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We woke up early, and Mount McKinley was visible! We were now about 120 miles south of the mountain, but it was clearly visible for about an hour. We got on yet another motorcoach and got a mini-tour of Anchorage. There was a good bit of construction, and the driver joked that Alaska has two seasons: winter and road construction. Sounds like Maryland.
We saw a lot of small planes and were told that since much of the state is accessible only by air, about 1 in 15 people in Alaska have pilot licenses. They put floats on the plane in the summer and skids in the winter so that they can land on the water/ice. We found this hard to believe, but the driver said that the floats often cost more than the plane.
Our first stop was the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which is a 26-acre campus with interpretive displays to explore the traditional ways of five distinct Alaskan Native cultures. Each of the five cultures had a traditional home set up with displays of tools and clothing. Here's the interior of one of the homes.
Here's Marianne standing with what we believe is a whale jawbone.
This is a traditional totem pole. We would see many more later on in our trip.
We left and headed towards Whittier, where we were to meet our cruise ship. The drive featured amazing scenery as mountains towered on all sides.
At one point we pulled over by the side of a river so everyone could take a break and take pictures.
We continued down the road, and then pulled into a private wildlife rehabilitation center, where we got a close-up look at some critters. This was our first look at a bear.
I believe this is a caribou.
These animals are moose.
And here are some reindeer.
