Our good friends Chris and Amanda made the long journey from Houston up to Alaska to visit us for a week in late August. We were so excited to spend time with them and show them around our beautiful state. It was a great week packed full of sightseeing and fun.
We went on several hikes in the area and saw the forests just beginning to turn colors from green to yellow and orange. Chris was nice enough to carry Ethan and his pack on our walks so this pregnant mama didn't have to. I love how E was sure to lean his head out to sneak into all of their couple pictures.
One day we took a train ride through a pretty valley which took us to a trail to walk back to a gorgeous glacier ending in a lake.
It was Ethan's first train ride and I am pretty sure he loved it. The best part was that he didn't have sit in his silly car seat - he was free to roam and look out the windows!
He also had a great time running around and playing in the glacial water.
Chris and Amanda enjoyed the sunny day and the great views.
Amanda even got to touch glacial ice! ...which she said was pretty much like touching any kind of ice... :)
We spent some time in Anchorage checking out the overlooks...
...and enjoying local restaurants. They really enjoyed all the fresh salmon, halibut and king crab!! Chris did a great job of getting in all the other 'Alaskan' foods - caribou, moose, reindeer sausage and sour dough pancakes.
And of course we took a few days to spend on the boat out in Resurrection Bay to see all the great views...
...and marine wildlife.
One night was spent in this little cabin in a cove out in the bay. It was a fun night spent out in the woods...if only it hadn't rained so hard on us on the way in...
One of the best parts of visiting Alaska is seeing all the wildlife. Chris and Amanda spent their first weekend here in Denali National Park where they saw tons of bears, fox, wolves, coyotes, golden eagles, sheep and more. They also got to see more bears, Beluga whales, puffins, otters, bald eagles while with us.
One of the coolest things we saw was the salmon spawning in the rivers. The Sockeye 'Red' Salmon enter fresh water as sleek silver fish (see posts in July of us fishing for pictures) and transform into red bodied fish with bright green heads as they reach the streams to lay their eggs and die. We saw rivers full of bright red fish with green heads, it was amazing. We also saw the river banks lined with carcasses of the fish that already died...
Ethan was pretty amazed at getting to see the fish up close. It's fun to watch him get excited about seeing wildlife (although dogs still get the biggest reaction out of him).
While viewing fish and bears at the Russian River on weekend, we were lucky enough to watch a bear walk up the river and stop to eat a fish just a few feet away from us. He was so used to seeing people on that river, and was pretty content with eating his fish, he didn't even care that we were there.
And of course, the best part of the week was getting to spend time with our friends. We are so happy they decided to spend part of their summer vacation up with us!
A few more pictures from the visit:
Ethan entertaining Chris in the backseat.
Running in the sun in front of Spencer Glacier.
A picture perfect pose.
The beginning of the changing colors of fall.
Our train!
Thumb cove on a still afternoon
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