Activities: 26 Galcier Cruise; Northwest Fjords Cruise; Hiked to the Exit Glacier and Harding Icefield; River rafted and ATVed near Denali National park; Bus toured Denali National Park; Flight toured Denali Peak and landed on a a glacier; Kayaked in Valdez, Drove the Seward highway and much more!
Tips:
*Consider renting an RV (we did not). Hotels can be very expensive in summer. We ended up staying in hostels
*It is summer – but it can incredibly cold or really hot depending on where you are. So layer up.
*Drive, drive and drive. Every mile of any highway in Alaska is breathtaking!
I thought long and hard about how I would put into words the beauty that is Alaska. It is undoubtedly the most incredible place we’ve been to (Sorry Peru, you just got knocked down to 2nd place!) and nothing I say can ever do justice to the place. So I decided to go with a photo story. And before we begin with that, here is a small clip from the most breathtaking part of our trip.
And the story begins…
Driving from Anchorage to Whittier along the Seward Highway – They say Alaska is 10 minutes outside Anchorage. Anchorage looks like any other American city, but drive a few miles out and you see this.
The one lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the gateway to Whittier — the longest (2.5 miles) combined railroad-highway tunnel in North America, and the first designed for -40 Fahrenheit temperatures and 150 mph winds!A cruise ship docked at Whittier – There are a number of cruises from Seattle and Vancouver to Alaska. I have heard great things about the cruises. However if you do have a choice, drive the Alaskan highways. There is no better way to experience all that Alaska has to offer.The start of our 5 hour 26 glacier cruise from Whittier – The tour offers up close views of massive glaciers in the Prince William Sound region3 Glaciers – the overcast conditions make them look bluer.Otters napping on tiny icebergs floating past the ice cold air hitting you, the silence only broken by the occasional thunderous calving of the glacier – completely surrealA closer look at glacier. Sometimes a chunk of the glacier breaks apart and falls with a thundering boom. It is fascinating and equally startling to watch when that happens.On our drive back to Anchorage, we observed the bore tide. It can be seen as a white line in the water. The inset picture offers a closer look taken through a telescope. Although the Turnagain arm tides are one of the biggest in the world (upto 10 ft), the waves pictured aren’t too tall as we were not close to a full moon or new moon day.The Seward Highway while driving from Anchorage to Seward is like the Pacific Coast Highway on steroidsPotter Marsh Bird Sanctuary – First stop on the highwaySome wildlife viewing at the Sanctuary – the little ones were adorable!Some more scenes along the highway – sea, snowcapped mountains, blue trains winding along!125 miles of this!The Alyeska resort is a short detour from the highway. A quick ride up the tram leads to an aerial view of the Turnagain ArmA rainbow just as we were reaching Seward was the icing on the cake!Our accommodation at Seward – car for scale! There was room for a bed, a night table and one person to stand!The Exit glacier near Seward after a quick hike at 10:30 PM. We had 20 hours of sunlight a day 🙂Cruise #2 was out of Seward – A 9 hour Northwestern Fjord tour to view some glaciers and plenty of wildlifeOtters lounging on ice bergs, a major sea lion fight, a group of Orcas and some friendly Dall’s Porpoise were all part of the sceneryand glaciers of course!and some more glaciers!A hike up to view the Harding icefield trail in Kenai Fjords National Park – tiny humans for scale. The Harding icefield is 700 square miles.At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center off the Seward Highway. Clockwise from top left: Red Fox, Baby Moose, Musk Ox, CaribouClockwise from top left: Black bear, Bald Eagle, A Tired Brown Bear, Northern catAn ATV ride through the Alaskan wilderness near Denali National Park followed by rafting through the Nenana River with some impressive rapids.Sights from Denali National Park (Wonder Lake). Denali – the highest mountain peak in North America decided to hide that day. Apparently that is the norm. It is very rarely that you get to see the peak.Since Denali wouldn’t show herself, we decided to fly up to see her. The peak from the window of our Otter.Our ride! We had the opportunity to land on a glacier. The video at the beginning of the post was taking a few minutes before landing.The view on the way back to Talkeetna from the Alaska rangeLook closely and you can see a moose crossing a river
Talkeetna – A quaint little drinking village with a climbing problem! Mountaineers attempting to climb Denali, camp here before and after their climb. Mr Stubbs (the cat pictured above) serves as the Mayor for this pretty town set amidst mountains offering some great food and whimsical accommodationsScenes along the drive to ValdezKayaking at ValdezExploring caves in the ice bergsViews from the kayakGlaciers covered in siltSoaking in some culture at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in AnchorageSo long Alaska…Until next time!
Our Travel Story 
Absolutely breathtaking views!
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Plan a trip soon! Summer is coming 🙂
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Very Nice
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