July 4, 2014 Radiance Southbound/DIY Land Tour Review

[mollanjake]

Returned on Saturday from our wonderful Alaskan Adventure!

 

I probably spent 2 years reading the Alaska forums, and received tons of help in my planning so I thought I should write a review in hopes that I might help someone.

 

I've never written a long review and hope it doesn't take me too long.

 

We are a family of 3, myself and DH 46-51yo as well as our 9.5 yo DD(the 0.5 is very important!)

 

Thought I would start with a review of the ship:

 

Radiance of the Seas, RCI. Our only recent cruise was on the Independence of the Sea in March 2013, so my comparisons will be based on that.

 

The Radiance is pretty ship, smaller and easier to get around than the Independence. Tons of glass, My DD loved the outside elevators. The Radiance lacks the center "mall" area. The shops are layed out a little odd in that you have to enter one shop to get to another and to get to the photos. There was a centrum on Deck 4, where they had dancing, music etc, but frankly the area was too small. I thought the shops were well stocked with Alaska themed stuff and RCI merchandise was sold on multiple occasions.

 

To address some of the negatives I read prior to the trip:

 

Outside in need of maintenance: Our balcony railing was in need of staining as the out layer was peeling. I did see some rust type stuff around the outside of the ship and the hull could use some paint. That said I looked for this stuff as it had be mentioned her on CC. Sea air is really hard on paint jobs( just ask my DH whose grandparents had a house at the Jersey shore that had to be painted every other year!) and I would guess the constant exposure to sea water makes that even worse. My thought is that the cooler temps/rain of Alaska makes painting and stainer harder than if it were dry and warm, no effect on crusie experience.

 

Bathrooms- Our bathroom didn't smell the freshest, but didn't smell like sewage either. Would be nice if the bathroom had a fan, but most hotels do not. We did have a little trouble with our toilet, but it was fixed promptly. No effect on our cruise.

 

So as far as I was concerned the problems I had anticipated: no effect on us!

[mollanjake]

Cabin: we booked a D1 with a Pullman. Level 9 port side.

 

On the Indy we had a E1(or E2) When researching for the trip I found that the cabins are smaller on the Radiance than on the Indy. I went up a level b/c with 3 of us I did not want a smaller cabin. I can confirm that the cabins are smaller on the Radiance as we met a couple that had also sailed on Indy and were in the same category and felt the cabin was smaller.

 

We loved this CABIN! The pullman was over the sofa rather than over the bed. I believe it was a sofa bed as I think the cabin slept 4. Storage was great, the closet was large, with plenty of shelves. There was also ample cabinet space. We were able to unpack everything! The bathroom had decent storage cabinets as well. I now use hanging bags for my toiletries and makeup, so they hung on the bathroom door.

 

The shower is really small and the shower curtain make this even worse. You have to be careful with the curtain so not to flood the bathroom floor. This happened once when we didn't check the curtain while my DD was showering. We had to call for extra towels to clean-up the water. The towels were delivered very quickly!

 

Our cabin stewart Randy was wonderful. We boarded the ship around 3-4pm. we quickly met him and my DD asked for the pullman to be brought down. While we out exploring the ship he did it. Before we went to dinner my DD wrote Randy a note and asked for towel animals, so Randy made one every night! The first one was an eskimo! He made up her pullman everyday and every day he remade any animals that had fallen apart and he also lined up her expanding collection on stuffed animals. We gave him a WOW card.

 

MTD

I chose MTD this time around as I think 6:30pm is too early to eat and 8:30pm is too late. Also we were in port until 8-9pm 2 days. I made advance reservations for all but 2 nights. We loved MTD and would definitely chose this option in the future.

On the first night we had a 6:30pm reservation, we arrived on time, but got what I thought was a bad table in the back of the dining room, not near a window. I was disappointed by the table. Service was good. We gave both guys a WOW card.

On Day 2, Formal night we had a reservation, we showed up on time and requested a window seat. We got a window seat, but the table was next to the service station, which wasn't ideal, and I will admit, I wasn't not very happy about. The servers Jessie Boy and Jeffery were awesome!

 

The nights are kinda blending together now, so Im not sure which night was which but, arrived about 15 mins late one night and was told it was fine as they were NOT holding a table for us. One night we just showed up without a reservation. Both nights we requested our table from night 2, one night we waited a few moments for the table to be cleared and reset that other we had to sit else where.

 

After that we always got our requested table. Once you request a table a second night I believe they keep the table for you IF you have a reservation.

 

Jessie Boy and Jeffery were great and restored my love of cruse ship dining service!

 

The food: this is subjective, but I will give the food just an okay. the dining room food is fine, made better but great service. the Windjammer was ok but less than fine. I think the Windjammer is quite small and lacked choices. The ParkCafe in the Solarium was far superior to the Windjammer and became our go to eatery!

 

we did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants. We had a reservation at Izumi, but decide to cancel and go to dining room.

[mollanjake]

Dressing for dinner- I read tons of threads on this. The consensus seemed to be that people dress down for dinner in Alaska. On 2 occasions we went to the dinner room right from being in port. We were dressed in hiking boots and all. Neither was a formal night. On the one night I felt like a woman at the next totable was giving us a funny look, not sure what her issue was... I will say on those 2 nights I felt under dressed, but on the days when we dressed for dinner I felt over dressed! Bottom line-do what you want!

 

 

Spa- On our final sea day I have a hot stones massage. The massage was very nice, but as always included the hard sell at the end to buy products.....

 

I would recommend book appointments ahead of time. I tried to get an apt on the first sea day the morning of and they were booked until about 5 pm.

 

Shows- we only attended one show. We got up early every day and were busy in port, so we were tired at night! We saw City of Dreams, which was not great. I felt the choreography was not so good(Seniors at my DD dance studio have better) The songs, well were odd, some were current/know songs with weird arrangements that made them difficult to recognize. Shows on Indy were much better.

 

Photos- this was a tad odd. On the first formal night we had a 7pm dinner reservation. We found only one "manned" photo station and on the second formal we found 2 after we ate. We also didn't see photographers when getting off the ship. Funny thing was that we saw pics with other backgrounds and of people getting off the ship. Not sure if our timing was off, but sure glad I didn't have a photo package this time around! Pics as always are pricey. Bought 4 photos and one was 1/2 off...just under $80.

 

Can't think of any other comments about the ship. I did not take photos.

 

Happy to answer any questions.

[luv2sail7]

Thanks Laura for your review. :):)

Looking forward to reading your Land Tour comments.

[mollanjake]

I am definitely NOT a light packer, so I can't help with any Carry-on only lists.

 

A few notes that might help somebody out there.

 

Waterproof hiking boots: we bought these for our trip and am glad we did! We crossed a few streams and stood in some lakes and streams and all of our feet stayed dry(except when the water went over the top of my shoe!) We each had extra pairs of walking shoes that were "waterproofed" with spray. my DD did test them out in a lake and said her fee stayed dry. All of our shoes were Keens.

 

Rain Gear: we bought rain pants, but Mother Nature smiled on us and they weren't needed. I wore performance type pants and found that the rain we did encounter beaded up on them rather than soaking thru. Rain jackets are essential, we did not encounter much rain, but they are great when it is windy.

 

My DD and I each had 2 fleece jackets and 2 were needed. I brought one that was quite heavy and I did not need it, it was just too heavy! we did a few activities that were animal related and well the fleece smelled like the animal afterward so I would not have wanted to re-wear it. Fleece and sweatshirts of all kinds are readily available in all ports, so we each bought one as well.

 

We had laundry done on the ship. We sent it off on the day we boarded. I think on Day 4 they gave a bag which would could have had washed and folded for $30. This would have been the cheaper option for us.

 

We dressed for dinner all but 2 nights. i had planned for dressing on extra night, do DD and I had an extra outfit each.

 

Our other extra was thermal under ware, we could have gotten away without it.

 

I personally am glad I did not plan on rewiring most of my clothes. Especially on our land tour I felt/was dirty at the end of the day.

[mollanjake]

We had multiple flight changes by Delta, first the flight changed dramatically then we had 2 or 3 changes in time. This happened to several of the cruisers on my Roll Call, so check your flights regularly. most of the time we were NOT notified of the changes!

 

We finished packing at 8pm on 6/28 the night before our 6:35am flight. We got up at about 3:45 am, so we could get to the airport for our flight.

 

The Delta rep at MCI kept referring to our flight to LAX as the flight to California...maybe Delta only flies to LAX, but I am quite certain it is not the only airport in California.

We were grateful that one of the flight attendants came around with connecting flight info because even though I booked my flight thru Delta, our flight to Anchorage was in fact an Alaskan Air flights and did not show on the Delta boards. we had to switch terminals and the gate agent we asked for "directions" was pretty clueless, thank goodness the tunnel was nearby and well marked.

 

After a fun ride thru the tunnel on an airport cart, we arrived at our gate. Our layover was 1hr and 50 mins, so we had time to grab a breakfast sandwich.

 

We arrived in Anchorage on time, the airport was nice and the rentals cars are on site. We loaded ALL of our luggage into the Impala, used its GPS and headed to the Hotel Captain Cook. The hardest part of our trip was trying to figure out where to go to get into the hotel. We checked into the hotel, took all of our bags up to our room and then headed out to get some lunch. it was now btw 2:30-3pm, and we were hungry.

 

We headed to the visitor center to get a reindeer sausage from a street vendor. My DD is quite sheltered and didn't believe me that we were getting reindeer sausage or getting food from a street vendor!. There were a few on the street and we picked one. Not knowing if my DD would even eat the sausage we ordered 2, and encouraged her to try it...she ate a whole sausage herself!

 

Since I knew we would be tired from getting up so early, I planned for us to do the Anchorage trolley. I purchased a Buy 1 get 1 ticket thru a KTUU deal I found out about on the Alaska forum. I handed the guy my voucher and he said we were fine not charging us for my DD. Cost $20 for about $50 ride. The trolley goes thru local neighbor hoods and makes a short stop at earth quake park and travels around Lake Hood. The driver gave us a lot of onto, but the ride was a bit boring esp for my DD, but the highlight... we saw a moose right on the highway! Unfortunately no picture. On the way back to the visitor center we passed Humpy's, which was on our "eat at" list. it was featured on an episode on Man vs Food. We walked around a bit everyone was tired, but we were trying to get ourselves on Alaska time. we saw the ceremonial starting point of the Iditarod and looked in the shops eventually heading back to the hotel to organize a bit.

 

Anchorage had a fair amount of tourists mingling around as there was a cruise ship docked. originally I had wanted to go to the weekend market, but with flight changes I thought would be too late to go then decided after the trolley that it really was too late.

 

We decided on the SnowGoose for dinner as I thought it had a view. there are 2 outdoor decks, but it was starting to mist a bit and frankly the view was rather industrial. DH had the sockeye salmon special that was delicious. (he ordered the king salmon, but they were out) My cobb salad was ok. DD had the hummus plate which she liked. They house Sleeping Lady brewery, my DH rated the beer as okay.

 

We headed back to the Captain Cook, showered and went to bed as we had to be in Plamer at 10:30am.

 

We liked the Hotel Captain Cook, it has a great location, everything is walkable(except the Moose something pizza place that gets rave reviews) I picked it before out plans changed, originally we were not renting a car and spending only 1 night in Anchorage. I asked my DH if he wanted me to change to a cheaper location and he said no.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

[Kimahri]

Thanks for writing this review. :DWill be on deck 9, maybe Randy will be our cabin steward he sounds great. I've had my flight booked since last year and they have changed our flight twice so far.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Kimahri

[mollanjake]

Thanks for writing this review. :DWill be on deck 9, maybe Randy will be our cabin steward he sounds great. I've had my flight booked since last year and they have changed our flight twice so far.

 

We were in cabin 9250! Good luck!

[mollanjake]

my pictures don't do Alaska justice, but thought I would include a few. may take me a few tries....

 

 

Flying into Anchorage

Edited July 15, 2014 by mollanjake

[mollanjake]

 

Ceremonial starting point of the Iditarod.

[mollanjake]

All these pics were taken either on the way into Knik Glacier or at the camp area once we were out there. I apologize, but my DD is in most of the pics I took!

 

[/img]

 

 

 

 

[mollanjake]

I'm going to call it a night. Still trying to get back to a normal schedule!

 

 

Feeding the reindeer!

 

[/img]

Edited July 15, 2014 by mollanjake

[mapleleaves]

Great photo of your daughter feeding the reindeer !

Bet she has some wonderful stories to share with her friends. What a great family adventure! Thx for sharing.

[Keith1010]

I am enjoying your trip report.

 

Keith

[hollon]

Returned on Saturday from our wonderful Alaskan Adventure!

 

I probably spent 2 years reading the Alaska forums, and received tons of help in my planning so I thought I should write a review in hopes that I might help someone.

 

I've never written a long review and hope it doesn't take me too long.

 

We are a family of 3, myself and DH 46-51yo as well as our 9.5 yo DD(the 0.5 is very important!)

 

Thought I would start with a review of the ship:

 

Radiance of the Seas, RCI. Our only recent cruise was on the Independence of the Sea in March 2013, so my comparisons will be based on that.

 

The Radiance is pretty ship, smaller and easier to get around than the Independence. Tons of glass, My DD loved the outside elevators. The Radiance lacks the center "mall" area. The shops are layed out a little odd in that you have to enter one shop to get to another and to get to the photos. There was a centrum on Deck 4, where they had dancing, music etc, but frankly the area was too small. I thought the shops were well stocked with Alaska themed stuff and RCI merchandise was sold on multiple occasions.

 

To address some of the negatives I read prior to the trip:

 

Outside in need of maintenance: Our balcony railing was in need of staining as the out layer was peeling. I did see some rust type stuff around the outside of the ship and the hull could use some paint. That said I looked for this stuff as it had be mentioned her on CC. Sea air is really hard on paint jobs( just ask my DH whose grandparents had a house at the Jersey shore that had to be painted every other year!) and I would guess the constant exposure to sea water makes that even worse. My thought is that the cooler temps/rain of Alaska makes painting and stainer harder than if it were dry and warm, no effect on crusie experience.

 

Bathrooms- Our bathroom didn't smell the freshest, but didn't smell like sewage either. Would be nice if the bathroom had a fan, but most hotels do not. We did have a little trouble with our toilet, but it was fixed promptly. No effect on our cruise.

 

So as far as I was concerned the problems I had anticipated: no effect on us!

 

Thanks for the review, RCCL sale ends today w/ the Buy one get one 1/2 off, So that's why I'm leaning towards the Radiance, We will not do a land tour, Would you recommend the Radiance or Princess that goes to Glacier Bay? Our cruises are mostly on royal Caribbean. I know it's just your opinion, just wanted suggestions - thanks again for the review

[mollanjake]

Not sure I can offer good advice on your question, but... I've never sailed Princess but when planning my trip I really wanted to give them a try so before research they were my front runner. Glacier Bay seems to be a favorite on the forum as well. I made a spreadsheet of ports and time in port. We ultimately went with Radiance b/c it gave us an extra port day (ISP)vs the at sea (glacier bay). This was largely b/c my DD was with us. It worked out for us as we got very close to Hubbard. One point I read after booking my trip, Hubbard can get missed, so you could be left with out seeing a glacier. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have an questions

[mollanjake]

Of course I woke up really early my first morning in Alaska. I ALWAYS wake early on vacation and there was a 3 hour time difference. Think I fell back asleep a few times, but by 4:30am I was AWAKE. I read for awhile, but eventually got up and dressed. Fortunately this made my DH stir enough that I told him I was going to get a cup coffee. There is a coffee shop at the hotel Captain Cook with a Starbucks-type menu, so I got drinks for everyone. The smell of a carmel apple cider made DD get out of bed with a smile!

 

Since we needed to get on the road, we ate an Alaskan breakfast at the hotel. DD had sour dough pancakes(which I thought were yucky, but I don't like sour dough) DH and I each had a different egg dish that featured Reindeer sausage, both were good.

 

We headed up to Palmer about an hour drive. GPS on my Verizon phone worked on the way up there, but once I lost the signal at the glacier, I had a hard time getting it back.

 

KNICK Glacier Tour- they have both an airboat and a jet boat. Fortunately our tour had too many people for 1 boat so we got to ride in one boat on the way there and the other on the way boat. The airboat has a fan on the back like a swamp boat. The jet boat uses water to push its way along both are good for shallow water.

 

the tour office is located on the owner Tom's land, he offers dry camping as well. The air out there was crisp and clean. You could see mountains and snow! once everyone arrived we loaded into the monster van. Before leaving for the boats Tom or his helper (whose name I can't remember) spotted a mother moose and her baby that lived near his house. Tom drove in their direction, she was skittish and went into the woods, but we saw them! no good photos though.

 

Animal count 3 moose and we had been in AK for less than 24 hours!

 

The ride to the boats was longer than I would have liked. We were in the last row of the van and the ride was bumpy. My DD loved it. We went across a few streams getting to the boats. I think there was 11 of us total. We rode in the airboat first. Headphones are provided on both boats as they are noisy. Tom drove and a few times it looked like we would hit icebergs! Once we were near the glacier Tom took us up close to some larger icebergs than onto his site. we were able to hike around for quite some time. We could get close to the lake at spots and were able to pull mini ice begs ashore and pick some of them up. It was quite and peaceful. There are enough hills around that we lost of site of the others in our group, seemed like we were the only people there. After picking up a few rocks and a piece of drift wood we headed back to the camp area. We got some family pics with the glacier in the background and took turns throwing rocks into the water. We built Inukshuks. a must according to Tom. At camp we had coffee/hot chocolate and trail mix. We saw moose poop, but no moose. Tom has an outhouse set up. My DD has never used an actual outhouse and told everyone not to look in the potty. There is a rock that has been cut flat, a great spot for pictures. Tom said they use it for weddings and funerals. We loaded into the jet boat for the ride back. We had to ride in the monster van again, this time we did NOT ride in the very back. the same boat and van route are used in both directions

 

great trip!

[mollanjake]

After leaving Knick Glacier Tours we headed to the REINDEER Farm. I had pre-printed directions, which came in handy as my phone GPS was not working. At this point I switched to the GPS in the car.

 

The reindeer Farm was close and we were there in no time. We went into the gift shop to get a tour. There was a coupon in Northern Lights, but I forgot to use it. We were told the tour would start shorty and that there were chickens and bunnies to play with. We convinced out DD not to go into the chicken coup, but once others were holding bunnies, there was no stopping her. They also offer "pony rides" for an additional charge, We did not do one. My DD can ride on her own, so we convinced her it would be boring.

 

Our tour started on a small deck. We were given info about reindeer: reindeer are captive caribou, reindeer are the only species where both male and female have antlers, etc Most important: do not touch the antlers as they are in velvet, are very sensitive and it hurts the reindeer. Reindeer make a clicking noise when they walk, I forgot why and they can not kick backwards. Moving on we were given food and allowed to go into the pen...some of the reindeer would a bit forceful, but way fun to feed! The pen was pretty clean, they clean up poop regularly. The reindeer are farm animals and they do smell a bit. Once everyone finished feeding them we left the pen. We transferred to another guide, who took us over to grass and said to pick some grass to feed the elk. We feed the elf thru the fence, while we were given info on them. I don't remember very much of that info... except they only have 2 males and they are sold off regularly... There were some cute spotted babies. They no longer have a moose there, it died.

 

Our tour complete, we stopped in the gift shop to buy an antler to take home for our dog!

[mollanjake]

Thanks for the review, RCCL sale ends today w/ the Buy one get one 1/2 off, So that's why I'm leaning towards the Radiance, We will not do a land tour, Would you recommend the Radiance or Princess that goes to Glacier Bay? Our cruises are mostly on royal Caribbean. I know it's just your opinion, just wanted suggestions - thanks again for the review

 

 

I didn't quote you in my response so I thought I should now, so that you got notification of my response. It is about 3 posts back.

 

 

Laura

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mollanjake]

After leaving Knick Glacier Tours we headed to the REINDEER Farm. I had pre-printed directions, which came in handy as my phone GPS was not working. At this point I switched to the GPS in the car.

 

The reindeer Farm was close and we were there in no time. We went into the gift shop to get a tour. There was a coupon in Northern Lights, but I forgot to use it. We were told the tour would start shorty and that there were chickens and bunnies to play with. We convinced out DD not to go into the chicken coup, but once others were holding bunnies, there was no stopping her. They also offer "pony rides" for an additional charge, We did not do one. My DD can ride on her own, so we convinced her it would be boring.

 

Our tour started on a small deck. We were given info about reindeer: reindeer are captive caribou, reindeer are the only species where both male and female have antlers, etc Most important: do not touch the antlers as they are in velvet, are very sensitive and it hurts the reindeer. Reindeer make a clicking noise when they walk, I forgot why and they can not kick backwards. Moving on we were given food and allowed to go into the pen...some of the reindeer would a bit forceful, but way fun to feed! The pen was pretty clean, they clean up poop regularly. The reindeer are farm animals and they do smell a bit. Once everyone finished feeding them we left the pen. We transferred to another guide, who took us over to grass and said to pick some grass to feed the elk. We feed the elf thru the fence, while we were given info on them. I don't remember very much of that info... except they only have 2 males and they are sold off regularly... There were some cute spotted babies. They no longer have a moose there, it died.

 

Our tour complete, we stopped in the gift shop to buy an antler to take home for our dog!

 

I wanted to add to this post: we enjoyed this stop a lot! I would recommend esp for those with kids. Great stop if in the area or passing thru the area, but would not drive up from Anchorage just to go.

[mollanjake]

next we headed to the musk Ox farm. This was something I had on my if we have time list, but in the month right before the trip my DH decided we had to do this. His said he didn't know anyone who had been to a musk ox farm and wanted a tshirt!

 

We joined a tour that had just started. My DH ran back to the car to get the coupon from Northern Lights Book. The guide gave some info about musk ox and took us around to different enclosures. Animal were separated by age/sex/moms with babies etc

 

My DD got to feed one thru the fence.

 

I believe the Musk ox farm is non-profit.

 

They are combed for the Qivuit, a fiber that is warmer than wool and softer than cashmere. They sell both yarn and items like a scarves. Both are pretty expensive.

 

The tour was nice, but wasn't quite like feeding reindeer! Following the tour they have a small museum area and you guessed it a gift shop! We got a tshirt, a stuffed animal musk ox and a Christmas tree ornament.

 

An interesting stop if you are into animals, I think many would find it boring.

 

We headed back to Anchorage.

[mollanjake]

We had some snacks in the car, so we never stopped anywhere for lunch, not that we saw anywhere to stop!

 

Back in Anchorage, we were hungry for dinner!

 

We decided on Humpy's which had been featured on an episode of Man Vs Food.

 

We walked as it was only about 2 blocks away. We did not take the scenic route as we walked past the bus station. We got to Humpy's just fine, my DD wanted to sit outside, which seemed like a good idea as it was sunny and warm.

 

the outside are is nice, BUT smoking is allowed at there. There was no one smoking near us, but somebody was smoking a cigar. just a FYI incase you are sensitive to smoke.

 

We ordered 2 entrees salmon and halibut with an add-on of crab legs. There was enough food for the 3 of us, but the entrees were smaller than I expected.

 

Food was good, but DH's salmon from the night before was better!

 

After dinner, we walked over a few blocks to the tourist strip, I think 4th street. we looked in the shops, mostly to find DD a fleece jacket as now one of her 2 fleece was dirty from the reindeer. We were successful! We also looked for a small string type back pack for her b/c DH and I had decided not to bring hers, but we did not find anything that was cheap and/or I thought she would use again.

 

back in the hotel, we stopped in a small shop that had locally made jewelry, both DD and I got earrings made with porcupine quills. According to the man in the shop, they "harvest the quills" by throwing a Nerf ball at the porcupine.

 

Our first day in Alaska came to a close:

 

Wild animal count: 3 moose .

 

Feed Reindeer, elk and a musk ox.

 

Not too shabby.

[mollanjake]

We started our second full day in Alaska with breakfast at Snow City Cafe.

 

I ordered the Deadliest Catch breakfast(eggs Benedict with salmon and crab) DD had some sort of Huevos rancheros dish and DH an omelet. This was WAY too much food. DD and I could easily have shared either of our dishes. Everything was very yummy! we used a coupon from Northern lights, so one of our entrees was free, they also let us use a second coupon for a free coffee drink!

 

 

[mollanjake]

We checked out of the hotel and hit the road!

 

First stop Walmart- Walmart is still Walmart no matter where you are. Along with bottled water and snacks, we picked up a few souvenir items, travel mug, socks, stuffed reindeer , but there were far fewer "Alaska" items than I expected. A separate small room had the beer and wine.

 

We did use the Mile to Mile guide to find the stops. I was able to print off the small areas we needed from the website.

 

First stop was Potter's Marsh- the marsh was created when the railroad and/or highways was built. They had boardwalks that went off in 2 directions. we walked one all the way to the end, the other which went toward the highway about halfway.We saw one moose far off in the distance, but nothing else of interest just basic birds and geese. can never depend on animals to make an appearance!

 

 

They were Dall sheep and we could see 4 total: 2 moms each with a baby. There were tons of cars pulled over and even more people. we had to walk a hundred yards or so back down the highway to see them, the shoulder was very narrow, so we walked on the other side of the guard rail. The Rail road tracks are there as well. we did not cross over the tracks, but saw a few that did.

 

Back on the road, I think we made a few more stops, (Beluga Point for sure) but we didn't see anything of note

 

next stop Crow Creek mine