Alaska - Day 3

I promise I won't do every single day as it's own post. Day 3 was another VERY busy day for us. I'm pretty sure this was our earliest morning on our whole vacation. With it staying light all day it was VERY easy to stay awake super late and then sleep in. We kind of threw Dominick's schedule out the window (which almost never happens at home) and just enjoyed our vacation, the longer hours and sleeping in. Also as a little heads up this post is VERY picture heavy.

Day 3 we were off to Seward. It was actually the day that we were looking forward to the most. When we initially started planning the trip the Ididarod was happening. I wanted to take Dominick to see puppies and for a trail ride so I started looking them up. I found the Seavey's Ididaride Sled Dog Tour and new we had to go. Well then I started finding out that they were also Ididarod champs (father and son) and really was excited to go. And for the icing on the cake, one of the Seavey's WON the race this year and was SO STOKED! Dominick LOVES dogs so I knew he would really, really enjoy this.

We started our time in Seward at the SeaLife Center. It's small and we didn't stay too long since we had to grab lunch and make our 3:30 appointment for the sled dog tour.

Lunch at Nellie's

 

don't mind my dumb face. I think I was telling Dominick to say "cheese"

this dog was in the movie Eight Below

We ended the day with ice cream. I think this day was Dominick's favorite! :)

Alaska - Day 2

Day 2 in Alaska was one of the more busy days. We packed in a whole lot for sleeping in WAY late and it being rainy and cold.

Our first stop of the day was Portage Glacier located on the Kenai Peninsula. My friends got married there and we wanted to make sure to go. We actually missed the boat tour by 1 minute (they were pulling out as we were pulling in), but we still got some amazing pictures and to see it from afar. I'm not going to lie, we weren't all that disappointed we didn't get to go considering it was FREEZING cold that day.

 

After Portage Glacier we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Here's a little blurb from their website, "AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center." We made it just in time for the bear feeding. Dominick loved seeing all the animals and kept saying, "Hi Bear! Hi!!" They also have two orphaned baby moose. So adorable. And there was a free ranging bald eagle too.

After the conservation center we stopped for dinner in Girdwood, AK and then went to Alyeska Resort to ride their aerial tram to the top of the mountain (Mt. Alyeska). The views are seriously phenomenal; even on a non clear day. On our way down we saw a black bear just hanging out too.

Alaska

So back in February our friends started talking about a vacation that they were going to go on this summer when they finally settled on Alaska. They were stationed at JBER (where they met and got married) quite a few years ago and decided to go back and take their boys. When they were telling us Ryan was seriously so envious and I'm not going to lie I have really been wanting to see the beauty with my own two eyes and invited us to join them on their family vacation Um, excuse me, what?! At first we said no right off the bat. We always save our vacation up for two trips home a year. Well after we talked to our parents, with each other and our friends we decided to make the trip to Alaska and we are SO, SO, SO glad that we did.

We flew out on Tuesday, June 24th, but actually didn't arrive in Anchorage until 1-1:30 AM. By the time we got to our hotel it was around 2:30 (picking up our luggage, getting our rental car, grabbing some dinner and finally checking in). We were exhausted, COLD, and ready for bed. It was also raining and to our surprise it was dark (Summer solstice began June 21st). When we got there we ate, unpacked (I hate sifting through suitcases) and finally went to bed. We later found out that the only reason it was really dark was because the clouds were so low and the rain. We never saw it pitch black again.

June 25th was our first official day in Anchorage and we hit the ground running. Since it was still raining and my friends were borrowing their friend's car we stuck around in Anchorage. We went to the Imaginarium Discovery Center at the Anchorage Museum. It is all hands on and totally kid friendly. It was a great way for Dominick to burn off some energy after the day before. We spent a good few hours there before heading to the Moose's Tooth for pizza and beer.