Alaska around the town and Flat Top Mountain

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Pictures from Jessica

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Valdez

We were able to visit Valdez, located on the coast along Prince William Sound for a stay at a bed and breakfast and a sea kayaking trip.  Valdez has a population of about 4,300 and is the terminal for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.    We were able to see lots of wildlife including sea lions, puffins, and sea otters.  Pink salmon were spawning and were very easy to catch by hand.  The trip home from Valdez was via the Alaska Marine Highway on a ferry covering 78 nautical miles to Whittier, with a short drive back to Anchorage.

Denali

Jess and I took a trip to Denali National Park.  We were able to spend the night in a cabin owned by one of the partners of the practice I am working with for the summer and then take a tour of the park the next day.  There is only one road into the park system, creatively named Park Road which is 92 miles in length and not paved.  The only way to go further than mile 15  is by shuttle or tour bus.  We took the Tundra Wildness Tour, which took us 54 miles into the 6 million acre park.  The trip took about 7 hours.  We were lucky to get a great view of Denali (Mount McKinley) North America's highest mountain with a height of  20,320 ft.  During the trip we also saw lots of wildlife including Brown bears, Dall sheep, Caribou, and Moose.

Halibut fishing

I finally was able to do some ocean fishing.  I went with one of the employees at the eye clinic on Saturday to Seward, located on the Kenai peninsula about 2 hours south of Anchorage. (We started the day at 3:30am to make it to the dock on time)  We fished on a charter in Resurrection Bay and in the Gulf of Alaska.  I actually did catch one halibut and now have some beautiful halibut fillets in my refrigerator.  The limit was two per person.  The views were amazing.  Bald eagles, humpback whales, and seals were all part of the sights on the 10 hour fishing trip.  Highly recommended!  As a disclaimer, the fish in the picture were not caught by our boat.  The halibut in the center weighed about 70-80 pounds and was several feet long.  The two fish at each end are Lingcod, not related to Ling or Cod, even tastier than the halibut.