Alaska (2022)

      

Day 1 - July 25^th, 2022 (California/Canada - Anchorage)

 

We finally made it to Anchorage.  Our friends (Zvika & Elena) arrived about the same time as us (From Toronto, Canada) and after we all had our luggage, we headed to the Rental Cars Center to receive our vehicle for the next couple of weeks.  We got lucky and received a brand new (with 4 miles on it) 2022 Toyota Highlander.

Our destination was about 20 minutes away: A beautiful Airbnb, located next to a stream and away from the main road.  We found the lovely home with 3 huge bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a huge Living Room and with an up to date kitchen with all new appliances.

We were super hungry and decided to try our luck and to find an eatery (it was around midnight) but lucky for us we could not find any.  I said “Luck for us” and I meant it: We did walk into a huge supermarket and bought all kind of goodies, enough for late night snacks and of course for breakfast tomorrow morning.

When we finally surrendered to our tired bodies, it was already after 2:00 am.

Day 2 - July 26^th, 2022 (Anchorage)

 

We woke up at around 10:00 and prepared our own breakfast.  It was delicious!

We headed to the city of Anchorage and found a parking spot, not far from the downtown area.  We visited a carved monument, dedicated to Captain Cook, who in the late 1770’s sailed here with two ships, the Discovery and Resolution.  They had worked their way northwest from what is now Oregon and Puget Sound, along the British Columbia and Alaska coast, hoping to find the long-sought Northwest Passage to Europe.  As he continued his quest for the Northwest Passage Cook entered, later on, the Chukchi Sea through the Bering Strait and, amazingly, got as far as Icy Cape, on Alaska’s northwest coast, before being stopped by ice. The two ships were almost trapped by ice.

  

We walked along the main street of Anchorage’s Downtown and followed the Planet Walk, Which was designed, in 2003, by a high school astronomy enthusiast named Menaker.  The result was a model of our solar system to be traversed on foot.  Approval from the Parks and Recreation Department came down in 2004, and allowed the installation of a sun and nine precisely spaced “planets” throughout the region. 

Menaker specifically designed his model solar system to be traversed on foot, at a scale to which “a leisurely walking pace mimics the speed of light.” In suitably precise fashion, Menaker gave his creation a straightforward name: the Anchorage Light Speed Planet Walk. Each stop on this space tour features an informational sign teeming with fun facts about its particular planet, all written and researched by Menaker himself.

     

Our next stop was Ship Creek to watch the salmons going up the stream in their spawning process.  The creek was actually closed by and we walked along the creek and took many photos of salmons and fishermen.

We stopped at ULU Factory, kind of a souvenirs store adjacent to the knives factory.

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It was time for lunch and we stopped at a dumplings kitchen on the main street to taste the favorite food and then decided to have seafood.  We found Simon & Seaport’s and it was an excellent choice.

On our way back to our car we visited the James Cook status.

We returned to our Airbnb in the daylight and loved the scenery around the home.

   

Day 3 - July 27^th, 2022 (Anchorage)

 

Once again breakfast was made at our beautiful Airbnb.

   

Yesterday we tried to visit Ship Creek Fisheries Center, but it was closed.  It was obviously, our first stop.  There was not much to see there.  The pools were mostly empty and the other room had only few pools with salmons. We exited the building and walked along the creek to watch many salmons swimming against the stream.  Once again we took many photos of the fishermen along the creek.

        

Our next stop was the beautiful Botanic Garden.  We drove a bit out of the city and arrived to a charming garden full with lovely flowers and arrangements.

We took note of the entry bed of flowers, which hosted a mix of ornamental and edibles. We made our way to the gate and entered the plaza area where we saw more of the blooming flowers. During the hike on the trail, we learned about the history of the garden and all about the local nature of Alaska. We were able to spot some colorful birds.

Lunch was next on our agenda and we found a small and friendly deli.

 

A short drive away we found Downtown Anchorage Viewpoint where we viewed the entire downtown laid out in front of us.

Day 4 - July 28^th, 2022 (Anchorage – Turnagain Arm - Talkeetna)

  

It was time to continue our adventure.  We checked out from our (most) comfortable and beautiful Airbnb and headed to Turnagain Arm, Just south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway, which hugs the dramatic shorelines of Arm, arguably one of the most beautiful stretches of highway I have ever seen in America. Chugach State Park's 3000-foot mountains range was just up on our left.

   

On the right, the sprawling, sometimes flats of the Arm seem to stretch like a plain to the opposite shores of Cook Inlet, where mammoth sloping mountains abruptly stop their flat expanse. Each turn revealed another scenic wonder. We stopped many times to take photos of the beautiful nature that woke up all our senses.

Interesting enough is the name: Turnagain Arm: Thanks to Google we found out that the name was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty. Bligh served as Captain Cook's Sailing Master on his third and final voyage, the main purpose of this voyage was o discover the Northwest Passage to Europe.  Bligh was forced to “turn again” when the waterway didn't hold the fabled Northwest Passage during his 1778 voyage.

We rested at Girdwood Center and after a great coffee from Alpine Café & bakery continued our journey to arrived to Virgin Creek Falls, just about 4 miles from there.

          

We parked our car and started to hike the Lower Virgin Creek Falls trail, which was pretty easy. The distance was approximately a 1/2 mile round trip and gained an elevation of only 180 feet. The trail was very well marked and meanders through an enchanted forest with many tree roots and a bit steep by the river’s edge. Because Girdwood is a temperate rain forest, the flora in the area is a bit different than you would expect in many other parts of South Central Alaska. 

The falls were magnificent and powerful!!

We returned to our car and now were heading north to Talkeetna Mountains and Hatcher Pass. We arrived to the photogenic alpine passage that cuts through the Talkeetna Mountains in the Mat-Su Valley. The drive itself was fantastic and we enjoyed our surroundings during our drive.

      

We arrived to Independence Mine State Park and found the huge (and) abandoned gold mine, which sits at the top of Hatcher Pass. The scenic journey above tree lines and exploration of this intriguing 761-acre park made it for one of our finest day trips in Alaska.

We stopped to read some history about this unique place: Independence Mine was actually two mines until 1938, when the Alaska-Pacific combined the Alaska Free Gold Mine on Skyscraper Mountain and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain to become the second most productive hard-rock gold mine in Alaska. At its peak in 1941, the company employed 204 workers, blasted almost 12 miles of tunnels, and recovered 34,416 ounces of gold, today worth almost $18 million. At the time, 22 families lived in nearby Boomtown, with eight children attending the territorial school.

Although World War II interrupted the mining operation - gold mining was declared a nonessential wartime activity - mining resumed briefly after the war until Independence Mine closed for good in 1951.

      

Independence Mine State Historical Park was established in 1980 and since then the state has steadily worked to restore the buildings and tunnels to give visitors a fascinating look at Alaska lode mining amid spectacular mountain scenery.

We spend about 3 hours there, used the trails to visit the mine on top of the mountain and also visited the main buildings.

We continued our day and arrived to our next Airbnb  that was in the small town of Talkeetna (about 1,000 residents).

Day 5 - July 29^th, 2022 (Talkeetna – Denali Park)

 

In the morning we tried booking a dogsled tour in Talkeetna but then found out that in the summer, the dogs are chained to big wagons and we gave up on the idea.

We headed towards Denali Park and stopped at the South Denali Viewpoint for a spectacular display of the highest mountain in North America: Mount Denali, that on the eve of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary in 2016 was changed from “Mount McKinley” to “Denali.” 

  

The timing of the change not only helped mark the National Park agencies centennial, it shined a light on the long human history of the park, and illuminated a naming debate that has lasted more than 100 years and was finally changed to the name used by the natives of Alaska.  In their Native language, Denali means “The Tall One”.

   

The sights of the mountains and the prairies were a big wow moment to all of us.  We spent over an hour gazing at the unforgettable display of beauty and finally realized that we better leave if we want to see more attractions today's daylight.

     

We found our Airbnb not far from the Denali Village Center (where we made reservations for a Serbian Dinner) and after a visit in the nearby supermarket, we found a trail, right next to the property, which led us to the bank of a dry river.  We hiked for about an hour and then returned to our beautiful home away from home to take a needed showers before we headed out for dinner.

The food was mediocre (and below) but the service was good. The prices were, as expected very high.

  

We decided that from now on we should try to spend less time in restaurants and cook more on our own.

We returned to our property after stopping by the supermarket again, buying some steaks, wine, potatoes and other vegetables and of course some sweet goodies.

Day 6 - July 30^th, 2022 (Denali Park)

 

After a fantastic breakfast at the house we headed to the center of the park, where we located the Denali Visitors Center.

We called today “Leg 1 of Denali” as the 2^nd leg of park will happen tomorrow morning, when we will take get deeper into the park.

    

We hopped on the bus that is allowed to enter only 15 miles into the park and saw some wildlife and the beautiful Nenana River. 

  

We arrived to Mile 15 to a place called Savage River and took a 30 minutes break before returning back to the Village. The length of the trip was around 2 hours.  We saw few caribous at the river's bank, some goats and many different birds. 

   

After our return to the Visitors Center, we headed outside and located the trail that would lead us to Horseshoe Lake, an 8 miles round trip.

  

The hike itself was moderate.  At the end of the trail we headed down a steep hill (about 250 stairs), at the midpoint we saw a bench overlooking the lake and the views of the lake started to appear.

After this bench, the trail drops very steeply, about 250', down a steep hill to the level of the lake, which was full of Floras.

   

The trail then branches in two directions, forming a loop around the lake. Viewing platforms overlooked the south end of the lake. Near the mid-way point, on the east side of the loop, we hiked a short spur to overlook a beaver dam.

   

At the Nenana River we watched few rafts taking on the rapids and having the time of their lives.

We started hiking back up and of course tackled the 250 step again but it was not as difficult.

We returned to the Visitors Center and after a much needed coffee break headed back to our property.

Zvika treated us to some home cooking and grilled (to perfection) half a dozen rib-eye steaks!

Day 7 - July 31^st, 2022 (Denali Park - Fairbanks)

We packed our luggage and food. After breakfast we headed to the Princess Lodge, where we waited to our tour to the Denali Park.   

Our tour, called Tundra Wilderness Adventures, passed the 15th miles mark and continued to mile 34. 

We saw spectacular views, some wild life and the beautiful nature. The tour lasted 6 hours. The trip was a great way to see the landscape and wildlife of the park.

This was an exceptional day! We saw few moose, caribous, Black & brown bears, a grizzly, and a herd of sheep. 

Before entering the park, our driver gave us a short lecture in history:

More than a century ago, two remarkable men spent the winter in a cabin not far from the Toklat River. Their experience and interaction with the wild landscape changed them. In turn, they came to have a profound influence on preserving the landscape for generations to come.

Charles Sheldon, an early conservationist and gentleman hunter from Vermont, along with Harry Karstens, a legendary outdoors man and a dog musher, struck upon an idea over the long winter to make this place the world's first national park established to conserve wildlife. 

  

By 1917, after almost a decade of hard work, Sheldon and others persuaded Congress to create Mount McKinley National Park. Four years later, in 1921, Karstens was hired on as its first superintendent.

Home to North America’s tallest peak, Denali Park has been a Mecca for mountaineering and adventuring for more than a century. Today, the park continues to enchant climbers, pack-rafters, skiers, dog mushers and athletes seeking to test themselves against the raw, unchecked power of a truly wild landscape.

  

The shuttle took us as far into the park as roads allowed (there was a road washed out in 2021 that prevents further).

Our guide Chris gave us so much history of the park and kept us engaged the entire trip and it was an educational, fun way to experience Denali National Park and he was able to point out three of the "Big Four" animals (bear, moose, and caribou/reindeer - the park is famous for. The animals are wild and unpredictable, after all.  Additionally, Chris had a video camera with which he could use to project the wildlife onto displays throughout the bus so we could see what our position on the bus or naked eye couldn't.

We enjoyed the six hour bus tour - including a complementary boxed lunch and water.  

After a coffee break in the village we started our trip to Fairbanks.  We arrived at night and to our disappointment we found a subpar Airbnb where we tried to make the most of.

Day 8 – August 1^st, 2022 (Fairbanks - Anchorage)

 

We left Fairbanks early and visited a village called North Pole, where  Christmas is celebrated year-round—just 20 minutes away from Fairbanks.  It has a Santa Clause House, where you could start your Christmas decorations and shopping, and is the hub of the festivities.

        

We saw candy canes painted on city streets for their holiday parades in during July, a frontier general store and a post office that turned into a holiday shop. 

The postal tradition lives on—official Letters for Santa  found here and his replies are postmarked "from the North Pole" and stamped with an official Santa seal. 

The store includes live reindeer grazing outside, a coffee shop, and the world’s largest Santa statue and Santa himself.

  

We drove for over an hour to visit and use Chena Hot Springs. We found a clean and picturesque property, just steps from Chena River State Recreation Area.

We dipped into the hot water of the natural springs for about an hour and then, after a hot shower, sat on a bench in the park and had lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – my favorite!)

  

We started our long way back to Anchorage and stopped few times to take photos of some wildlife,  glaciers, beautiful mountains and breathe in the fresh air at Delta Junction.

When we arrived to our next Airbnb in Anchorage, it was still daylight but already after 11:00 pm.

Day 9 – August 2^nd, 2022 (Anchorage - Seaward)

 

Once again we were packing as Anchorage was just a hub for us, for these legs of our trip.

We were on Seward Hwy (AK 1), going south towards Seaward.

     

We stopped at Bird Creek, a stream located just 22 miles from Anchorage.  It is a heaven place for fly fishing and a great for taking photos.

We continued on the road and arrived to Alaska Wild Life Conservation Center, a large nature preserve where injured animals are rehabilitated.

      

       

We spent about 2 hours there, driving the car in the park following the trail where many wildlife animals were found.  We saw bears, moose, caribous, bison, mountain goats and elks.

Our next destination was at Exit Glacier National Park at the entrance to Seaward.  We stopped at a viewpoint, before arriving to the Visitors Center, where in 1815 the glacier had reached.  It has since descended about 3 miles. 

In 2015, President Barack Obama stood at that lookout and enumerated the facts of glacial melting and rising sea levels. He stared into the distance then turned back to the cameras. “It is spectacular though,” he conceded, adding: “We want to make sure that our grand kids can see this.”

  

Exit Glacier is part of the Kenai Fjords National Park. The retreat began in the 1800s when Alaska was still Russian territory. After five centuries of expansion during the period known as the Little Ice Age, Exit Glacier reached its maximum expanse around 1815. Since then it has been retreating, slowly at first, roughly 3 feet a year, based on soil and tree-ring analysis.

Now the glacier is retreating faster, much faster, in winters and in summers. In 2016 it shrank by nearly 300 feet in a single year. The adjective glacial no longer applies, it seems.

   

We arrive to the Visitors’ Center parking lot and were informed that it is 2.2 miles each way.

   

We hiked the trail and found it well maintained.  Viewpoints of the Glacier were everywhere. We followed this moderately strenuous trail to the Glacier's overlook and viewed the glacier in its own glacially carved valley.

By the time we were back in the parking lot, we developed a huge appetite and found ourselves at Salmon Bake, a local seafood restaurant, off the main highway that was absolutely packed with locals and visitors.  We waited around 30 minutes, at the bar, to be seated in the main dining room.

   

We loved this restaurant! Our server was very friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable and made our entire experience so much better.  The interior and the exterior were very interesting, seems a little run-down but I liked the vibe. We got the salmon bake dinner and a broiled halibut plate, which came with 3 sides each- a baked potato, corn and beans and the other 2 plates were the Captain Special (mixed sea fruits) and  a halibut steak. The entire order was so delicious!! Finally, we got a very 'healthy' dessert - chocolate cake with ice cream, it was huge, and we shared between the 4 of us!  Food seemed a bit pricey but was worth it.

   

It was time to find our Airbnb for tonight.  We found it in a secluded wooden area, north of the town.  The master bedroom and the living room had grizzly bears’ skin on the wall.  We were honored to meet the owner who was friendly and knowledgeable.  It turned out that she was a hunter and that the bears on the walls were her “kill”.  

we saw on a balcony a freezer filled with salmons.  The owner offered us an icebox full of the tasty fishes.  She explained that couple of her guests were renting this house a few weeks ago and stayed for a couple of weeks, fishing salmons.  He could not take with him the entire catch and asked her to offer the fish for her new guests.

Day 10 – August 3^rd, 2022 (Seaward – Kenai Fjords - Anchorage)

 

Today was an eventful day (for me)!

It started with a cruise on the Kenai Fjords aboard an ‘All Inclusive’ (lunch & dinner) cruise ship.  The fjord was amazing with beautiful views of the glaciers and the mountains.  We found plenty of wildlife in the water as well.

       

A narrator accompanied us most of the time (6 hours tour) and we learned so much about our surroundings.

Kenai Fjords National Park is a vast, jagged wilderness, carved into existence by ancient ice fields and the passage of time. It’s a scenic mash up of sky-high peaks, temperate rain forest, pristine inlets and ice—a whole lot of ice. More than half of Kenai Fjords is obscured by it, and glaciers are one of Alaska’s coolest natural attractions. There are upwards of three dozen named glaciers in this national park (!)—all of which originate from the colossal 700 square-mile Harding Ice field.

       

During our trip we visited the jewel of Kenai Fjords National Park: the magnificent Harding Ice field. From this massive 700-square-mile ice field, countless tidewater glaciers pour down, carving fjords and icebergs.  Nearly 40 glaciers flow from this ice field, the crown of Kenai Fjords!!

I was on the top deck, taking many pictures with both my cell phone and my Canon camera.  I came down to the dining room for lunch and joined the rest of my group (Tova, Elena and Zvika). After lunch I went upstairs again to the top deck and then it happened: I saw a whale flipping and I was trying to take a picture with my cell phone and while trying to grab it from my pocket it fell out of my hands and down to the fjord.  It basically "drowned”.  It was like a slow motion movie for me, as I looked in horror how the phone plunged to its "death". I was actually very calm (or maybe overly shocked?) when I returned to our table and announced that my cell phone is now at the bottom of the fjord.

I kept taking pictures with my Canon but of course every picture I took that day with my cell phone (about 350 of them!) was lost.

Nevertheless, this day was quite enjoyable and that was thanks to the beautiful Nature around us.

We arrived to Fox Island, where dinner was served (it was actually pretty good).

     

During the trip, Elena got friendly with a Russian family from Homer (Our next destination tomorrow) and asked them about Russian livelihood in Alaska (Elena is from the Ukraine).  The couple (husband was a priest!) provided Elena with enough information and we added a trip to our itinerary for tomorrow: A visit to a Russian authentic village!

We returned to Seaward and started our way back to the hub: Anchorage.

Day 11 – August 4^th, 2022 (Anchorage - Homer)

 

We were on Hwy 1, heading south again.  This time we headed to Homer. 

I was told, before the trip, that when you live in Anchorage, Alaska, idyllic vacation destination is from Anchorage to Homer.  Now I also knew why!

As we approached the “fork”, we kept to our right and started the drive from Seward to Homer.  The distance between the two cities was just 168 miles or about a three-hour drive.

        

It took us a half a day to arrive to Homer as we spent time exploring.

We started by heading west through South Central Alaska to Soldotna, then began traveling south along Cook Inlet until we reached the Homer Baycrest Overlook. Here, we saw a beautiful, panoramic views of Kachemak Bay with its backdrop of glaciers and mountains.

We arrived to Homer in the late afternoon and found our new Airbnb on top of a mountain with a killer view. 

  

The owners lived on the same lot and after we moved our luggage and boxes into the house, we asked the owner if she knew where Voznesenski was (that was the name of the Russian Village, given to Elena by the priest).  It so happened that the owner, a teacher in school, has an assistant from this village and she had given us some directions of how to get there.

The owner also told us some interesting facts about the village:  Located on the Kenai Peninsula, about 22 miles east of Homer, the village is one of several villages founded by Russian Old Believers in the Fox River area. The village was founded in 1985 by residents who decided to leave the big city and begin new settlements. The name in Russian means Ascension– (to ascend) referring to the holiday of the Ascension. There are more than 40 families living there.

   

Rain had started as we left Homer, back on the highway.  We eventually found the village and stopped at the Russian Orthodox Church, hoping to find at least one soul so Elena could ask some questions, but found no one.  Well, it was raining cats & dogs and we guessed that people preferred to stay in the warm and dry homes, instead of the wet, chilly streets.

        

We actually gave up and as we were heading out of the village, we saw a café, named Samovar and decided to check it out.  It was closed, so we decided to continue back to Homer.  We were back on the road when a car honked behind us and a woman asked us to turn back and head back to her café.  She said she saw us in her security video of the cafe. She talked to Elena in Russian and Elena was the happiest girl in Alaska at that moment.

We sat down at a table in a small and crammed-down  room.  We all agreed that the lady was a hoarder! She started preparing dinner for us (actually warming up some frozen read made food).  

We ended up eating a bowl of soup and some dumpling plus a home baked bread and terrible tasting tea, for the whopping price amount of $100 per couple!

We left the joint and drove to a Farmer Market, right at the edge of the village and from there we returned to Homer and visit a supermarket for some goodies. We all agreed that dinner we should eat at the Airbnb.

 

Zvika took the entire stock of the salmon fishes that we received in Seaward and bar-b-q the fish outside the house.  They came out so delicious and we consumed half of loot, as the rest was saved for tomorrow’s dinner.

Day 12 – August 5^th, 2022 (Homer - Anchorage)

We slept late and started our way back to Anchorage only at 11:00.

We stopped at Moose Creek.

On the west side we looked at the sprawling, wide flats of Turnagain Arm that seemed to stretch like a plain to the opposite shores of Cook Inlet, where mammoth sloping mountains abruptly stop their flat expanse. Each angle revealed another scenic wonder. We saw, once again, the beautiful Turnagain Arm, arguably one of the most beautiful stretches of highway in America. Chugach State Park's 3000-foot mountains just up on the east side, with snow tops.  It was like watching a movie!!

  

   

   

We have not planned any hiking for today so we just walked on the net of platforms and enjoyed Mother Nature and the many photo opportunities the place had to offer.

We arrived rather early to Anchorage and tried to cook anything we have in our ice box and “groceries bags” as tomorrow we return home.

Day 13 – August 6^th, 2022 (Anchorage - Home)

 

We all woke up early.

It was time to say goodbyes to our friends and our companions for the last 12 days.  It was such a pleasure to be with them and to get to know them better.

Our flight to Orange County, with a stop in Seattle, went without a hitch!

 

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