Hi world! Chris here. I’m back again to fill you in on the remainder of my week spent in Eagle River, Alaska! If you recall from last week, this post is all about Alaskan wildlife. Or, more specifically, the wildlife I interacted with while I was on vacation. Believe me, there’s a lot.
As I stated in my first post, we arrived in Anchorage a little after 1 am. Well, we saw our first wild animal that very same day. We didn’t even have to go anywhere. It literally just wandered through the neighborhood. Actually, two of them did. Two bull moose were just having their breakfast and we were lucky enough to spot them through the trees. We got a couple pictures, but it was so far away that mine were basically garbage, so I’m not going to post them here.
But fear not, seeing those moose was just the beginning to our day. It continued all the way to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (aka the coolest part of our visit and also the same place The Try Guys visited when they went to Alaska).
If you ever get the chance to go to Alaska, you should 100% go. And if you happen to love animals like I do, you should 100% go to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
It was so interesting, and you get to be so close to the animals it’s amazing. Not to mention they have SO MANY ANIMALS. And it all starts with the bears (that’s not exactly true, but it was SO COLD when we went that this was the first stop we got out of the car for).
We actually got a lot closer to these guys than the pictures show. We were right along the fence at one point and the bears were sitting directly in front of us. I mean I could’ve touched one if I wanted to (DO NOT EVER TOUCH A BEAR). But those pictures were all obscured by the fence, so I’m just going to use the ones I took on the bridge over their habitat.
The bridge was also the only place we could see their roommate too. And oh my goodness he was so stinkin cute. Look at how little he looks compared to the birds.
But in all truthfulness, those birds were massive in their own right. If you ever want to know the difference between a raven and a crow, it’s the size. Some people think they’re the same thing but just show them this picture to prove them wrong. I mean one of those ravens is the size of the bear’s leg.
Getting back on topic . . . because it was so cold (it started snowing) when we went, we tended to stay in the car, and I didn’t get many pictures of any other animals after the bears. However, I will gladly show you what I did take.
I really hate that the fence was in the way for these pictures, but like safety. It was still absolutely amazing to be right next to some of the most well-known predators. They were a lot smaller than I was expecting (thanks Hollywood for false advertising), but it makes sense considering how they’re really built for running.
They were all still really beautiful and lean, but only two of them wanted to come up to the fence and see everyone. That’s why they got the best pictures.
Probably the cutest part of the center was living in its own territory right by the wolf expansion.
This porcupine’s name is Twix (so cute) and he was the most social animal at the park. Before we came up to see him, he was just walking on his log, but as soon as we took an interest, he started climbing his walls. He even stuck his head through the bars like he wanted a pat. It took so much self-restraint not to boop his nose, but I respect his wildlife rights, so I didn’t.
If you’re not a big fan of “look, but don’t touch” then don’t worry because there are also some neat places you can go for hands on wildlife experiences. We had our own at a reindeer farm! I know it might sound kind of childish, but it was so much fun. Besides, who doesn’t want to spend a day feeling like Santa?
Mom bonding with the deer. 
The farm gives you a little cup of food and you get to go in their pen and pet them and feed them and it’s really neat. The reindeer are super friendly, and they really want the food so they will gladly be all over you. I even got to pet a baby that was honestly so so so sooooo cute.
This farm also had a moose and wood bison named Dolly. Apparently, you can’t actually keep moose, but this moose was the property of the government and the farm was charged with looking after him. I don’t know why they had the bison. But, if you wanted, they let you put a treat in your mouth and the moose would kiss it right out of your lips. Everyone wanted me to do it, but I made a hard pass. Instead, my mom and my cousin gave him a smooch.
As a proclaimed animal lover, I thought that these were the best parts of the trip. Honestly, I thought the week had peaked that very first day at the Conservation Center. However, our relatives had something even bigger in store for our last day in Alaska.
They had bought us tickets for the Major Marine tours through Kenai Fjords. Now, I am not a big boat person, but even I was excited to go do some whale watching. It ended up being the coolest part of the week.
Almost as soon as we pulled out, we saw a momma and a baby humpback whale. At first, we could just see their backs and the waterspouts as they breathed, but then the baby got some wild bursts of energy and started breeching.
Yeah, we saw a baby humpback whale breeching over and over again by the boat. It was beyond amazing.
I really wish I had a picture, but I didn’t catch one for two reasons:
1. I didn’t want to miss the moment because I was busy looking at my phone and 2. It was impossible to know when and where he would pop up again so I couldn’t have my camera ready in time.
Eventually, I did brave the cold to go on top of the boat, so I have some pictures of the scenery.
It’s probably impossible to tell, but in the middle of the last picture, there are sea lions all over the rock by the water. They just look like pale tan dots, but in person they are very loud. There were also a ton of birds nesting in the rocks, so there was just a lot of screaming at that stop.
It was in this area we saw the most animals. In the hills right by the boat, mountain goats were grazing with their new babies. We had to use the binoculars to see them because they just looked like white specks on the grass. That was also the only way we say the ADORABLE sea otter swimming by the rocks. He was PRECIOUS.
On the ride, we didn’t see any orcas, but we did see Dall’s porpoise and that was probably the coolest part. I hadn’t heard about these until the boat ride, but I am so glad we saw them.
They look like little orca colored dolphins and they are so fast. They like to race with boats, so they come play in the waves and swim right by the windows. It was the closest we got to any of the whales because they just came right up to us.
The Dall’s porpoise weren’t the only animals that wander right up to people either. Through the week, we saw so many moose just in the yard or walking by the road. If you don’t believe that Alaska is still a wild frontier well, you’re just wrong. Plain and simple. It’s why my uncle was completely right when he stated my favorite quote for this trip.
“There are many ways for Alaska to kill you.”
-Uncle D, 2019
Even a cute little moose calf could be your undoing because the momma will tear you apart if you get too close. That’s why we stayed in the car when we saw a momma moose with her triplets against the fence in someone’s yard. The picture is kinda crappy because of the distance, but here ya go!
You can barely see the babies laying by the bush in the pictures, but I promise there are three. That’s pretty rare for a moose, so I’m really glad we got to see it.
But, I’m really bummed we didn’t see any orcas on the boat. I’ve only seen them sad in Sea World, so I was hoping to see them be happy in the wild. I guess that’s just an excuse to go back sometime and try again. Maybe I’ll get some actual pictures the second time around.
Until next week, stay safe out there!
Here, There, and Back Again 