Alaska: Part 3 (Ice Cream, Bear Spray, Hike, Ziplining, and the Temple)

 This post will be a random assortment of happenings while we were in Alaska!  

If you haven't noticed by now, we have a thing for ice cream when we are on vacation.   We actually eat very little ice cream at home, but when we're on vacation, it is our mission to find the best ice cream around.  No Coldstone or DQ for us...we want the little specialty shops!  I can't remember where exactly we were in this picture and why exactly Emma looks like she's lying down in the background, but here is some real deal Alaskan ice cream.   Actually I think this was sorbet, because I was trying to be "good".  

This can of bear spray accompanied us on all of our hikes in Alaska.  We got the  lowdown from locals that we needed to be super cautious about not surprising bears, so we also used "bear bells", which basically were just super annoying large jingle bells that we rung as we hiked. Thankfully the bear bells seemed to do their job and the bear spray never had to be used!  

Our favorite hike in Alaska  was also one of the toughest ones we've ever been on.  

It was Mount Marathon (near Seward).

We hiked through snow and ice...

 

  

and eventually had to traverse this up this "billy goat trail" which was steeper and longer than it looks...

and even at the top of the billy goat trail we still had a ways to go to the summit.    Some of my peeps were not happy about this. 

But the view at the top was amazing....

and the satisfaction of doing it was worth every step (to me at least). 

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment...

 

Another day we went on a zip lining adventure....  

Our family loves physical activities like this and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience! 

Aren't we cute? 

And last but not least, we stopped by the Anchorage temple on our way out of town!

Stay tuned.  I think I have one more Alaska blogpost left before I will be satisfied that it is documented properly!