The Great Alaskan Adventure Part 1

This is what I know.  Saturday at 12 Noon we got on a plane in Knoxville, TN.  About 9 hours of flying and 5 hours of layovers later (that's approximately 14 hours total) we got off a plane in Anchorage, Alaska at 11pm. Needless to say we are all a little confused.  Apparently it's now nearly 10am on Tuesday.  I know I've had a great time so far although I probably cannot list all of the things we've done over the last 2 1/2 days. Thank goodness I took pictures, so we will tell the story so far that way. By the way, thank you Seattle and Chicago airports for your kid's play places. We could not have survived without them!

Whit playing at the Children's Museum of Chicago at the airport's play place.

 Saturday: Arrive in Anchorage; Grandma gets a big hug from Whit. A cute tidbit? In true form Whit has created his own name for my parents.  I keep saying "Grandma and Grandpa" and he calls them something akin to "Mungka and Mungka." 

Sunday: Since it was 3am our time when we finally arrived in Anchorage and only Whit slept on the plane (Thank you, man with the cat... on the plane... directly in front of us) we went to bed and slept as much as possible. Whit woke up at 8:30 his time, which is sleeping late for him, but it was only 4:30 in Anchorage and Kirk and I had slept less than 6 hours.  We soldiered through, had some breakfast, played and everyone headed back to bed for some much needed rest.  We finally left my parents apartment around 10:30 local time and headed out for lunch and some shopping as it was raining (sad!) but caught our first glimpse of Alaskan wildlife when a Mama moose and her two babies came trotting across the road directly in front of us. 

Whit was quite taken with the moose and when we returned to the apartment he spent a good 30 minutes looking for them.

Later Sunday night we went to dinner at a local dive, Whit learned the term "bar," and we dropped my parents off for work.

Monday: After a solid 9 hours of sleep Sunday night the entire Renegar family woke up rested at about 5:30 in the morning.  We went out to breakfast where we decided that everyone in Alaska is happy, ridiculously happy. Perhaps it's the beautiful view that they wake up to each and every day.  

 

We picked up "Mungka and Mungka" from work and while they napped we headed to the park, decked out in the same gear we wear at home in the early winter!  Whit played hard on the playground and we spent some time kicking the ball around "Socca" style (more on that later.)

Monday afternoon we started our trek toward Seward where we finally found some moose for Whit at the Wildlife Conservation. We also saw muskox, caribou, elk, bear and bison, whom Whit insisted were "Horses!"

The view from the car on the road to Seward.

Bison

Looking at Caribou with "Mungka"

An enormous 2 year old Kodiak Brown bear

 

In Seward we went to the Sealife center, saw a commonplace glacier, had dinner at another "bar" (so called by Whit) and tucked in early for yet another crisp Alaska morning.

At the touch tank at the Sealife Center

Playing with the seal with Daddy

The glacier is the big white part in the valley between the two mountains.

Tuesday:  Today we are waiting for Whit to wake up from his nap so that we can get lunch and head out on a boat ride. We are hoping to see sea otters, birds and possibly whales. We should also catch a few more glimpses of glaciers, so check back soon for some more great photos!