Our 2007 Driving Tour Of Alaska - Anchorage, Day 24
May 31, Day 24. Breakfast at the Golden Bear Coffee Shop again. Loaded up and headed south-southwest on AK-1 for Anchorage by way of Glennallen.
We debated the possibly going to Dawson City and giving Stacie and Jana a lift but then discovered that the highway was one that was off limits for the rental car so we proceeded on AK-1 to Anchorage. We didn't see any wildlife but the scenery was, as usual, spectacular. There were several glaciers along the route, one of which, Matanuska Glacier, was very close to the highway while the Nelchina Glacier was further away. We stopped several times to photograph some of the glaciers visible from the highway. I believe the shots below are the Nelchina.
The mountains across the Tazlina and Matanuska river valleys were really impressive. The scenes were too broad for single photos so I started trying to encompass the entire view by taking a number of overlapping shots to be stitched together for a panorama view. One such panoramic view is provided in the image below.
Further along AK-1 we encountered a region where the mountains weren't snow covered but were composed of a myriad of earth colors. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to record these.
The next item of photographic interest were several views of what I remember as being the Matanuska Glacier. It was spectacular enough to warrant burning some electrons.
Our trip today had been very mundane, just driving and occasionally stopping to enjoy and photograph the scenery. We had seen no wildlife of note so we decided we'd check out some domestic and rare animals. At Sutton, we dropped by the Musk Ox farm. This farm raises Musk Oxen for their qiviut or soft under hair of their coats. Qiviut is much softer than wool, doesn't scratch, is much lighter and is reputed to be eight times as warm. We toured the area of the farm around the visitors' center, including the "nursery" field. The musk oxen in the nursery area were the only ones we were able to get close enough to for reasonable photography, although there were a couple of young ones that were kept close to the visitors' center for display purposes. The best photos were of the moms and calves of the nursery stock though.
It had been cold all day and we got a little chilled while in the wind touring the musk ox farm. We decided to make a run into Anchorage and find a motel plus check out the options near the airport for Monday night before we fly out on Tuesday. We stopped at a Ramada Inn on the outskirts of Anchorage and, after renting a room for the night, wandered over to the airport area to see what we could find. We decided on a Microtel Suites which was near optimally located for returning the rental car and getting to the departing flight gates. Had dinner at a Red Robin's and went back to the Ramada Inn to download images and turn in. Tomorrow, we go to Soldotna for a few days before coming back to Anchorage to fly home.