There is an area called Kincaid Park just beside the airport in Anchorage. We ventured there to see if we could spot any wildlife. Just as we drove in there was a Moose with her calf right on the side of the road.
We then headed to the Alaskan Wildlife Centre. This is about 1 hour from Anchorage and cost $15 per person. It is not large, but a very impressive place. This is really a zoo for orphaned animals, and include buffalo, wolf, black bear, brown bear, reindeer, and moose. You can drive around or walk. We walked and it was not overly arduous to do so. They have published feeding times, and we were there’s for the bear feeding. This also came with eagles scavenging. The centre has large natural habitat for the animals and was very impressive.
The 26 Glacier tour commences with an early check in at 10:30am and then a wander around the harbour until boarding at 11:45am. Lucky there are plenty of photograph opportunities and the time went quick. When you board you go t9 your allocated tables. We had a table of 4 and a table at the window. You don’t need to stay at your tables there are ma y viewing decks but it can get windy at 40 knots when at full speed. You preorder lunch when booking. We selected the gluten free option. Don’t, unless you are GF. I am sorry if I offend GF people, but the bread was like cardboard, and the chilli bean soup, well enough said. The tour went for 5 hours and I didn’t count them but I am sure we saw more than 26 glaciers. There was a forest ranger on board who talked through the history of the National Park, and involved the children on board with ranger packs and had them all take an oath at the end to become junior rangers. The children assisted during the day by walking samples of rocks, pelts and other interesting articles. It was really well done. The boat we were on was a Kevla Kat built in Australia. There is guarenteed no sea sickness and it was calm water all day. We were able to get pretty close to some glaciers, and saw calving on one glacier. The crew fished out some glacier ice and served it in drinks. There were icebergs, yes, by definition of chunks of ice more than 15 feet we were told are icebergs , and lots of smaller ice floating. This was an amazing tour, and I would highly recommend it. The crew were amazing and the tour, information and scenery was spectacular.
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We were recommended a restaurant, Fat Olives, in Homer. It is a pizza, pasta restaurant so we ventured out and had some amazing pizza and pasta and beers and wines. They mixed up our order and Cooke did the same pizza twice, and for $80 for the four of us, with drinks we walked, or should I say, waddled, away with a full belly and a spare pizza. All in all a good evening. Up early for a 5:30am breakfast at the hotel and to the Sasquatch Alaska Adventure Company in Homer for an hour flight to Katmai Nationals Park to view bear in the wild. Two of our group, my wife and her friends husband were not too keen on the small aircraft, with my wife saying our Cessna was not big enough to be away from its mother. We had an amazinging smooth flight in the 6 seater, both to and from the National Park. Not a cheap tour at about $1800 per couple for the 6 hours, but well worth the money. The flight took off over Mount Douglas and then to land on the beach. A hike through the meadows and streams ( they kit you out with knee high waders and boots) and we saw heaps of bears. Sitting on the side of the stream and within 15 minutes of arriving we had a bear walk within 100 meters of us (the guides had firearms and bear flares just in case but honestly we did not feel threatened or scared at any time) and we were able to count 23 bears in the area. This was such an amazing experience and I would recommend this to anyone.
I just love these photos. We are going there next June.
We were travelling in the Gold Dome class, and were allocated Car A, seats 4A and 4B. These seats were right up the front and not only a side window view, a top view through the glass dome you had a forward view ove the locomotives. TIP: If you do this trip try and get at least rows 1-5 in Car A. You also get meal service first. We were seated efficiently and explained the meal service process. The seating for Car A and B was upstairs. The stairs were tight spiral stairs, but for those that needed to, there was an open lift at the end of the car. The bar service area was at the back of the car, and then further rearward was an open deck viewing area. If you wanted to walk throughout the train you needed to wear the supplied gold class lapel pin an carry your boarding pass, but honestly, we didn’t leave our car, there was no need. The meal service was served downstairs in the dining area. We had all meals supplied and quite a choice. I will post the menus in a separated post. Car A rows 1-5 were called first for all meals. This meant every choice was still available. The food was not very hot but was very good. We had 2 alcoholic drinks per passenger and when served your boarding pass was stamped. The waiter we had at our meals told us he would not stamp our boarding pass so we could have a few extra drinks. I was not drinking anyway so my wife scored my alcohol anyway. There was Inlimited soda and coffee served at the bar. The outside viewing deck was amazing. It was shielded by the front of the car and had ample uninterrupted viewing from the sides. The fresh air was great and the temperature was very pleasant. The 12 hour trip went very quickly and was really 12 hours of photo opportunities. We saw moose and other wildlife, which was difficult to photograph because by the time it was announced you were mostly passed the wildlife. The train stopped half way and the crew changed. The Fairbanks to Anchorage’s train stopped at this point too. Being summer school holidays in Alaska we had a few 17 year old students who were doing volunteer work as part of their travel studies at school. They were not allowed to stay overnight without a parent so changed trains and went back to Anchorage with the other two train. The running commentary was absolutely amazing. Not over bearing and very informative. I would highly recommend this trip, and particularly in the gold dome, it was well worth the extra money. I have too many photos from this part of the trip, but here are a few of the scenery.
A bit out of sequence, but in Homer, the morning before we left I went to the local float plane area and watched a few take off for bear tours. Near to the lake was a very interesting photo opportunity. I am not sure if this is where they hold their meetings, or took the opportunity to use some advertising space.
The next day was a day my wife was looking forward to since doing the research for this trip. We drove the 20 minutes to The North Pole. Yes a suburb called The North Pole were all the Street lights are painted as candy canes, the police badges have candy canes on them, and all the streets are named with all. Christmas theme, or in some cases after all Santa’s reindeers. We visited Santa’s house, and saw his reindeer next door. We also watched the 4th of July parade. The town came out in strength, no having not experienced an Independence Day parade beforehand, I was very impressed. I am constantly impressed with the patriotism of Americans. I attend as many sporting events as I can when I am in USA, and the national anthem always moves me. We we’re standing next to a family with young children at the parade. The youngster about 4 years old, and when the flag bearers marched along the street they all stood with hand on heart and the crowd was silent. It was a sight to behold. I have now done Easter, Christmas, new year, Halloween and 4th July in USA over the years. We also had a meal at McDonalds, and sent the receipt with Tehran address to friends of our who own a few McDonalds restaurants in Australia.
Back to the train menus briefly. If you are in gold dome class, the meals are included. The prices are for those passengers in Adventure Class.
The Parc 55 Hilton is located right on Market Street, near to Union Square, and we were able to catch the tram straight to Fisherman’s Wharf. A visit to San Francisco must include a clam chowder sour bread bowl from Boudin bakery, so that’s what we did. Once at the original bakery and again the next day at the store at pier 39. We just took it easy and walked around fisherman’s wharf, all the themed piers and to Ghirardelli Square. TIP: if you like chocolate, you must visit here. They also give out free chocolate squares at all their shops, and then are three different shops in this location. Yum. Oh, and by the way there is another shop on Market Street just down from 3rd Street, you can get a free sample there too. On a whim we booked a 3 hour Segway tour of San Francisco Bay Area for the next day. It was my birthday on the Friday (7 July) and this was a birthday treat. We had not ridden segways before. After the tour I now want one!
Friday night we walked to AT&T park, about 1 1/2 mile walk from our hotel. We watched the San Francisco Giants beat the St Louis Cardinal 3-2. We bought our tickets from Stub Hub, and if you are interested in inexpensive tickets in a great location, try stub hub for reseller tickets. These are season type tickets that are being re sold by ticket holders who cannot attend the game and the tickets are sold through stub hub legitimately. Kind of legal scalping without the inflated prices. We love the baseball, and once again the atmosphere and the game did not dissapointed. We were able to walk back to the hotel with the masses of people without a fear of walking the streets at night by ourselves. This Friday night game was Orange Friday (the giants colours) and there was just 37996 people at the game. I had to wear my orange jacket with my Giants jersey and hat.
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