matti writing a letter to santa at macy's

matti ringing the bell with daddy

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Alaska Thanksgiving Adventure: The Voyage Home

With a little luck and teamwork, we made 5 hours in the air

Applesauce helps too

Alaska Thanksgiving Adventure: Day 5

Sorry bear, you're on your own pal.

Uncle and Rocky!

HOW FREAKIN' CUTE IS THIS???

Alaska Thanksgiving Adventure: Day 4

Now THERE's something you don't see every day...

Entering Chugach State Park

Avalanches, yum!

We saw a large black lump on the side of the mountain and stared at it for ten minutes, hoping it would move. It didn't.

Eklutna Lake

They're difficult to see here, but we were joined by trumpeter swans swimming around in the open area created by Anchorage's municipal water intake

Alaska Thanksgiving Adventure: Day 3

Our Black Friday involved a sightseeing drive, generally from Anchorage toward Seward. The fact that people were climbing this icefall was not remarkable. The fact they were doing so with traffic whipping by at 60 mph below on icy roads, was.

The Turnagain Arm of the Kenai Peninsula. For those who share my fascination with the whole daylight thing, note that this photo was taken at about 11:30 AM.

Who needs Hello Kitty when you can have deadly sea ice?

Ellie Bean prefers to do her sightseeing from the heated comfort of the truck

I took a video of how fast this sea ice was moving, I'll try to post it later.

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC). Big animals, lots of them. Highly recommend it. Le gustamos muchos. Here, the gang checks out a busy porcupine.

Orphaned Kodiak cubs, at 300 lbs. each only a fraction of their adult size. They claw your face off only because they like to play!

Uncle Der gives Matti a birds-eye view

Lemme at 'em, Mommy! Lemme at 'em!

Santa's junior varsity squad

This eagle lost a wing. I like to think he gave it in service to his country. Thank YOU, sir.

Wow. I can totally see this beautiful, majestic creature in our freezer.

Dana gets up-close-and-personal with a moose. Cross that one off the bucket list, darling!

Dang, deleted the buffalo picture by mistake. Well take my word for it, it was cool.

The snow intensified as we decided to take a side trip to Whitter. By road it can only be accessed through a one-lane tunnel and a $12 toll. This photo was taken at 1:20 PM.

The other side of the mountain greeted us with a whiteout. The only way we could tell we were in Whittier was from the boats in the harbor.

At 1:50, we decided the plan just wasn't working out. Time to head back through the tunnel.

YES, PLEASE!

A nice lunch at a cozy cafe in Girdwood, and just like that the skies began to clear as we journeyed back north.

The late afternoon (4:00-ish) sun turns the mountains to fire. These pictures really don't do justice to how beautiful it is. Interestingly, the most amazing view - the one I didn't get because we didn't think to bring the camera along - was from the grocery store parking lot in Wasilla.

Two tired little girls after a long day of adventure. Too sweet for words.

Alaska Thanksgiving Adventure: Day 2

Daddy and Matti at the Matunuska River

Old Glenn Road. Apparently when Sarah was doing her reality show, she would be shown driving down this road to work. And all the locals would wonder, "why is she taking Old Glenn Road when the new one is a four-lane and miles shorter?"

Matti gloats over her first official pee in the snow

A little lunch time for Rocky

I like to hang out with my d- OOH A SHINY THING!

Oh my goodness! The turkey ran away!

What should we eat on Thanksgiving Day?

Nummy nummy nummy nummy nummy

Hey, don't forget about me guys!