Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Alaskan Bush Flight

Our last day in Alaska was quite the experience. My parents decided they were going to help Mark get out and experience Alaska in a new way this trip and had a short list of activities we could try. As it turned out we had a beautiful day and a long-time family friend, who is also a professional Alaskan Bush Pilot who had a break in his schedule so Mark was able to go on a sight-seeing flight. I think it was Mark's favorite Alaskan experience yet (except maybe getting married in Alaska!). We drove up to Sheep Mountain, where our friends, Matt & Sam spend their summers along with their 1-year-old daughter, Alli (a.k.a. Alaskan Alli on this blog). Matt took Mark on an adventure - they landed on two different glaciers and saw the areas where my brother, Keeton, goes for his NOLS trips (Matt does their food drops). He saw a herd of mountain sheep and too many other things to mention. And yes, I do mean a herd, Matt said he'd never seen so many in one clump! Here are a few favorite pictures from the day:

I believe this is a view of the plane when they landed by/on one of the glaciers.

Flying over a glacier.

On a glacier.

Looking down a hole in the glacier. I've been on glaciers in the past but this was Mark's first experience. He thought the ice was pretty amazing!

The Alaskan Alli is one tough cookie. And she eats just about anything. See that leaf stuck in her toes? Just the product of walking around barefoot....

But oh so convenient for...

A nice afternoon snack!

The girls enjoyed sliding down the bank. I tried to get a picture with the nice mountains in the background but I couldn't compete with the excitement of a nice bank of dirt & rocks.

A bye-bye hug for the Alli's!

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