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Alaska Vacation

This summer our little family traveled to Alaska at the invitation of my in-laws for a week of vacation at their cabin on the Kenai River. There are lots of photo opportunities for sure. On the road South from the airport in Anchorage we stopped at a simple, roadside lodge. This was what was behind the buildings:

On the road south from Anchorage

On the road south from Anchorage

Later in the week we headed down to Seward to take a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park from Major Marine Tours. 

Small boat marina at Seward, AK
Sure enough, we did see a glacier from the boat.
Holgate Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park
We also saw plenty of cool scenery...

Kenai Fjords National Park (also a possible hiding place for a Horcrux)

Kenai Fjords National Park

The animals of the park were the real stars of the trip. I didn't get photos of everything that we saw, but I did manage to capture images of Stellar Sea Lions...

Stellar Sea Lions
...ten sea otters...

A raft of Sea Otters
...and then we stumbled into a lot of Humpback whales, including a mommy teaching her calf how to breach...

Mommy Humpback Whale


Baby Humpback Whale
On the way back to the cabin from Seward, we stopped by Exit Glacier.  All along the road into the park, and along the trail to the observation point, there are signs that show where the glacier used to be in various years. It is really quite a lot smaller than it was. We saw a small bear along the trail, too, but we didn't hang around to take pictures because we didn't know if there was a momma bear somewhere that we couldn't see.

Exit Glacier

Looking down the valley from the observation point near the Exit Glacier


A couple of days after the trip to Seward we drove to Homer, Alaska. On the way we passed a Russian Orthodox church on a hill above the fishing village of Ninilchik.




It was light until at least 11:30 every night, and the temperatures were very mild, so I also got in some reading on the porch and finally finished the biography about Steve Jobs


On our last full day in Alaska, Alex and I went canoeing on the Moose River near Sterling, AK. A few meanders down the river and you encounter something that you do not find in Seattle - absolute silence.


On the last evening went fishing on the Kenai for one last time. We didn't catch any salmon, but the sun is up very late. I took this picture as the sun was starting to go down at about 11:30 PM. 
Kenai River

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