Our day at the Alyeska Mountains
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2008
1
11
14
Trip End
Aug 29, 2008
Girdwood,
Alaska,
United States
Monday, August 25, 2008
Our first plan for the day included a trip to the Alyeska Ski Resort, a large hotel at the bottom of the beautiful Alyeska Mountains, which is referred to as the North Face. In the winter time this is the premier ski area. We went to the lobby to tap into their free wi-fi to enter the previous blog. We then bought our tickets to go up the tram to the top of the mountain which also included lunch at their cafeteria. By cafeteria standards, it was pretty delicious. Some of us had the crab wrap, while others enjoyed the beef brisket.
After lunch we scouted out the top area of the mountain, which included a round house which housed the information regarding the history of the area. We also watched as some people went parasailing down the mountain sides with their guides. It was pretty impressive.
We then decided to take a small hike up a trail which led to the Alyeska Glacier
At "The Bakery"
. The girls went only a short distance, since it was rainy and the trail was pretty wet. Lewis and Clark (aka Sam and Ron) went the distance to the glacier, where they took their pictures. We all traipsed down the hillside, stopping in the many shops in this resort. We are getting a little discouraged about not seeing moose or bears, as you well know by now if you are reading this BLOG!!!! So we decided to go to the animal nature preserve located on Sterling Highway, about nine miles away. This nature preserve houses animals found in the wild, who could not subsist in the wild any more due to some injury or loss of their mothers.
We saw some very large moose, one bear, reindeer, caribou, an eagle, a red fox, bison, birds and bees (which we did not see). It was a drive-through preserve, or you could walk. All the animals were fenced in. We enjoyed the experience, because if we don't see moose or bear in the wild, this is the next best thing to witness.
Then we came home and the men watched Monday Afternoon Football. Ron, Nancy and Sam have just taken off for a little hike, and Ady and I have stayed behind to work on tomorrow's blog.
We had dinner at the "Chair Five", everything else was closed. The girls had spinach salad with walnuts, and the boys had cheeseburgers. We left to return to our chalet to play cards (the girls won), and turn in for our early wake up call to get on the road to Denali. More later - --
