Our last two days we made our way to Anchorage with a stop at Hubbards Glacier along the way.  The ship didn’t go too close because of all the floating ice chunks in the water.

Here’s a look at our room and a few oft-visited places on our ship–

On our last day, we got off the ship in a place called Whittier, which was just a walk down the ramps to waiting buses (we did not see a town). We were organized into groups according to our flight times out and the buses we got on took us on a bus tour ending at the airport with ample time to check in (some went straight to the airport, some got to see things along the way). Our bus had time for some nice touring.

We stopped first at Portage Valley where we saw the Portage Glacier and a beautiful glacial lake.  We enjoyed an hour-long drive with a cute guide explaining things along the way about the area, the wildlife and life in this area closer to Anchorage.  Then we went to a wildlife refuge, where rescued or orphaned animals are brought.  It was a sort of Alaskan wildlife zoo with big natural areas for each animal.  We had 70 minutes there to wander and see the beautiful animals–Bison, Muskoxen, Bears, Deer, Elk, Reindeer, Wolves, Moose, Porcupine, Owls, Eagles, and more.  It was a good stop.  We all enjoyed it.  They had good signage and information about each animal.

Then we continued into Anchorage and to the airport, where we had about an hour before our departure to Seattle.  We were all on the same flight.  Then we said our goodbyes via text because we had to race to our next flight that left in 30 min to SLC.  We made it just in time.  They flew on to LA.  What a great trip this was!  Alaska was spectacular, and wild, but I think it was Caleb who really stole our hearts.