My Mom's Visit

Mike and I enjoyed my mom visiting for the past week. We were sad to see her go. However, we had lots of fun on our excursions. We spent a day in Denali National Park where we saw lots of animals. We also went gold panning at El Dorado Gold Mine. Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

Riding the train at the gold mine.

Mom and I have gold fever after spending an afternoon panning.

Mom washes her "pay dirt" looking for signs of gold.

Ooooo, look what we found!

Mike is certain that he will find a nugget.

At the pipeline mom says, "Jasper is how many miles away???"

The sow is eating berries with her cub at Denali.

She is looking for lots of food before winter.

The cub got separated from it's mom.

"Hey, mom, wait for me!"

A wolf pack had just killed a caribou for dinner.

This moose looks very tasty!

A golden eagle soars high above the trees.

Blueberries, Blueberries, Blueberries!

Mike and I spent Sunday afternoon up in the hills picking fresh, wild, Alaskan blueberries. The bushes were LOADED with incredible sweet, juicy berries. After our trip on Friday afternoon and today, we have about 3 1/2 gallons. Personally, I don't think that this is nearly enough. We must get more!

Things We Haven't Seen in OVER a Year!

Mike and I have been in Fairbanks for 1 year and two months. Since our arrival, we have not visited a "major" city. On our trip to Anchorage (if you can consider Anchorage a major city), we found some things that we have not seen in well over a year. Check out the pictures to see what we've been going without!

Kristie enjoys sushi for the first time since April 2009!

She enjoyed it so much, that she and Mike

went back for a second time!

Ultimate Shrimp Roll

Crunch Roll

A traditional California Roll

From Left to Right:

Rainbow Roll

Crunch Roll

Dragon Roll

Unleaded Gas for only $3.35 a gallon!

Six lanes of traffic!

A crosswalk over a major street!

A building over 4 stories tall!

A JC Penny's!

They even had a Nordstrom's, too!

Bed Bath and Beyond!!!!

Applebees!

Okay, we didn't eat at Golden Corral,

but it was next to our hotel.

We drove right on past this Dairy Queen!

However, we had to stop and eat breakfast at this IHOP!

Denali, Talkeetna, Anchorage and Seward

Okay, I know that there are a lot of pictures on this post. However, we took over 1000 pictures on our trip. So, really, I've narrowed it down quite a bit! This post includes our trips to Denali, Anchorage and Seward. Enjoy!

Denali National Park

Drive to Wonder Lake

The Many Faces of Denali

More Denali Wildflowers

Mike and Kristie Having Fun

The Road to Wonder Lake

Denali Wildlife

Golden Eagle

Family of baby Ptarmigans (The Alaska State bird)

Mother Bear

Mother Bear and Two Babies

Caribou

Another Caribou

Coyote

Blurry Fox

Ms. Moose

Mr. Moose

Side trip to Talkeetna

Welcome!

Within 5 minutes, Mike finds an ice cream shop!

Within 5 minutes of getting his ice cream,

Mike finds a swing on which to eat his ice cream!

Talkeetna Flower Gardens

Talkeetna's Moose on Parade

Downtown Talkeetna

The Seward Highway

Our Drive to Seward

Buluga Point

Kristie braves the strong winds at Buluga Point.

Mike wants to see how cold the water is at Buluga Point.

Okay, it's cold! Very cold!

Mike wishes he had on long pants.

Temperature 52 degrees. Humidity 100%

Winds: 25 to 35 MPH

The view from Bird Point

The clouds hang very low along the coastline at Bird Point.

Alaska Railroad passes by at Bird Point.

Mike tries to stay dry.

After bird point, we drove to a lake along the Seward Highway.

The lake.

From the lake, snow is still visible on the mountains.

Mike looks for fish in this crystal clear stream.

Okay, this picture is out of order.

It was taken at Portage Glacier with heavy rain falling.

We did not see any fish in this stream.

The water is so clear that you can see the bottom!

Along the Seward Highway, we found this beautiful valley.

A walking path through the valley.

Of course, there were plenty of flowers in the valley.

And, of course, I could not resist taking pictures!

Okay, now's it's time for Portage Glacier pictures!

Portage Valley

Glacial Ice

Fog rolls into Portage Valley

Blue glacial Ice

Fog hangs over the lake in Portage.


Seward

Seward welcomes Mike and me!

Mike looks into the harbor for signs of whales.

A faint rainbow decorates the harbor.

Kristie discovers Sweet Darlings, a fudge shop,

and immediately determines she must go in.

She looks back to see if Mike is going with her.

5 pounds of Vanilla Walnut will do.

A sea otter munches on dinner.

A friend comes to join in on the fun.

The sun sets as we drive home from Seward,

which was a great end to a fun day.