Alaska.
What comes to mind? Year round snow {lots of it}. darkness. cold. Eskimos. Igloos. Polar bears. Alaskan Bush People show.???
Alaska is one of those places that was on my bucket list. I dreamed about an Alaskan cruise but it came with a price tag that just wasn’t happening…e.v.e.r. I really couldn’t complain though since I did get my dream trip to Italy not long ago!
Summer 2016 our 16-year-old son won the golden ticket to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory…ok, not really, but it was leaning toward being equivalent! He was chosen through an application process to be one of 24 students to attend a 1 month all-expense paid engineering program at APPLE headquarters in California. So of course, hubby and I were thinking… “California here we come”!!! We’d all fly in to San Diego and spend the week driving up the coast with the kids, visiting all his buds and favorite places from his time being stationed out there in the Navy and then drop our eldest son off at APPLE. Sounds like a pretty sweet plan, doesn’t it? Well, we were even more pumped since we had a lot of sky miles and hotel points and figured we’d just need spending money and food money so surely we could pull this off. The more I searched and tried to map it out the faster reality slammed me in my face. It was just un-affordable. Period. We could only go for 4 days on points and that’s not cool…there’s too much to experience. We had to let it go and decided he could just fly out on his own and do this APPLE gig and the rest of us would sit around at home moping that we didn’t get a vacation. {although we are quite used to the stay-cation thing!}
After a few days of mourning the dream of the California vacation, I put my travel agent badge back on and started to pound on my keyboard. Me and Google had a lot of late night dates in the secret of my office. I took the number of Frequent Flyer Miles we had available and started plugging in cities to see how far the 5 of us could get. One requirement is that it had to be a city we had never gone to before. Imagine my surprise when I typed in the word “Anchorage” and the flight options popped up and there it was! Insanely low reward mileage seats! Could it be? Really? I then checked on hotel points and we had enough to cover 7 days! It met all the criteria… we had the miles to get there, the hotel points to stay there and it’s a city none of us had ever been to and, um, the coolness factor too! So, we booked it and didn’t tell the kids. We left them moping at the fact that we weren’t going on a vacation after-all.
So about a week before the trip we let the secret out but we didn’t just sit them down and say “hey kids, we’re going to Alaska next week” … that’s not our style… we are always more creative around here. We called the kids in for a “family meeting” on our big ol’ bed. Now that usually means good news or bad news and since we had recently lost hubby’s dad they all had the look of fear in their eyes that it was time for more bad news.
In walks hubby… “daddy-o” as we like to call him…he was dressed head to toe in some crazy stuff {insert teenage eye-rolls here}… long johns with zip off leg hiking pants with swim trunks over the top… turtleneck with tank top over it… one hiking boot on the left foot {with wool socks} and one flip flop on the right foot… swim goggles and binoculars… fishing hat with knit beanie over it…winter parka… glove on one hand and swim towel in the other hand. They were looking at him like he had lost his mind. Then the game began. We told them that dad was dressed in all the items he would need for every activity, weather condition, etc. that we would encounter on this trip. They then had to take turns guessing where we were going. The guesses were far and wide and they grew increasingly frustrated as we kept telling them, “nope”, “cold”, “try again”, “getting warmer” … until finally “ALASKA came out” …………. “YES…WE ARE GOING TO ALASKA”! We revealed the details of this planned adventure and their eyes grew bigger and bigger… we may have been “cool parents” for just a few minutes {we’ll take whatever we can get}. They were each given a packing list and departure dates and the countdown began!
June 30th
We arrived just before dinner on June 30th to find out the SUV we had reserved was now not available and we were left with no choice but a small 4 door sedan. Now, for those of you that have kids, you know that 3 kids {no matter what age} crushed against each other in the back seat of a car is never a wise idea. It’s just an invitation for multiple “issues” over the course of our fun-filled-family vacation. So small that we had to pile suitcases on top of the kids just to leave the airport, and yes, the trunk was packed to capacity. We brought everything but the kitchen sink because of the varying degrees of temperatures we’d encounter and the variety of excursions we booked. We scouted out a pizza joint with gluten free pizza and then settled in our hotel. The next morning, we would begin our adventure by setting out to drive to Homer Alaska…a tiny sea side fishing village on a peninsula about 4 hours away.
We piled in the car on Friday, July 1st with our overnight bags, reservation info for our B & B for the night and a very loose agenda on things we might do along the way. We decided on a rotating schedule for the back seat so no one got stuck in the middle seat for a week…we figured this would help ward off at least 100 “It’s not fair” comments over the course of our trip.
For those of you that have been to Anchorage you know it’s not a very pretty city. BUT…as soon as you get about 20 minutes outside town, the road starts winding and you come around a bend as the road narrows along the body of water and there in front of you is the majesty of Alaska. The majesty of God. You can’t describe it and you certainly can’t capture it through your camera’s lens. Our jaws are on the floor of the car, our eyes are wide as can be…it’s spectacular…beautiful…glacier capped mountains… and it keeps coming and coming and coming. There were a lot of pull-off’s and we didn’t bypass any of them despite grumbles from the back seat of how many glaciers capped mountains they needed to have their picture taken in front of. The answer is “When mom the photographer says so”. It’s a battle they won’t win. Out of the car. Ooooh. Aaaaah. Smile. Click. Back in the car.
About an hour outside of Anchorage we saw a wild life conservation center whiz by us on the right…
I had seen the name in my research https://www.alaskawildlife.org/ but didn’t check in to it… but we were intrigued so we whipped a U-turn and pulled in, assessed the admission fees and were hoping it wasn’t going to be some hokey tourist trap we just got suckered in to. It turned out to be A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. The animal habitats were so beautiful it was like seeing them out in the wild with a beautiful mountain range as the back drop. Our quick stop turned in to a 3-hour excursion that remained at the top of the list for our entire trip.
The icing on the cake was seeing a real reindeer strolling through the parking lot on a leash! They are the sweetest animals and it was an unbelievable experience to be able to stand so close and soak in the twists and turns of its antlers, pet its sweet head and take pictures! I think I was giddier than the kids! But sorry to spoil your image of reindeer, however; they don’t fly and they don’t have a red nose.
We piled back in the car to continue our journey to Homer https://www.homeralaska.org/ stopping at every possible scenic overlook, scanning the water for Beluga Whales and staring in awe at the mountain ranges.
So… the 4-hour car ride with scenic stops and the conservation center turned in to the 9 hours car ride and the scenery changed from majestic mountains to the images of sea side bungalows. We were all happy to get out of the car at our Bed and Breakfast, especially the child that had the middle seat assignment all day long!
The Whalesong B & B http://www.thewhalesong.com/ was just adorable and I was so “eggscited” to see that she had backyard chickens and was already looking forward to breakfast the next morning! It felt so good to stretch out and rest a bit from a long travel day. We were all still adjusting to the time difference and the fact that it barely gets dark in Alaska this time of year. Daylight at midnight is a bit strange to adjust to! I had researched a few restaurants in this tiny town and we were all looking forward to a nice dinner at The Little Mermaid. http://littlemermaidhomer.com/ Finding gluten free places to eat was a challenge and so I was thrilled to come across this little gem and I mean little. It had 6 tables max and I am sure the size of the entire restaurant with seating and cooking area was smaller than our kitchen back home. But let me tell you… the food.was.to.die.for. Look how pretty it was! {not pictured…the kids gluten free pizza}. Which by the way they had GF pizza 5-nights in a row because it was so hard to find anything else!
With full bellies, we wobbled down the street afterwards in and out of these little seaside treasure stores, talking to local people and learning about the town. When you stop in small towns you expect things to close early but that’s not the case with summer in Alaska…you can go strolling down these streets at 11pm and find plenty to do.
We were TIRED and FULL and so party pooper mom rounded up the troops by 10pm and headed back to the B & B. We had what was sure to be an exhausting tour scheduled for the next day and we all needed to be rested up.
Saturday, July 2nd arrived looking the same outside as it did when we went to bed at midnight. We got in our gear and packed up to head back down to the water to Mako’s water taxi service. http://www.makoswatertaxi.com/
A few shots of espresso for little dude and daddy-o and plastic bags to wrap our back-packs (guess what… it rains a lot!!!) and I have to say that water proof back pack covers were not on my packing list. Live and learn.
Our water taxi took us out about 40 minutes and dropped us on a deserted beach…literally…it was a scene from the show, Survivor.
Now, I am a semi-adventurous person, not “extreme sports” kind of person, but adventurous. I prefer to do something rather than lay on a beach any day. But this getting dropped with no other humans in site and told it was a 7 mile hike to the other side and to watch out for bears wasn’t sounding like such a peachy idea after all. But the boat was out of site. Gone. Pick up was 7 hours later on the other side of the national park so we could either start hiking or I could be left behind by my family and eaten by bears. I chose to go.
It was beautiful. So green. So lush. Humid like a rain forest {that was unexpected}, fairly flat {liking that so far} and barely misting so I could still take my camera in and out. We took every little side trail possible which of course added to the mileage our feet had to travel but it was so worth it. We came upon a hand trolley to cross over the raging, freezing cold river to where the trail continued to the other side. While we didn’t have time to keep going that way, the kids and hubby enjoyed the back and forth adventure.
There was a side trail that went to Glacier Spit and as much as little dude was complaining about his foot {legitimately} hurting and insisting he wasn’t going an inch further we kept pushing him on to see what wonders were ahead. We told him he’d certainly be eaten by a bear if left alone for a few hours {to which he didn’t seem to care}. With a bunch of encouragement and a not so gentle nudge he was up and walking again. Imagine our delight when we came around a corner and off in the distance we could see a glimpse of a beautiful glacie
We wove in and out on the trail until it opened up and we were on the beach staring at icebergs and one of the most beautiful sites ever…a glacier. It was a beautiful {freezing cold} place to have a picnic lunch and rest up a bit before continuing our journey to the pick up spot at the other side of the island.
The beautiful scenery continued to have us oohing and aahing our way through the trails until we finally descended on the shoreline and other humans! We sat and chatted the time away, each party waiting to be picked up and brought back to Homer.
Excursion #1 was over… an amazing day… and now a 4-hour ride back to Anchorage which will also include another hunt for gluten free food!
We woke up on Sunday July 3rd, tired and sore and excited about going to the Mantanuska Glacier to hike ON the glacier! It was a beautiful drive about 2 hours outside of Anchorage to get to the outfitters we had chosen. http://www.novalaska.com/tour-list/matanuska-glacier-hike
We got geared up with our groovy boots and Crampons {the spikey things that attach to the bottom of your boots so you don’t go sliding around} along with a few other peeps, hopped in their van and made our way to the start of the glacier hike. Btw… 2 teenage boys giggle uncontrollably as they had the “ah ha moment” that Crampons rhymes with Tampons. We had a little lesson on how to maneuver with these metal contraptions strapped to our feet and learned where to step that was safe and what would results in death {seriously}. I really do not know how to put this experience in to words. When you are hiking across this glacier and soaking in the information from the guides you are just in awe. Total awe of our Creator. It’s just magnificent. It’s surreal. It’s awesome. One of the things that this mama found equally as awesome as having this experience was to watch little dude hike the glacier. Let’s not forget that just 14 months earlier he underwent a massive foot reconstruction surgery that resulted after a doctor told us to amputate his foot! All I could do as I watched him make his way across the frozen tundra was watch from a distance, in awe, thanking God for this miracle. At the end of this glacier hike and with the addition of the hike yesterday, he officially had hiked 10 miles!!! I know these pictures just don’t do it justice…you can’t capture these moments on film. There aren’t words. It’s just something you have to experience.
Hey look…mom’s in a picture!
I think it looks like shaved ice with chocolate syrup drizzled across the top!
It’s an absolute must for teens to take photos and stay connected on social media while standing on a glacier!
Excursion #2 is done!
We woke up on Monday, July 4th to head to Girdwood/Alyeska for our summer dog-sledding tour. http://alyeskatours.com/dog-sled-tours.php We spent a little time in Alyeska going through the stores and signing in for our tour and then made our way to the resort to await our highly anticipated ride in the 6 x 6 open air Pinzgauers to transport us to the dog sledding camp where we would meet Nicolas Petit, champion Iditarod racer!
We had a little time to kill waiting for our ride, so the kids and dad caught up on some device time while mom perused the gift shop! That’s something I’m really good at!
The ride in the Pinzgauer was a bit nippy but soooo much fun!!! The scenery was unreal…you really just could not soak it all in. Our guide was fantastic and didn’t miss a single opportunity to teach us about the area and point out the little things that we could so easily miss as we were trying to soak in so much!
When we arrived at the dog sledding camp we had been prepped on what to expect. When I thought “Alaskan Husky” I pictured this huge soft furry white coat and a dog with some meat on its bones but that is NOT what an Alaskan sled dog is. Short. Wiry hair. Thin. They live in camps…each with their own dog house and bowl {um, let’s just say that since they breed them it would be total puppy chaos if they all just lived in a fenced area “together” if you get my point}. Their home environment may not look like what you would expect but I can assure you that these pups are loved beyond words, healthy as can be and happier than I can describe. Their owner, Nicolas Petit, champion Iditarod racer, loves these pups and they LOVE him! He has won several awards for how he cares for his pack and they all go crazy when dad is around. They are so eager to RUN! Many of the sled racers do not run their dogs in the summer; these dogs are extra blessed that they get year round exercise. When they saw the sled come out they all went C.R.A.Z.Y. with excitement. They were all jumping up and down like a bunch of kindergarteners saying “pick me…pick me”…. It was a sight to see. He picked each one strategically, brought them over and allowed each of us to get them in their harness and then he’d hook them to their spot on the rope to pull the sled.
Soon we were off and running through the mountains. These dogs are POWERFUL and with barely a whisper from 30 feet back where Nicolas stands on the sled, they yield to his commands. In a split second they stop, go, change directions, etc. The dogs are having the time of their lives and it was a phenomenal experience for us all!
At the end of the sledding we were brought to the puppy pavilion. Here is where the new puppies play, live and start their training to be sled dogs. We spent a few minutes inside as Nicolas explained all his trophies, heard all the details of running the Iditarod and got to see his sled. It. was. Cool. I had never known much about the race but the details of it has me all ears. The training and detail that go in to such an endeavor was nothing short of incomprehendible! When his sharing was done he unleashed the puppies on us. They came flying in to the room and were climbing all over us and smuggling one out of there was on each of our minds! They were precious! It made us miss our puppy so much!
During our transportation time down the mountain we passed by the entrance to Crow Creek Mine… the oldest mining town in Alaska. He shared so much fascinating information that once we were back to our car we decided to head back up the mountain on our own to explore the mine area. http://www.crowcreekmine.com/Crow_Creek_Mine/History_of_a_Gold_Mine.html
It was a small village of old dwellings, beautiful gardens and a maze of paths that led down to the river where there were many tourists panning for gold. We so wished we had known about this little gem earlier in our planning because it’s something we all would have loved to have done for a few hours.
End of excursion #3
Tuesday, July 5th was an EARLY morning as we needed to be in Seward for our one day cruise by 8am {Getting up that early was….Ouch! } and it was a 2 hour drive from Anchorage to where we’d board the boat for our Kenai Fjords tour http://www.kenaifjords.com/day-cruises/
We were all feeling pretty bummed out that the weather was dreary…drizzly…cloudy… of all days…the one day we’d be out on the water for 8 hours! We had beautiful weather the entire trip which we were thankful for… but would have loved for it to last just.one.more.day. Thankfully we had our new wardrobe of rain coats and we were able to go in and out on to the observation decks surrounding the boat. As we set sail our captain told us of all the wildlife we “might see” but further commented that it could be less likely due to the weather. We sat in the boat, a bit bummed out, played on our phones and nibbled on snacks, glancing up occasionally to try to catch a glimpse of the scenery through the drizzle.
And then…. ORCA’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously…not just an adult Orca {a.k.a. Killer Whale…actually they are in the dolphin family but earned that nickname}… but a Mama and her three babies…following behind her… we were barely 50’ from these massive sea creatures. They were beautiful and it was nothing less than surreal to see them in the wild… just cruising along…going about their day…
Some of the drizzle and dreariness lifted as we cruised through an amazing part of our journey through outcroppings of rocks, many covered in Sea Lions! They are pretty darn adorable if you ask me and we got up very close to them which was super cool!
And then…. THE.BIG.ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A Humpback Whale playing with her Calf!!!! Oh. My. Gosh. No words here, folks! It was like National Geographic right in front of our very eyes! Mama breached the water so many times and slammed her tale down to communicate and play with her baby. I was pretty much freaking out that I was able to catch the shot with my camera! I will never.ever. forget this moment!
After spending about 30 minutes watching the spectacular show mama put on, we headed out for the last stretch of our journey… as it got closer, the immense size and bright turquoise coloring of this approaching glacier was overwhelming to take in and the chill in the air grew colder as we got closer and closer to this massive mountain of ice! It was crazy to see kayak’s cruising along in front of them like a bunch of tiny ants against this massive backdrop of ice and sea. There is NO amount of money you could have paid me to be in a kayak in freezing cold water, skimming under the edge of these massive blocks of ice. Thunder type sounds could be heard every few minutes as huge blocks would break off and plunge in to this freezing sea. No.Thank.You… I like my boat that is heated inside!
What started off as a too early in the morning, dreary, drizzling, not looking good to see wildlife kind of day turned out to be SPECTACULAR. The captain of the ship said it’s one of the most amazing days they have ever had as far as wildlife viewing. Thank you, God, for making this a day we’ll never forget! Excursion #4 was over!
It’s now Wednesday, July 6th and late this evening we’d be boarding our plane for a fun filled “red-eye” flight back to Atlanta, hot weather, bugs and humidity. We weren’t ready for the adventure to be over so we decided to pack in one more excursion…off we went to the Reindeer Farm http://www.reindeerfarm.com/ about an hour from Anchorage!
These darn reindeer are precious! {They are a semi-domesticated type of Caribou} We had a blast being able to feed them. I fell in love with one named, Carl {sorry hubby}, until he slobbered all over my hand with a green pasty like slime and I was told I could not leave and wash my hands until the end of the tour! Yeah right {off I went}! They were so calm and friendly and once they knew you had food there was no escaping them and in case you didn’t notice, they’ve got some extremely large antlers which makes them the boss! Then we learned something else really cool…. You could actually buy a reindeer for only $4000!!! Only catch was that we’d have to have an air-conditioned barn and exercise area for them to live in 4 months out of the year in Hotlanta… ok… maybe it won’t be the best pet for us! It was just a bit over our budget for a pet! Also cool to learn was that the big rack on their head falls off every single year and then they grow a new one! And you think you’ve had a bad hair day… imagine carrying the weight of that tangled mess around on top of your head!
All I can say is PINCH ME…. Did we really just get to go to Alaska? It was a trip of a lifetime that could not be captured in pictures or written in words! You just need to GO!
And in hindsight… I am so thankful that we chose to NOT do an Alaskan cruise. Having a rental car and the freedom to explore anywhere we wanted was the best thing in the world.
Where have your adventures taken you?
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