TriCity Photos: The Great Alaskan Adventure

Part 1: Fairbanks

Well the wife and I decided an Alaskan trip was what we would do to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. We flew into Anchorage then drove up to Fairbanks to start the trip. A beautiful drive as there are mountains on both sides of you and the leaves were beginning to turn a bright yellow in many areas.

In Fairbanks we spent 2 fantastic nights at A Taste of Alaska Lodge, a bed and breakfast like lodge. The owners Kory and Lily are just fantastic and friendly. We enjoyed hearing stories of the lodge and other tidbits that personalized the stay. This is a shot of the dining room using the original shot on a tripod and +/- 2ev HDR.

Later that evening we went out in search of the Northern Lights. It was chilly, but the warming yurt in the meadow served us well. One of my last shots around 2AM was the best even though the show was only moderate according to local websites that monitor the Aurora Borealis. This is a shot of the sky facing North East with the lodge in the foreground. Camera (Canon 80d) settings were manual, bulb, f3.5, ISO 2000 and 30 seconds on the shutter.

A few of the guys, Phil and Tim were out with me...Tim ducked out early around midnight and Phil hung around to about 2AM as well. He had an awesome flashlight, so we flooded the lodge for about a second so as to have something other than trees and windows with lights. Turned out pretty darned good...thanks Phil!

Part 2: Denali

After 2 fantastic nights in Fairbanks we headed to Denali. Don't get me wrong but, Denali was majestic but the only way for mere mortals to see it is on a long bus ride over very windy roads with many step cliffs having no guard rails!

We opted for the ride to Wonder Lake and back on the transit bus service....11 hours on the bus with a few stops was no bueno for this old man!

By the time we made to a location where Mt. McKinley was camera worthy, it had started to cloud up....and the sun was just in the wrong spot for dramatic photos.

On a high note, we did see most of the wildlife beginning to do their thing as dusk approached. This guy just would not turn around ... he has a great rack and butt though!

Not a great shot since I did not have time to throw the telephoto lens on, but it was so cool to watch these 3 through the binoculars!

We came upon mama and two cubs at dinner time....when this little one realized mama was not in line of site, it went crazy looking for her. Mama was only about 50 feet away with sister munching on something like berries or such.

Part 3: Kenai Peninsula

The drive from Denali to Anchorage to Seward is amazing. Highway 1 around Turnagain Arm was beautiful...on the way to Renfro's Lakeside Retreat near Seward the tide was out and on the way to Girdwood from Seward the tide was in.

Seward Harbor as sun was setting behind me.

Harbor as we pulled out for a 6 hour wildlife and glacier trip from Major Marine...highly recommend this tour!

We took a ton of pictures of the Aialik Glacier and watched small calving occur....none captured in camera though...

The scenery as we headed out and then back to Seward Harbor was filled with great photo ops...We were like little kids at the zoo snapping pictures of all the wildlife...Here are some...sea lions and orca whales...we saw humpback tails and cute little sea otters but those pics did not make the cut.