Alaska State
Alaska
As promised, I am penning down the details (in parts) of our 8-day vacation trip to Alaska. We decided early on that we would rather enjoy an "unplanned" on-the-fly travel schedule than a more rigid pre-packaged vacation plan. So in preparation, all we booked before hand was our flight tickets in and out of Anchorage, Alaska with a rental car, along with our first night stay at a bed and breakfast. Of course, we also packed a set of warm clothes, rain gear and a good set of comfortable shoes for our summer trip to Alaska.
Day 1 - Anchorage/Wasilla
We landed at Anchorage late afternoon and picked up the rental car from the airport to drive up north to Wasilla. After stocking up on some basic supplies - fruits, snacks and bottled water, for the road trip ahead of us, we set out north to the city of Wasilla. Our first pit stop was at a very "homely" bed and breakfast inn called "The Heaven and Earth". This was our first experience staying at a bed and breakfast. Though it did feel odd to stay at someone's home, whom we had just met, our friendly hosts really made us feel very welcome. We actually had a separate breakfast room besides our own bedroom, not to mention a free wireless internet connection. But we were so tired that we just hit the sack for an early start the next morning.
Day 2 - Fairbanks
The Alaskan skies were not smiling on us this morning ! It had started raining again overnight and to make matters worse, the highway to Fairbanks - Hwy 3 was shut down for repairs due to the heavy rains. So on the advice of our kind hosts, we decided to take the long-way route north to Fairbanks via the Glenn Hwy (Hwy 1) - Richardson Hwy (Hwy 4). We drove through the Mat-Su valley catching a glimpse of the Matanushka Glacier on the road. We re-visited the Matanushka Glacier on Day 5 to hike on the glacier itself. Today was a road-trip to get us up to Fairbanks as soon as possible.
The Mat-Su valley is rimmed by three major mountain ranges: the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains. It is shaped by two mighty rivers; the Matanushka, which flows between the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountains, and the Susitna, which flows from its headwaters in the Alaska Range, giving it its name the Matanushka-Susitna (Mat-Su) valley. We were pretty awestruck to see these giant peaks crisscrossing the valley, with trees and so much greenery everywhere around us.
Our first moose-sighting was totally unexpected - we had stopped to take a picture of the Trans-Alaska Oil pipeline (we did a lot of this "stop and shoot" moments through out our trip) and there in the bushes was this moose, just standing there right in front of us. To be honest, I didn't even know what a moose looked like and here it was just a couple of yards away from me, walking out of the bushes and nonchalantly stooping down to drink water from a puddle on the side of the highway !
And on the way to Fairbanks, we stopped at Glennallen for the best freshly-made pizza ever ! It was nice to be all by ourselves and not see a single soul around us for miles -- scary sure, but awe-inspiring as well. From Glennallen, we made our way northwards to Delta Junction, to reach the end of the "Alaska Highway"
We drove on as the sun came out towards Fairbanks and made a quick stop at North Pole. Yup, the city of North Pole -home to the "Santa Claus" house. ;-) It is just a small quaint little city called North Pole with a Santa Claus house for all those visitors who come looking for him. We stopped to meet Santa's reindeers and checked out his place - I was just trying to make sure he doesn't forget my christmas gift this year !
Leaving the rain behind us.
As we reached Fairbanks, the sun was out, with the long, scenic Alaska Highway behind us. We reached downtown Fairbanks in the evening and after a quick stopover at the Fairbanks Visitor Center, found a nice (read affordable) inn very close to the University of Fairbanks campus. We caught up with one of my friends from Vermont, who was visiting his son at the university and called it a night after sharing some laughs and dessert.
Day 3 - Denali National Park and Preserve
The Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is nearly 6 million acres, making it larger than the state of Massachusetts. Mount McKinley, located within Denali National Park and Preserve, is the highest mountain on the North American continent. Measured from the 2,000 foot lowlands to its snowy summit at 20,320 feet, the mountain's vertical relief of 18,000 feet is greater than that of Mount Everest.
We reserved a shuttle bus tour to Fish Creek- this was a 63 miles one way, approximately 8 hours round trip. Fish Creek is situated on the rolling tundra slopes of the Thorofare Valley. On a clear day, this 8-hour shuttle bus trip into the park affords outstanding views of Mt. McKinley, the Alaska Range and excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. I would actually recommend taking a much shorter bus ride and/or exploring the park on your own, by just getting off the bus and take a hike at any interesting spot on the way. The 8 hour bus ride was too long for us and we would rather have done some of the day hiking activities. Also don't forget your binoculors ! It is a must, if you want to able to spot any wildlife in the park. Out of the wide array of wildlife in the park, we got to spot a couple of caribous, a bear, a fox and the willow ptarmigan - the official state bird of Alaska.
Thankfully, it was a beautiful and sunny day to explore the park. We arrived at the Denali Visitor Center, half an hour or so before our shuttle bus was scheduled to depart. On this trip, we had a goup of Polish tourists with a guide/translator and our "very knowledgeable" bus-driver as our travel partners. We got a very good narration (both in English and Polish) about the abundant wildlife, the rugged landscape and the spectacular eco-system.
There are also formal Tour Buses available that include snack and beverages, but if opting for the shuttle bus, bring your own food. One thing we were definitely impressed with was how the Park Managers were able to handle the bus loads of visitors, hikers, campers, nature photographers and more, but still manage to leave little to no footprint of all these people on the land. I hope this park stays as untouched and wild as it is today, for generations to come.
After the long bus ride, we stopped over at a local deli shop for dinner and then it was back on the road to Fairbanks for a good night's rest.
Day 4 - Fairbanks to Anchorage
We made the mistake of going back to Fairbanks from Denali & then driving back from Fairbanks to Anchorage again via Denali. Anyhow, we will plan better next time ;). We visited the Fairbanks museum in the morning and saw some interest native Alaskan features and skeleton of a mammoth. On a clear day,one can see the Denali peak from the Museum.
We hit the road to reach Anchorage. The drive was beautiful in the denali area with mountains seen in all 360 degree views....mighty high, with colors of green , brown and snow pecked tops positioned in between vast blue sky. Words cant express the beauty of nature.
We reached Wasilla by the evening and stayed in a place we booked over the internet.
Day 5 - Matanushka Glacier
We were so impressed with Mat-Su valley on the second day 'cas of our little detour , that we decided to check back the Matanushka Glacier up close. We stopped for a while to take a small hike on the glacier. Going inside the glacier was easier as we just followed a group of people. There was a beautiful water falls inside the glacier.We both decided to return on our way and that 's when we got lost. We realized the vastness of glacier ....fully white everywhere with no clue as to where we where...and after arguing for a while in the glacier for directions we somehow managed to get out of it to find the parking spot. Along the way, we walked over a sludge of sand & I suddenly realised that the sand sucked me in. I told my K about this but he dismissed it as just plain sludge (it was couple of days later we learned that it was really quicksand and could really be quite dangerous :-o )
After a momentous hike, we headed back to Anchorage.
Matanushka Glacier.
Glacier Hike
Glacier Falls
We reached Anchorage, late evening with no hotel reservations and our cell phone was getting out of range in many places. Downtown anchorage was very isolated and erie.
By some good luck, we found a bed&breakfast called "Muddy Moose." This was one of the best bed&breakfast, the place was a boon to us tired travelers with the owners having taken loving care for every minute detail, ......even their sheets smelled of lavender. They were the perfect host and had a wonderful house. We took some fliers about Anchorage and they recommended the train ride to Seward.
Day 6 - Not So Good
We got up late and had a wonderful 5/6 course breakfast provided by the host..she kept serving on & on until our stomach bursted out. We relaxed a bit & checked out late in the morning. Went straight to the train station to book tickets for the next day morning . Drove along the scenic highway(???every road in Alaska looks scenic :) ..
One Of the small falls on Scenic Highway
We visited the "Alasks Wildlife Conservation Center".Its a non profit organization that takes injured/wounded animals. We got close views of Elk/Moose/Reindeer. Got couple of Souvenir from the tourist shop . It started to drizzle when we left & we missed the "Portage Glacier" tour by few seconds.
Moose at AWCC
It started to rain more as the day progressed. We cancelled all our plans and headed back to BnB. On the way , we decided to stop at "Potter's Marsh Board Walk". Its a birding location on the outskirts of Anchorage with beautiful views. We took a walk and saw the birdies, fishies et al
Day 7 - Train To Seward
Details will be posted later.
Train Route
View from the train
Salmon Spawning
Seward Aquarium
Day 8 - Wind up (Zoo,Alyeska, Portage Glacier , Whittier)
Snow Leapord in the Zoo
Warning Board in Alyeska
Portage Glacier
Tunnel
Day 9 - Home Sweet Home
long bus ride, we stopped over at a local deli shop for dinner and then it was back on the road
