The Alaskan Railroad
Rising early in the morning, we traveled through downtown Anchorage to the
Alaskan Railroad. The railroad began running in 1903 and carries both
freight and passengers. The trains need to stop running in the Winter
except for the southernmost depots, due to the harsh conditions in the
mountain areas it beings tourists through in the summer.
This picture is of my Father, my Aunt, and I, in front of an old
locomotive from the Alaskan Railroad. We were about to travel deep into
the wilderness to go see the Spencer Glacier, where we would travel
downriver among icebergs!
This picture is a view from the window of the train car we were on. We saw
many, many bald eagles while on the train, as well as other animals, and
beautiful scenery. Notice that even though it is June, there is still snow
on many of the mountains.
Above you will find the most interesting animal we found - A mother
moose and her babies! The picture is a little bit blurry but the babies
were following mom around looking for food on a rainy Alaskan day.
Welcome to Spencer Glacier! Did you know that glaciers are actually large
mountains of ice, while icebergs are the pieces that break off the
glaciers? We actually went out rafting among the icebergs and then down a
mild whitewater area back to our train pickup. It was very cold, and very
rainy, even for June, so we were happy to get back on our train! Besides,
we knew the cruise ship was only a day away!
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