First half of report from Alaska Trip July 1-15, 2011-LONG!!

After 4 years of planning, my best friend and I ( both in our 50’s ) left our husbands at home and spent 14 wonderful days in Alaska. The trip we planned 2 years ago had to be cancelled due to my husband being laid off before our final payment in the bad economy. We started planning it again about 15 months ago and made some tweaks, added a couple of days, and advanced planning really saved us money!

We spent the night at LAX Radisson on June 30th, and had an early flight with Alaska Airlines to Anchorage on July 1st. I got us First Class upgrades for the flight, and we really enjoyed having a great start to our trip with the comfort of First Class on the long leg of our journey.

We landed about 12:30pm and called Comfort Inn Ship Creek for their shuttle to pick us up. When it got there, there was also a large group needing the shuttle, so the shuttle driver flagged down a taxi and arranged for us to go in the taxi to the hotel, with Comfort Inn paying for it. It worked out fine. After we checked in and dropped off our luggage in our room, we called Enterprise car rental ( the downtown 4th St. location ) to come get us to pick up our car. Let me stop and tell you that booking early with the hotel and car rental saved us BIG bucks. We got out hotel room for $89 per night and 3 weeks after we made our reservation, the room doubled in price. Our car ended up being $75 total for 5 days and the guy told us when we picked up the car that if we had walked that day, the same car would have been $120 per day! We also saved a lot by using the Tour Saver and Northern Lights coupon books. Ok, back to the story….

After we picked up the car, we drove downtown, found a parking spot, and took the Anchorage Trolley tour that we had bought a 2-for-1 Groupon for. It took us around to the different areas of interest in Anchorage and the driver told us a lot of interesting history. It was ok, but we wouldn’t do it again. We then found the bicycle rental place that was in one of our coupon books and we rented mountain bikes. Using the coupons, it was $8 for each of us. We rode the Tony Knowles Trail to the end and back. AWESOME ride! The scenery is beautiful and we saw moose in several places close to the trail. We also saw a porcupine! That was a fun encounter. We were VERY tired after we rode about a total of 25-30 miles, but we’d do it again in a heartbeat! We decided we were too tired to go “out” to dinner, so we just grabbed Subway sandwiches and headed back to our hotel room to eat, shower and crash for the night. A good day to start our fantastic Alaskan Adventure!

July 2nd, we had a carefree day. We woke up at 5:30am without alarm clocks so we got up and started our day. Originally we were planning to go dog sledding out of Girdwood today, but because we got a Groupon for a half price dog sledding tour out of Seward, we cancelled the one today. We just continued with what was going to be the “filler” for the day after dog sledding.

We headed out on the Seward Hwy, using the Milepost. ( great book, very helpful! ) We stopped and took a lot of pictures on the way to Portage Glacier. Turnagain Arm is so interesting and scenic, esp. at low tide. We found a spot to stop and hike ( thanks to the Milepost ) called Falls Creek Trailhead. There was a nice waterfall close to the road and the foliage on the trail was lush and green. It was very pretty! Of course, someone had to slip and fall, so I did! I got a little muddy, but no worse for the wear! I washed off in the creek and was ready to go again.

After our hike, we continued on toward Portage. We stopped again at a place called Trail of Blue Ice. It had a view of a hanging glacier and a gorgeous turquoise lake. Lovely stop! We finally arrived at Portage Lake for the Portage Glacier boat trip. We had a coupon again for this, so it was 2-for-1.( $15 each ) The boat ride was nice, the glacier was small, but very pretty. The whole trip was just over an hour. At the time we were very excited with the glacier, but it was our first up-close glacier of the trip, and later on we almost forgot about it because we saw so many magnificent glaciers. We stopped at the little café close by for lunch. A lot of people who were on the boat with us, stopped there too.

After our quick bite to eat, we headed back toward Anchorage. We made a stop at the Alyeska Tram. We used a 2-for-1 coupon here ( $10 each.) There was a bridal party on the tram with us. It was a nice place for a scenic wedding! When we reached the top, we walked around just a little bit, then decided to hike down instead of taking the tram back down. We had a lot of fun doing that. It was like an Alpine meadow. The path we took was a mountain bike path and is used as a ski trail in the winter. We had to cross creeks and patches of snow. My knees were bothering me, but it was an interesting hike. We came out about a mile from where we started and where our car was parked, but we found a beautiful meadow on our way back. It was an unplanned hike, but fun.

We then finished going back to Anchorage. We grabbed some food and headed back to Ship Creek Comfort Inn to eat it. The air conditioning in our room wasn’t working so we slept with our windows open. It was still too hot to sleep well and with the windows open, you could really hear the trains. We looked at our pictures then got to bed sometime after 11pm. ( yes, it is still light outside!)

July 3rd we got up early again at 5:30am and headed for Whittier for our Prince William Sound excursion. We had a Northern Lights coupon for this. We stopped at on the other side of Portage Lake just before the tunnel for a beautiful picture. Portage Lake was a perfect mirror image! We made the 8:30 tunnel without having to wait at all. We were planning to go thru on the 9:30 opening, but we left earlier than planned and made good time from Anchorage, so we were early. The tunnel is an experience in itself.

Our boat tour was from 11am-5pm so we had some time to get a cup of coffee and explore. There was an eagles nest close by, so we walked thru the pedestrian tunnel under the train tracks and watched the eagle for a while. The town of Whittier is VERY small, but the harbor is nice. It was a beautiful day and we dressed in layers for the boat trip. We originally found a spot outside on the back of the boat, but no one was at the bow, so we decided to move up front. A good move for us. We had the prime spot for viewing, although it was very cold on the bow. We decided that we would bundle up so we didn’t have to go inside and miss the experience. When the boat would slow or stop, people would come outside to view things, but we had the front-row viewing spot. Since we were sitting down, people could see over us, but they had to jockey for position with each other. Even though it got really cold at times, we wouldn’t have even thought about going inside, we loved it there! We saw some beautiful glaciers including calving and beautiful scenery but my favorite thing was the otters. I fell in love with the otters. They are so cute and we saw lots of “rafts” of them. We also went to a salmon hatchery and there were a lot of eagles around there. It was a great trip. We were able to make the 5pm tunnel (with no waiting again.)

We stopped at the Snow Goose for dinner. It has been so warm so far and we have been wearing our tank tops, but I actually put my jacket on eating outside here. We went back to the hotel and tried to get to bed by 11pm.

July 4th we had to get up early again to be on the road by 6;30am. We took the Glenn Hwy past Palmer to Chickaloon. It was another stunning day with stunning scenery. The cottonwood trees were “shedding” and there were white puffs floating throughout the air. We called it Alaskan Summer Snow because it looked like it was snowing. We had to check-in with NOVA by 9:30am and got there a little early. We were able to check-in at 9am and then head to the staging area.

We were doing a guided hike on the Matanuska Glacier, but we were the only ones signed up for this timeslot, so we had a “private” hike with our guide Maggie. She was great! After she got us outfitted with crampons, she drove us in the company van to the starting point of our hike. We had to go thru private property so she signed us in and paid the “use-fee” for us and we were just about ready to hike. We had to put on our helmets to begin the “hike” to the glacier although it was an easy access to the glacier. There was a point where we came across some mud that was almost like a trampoline feel. It was weird, but cool. We continued on and Maggie gave us a lot of interesting info about glaciers. We stopped and put on our crampons before accessing the glacier. It was an amazing thing that we were doing. We were seeing moulons, blue crevices, really interesting ice forms and textures, etc. We saw so many beautiful things but the best was a large glacial lake. We came over a ridge and said “OMG”. It was simply spectacular! As we were hiking to the summit, we heard lots of cracking noises, and then maybe 50 feet away from us, a large amount of calving happened. It was so exciting! There were other large groups of hikers with guides from other companies on the glacier, but they didn’t get to go as high up as we did and had to see the calving from down below. We felt so fortunate to witness what we did. We continued on up to the summit and Maggie took pictures of us up there as if we had just climbed Mt. McKinley! Then we descended back down and headed back. We saw several people heading to the glacier on their own, including families with babies in backpack carriers and elderly people with canes. It was a relatively easy access, but still needed to be taken with the utmost caution and care, and we were very concerned for those people.

After we were back at the van, I asked Maggie to stop at the meadow I had seen on our way in and took the most beautiful picture with the fireweed in the foreground, and the mountains in the background,. I love that picture! We then went to get some lunch before we started the second half of our day with NOVA.

For the afternoon, we were going river rafting at Lion’s Head. Again we met at the staging area, and were driven in a bus with other people with 3 rafts in tow to the launching site. We were given very specific safety instructions and thenput on our dry suits. We were assigned rafts and we ended up being on a raft with a man and his 2 young adult children. It turned out that the dad lives 2 streets away from us! Now that’s a small world! We started off on a gentle float, then joined the Matanuska River and our guide said we were in Class 3, 4, and 5 rapids. The people in the front helped paddling and got what we were calling “glacial facials”! In the back, we stayed pretty dry and didn’t paddle. We had a blast and thought about going again on their midnight run, but decided against it. They had people along the river taking pictures and we bought the CD with the pictures for $25. They were good pictures and it came with a release so we can have them printed if we choose. We thoroughly enjoyed everything about today and wouldn’t hesitate to go out with NOVA again! It actually is our favorite day of our 15 days.

We stayed a few miles away at the Sheep Mountain Lodge for the night. It is in a beautiful area and we had a private little log cabin. We ate at the restaurant at the lodge and I had arranged in advance for them to have a cheesecake with strawberries for my friend’s birthday. We ended up sharing it with some of the other guests and the employees. The people there were great. We also took a little walk around out back on one of the trails. The wildflowers and the view were awesome. We were tired form another long, but wonderful day, so we got to bed by 11pm.

July 5th we got up early because we had to be in Talkeetna at 10:30am for our 11am Mt. McKinley Summit Flight. We were told it was about a 3 hour drive and since we like to be able to stop for pictures whenever we see something of interest, we allowed ourselves plenty of time. We had saved 2 pieces of cheesecake from the night before to have for breakfast ( I know, a rare treat! ) to go with our coffee and we sat out on the front porch of our little cabin and enjoyed it.

We headed out and again enjoyed the scenery on the way back to Palmer, then thru Wasilla and on to Talkeetna. It took the full 3 hours to get there, but we were a little early anyway. We got to Talkeetna Aero Services about 10am but were quickly told that their plane was out for unscheduled service and they had no plane for our summit flight. ;( They called the other area companies that flew to McKinley, but since it was a picture perfect, everybody was full. There were no seats available for us with anyone! We were so disappointed! We decided that even though it was a glorious day and we were missing out on a fabulous flight, we were going to take our lemons and make lemonade. We tried to come up with a “Plan B” and find something else to do. We almost went horseback riding back in Anchorage, but decided against it at the last minute.

We drove back to Anchorage trying to keep smiling, we were in beautiful Alaska after all! We never found something else that we wanted to do, so we went to a Walgreen and printed up a few of our favorite pictures from the trip so far to turn into postcards to mail to friends and family. I went to the Ulu Factory next to our hotel and bought a Ulu knife/bowl set and had it sent to my son. The shipping cost $10.95 but it saved me from having to deal with it for the rest of our trip. We were taking the train to Seward in the morning, so we signed up at the hotel for their shuttle. We were on the list for the 5:45am shuttle. We had to return our car rental by 6pm, so we drove down there and people from Enterprise drove us back to downtown where we walked around a little bit and decided on the Glacier Brewhouse for dinner. We sat in the bar so we didn’t have to wait. It was a fun atmosphere and the service was fun too. We enjoyed our dinner, then walked back down the hill to the hotel for the last night there. We packed up, showered, and headed to bed.

July 6th was an early morning. We were up by 4:30, had a quick muffin downstairs in the breakfast area of the hotel, and we were on the shuttle to the train by 5:40am. The train station is SO close, that after all the suitcases were loaded up, it was about a 2 minute drive. We handed all of our luggage to the porters, then checked in. We were traveling in the GoldStar car since we had a 2-for-1 coupon. It’s normally $130, but we each paid $65. They gave us a lapel pin so that we could move freely about the train and be let back in to the GoldStar area. The domed car was really nice and we had an attendant just for our car. We were in the 2nd GoldStar car and it was only about ¼ full. That was nice so we could spread out. We ended up spending most of our time on the outside deck. Since there were so few people in our car, everyone had plenty of room if they wanted it outside. The scenery was breathtaking. We had seen a lot of beautiful scenery up to this point, but were in awe with what we saw from the train. The morning sun wasn’t the best to capture the scenes with our cameras, but we still got some nice pictures. The landscapes were varied and we saw everything from the mudflats of Turnagain Arm, to a sunken house from the 1964 earthquake and the trees that died from the saltwater from the following tsunami, to glaciers, wetlands, mirrored lakes, lily-filled ponds, snow-capped mountains, etc. SPECTACULAR!!! This is a must-do for anyone heading from Anchorage to Seward! We ate in the dining car and the meals averaged $12-15 if I remember correctly. We arrived in Seward a little after 11am, gathered our luggage and headed across the street for our tour with The Exit Glacier Guides.

This is a photo book of the pictures that go with the first part of my report...

To view the book, click the following link:

http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=becaed67a67f4a41da27a49675a2c50a&version=140452&siteID=ViaPreview

I am working on writing the second half of the report.....

Very nice review and pictures, thanks for sharing your journey with us. Looking forward to reading more.

Karen

Great information! Thanks so much for the post!

Great trip report and awesome photos !

Your advance planning certainly paid off; not only with savings but the wonderful adventures you were able to experience.

Hi,

I am a fellow Riversider, leaving on the 1st to sail Northbound on the Radiance. I am also taking 10 others, so won't have quite as much freedom to do what you did. We do have flightseeing booked, and I am very excited about it, so I understand about the disappointment on your cancellation. Hopefully the weather and mechanics will cooperate that day!

I love the review, and the pics, can hardly wait to read the second half.

It just makes me more excited to go on my trip. I have been planning this for quite awhile also.

I will be patiently waiting for the next chapter in your fantastic Adventure.

Lisa

My wife works for Prince William Sound Cruises and was happy to know that you enjoyed your day with them. Your pictures are among the best we've seen. Yes, the front of the boat is an adventure for which you have to be prepared (layers of clothing, etc.) but the two of you really looked ready. Glad it was also a gorgeous day in Prince William Sound. I've gone countless times but never tire of it.

Also great to see people travel independently and have such a wonderful time doing it.

Looking forward to the rest of your report and fantastic pictures (you should send some of those shots to the Anchorage Convention and Visitors bureau).

Thanks for the nice comments. I am on Day 11 right now, writing as fast as I can! Toward the end of our trip, I didn't take notes so I am going off the top of my head now. The photo book for the second half is ready as soon as the report is done! ( We took 4500 pictures between us ).

Loved your review --so much in it is what I've been working on--not your usual cruise tour :)

Excellent write up. Very interesting! If I had been with you I would not have advised walking down from the tram at Alyeska, but you were OK. I used to ski up there and in non-snow months it is a popular area with wildlife, especially moose which can be dangerous when they have calves.

We never thought about moose being there. We had a fairly clear view most of the time and didn't see any wildlife on our way down. :D I guess we were lucky that we didn't come across Mama Moose!

Ok, I finished the second half of my story and have posted it......:)

Both of your write ups are excellent.

Well, it is important to be careful about moose. I've been scared out of my socks by moose. Much worse than with bear worries.

Hi CruisinMama....couldn't find a email or note to post so have to post this way....Enjoyed reading your post, thank you so much for sharing. I have ton's of questions. How did you like Comfort Inn? The tram ride $10 thing in Girdwird, where did you find that coupon? I didn't see it on Groupon? I'm leaving next month to Alaska and will definitly have a better time because of your post, however just wish there was a place like other web pages to talk to you beside open forum. Thanks again for your post. Cindy..sydneyalice@aol.com

bumping in case of interest to current cruisers.

Thanks for bumping it up. It was fun for me to reread and relive our trip. Only 2 1/2 months until I get to go back!

I have bumped up the 2nd part of the report so u can finish reading the story...

Great reading.. So sorry you didn't get your summit flight... I've booked the same one and now my fingers are crossed that we get to go!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I hope you get to go! We were pretty bummed!! But the rest of our trip was amazing so we didn't dwell on our misfortune...

Awesome information. What camera did you use while you were there? and if a DSLR what lens? Thank you in advance.

http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=becaed67a67f4a41da27a49675a2c50a&version=140452&siteID=ViaPreview

I am working on writing the second half of the report.....

I just now am starting to try to use a DSLR. I hope I can learn to use it before July!

On this trip, I was using a Panasonic ZS7 as my little carry around camera, a Panasonic FZ35 for shots that needed a longer zoom and a Sony HX5V for the panoramic shots. ( I know, I took HOW many cameras? ) That didn't include the Kodak PlaySport waterproof camera for the white water rafting, LOL! A few of the shots were ones that my friend took using her Canon Powershot SX200 IS.

I don't even have any of those cameras anymore...except the waterproof one! I dropped my little ZS7 in Vegas and replaced it with a ZS8 ( or maybe a 9 ) and replaced the FZ35 with the FZ200. I bought a Nikon 3100 and hope to learn how to properly use it. You would think I would know my way around a camera with all of them that I've owned, but sadly not so. :D

Even though from a while back a very good post.

Keith