We took a long talked about a trip to Alaska in June. Ten fabulous days with four of our best friends. And we're all still friends after the trip (I think). I've known Vicki since one of my first days as a college co-ed and she walked in my room and asked me if I wanted to walk with her to get our ISU season football tickets. A lifelong friendship was born! Next, sophomore year I met Moose (Steve) who was lined up to be one of the football coaches for the Schilling House flag football team. I met Paul (my beloved) and Kay later - junior and senior years. Kay even knew Paul before I did, as their dorm floors had interacted.
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| First Alaska meal - on a lake with planes landing |
So this group has lots of history. When we graduated, we kept getting together. Is that "failure to launch" when it comes to new friends? We did ski trips, annual 4th of July trips, and raised our children like cousins - at least until we all bought houses and our kids got busy in school. It isn't easy to stay in touch, especially through those busy kid years - but they are the friends who even if you don't see them, you pick up like no time has passed.
Now, every fall, Paul tries to round everyone up to attend an ISU football game. A couple falls ago we started talking about places we wanted to travel to. Alaska! But not a cruise. Vicki had lived in Alaska as a very young child. Her father worked for GE Corporation. Tragically her dad drowned while fishing and Vicki and her mom moved back to Iowa after that. She had cousins in Alaska so she also spent more time there as a kid. The allure was there for her to go back and see the state as an adult. The rest of us were interested in seeing a beautiful new state - for Moose (state #50).
We arrived in Anchorage on 6/12, rented a Chevy Suburban. Headed to Denali - just outside the National Park - 3 nights, Fairbanks, a mystery location (Majestic Valley Wilderness Lodge) south of Fairbanks, Whittier, Seward - 3 nights, Anchorage.
Flying into Anchorage seemed a lot like Des Moines - except for the mountains and all those float planes. The weather was fabulous (at least that's what they all kept telling us) while we were there. We had a great first lunch and checked out a free museum and the Ulu Factory Store. After a night there we took off north to the beautiful federal park - and the great mountain loomed largely - formerly known as Mt. McKinley, returned to a native name, Denali. We stopped at a pull off for photos. It is awesome and I was in its spell the whole time I was in its presence!
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| Rivers from glacier runoff are gray with silt |
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Awesome first view of Mt. Denali
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You know it's not the same traveling with people at age 60+ as it was at age 20. Our accommodations were "interesting". For example, the place we stayed for three night at the Denali Grizzly Bear Resort was likely described as a quaint cabin. It was a creeky old place that reminded me of summer camp as a kid. When we first toured through the joint, Kay sat down and laughed maniacally. She volunteered for the top bunk with the painful ladder steps. The back deck view was the best part of the place. The one potty for six people kept busy!
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| That back deck at the Grizzly Mountain Lodge |
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| It doesn't look bad from the outside... |
The sights and activities at Denali made it all worthwhile! Our Back Country Adventures bus excursion (bus driver Steve was great and we were in the front of the bus) lasted about twelve hours on Day 1 in Denali. It was awesome. We saw glaciers, moose, caribou, fox, and bears. It was a long day but totally worth it.
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| We watched this moose for several minutes - plunge her head under water! |
The next day we stopped at the visitor's center and took a hike down to Horseshoe Lake. We saw a moose grazing in the lake - very cool! My investment in Merrell hiking shoes was well worth it! That night we ate at the Salmon Bake in a building that was crooked from frost heaved ground. The staff made a point of telling us the place was cleared by the health department. A tamed squirrel trotted through as Paul went to the restroom. We weren't in Iowa anymore!
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| Vistas were spectacular |
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| Such beauty! |
On Sunday, we headed north to visit the area of Vicki's early childhood - Nenana and Fairbanks. We stopped off in Talkeetna along the way for lunch. I think it was the "cutest" Alaskan village we visited. And it had a brewpub with a sunny deck and several stores and vendors.
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| Vic with bartender - who lived in Nenana when she did |
The next stop was Nenana, a tiny village with that came up with a great gig - selling lottery tickets on when the ice goes out on the river each year. It's a huge money-maker. The general store was closed but the tavern was open. Yay. We got to meet several locals, including the bartender - a woman the same age as we are, who would have been living in Nenana when Vicki was living there. She was able to tell us many things about the time Vicki and her folks lived there. We met the pub owner and a brother and sister who enjoyed talking to aging Iowans about their lives in Alaska. When the woman hit for $300 on a scratch ticket, she bought a round for the house! This was one of my favorite stops - hanging with the locals. Or...it's just that I like dive bars - no matter where they are!
Fairbanks was fine (can you tell - not our fave place). Our hotel there was nice and clean and we all had our own rooms! It was on a popular river that people tubed kayaked and boated on. That was exciting. It's a blue-collar town. We drove around, got lunch and toured a small city park and had a nice meal at another brewery. Vicki had spent time with her cousins at age ten here and we tracked down their home. My how things look different fifty years later!
The next morning we headed south - stopping of course at the North Pole! Who can resist Santa's place? I was sad that Buddy the Elf wasn't there...
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| North Pole |
Our next stop was a gem as we ended up getting "upgraded" to the big house. The Majestic Valley Wilderness Lodge is a helicopter ski resort in the winter - and is right next to the landing pad/airport. It was lovely and they treated us right.
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| Our hike at Majestic |
We took a hike and had a lovely salmon meal followed by a dip in the hot tub. It was super. All of the places we stopped for gas and snacks each had their own stories - no Casey's General Stores out there in the wild. People were very friendly.
That night we were in for another interesting lodging night! After a stop by Girdwood, Alaska's ski resort to ride the tram to the top. This was our only somewhat rainy day. Everyone kept telling us how lucky we were. On to Whittier - where a one-way tunnel opens up hourly in an alternating fashion. It was a loooong tunnel! The town could be its own reality TV show as everyone lives in the same building. And guess where we were staying? In that very same building. On the front - it didn't look bad - 15-floor high rise. We drove around to the back to figure out where to check in. Ugh - the paint job hadn't extended to this portion of the building yet!
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| The town of Whittier lives here! We think the bus could be great for tailgating... |
Our apartment was on the 15th floor - with a great view. We were able to do some laundry, people were friendly. Everywhere we went in town - they all lived there. The next day we took a half day
Phillips Glacier Tour in Prince William Sound with super seats inside and a lovely seafood chowder lunch. Two forest service rangers narrated the tour and were super.
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| The blue color of the glaciers is a trick of the light |
We left that night for Seward, which involved a trip back through Anchorage south to the Kenai Peninsula and the Gulf of Alaska.
Lodging just outside of Seward was the quaint Abode Well King Cabins - 3 darling tiny cabins, very clean with kingsize beds. The town itself was darling too. There were the marina and downtown. Their first night we hit - you guessed it - the brewery.
On Thursday we did an all-day glacier tour. I must admit I wasn't that excited about more glaciers after the previous day, but it turned out to be even better than the day before! We were in a smaller boat and we were able to see lots of wildlife - sea lions, whales, puffins. I gotta admit, the whale tail was pretty impressive! I don't have the camera to get good wildlife shots. Maybe after retirement...
The most moving thing was the Northwestern Glacier. It was named after the university. We got so close to it, the captain turned off the motor and we and experienced it calving - actually breaking down. The sound was like thunder and a jet flyover. Each glacier has its own personality, I'm sad glaciers are losing ground. This is our world - we need to care for it by reducing our human impacts.
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| Our home for three nights - cozy! |
On day 2, Paul and Fred went Halibut fishing for 12 hours and Moose continued to drive the daisies (Kay, Vic and me) around. We had a fab breakfast and then did the tourist shopping thing downtown. Later we hiked up to the Exit Glacier - you just can't get enough ice, ice baby! We stopped at a local bar and chatted up the bartender and her friend. I like doing that - a trick I learned from my brother-in-law, Bolder. She said she lived in Denali for 3 months and didn't see the mountain like we did. We feel so fortunate.
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| Exit Glacier |
We spent a lot of time awaiting the great outdoorsmen to return from their fishing trip. They arrived an hour after the appointed time - Paul had a 60 lb Halibut in tow. We brought it home - fileted in a foam cooler - nom nom!
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| Halibut! |
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This is a big-eyed goldfish. No, not really! Yellow Eye Rockfish. They released it back y lowering it into the depths
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On Saturday we trekked back to Anchorage with a stop at Cooper Landing on the way - to see the fly fishers in the river. They were nearly shoulder to shoulder! We had a nice lunch back in Girdwood before we arrived in Anchorage for our last night - celebrating Summer Solstice. Downtown was hopping and we checked out a couple breweries that were packed full. We got a spot on a rooftop for one and then ate at Humpies Great Alaskan Ale House. Our waitress was a young Bosnian native who shared her story with us - fascinating, as were all the nice people we spoke with.
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Last night - water was as popular as the drinks!
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Sorry if this rambled - it's one of the best trips I've ever been on. Great friends, beautiful scenery, wildlife, and wonderful people. Life is good!
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| View near our Seward cabin. I miss those mountains! |
