Yes, it was FREEZING!

Well today I was up early because I'm going on a guided tour of Alaska with a company called Salmon Berry Tours. Now, when I called this company the guy said we need at least two people to even get a tour so lucky for me there was another lady that also called the same day for a tour. This meant it was just the three of us off to tour Alaska!

I was excited to get to see as much as I could in the one day that I had. The tour was scheduled to last about five to seven hours so it was pretty much my whole day. The cost was pretty reasonable as well and it included lunch so you couldn't go wrong. My tour guide Daniel picked me and the other girl Lori up at the Hilton in downtown Anchorage. We started off the tour heading south along the Turnagain Arm. This is a great scenic drive as you can tell from some of the photos below.

Beautiful isn't it?? It was a mixture between the clouds and the sun. It was quite amazing!
It was crazy how one minute is was cloudy and then next sunny!
It's like the heavens are shining down in this one. I sat here staring and thinking that if heaven is even a little bit like this place I would really start acting better....you know to increase my chances of getting there!! : )
I couldn't stop taking pictures everything was so amazing to see!
The clouds were so low you couldn't see where this mountain top began!
We continued our drive to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This is where we were able to see to bears, moose, elk and more awesome live animals. We even saw two bald eagles just flying around. It was pretty cool!

See the eagle on the branch?? Sorry but my camera can only zoom so close. Trust me it's an eagle.

Here I am feeding a deer. Is he not the cutest thing?? We weren't suppose to feed them but it was just grass and he liked me. I want a deer now!!! I loved him!!
Yep, of course it wouldn't be Alaska without the moose!!
This is the one male Elk in a area surrounded by all females. Lucky guy!
Here are some playful black bears.
After the Wildlife Conservation Center we headed towards a town call Portage. Now this is a very remote little area. It's surrounded by mountains and glaciers (before they started melting). This was where we had lunch. It was at a family run place that was very cute. For all my food-followers I had the fresh salmon sandwich and homemade pecan pie!! YUMMY!!!

Once we finished lunched we did a little more site seeing. It was amazing to see what you could of the glaciers. I mean you really can only see them up close by boat but you could see a few. It really was an awesone site.

Here I am with Portage Glacier and and Shakespeare Glacier behind me.

This is another shot of both Portage Glacier and and Shakespeare Glacier. Portage Glacier is that little blue thing you can barely see behind the mountain. Shakespeare is the large white mass you see between the two mountains. Now this body of water was once all the Portage Glacier. It has been melting quite quickly and as you can see is barely visible by land anymore. This lake is over two miles wide and 600 feet deep! That is how much of the glacier has melted. And they say global warming is not real!!! This is the Byron Glacier located between those two mountains. Notice the little icebergs in the water as well. ("I'll never let go Jack....")
We stopped by Mt Alyeska to view one of the best ski resorts in all of Alaska (at least that is what Daniel said). It was starting to get some snow built up but unfortunately it was closed at the time we were there so we couldn't go to the top of the mountain. Next time!

Here I am taking self portraits at Mt Alyeska. BTW...that is not Mt Alyeska behind just some other mountain.

This is Mt Alyeska. Notice the snow is building but not quite ski worthy.

This ended our tour so now it was back to Anchorage. Along the way home I got a text from Randy (my step dad) asking me to bring home some crab. I laughed. I thought it was a joke. I mean I only carried on my luggage so how was I suppose to bring home crab but apparently that was not a joke. He was serious and he wanted 10lbs! So I had Daniel take me to one of the best fish markets in Anchorage and I got Randy his 10lbs of crab. I was stressed all night because I wanted to make sure they stayed frozen. I mean the place wrapped them in this gel pack but it didn't seem like it was enough. Needless to say I was very stressed out about this crab. I had it in my window all night just to keep it frozen. Yep, I froze that night but it's okay. Anything for the little "Sebastian" legs I had in the box! Once I finally landed in AZ I hurried to my car and drove straight to my Mom's house. It felt like I was part of a heart transplant team. I had to get them there before they defrosted!! It was a lot I know but 10lbs is very expensive!! In the end they got to Randy safe and still frozen so it all worked out! Now, I'm just waiting on my dinner invite! Hint...hint.....Randy.......

Oh, yeah this is just yet another stuffed bear they have in the Alaska airport. It's actually kind of scary all the animal heads and things they have mounted to the walls of this place. I feel like it's an old Lodge not an airport!! Those crazy Alaskan folks! It must be the Governor! : )

P.S. I learned that the Alaskan folks refer to the rest of the U.S. as the lower 48! It's quite funny to hear them say "are you from the lower 48?" Like it's just one place. I was like "ummm...yeah". Wasn't sure what else to say to that one! Alaskans! : )

More to come!

xoxo