Whittier, Alaska

the road out to Whittier cuts through a long (several miles) one-way tunnel under the mountain, that is shared with the railroad. we lucked out, and drive through within 5 minutes of rolling up. each direction gets 15-minute windows. 

Whittier is just a little dot on the map at the end if the road when it hits the prince William sound. fishing town that hosts large cruise ships. we walked around for all of 10 minutes, and had mostly seen everything. 

we missed a crossing window back to the other side, so killed a little time over a beer, chatting with a "local". the day was so stunning beautiful, we had to ask if this was "normal" for summer. apparently, the area is having a VERY unusual warm and clear summer. we were quite lucky to be there that day, as last summer they only had 3 sunny days the entire summer. 

lucky indeed! 

our first day in the land of the midnight sun

the hostel we are staying at is a little less than impressive, but after a long day of traveling, and a few beers to settle in... rachel and I had no problem crashing out. 

the sun comes up by 5am, but we managed to "sleep in" till about 8. without a plan for the day, we headed into downtown to grab breakfast, and decided to drive out towards Whittier and the prince William sound for the day. there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and we stocked our day packs for exploring. 

the drive along the shore of the turnagain inlet was gorgeous. we went long first, and headed all the way out to Whittier, stopping a few times along the way at viewpoints. such a sucker for mountains, rivers, and glaciers! 

the day was so calm and clear, the water was a perfect mirror on the mountains. 

girls adventure in Alaska!!

for her 40th birthday last year, Bjorn conspired with Rachel and I to send her on an adventure vacation with her girls.... and the best part was, we got to decide where we should go. ;) we went round and round for a few months, and finally settled on Alaska. 

it has been over a year and a half in the planning... and we are finally here. rachel and I flew in Tuesday night, a few days ahead of heather to get our bearings and geared up. 

as always, it was a run to the finish line getting prepared for the trip, and making it to the airport... but the second I checked my bags, it was vacation on!! 

I dozed off for the last little bit of the flight, and woke up just in time to see the snow / glacier covered mountains coming into anchorage. my heart did little leaps for joy, and I knew we chose the right destination. :) 

my flight was a hour ahead of rachel, giving me just enough to rent the car before she got here. we threw our bags in the car, and headed towards town. on our way out of the airport, it was after 11pm... the sun was just going down, and we saw the most spectacular full moon rise over the mountains. quite a grand welcome!