Day 2 - Anchorage

We woke up really early Thursday morning...because the sun was up really early in the morning and we were in a time zone 2 hours behind our own. 

We got up and got ready for the day. We ate breakfast and then went exploring. Our hotel was right next to Sheep Creek where a ton of people are fishing all the time. When there's only 4 hours of darkness a day it gives natives a lot of time to do things.

This was in front of the river.

We found a can of "Bear Scare" but it looked used so we left it there. They told us that bear and moose regularly walk into town.

At about 8:25 am we loaded onto the buses to go 2 hours to Talkeetna. They stopped along the way for us to buy snacks because we weren't going to get lunch and the tour was going to take all day long so we wouldn't be back for dinner. 

The bus ride was cool because we went through some beautiful areas.

When we got to Talkeetna we went in a jet boat tour down the river. It was cool. 

After taking us a ways down the river, we all got off the boat to look at a trapping cabin.  Out guide secured the boat and then came up to guide us down the trail. She had a 12 gauge shot gun. Ethan decided right then that he has found his dream job.

Right now is the time when moose have their babies so they came become aggressive. So she had the gun to keep us safe.

The cabin was pretty cool and the scenery was beautiful.

One tidbit of information we learned was that dandelions, which aren't native to Alaska, grow really tall here because of all the extra sunlight they get. It was crazy!

They loaded us back on the boat and we went to see a bald eagle nest.

We got back to the bus we took off for the lodge. There wasn't anything to do at the lodge but the views were beautiful.

Just hanging out at the lodge. 

We loaded back on the bus and went to see some Iditarod dogs. We watched a video about the race and its history and then we went out to see the dogs and ride on a sled. 

Just as a side note...the weather was beautiful and quite warm. I was really surprised at the lack of snow. The river guides even said they had a really mild winter. Crazy!

Anyway, the puppies were courtneys favorite part. Can you tell?

 

We took a ride in a sled pulled by dogs but the sled had wheels. It was so much fun.

We were exhausted by this point so the ride home was quiet. When we got to Anchorage we were starving. THey dropped us off in town and we asked around for a pizza place. A guide told us that Uncle Joe's Pizza was the best....and it was!

We then walked back to the hotel finally arriving 12 hours after we left that morning. Courtney went swimming. It was such a long day that the lack of darkness at night didn't stop us from falling right to sleep!!