Alaska was always on my list of places to visit but when we would sit down to discuss vacation destinations as a family it was never mentioned. We were having trouble deciding where to go for summer vacation and I would research for summer vacation ideas daily. One day, I seen this picture of a family standing at a sign that said “End of the Road Mile 92.5” I immediately said this is where we are going for our summer vacation to get a family picture at this sign, which happened to be located at Denali National Park.
My research began instantly with the entire trip being planned around this “End of the Road” sign. Since the goal of the trip was Denali National Park, we decided that an Alaskan cruise would not achieve our goal, therefore, we decided to make it a sight-seeing road trip vacation.
I booked our flights through Alaskan Air from Phoenix to Anchorage with one lay-over in Seattle. I chose Alaskan Air because they landed the earliest in Anchorage which was 5:30pm. All of the other airlines arrived after 11pm at night and we did not want the kids up that late. I booked a rental car through Budget Rental at Ted Stevens Airport and all of our hotels through www.hotels.com.
DAY 1
We flew into Anchorage on Wednesday June 12th. I had booked a hotel at the Puffin Inn because it was located close to the airport. I personally would not stay there again for multiple reasons. The first being it is at a very busy intersection which made it very loud and the second issue was no blackout curtains. The one thing that we were not prepared for while visiting Alaska in the summer was daylight during sleeping hours.
A friend of ours told us about Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant located on Spenard Rd in Anchorage. We decided to try it out for our first meal in Alaska. The food was good but the Alaskan vibe and decor is what made it a worthwhile stop. We all tried the reindeer sausage which was actually a little spicy.
DAY 2
The next day, we drove the Seward Highway from Anchorage to Seward with a lot of stops along the way. There are so many beautiful viewing areas to pull off the road along the highway that I was feeling overwhelmed reading about it. I really researched which stops fit our interest and which ones we wanted skip because our goal was to get to Kenai Fjords Visitor Center before it closed at 5pm.
We did not sleep the best since it was daylight all the time, therefore we were up and ready get our day started early. Alaska has drive thru coffee huts that are absolutely amazing, so we stopped at Black Bear Coffee Company near our hotel for much needed caffeine. We left Anchorage around 8:30am, added some spontaneous stops in addition to what was on the list, and had plenty of time to explore the National Park.
Our first stop was Potter’s Marsh Wildlife Viewing Area which is free to the public. It is a 564 acre fresh water marsh that stretches nearly two miles.There is a half mile boardwalk at Potter’s Marsh that you can walk along and take in the habitat. They also have viewing platforms with binoculars. We were lucky enough to see a Moose and her baby eating. This selfie was taken at the end of the boardwalk before we made our way back to the car.Our next stop was Chugach State Park Headquaters located about three miles south Potter’s Marsh. This snow plow train is located beside the headquarters at Potter Historic Site.Approximately five miles south of Chugach State Park Headquarters is Beluga Point. This is a must stop for anyone driving the Seward Highway. There is a large parking lot and most people were crossing under the fence and walking across the train tracks to climb the huge rock for a better view, so we decided to do it too. Seen here is the train going south toward Seward.There is not a clear path to climb up to the top of the rock. I did not feel comfortable letting peanut climb the rock, so the boys climbed to the top for a better view.A selfie on top of the rock at Beluga Point.Located ten miles south of Beluga Point at mile marker 100 is Turnagain Gallery and Gifts, which was our next stop. They sell handmade art and wood sculptures. We stopped to admire the incredible wood carvings like the one seen here in the photo.Bird point was the next stop on the list which is located five miles south of Turnagain Gallery and Gifts.A photo with little man at bird point.We decided to take a detour off the Seward Highway onto Alyeska Highway. We drove back to the Alyeska Ski Resort and found a little catholic chapel on the resort grounds. The Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows was built in 2005, we did not get to go inside as the doors were locked. Heading back out to Seward Highway we stopped at The Grind which is an eclectic little coffee shop and worth the stop if you have time.After our detour to Alyeska, we drove for about 45 minutes before we stopped again. There was a small parking lot to pull over on the left hand side of the road to view Summit Lake with snow capped mountains.Approximately 40 miles south of Summit Lake is the turn to Kenai Fjords Visitor Center. You will need to turn onto Herman Leirer Rd. As you make your way back into the park there is a place to pull off and view Exit Glacier, which is the view seen here.Exit Glacier is inside the Kenai Fjords National Park. You do not have to pay an entrance fee to hike to the glacier. The visitor Center is open 9am-5pm Daily in the summer and Monday -Friday in the winter.There are multiple hikes that you can do within the park. The most popular hike and the one that we did is the “Edge of the Glacier Trail”. Along the trail, there are dates so you can see how far out the glacier was at what year. In this photo, you can see how much the glacier has receded since 2005.Another hiking option is walking to the toe of the glacier, which we also decided to do. There is not really a trail, you just walk along the water edge until you reach the toe. There are signs posted of restricted areas that you cannot walk past for safety reasons. We were able to walk within approximately 40 feet from the toe of the glacier.This is walking back toward the parking lot from the toe of the glacier. You can see the form that the glacier used to have before it receded.After our long day of sightseeing and hiking, we ended the night at A Swan’s Nest Inn Bed and Breakfast in Seward. We stayed here for two nights and I highly recommend it. The made to order breakfast was delicious and the owners were very friendly.
DAY 3
While researching things to do in Seward, I realized that there are many activities to choose from. Since we were limited on time, I gave the kids an option of either an Ididaride or a boat tour into the fjords to see the glaciers up close. Without a second thought both kids chose the ididaride. After much research, I found that Seavey’s Alaska Sled Dog tours in Seward and I immediately booked a 9 am morning tour.
Seavey’s Ididaride is located at 12820 Old Glacier Exit Road. They offer many different experience tours as well as Ididaride tours. We decided to take the Wilderness Dog Sled Tour which lasts approximately 90 minutes. The Iditarod trail is 938 miles from Anchorage to Nome. Each town that you see listed on the map is a stop on the Iditarod race that is held the first week of March every year. Mitch Seavey, the owner of the dogs that pulled our sled holds the record for the fastest run of the Iditarod race at 8 days 3 hours.The sled seen in the photo weighs 900 pounds plus our body weight. 14 dogs normally pull the sled, however since we did not have enough weight on the sled only 10 dogs pulled ours. When we ask the kids to tell us what they remember most about Alaska, the answer is always the same: the dog sledding. This was such an amazing and memorable experience that I would recommend to anyone visiting Seward.After the Ididaride we drove back to our hotel and decided to explore the town of Seward. We walked the streets, shopped, and visited the Seward Museum. It is a located inside the public library and is $4 a person for admission. Even though this museum is very small it is worth the stop to view the video of the 9.2 magnitude 1964 Earthquake that explains the economic and physical destruction of Alaska and Seward.The Seward to Nome Iditarod Historic Trail was used from 1909 to the mid 1920s when it was used to transport mail and supplies to interior Alaska. This happened because Seward’s port was ice-free and the other ports of Alaska were iced over and inaccessible to ships.Located in Seward is the southern terminus of the Alaskan Railroad. From mid-May to mid-September you can take the train from Anchorage to Seward and back with a stop in Girdwood.After a fun day of playing with puppies and exploring the town, we were starving. We decided to eat at Chinook’s located at the Seward harbor. This was my favorite restaurant that we ate at during our time in Alaska. I still talk about going back to eat the fried chicken appetizer.After we ate dinner, we walked along the harbor and watched the halibut tour boats come in for the day. Starting about 5pm every evening the tour boats will hang what they caught that day, which makes for a great photo opportunity.
DAY 4
The next morning we ate breakfast and headed to the town of Homer which is approximately a three hour drive along Highway 1. We made many stops and a detours along the way. While planning this trip, we were on the fence about driving out of the way to Homer because it is one road in and out to visit. After we came back home and we all sat down and discussed all the different favorites of the trip, Homer was always mentioned as the favorite town. We only stayed one night in Homer, however, the one advice I would give anyone is to stay an extra night and explore the town.
We decided to make a detour to the town of Kenai. We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center in town and obtained a map of old town Kenai. You can walk to Old town from the Visitor’s Center, however, we drove and parked at the church seen here. This is the Holy Assumption of Saint Mary Russian Orthodox Church established in 1791 but this particular structure was built in 1894 and is the oldest Orthodox church on mainland Alaska.We left our car parked at the church and did the walking tour of Old Town Kenai. We decided to hike down to the beach via Meeks Trail which is a 0.2 mile dirt trail.Meeks Trail ends at Kenai North Beach which the kids loved running on and playing in the sand.After visiting Kenai, we drove back to Soldotna for a quick stop at the Visitor Center.In the town of Ninilchik at mile marker 134.8 along the Sterling Highway we made a quick detour at the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Chapel Russian Orthodox Church.This Russian Orthodox Church is one of the most photographed places in Alaska!The Russian Orthodox Church overlooks the original settlement of Ninilchik village and the mouth of the Ninilchik River.While driving along Sterling Highway, there is a large parking lot on the right hand side where you can get a photo of the Homer Welcome sign. There is also a great view of the Homer spit.The Homer Spit is approximately a 5 mile long strip of gravel and sand extending from the mainland with an array of shops and restaurants.We decided to eat dinner at Boardwalk Fish and Chips. The food was decent but the view was amazing!The view from inside Boardwalk Fish and Chips.After we ate, we decided to walk along the beach located on the spit. This photo was taken just below Boardwalk Fish and Chips restaurant.The beach located along the spit.Seafarer’s Memorial was established in the 1990s and is located near the end of the spit. There are bricks around the memorial with names and dates of those lives lost at sea.The Salty Dawg is located near the end of the spit and the structure seen here was built in 1897 but moved to the spit in 1949. In 1957, it was opened as The Salty Dawg Saloon. Inside you can write your name on a dollar bill and staple it to the wall!Homer is know as the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World”While visiting Homer, we rented a very nice cabin with Glacier View Cabins. The hardest thing to adjust to while visiting Alaska in the summer is that it is daylight most of the time. This photo was taken at nine thirty at night and it looks and feels like it is about five in the afternoon. Sleeping was definitely a difficult task.Since it was still very much daylight at nine thirty at night, we decided to drive to Bishop’s Beach to play in the sand. Bishop’s Beach is located near old town Homer at the end of Beluga Place.Since bald eagles are more abundant in Alaska than anywhere else, we were able to see many of them flying around.The bald eagle finally landed and we were able to get close enough to get some photos.Our cabin was located at five miles from downtown Homer and the spit, however the view was worth the drive. This photo was taken from the front porch of our Glacier View cabin.
DAY 5
This town was by far one of our favorites. However, after only staying one night we ate breakfast at Captain’s Coffee Roasting Company and then explored the visitor center. After that we headed back to Anchorage to start exploring other areas of state.
After breakfast, we visited the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. This is a free interactive exhibit, as well as, naturalist-led walks. The visitor center is open daily from 9am-5pm.The interactive exhibits focus on the marine life of Kachemak Bay.While at the visitor center, we were able to attend one of the naturalist-led walks to discuss the birds of Kachemak Bay. While bird watching, we were able to have a close encounter with this male moose that walked right across the path approximately 20 feet from us.
On the way back to Anchorage, we decided to take a detour to Whittier which is located on the west side of Prince William Sound. The reason that we decided on this is because we wanted to drive through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. This is the longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America. It is a one lane tunnel where the train enters first followed by vehicles entering the tunnel in alternating directions every half hour.
The town of Whittier is very unique because it only has approximately 218 residents, most of which live under one roof in the Begich Towers.The Buckner Building is one of the main structures located in the town of Whittier and has been abandoned for many years. The structure was built in 1953 during World War II as a military base because the bay area around Whittier stays ice free year-around and the supplies could be delivered to Anchorage by train.
DAY 6
While researching Anchorage, I kept coming across the best thing to do was hike Flattop Mountain. Since we always try to incorporate a couple of hikes on each of our trips, we decided to do it. I am so glad that we did this amazing hike with breathtaking views of Anchorage. The Flattop Trailhead is located in the Chuhach State Park on Glen Aps Road and is about a 20 minute drive from the center of Anchorage. There is a small parking lot with a $5 fee for parking.
The Flattop Trail is approximately 3 miles round trip with 1,500 feet of elevation gain. Many areas of the trail has stairs constructed of railroad ties, like seen here.Flattop trail is a hike with moderate to strenuous difficulty depending on if you rock scramble the last section to reach the top, however, the views are worth it.Chris and Little Man rock scrambled to the top to touch the flag! Peanut and I only rock scrambled part of the way up and stopped due to the difficulty the rest of the way to the top.The girls waiting for the boys to make their way back down from the flag on the very top. While we waited, we took in the 360 degree views of the Alaska Mountain Range, Cook Inlet, Anchorage, and the Chugach Mountain Range.Flattop Mountain is the most-climbed mountain in Anchorage.
After our wonderful yet strenuous hike, we decided to eat lunch at The Peanut Farm located at 5227 Old Seward Hwy. We chose this place because Peanut and I sat next to a local while on the hike waiting for the boys and this is the place that she suggested. There is a seating area outside near the creek where you can watch people paddle boarding while you eat. The food was delicious too!
While doing research on things to do in Anchorage, I came across a free walking tour of downtown that is provided by the Alaska Public Lands Information Center. The tour is daily at 3:15pm and is led by a park ranger. The tour lasted about an hour and was informational as the ranger pointed out landmarks that we would have walked by and never really noticed.
We met at the Public Lands Information Center located at 605 W 4th Ave. After a brief introduction and some history, we made our first stop at Nesbett Courthouse where we learned about the two wooden carvings located in front of the building.Our hour long tour ended at Resolution Park and the Captain Cook Monument. The statue is looking out to sea toward the route that he used when he explored the Cook Inlet in 1778 aboard the HMS Resolution. Captain Cook never reached land at Anchorage and did not find the Northwest Passage, therefore, he left the area after two weeks of exploring.
After our walking tour of downtown, we decided to drive to Earthquake Park located at 5101 Point Woronzof Rd. There is a short hike through a wooded area from the parking lot to the monument.
Earthquake Park is 134 acres and where an entire neighborhood slid into the ocean during the 1964 earthquake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale and lasted more than four minutes. There are signs explaining the earthquake and the effects that it had on Anchorage.
DAY 7
I researched and planned the trip to Alaska for almost eight months and was not sure if I wanted to spend the time and money visiting the Alaska Native Heritage Center but in the end decided to fit it into our schedule. After visiting this museum, my advice would be to definitely put this on your places to visit. This was by far one of the best and most informative museums that I have ever been to and would highly recommend it to anyone. I also was on the fence about the guided village tour and my suggestion is to do it. There are people stationed at each of the villages, however, the tour guide gives you a lot of information that you would not get otherwise. We actually did the guided tour and then went back around the village on our own to take our time and make photographs.
The Native Alaskan Heritage Center is open daily in the summer 9am-5pm and the admission is $25/person. The village located out the back of the museum is arranged into five areas based on the territories and lifestyles of the eleven major Alaskan Native Cultures.The village areas incorporate full size traditional dwellings from each territory. Seen here is whale ribs from the Inupiat tribal area, which is the northern most tribe. It was amazing to see how they live, eat, and keep warm being above the Arctic Circle.The wooden carvings are mainly seen in the Southeast area of Alaska, the area where the cruise lines travel. This area has plenty of trees and water, things that other areas of Alaska does not necessarily have.This is a traditional house that would be located in the Southeast region of Alaska. One of their traditions is that you always enter the house backwards with your backside in first. Your tribal symbol is located on your back, therefore, when you enter they can see your tribe information first. If you enter the house forward, they would assume that you are attacking them and they would attack you back.
After spending about three hours at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, we decided to head north on Highway 1 toward Wasilla. Along the way we stopped at Thunderbird Falls for a two mile hike.
Thunderbird Falls is located at 25321 Old Glenn Hwy with free admission but there is a small fee for parking.This is a popular family-friendly easy hike with well maintained paths that follow the Eklutna River.There is a viewing deck at the end of the trail where you can see the 200-foot waterfall.One of the boardwalks along the path to the viewing area.Right before you go across the boardwalk to the viewing deck, the trail splits off to the left where you can walk down to the bottom of the waterfall. We decided to take this trail and along the way, we came upon this tree which we all had to take a turn getting in.After our hike, we made our way to the town of Wasilla where the Iditarod Trail headquarters is located. The hours of operation are 8am-7pm in the summer and admission is free.Outside of the headquarters is a statue of Joe Redington, Sr which is known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” He was a co-founder of the “Last Great Race on Earth” with Dorothy Page which started in 1973 and covers almost 1,000 miles across Alaska starting the first weekend in March each year.A statue of Balto is located outside of the Iditarod Headquarters. Balto is known as one of the sled dogs who led the team of the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome where the diptheria antitoxin was transported from Anchorage. This is a very interesting story as the dog Togo, which is located inside the museum, actually ran most of the trip and Balto only ran the last 30 miles. However, since Balto is who finished the race he is the one more recognized which I feel is unfair to Togo.After the museum, we drove an hour and a half north to the town of Talkeetna. We stayed the night at Grace and Bill’s Bed and Breakfast and ended the night looking across the Talkeetna River at the snow capped mountain range.
DAY 8
This was one of our relaxing days exploring the town of Talkeetna and driving to our next destination. The crazy thing that happened to us while staying the night in Talkeenta was that an earthquake hit during the night while we were staying at the B&B. This was the first time any of us had experienced an earthquake, which registered as a 3.9 on the Richter scale and lasted about 20 seconds. Our B&B was located on a hillside where you could see the mountain range off the balcony and the cabin shook while we were laying in bed which felt like the entire building was going to slide off the mountain. This is definitely an experience that we all still talk about.
Peanut is my flower child, she is always so happy and into nature.We spent the morning exploring the town of Talkeetna and shopping. It is a small town therefore you can park and walk the entire area. We stopped by the Talkeetna Museum which is open in the summer from 10am-6pm and admission is $5/person.
Talkeetna is actually a detour off Highway 3 which goes to Denali National Park. Therefore, we had to back track back down to Highway 3 to continue our route to Denali. On the way back, we stopped at the Alaska Birch Syrup Company.
The Alaska Birch Syrup Company is located about 13 miles from Talkeetna and was an amazing stop. They have a free taste testing tour which explains the syrup making process and we tried several different kinds of syrup. They are open in the summer from 10am-6pmIn the afternoon, we decided to drive to Denali National Park Visitor’s Center which is about a two and a half hour drive from Talkeetna with a lot of stops along the way for photographs.We pulled over at the Denali View South Campground for a view of the mountain range. Also located there was this sign which showed you the name of each mountain.We finally made it to Denali National Park!The main Denali Visitor Center is open in the summer only from 8am-6pm.This bear statue is located right outside the visitor center.We rented a cabin for two nights at The Perch located about 20 minutes south of the Denali National Park entrance. This was one of our favorite places that we stayed during this trip. Also, there are not many places to stay around Denali National Park, therefore, I suggest to book as early as you can.
DAY 9
The day that we had all been waiting for, the 12 hour bus ride tour to the end of the road inside Denali National Park. I booked the Kantishna Experience through Reserve Denali. This was the very first thing that I booked for this trip as a picture at the sign was the reason we chose Alaska as our summer vacation. The day is very long as we had to check in at 6am at the Wilderness Access Center, however, the experience was worth it.
Our ride for 12 hours!So they say that only 30% of visitors actually get to see the top of Denali. We were lucky enough to see the top of the mountain almost all day. This was our sunrise view of Denali.Sometimes you gamble booking a tour within the park because most of the time the mountain is covered by clouds, animals are not out, or it may rain all day. We lucked out by seeing tons of animals and had no rain all day.It takes 12 hours to go 92 miles in and then back out because the road is curvy and on the side of a mountain. If you are scared of heights, I would not sit next to the window.The tour guide was very informative and there are many stops along the way to stretch your legs and use the restroom.This photos was taken at the Teklanika Rest Stop at mile marker 30 where there is a small store and restrooms. You stop here going and coming back so if you don’t get to see everything that you wanted the first time you can see it the second stop.We were lucky enough to see a momma and baby grizzly bear. We pulled over and the guide shut off the engine so we could watch them in the wild with no distractions. Grizzly bears get up to 600 pounds and only about 350 live within Denali National Park.Denali National Park is a little over six million acres and we only seen a small portion of it. Pictures do not do it justice, this is a place that everyone needs to experience in person. Standing there looking out onto so much land in its natural setting that has been untouched was surreal.The Eielson Visitor Center is located at Mile 66 and was named after Alaskan aviator Carl Ben Eielson. This visitor center was built in 1960 and can only be reached by shuttle buses.Denali National Park is located in the central area of the Alaskan Mountain Range which extends 600 miles across Alaska.The view from the front of the Eielson Visitor Center.Another view looking out from the Eielson Visitor Center.Another item that we checked off our bucket list, a picture at the End of The Road within Denali National Park.One of the benefits of the Kantishna Experience is that it includes a ranger led talk and tour of Fannie Quigley’s house. Fannie was one of the mining pioneers that came to Denali to find gold in the early 1900’s. The Ranger taught us about how Denali and the surrounding areas played a part in the gold rush.Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley, is the tallest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet high. You can see the top of the mountain through the clouds, again, pictures do not do this beautiful mountain justice.Seen here is the famous Wonder Lake at mile marker 84. On a clear day you can see the reflection of Denali in the lake. Wonder Lake is one of the larger lakes within the park at three miles long and 250 feet deep.This is the closest that we were able to get to Denali which is still 25 miles away!In 1975 the state of Alaska petitioned to change the name from Mt. McKinely to Denali, however, Ohio which is the former state of President McKinely blocked their efforts for the next 40 years. It wasn’t until 2015, that President Obama changed it to Denali. An important fact is that the Athabaskan Natives had always called it Denali because in their language it means “the tall one.”Traveling the park road back to the visitor center.One of the things on my list to see was a grizzly bear, however, after seeing this moose with her twin babies the grizzly bear moved down a notch on that list.
DAY 10
Now that we have a picture at the Denali “End of the Road” sign, it was time to move on to the second most exciting thing on our list, visiting Santa at the North Pole.
The kids had filled out junior ranger books during the long bus ride the day before, therefore, we stopped at the visitor center one more time to have them sworn in as junior rangers.Along the way, we stopped at the small town of Nenana which is located 55 miles southwest of Fairbanks. Seen here is one of the bridges over the Tanana River.Nenana is famous for the yearly Ice Classic which is a popular competition where a wooden tripod (like the one Seen here) is placed on the frozen river. People place a $2 bet with a date and time that the tripod will fall through the ice each spring. The winning prize is about $300,000!North Pole, Alaska became a city in 1953 and is located 15 miles southeast of Fairbanks.Santa Claus’s House is located at 101 St. Nicholas Drive. It is open daily with longer hours in the summer months. The admission and photo with Santa are both free.I think that I was more excited to see Santa than the kids!The Santa Claus house was built in 1952, however, over the years it has been added onto.Located on the grounds of Santa’s House is the Antler Academy where you can step inside the pen for an up close and personal experience while feeding Santa’s Reindeer.The admission to feed Santa’s Reindeer is $13/person.We were able to pet and feed all of Santa’s Reindeer except Rudolph, he was the only one that wasn’t there.Peanut even gave Dasher a kiss.We were able to spend about 45 minutes with the Reindeer. It was definitely an experience the kids will always remember.Chris enjoyed feeding the reindeer too!After playing with the reindeer, we went back inside to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.Mrs. Claus even took a family photo for us.After visiting Santa, we drove 30 minutes north to the Alaska Pipeline View Point which is located at 1671 Steese Hwy.The Trans- Alaska Pipeline System is one of the world’s largest systems. The Alaska pipeline, also called the Alyeska Pipeline, runs 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.The pipeline was built between 1975 and 1977 and is 48 inches in diameter.There are 11 pumping stations along the 800 miles of pipe. The pipeline has the ability to make 2 million barrels of oil per day, however, with a decline in oil production it only makes about 500,000 barrels per day which is a fourth of its capacity.This was one of Chris’s bucket list items, a photo at the famous University of Alaska-Fairbanks temperature sign.We just happened to be in Fairbanks on the Summer Solstice which was an amazing and confusing thing to experience. This is what it looked like at midnight, so your body thinks that it is about 5pm and wants to be up and eating dinner. Sleeping was the hardest thing to do in Alaska with the sun always up.
DAY 11
After visiting Alaska, the one thing that I would recommend to anyone is to spend less time in Anchorage and more time in Fairbanks. This is the one thing that I would have changed about this trip, to spend an extra day exploring this fun college town.
The Museum of the North is located on the campus of University of Alaska- Fairbanks. They are open Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm and the admission is $16/personThere are two floors to the museum, we started upstairs which is the artwork gallery.This was located upstairs in the art gallery.Here we are located downstairs in the Gallery of Alaska which has more interactive displays.
While researching the must do things in Fairbanks, I kept coming across Pioneer Park so I added it to the list. To be honest, I had no idea what we were getting into and only scheduled us here for about 2 hours. Well, this place was a very nice surprise and you definitely need more than two hours to explore the area.
Pioneer Park is located at 2300 Airport Way. The hours of operation at 7am-midnight daily and admission is free.Pioneer Park is a historic village where the original buildings from downtown Fairbanks have been moved to to look like a Gold Rush street. You can go in each one of them and explore.Located inside Pioneer Park is the Pioneer Air Museum. There is a small fee to enter which is $8/per 4 adults.Inside the museum, there is so much information on Alaskan aircraft. You can also see the wreckage of the plane crash in Siberia that killed Carl Ben Eielson.Also, located within Pioneer Park is the Riverboat Nenana. The riverboat is 237 feet long and houses the park’s visitor center.Next, we drove to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center located at 101 Dunkel Street. The admission is free and hours of operation at 8am-9pm in the summer months.The antler arch located right outside the Morris Thompson Cultural Center is the world’s “Farthest North Antler Arch” and is the gateway to downtown Fairbanks via a walking path. The arch is made up of over 100 antlers.Located in Golden Heart Plaza is the “Unknown First Family” fountain. The statue stands 18 feet tall and is dedicated to the Alaskan families of past, present, and future.This is a photo from the pedestrian bridge over the Chena River.We found this painted on the side of one of the buildings in downtown Fairbanks and had to grab a photo.We have a thing where we always get a photo with mileage posts. This one is located on 1st Avenue in Fairbanks. The miles listed are air miles, unless it can be driven to by car.We ended our night in Delta Junction staying at Trophy Lodge.We ate dinner at Buffalo Center Drive In known for their famous buffalo burgers. The food was really good, however, this is a cash only restaurant.
DAY 12
Delta Junction is a very small town of about 1,000 people located about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks. I cannot tell you exactly why I chose to stay the night in Delta Junction other than it is the first town outside of Fairbanks to start our journey back to Anchorage. Since we were stopping for the night, I did some research on museums or places to obtain information to learn more about Delta Junction.
One of the first places that I came across to visit in Delta Junction was Rika’s Roadhouse. This is a 10 acre state park that is open from 8am-6pm daily with free admission.This was the view from Rika’s Roadhouse. This is a historical place due to being a stopping point along the road during the gold rush.A beautiful view of the pipeline over the river.We stopped for a photo at the end of the Alaska-Canadian Highway, also known as the Alcan Highway. While there, the kids had to have their photo with the giant mosquitos.The ALCAN Highway was constructed during WWII and is approximately 1400 miles long. The highway starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and ends in Delta Junction, Alaska.We also stopped at Sullivan’s Roadhouse located at 266 Richardson Hwy. This museum is open daily and admission is free.We pulled over along the Richardson Highway just to take in the beauty of Alaska and to listen to the creek water.We were able to mark three National Parks off our list while on this trip. The third national park that we stopped at was Wrangell-St.Elias.Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest National Park in the United States at 13.2 million Acres.While driving along the Glenn Highway back toward Anchorage we were able to get a perfect photograph of Mount Drum which is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.We ended our night at Lake Louise which is part of the Lake Louise State Recreational area. Off the Glenn Highway, you turn on to Lake Louise Road and drive approximately 17 miles until you reach the recreational area.We spend our last night in Alaska at Point Lodge located at Lake Louise. The quaint lodge has 13 rooms and a 270 degree view of the lake. I highly recommend staying a couple nights here as one night was not enough to take in the peacefulness that Point Lodge has to offer.Taking in all the beauty that Alaska has to offer on the last night of our trip.
DAY 13
We decided to sleep in at the lodge and spend time relaxing before our checkout time. We really did not want to leave Point Lodge as it was one of our favorite places that we stayed. After lunch, we took our time driving the Glenn Highway back to Anchorage as we had a midnight flight.
On the way back to Anchorage, we stopped at Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site. The Matanuska Glacier seen here is 27 miles long and 4 miles wide and is the largest glacier in the United States accessible by car.Along the Glenn Highway, we pulled over at this little camping site to watch the glacier water meet the river water. In the photo, you can see the different color water meeting.
We decided to explore Alaska by land instead of cruise for many different reasons. I have never taken an Alaskan cruise however I highly recommend exploring the great frontier by land as you are on your own time and can explore the places that are on your list to see.
