LuAnn and Melvin visit

LuAnn and Melvin visit Alaska

For Christmas mom and dad helped us buy plane tickets for LuAnn and Melvin to fly up to Alaska to see us for a week. We were thrilled they could make it happen. We wore them out pretty good but we had a blast showing them around our town and to some of our favorite places.

We rode the tram to the top of the mountain on a gorgeous day and watched some people paraglide off. They loved the views of Girdwood and the ocean.

At the beginning of Crow's Pass

They came just in time for berry picking. We picked blueberries, raspberries, and salmon berries on our hikes. They were delicious. 

We showed them Virgin Creek Falls

Aaron printed off this picture for them on canvas. It's one of my favorites that he has taken.

We took them to the flats and let them see Kodi jump around like a deer in the weeds. We threw sticks for the dogs and watched them swim.

We took them fishing for Pink and Dog Salmon in our little creek up the road. On our way we saw three moose near the road chewing on some brush. 

Melvin caught the first fish after we showed them "how to floss the salmons teeth" with the line and hook them. It was so exciting. By far the biggest fish they had ever pulled in before.

Aaron's Dog Salmon

My fat Pink Salmon

LuAnn's Dog Salmon was almost as big as she was!

We took a hike out to Byron Glacier and then cruised out to Portage Glacier and saw the tidal glacier up close. 

Byron

Our little boat out to see Portage Glacier

Erin was able to hook us up with another Behind the Scenes tour at the Conservation Center. She was so sweet to us and Keith was able to join us in feeding some of the animals. It was a really fun day.

Feeding Snickers peanuts

LuAnn and I fed the baby Musk Ox pair Suni and Nami

And Keith and Melvin fed the moose pair Tectonic and Richter  

Checking out the black and grizzly bears on the Bear Walk. Only a little electric fence separates the two species of bear. Keith and Melvin watching the bears watch each other.

We drove out to Seward and did a day cruise to Fox Island for an all you can eat buffet of Prime Rib and fresh Silver Salmon. It was delicious.

Sea Otter

Sealions

Humpback Whales

We also saw the Sealife Center in Seward and were enchanted with all of the sealife we saw. We watched the Harbor seals play, the sea otters rolling around, and especially enjoyed the bird room. They have a whole room you walk into to watch all of these native birds at play. Our favorite was the Puffins. They are so adorable.

We did a float trip down the Kenai River and watched all the combat fishermen at work.

We had a beautiful day in Whitter to go kayaking with Drew. We kayaked out to a waterfall with a ton of salmon and then crossed the bay and kayaked to another few waterfalls with thousands of Kittywakes. We had to pass by a cruise ship on the way back and it looked really big from a kayak perspective. I was so proud of LuAnn and Melvin because both Aaron and I were exhausted after all those hours of kayaking and they didn't complain at all.

Outfitted in our layers

Getting ready to hop in

Drew and me

LuAnn and Melvin

My handsome hubster

As we would kayak up this fresh water river we would scare the salmon up. I could have stayed here all day watching the hundreds of salmon scurry out of our way.

Net scarred Salmon. I took this right next to ten salmon.

We paddled around and under these gorgeous waterfalls surrounded by thousands of Kittywakes. I was surprised we didn't get pooped on.

See all the birds?

It was such a fun trip, full of memories. We are so glad we got to share some of our everyday things with them. I've been lucky to have such wonderful inlaws.