The first thing my parents wanted to see was what we came here for. The Northern Lights. Here our parents are outside the Aurora Borealis Lodge outside of Fairbanks. My dad said it was 20 degrees below zero. The Northern Lights were on my moms "bucket list", whatever that means. They keep mentioning this "bucket list." Well, they are no longer on that "bucket list." Anyway, they sure look beautiful.
We did not get to see the Northern Lights because they came out at 2:a.m. That was really late for us. So as you can see, we missed them. The place where our parents took us to see the lights was 20 miles north of Fairbanks. It was at a place called Cleary Summit. The lodge is owned by Mok Kumagai. He is from Japan and he has a little boy named Cota. We became good friends with Cota. We are sending Mok some Texas BBQ sauce when we get home and Cota some cowboy boots. My dad said we are making them honorary Texans.
The day after our Aurora adventure our parents hired a bush pilot to take us flying around Denali. We went on a small plane called a Piper. We were the only ones on the plane. Our pilot whose name was Todd said we were going "first class." After about 45 minutes we saw "The Great One."
There it is! "The Great One." Mt. Mckinley and Denali National Park!
We have reached our destination. We give you Denali! My dad said this was on his bucket list. Scratch another one off.
The Alaskan Range. The view from our window. Absolutely stunning!
Our mom took this video of Mt. Mckinley and Denali National Park. Enjoy!
We have never seen mountains like these! Todd took us so close to the mountains that we could almost touch them.
Nice view of Mt. Mckinley. People from Alaska call this mountain Denali. It means "The Great One" in the Athabascan language. We think that name really goes with this mountain because it is great. 
There were so many glaciers that we lost count. 
Beautiful view of the range as we head back to Fairbanks.On our way back Todd took us low to the ground so that we could look for caribou. We saw lots of them eating right below the mountains. This was a great day! Thanks Todd for this awesome adventure! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Our next Alaskan adventure took us mushing! It was very cold this morning. At least it was to a couple of kids from Texas. The temperature at start time was about -8 degrees F. To Miriam and James our mushers, it was just a nice spring day. In case you don't know what mushing means, it means dog sledding!
Already to go! Griffin is getting all the dogs in line. He is a very smart and beautiful dog. He ran besides the team and kept everything in order. He was also looking out for moose along the trail.
Here we go! This is an awesome feeling!
We stopped for a break along the trail. Miriam, our musher, was on the lookout for moose. Moose attack dogs because they think that they are wolves. We had already seen two of them on the trail. They ran back into the forest and did not bother us.
Dogs also took a break after some hard running.
Break is over! Time to hit the last part of the trail.
We have reached the end of the trail. What a ride! You have got to try this at least once in your life. The temperature was now at 7 degrees above zero.
Although we were on Spring Break we did not take a break from learning. Our parents took us to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. They have amazing stuff in there. Follow us inside to see what interesting things we can find.
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This huge Grizzly is at the entrance to the museum. It is life size. As you can see Marcos and I look puny next to this bear. This was just one of the exhibits you can see at this amazing museum. We learned a lot about Alaska's history at this museum. We learned about the natural history of Alaska's , Native American history, World War II, Alaska's oil history that includes the pipeline, the physics behind the Aurora Borealis, geology about Alaska and so much more.
This is an old Kayak that was used by the Eskimos of northern Alaska. It is made of animal hides. It is very well made and I bet it easily floats. I would like to take a ride in one.
Marcos and I are standing in front of the tusks of a woolly mammoth. This mammoth was found somewhere in Alaska. You can also see the jaw bones, teeth, and leg bone.
This place is called the "place where you go to listen" because you can listen to earthquakes that are happening underneath Alaska. You can also listen to the vibrations that the Earth makes. Earth vibrates like a tuning fork. The Earth's vibrations sound like harps.
The next day our parents took us to an ice park in Fairbanks. We took a break from learning and we let our wild side come out. There were slides made entirely of ice. They also had a hockey rink. I couldn't resist joining in on the fun. I joined in a friendly pick-up game of hockey with some local kids.
While I was playing hockey, Marcos was speeding down one of the many slides made entirely out of ice.
At night the ice park was transformed into a winter wonderland. They were having the "World Ice Carving Championship." The sculptures were amazing. Take a look!
A phone booth made of ice. The phone really works. Hector is trying to order a pizza.
This is a leopard walking through an ice palace. Looks like a scene from the Chronicles of Narnia.
This is a giant chess game made entirely of ice. The kings are the size of an adult.
Lion on the prowl! Even the grass is made of ice. Notice the detail on the lions hair.
Spider about to eat a grasshopper.
The ice art was wonderful. But for me, the best part of the night was the slide made entirely of... you guessed it! ICE! This slide had colored lights inside the ice making it look like a rainbow. This is me, Hector, going down the slide.
Now it is off to Santa's house in North Pole, Alaska. We named one of the reindeer's Elliot from the movie open season because he was missing an antler.
This is Santa's house in North Pole, Alaska. It really does exist. You can even write a letter to him and he will read it. So you better behave because he knows if you have been naughty or nice.
This is Marcos walking toward the entrance of Santa's house. I think he has been naughty this year.
We took a family photo on Santa's chair. We also left our X-MAS list for this year.
This picture was taken on the last day of our vacation. We were flying from Fairbanks to Seattle. This is one of the many glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park.
One last view of Alaska. This is another picture ofGlacier Bay National Park. Two years ago we were on a cruise ship through this very spot. Now we get to see it from the air.
Well we hoped you liked our pictures. We had a blast! Until next time this is Hector and Marcos signing off on our latest adventure. Hasta la vista from Fairbanks, Alaska!
1 comment:
OMG! What an awesome trip!! Thanks for posting those videos, they were so amazing to watch. I loved the ride on the sled (mushing?). And the pictures were stunning! Did your mommy take all those pictures? You guys look like you had so much fun! I can't wait to see more of your adventures ;-) Oh and I wish I could go down a slide made entirely of ice, too! Wasn't that too cold?? hee hee!
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