Day 11 – Wasilla and Talkeetna

This is the first day where weather caused us any serious problems.  We had scheduled a flight-seeing tour of the south face of Denali but the clouds were just too thick for them to fly.  We weren't super disappointed as we had seen it while flying down from Fairbanks but it still would have been cool to so some "bush" flying.  It also washed out a planned hike, but honestly we have done a bunch of hiking and might have skipped that anyway.

Sarah Palin's house in Wasilla

We stopped for lunch in the Talkeetna Roadhouse, which dates back to 1917.  It is pretty much of a hole-in-the wall place where you crowd in to eat family style.  We both had their sourdough pancakes.  Just one pancake is bigger than your plate! They claim the starter for the sourdough dates back to the goldrush days of 1902.

On the way back from Talkeetna, we stopped by in Wasilla to see Sarah Palin’s house.  You probably could just drive up there if you had enough nerve but there were warning signs at her gate and I didn’t feel like “going rogue”, so I just turned back and just took a picture from lakeside.  She is the second or third house in, so she is either white sea plane or the property just beyond.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Alaska so this will be my last post for this trip.  We have an 11pm flight tomorrow night and get to Philly around 2pm, so I’m sure we will be exhausted.

Day 10 – Resurrection Bay

Horned Puffins

We spent last night in a nice little bed and breakfast in Seward.  Seward is a coastal town at the head of Resurrection Bay.  When the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 hit, Seward was then further damaged by a 30-foot post-quake tsunami that leveled most of the town 40 minutes later.  Seward was quickly rebuilt and today is a center for fishing, bay tours, a starting point for the Alaska Railroad and also a cruise destination port.  The Celebrity Millennium was in port today.

We took the 4 ½ hour Kenai Fjords Resurrection Bay Wildlife tour which included a stop for an all-you-can-eat lunch of prime rib and salmon.  It was a great tour and we spotted several humpback whales, dolphins, seals, two kinds of puffins and a variety of other birds.  

Humpback Whale

They don't get too close to the whales as they are roughly the same size as the boat so the picture is little small.  If you look closely, you can see the remains of where the whale had just spouted water as a mist just to the right.  When the tour was over, we drove 2 ½ hours north to Anchorage.

Day 9 – Travel Day and Exit Glacier

Alaska in Sunshine!

Today we travel from Fairbanks in the center of Alaska down to Seward, which is our southern most point in Alaska.  It is an hour flight from to Anchorage on Alaskan Air and then a 2 ½ hour drive to Seward.


As there isn’t much touring today, I thought I should talk about my impressions of life in Alaska.  To some extent, it is like going back in time. There doesn’t seem to be much crime and people don’t lock their doors when they go out.  In the small towns like Homer everyone seems to know everyone else, so there is a level of trust and mutual dependence that we don’t seem to have any more.  Other throwback examples: You can check bags for free on Alaska Air, there is no income tax, no checking of paperwork on rental cars and no security or screening on the train.  Airports do have full screening, however, but they are quick and promise your bags within 20 minutes of gate arrival.


To live in Alaska you definitely have to enjoy the outdoors.  Fishing, hunting, cross country skiing, snow machining and dog mushing are popular sports.  We haven’t really gone to any remote areas but I suspect that the call of the outdoors is even stronger out there.  Some of it is necessary just to survive, as many people need the fish they catch or the game they kill just to make it through the winter.

Exit Glacier near Seward, AK

Prices for the tourist are high in the summer.  Rental cars start at $90 for a compact and go much higher.  A mid-class hotel is around $200.  Fortunately I used hotel points and shopped around and found decent rental car prices. Gas is also anywhere from 50 to 90 cents per gallon higher than at home, depending where you are.  That is so strange since much of Alaska’s gas is pumped from here, but it has to be shipped south for refinement and then returned as they only have one refinery.  Food prices at restaurants are a bit higher, particularly beef, but food in grocery stores seems about the same or slightly higher from what we have.  Obviously many of the products sold in Alaska have to be imported so there is some extra cost.


We left Fairbanks in rain, but the clouds opened up to give us a good view of Denali.  We landed in Los Anchorage (derogatory term used by interior Alaskans) in full sun and the temperature hit 80 degrees on our drive down to Seward.  It was the first time we have seen that much sun and also the first day when we didn’t need fleece. After so many cloudy days, it was glorious.  We took a 2 mile hike up to Exit Glacier when we arrived at Seward.  The National Park Service does a great job in showing how rapidly the glaciers are receding.  It is really alarming.  Exit Glacier has receded maybe 300 yards in the last 12 years and nearly a mile in the last 150 years.  Soon there will be nothing left of this glacier.  The good news is that this is part of the Harding Icefield which is 700 sq. miles so that will be around for a while!

Day 8 Gold in Fairbanks

Fur coat with sunshine ruff

We started the day on the paddlewheeler Discovery traveling down the Chena River.  They arrange demonstrations along the way so you get to see a float plane take off and land and a dog mushing demonstration at Susan Butcher’s place.  Dog mushing is definitely the “un-official” sport of Alaska and Susan Butcher won the Iditarod four times in a five year span in the late 80’s.  She was so popular that they have Susan Butcher Day in Alaska and they sell t-shirts that read “Alaska: Where men are men and women win the Iditarod!” 


We stopped at a Chena Indian Village along the river where they have a Athabascan Fish Camp replica set up and saw how they caught the salmon in a fish wheel and how they smoked it to preserve it.  The Athabascan are a tribe up here in central Alaska.  They also gave talks about how the Indians (doesn’t seem to be a bad word up here) made clothing from hides and built their log cabins with sod roofs.  I know it all sounds a bit contrived, but they have some Indian girls who are attending University of Alaska at Fairbanks give the talks and they made it interesting and fun.

Jeanne's Gold Strike!

After that we went to Gold Dredge #8 for a tour of how they used to dredge for gold  in Fairbanks.  It is a bit too complicated to describe in the blog, but they processed tons of rocks just to get tiny gold flakes that are 20 to 30 feet under a permafrost layer.  This eventually became unprofitable and they closed the dredge in 1959.  However luckily for us, you can do some panning for gold at the end of the tour and both Jeanne and I found gold.  She found $10 worth and I found $20 (not that there was a competition, just saying).


After a dinner of caribou steak sandwiches, we drove around some.  Fairbanks is technically in a desert and it gets less rain than Phoenix, but it has rained some both days we were here so I don’t know about that.  It is the northern-most point on our trip and gets some of the most extreme weather – high of 90 in the summer and low of -50 in the winter is typical.  After driving to the North Pole (actually south from here) to see Santa’s Workshop, we drove though downtown Fairbanks (four square blocks) and up to the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, which has a good view of the Alaska range and Denali more than 100 miles in the distance.  Fairbanks is also a very good spot to view the northern lights but it is too bright in the summer.  Sundown today was 11:47 pm but it remains reasonably light through the night until sunrise at 4:08 am.

Day 7 Train to Fairbanks


For the first time in three days we didn’t have to get up at five or five thirty!  Yeah!  Wouldn’t be so bad but we are staying up until 11 which makes it rough.

Horseshoe Lake

I need to say one word about the weather if you are ever planning to come to Alaska.  I don’t believe anyone is able to accurately predict the weather here as it is never what was predicted.  Anchorage is experiencing their coldest July ever and we have worn fleece and jackets every day.  Of course we dress in layers hoping for that warm snap but it hasn’t happened yet.  There has been some rain every day but it has been more of a nuisance rain and hasn’t really curtailed anything important.


Today we are taking the train up to Fairbanks and it doesn’t leave until almost 4 pm, so we took a short hike out to Horseshoe Lake. It was supposed to be a moderate difficulty, but the part back up hill from the lake was pretty steep, at least for us old people.  Total hike took about 1½ hours and it was fun.  The sun was out at the lake so we could get some good pictures.

Train along Nenana River near Denali

We met Steve and Megan for lunch, who had done fly-fishing for their activity in the morning.  I think the fishing went well, but the best part was that they got to see Mt. McKinley.  In fact, we heard later that they also saw the mountain from a closer viewpoint when the bus that they took back to Anchorage stopped to let them take pictures.  They are headed to Jackson Hole tonight.


We spent the rest of our time in the Visitor Center listening to ranger talks and watching the movie before boarding the train.  The first hour of the ride was interesting as we went through the Nenana River gorge which is very scenic.  After that, the ride is just miles after miles of birch and white spruce trees until you get to Fairbanks.  The total time to Fairbanks is four hours by train.

Day 6 – Denali National Park

Grizzly Bear

Once again an early start as we were assigned the 6:15 am Tundra Wilderness tour.  From what they tell me, these times are assigned on the day you arrive and done at random so we drew the second tour bus of the day. 

The only way you can tour Denali National Park today is by bus as private cars are not permitted.  The bus trips are either 8-hours or 12-hours, depending on how far you want to go into the park. They are trying to keep the park more pristine than other parks such as Yellowstone by strictly controlling the environment.  In fact, almost all of the roads in the park are gravel as they felt that paved roads impeded animal movement. That effort to keep things natural also included hairpin turns in the mountains without guard rails and since the lanes are about 1½ lanes wide, it made it pretty interesting at times.  The effort to stay pristine seems to be working as they claim to be the only National Park where the original wildlife is still there and didn’t have to be reintroduced.

Alaskan Husky Puppies

The weather again wasn’t cooperating and once again we started the trip in a light mist which continued for half of the trip but that cleared up on the return trip.  Our bus driver, John, was very good at spotting animals and we saw four of the big five on the trip.  We saw herds of caribou, several moose including a bull moose near the end of the trip and herds of Dall sheep high up on the surrounding mountains.  The high-light of the trip was spotting bears.  We saw a very big Grizzly not far from the road and a mama Grizzly with two cubs a little further away.  The cubs ran and played while the mama kept watch.  The only animal missing was the wolf, but they are nocturnal animals and very difficult to see.  We also saw a golden eagle and porcupine along the trail.  What we didn’t see was Denali.  Too much fog and haze.  Only 30% of people who come to the park actually see Denali (aka Mt. McKinley).

After our tour of Denali NP, we took a tour of Jeff King’s Husky Homestead.  Jeff King is a 4-time winner of the Iditarod race, which is a 1049-mile dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome held on the first Saturday of March.  Jeff demonstrated how they train the dogs and talked about the actual race.  The teams starts with 16 dogs and they race six hours and then rest the dogs six hours, but Jeff only gets 90 minutes of sleep as he has to take care of the dogs the rest of the time.  He repeats this cycle until they reach Nome 10 days later.  Of course, the best part of the demonstration is where you get to hold Husky puppies!

Day 5 – Alaska Railroad to Denali

Alaska Railroad Gold Class Service Car

Another early start today as we needed to be at the Anchorage train station at 7am to catch the Denali Star train up to Denali National Park.  The ride is rather long taking about 7 hours long to travel the 230 miles to reach the park.  The train probably averages only about 30 mph.  In the early days, you could only reach Denali by train and it still remains the most popular way to get there.


Today the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating and we travelled in a light rain almost the whole way.  We were in an observation car with a domed glass ceiling, but to be honest the views were pretty mundane until you get near the park where you start to see mountains and glacial streams for the last hour or so.  One nice feature was that our car had an open platform where you can observe nature without being blocked by glass.  We spotted two moose and some bald eagles along the way, but that was about it animal-wise.


We arrived at McKinley Village Lodge where we are staying for two nights and that turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  Our recent experience at staying in or around the National Parks hasn’t been good, but this was a nice room and the lodge was recently remodeled.  Further, since we selected the all-inclusive package, we found the meals to all be very good, including the Cabin Night Dinner Theater which we attended today.  The show itself was pretty hokey, but I think it is pretty hard to teach a history lesson about Denali in musical form.   

Day 4 – Halibut Day in Homer

Bill, Jeanne, Steve and Megan

Bill was kind enough to take us four amateurs out on his boat for a day of Halibut fishing on the bay.  This isn’t as easy as you might think. In fact, it is a pretty strenuous activity. We went about 18 nautical miles into Kechamac Bay, not far from where it joins the Gulf of Alaska.  Fortunately for us the weather cooperated as we had no rain and calm winds so the seas weren’t too rough.  You fish about 100 feet down to the bottom using cut-up herring as bait.  There is a limit of two fish per person and believe it or not, Jeanne caught the first two halibut within minutes of when we started.  The average fish we caught was about 10 lbs but they can also easily be up to 40 lbs or more.  It takes quite a bit of effort to reel in a fish that big and I can’t even imagine what effort would be required to land a 40 lb one!

Our Catch

The fishing was quite good and it really helps to have someone guiding you who knows how to fish.  We frequently had multiple fish on the lines at the same time.  After a few nice keepers, we got more selective and finished the day with 10 nicely sized ones, which Steve had cleaned and shipped back to NYC.  We are going to split the catch.  If you aren't familiar with halibut, the ones we were catching were about 2 1/2 feet long and about a foot wide.  They are a very flat fish with dark on one side and white on the other.

Another interesting aspect is that they tag some fish in Homer and there are prizes given out if you catch a tagged fish.  You buy a lottery ticket good for that day, which we did but unfortunately we caught no tagged fish.  Too bad, I could have used that 50 grand first prize.

After we finished fishing and said our goodbyes, we drove 4 hours back to Anchorage and everyone immediately just collapsed into bed.

Day 3 – Byron Glacier and the Homer Spit

Halibut Cove

On the way to Homer we stopped to take our hike to Byron Glacier in Portage Valley that weather cancelled yesterday.  We still had a misty type of rain to deal with, but without the high winds and driving rain from yesterday it was a pleasure.  It was an easy hike of less than 2 miles, but we got the rare opportunity to stand on a glacier at the end.

After that we drove about 4 hours down to Homer, Alaska, which is the hometown of Steve’s roommate Todd from college.  We stayed with Todd’s parents, Bill and Marianne and they treated us to a really wonderful time.  Our main activity after arriving was taking the boat over to Halibut Cove for a fantastic meal of Alaskan seafood at the Saltry Restaurant including recently harvested oysters from Halibut Cove itself.  No way to reach it except by boat.  On the way across Kechamac Bay we went by Gull Island which was the home of thousands of seagulls.  We also saw Sea Otter and a very unique bird called the Puffin.  It sort of resembles a mix of a toucan and a penguin and has a very bright orange beak.

Homer Spit

The Homer Spit is where the marina in Homer is located.  It is a 5 or 6 mile “spit” of land that juts out into the bay.  It is the location of shops, bars and the starting point for many tourist excursions.  For a very small town, the Spit is always crowded with activity.  You may note from the photo the tall poles that are through out the marina.  That is to accommodate the high tides that reach 27 feet.  At high tide, you can touch the tops of the poles.

Facts of the day - Homer is the home town of Jewel Kilcher, the singer.  It is also home to the ships from America's Deadliest Catch.

Day 2 – Alaska Weather and Snickers

Patrøn the Brown Bear

Today we got a lesson in Alaskan weather while we travelled 45 minutes south to Girdwood and the Portage Glacier Valley.  We left the hotel in overcast weather and light jackets as it was still relatively warm, about 51 degrees.  We stopped at a scenic overlook just outside of Anchorage and suddenly we had high winds and colder weather.  It turns out that Alaska has very localized weather.  It can be sunny in one spot and cold and rainy 5 or 6 miles away.  When we took the Alyeska Tram ride there was a light drizzle, but when we reached the top it was 39 degrees with some light sleet.  Our next stop was about 10 miles away for a boat ride to see the Portage Glacier, but that was cancelled by wind gusts up to 90 mph.  The last touring stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and we were back to a light drizzle with no wind and we were only 6 miles away.  Alaska Travel Advice: Always wear layers of clothes and be prepared for any kind of weather at any time.

Jack the Moose

We met Snickers at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center when we took the Behind the Scenes tour, which I would highly recommend.  Snickers is a very big porcupine who let us feed her carrots.  The AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals and releases them back into the wild if they are able.  Our tour guide was an intern named Scott who is also a caretaker, so he was able to give us some great insights into the animals and how they came to the center.  We also met the brother and sister bears, Joe Boxer and Patrøn, Jack the Moose and we also fed Julie the Sitka deer leaves until we ran out and she started eating Megan's coat!

Animal sightings - Several Bald Eagles

Day 1 – North to Alaska 


It really is a LONG way to Alaska from Philadelphia. Total flying time on Delta was just a little under 12 hours if you include the two brief stops we made in Detroit and Minneapolis. We arrived in Anchorage about 30 minutes ahead of schedule at 12:15am (4:15am EDT). Not sure what the flight distance is but the driving distance is about 4300 miles. All in all, it didn’t seem all that bad considering and we didn’t have any problems. The only thing that was interesting was that the sky was completely dark when we left Minneapolis but was about a gray dawn color by the time we reached Anchorage. It really is the Land of the Midnight Sun!

2012 Alaska Trip Itinerary

Wed (July 11) – Fly to Anchorage

Thur (July 12) – Portage Glacier tour and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Fri (July 13) – Drive to Homer

Sat (July 14) – Fishing in Homer

Sun (July 15) – Denali Star train from Anchorage to Denali

Mon (July 16) – Denali National Park tour

Tue (July 17) – Denali Star train to Fairbanks

Wed (July 18) – Fairbanks and Riverboat Discovery

Thur (July 19) – Travel to Seward

Fri (July 20) – Tour Kenai Fjords National Park and Resurrection Bay tour

Sat (July 21) – Anchorage, Talkeetna and Mount McKinley flightseeing

Sun (July 22) – Anchorage and fly home