Geographically we sit up in an inlet. Anchorage proper has water on two sides. The South has the Turnagain Arm and the West the Cook Inlet. The East has Mountains. North follows the Cook Inlet to "the Valley" or Wasilla/Palmer area. We sit between Anchorage and Palmer. Our tides turn usually two times a day. This means that the Inlet and the Arm will fill full of water and then receed leaving the ocean to look like a huge dried up mud hole. They call them the MUD FLATS. Super creative I know. But these flats are totally dangerous. It appears to be walkable, but many are more like quicksand. So only to view, but not experience. Not that any of this really matters to this post, but to help gain our bearings and understanding of our ocean. Alaskan oceans I've decided are not like the typical oceans I grew up knowing about.
ANY HOW!!! There is a very large park called Kincaid Park in the Southwest corner of Anchorage. It is full of bike trails, hiking and walking trails...AND...wait for it....A SANDY BEACH! Yes, it is true...there IS a sandy beach in Alaska like the beaches you are all familiar with only not so close to the water. That's right. Like I said...everyone has a huge pile of beach sand in the middle of a park not touching the ocean. Right? (Special thanks to Manda Hanzon for taking our kids here and introducing our family to this place while we were away on the Upper Russian. Yes, she watched our kids for three days. She rocks!)
So there you have it. An Alaskan Beach!!!! But the kids LOVED IT! You have to hike to the dune head from the parking area. Climb up the large sand dune. (Think horrible hills training for track or cross country.) And then the kids play up and down the sides. It's like you are jumping off the edge of the world. It is a great escape. We spent the whole day there. Next summer we will go more often.
Aubrey, Evelyn, Abigail, Miss Lucy and Eben hiding out in the shade. It was a beautiful day.
This is the South end of the Sand Dunes. So beautiful. Not camera nice...the sand is super fine and gets everywhere. Glad I brought it though.
I LOVE this woman. She is so much fun. Such a wonderful friend and example. Kohen is the same age as Dallin. Then she has Evelyn and Abigail. They also have a dog named "BEAR" in Alaska. It sure if fun seeing people's reaction when you call his name. We have fun together on our "outings" with the family. And Aubrey adores Miss Abby. Such great firends. We are blessed.
This is some of the boys: Nate, Tate and Stephen. These boys never wanted to leave.
This is looking down at them. It doesn't look steep, but it is. Trust me. And it is not fun climbing back up. These kids got a great workout ALL day long.
Dallin and Kohen enjoyed climbing up and down and making themselves "homes" in the hillside.
They also built a castle and many tunnels.
This gives you an idea of the dropoff of this sand dune hill. They loved jumping off the edges.
The girls even became mermaids!!! Aren't they the prettiest, silliest and most friendly mermaids?
These two girls played so well together and became inseperable. Such cuties!
This is looking up from about halfway down. I had to retrieve many fallen buckets and balls in the thick devils club. Yep, that poisonous plant that lined the base of the dunes.
The gang of boys: Dallin, Nate, Stephen, Kohen and Tate! We had to hang them upside down to get out all of the sand that was in their pockets and any other nook or cranny.
Looking down at Stephen as he climbed back up.
Saying our last goodbye to the Sand Dune and the Turnagain Arm/Cook Inlet. Depends on which direction you are looking. Kenai Penninsula is what you are seeing across the water. Until next summer!!!
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