Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

Alaska Bears   Kenai Peninsula Denali National Park   Alaska Highways Haines   End of Vacation  

Wow, what a trip!! The Alaskan license plate on their cars says “ Alaska- the last frontier” and that just about sums it up. Everywhere you go in Alaska you are surrounded by beautiful mountains. There is wildlife everywhere but not always immediately visible. Alaska is so big that the wildlife has plenty of room to move around; however, it is everywhere. We saw some beautiful moose right in a forested part of Anchorage.  Alaska is a total outdoor environment. That is why people live there. They love the outdoors. If you are into cities that is not the state to move to. When we were in Anchorage we went to REI ( an outdoor gear store ) and that particular day REI was having a sale and the entire parking lot was full. The hunting and gun culture is alive and well in Alaska. The tip off was seeing trucks full with dead animals and antlers sticking out. We also noticed as we were driving around that practically all the road signs had bullet holes in them. Sara asks me “what’s up with...

We reached Haines late Monday evening after a relaxing four hour ferry ride. We got up early on Tuesday morning and met with Ron Horn who is a minister in Haines and also is a superb photographer. Ron spent the morning showing us around Haines and pointing out all the hot spots for photography.  Haines is famous for their eagle populations especially in November when the chum salmon make their final run up the Chilkat River. What we did not know was all the other photo opportunities in Haines . They have a very good bear population and the scenics are fabulous when the weather is good. So we were lucky enough to see quite a few eagles and bears. Unfortunately, the weather was somewhat cloudy, windy and rainy during our visit so there were no scenic opportunities. However we found plenty to do.  Haines is a cool town. It has a permanent population of around 1,600, a little more in the summer. It is only 39 miles from the Canadian border, and Tuesday we took a drive up to...

We had problems uploading these photos of the float planes we saw in Juneau, so here they are now.  

On Friday we drove the Denali Highway from the west Parks Highway, to the east Richardson Highway. The views were beautiful with the fall colors coming on strong and the tundra turning red. We also found a very cooperative eagle that let us get very close for photographs.  The drive took us over seven hours since we could only go 25-35 mph and made numerous stops to take pictures. The road was in good condition for a gravel road, although with the rain and dust we totally covered the car in mud. Hunting season has started, and the road was full of hunters on ATVs, consequently we didn’t see any moose who wisely were hiding.  The next day we drove down the Glenn highway and decided to stop at the Matanuska Glacier. The Glacier is massive and very cool but looks somewhat dirty from all the glacial debris produced by the glacier. We camped at the glacier for the night, and in the morning walked onto the glacier and hiked around a bit. Then we headed back to Anchorage, managing to...

We just spent four days inside Denali National Park camping at the Wonder Lake Campground which is 87 miles inside the park. It takes a long six hour bus ride to get there along a small gravel road, however the views are gorgeous and usually there is some wildlife along the way. Mount McKinley (called Denali by the Alaskans), is normally only viewable 20% of the time. The mountain is so big (20,320 feet) that it can actually create its own weather system, and is typically obscured by clouds.  Denali has the highest vertical face in the world, even larger than Everest, since the base of the mountain is at 3,000 feet. We were treated to clear views for three days and had beautiful autumn weather, although the temperatures in the tent at night were around 32F.  Here is the link to the photo album: Denali National Park The bugs were pesky; however we got a tip from an Alaskan hunter that if you break off a bush branch and hold it above your head it helps keep the bugs away. We t...

On the way out of Talkeetna we stopped at a lake to take pictures of some float planes. On the spur of the moment we decided to take a scenic flight of Mount McKinley on one of the float planes, the weather was beautiful, and the mountains were all clear, unusual for this area. View of the glaciers Mount McKinley   It was an amazing unforgettable experience. Today we head into the park to Wonder Lake. We have enough food and equipment for weeks, should be a fun experience.