Part 17 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011. 

On our last Sunday of the trip, Eric, Dale, Drew and I were supposed to fly out to a river in southwest Alaska to go fishing. There was much anticipation and preparation before the trip but sadly the weather did not cooperate. We could have probably made it out there but may have gotten stuck there for longer than we wanted to. Also, that same day, two planes collided in mid-air in the mountain pass that we were going to fly through to get out there. Crazy!

Instead of the fishing trip we tried to go fishing in Anchorage. Unfortunately we didn’t have any luck fishing at Ship Creek.

In the evening, Dale, Drew, Noah, and I decided to go for a short flight in the vicinity of Anchorage.

It looked cloudy by the mountains but we decided to just have a look around and see how things went.

We took off out of Merrill Field and headed north just over the highway. As we headed out that way, the mountain tops got clearer. We saw Eklutna Lake and Pioneer Peak along the way. Eventually we ended up at the Knik Glacier.

As we turned the corner we headed toward a lake with icebergs being fed by another glacier.

Noah had a great time and especially enjoyed some of Drew’s extreme maneuvers that gave us great views of the glaciers below!

We saw some spectacular sights and even managed to find some sunshine on the mountains.

We cut through Girdwood to get over to the Turnagain Arm, getting a nice view of the top of the tram at Alyeska.

Many thanks to Drew for taking us on a great flight and thanks also to Dale for making it possible. When we landed and were driving back home, the whole experience felt like it had just been a dream.