The first day we drove south from Anchorage to the sea and stopped at several interesting places along the way. First, a salmon cannery, next a candle factory, then a jade jewelry and gift shop, next art shops and a working gold mine. Later in the afternoon we arrived at a beautiful town called Seward. This was in the Kenai Fjords National Park and Resurrection bay. We had planned to go on a boat trip to see the sea life but found the boats had already left for the day. Instead we went to the "Alaska Sealife Center" which was very informative and interesting. They told us how Alaska was recovering from the oil spill and ways to protect the animal life for the future.

Later that evening after eating we looked for a camping place and found the Boy Scouts were already there for the weekend. Paula then found a covered picnic area near the "Sea life Center" and we unloaded her camping gear and it turned out to be a great camping spot next to the sea.

Next day in the morning, we took a side trip and visited the Exit Glacier. Later that day we went on the "Renown Boat Cruise" where we saw all kinds of sea and animal life. First a humpback whale blowing, then bears, eagles, puffins and other birds. Next we saw a dozen killer whales. It kept us busy looking around as Paula took many pictures. There were huge snow-topped mountains, many glaciers, and waterfalls everywhere we went.

The next day after returning from the trip, we explored downtown Anchorage. I walked around and saw the stores and later on met Paula at the City Museum. It was full of beautiful artwork with the best artists represented. Also we saw many historical and scientific exhibits.

Another day we spent several hours at the "Alaska Native Heritage Center" where we learned all about the different cultures of the natives and their music, homes, crafts and life styles. They lived in large areas through out Alaska that affected their climate and their life style.

Saturday came and we went to a blue grass musical festival at the edge of town. It was a warm day with great music that lasted all day long. Most of the people wore shorts but their legs were really white.

Paula took me all over town and sometimes we visited her teen-age son Patrick. They talked about his school life and about his work on a fishing boat, which he seemed to love. Paula was always happy to see him and they talked and talked as we ate and in between doing errands together.

I couldn't get over how many huge mountains there were and still snow covered in the summer. Nearby were pretty waterfalls that made everything so green. The glaciers were full of colors and from year to year they changed size depending on a wet or dry year.

We saved the last two days for a trip north, over 100 miles, to a big national park named Denali. Mount McKinley the largest mountain was also there. It seemed colder as we drove higher toads the park lodge. We found large busies waiting to give us a tour of the huge park. We took a four-hour trip and had a park ranger for a tour guide. He told us about the area history and wildlife. We drove up steep mountains (that I thought were scary and cold) but beautiful. We saw bears, goats, elk, rain deer, eagles and others animals along river streams and on the mountains. Upon returning in the dark, we saw a moose busy eating the grass! We waited for him to move so we could park the bus safely. Late that night we headed back to Anchorage. What a day!!

Well of course I could have spent years there exploring the whole beautiful country but my vacation time was up, still it would have been fun joining this frontier, adventure land and starting over again.