Lessons Learned on My Alaska Travels-Sheila

You can go home again.

It was eye-opening to return to Alaska and visit tourist sites I first saw in the 1980s. Gravel roads are now paved, homes newly built in dense forests, rudimentary visitor cabins upgraded, luxury boats added to boat tours and the now ubiquitous souvenir gift shops. Old haunts made new. There was a comforting feeling of familiarity but with a new polish and I loved it! It was especially thrilling to share travel experiences with old (Gracie) and new (Sue) friends.

It wasn’t a ho-hum trip. And we, women in the very prime of life (our 70s), wondered briefly if we’d been too ambitious in the planning. There was night blindness to consider, the availability of handicapped accessibility, dietary concerns, aching joints from walking, sitting, standing and our stamina or the lack thereof. And, oh my goodness, did we build enough rest time into the itinerary?!

Gracie suggested we tour the state instead of staying in big city Anchorage. Sue said she was on-board with whatever was planned. And with that ringing endorsement from my friends, I proposed the itinerary you've watched (or read) unfold. Yes the itinerary left us breathless, but we forged ahead! And this is what I learned.

Having a detailed travel plan from the start kept us focused. We agreed to be flexible, change plans when needed and accept the unknown. Who knew we would have to make a Plan B when there was no room for us at any hotel in Fairbanks? We did figure it out thanks to Sue and Gracie's friends who came to our rescue - and an overnite in a RV park. How would we manage hundreds of miles of driving with one less driver than planned? We made it work, taking shifts and adapting.

Why did it work? How did three women in their prime; Baptist minister, atheist, experienced and opinionated travel-weary friends make it work. Respect for each others opinions and knowledge gained from life experience that sometimes just giving each other space will solve problems.

And, thank you Gracie, for having a large home with two floors. Sometimes it made all the difference. I’d travel with my two friends again, in a heartbeat.

Sheila, Grace, Sue at Alyeska Resort Tram

Alyeska Tram & Portage Glacier

It is hard to believe today was the last long car trip of our Alaska adventure. At 11:45am, we left for the Alyeska ski resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Alyeska Resort is 1 hour 15 minutes south from Eagle River on the two lane Seward Highway. The road is bordered on one side by the Chugach National Forest and the other by Turnagain Arm. A truly beautiful drive; unless you find the avalanche netting disconcerting. 

There are plenty of turnouts along the way to take photos, watch for beluga whales or let campers, RVs and motorhomes pull over to get out of traffic. During the summer there are lots of visitors using Alaska’s two lane roads: the law is if you have more than 5 vehicles behind you, use the turnout. 

Our plan was to arrive at the 4 Star Hotel Alyeska and take the tram to the top of the mountain where we would eat lunch. It was all about the view! It worked perfectly except for the low cloud cover obscuring the view.

At 1:15pm we were on the tram gliding up 2,300 ft. to the top of Mt. Alyeska - a 4 minute scenic ride. We ate lunch and waited for the cloud cover to lift. There were plenty of signs warning hikers about bears and being respectful of wildlife. It didn’t seem to deter anyone and we watched from on high while hikers fearlessly trudged up and down the trails. 

Just in time the clouds lifted a little and we had superb views of the surrounding area on the tram ride down. Back on solid ground, we stopped in the resort gift shop and hugged the stuffed bear. Because - why not?

Next stop Portage Glacier and the Begich Boggs Visitor Center. Portage Glacier is 44 minutes from Alyeska. The Portage Glacier Access Road winds about five miles from the highway past a series of campgrounds to the end of the road and the Begich Boggs Visitor Center. It is possible to take a boat tour of Portage Lake to get an up close view of Portage Glacier. 

We choose to forgo the boat tour and view the visitor center exhibits. The center is staffed by knowledgeable Forest Service interpreters. Most impressive was a short film on the retreating Portage Glacier and the former town of Portage destroyed by the earthquake of 1964.

Time to return to Eagle River, but we could not resist stopping along the way for ice cream. It has been claimed that Alaska consumes more ice cream per capita than any other state in the country. Maybe it is because of the long, sunny summer days. Whatever the reason - it was delicious and just the thing to cap off the day.

Touring the City of Anchorage

Sunday was an opportunity to explore the city of Anchorage while Reverend Gracie was at church. Gracie’s home in Eagle River, our homebase, is 15.5 miles (23 minutes) from Anchorage. Eagle River is a community within the Municipality of Anchorage situated on the Eagle River between Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base and the Chugach Mountains. The drive to/from Anchorage is simply spectacular and none of our pictures can capture the grandeur of the mountain.

Alaska trappers and furriers are the stuff of legend and no stop in Anchorage is complete without a visit to David Green, a furrier in Anchorage for more than 50 years. We stopped, touched and tried on fur hats, gloves, scarfs. Lovely!

A few streets to the west in downtown Anchorage is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It is named after a previous Mayor and governor of Alaska and winds along the coast 11 miles from downtown Anchorage through forests to the outskirts of town. We stopped along the trail dodging bikers, walkers and runners to view Sleeping Lady Mountain. Mount Susitna is often called The Sleeping Lady for its resemblance to a recumbent woman. 

From the park we went to the downtown Captain Cook Monument in Resolution Park. Cook is perched on a large wooden deck looking out toward Denali and the Port of Anchorage. Lots of things are named after Captain Cook in Anchorage - Cook Inlet and the 4 Star Captain Cook Hotel for example.

Since it is not winter, the chances of seeing the aurora borealis are slim. So we went to a viewing of the Aurora: Alaska’s Great Northern Lights. It is a rare collection of auroral occurrences across the grand night winter sky of Alaska. Extraordinary! Sue did not want to leave the theatre.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center was another not to be missed stop on our personal tour. The Center offers a unique experience for each visitor to learn and explore the traditional and contemporary ways of Alaskan’s indigenous cultures. We were able to see a dance performance and I ate yet another reindeer sausage. My choice of street food on this trip! Ask Sue about her experience eating spicy reindeer sausage.

The trolly tour we took last week drove us past Lake Hood, the busiest float plane facility in the United States. However, we wanted to go back and watch more float plane takeoffs and landings. We sat in the park on Spenard Road watching the pilots take advantage of the warm sunny day with the sky full of small aircraft. Over 9,000 planes are registered in Alaska, definitely the most per capita in the U.S.

Later Sunday evening we picked up Gacie for a rare dinner on the town at a local black owned restaurant - Roscoe’s. Roscoe greeted Gracie with a big hug, welcomed me back to Anchorage and invited Sue to come in again on her next trip. It was the perfect end to a Sunday on the town.

The Alaska Railroad & Cruising the Glacial Waters

A trip on the Alaska Railroad to Whittier Alaska was our ticket to Alaskan adventure today. The Alaska Railroad carries passengers from Fairbanks to Seward, a 470 mile route.

We boarded the train at 9:45am in Anchorage, climbed to the upstairs observation deck and in no time were watching the small towns glide by our window. A highlight of the trip is the Whittier Tunnel. A single lane tunnel with the train and cars from each direction taking turns on a timed schedule. Whittier is a town with one 14 story building where most of the town's 200 residents live.

Disembarking the train at 12:15pm, we joined a queue walking toward a well appointed catamaran. We looked into the ship’s large windows and people were sitting at tables waiting for the promised buffet. We smiled. All was going according to plan. A rainy day but the accommodations were terrific!

Our smiles slowly faded as the Major Marines tour personnel redirected us to a much smaller vessel, the aluminum hulled Yukon Queen. If the catamaran was filet mignon, this boat was chuck. Sitting low in the water, the queen carries a maximum 45 passengers plus crew. Boxed lunches and glacier ice margaritas provided. We weren't supposed to return to Anchorage for another 7 hours... Our excitement dimmed.

Our Boat is in the Middle!

Just like a book, don't judge a glacier cruise by its cover. The Glacier Discovery Tour did not disappoint. The crew was knowledgeable and friendly. Our seat mates were 35 Korean travelers and their interpreter starting their Alaskan tour. One part small boat, plus a dash of rainy, windy weather and a heavy pour of lots of animal sightings mixed together made for a memorable day with new friends.

Black bears fishing for salmon provided entertainment; salmon at a fish hatchery repeatedly jumped out of the water; sea lions rested on a haulout; and sea otters floated around seemingly unconcerned with our presence.

But the big aha moments were the glaciers and the ice fields. Icebergs bumped the boat as our Captain maneuvered us closer to calving glaciers. In spite of the rainy weather, we climbed onto outside decks to take photos, gawk and be awed by our natural surroundings.

Alaska fact: Glacier ice looks blue because when light hits a glacier the denser ice absorbs all colors of the wavelength except the shorter high-energy blue wavelength. The blue wavelength is reflected back, making the ice appear blue.

Moose sightings on the train ride back to Anchorage were anticlimactic. Ho-hum, more moose.

Denali or Mt. McKinley?

After our short but wonderful stay at Chena Hot Springs we were off on another adventure. No trip to Alaska is complete without a school bus tour of the Denali National Park and Reserve with a trained guide. We arrived in time to board our school bus for the 4.5 hour Denali Natural History Tour, which focused on the natural and cultural history of the park.

Alaska Fact: The park and contiguous preserve encompass 6,045,153 acres, which is larger than the state of New Hampshire.

Pro Tip: The National Park Service itself does not operate any tours of Denali National Park (although there are Park Rangers stationed in the park). Make sure to book your tours with an established company in advance!

Given the opportunity to explore outside of the bus, our guide encouraged us to first scan the surroundings for wildlife, and if we saw something, say something, and holler STOP. The more eyes the better. The narration was informative, interesting and often amusing.

Moose

Caribou

Our first stop was a replica of an original ranger’s cabin, the Savage cabin, where a guide explained how the first park explorers lived and how the cabin is used today. A couple hours later we would see a female moose (cow) and calf walk along the very same path going to the cabin!

Bathrooms in Denali

At our second stop an Alaskan Native cultural interpreter, Shawn, shared stories and information about his culture and how the land was used for 10,000 years. It was one of the highlights of the trip.

A very enthusiastic park ranger boarded the bus, Ranger Anna, to describe the mission of the park service and ask us to support it. The mission of the National Park Service is to preserve its resources and values for the enjoyment and education of this and future generations. There was no question throughout the trip that the guides, interpreters and rangers feel the National Park Service is under threat and support is needed to preserve it. Message heard loud and clear! While we did not see bald eagles or bears, we did see caribou, moose, ptarmigan (Alaska state bird), a bear print, birds and lots of plants. We applaud and support the National Park Service mission!

Alaska Fact: The name Denali is based on the Koyukon name of the mountain, “the high one.” It was named Denali for centuries. In 1896 a gold prospector renamed the mountain after presidential candidate William McKinley, who had never step foot in Alaska. In 2015 the US Dept. of Interior changed the official name of the mountain to Denali.

All too quickly it was time to say goodbye and head for the Denali RV Park and Motel. We all agreed it was an enjoyable day. Tomorrow we head south for 4 hours to Eagle River and our home away from home.

Door Sign at the Motel

Chena Hot Springs & The Coddled Traveler

We bid farewell to the Santa and the North Pole on Wednesday around noon. Our goal, Chena Resort and the famous hot springs, which are so popular Fairbanks has a nonstop flight to Japan in the winter to cater to the strong demand from Japanese tourists. Chena Hot Springs is 61 miles from Fairbanks, which, fun fact, is Alaska’s second largest city with a population of 32,000 (although there are 100,000 in the surrounding area).

The drive to Chena is 1 hour and 15 minutes. Like a lot of driving in remote parts of Alaska, the drive is up a two lane mountain road paved half way before it becomes a well tended gravel road. Only one way up and one way down. At about Milepost 28 there is an old school, two pump only, gas station and small convenience store. Top up here because you have to make it back to Milepost 28 for any refills. Otherwise, it's $25 for two gallons of gas at the hot springs.

Upon arrival at the resort registration was professional and friendly and we were directed to our room in the Moose Lodge. We were only staying one night and with our mid afternoon arrival, we huddled to map out a strategy. Most important: massage, soak in the hot springs, visit the ice museum and eat dinner.

Sue and I donned arctic coats and with a small group entered and explored the museum of ice with a friendly and knowledgeable guide. One of the highlights of our trip was meeting the young people who work in Alaska during the short summer season. They come from all over the world and are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and have boundless energy and patience.

There is a 45 minute limit for stays in the ice museum. We looked at the bedrooms ($600 per night), sat at the bar, sipped Appletini’s, and watched a carver make ice glasses. Hands and toes freezing, we both agreed it was a unique and enjoyable experience!

From there it was off to the hot springs! The lure of health benefits from the sulphuric hot springs drew us to Chena. Given the number of RVs and tourists, we were not alone. A short tantalizing trip past the pool, duck pond, and registration, then down a plexiglass tunnel landed us at the hot springs. While the locker room was filled with people, there was plenty of room in the water. The steam was rising and we were warned that the far end of the springs boiled people like lobsters in a pot!

And yes... it was hot. Really hot. Gracie stayed in the shallows and Sue and I walked slowly into the lobster pot at the far end. It was worthwhile for us all and we felt reenergized after leaving the springs. A good preparation for a deep sleep!

Sue in ice bed