The leisurely way back to Anchorage – Day 25

The sun came out in the morning after 3 days of rain, so we got a chance to dry out the tent and reorganize the car before leaving Seward.  The drive to Anchorage is less than 130 miles, so with our 250 miles of charge from the DC Fast Charger in Seward, we had the time and energy to explore a bit along the way.

We stopped at many scenic overlooks just to enjoy the views.  Then we saw a sign for the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center with bison standing out front – that looks interesting!  So we stopped and finally got to see a moose in Alaska.  The grizzly bears put on the best show – playing and making displays of dominance and posing in the water.  The lynx was another unusual sighting.  I also enjoyed seeing the coyotes, elk, reindeer, sitka black tailed deer and porcupine.  All the animals here are those that have been rescued as babies when their mother was killed or had some sort of injury that prevents them from being reintroduced in the wild.  Many of them are now movie stars too.  It was also a good way to stretch our legs walking around to see all the animals.

Moose still elusive even in the conservation center

Brown Bear

Two young brown bear

Showing off for the crowd

Reindeer are domesticated caribou

A face only a mother could love?

Lynx

Wood bison – he may not look it, but much smaller than our plains bison

As we got back on the road, we came up to Turnagain Arm (a water formation) and realized as we looked down the water we could see Denali in the distance, but we had passed the best viewpoint by the time we realized what we were looking at – so we turned around and went back to see the view and get some pictures.  We were happy to discover that we got many views of Denali as we continued to drive along the arm.

look close to see the mountain

a later view with better light, but more clouds

Next stop was Alyeska Resort a short distance off the main highway.  This is a ski resort in the winter, but they run their arial tram all year long.  We had the option of walking up the mountain, but opted to take the tram up as well as down.  But we did take advantage of the trails at the top that let us climb a bit higher – Paul opted to go higher than I did.  I was satisfied clinging to the conveniently placed post to take pictures and enjoy the view around me.  When we met one of the guides at the top, I was happy to know there was a wider pathway down that was not nearly as scares the one we had climbed up.  We then tried to watch the bore tide come in on the arm, but it seems it’s a phenomenon better observed closer to water level.  From our high observation point, it was just a clear line of the tide moving in.

On the tram

a view from the top

a friendly visit on our way down

We stopped for a few more good views on the way to Anchorage and arrived at Michelle and George’s house about 8:30pm.  We would have to wait until morning to share stories of our adventures and give our hostess a big thank you hug.