August 2017 –
If you asked my closest friends if I was a “Great Outdoors kind of gal”, I expect you would get the same response; a hearty laugh. So when one of my best friends moved to Alaska, I was very excited to visit her but a little unsure as to what to expect. (Is there a Target?!?) As it turns out, Alaska’s natural beauty was even better than I imagined. I’m looking forward to sharing a brief recap of our trip!
Going to Alaska really felt as if we were going overseas with about a seven-hour flight from Chicago. Our friends were nice enough to pick us up from the airport and take us back to their home in Eagle River, a suburb just outside of Anchorage. There I ate up all the truly Alaska stories I could like seeing bears in your driveway!
Alaska’s terrain is vast and one of the best ways to see it is by air. Lucky for us, my friend’s husband is a pilot in the Air Force and has his own plane we could use for sightseeing. I must admit this was the smallest plane I’d ever been in, but I figured if the government trusted him to fly the really fancy, expensive kind, I was in good hands. =)
It was crazy to think that just 30 minutes or so outside of Anchorage, there was this much to see! The blue/gray lakes were the first thing to catch my eye followed shortly thereafter by the glaciers and crevasses. What’s a crevasse, you ask? Let’s be honest, I had no clue until I saw them, but they are the massive cracks in glaciers that form due to various stressors as the glaciers moves. Another thing that fascinated me was the color. Some of the glaciers were so blue. I researched this one too and in short, glacier ice is dense ice that absorbs every other color of the spectrum except blue.
I had been joking that all I wanted to see in Alaska was a moose; from a safe, no ability to crush me distance. On this flight I got my wish!
After my trusty pilot brought me back down, it was Adam’s turn to take a ride up above the scenery.
In the interim, my friend and I went to a reindeer farm. Every time I look at these pictures I still laugh. Their mouths were like little suction cups and they got a bit aggressive if you held onto the food too long. I mean, I couldn’t have looked more like a city dweller if I tried!
Knowing the way to Adam’s heart, our friends suggested we stop by a local brewery on the way back home. As you’ll soon see, there are more than a few Alaska breweries worth checking out!
Since we were visiting in August, it was easy to lose track of time as dusk doesn’t really occur until almost 11pm! It was great to have such a long first day to catch up even if we were all a little tired the next.
The next day we explored downtown Anchorage a bit more before heading up to the Flattop Mountain trail. Stopping for lunch, we came across one of our favorite things about eating in Alaska, the king crab! Ordering it in the Midwest is always a splurge but in Alaska it seems to be everywhere, is delicious and so much cheaper!
Once properly fueled, we headed to Flattop Mountain. Per the website, Flattop is Alaska’s most visited peak. The trail is 1.5 miles and 1,350 vertical feet to the top. Uneven trails and heights do make me nervous. I made it a good way up, but when I saw this sign I decided that although I was not a young child or a pet, that was as far as I was going to go.
The trail up to the top was steep and very rocky but Adam did climb it. When he got to the top he was rewarded with great views and a hilarious message left by some other tourists. I don’t think they’ll be leveraging my Columbus Favorites list! =)
The next day, Adam and I made an overnight trip to Seward. On our way, thanks to our friends’ suggestion, we stopped in a great little ski town, Girdwood. Even outside of skiing season, it is worth a visit. While there we hit up, you guessed it, another brewery. Girdwood Brewing Company was a favorite with beautiful views and the coziest merchandise around. Adam picked up a t-shirt and I bought a hoodie that we still wear regularly to this day. Post beers, we also stopped at Chair 5 for some delicious pizza.
The drive to Seward was a gorgeous one. Again, there is just so much natural beauty. And there are stretches along the drive where you have no cell service. To an iPhone junkie like me this is a wee bit anxiety inducing and yet so freeing.
Right outside of Seward we stopped at the Kenai Fjords National Park to see Exit Glacier. The first time I saw a glacier up close was on our trip to New Zealand. (Post coming soon! I promise.) Leading into it I was excited, but in person I was really blown away by the sheer size. So, for the glaciers in Seward, I was a bit better prepared as to what to expect. Again, Exit didn’t disappoint.
It fascinating to learn so much about the history of the glacier and how its changes over time. It was stunning to see how much the Exit Glacier had decreased in size as you can see in the pictures below.
A glacier is one feature of nature, where I don’t think pictures really do it justice. Sometimes, they look just rocky and dirty but in person I really find them quite beautiful and almost magical in a way.
After stopping at the glacier, we made it the rest of the way to Seward. We stayed at the 360 Hotel; it was a good home base for exploring Seward and for catching our scheduled tour the next morning. Whenever we go on a trip, I keep my eye out for my favorite reminder of home, a bulldog. And low and behold I saw one in Seward. I of course talked to it giddily through the fence and as with most bulldogs it was utterly unimpressed and continued to snooze.
Keeping on the brewery trend we stopped in the Seward Brewing Co. before heading to Seward Alehouse where I met a new friend.
The next morning, we headed out on a cruise of Kenai Fjords National Park with Major Marine Tours. There are numerous types of cruises you can take from 3.5 hours to 8.5 hours. In general, the longer the cruise, the more active tidewater glaciers and wildlife you’ll see. My advice would be to pack warm and waterproof clothes for the trip. Even if the weather is perfect in port, you will have stretches on the open ocean and it can still be quite rainy and cold the closer you get to the glaciers. The tidewater glaciers on the water are impressive to see as you can actually here them making noise as they move. On our trip, we did experience an engine failure, so we had to turn around and head back sooner than scheduled. This isn’t as scary as it sounds as there was still an engine running but it did require us to move a slower through the open ocean which lead to a bit of a choppy ride. The tour company was more than accommodating and offered us a full refund.
Up next was a trip to town of Talkeetna. This was my favorite town in Alaska. Talkeetna is often a stop on the way to climbing Denali as the check-in Mountaineering Ranger Station is located within the town.
I think the best story to summarize Talkeetna is one regarding their politics. Now, I promise this isn’t the sort of story you’re forced to see on Facebook. This is a good one. For 20 years, the mayor of this town was Stubbs, the cat. Don’t believe me? Here you go. After Stubbs passing in 2017, he was replaced by Denali, the now mayor cat. While I myself am a dog person, (I’m sure that is a bit obvious at this point) I did appreciate this cat’s vibe. I mean a dog would stop, want everyone to pet him/her and would never make it around town in an efficient manner. Not this cat, he came in and hopped up on the bar while the bartender filled a martini glass of catnip. He finished it and left. Now, I know that marijuana is legal in Alaska and you might be curious as to how I came up with this story =) but alas, I have picture evidence.
As I mentioned, one of the biggest draws to Talkeetna is a chance to see Denali even if you aren’t planning on climbing it. But Denali is often difficult to see due to changing weather patterns around the mountain. In fact, statistics show that 7 out of 10 days the peak is out of sight due to clouds. One way to ensure we would see it was to fly. So, we decided to take a sightseeing trip with K2 Aviation.
The views were incredible from the sky. At one point, the pilot pointed out what looked like a small avalanche on the side of the mountain. As it turns out, this was the equivalent of avalanche the size of a 60-story building! It’s hard to put it into scale even when seeing it with your own eyes.
While in Talkeetna, we stayed in Denali Fireside Cabins & Suites which are very cozy and perfectly located to explore!
While I may never be a natural feeding reindeer, I did feel very home in all of Alaska’s beauty. The only thing better than seeing it with Adam was the opportunity to share the trip and memories with such good friends!
Postcards To Mabel 