This trip has been the best yet! We stayed with my in-laws in their mountain side home for a week. At first we were a little worried about how Ryatt would adjust to the 2 hour time change but it didnt seem to bother his schedule. What really effected him was the 23 hours of sunlight. It was the weirdest thing! We'd look at the clock, 10:45pm, and then look outside...what?! it looks like its 2pm! The absence of the moon effected my husband and I most; we were going to sleep much later than usual and paid the price in the morning when little one woke us up at 5am to start the day. We never really adjusted to the constant daylight but that didnt matter because we were having such a great time. Theres so much to do in the summer in Alaska. We took advantage and did something each day we were there. With the sun always up, Summer Solstice its called, it felt like we had ALL day to do everything. In the week we were there we ate at our usual "must have" places. One place called Moose's Tooth has the best pizza in Anchorage. If you are ever there, you have to have a slice. They serve slices for lunch and have a full menu of gourmet pizzas that are packed with fresh flavors. And if you are looking for some Alaskan halibut, go to The White Spot in downtown Anchorage. Its alil hole in the wall place thats been serving up griddle style foods - breakfast and lunch- since....well I cant remember the date but its a long time. Theres only a few tables and a row of bar seats, so get there early bc theres always a line. They serve up a variety of dishes (Im sure they are all great) but we go there specifically for the halibut sandwiches. MMMMmm thinking about the buttery-fried goodness is making my mouth water. Anyway, we did some shopping around there and got great deals on summer clothes. (go figure- we are in ALASKA, duh!) We HAD to visit Knights Taxidermy, which is the place of a reality show we watch called "Mounted in Alaska". So many fun moments could of been caught on camera but my procrastinating self totally forgot the camera in Hawaii so I all we had was our camera phones. Surprisingly, the few shots we did get turned out pretty good. Im happily sharing my favorites =) ***blogger photo upload is down right now. photos coming soon.
Since it was summer, I insisted on doing stuff thats only possible in the warmer months. The coolest thing we did was take a tour of glaciers on the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise. I saw mountain ranges that Ive only seen in pictures. We were surrounded with the perfect back drop and all we had was a camera phone. So on the cruise we got to see otters out in the wild, a giant male seal, tons of black-footed birds and endless mountain sides striped with waterfalls. The big event was a massive glacier that sat low inside the valley of mountain sides and into the ice water. We marveled at the phenomenon for about 30 mins, waiting for the iconic cracking sound and the ice crashing into the water. There were lots of teasers for awhile and just as we pulled off, an echo rang across the sound and we witnessed ice masses crash into the waters like a snap shot the National Geographic. At this point the cruise was a complete success! (except for the lack of camera, of course.)
We really enjoyed ourselves with our family. Ryatt was a little clingy but that was expected since he was in a completely unfamiliar place- even the weather was unfamiliar. He still had a great time playing with everyone, especially his GiGi. Even our flights there and back were fairly pleasant. Great travels, priceless family time and Alaskan adventures- its safe to say that this trip The Last Frontier was a successful mini vacation.
