Alaska - Part 3: Kenai Fiords National Park

Although blogging about our time in Alaska three months after the trip was challenging, it has also been really nice to re-live the trip. Looking back through our pictures and picking the favorites to share here has helped me to fall back into vacation/exploration mode. In contrast to our trip to Disney World in October, I'm also reminded of my favorite types of trips. While I may complain about camping and being cold, these are the types of memories I want my kids to carry with them.

As we headed south again for our wildlife cruise out of Seward, we could see more smoke creeping from the north - this time from fires around Denali, which is crazy because during the first few days of our trip, we were hearing about tourists stranded by mudslides in there.

Quick! It's coming! Drive faster!

What an amazing blessing! During our cruise, we saw minimal signs of forest fires and plenty of amazing wildlife. We chose the 7.5-hour cruise, which took us out to the Gulf of Alaska and up into Aialik Bay. The crew was plenty forthcoming about the extent of sea sickness people commonly experience. There were plenty of naps had during the ride - likely because of the preventative dramamine that was taken by many. Louisa was the only one from our group to throw up, and as often happens, it helped her feel much better and allowed her to enjoy the rest of the cruise. 

It was really hard to not overload this post with photos, so bear with me...

Sea otter pelt

Thankful for Nate's eye that captures quintessential images, not just people

Steller sea lions basking in the sun

Make yourself heard! 

Baby sea lion on the left, hanging with a sea gull

Crazy climber mountain goat. Instead of food, it's finding safety from predators 

Majestic orcas were everywhere that day

Something so magical about them!

Puffins chillin' on the rocks... 

...gliding overhead...

Or swimming in the calm waters

A black bear and some kayakers

Just crazy beautiful

Should have pulled out the moose trick to get Peter to smile

Adorable sea otters

Alialik glacier is actively calving

Ice brought on board to make/sell margaritas. Also offered for ginger ale drinkers

Ice was calving every few seconds while we lingered at the glacier

Sucking on an ice berg

Cruising back to Seward 

Sisters staying warm

Alaska - Part 2: A tiny, beautiful part of Alaska south of Anchorage

After five fun days in Anchorage with Jack, Marian, Wren, Anne and Andrew, we took off for the wild-ness (as Peter called it). It's crazy how now, when I look at the map of Alaska, I feel like we missed so much. Yet when we were there, it felt vast and gorgeous and like whatever we were seeing in that moment must be the best part of Alaska. Even Whittier has it's charm, despite the saying Andrew taught us: "Whittier rhymes with..." 

The tiny black oval below covers our tracks for this 10-day trip. Hopefully sometime we can go back and add another oval to our map. What a beautiful part of the United States!

The second map shows our tracks -- or at least where we spent our nights. On Saturday morning we drove from Alaska to Seward, receiving text updates from Anne (back in Anchorage), warning us of low-visibility at our destination. Seward was apparently filling up with smoke from forest fires in Homer. We thought we were so prepared because we bought rain pants for the girls before leaving for Alaska! Normally August is super-rainy; fortunately/unfortunately, there was NO serious rain during our entire trip. Of course that's a recipe for dry forests. Add in high winds and you get forest fires and smoke blowing around a peninsula. Thankfully, Nate is a nimble vacationer and was able to reroute us to a campground with clear skies. We liked Williwaw so much that we decided to stay parked for two nights. Campfires were allowed, so we kept warm there too! Actually, to be fair, the temperatures were warmer than usual for August in Alaska, but it still was in the low 40's when we woke up each morning.

Normally when you look across, you see snow capped peaks

"City" camping in Seward

Before landing at Williwaw for two nights, we hiked to Portage Glacier, which was spectacular! The hike up wasn't too long (despite some kids' complaints) and the views at the top rewarded us for making our kids persist. I think that was the day we promised an ice cream re-fuel in the afternoon, after the hike. Whittier was a lovely place for such a stop, and the we enjoyed watching people pull their boats and jet-skis out of the water for the season while eating our ice cream.

Say "glacier!"

The hills are alive

Peter was in a non-smiling mood most of the trip, unless we told him to make himself a moose

Our 12th anniversary photo

Ice cream stop! See, Whittier isn't so shi**y

On Monday we had hoped to hike Exit Glacier, but the smoke had beat us there, so we pivoted to Girdwood instead. This sweet town offered a fun playground for the kids, a decent grocery store, and a great hike down to a waterfall. Nate had read that there was a hand tram along the hike, which  got the kids excited. Unfortunately, the trailhead posted a sign that said it was closed until further notice. That is just the kind of news that tired children feel deep in their hearts. Cora was so so so very upset that we wouldn't be able to ride the hand tram that she and Nate had to sit back and cool off before catching up with the rest of us. We later read that it was closed because recently two hikers had died (in two separate incidents) falling to the rocks below. This was sobering news for the kids helped Cora stop her griping about the injustices of out-of-order hand trams. 

A posed picture to help us remember our disappointment (before we heard about the tragedies)

Chair tree

Another chair tree that helped distract Cora from her sadness. I think you can still see a tear in her eye

The activity center at the bottom of the hike

More kids' activities 

Sibling love

In this last picture, Cora is helping Peter up the trail, holding his hand so sweetly. I think helping others in their distress helps you get past your own worries, right? Looking back, I think this was Cora's way of consoling herself with the whole hand tram disappointment. Down at the waterfall, Peter found some rocks that he really wanted to keep. He was also tired and wanting to be carried. We told him that if he wanted a ride, he needed to ditch the rocks. He decided that was too high of a cost for a ride, so he loaded them in his sweatshirt pocket and carried them all the way.

We had already booked a non-refundable wildlife cruise in Kenai Fiords National Park, so all we could do was pray that by Tuesday, the wind would die down so we could get out and see some of the amazing wildlife Alaska has to offer. There will be a part 3 for this last hurrah of our trip!

Alaska - Part 1: Anchorage

What a foolish mistake to not blog about our marvelous trip to Alaska until months after it ended! It was such a great family trip, in big part thanks to all the planning Nate did and the amazing hospitality Anne & Andrew offered. 

As you can see from the first picture, things started off right with the iPad junkies sitting together on one side of the plane while Nate and I chilled across the aisle. It's hard to say what the kids are watching, but I'm going to bet on Stinky & Dirty for Peter and Harry Potter for the girls. We flew out of Chicago at 8 am and our direct flight landed us in Anchorage by around 1:30. Unusually warm weather welcomed us almost as warmly as Jack welcomed Cora. Even though Cora and Wren are the same age, it was striking how Louisa and Wren adored playing with each other. Peter and Marian were also pretty into each other's 4-year-oldness, so it was quite ideal that Cora was drawn to Jack (and vise versa). But all six of Oma's sweet grand-kiddos were thrilled to be together again!

Anchorage has a lovely downtown. Anne explained that they put a ton of resources into the gardens in the city center, despite the short growing season. It was lush and beautiful! One day while Nate and Andrew worked on cabinet trim, Anne and I took the kids to the Anchorage Museum, which had so much to offer. History of native people, a Molly of Denali exhibit, steel wedges in the courtyard for kids to jump off of and take slow-mo videos...  

Anne, Wren and Marian took us to the setting of the classic story Blueberries for Sal and the kids had a fantastic time picking tiny, wild blueberries while learning the difference between a blueberry and a crowberry. Despite the sweet partially lidded bucket that Anne made for collecting, all but the ones we ate directly from the bush eventually returned to the ground when the bucket tumbled down the hillside. It's probably for the best, since the kids were planning to make natural dye from the leftover berries.

A hike up Flat Top came highly recommended, so we accepted the challenge. Man were the kids troopers! We layered up and packed plenty of bribe-snacks, which proved to be genius because at the bottom it was dusty, dry and hot whereas the summit was windy and brisk. Although looking at the girls attire in the summit photo below would not have you believe that it was actually chilly!

It's impossible to capture all the fun moments we had in and around Anchorage, but this was an attempt to get a few memories down on paper. After going through our photos, I decided it was a mistake to try to fit the entire trip in one post, so be on the lookout for another post on our road trip south of Anchorage sometime soon!

Louisa Jane, Age 8

Happy 8th birthday, Louisa! You have such a lovely heart. The confidence that was evident in you at an early age continues to carry you through life. This year, Dad and I have enjoyed watching you catch the reading bug. If you didn't have younger siblings that need more sleep than you, it would be hard to tell you to turn your light out at night. As someone who has a hard time getting sucked into a book, I really admire the way you can, and do. I think you get that admirable trait from your dad, who got it from his mom, your Oma!

This year on your birthday, we signed up for a mini-photoshoot with a photographer in Madison who asked Briar Loft to make flower crowns for mother/daughter mini-sessions. What a fun thing to do together (as the snow came down outside) the day before your birthday! Despite your love of all things silly, I was surprised to see that, in front of a stranger-photographer, you were a bit reserved. I'm afraid you get that from me!

You and Belle Mere make wonderful birthday twins. The sweet grey romper you're wearing in the photo below was part of your birthday gift from Belle and Papa. The other part was a white board, which you immediately used to draw a calendar. As I type, (a few month late, I'll admit) your white board says Notes to Self: 1) Write script 2) Practice piano. I adore how much you love calendars, lists and drawing/writing and I can't wait to see how these interests show up in your future career.

The gift with pink and gold paper near your cake is your first digital camera from Dad and me. Oh the joy it brought you! It's pretty clear that while you like toys, you really love grown up gifts. Speaking of grown up gifts, I don't know many 8-year olds that want a loom for their birthday. Oma has taught you all sorts of textile art skills and it's very cool to see you curled up in the brown chair in our living room either knitting or reading.

Oma's poppyseed angel food cake with lemon curd is still your favorite dessert. 

You're a gem, Lou Bear! I'm not totally sure how we got so lucky to have you as our firstborn. We're proud of you and we love you. Keep up your silliness and love of art, acting, music, reading, family, and friends.