Alaska 2021

In the summer of 2021, we spent 11 days exploring Alaska with our ten and seven-year-old.  Below is a recap of our trip.  It was reproduced from my Facebook posts, so they are quick sound bites with a selection of some of the photos I posted.  

Day 1 Recap: It was fourteen hours door-to-door. It really couldn’t have gone any better. Our flight out of MEM was delayed. We were still home when we found out and we rebooked our MSP to ANC leg immediately and we were actually still able to sit together even though it was a full flight. We arrived at the airport early, anticipating long lines, but checked our bags and got through security in less than 20 minutes. It was pretty smooth sailing from there.

The kids didn’t sleep the entire time and are very proud that they stayed awake until 1AM local. I actually think that will help them adjust because it’s early morning here in Anchorage and after a full night of rest, they are stirring. Then we can really get this vacation going.

Day 2 Recap: The only item on the agenda today was to make it from Anchorage to Healy, which will be our base camp for our Denali adventures for the next couple of days. To make things interesting, we offered the kids $5 for a moose sighting (a grizzly sighting earns $20). I earned the first five bucks of the trip. I spent it on beer at the Denali Brewing Company.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and 80 degrees. We were able to get a perfect view of Denali from one of the highway lookout points. When Chris and I were here in 2009, it was so cloudy, we didn’t even bother to pull over. I’m grateful for the beautiful day so the kids could lay eyes on the tallest mountain in North America.

Day 3 “Puppy Dog Day” Recap: In the morning, we took the Husky Homestead tour. I admit that we booked this solely for the kids because they wanted to pet Alaskan puppies. They even sang a song on the way there called “Puppy Dog Day.” Those are the only lyrics. Repeated over and over. And over.

The tour exceeded my expectations and I’m so glad we did it. We met four-time Iditarod winner, Jeff King and his champion sled dogs. We saw their training facility and learned what it takes to run and win the Iditarod. And yes, we did pet the puppies.

After lunch, we headed over to the Park visitors center to get ideas from the Ranger for a hike in the Park tomorrow. We then drove the 15 miles of the Denali Park Road that allows POVs. We spotted caribou off the side of the road and pulled over for wildlife viewing. I get such a rush watching wildlife in their natural habitat. Dad and Clara each earned $10 for spotting a caribou. Then we parked the car and walked along a short trail.

We capped it off with a stop at 49th State Brewing for dinner and beer. It houses the Into the Wild bus. I read it many years ago and had forgotten much of the story. Photos and photocopies of McCandless’ final journal entries before his death are displayed in the bus. I was never really taken in by his story, but it might be one of those that I see differently now that I’ve aged. Probably not. It’s still the loss of human life and it stirred emotion in me to think of what he was going through in those last days. The wild can give you life, but it can get it away.

Day 4 “Denali Day” Recap: We drove into the Park today on the hiker bus. We rode the 4 hours to the Eielson Visitors Center. Easton had the first wildlife sighting of the day, not just for the family, but for the whole bus. He earned $5 for a caribou. We ended up seeing 8 more. Chris was on his game today and spotted the one and only lynx at one of our stops.

We disembarked at Eielson and hiked the 1-mile Gorge Creek trail down to the creek and hung out for at least an hour. The real star of today was Denali, looming in the background. On our hike back up the trail, Chris spotted movement in the distance. It was a sow and two cubs. Thankfully, she was far enough away that we didn’t have to worry, but too far for good pictures. There was a flurry of excitement as we pulled out the binoculars and the telephoto lens on the camera and tried to guide the kids’ eyes so they could see the bears. We watched the sow run across the river in the valley below and charge up the opposite slope while the cubs followed. We met the Park Ranger on our way up. He was on his way down to close part of the trail. In addition to the bears we’d seen, there were 3 others in the vicinity that had been much closer.

After our hike, we were lucky to immediately catch a bus back to the front country and so began our long ride back to our car. By the time we returned, the kids were tired and hungry. We took them to the same pizza place where we ate 12 years ago when we exited Denali after our backpacking adventure. The pizza was good and the beer was cold, just like we remembered.

Day 5 “Movement Day” Recap: Mission today was to get four personnel and equipment from Healy, AK to Chickaloon, AK for Phase II of the Curry Last Frontier Adventure. The day entailed a picnic lunch, a grocery run, several moose sightings (we have to stop paying for those), and laundry.

Day 6 “Glacier Day” Recap: We woke up to a typical Alaska day, cloudy and low 50s. We dressed everyone in layers, hiking boots, hats, gloves, and wet weather gear. We were ready for our Matanuska Glacier hike! The Matanuska Glacier is the largest glacier in the United States accessible by car. While you can access the glacier yourself by paying a fee, we chose to use a guide service. They have the equipment and knowledge to keep you safe on the glacier. We were pretty proud to be the only group checking in that didn’t have to borrow any gear other than helmets and crampons. Our guide, Jay, was knowledgeable and excellent with the kids. Yes, the kids got cold. Even in layers, they shivered. They didn’t eat for 4 whole hours. Not only did they survive, they had a great experience. l hope that by doing these things, they expand their horizons and they learn to step out of their comfort zones because a lot of the good things in life happen when you’re uncomfortable.

Day 7 “Wrangell-St.Elias Day” Recap: We’ve been at this National Park thing long enough that we’ve been to a lot of the popular, iconic Parks. We have to start checking off some of the more obscure Parks. Enter Wrangell-St. Elias. Located in eastern Alaska, it is the largest National Park. It spans all the way to the Canadian border. We figured we are as close as we’ll ever be, so we better make the effort to visit.

We drove 90 miles to the Visitor’s Center. We snapped our sign photo and bought our magnet. It was the first time we have ever been the only car in a parking lot at a National Park. We could have turned around and called it day, but…we weren’t actually on Park property yet. In order for the visit to count, you must set boots in the Park boundary. So we drove another 80 miles, checked into the Ranger station and then 16 miles into the Park on a gravel road. We stopped for snacks at the most remote picnic table I’ve ever been to. The mosquitos were out and swarming. Not ideal hiking conditions. Maybe one day we’ll get flown in for backcountry hiking, but that day was not today. We mentally checked this remote NP off our list and headed back to our cabin.

Day 8 “Rainy Day” Recap: We had a visitor this morning while enjoying coffee from our deck. A moose walked right through the parking lot! We departed the Mat-Su Valley and headed to Seward for the third and final phase of our Alaska adventure. We drove and it rained. That’s pretty much how the day went. For lunch, Easton finally got his king crab legs. We checked into our yurt on Resurrection Bay shortly before dinner time. We dined in town and then went out for gelato. The rain broke a short while this evening, so we took a stroll on the beach in front of our yurt. It’s super cozy and the perfect base camp for our adventures for the next couple of days.

Day 9 “Kenai Fjords NP/Wildlife tour” Day Recap: Today was epic. In the morning, we hiked some of the trails near Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. This area is the only part of the Park accessible by road, so we knew it would be crowded. We arrived early to nab a parking spot and make sure the trail wasn’t too crowded. This is probably one of my favorite hikes that we’ve done with the kids. We let the kids lead the way. They hopped streams in the glacier outplain and climbed all the rocks they could. At the turnaround, we were rewarded with the clear view of Exit Glacier.

In the afternoon, we embarked upon a wildlife tour of scenic Resurrection Bay. We saw puffins, sea otters, jelly fish, and several bald eagles. My hope all along was that we’d see a whale, but wildlife sightings are not guaranteed. Just when I was thinking, “at least puffins are cute,” we saw a giant humpback whale breach out of the water. It was amazing! Our captain pulled up closer so we could observe. That’s when we realized she had a calf with her. We barely got photos and videos. It was a sight I wanted to see with my eyeballs and not through a lens. I will never forget standing on the side of the boat with our kids, watching the ocean for the next fin our tail to emerge. Yes, it truly was an epic day.

Day 10 “Salmon Fishing” Day Recap: Today was a beautiful, sunny day in Seward. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t spend it in Seward. We drove north to the Kenai River to salmon fish. We met our guide and suited up in waders and rain gear. We boarded our drift boat and our guide proceeded to row us down the river. The Kenai is a spectacularly beautiful river and the section we were on is closed to motorized watercraft. We passed other drift boats and rafts doing scenic float trips. We were hopeful that the rain would let up, but it never did. So we fished in the rain. Our guide gave us instruction on how to use the fly rod. While Chris and I did most of the fishing, both of the kids had an opportunity to cast several times. I’m so proud of them. They have complained much more for much less. Not on this day. They took it like champs. It was cold and wet. We didn’t have snacks. Yet they withstood it and didn’t even question our sanity. In the end, we didn’t even have a salmon to show for it. I guess that’s why they call it fishing, not catching. It was still worth it. We floated one of America’s most beautiful rivers and saw several bald eagles and a nest. A day salmon fishing in Alaska still beats a day not salmon fishing just about anywhere else. Even if you don’t come home with the ultimate prize, salmon fishing is a helluva lot of fun.

Day 11 Recap: It’s already been a long one. We left Seward this morning and made our way to Anchorage. We stopped by the Alaska Conservation Center and the Anchorage Museum. We killed time until there was nothing left to do but drink beer at 49th State in Anchorage. Now we wait. Red Eye to MSP and then on to MEM tomorrow morning. This was one for the books. We only did 3 of 8 National Parks in Alaska. We’ll be back again one day.