A Very Special Visit

 Well where do I begin!!!  I haven't posted a blog in sooooo long!  This past week my mom and friend visited me from Texas!  We can honestly say that we had a jam packed week!  I am still catching up on sleep from this past week.  As for the 3 weeks prior to their visit; We had straight rain....which is the main reason I haven't posted.  I didn't want to take my camera out in the terrible weather. 

As soon as my mom and Mrs. Beth Ann arrived the weather instantly cleared up for them and Portage, Ak had the nicest week of weather just for them.  My mom is right next to me in this picture, with my friend Beth Ann on the far right.  We had pizza this night at Chair 5; a local restaurant in Girdwood.

   Because I loaded all my photos backwards I will start at the end of our trip.  On Saturday we loaded up in the car and headed North east of Anchorage.  I refused to tell anyone where we were going. 

When we arrived I surprised them with a glacier Trek!  We placed these things called crampons on our shoes that helps with walking on ice...or in our case a glacier! 

Here my mom is holding a piece of ice that has silt and rocks embedded in it.  This particular piece is roughly 300 years old!  That is about how long it takes for the rocks in the glacier to reach this particular point in the land. 





Here we have Matunuska Glacier behind us.

 We continued on our journey.

This is a Mulin.  When you pronounce it you have to smile at the end as the french would say...













There is a lot of quartz found naturally in the area.

 Just another stream running through the glacier.  Because blue is one of the strongest light waves; it shows very dramatically in glaciers.

 Towards the end of the hike our guide decided that we were going to cut through a new route.  He chipped away at the ice so we would have places to put our feet.  Little did we know that very soon our hands would be freezing from placing them on the ice for balance! 

Luckily, we were just about done with the trek.

                                               Here are the crampons that we wore on our shoes.

 Our guide also stopped by a place in the glacier for us to refill our water bottles....Beth Ann took this bottle home for her son.  I would say that was a nice Alaskan gift!















Oh no!  Our day hadn't ended yet!  We still had one last thing to do...ZIP LINE!

Whew that was just one day!  Onto the next adventures...

Of course we had to visit the wildlife center a few times!  Here are out at the point....the furthest "point" on AWCC property.

 As we were driving around the corner; we spotted Wylie the coyote!  He has been out and about the center since this winter.  We even spotted a bald eagle perched just above him.










I also had to show my guests one of my favorite places in Girdwood, Virgin  Creek.  My mom has been here 2 previous times, but you just never get tired of seeing such a beautiful place. 

 We went to the Bake shop a few times while we stayed in Girdwood.  They always have such beautiful flowers.....and yummy breakfast.

 On Wednesday, we had a porcupine presentation.  After the presentation we went to the Russian River to look for bears.  Well, you probably figured it out already, but we saw 4 bears! 

There was this gorgeous blond male that we spotted first.  He was just going about his business looking for salmon.






Soon after, we spotted a mother with her 2 cubs.  We were a bit more careful around her.

 On Thursday we had a date in Whittier to kayak.  Again, the sun could not have been a better host!

On the right we are about to drive through the Whittier tunnel.  This is the ONLY tunnel in the world that both train and car share.  It is a one way tunnel.  To get to Whittier the tunnel opens on the half hour.  To leave Whittier the tunnel opens up on the hour. 





driving through the tunnel.....

 These two gals just before we went kayaking...













and after kayaking....we worked up an appetite.

 Well, on our way back from Whittier we decided that we might as well stop by and see the animals.  While we were there we went ahead a fed some baby musk ox and moose. 

                                               Here my mom is feeding Walter and Hammond.

                                                              Beth Ann fed the moose calves.

                                        All four calves were surrounding Beth Ann at one point! 

                                          Sullivan was giving out some moose kisses to my mom.

                                                 And Teddy even gave me a kiss as well.

Well I hope you readers enjoyed all the pics!  I had over 200 to choose from!  I wish I could talk yall through all of them, but that would take all night and then some! 

Well, I have a day at the Seward Sea Life Center tomorrow as an intern....can't wait!!!!

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

P.S. I love and miss you mom and Beth Ann already!!!!