Alaska: The Great Land
12.02.08 Posted in Alaska, Travel by Anshul AgarwalTravel Period: June 21-30, 2008 (10 Days)
Day 1: We flew the non-stop IAH-ANC flight. I was able to snag the bulkhead section making it very comfortable with my little one. He slept through most of the flight, giving my wife and I the opportunity to rest and sleep. About 30-45 mins from Anchorage, we got our first glimpses of the snow-covered Alaskan peaks. This really got our adrenaline pumping. We flew over the Chugach Mountains (East to Southeast of ANC).
Our flight arrived early to a gorgeous sunny day in ANC. After a painless rental-car pickup, we drove downtown to the Farmers Market (Sat and Sun in summer). We were able to catch the last hour, which my wife spent browsing the shops while I had a yummy Salmon Quesadilla. We then checked into the Hilton (across from the Farmers Market). The very friendly front desk person gave us an upgrade and lounge access, based on my elite Hilton status. After quickly settling in into our room, we walked around downtown. My wife thoroughly enjoyed the Grizzly Bear Gifts store around the corner from our Hotel on Fourth Av. We had pizza at Uncle Joe’s Pizzeria, where I sampled Alaskan brew. When we retired to the hotel around 11:15 pm, it was still bright as day!
Overall, I was impressed by the Hilton Anchorage. Awesome location and friendly staff. The only thing to be wary about is that early morning, there are many cruise-ship people around and it can be chaotic.
Day 2: We woke up to a cloudy and rainy morning. After a leisurely breakfast at the Hilton buffet (the lounge was closed on the weekend, so they gave us breakfast coupons instead), we headed to Whittier for the 26 Glaciers cruise. The Seward Highway is considered one of the best drives in the US and it did not disappoint even in the (mildly) rainy weather. As we drove along scenic Turnagain Arm, the mountains were covered in clouds and the water looked gray. I wished for “just one sunny day to drive the Seward Highway”. We had some time before boarding the cruise, so we stopped at the Portage Glacier Visitor Center. Here it was very windy and extremely cold. After a quick walk through the Center (where my wife took pictures of a huge, blue iceberg floating right next to the Visitor Center), we headed to the Anton Anderson tunnel. We had timed it well, so we didn’t have a wait and got into Whittier minutes later. My wife picked up a sandwich from the Orca cafe in Whittier and we boarded our cruise.
The 26 Glaciers cruise is an exceptional cruise that takes you past 26 glaciers in 4.5 hours, stopping at 4-5 of the major and accessible ones. I strongly recommend it to everyone.
Luckily the rain started to die down as we headed into Prince William Sound. It was still very cloudy, so when we got to the glaciers, they looked extremely blue. Amazing, I thought, as we floated through the icebergs from one glacier to another. We were served an enjoyable cod lunch. Before we realized it, the cruise ship started heading back. My wife and I were spellbound by the awesome scenery. Our only disappointment was that we didn’t see a lot of calving. We saw some at Surprise Glacier, but not as much as we expected (or wanted). Another minor displeasure was that we were given a booth away from the window. However, I spent most of the time on my feet – so it didn’t matter as much. I would recommend that while making the reservations, ask for window seats (seats A and F at each table are window seats). On disembarking from the catamaran, we drove back to Anchorage. After a quick stop in the hotel room, we headed back to walk the downtown streets where my wife bought some more things. We headed back to the room relatively early that night to rest for the next day’s full agenda.
Day 3: It was a beautiful, sunny morning in Anchorage. Someone up there had heard my wish from the previous day! After a quick breakfast at the Hilton lounge, we headed south on the Seward Highway. I made a number of quick halts to take pictures along this most scenic drive (the drive has ocean, mountains, snow, ice, lush green forests, waterfalls – you name it). Our first stop was the Alyeska tramway in Girdwood. The 8 min tram ride ascended over 2000 ft. Upon disembarking, we were greeted with several inches of snow on this steep mountainside (in June!). We played around in the snow, taking several pictures of my son (his first time in snow). We spent over an hour there, enjoying the views. We made our way back to the car and got back on the Seward Highway. Again, I was mesmerized by the awesome drive all the way south to Seward. The Kenai Lake south of Moose Pass looked spectacular. As we pulled into Seward, we were starving and the first thing we did was to eat at the Apollo restaurant. In enjoying this drive, I had forgotten about lunch! After the (late) lunch, we walked around downtown Seward taking pictures by the edge of the town next to the ocean and mountains. The town was truly scenic.
We then headed to the Ididaride Dog Sled Tours (situated on the road to Exit Glacier). The dog sled ride through the wilderness was fun. It was even more fun to hear about the Iditarod from our sled driver. He finished 46th in the Race this year. It was interesting to learn about the dogs and how humans and dogs work together to accomplish feats like running the Iditarod in the middle of the Alaskan winter.
After the Sled tour, we walked around the Seward harbor area. It was a gorgeous day and I didn’t feel like going to the hotel just yet. After more pictures and gift-shopping, we drove an hour back up north to the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge. The Lodge is situated on the hills in beautiful Cooper Landing. We arrived too late to eat in their restaurant (it had closed at 10 pm), so we took a seat in the bar and ordered from the bar menu. I enjoyed the great view from our table while waiting for the food. After dinner, we retired to our cottage somewhere around midnight. In this hilly area, it got kind of dark (relatively) around 1 am. (I went back to the restaurant area to sterilize the baby feeding bottles after midnight).
The Kenai Princess Lodge is in a wonderful setting. The staff is friendly – most employees at all the Princess Lodges are either young, temporary workers from around the world or retired folk spending the summer in Alaska. The food is average at best and overpriced even for Alaska, but the views from the Lodge are great.
Day 4: We woke up around 5:30 am to get to Seward in time to board the Kenai Fjords Tour companies Northwestern Fjord cruise at 9 am. After a very rushed breakfast at the Lodge, we drove the hour south to Seward enjoying spectacular Kenai Lake.
While the 26 Glacier cruise focuses on glaciers (surprise, surprise), the Northwestern Fjord cruise focuses on wildlife.
As we cruised towards Resurrection Bay, we were thrilled at the variety of wildlife we were seeing. The captain dutifully slowed down and almost shut the engines to minimize noise each time we approached animals. Lunch was Caesar Chicken wraps.
For me, getting into the Northwestern Fjord was among the best parts. It was very scenic, with dramatic high mountains along the coast and unreal-looking scenery at sea-level.
After taking in a few glaciers including the Northwestern Glacier, we headed back towards Seward. The captain took a slightly different course and everyone on the ship was thrilled at the sea otters, sea lions and various sea animals and birds along the way. I especially liked the waterfalls (can’t remember the name) on the way back. There were even dall sheep very high in the mountains by these waterfalls. Meanwhile, close to Seward we spotted a baby humpback whale that seemed to be “showing off” for our ship. The baby whale gave our ship quite a show, flapping in and out of the water for a long time.
The mother swam quietly next to the baby. This proved to be the highlight of our cruise that day. Upon disembarking from the cruise, we made our way towards Exit Glacier. The quick approx 1 mile hike was enjoyable. After seeing a number of glaciers, Exit glacier wasn’t particularly remarkable but a worthwhile hike anyways.
I didn’t feel like going back into Seward for dinner, so we headed back to the Lodge instead. Had a nice, relaxing dinner at the hotel where I had their Salmon special (in mushroom cream sauce). Quite nice! My wife had a Quesdilla, she is a vegetarian and that was the only option for her.
Surprisingly, we found a lot of vegetarian food in most parts of Alaska. Every restaurant had atleast one veg dish. We did not expect that.
By the time we headed to bed that night, it was (again) around midnight.
Day 5: We arose to another glorious day in the Kenai Peninsula. After breakfast at the Lodge, we hiked down to the beautiful Kenai River (adjacent to the Lodge). My wife and I really enjoyed sitting peacefully by the river and
I wished I had taken the scenic river float offered by a local tour company.
The Lodge even sent someone to pick us up at the bottom of the trail (so we didn’t have to hike back up). After checking out, we headed north on the Seward Highway to Portage Lake for a cruise of the Portage Glacier.
This mini-cruise unexpectedly provided us with one of the most memorable highlights of our entire trip.
After an uneventful trip to and around the glacier, the cruise was about to head back when a large section of the glacier calved and fell into the lake. It was dramatic and we were so close when the calving happened. It was incredible to see the big chunks of glacial ice fall into Portage Lake. The calving happened for so long, that I had time to see it start, pull out my camera from my pocket, focus and position it and still manage to take tens of pictures. My wife and I were very excited since this was one experience we didn’t want to miss in Alaska.
After the cruise, we stopped for a quick lunch at a pizzeria in Girdwood. We then stopped in Anchorage for gas (much better prices). We were headed north up to Denali National Park. Our first stop on the Parks Highway to Denali was in Talkeetna.
I was expecting to spend some time here but was disappointed at the town. There really wasn’t much to do unless you were taking a tour (flight seeing, hiking, etc) from here.
After a coffee and some not-so-delicious ice cream, we continued north. It was an exceptionally clear day, and lo and behold, we caught our first glimpse of Mt. McKinley (or Denali Mountain). Soon, from the Denali South viewpoint (right on the Parks Highway), we got an incredible view of McKinley. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the North viewpoint, the sun was directly above the summit of McKinley and we couldn’t see much (strong sun in our eyes). But the South viewpoint was great! I was delighted to view McKinley because from what I understand, one only has a 20% chance of seeing the entire mountain because it’s always surrounded by clouds.
We continued north up to the McKinley Village Lodge, where we were staying for the next few nights. This far up north, it was very bright when we arrived around 11 pm. We ate at the Black Diamond restaurant in Healy (it was open till 1 am). The food was good, my wife ate a pasta and I ate a salmon (yet again!). When I did my nightly chore of going to the hotel restaurant to sterilize my baby’s feeding bottles, it was close to 1 am and still very bright outside.
Day 6: We woke up the next day to another gorgeous morning. We had planned on taking a day trip to Fairbanks. We headed further north up the Parks Highway and our first stop was for brunch in downtown Fairbanks. The food at Lavelle’s Bistro was good. We walked around downtown, taking pictures of the Lost Family statue.
We had heard about the Ice Museum from friends but were unimpressed with our visit to it. However, it was cool to see an artist do a live demo of ice sculpture at this museum. We then visited the Museum of the North, which was interesting but not overly impressive.
We headed to the ‘tourist trap’ of North Pole to visit Santa’s house (a shop with a big collection of Christmas themed gifts, etc) where my infant ‘met’ Santa for the first time! We then headed back to Denali because we wanted to spend the evening in Glitter Gulch – the touristy shops, restaurants, etc outside of Denali National Park. My wife again had a good time shopping, while I enjoyed the beautiful day on a bench outdoors. We ate dinner at the Salmon Bake, where I had an unexceptional salmon. We then headed to the hotel. The McKinley Village Lodge is about 8 miles south of the Park entrance.
Although it was exorbitantly priced, it was nothing to write home about. In general, the Denali area was the most expensive part that we visited in Alaska. Hotels were $250+ and meals were $25+ (per person) for reasonable or average lodging/meals.
After dinner, we sat next to the Neanana River by the Lodge and enjoyed the peaceful settings till well past midnight. This far north, it never really got dark. We saw children playing in the park and people playing golf well after midnight. Healy is known for its midnight golf courses.
Day 7: Turned out to be my least favorite day of the trip. We woke up late and missed (by minutes) our shuttle bus into Denali National Park. Luckily, there were 3 seats on a bus 45 mins later and we were able to go standby on it. A very nice European gentleman offered up his seats so that my wife, child and I could sit together. It rained all day and was extremely cold. Once we reached the unpaved portion of the road, the bus windows would get dirty from the rain and mud on the road and made it impossible to view the scenery outdoors. Our driver was wonderful and stopped whenever he spotted wildlife. We saw a variety of wildlife including dall sheep, bears, moose, etc. Most memorable – there was a BIG bear that was feasting on shrubs very close to the road. On the way back from the Eielson Visitor Center, the majority of our bus was asleep. Such was the day – wet and cold. Visitors couldn’t go hiking and couldn’t see much from the bus unless we stopped and lowered the bus windows. I must admit, I slept too for about 45 mins..
Upon returning to the Park entrance, I went to the interesting Visitor Center. In the evening, we had reservations at the Alaska Cabin Theatre at the McKinley Chalet Resort. This is a dinner and show about life in Alaska in the 19th-early 20th century. The food was good, entertainment was wonderful. Memorably, Miss Kitty went around giving kisses for a dollar (of course my wife didn’t buy me any or wouldn’t let me buy one for myself).
Dinner was family style, the performers were professionals and sang, danced and acted roles from early Alaskan life. After the show, we walked around the tourist area (Glitter Gulch) before retiring for the night. The evening was more pleasant as it had stopped raining and the sun had actually come out.
Day 8: The next day provided yet another highlight of our trip (I know, too many highlights!). We headed to Matanuska Glacier along the Glenn Highway. This involved driving south on the Parks Highway to Palmer and then driving east on the Glenn Highway for about an hour. Well worth the trip.
The Matanuska Glacier gives you the incredible opportunity to walk on a glacier. I could easily carry my 1 year old baby onto this roadside glacier.
After spending an hour on the glacier and the thick ice surrounding it, we had a decision to make. Should we continue to Valdez as we had originally planned or should we alter plans and head back towards Anchorage? My wife and I decided to push it and drove towards Valdez. However, we would stop overnight at the Copper River Princess Lodge in Copper Center (about a 2 hr drive from Matanuska Glacier). We decided to rest there and enjoy the views of the Wrangell Mountains from this Lodge. We spent a very leisurely evening at the Lodge. My son wreaked havoc in the warm and inviting fireplace area of the Lodge, while I sipped a scotch.
Day 9: Our last day in Alaska. Already nostalgic about the trip, we debated in the morning about whether we should continue to Valdez or head back to Anchorage. It would be an extra 4 hr drive (2 hrs each way to Valdez). Having heard so much about the town’s beauty and especially the scenic drive to it, we decided to push ourselves and do it. Our first stop along the way was the Worthington Glacier – another roadside glacier on the Richardson Highway. Just a few miles from there was Thompson Pass – the snowiest place in North America (if I recall correctly).
The scenery around Thompson Pass was almost unreal – like what you see in the Lord of the Rings movies. We couldn’t believe we were driving right through such scenery (as opposed to hiking/flying to it).
Next were the chock-full Bridalveil and Horseshoe Falls, right on the side of the road, and finally the town of Valdez with its high coastal mountains and numerous waterfalls. We had planned to spend a night in Valdez, but we couldn’t do it because of time constraints. We walked around the harbor and town and had lunch at a restaurant by the harbor. We then headed back towards Anchorage, stopping along the Richardson Highway to take a very up close look at the famed Alyeska Pipeline.
We reached downtown Anchorage around 6 pm and relaxed, getting dinner and drinks at Rum Runners on Fourth Av. We made our way to ANC around 9 pm for our 10:30 pm flight back home. We were extremely sad about leaving Alaska and my wife almost shed a tear while we returned the rental car!
The flight back was comfortable as I had been able to score upgrades to First for all of us. This concluded my dream trip to Alaska!!!
Conclusion: In my research, I discovered that the best time to go to Alaska in early to mid June. Tourists have not yet over-run the place, the weather is best (least rain) and the mosquitoes are well under control. We went mid-late June and the weather was fantastic.
Looking back, I would have spent a bit more time on the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. There are both absolutely gorgeous. The Kenai Peninsula offers a range of activities for every taste and the Sound is so stunning that I could spend days there. We could probably have skipped Fairbanks – nothing special. I am glad I decided to only do a day trip there.
Also, if we didn’t have a baby in tow, we would probably have visited the Arctic Circle via the Northern Tour companies Fly/Drive Tour. We would have done river rafting or floating on the stunning Kenai River. We would have done more hiking (on the mountains as well as on glaciers).
I would strongly recommend renting a car and driving around to see the “real” Alaska. You just cannot get the same experience from a cruise ship. And after observing and talking to others that were on cruise ships, having a trip with that kind of structure and lack of control is unimaginable to me. Its hard for me to describe, and others have described the different experience really well in other online posts.
Word to the wise – get a coupon book from either toursaver.com or alaska-discounts.com.
Go through both websites to see which one offers better deals for what you want to do. I went with the Northern Lights book (alaska-discounts.com) because it had coupons for the things that I already wanted to do. These books can save you a bundle – Alaska is very expensive!
