Around The World With Sara

ALASKA ADVENTURES GLACIER WALKING

7 AUGUST 2014

After an overnight in Anchorage at the Clarion Suites and a viewing of a film about the Northern Lights, we board the Holland America Train

Not Holland America But Commemorative of Alaskan Railroad

to Talkeetna today.

Talkeetna is the town the TV series called Northern Exposure was taken after. The town voted down having the film shot there! No surprise, as the town folk are very independent, but also very friendly and down to earth.

The scenery along the way is spectacular and the ride very enjoyable, but the best part of the day is the flying adventure and landing on a glacier. We are picked up at our hotel the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge

Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge

and driven through the quaint town of Talkeetna to Talkeetna Air Taxi to catch our flight.

We don overboots so we will not freeze our feet as well as our snuggy clothes for the adventure. Mike, the pilot of the Beaver, gives us our safety speech. He tells us that weather can change in a nano-second up on the glacier and because of that the plane

The Beaver

is equipped with survival gear. We could be up on the glacier for a few hours, days or weeks, maybe. There are DREs (the dreaded military rations), sleeping bags, flares, tents, first aid kits, etc for us to use if need be. After listening to all of this we still opt to go.

Then Mike asks “who wants to be my co-pilot?” My hand shot up so fast I almost tore my arm out of its socket. As it turned out I am the only one who wants this seat since no one wanted to displace me on the way back!

The scenery on the way to the glacier defies description, but I have included a few pictures here to give you some idea.

Glacial Lakes

Up In The Mountains. Who Can See The Man?

Rounding The Corner To The Ruth Glacier

The Blue Is The Glacial Ice Color

On The Glacier

Mike & Me

Mike & Sandra

More Blue Showing Through

On the glacier the temperature is 27F. It is so beautiful, serene and silent. There has been no snow fall lately causing the snow cover to turn icy. When I make a snowball it quickly turns into an ice ball.

We return to the lodge with a sense of awe about the magnificence and grandeur of all we surveyed. A thoroughly fantastic experience.