musk Oxe, Foxes, two Lynx which had been orphaned in a forest fire and taken to the centre as kittens, A Bald Eagle that had sadly been shot and lost a wing, and lots of other animals. There is a really nice walkway under construction through some swampy grasslands which has beautiful views of Turnagain Arm and more beautiful snow capped mountains. You can drive or walk around the enclosures, and so we walked as it was such a pretty day. We looked around the giftshop before leaving.

A forest of 'drowned' trees from at the zoo, caused when sea water flooded the land after the 1964 earthquake

Someone shot this eagle and he lost his wing.

I had no idea they fired at the mountains to bring down excess snow before it can build up to become a huge avalanche!

You can walk up Mt Alyeska using the paths.

After our hike and our tram ride back down the mountain, we drove into Girdwood and had lunch at the Bake Shop. Lunch was included in our tour and we had a hearty bowl of soup, a huge sourdough bun and a huge slice of iced cinnamon roll.

It amused me that dessert was served with a knife and fork sticking out of it!

The day was beautiful and sunny, so when we arrived at the top of the tramway we hiked further up the mountain and enjoyed the most beautiful views of the mountains and Turnagain Arm.

Alyeska was our next stop, to take the 7 minute tram ride up to the top of Mt Alyeska. While we waited for the tram, we walked around the gardens of the Alyeska hotel. There were so many beautiful gardens filled with colourful flowers and bronze sculptures of bears and deer.

Mon 21 July - Today we were headed to Whittier! We dropped off our rental car and waited to be picked up by Sharman from Salmon Berry Tours. I had organised a private for the four of us tour along Turnagain Arm. Sharman was right on time and was really nice. The bus was very roomy and comfortable, especially with only 4 passengers! Sharman narrated as we went along and our first stop was at Beluga Point with beautiful views of Turnagain Arm. We did not see any Beluga, and Sharman said they had not been seen so far this year.

Our next stop was Bird Point Lookout, such a beautiful photo stop, with built-up walkways and views of the water and mountains.

Walkways at Bird Point

The only Beluga we saw!

We stayed up to watch the beautiful sunset from the balcony - the sun disappeared at 11.45pm!!!

We walked back to the B&B and played some more Farkle, talked and relaxed. We decided to try and go to the Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria for dinner. First we went to see the Ship Creek Salmon Hatchery. There were so many fishermen fishing it was a wonder any Salmon made it back up to spawn!

When we arrived at Moose’s Tooth there were about 100 people waiting outside for a table. We went inside and it was really busy with every table filled. We sat at the bar and the boys ordered a beer and Nancy and I ordered takeaway pizza. The pizza came very quickly, and we took it back to the B&B to eat.

We enjoyed the beautiful views from the B&B dining room windows while we ate our dinner.

Hi Cassicruiser - I have not been on Jetstar for a long haul flight, but we were not that impressed with Hawaiian. The plane we were on was really squishy, and it seemed you had to pay for everything including entertainment and food. I even asked for a snack at one point in the flight as I was hungry and the hostess told me I had to purchase food if I wanted it. I was going to buy something but she never came back!

Codeshare flights are OK as long as you book your entire flight with the one provider - then if there is a problem they have to sort it out for you. If you book one leg with someone, then the connecting flight with someone else and you miss the connection, it is usually up to you to figure out what you do next. But if you have a few days before continuing, this should not be a problem at all.

Mapleleaves, thanks for your kind comments!

On the way back to Anchorage to drop off our bikes, Nancy noticed that Denali was showing!!! We could not believe it! The mountain was quite distinct and glowing white from the sun shining on the snow. We got back to Pablo’s right on the 3 hour mark and left our bikes.

The mountain was still out, so we walked back to the Snow Goose Restaurant to sit out on their balcony and enjoy the views. It had gotten quite cold and windy, so we moved inside and had lunch.

We had another big walk around Anchorage and then went back to the B&B. The views from the balcony at the B&B of the mountain ranges and also Mount Susitna, the Sleeping Lady, where beautiful.

Can you see the Sleeping Lady? The story of this mountain is lovely.

We rode along for a little while longer and then came across another Moose!! This time was a female, also enjoying the grass. She looked a little crankier, so we watched her for a few minutes and then headed on our way.

We had been cycling for around an hour and I was giving up hope of seeing a Moose, when a local rode by and casually commented ‘Moose on the left’. He may as well have said that Santa was around the corner handing our million dollar cheques, I was so excited!!

We quickly rode around the corner, and there was my first real live up close Moose! It was a young male with small antlers, and he was happily munching grass on the side of the path. We respected his space, took lots of photos, and then we continued on so that we did not make him grumpy.

I was so excited to see a Moose!!!

Sunday 20 July - We had a full day in Anchorage. There were lots of options of what to do, but even though the weather was a little overcast and rain was predicted, I was desperate to see a Moose up close!! So we went bike riding on the Tony Knowles Coastal trail.

We walked to Pablo’s bike hire http://www.pablobicyclerentals.com, and were fitted out with bikes, helmets and maps. The bike ride is really beautiful, lots of trails which pass beaches, and through parks and forests. We had hired the bikes for 3 hours and thought we would go 90 minutes one way and then turn around and come back. The path goes through Earthquake Park and we stopped and read about the devastation caused by the 1964 earthquake.

Swallows flying around a sandy cliff they had built their nests on

Thank you for the encouragement - it is a lot of time and effort to do these reviews, so it is nice to get some feedback that the review is being enjoyed! On with the story......

A stained glass window we came across.

We continued our drive to Anchorage, and arrived back at the Susitna Place B&B. We had the same rooms, and Linda had already put the bags we left behind into our rooms.

That night we had dinner at the Snow Goose Restaurant which has a brewery onsite called the Sleeping Lady Brewery. http://www.alaskabeers.com We sat out on the balcony and had a relaxed meal, with more beers for the boys.

We went for a big walk around town before going back to our B&B for a good night’s sleep.

Not far from the Flying Squirrel was a Birch Syrup producer - the Kahiltna Birchworks. We stopped in to have a look and had a lovely time!

The people in the shop were so friendly and showed us around the syrup making facilities. We got to taste the syrups collected at various times during the collecting period and they were so different to each other. They also sold various jams and products made of the syrup such as toffees. They had free shipping in the US, so our friends bought some products and had them shipped home.

We also bought a container of their first run birch syrup to take home with us. I made a rookie travel mistake and forgot all about it. It ended up in a carry on and was confiscated when we entered Honolulu airport on the way home.

They also sold really yummy icecream, so we had to try some of that as well!

This site has a great short video on birch syrup production http://www.alaskabirchsyrup.com and this link is to the store and facility in Talkeetna http://www.alaskabirchsyrup.com/contactus.html After watching the video since arriving home on how the syrup is made, I am extra sad that my bottle was confiscated!

Little bottles of Birch Syrup from day 1 to day 17

The Syrup evaporator

Birch Syrup products.

After the amazing flight, and all on a high, we drove around Talkeetna to see what it was like. I thought it would be a cute little town, and it probably normally is, but it was really crowded, and the shops looked very touristy. We stopped at the Denali Brewing Co. then headed back to the Flying Squirrel Cafe for lunch. They had friendly staff, local beer with interesting labels, great coffee, really yummy food, and free wifi!

The glacier landing was perfect. Bill and I never see snow, so it was fun running around and playing in it. The surrounding scenery was so spectacular and breath taking!! We were all just in awe.

Bill running in the snow on the glacier!

We were all so happy that we got the chance to do this flight. It was amazing!!!

Bill was in the front seat on the flight home and took this picture of us in the plane.