We had one lazy day in Seward. Walked around town explored the town and took a beach walk.
Resurrection Bay 
Seward, way to go Lydia! 
Bridge above salmon 
Pizza night
Aialik Glacier / Bay
I almost bagged this trip when Jess said the waves were a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 for rough water. I braved the elements with a heavy dose of dramamine and adrenaline. None of team Austin puked even while watching others lose their cookies (Go team). For the record, she said later it was 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Stellar sea lions 
Ready for kayak 
You paddle while I take pictures. 
We saw harbor seals, and jelly fish in aialik Bay. 
See how calm the water is in the bay? 
Susan in her yak. 
Where aialik Glacier meets the Bay. 
On way back, cold wet and rocking around the cape. 
Waterfall: fox Island
Riding back was crazy. I wish I could have taken a picture but I was holding on for dear life and couldn’t spare a hand. When we got back inside resurrection bay we saw humpback whales, dall’s porpoises, and puffins.
Kenai and exit glacier
It was a rainy morning traveling from Healy to Seward, but south of Anchorage the weather was amazing.
Alaskan range & fireweed 
Where’s Denali? 
Sky’s breaking south of Anchorage 
Austin’s 
By the time we got to Exit Glacier the weather was amazing!
Exit glacier 
2005 exit glacier end 
Fiona and exit glacier end point in the 1800s. 
Out wash area 
George throwing ice 
We hit the grocery and made our fancy dinner at the rental and then had an after dinner walk.
View from vrbo porch 
Dinner 
View from the park across the street from our vrbo. 
Posers 
Austin girls 
Iditarod starts in Seward 
Denali tease
Today, first stop: dog sled kennels. These Alaskan huskies are still in used in the park during winter. The are on holiday now and get walked by volunteers. The coolest thing about them is their circulatory system is intertwined so that the arteries warm the veins. The park huskies mush around 5 to 6 mph, but race huskies go about 9mph in the Iditarod.
They sit on top of their doghouse for a better view. 
Or stand 
A few just hang out with heads out to make sure they don’t miss anything 
You can pet them 
They like pets
Waiting on the mountain 
It was another beautiful day. Beautiful mountain ranges on both sides of the road. We thought Denali (the high one) might poke out in the evening but she just toyed with us. She only rears her head 13 to 30 percent of the time (depending on who you ask).
So close
And yet
So far away
Denali tour
Started early today to catch the tour. Woke up at 5 and still didn’t make the sunrise.
Polychrome pass 
Toklat 
Toklat 
We saw a 2 moose, 4 Grizzley bears, countless caribou, and 5 sheep. Saw several using binoculars so I couldn’t get them on pics, but the grizzlies were posing for us.
Bears posing 
Blonde grizzly 
Blondie and cub 
Denali was hiding
Things I learned today :
- Grizzlies usually maintain 300 square miles for their own food and eat 320,ooo berries a day. Denali bears are vegetarian for the most part because there are very few fish in glacial streams.
- Denali moose are twice the size of a continental moose. 1700+ pounds and typically lose 400 pounds over winter.
- Dall sheep were studied in the making of football helmets because they have a soft membrane between their brain and their skull. Their impact can reach a total combined impact of 140 mph. The studies led to the invention of gel padding in helmets used today.
- Adolf Murie studied wolves in the park for 40 years and basically saved the wolves from extinction.
- Dog sleds are still used in the park to maintain a park presence during the winter months. You can adopt these sled dogs.
- The second largest (9.2 richter scale) earthquake in the world was in Alaska in 1964. The landmass grew up to 82 feet.
- Don’t get buried in Alaska because the permafrost will push you back out of the ground. Get cremated. Duh.
Fireweed forefront 
Sadira photo booth
Denali or bust!
Hit the Anchorage market before heading out of town. Two rings and two wallets later we’re on the road to Denali.
New pointer rings 
Roadtrip ready 
Car coma
It was worth the wait.
Denali in hiding 
These old farts 
My girls 
Austin’s 
Campground chef goes indoor!
Anchored down in Anchorage
After a 3 hour mechanical airplane delay we managed to get to Anchorage. Finally asleep by 1:30 am AK time, we managed to sleep in until 630 am local time…Jet lag conquest!
We took a walk early and did a little shopping. We also walked parts of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail but the mountains weren’t out
Beautiful gardens of Anchorage foxglove and geraniums 
Begonias cabbage 
Sadira with my beer
Next we were a house divided. I went to the Anchorage museum with Fiona and Dee Dee. Some of my favorites:
Nightmare before Christmas? 
Resemblance? 
Or just a nose? 
4Jen, weirdMuseumArt 
Yup. 
I loved ❤️this Vagina quilt 
For dinner we had sushi or grilled cheese on the veranda and the mountains came out for us.
The mountains came out 
Dinner on the veranda 
Sunset just got prettier 
And prettier 
And prettier
And they are off again!
The Asheville Austins are on the way to Alaska! This time we are taking the kids and meeting the Austin grandmother. We are very excited but anxious to get there.
Ringo has to stay behind this time.
Sadira is on her way back from Costa Rica to meet us. Hot to cold! Here’s a picture of her and Cora with a volcano in Costa Rica.
I’ve spent the last week at home preparing for our exchange student (Helena) from Spain 🇪🇸. She arrives in the states on the same day we arrive back from Alaska. I just have to show off the cleaned closet. No other closets in the house have ever been cleaned like this in our 20 years of living there.
Next stop anchorage!
5:30 we loaded the plane in Chicago to Anchorage. 7 pm. Having to switch planes in due to technical difficulties. I guess we’re lucky they found it before we took off. Anchorage will have to wait.
Working at home… Kinda
Seriously, I’ve been working my behind off. I cleaned the basement and took an entire load in Frank to goodwill. It was so big, the first goodwill sent me away. I have also taken three cars for either inspections and /or oil changes.
I also tackled the yard. Slowly making progress. Before and after shots of the garden.
Before the garden became my bitch 
After taming.
Ringo also headed to the beauty parlor too!
Fiona and I have started some college tours since last year covid canceled college excitement. We visited Appalachian yesterday.
We have also managed to squeeze in the friends and family time!
Before the swing fell 
After the swing broke 
Caprese 
We leave for the originally scheduled Austin vacation to Alaska Thursday! 5 days!
Raining in Asheville
We have officially made it home, all of us, including Veronica who has been cleaned, waxed, and vac’ed. It’s a race to see which camping equipment sells first! We are going to let fate sort out these details. If you know of anyone wanting a t@g or hippie van send them our way.
Probably hard to believe but I’ve spent the last two days cleaning up all the cars for potential selling. I would make a horrible detailer, it’s taken hours even though the kids have helped. It’s the cleanest the cars have been since we bought them.
Fionas truck (Lloyd) 
Llyod inside 
Sadira’s suzuki (Donna) 
Prius (pat} 
MG (Reggie) 
Frank
Austin Semi Sabbatical 