Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 3:Seeing some wildlife 063017

Woke up to have an early breakfast as we have a long day ahead of us. Drive down the coast stopping at beluga point (however we dont see any whales as I think it was low tide. Hang there for a little bit before continuing down the coast to the Alaska wildlife conservation center to take a behind the scenes tour that we booked ahead of time. Tour guide finds our group (6 people total) and begins the incredibly informative tour. Takes us to see all the animals as we walk around the grounds, get to see some moose, bears, etc. with the musk ox being much smaller than I thought.

So apparently these cliffs have water coming out of them that people capture into water jugs. I guess nature's water fountain. 

Found some reindeer on a hill.

This dude had horns for days. Part of me was thinking he probably was laying down due to the weight of those bad boys.

Reindeer up close.

Cool looking creatures.

AMERICA!!!! This little dude was injured so lives here now. 

Bear playing with a bone.

Bear on the prowl.

Black bear running around in the grass.

Some cool wolves hanging out with each other.

Sleep lil dude!

Porcupine popping up to say hey

Little dude just exploring the area.

These were our guides favorite animals here. So tiny.

Our guide feeding his babies.

Cute lil guys just eating some leaves.

Brown bear.

Cute guy.

These animals are so precious looking...

But look at those paws... Danger!

As long as you arent being mauled by these guys, they are pretty cute animals.

I wanted this bear to go on a rampage on the birds behind them. Apparently it does happen every now again.

These guys were a lot smaller than expected. Like the size of a small deer or something like that.

Had a seagull come hang in the park with all the trapped animals.

Great view.

Found us some bison. 

Sleeping fox.

Finally saw a moose. 

At the end of the tour, we get to all take turns feeding one of the oldest residents of the center, this porcupine. So gentle as he reaches out to take the peanut from you. Was really cool.

Porcupine taking a peanut from my hand.

Apparently low tide as there are exposed sand bed in the waterways.

After finishing up the tour, we drive over to the ski resort town of Aleyska to drive around a little bit and check it out. Wind up at a thai food stall for lunch which was pretty good. Explore the town a little more and then head over to flat top to do a little hike. In my reading, I remember flat top being popular and I equated that with being easy so we started the hike with maybe 1/3 a bottle of water; definitely needed much more than that. Hiking our way up to the top and get to where the path becomes bouldering instead of a hike. We keep going up and eventually get to a point where we decide we are done with bouldering and take a seat to enjoy the view and chat with other hikers. Carefully make our way down the rocks to return to the car and go check out Anchorage brewing since it was closed the first time and I was told this was the best brewery in Anchorage. It did not disappoint. The interior design was pretty great and the beers were even better. Had a 13% stout that was aged in glenmorangie barrels that was easy drinking like a pilz - delicious! Grabbed some wine for the cruise ship then went to Tommy's burger stop for some dinner. The burgers were pretty tasty, though the wait seemed a little drawn out for the business that was there - though there were many take out orders that came so that could have been the reason. We then get back to the house to shower and crash as it was a long and fun day.

Does this look like a place you would eat? Cause you should :)

Lets start this hike shall we?

The beginning path below us. Great view.

View down on the city as we climb a little bit.

As we keep climbing, there are fewer and fewer green things and more and more rocks. For now though, still with plenty of green.

We made it far up this mountain. Not a bad view.

A view from where we just came. 

Not a bad view from our perch.

The selection at the brewery. Lots of great collaborations and tasty beers.

Some of the tasty beers at the brewery. 

Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 2:Driving around town 062917

Assessed damage from the bottle breaking in Amy's bag and realized that on top of all her clothes smelling like rum, her toiletry bag was partially melted. After having breakfast with Rock, we drive around town looking to replace the toiletry bag. After finding a suitable replacement, we drive around downtown and wind up at the coastal trail to walk around a little bit. Had some interesting signs and places for people to repair their bike along the way. Then we decide to try and hit up some breweries, first trying to go to Anchorage however it is still closed. So we drive around the corner to Midnight sun brewery.

Found a trail sign for the Coastal Trail.

Little bike repair station. Pretty cool.

Reduce speed for moose? Also, great view from the park. 

Pretty flowers. 

Flowers growing along the coastal trail.

Found a brewery open this early so lets check it out.

Some flights at Midnight sun brewery. Can you guess who ordered the dark beers?

Have a few beers and decide since we have the car and plenty of allowed miles, we drive up to Talkeetna to get a glimpse of the nature in the area. Its a long drive, but there are some nice views on the way. Eventually get to the village which is really touristy but since we came all this way, we get out to walk around, grab a late lunch, and check it out. Wind up at Denali Brew Pub which had a great selection of beers which are ok. The sandwich (sriracha chicken) was small with minimal veggies on it. After walking around a little bit more, we head back to Anchorage. On the way back, we see a camper that apparently veered off the road, crashed, and became engulfed in flames and smoke was still billowing up as we drove by. Get back into town and are told that its common to see moose down in earthquake park so we go down there to see us some moose. We walk around quite a bit and see no moose anywhere. We do find lots of mosquitoes when we go off the path so we learn to stay on the path to stay away from them. After a couple miles walking on the trail, we return back to the house, shower, and get ready for bed.

Looks like a good place for a bite and some beers.

Did a little flight at Denali brewing company.

Ice cream shack right next to the brewing company.

Found this small, cute coffee shop as we walked around talkeetna village so we decided to grab a glass.

Texas mug at a small coffee shop in talkeetna. 

Beautiful mountains in the distance. 

Looks like this forest saw a fire not too long ago. 

Stopped at a lake on the outskirts of town on the way in to walk around a little bit and take a break from the car ride.

Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 1: Day of travel 062817

We had a flight middle of the day so we took our time to finish packing and then made our way to the airport. Quickly made it though the baggage check and security as they were on their game getting people to the gates. After security, we walk around the concourse and realize there are a ton of ipads throughout the whole place for people waiting at the gates or sitting at the bars. They have games, ways to order, and access to the internet (though the last part required money I believe). Grabbed some big beers while we wait to board then get on the plane. As we are flying up towards Anchorage, the captain comes over the speaker and mentions that a Russian volcano had erupted and if winds shift we will be redirected due to the ash. Winds up not happening. Had to watch the in-flight movies on your own devices (watched la la land and doctor strange) and even with an 8hr flight, no food provided (had to buy anything you wanted); both of these things just further my belief of how much american based airlines have fallen off in terms of customer service.

Ipads everywhere.

One of the ipads strewn all over the concourse. We shall use this to order our food you say?

Ready to start this trip off right :)

One of us was thirstier than the other. 

View from the plane of what I am assuming are the Rockies. 

Finally get in and get to baggage check where there is no direction from the monitors to tell us which belt to go to and it takes forever for the bags to make it out. Eventually figure it all out and meet our car rental person (used Turo which is like airbnb for car rental) out front. The car was more beaten then usual, turns out it had been in a wreck recently and havent had a chance to repair it. Wasnt too bad just hard to close passenger door and top light would stay on. Leave the airport and eventually get to our AirBNB (about 10 minutes from the airport) where our host, Rock, is cooking for some friends. We put our bags up and start talking to them about where to go for food and we wind up just chilling there and he lets us join them for dinner as he had extra (great food and better company is never turned down by me :) ). Have some drinks while we eat and before long we realize it is midnight and it is still bright out. Really weird to finally experience the land of eternal sun after seeing it in movies and hearing so much about it. After the long day, we head to bed to start our vacation in the morning.

Well we are in the right spot :)

Downtown Anchorage from afar. 

Our AirBNB for the next few days. 

Bottle of rum exploded in Amy's bag so had to make the room a clothes rack.