Lens-Artists #65: Pick a Place

Posted in Alaska, PhotographyTagged , ,

This week, Tina has challenged us to capture the spirit of a place that is vivid in you memory.

My husband and I have been fortunate to be able to travel to most of the United States, parts of Canada, and a few other foreign countries. The one place that I think of most often is the state of Alaska.

It’s been six years since we towed our fifth wheel over 14,000 miles to Alaska and back. There are so many things that make Alaska memorable. The people are friendly and proud of their state. The mountains and glaciers took my breath away every where we went. I was constantly on the lookout for wildlife and often saw bears or moose beside the road. Sometimes we would be the only vehicle on the road for miles.

One of our favorite towns was Haines. We loved all the great people, the Hammer Museum, eagles and bears, and fresh Dungeness Crab for dinner. Probably best of all was the waterfront view from the campground. We enjoyed our cocktail hour searching for whales and watching the ships go by.

It's only raining to the left
View from our campground in Haines

As we traveled around Alaska we would sometimes drive for miles without seeing another car. I was constantly on the looking for bears and moose.

Beautiful view along the highway
Gorgeous scenery every where we went
20130714Day-60Talkeetna-to-Wasilla-(5)
Moose cow and calf crossing the road

One of our most memorable days was the day we left the fifth wheel in the RV park in North Pole and drove north on the Dalton Highway. After stopping at the Arctic Circle we continued on to Coldfoot, the farthest north we have ever traveled. At Coldfoot we turned around and arrived back at the camper after 10:00 pm and it was still daylight.

We traveled behind the motorcycle as we followed behind a pilot truck
Behind a motorcycle on the Dalton Highway

On a wildlife cruise from Seward, the captain turned off the engines so we could hear the ice calving at Aialik Glacier.

Calving on Aialik Glacier
Ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward

One of my favorite things in Alaska was seeing wildlife.

I’ll never forget the Orcas cruising close by our boat on a wildlife cruise from Valdez.

Pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

The mama bear was too busy finding fish for her cub to pay attention to us.

Mama bear looking for more fish
Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez
Black Bear Cub
Black Bear Cub

There were more bald eagles in Alaska than anywhere else I’ve ever been. As we rode close to the shoreline on one of the wildlife cruises there were too many eagles perched in the trees to count.

Pair of Eagles
We spotted this pair of Bald Eagles as we cruised by on a wildlife and glacier cruise from Valdez
Eagle soaring over bluff at Russian Orthadox Church
Eagle soaring over bluff at Russian Orthadox Church in Ninilchik

Riding on a train and a taking a plane ride to land on a glacier after seeing Mount Denali up close were two of our favorite excursions.

Going down the tracks
A ride on the Alaska Railroad to the Hurricane Turn
We went really close to Mt. McKinley
Mount Denali from the air

It’s been over six years since we were there. One day we will return…

Many thanks to Tina for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Pick a Place

 

28 thoughts on “Lens-Artists #65: Pick a Place”

  7. One of our favorite trips as well Beth. Our only disappointment was that our flight-seeing trip over Denali was cancelled due to weather. We did flight-seeing for salmon fishing tho which was amazing. And oh the bears at the falls catching them- just as you see in tourism photos. Don’t get me started on the Glacier Bay boat trip. Sigh, I need to go back! Your photos took me right back there!

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    1. Thank you Tina. We stayed in Talkeetna for a few days and went on the flightseeing trip on the clearest day. We never did see Mt Denali while in the National Park because of the weather. We went on three different wildlife and glacier cruises. Didn’t see orcas until the last one. We saw so much other wildlife that I didn’t include in this post.

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  11. Beth, that first photo is amazing – so clear and clean, you can almost feel the crispness in the air. Nothing like beautiful photographs to bring back memories. We still have not gotten to Alaska, but we have it on the short list.

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  12. I’m happy to hear that you are planning another trip up there. We’re hoping to make a trip up there in the next few years to visit some of the places that we never made it to see when we lived there (and to revisit our favorites). I miss Alaska.

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  13. What nice memories you have of Alaska. We took a cruise to Alaska and were amazed at the number of Bald Eagles, too. They were as numerous as the sea gulls in San Francisco.

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