Sharing some of Alaska's best scenery

Whew, we have been so busy! We've hardly had a chance to just breathe. My in laws were just here for their first visit to see us in our new home in Alaska. Our time with them went by all too fast but we crammed it with lots of sight seeing and a bit of salmon fishing. Alaska is such a magical place, I just have to share some of the scenery we captured on camera. Sorry if you are getting tired of Alaska pictures, but Alaska's beauty is undeniably stunning and leaves me so speechless it just doesn't feel right to keep it all to myself so just have to share it!

We saw this on our way home from fishing for sockeye salmon on the Kenai Peninsula. This is near Cooper Landing, Alaska

This is the same spot in Cooper Landing, I just zoomed in on the float plane.

So I said we went fishing right? Well, check it out- I caught my first fish! They were some big sockeye (red) salmon!  I was pretty impressed with myself and they made for a fantastic dinner the next evening! I was so glad my in-laws got to have fresh salmon at our house.

We took the scenic Alaska Railroad to Seward where we dropped my in-laws off for their Inside Passage Cruise to Vancouver. This was taken on the Turnagain Arm just south of Anchorage.

We passed countless glaciers on the way to Seward. We were so close to this one I could have thrown a stone at it.

We passed through many impressive tunnels. My toddler loved that part :)

We were blessed to see two bears on the train ride. The first was a HUGENORMOUS grizzly bear  and this playful black bear was our second sighting. He was playing chicken with the train on the tracks. Appartently, he needed to add some excitement to his afternoon, ha!

These were some icebergs we saw near Spencer Glacier.

This was our destination, Seward Alaska. We were lucky to have a sunny day for pictures. 

More of the Seward boat harbor. The water is a beautiful turquoise  color because of the glacial silt suspended in its depths. So beautiful!

Once we arrived in Seward we took a hike to Exit Glacier. The road to it was a raging river due to lots of rain and glacial runoff. We only got to go because the senator opened the road to our driver. It was really scary and I don't quite understand why they let us go on it but I am glad they did!

This is me up close to Exit Glacier (formerly known as Resurrection Glacier).

This is another up close shot of Exit Glacier. It is fed by the Harding Icefield which is over 1100 square miles!!!

After spending the night in Seward, we put my husband's parents on their cruise ship, said bon voyage, and boarded the train back to Anchorage. This was the sunset from the train on Turnagain Arm. Besides being a beautiful sunset if you look in the bottom of the picture you can see a wave...that's the bore tide! It is one of the most unique and geographically dramatic bore tides in the world.  It can be 6-10 feet tall and you can see surfers waiting it out around tide times.

After returning home I had a busy week of volunteer work and preparations for my friend's pottery painting baby shower. The shower was on Saturday and it was a huge success! We all had so much fun and I can't wait to show you some pictures and share some baby shower ideas. 

Now that the shower is over, things will hopefully start to slow down and get back to normal. I have made a decision to paint the bedroom dresser. I'm thinking my next post will be about my grand plan!

Hope you all have been enjoying the last few weeks of your summer!